Military prose of Stalin and Trotsky

63

Part 1. Almost associates


Military prose of Stalin and Trotsky


Third call


Stalin and Trotsky are by no means Russian by nationality - without a doubt, Russian revolutionaries. And everything written by them (and this is, let's say, almost exclusively revolutionary prose) should be included in the asset of Russian literature.



A Marxist must write. The first generation - Marx and Engels really took up the pen only with the "Manifesto", and only then like-minded people were drawn to them. Representatives of the second wave (starting with Plekhanov, Zasulich, Potresov and ending with Lenin and Martov) were also in no hurry to publish programmatic publications.

However, the third Social Democratic appeal was actually not given too much time. People like Trotsky and Stalin had to take up propaganda and agitation as soon as they joined the cohort of experienced Marxists.

In their ranks, Vladimir Ulyanov, in his early 30s, was already called "the old man". This was the very time when the Bolshevik writers, who at first were far inferior to the editors of the old Iskra, were being selected with great difficulty.

Young Social Democrats began to write when the opposition press in Russia was not widespread. But the liberal press was already enough, and most importantly, there was demand among comrades-in-arms, and simply in the ranks of the thinking intelligentsia, students and literate workers.

Today, Stalin and Trotsky are recognized classics not only of Marxism, but also of Russian literature. Although the writers who consider themselves "real", the neighborhood with them is clearly uncomfortable. But it is worth recalling that one of the most famous Nobel laureates in literature was Winston Churchill, a politician and military man, and even a very good artist.

He was probably the toughest opponent of Trotsky, many believe that it was Churchill who called him "the demon of the revolution." And then Stalin, the leader of the peoples, awarded the title of Generalissimo. Which clearly confused the English aristocrat, whose ancestor the Duke of Marlborough was also a Generalissimo.

During the revolutionary years, Trotsky more than once put in his place an enterprising British minister who became the instigator of the intervention and promised to "strangle Bolshevism in the cradle." After taking the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the Bolshevik government, the demon of revolution used the powerful "First radio station of the Comintern" from Moscow's Gorokhov Pole for this.


Two decades later, Stalin openly outplayed Premier Churchill both in correspondence with him and in direct dialogues. American President Roosevelt not without difficulty restrained the pressure of the expressive British prime minister. In his memoirs, Churchill even complained that he, like everyone else, always wanted to get up when the Soviet leader entered the room.

War with publishers


As is known, neither Stalin nor Trotsky had any literary regalia. Today, most of Trotsky's writings are regarded as rampant propaganda. And for some reason, many Stalinist works are considered to be deliberately simplified, forgetting the principle that whoever thinks clearly expresses it clearly.

However, during their lifetime, both of them had practically no problems with publications. And not only in the social democratic and liberal press. Both were published a lot both in Russia and abroad.

Trotsky's profound research on the Russian revolutions, on Lenin and Stalin is now recognized as the most important component of the new Marxist anthology. Literary critics have not yet reached the majority of Stalin's works. But about Trotsky's works are written not only by Trotskyists, but also by many "independent", up to the notorious Dmitry Bykov.

The works of Trotsky (then still Lenin's closest ally) began to be published at the State Publishing House in 1924-1927, that is, before the author was turned into a political outcast and an emigrant. The plans were to publish 23 volumes in 27 books, but only 12 volumes and 15 books managed to see the light.


As a result, the collection turned out to be somewhat ragged, haphazard, not to mention the difficulties with systematization by topic and chronology. Now Trotsky's books are being republished quite regularly, although by no means in record print runs. Either there is no sponsor, or there is no demand for a new edition of the collected works.

And this despite the fact that the two-volume "History Russian Revolution ”, the three-volume“ Stalin ”and the autobiography“ My Life ”have been reprinted many times in many languages ​​of the world. These are recognized historical bestsellers.

One can only wonder why, among the writings of Trotsky, there is not so much written during the Civil War. These are only two books of 17 volumes, and in many respects such a deficit can be explained by the fact that the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs and the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was really up to the neck busy with specific front-line work.

The compilers of his collected works did not consider it possible to include even in a multivolume edition a number of operational orders, orders, minutes of countless meetings. In addition, a lot of what could be considered written personally by Trotsky during the Civil War came from the pen of his deputy in the RVSR Sklyansky. Quite a few were also performed in the secretariat and simply signed by Trotsky.

Leader of nations, writer and poet


The fate of Stalin's writings is no less difficult than that of his long-term opponent. The leader of the peoples, in fact, personally cut them down to 13 volumes, removing, among other things, everything that could be regarded as positive in relation not only to Trotsky, but also to many other "enemies of the Revolution" or "enemies of the people."


Through the efforts of researchers from the Tver Publishing House of Stalin's volumes, only in 1997 there were 14, and by 2006 - already 18. The replenishment was made up of pre-revolutionary, pre-war and post-war journalism, interviews, correspondence and even poetry of Stalin. As well as orders, directives and his key speeches during the war years.

But the main content of the new volumes must be recognized as J. Stalin's famous letters to US President F.D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill. And although not all letters were included in the multivolume book, this is the recognized peak of Stalin's military-strategic (let's call it that way) creativity.

All letters came directly from the pen of the long-term Soviet leader. It is no coincidence that this incomparable correspondence between Stalin and his Western partners in the anti-Hitler coalition is regularly published both in Russia and abroad.

Completely or excerpts. And in Russia recently - with detailed historical commentaries. This is the best answer to falsifiers and scribes. This is the undistorted truth of the Great War. Alas, in contrast to Russia, where its circulation is again in the tens of thousands, the legendary "Correspondence" in the West is actually still accessible only to a narrow circle of researchers.

However, this did not prevent her from becoming one of the main sources in the preparation of the official histories of the war in the USA and Great Britain, as well as being widely quoted in Churchill's famous 6-volume book. Michael Howard was not shy about talking about Correspondence as a source of inspiration for his Grand Strategy.

On parallel courses


At the beginning of the revolutionary upsurge, our authors were still very young. But both are already experienced revolutionaries: one has the underground behind him, the other has two exiles.

And also the real revolutionary struggle, strikes, uprisings, exes and ... numerous regular (no matter what) publications. In exile, in exile, underground, in the midst of battles with the tsarist satraps.

So a revolutionary is obliged to write. And write a lot. Even if there are mistakes, he will learn from them faster and better. This is much later, both Trotsky and Stalin will make every effort to prove that they had mistakes, if they did, they corrected them long ago.

The main thing is that both, following parallel courses, were, by and large, Leninists. Joseph Dzhugashvili (then not Stalin yet) immediately and forever recognized himself as his student. In one of his "Letters from Kutaisi", criticizing Olminsky's article "Down with Bonapartism," he complimented the Bolshevik leader in a very Caucasian manner:

“The person who stands in our position must speak in a voice that is firm and unyielding. In this respect, Lenin is a real mountain eagle. "


But Trotsky was still swept away, until the summer of 1917. It was then that the addition to the still small party of the Bolsheviks of the faction or group of Mezhraiontsy (whose leader was 37-year-old Lev Davidovich) turned him into one of the main leaders of the October coup.

How they got started


22-year-old Dzhugashvili begins with a lengthy, but at the same time programmatic work "The Russian Social Democratic Party and its tasks." It is immediately published by the Tiflis "Brdzola" (Wrestling). Despite the fact that this article slightly resembles a student's essay.


However, her theses are so accurate that a young revolutionary with already five years of experience in the underground is delegated to all party events of the Social Democrats, which are possible. It seems that he left the seminary for a reason, finding a job at the Tiflis observatory.

Stalin returned to the military theme in the proclamation of the Allied Committee of the Caucasian Union of the RSDLP. It was published in January 1905. And it spread across Transcaucasia under the catchy headline "Workers of the Caucasus, it's time to take revenge!"

In a short but succinct proclamation, the main ideas from the first large work of the author were developed. In two short paragraphs referring to a letter from one of the officers from the Far East, the author actually delivered a ruthless verdict on the decaying tsarist army. The verdict, then never fatal.

Key theses on how to prepare for a decisive battle with tsarism, Koba will set out already in July 1905 in the article "Armed uprising and our tactics." It was immediately published in the Georgian language in the Tiflis Social-Democratic newspaper Proletariatis Brdzola (Proletarian Struggle).

However, this article, translated into Russian, became a real guide to action for the Caucasian revolutionaries only 12 years later, when it was distributed in leaflets in the trenches of the Caucasian front of the First World War.

***
Trotsky, as a publicist-Marxist, took a very quick start in the Irkutsk newspaper Vostochnoye Obozreniye under the pseudonym Antid Otto. He immediately distinguished himself with a series of articles, but very little was written about military affairs.


Most likely, Leiba Bronstein could not have imagined that revolutionary military practice would soon fall to his lot. Having inscribed the name of one of his prison guards, Trotsky, in his passport, he managed to go to exile, quarrel with Plekhanov and get to know Lenin.

His friends became the Menshevik Axelrod and Parvus, much better known for the history of the sealed carriage than as the author of the notorious theory of the Permanent Revolution. It was picked up for the rest of his life and made, in fact, his Trotsky.

But then he fought with all his might to restore the unity of Russian Social-Democracy, writing a brochure "Our political tasks" with harsh criticism of Lenin's work "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back." Lenin responded by responding to this brochure as

“Blatant lies” and “perversion of facts”.

However, ideological differences did not prevent them from becoming associates later, and Trotsky emphasized this with all his might to the end of his days. But this did not save him from being hit by an ice ax in the skull.

With all the Caucasian directness


By the beginning of the first Russian revolution, the Caucasian Stalin was already considered one of the main experts on the national question in the ranks of the Bolsheviks. Historians report little about the noticeable participation of the future leader of the peoples in revolutionary events, and at that time he himself wrote mainly on the national question.

But he did not shy away from the military theme either. The later voluminous work "Anarchism or Socialism" can also be considered a development of the main theses on the uprising. The brochure was printed at the turn of 1906 and 1907 in parts in the Tiflis editions of the Bolsheviks Akhali Droeba (New Time), Chveni Tskhovreba (Our Life) and Dro (Time) signed by Ko.


Joseph Dzhugashvili (who in other cases often used the provocative pseudonym Besoshvili) as Koba was known to very few then. This work (essentially also programmatic) was written on behalf of the Bolshevik Central Committee after the revolution was replaced by widespread reaction.

In it, Dzhugashvili, point by point, refuted the criticism of Kropotkin and the Kropotkinites against the Social Democrats. Including on the topic of a purely military - about an armed uprising.

The inexplicable naivete of the anarchists, who did not believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat and relied on some kind of "movement of the masses" (something more like a rebellion, senseless and merciless), the author opposed an unequivocal call for scrupulous preparation of an armed uprising.

That is, to the creation of a revolutionary army with its battalions and companies, like the Paris Commune. Stalin will have time to develop these ideas in another small, but also programmatic and at the same time polemical work - "Marx and Engels on the uprising."

Perhaps the main thing for Koba is the refutation of the essentially anarchist theses of his political opponent - the Menshevik Noah Khomeriki, who

"He does not want to have any" battle tactics ", nor" organized detachments ", nor an organized performance!"

All this, as the author notes, turns out to be something insignificant and unnecessary. Koba right there, in addition to Marx and Engels, just and rightly quotes Lenin:

“We must collect the experience of the Moscow, Donetsk, Rostov and other uprisings, disseminate this experience, train persistently and patiently new combat forces, train and temper them in a number of partisan combat actions. A new explosion, perhaps, will not come yet in the spring, but it is coming, it is, in all likelihood, not too far away. We must meet him armed, organized in a military manner, capable of decisive offensive actions. "


First in the first revolution


Trotsky, 25, was the first and generally one of the few Social Democrats who managed to get to Russia during its first revolution. Already in March 1905 he was in St. Petersburg and put forward the slogan of a Provisional Revolutionary Government.


Under the threat of arrest, Trotsky was forced into hiding in Finland, but in October he returned to the raging capital. He is a member of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies and writes in three editions at once: Izvestia of the council, in Russkaya Gazeta and in the Menshevik Nachala (which he will remember many years later).

Trotsky's military theme is almost in the first place. Among a whole series of articles that are militant to the limit, direct appeals and appeals to the army (as real experiments in revolutionary propaganda) are clearly distinguished.

The then Trotsky was not a professional military writer. Like many of his comrades, he mostly uses quotations, and not only the elders of the classics. But the irrepressible Leo calls for the Provisional Revolutionary Government to come by no means a peaceful way - through an uprising.

The uprising, as you know, will still be - but not in St. Petersburg, but in Moscow, but it's too late. Trotsky will be arrested by that time. In the fall of 1905, he was already the de facto leader of the Petrosovet, as its former chairman Khrustalyov-Nosar was captured by the tsarist secret police. But Trotsky, having become one of the three co-chairmen of the council, very soon ended up in jail himself.

However, the reason for the arrest was not at all the bellicose articles of Trotsky, published under pseudonyms or without a signature, but his almost neutral "Financial Manifesto" edited by him.

However, what kind of neutral is there? If the Manifesto contained direct calls

"Not to pay taxes and taxes" and "not a penny to the tsarist government."

The authorities are always keenly aware of the real threat.

From revolution to war


The defeat of the first Russian revolution became a powerful incentive for the writing Bolsheviks, although they spent too much energy on internal party disassembly. However, in the officially published works of Stalin for the period from 1907 to 1913 there is a gap, which can hardly be explained only by a prolonged exile to the Turukhansk region.


During these same years Trotsky managed to write not only a number of important articles and books, including a large-scale study "Russia in the Revolution", but also gained experience as a war correspondent. The liberal Kievskaya Mysl (where they knew that after the publication of Lenin's Pravda, Trotsky closed his newspaper of the same name) offered the famous journalist a trip to the Balkans.

The new reporter managed to write more than fifty articles, letters, frontline and biographical sketches during the two Balkan wars. From them, the 6th volume of Trotsky's works was formed, almost the best in the collection.

A peculiar self-censorship and the author's almost complete rejection of social democratic rhetoric turned regular and largely routine newspaper publications into a kind of encyclopedia on the Eastern question.

It is no coincidence that in the 6th volume there was also a place for Trotsky's later studies, in which history and politics, economics and ethnography are harmoniously combined. And also a correspondence polemic with the leader of the cadets Pavel Milyukov. To whom, by the way, belongs the authorship of the very term "Trotskyism".


The author unobtrusively, but very transparently, helped the readers to understand the entire inconsistency of the claims of the Russian Empire to the possession of Constantinople and the Straits (an idea so dear to Milyukov's heart).

History is known to be full of irony. And consistently, first Milyukov, and only six months later - Trotsky, heads of the Russian diplomatic department. One - in the Provisional Government, the other - in the Leninist Council of People's Commissars.

In the October Revolution, the classic Marxists Trotsky and Stalin will take part as true comrades-in-arms. In the Civil War - too, although they will swear on every occasion almost like enemies.

And then their paths will diverge. And they will write about the war in their own way.

But more on this in the following essays from the series "Classics and War".
  • Alexey Podymov
  • mtdata.ru, sun9-16.userapi.com, pinterest.com, static.auction.ru, i.pinimg.com, author
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  1. +14
    21 December 2020 05: 18
    A brilliant article, both in terms of material and presentation!
    who thinks clearly, he clearly states
    For demagogues-"methodists" such an application of this principle makes it quite easy to calculate.
    1. +19
      21 December 2020 05: 29
      Quote: Vladimir_2U
      A brilliant article, both in terms of material and presentation!

      Let me join you, I also enjoyed spending time with interesting reading!
      But more on this in the following essays from the series "Classics and War".

      I catch on the word of the Author)) I will look forward to it!
      1. +17
        21 December 2020 06: 37
        My applause Alexey, I can only join with the comments of the members of the forum above, the article is really brilliant and unexpected !!!
  2. +12
    21 December 2020 05: 40
    I would also note the aphorism about the clarity of thinking.

    Very controversial. It is no coincidence that in "We'll Live Until Monday," he is quoted by a teacher of literature.

    The danger of aphorisms lies in the stereotyped use.
    And for politicians, literary successes are secondary.

    "You will recognize them by their deeds" (c).
    1. +5
      21 December 2020 06: 09
      Quote from Korsar4
      The danger of aphorisms lies in the stereotyped use.

      The danger is in people for whom aphorisms are the last resort.
      1. +9
        21 December 2020 06: 26
        What can be the last resort?
        1. +5
          21 December 2020 06: 47
          Quote from Korsar4
          What can be the last resort?

          The ultimate truth. Shame on me, I forgot this aphorism! ))
          1. +11
            21 December 2020 07: 05
            Not scary. Understood. And the search for truth is another question of Pilate.

            And we often give assessments of political figures in a small segment. And the world is too big.
      2. +14
        21 December 2020 06: 52
        Quote: Vladimir_2U
        Quote from Korsar4
        The danger of aphorisms lies in the stereotyped use.

        The danger is in people for whom aphorisms are the last resort.

        Stalin, according to his contemporaries, had a rule to simplify the situation sometimes to banal simplicity.
        For example, in an interview with the Yugoslav delegation in 1944, he said the following: “Today you (Yugoslavs) must fight together against fascism, regardless of political convictions. Yes, Peter is the monarch, but he and his supporters are not Hitler's friends. Tomorrow, we will win there and a knife in the back of Peter. " Pragmatist.
        On the contrary, Trotsky was an outstanding theoretician in his works. Sometimes such darkness flooded the fence, that without a bottle it is impossible to understand.
        Trotsky, by the way, was an outstanding orator. But he was very unprincipled, which did not contribute to the growth of friends and associates in his environment.
        Stalin, on the contrary, knew how to walk along the edge and be flexible.
        But I will not run ahead of Alexei.
        1. +6
          21 December 2020 06: 55
          Quote: Kote pane Kohanka
          Stalin, according to his contemporaries, had a rule to simplify the situation sometimes to banal simplicity.
          Maybe not a situation, but a statement and explanation of this situation?
        2. +6
          21 December 2020 07: 07
          Vladislav, it is extremely difficult to remain impartial when comparing these persons.
          However, Animal Farm never hurts to reread.
          1. +9
            21 December 2020 08: 23
            Quote from Korsar4
            Vladislav, it is extremely difficult to remain impartial when comparing these persons.
            However, Animal Farm never hurts to reread.

            Do not twist, but the pigs have done everything, and in life it has ever been different.
            Traditionally, it is customary to transfer the event from the English farm with tracing paper to Russia, arguing with the “animal revolution”. However, the author wrote about England and the quasi-democracy of the Anglo-Saxon world.
            So here are the piggy demagogues - Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Jones? In the Brexit vein, more than fitting characters.
            1. +2
              21 December 2020 21: 01
              Quote: Kote pane Kohanka
              Do not twist, but the pigs have done everything, and in life it has ever been different.
              Traditionally, it is customary to transfer the event from the English farm with tracing paper to Russia, arguing with the “animal revolution”. However, the author wrote about England and the quasi-democracy of the Anglo-Saxon world.

              not only the Anglo-Somnous.
              as you know, George Orwell was a volunteer in the international brigade in Spain in the late thirties.
              so that in his life he saw both "quasi-democratic" and quasi-socialist courtyards.
              despite the different geography and biology, people are such people.
            2. +4
              22 December 2020 15: 18
              "However, the author wrote about England" ///
              ----
              "Animal Farm" is a parable. But the "bulldog wars under the carpet"
              (as Churchill called the battle between Trotskyists and Stalinists)
              are clearly visible.
              Orwell participated in the Civil War
              in Spain, where he met the Communists and Soviet political
              advisors. And he was severely disappointed in the Soviet Union.
        3. +4
          21 December 2020 16: 58
          Quote: Kote Pan Kokhanka

          On the contrary, Trotsky was an outstanding theoretician in his works. Sometimes such darkness flooded the fence, that without a bottle it is impossible to understand.

          Agree

          [New York -] a fabulously prosaic city of capitalist automatism, where the aesthetic theory of Cubism triumphs on the streets, and the moral philosophy of the dollar in hearts
        4. +5
          21 December 2020 23: 01
          Quote: Kote pane Kohanka
          Trotsky, by the way, was an outstanding orator. But he was very unprincipled, which did not contribute to the growth of friends and associates in his environment.

          Yes, the people say so: "Pi ... t like Trotsky!" By the way, young people also say so! Although they hardly know where it came from!
  3. +10
    21 December 2020 07: 17
    Hmm, I can't imagine the current leader of the Russian "communists", Mr. Zyuganov, personally writing at least a quarter of such works ...
    1. +7
      21 December 2020 07: 44
      Let's say you can imagine Mr. Zhirinovsky. So what?
      1. +7
        21 December 2020 07: 47
        Quote from Korsar4
        Let's say you can imagine Mr. Zhirinovsky.

        And Zhirinovsky is a "communist"? Wolfovich took his niche in the political system of the country and it is not a fact that with his departure, the party he created will survive.
        Quote from Korsar4
        So what?
        And the fact that the leader of the party is obliged to communicate with people in various ways in order to carry his thoughts to the masses and recruit like-minded people ...
        1. +8
          21 December 2020 08: 02
          Now the ways have changed.
          Let's say an analogue of the "Manifesto" has appeared.

          To be noticed now, you will have to connect PR and social networks.
          1. +7
            21 December 2020 08: 16
            Now the ways have changed.
            Let's say an analogue of the "Manifesto" has appeared.

            To be noticed now, you will have to connect PR and social networks.

            Not at all. Only professional piarasists think so. In order for the program of action (Manifesto) to be noticed, it is necessary that there be someone to notice.
            1. Fat
              +8
              21 December 2020 09: 23
              Quote: Aviator_
              For the program of action (Manifesto) to be noticed, it is necessary that there is someone to notice.

              Oh it won't rust. Who needs to be noticed immediately. recourse Then the accusation of extremism, trial and escape abroad ... "In emigration" Yes So social networks and PR (devastating publications) will definitely take place.
            2. +4
              21 December 2020 15: 13
              Do you think there are no able to notice or are there?
              1. +4
                21 December 2020 18: 52
                "The idea is then viable when it takes over the masses" - something similar was expressed by one of the classics of Marxism. I don’t remember who, ask the caliber, he should know. In general, it is absolutely true.
                1. +3
                  21 December 2020 19: 50
                  Not that important. Now what are the masses thinking about?
                  Remember "Sea Wolf". The words of Wolf Larson, what the sailors dream of.

                  Are we the masses with you?
        2. +2
          21 December 2020 12: 10
          The current "parties" are the burned-out theaters of failed actors.
          1. The comment was deleted.
    2. +1
      21 December 2020 12: 08
      He has interesting works, but who publishes them?
    3. +2
      21 December 2020 15: 38
      The pinnacle of Leonid Ilyich's theoretical thought was a well-known trilogy.
    4. +2
      22 December 2020 05: 23
      Hmm, I can't imagine the current leader of the Russian "communists", Mr. Zyuganov, for personal writing


      Hmm. Could Stalin, Trotsky, or Lenin in our time write something in Russia? It is amazing how toothless the "satraps and stranglers of the people's freedom", the tsarist secret police, and the "Derzhimords" look. wink They had people walking around the country calling for the overthrow of the government, and ... nothing. Yes, the king really was a rag. The people who pushed him off the throne did not bother with morality when it was necessary to remove the power that interfered with them.
      And if Gorbachev were worthy of power, then instead of the phrase "Boris, you are wrong," it would sound "Guys, bury this somewhere outside the outskirts."
      1. The comment was deleted.
  4. -2
    21 December 2020 08: 42
    The leader of the nations, in fact, personally cut them up to 13 volumes, removing, among other things, everything that could be regarded as positive in relation not only to Trotsky, but also to many other "enemies of the Revolution" or "enemies of the people"
    .

    A naive decision - what has already been written with a pen - you can't cut it out, yes .... You can't ban "tomorrow" from "today" ..
    But the main content of the new volumes must be recognized as J. Stalin's famous letters to US President F.D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill

    Yes, the Stalin-Churchill correspondence is a very interesting reading matter.

    .
    It was published in January 1905. And it spread across Transcaucasia under the catchy headline "Workers of the Caucasus, it's time to take revenge!"

    Key provisions on how to prepare for a decisive battle Koba will set out already in July 1905 in an article "Armed uprising and our tactics."

    And after all, no one shot him for this (during the war!) Or even sent him to the camps.
    Leader of nations, writer and poet

    There is not a word about the poet in the article.
    This is the undistorted truth of the Great War

    The Great War is common-wwii
    1. +3
      21 December 2020 10: 28
      Quote: Olgovich
      And after all, no one shot him for this (during the war!) Or even sent him to the camps.

      In order to shoot someone, or to send to the camps, you must first catch this "someone". It's elementary, Olgovich! So: Your longing for a humane monarchy, in this case, is inappropriate.
      1. +2
        23 December 2020 15: 21
        Why is that? Caught, repeatedly exiled. But they could not organize the protection, they had VVshniki who were useless! And they could not have shot them either, the people would not have understood - they had bad agitators!
        1. +1
          23 December 2020 18: 14
          Speech, specifically, about July 1905.
          Quote: Olgovich
          And after all, no one shot him for this (during the war!) Or even sent him to the camps.
  5. +10
    21 December 2020 09: 18
    ... He who thinks clearly expresses clearly

    Words attributed to the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860).

    The French poet Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux (1636-1711) expressed the same idea.
    1. BAI
      +4
      21 December 2020 10: 38
      And then there is: "Brevity is the sister of talent" (Unknown author).
      1. +9
        21 December 2020 11: 32
        Quote: BAI
        And then there is: "Brevity is the sister of talent" (Unknown author).

        "Brevity is the sister of talent," but the enemy of royalty. lol

        The phrase - "winged", is often used. The author is well known. This is a quote from a letter from A.P. Chekhov to his brother, in which he gives advice on how best (from a stylistic point of view) to write a play. Without suspecting that, Chekhov "achieved" that this expression became winged.

        A similar idea was expressed long before Chekhov by another genius playwright - William Shakespeare, he called brevity the soul of the mind.

        About 800 years ago, something similar was expressed by the great Abu Imran Musa ibn Maymun ibn Abd-Allah al-Kurdubi al-Yahudi:
        "... a sage's speech should be short, and its meaning deep."
  6. +1
    21 December 2020 09: 59
    And Trotsky looks like a guy on the KFS label
    1. Fat
      +5
      21 December 2020 10: 27
      Is it?

      Portrait of Colonel Sanders by Norman Rockwell.
      1. +4
        21 December 2020 13: 12
        Yes that's-
        Looks like a Colonel, not very even
        1. Fat
          +2
          21 December 2020 17: 14
          In 1935, the Governor of Kentucky awards Harland Sanders the title of Kentucky Colonel for Service to the State (KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken).

          When the "colonel" was 70 years old (Harland was born in 1890), "Kentucky Fried Chicken" reaches its peak of fame, and the colonel decides to sell the company to private investors for $ 2 million and the position of a representative of the company (the face of the brand), for which he was paid about 250 thousand dollars a year.
    2. +16
      21 December 2020 14: 59
      Trotsky is alive and takes revenge)
      1. +7
        21 December 2020 16: 54
        Quote: Alex Koch
        Trotsky is alive and takes revenge)

        good laughing Okay, I'll keep it for myself))
        1. +7
          21 December 2020 17: 12
          Hi Albert. hi We haven't communicated for a long time. There is a small sketch about the main characters of the article. I think they would both appreciate it. Or, as Stalin once said: "Even in difficult moments we did not lose our sense of humor ... Isn't it, Comrade Zhyukov?" (from)
          1. +5
            21 December 2020 17: 16
            Greetings, Constantine! hi Ral to see. You have a good plan, comrade Zhyukov
            ---
            - Nikita, the commandant of the Kremlin is pointing at you
            - It can't be, Comrade Stalin
            - Shows, shows ..
            - (kneeling) Have pity on the family
            - Nikita, it was ... a joke!
          2. +1
            22 December 2020 13: 38
            Aaaaaa, Konstantin, you made my day such a wonderful reproduction)))))
            1. +3
              22 December 2020 13: 48
              Quote: Okolotochny
              Aaaaaa, Konstantin, you made my day such a wonderful reproduction)))))

              Just don't leave today, my "blind" shoulder blade will fall right between the eyes. very cunning, and then the "mustache" of a fireman in Ivanovo.
              That's squeamish, however.
              apparently you did not understand anything.
              As they said in that army, if we cannot get through to the head, we will knock on the liver. Notice I keep myself in line, just think. hi
              1. 0
                22 December 2020 14: 00
                How can you know what the army said? Have you read books from the blind? Or did the comrades tell? lol Your shoulder blade)) Storyteller, walk by, on Tuesdays you don't get a drink tongue Bread cutter, so tell me, how did you drive spirits in sneakers from the Union in Afghanistan? laughing
                1. +3
                  22 December 2020 14: 16
                  Quote: Okolotochny
                  Your shoulder blade)) Storyteller, walk by, on Tuesdays you don't get a drink

                  Something went wrong with you ..... I'm staring at you, "Panama", ... are you not ashamed yourself? In general, everything is clear to me .... they will delete it.
                  Do you want to become heroes of the fronts at my expense? No, no, you marched puffed up and, in general, a man.
                  Look, I know everything and admit the possibility that your local Afghan community will ask you "for a Panama". Are you ready?
                  1. 0
                    22 December 2020 14: 37
                    Storyteller, this is how you pranked about the fact that you served in Afghanistan. Already merged? Scared? I have Panama, an older friend gave it to me. I don't write on VO about how "I served in Afghanistan and received sneakers from the Union in parcels." Or about how "after the demobilization from Afghanistan, Abkhazia was built up with the" brother-vedeveshnik ". Bread cutter, go have a drink, have a snack and go to bed. Thinking is not yours, nothing. Or better not drink, you will go blind altogether lol So tell me, did you serve or not? If not, why did you write your mriy here? Are show-offs more valuable than money? Eh, little people.
                    And for "asking" - are you going to ask? I have seen such Munchausen-questioners. Go roll the Hawthorn crying
            2. +1
              22 December 2020 14: 46
              Unfortunately, I am not the author, but work with meaning. glad I liked it. smile
          3. +2
            22 December 2020 14: 02
            Constantine, but Stalin looks like: "Lyova, b ... I will, it's not me, it's Ilyich who muddied everything." good
            1. +2
              22 December 2020 14: 46
              Exactly, but he looks with obvious apprehension.
              1. 0
                22 December 2020 14: 47
                But the eyes are so kind, kind))
        2. 0
          24 February 2021 08: 08
          Yes, yes ..... but I thought, in what photo have I seen these eyes before?
      2. +6
        21 December 2020 17: 13
        Abbaldet! Thank you, I did not expect it at all! good drinks
      3. +2
        21 December 2020 21: 21
        "Trotsky is alive and takes revenge" Malyshev - Trotsky's reincarnation?
        Perhaps it refers to the United States: "when Dmitry Nikolaevich and I were in the United States" and Dmitry Nikolaevich constantly, probably this is his wife Sedova?
        Thank you. Laughed
  7. +3
    21 December 2020 10: 24
    Great article. I bow to the author.
    But more on this in the following essays from the series "Classics and War".
    AUTHOR:

    Look forward to.
  8. BAI
    +4
    21 December 2020 10: 37
    However, what kind of neutral is there? If the Manifesto contained direct calls

    "Not to pay taxes and taxes" and "not a penny to the tsarist government."

    We change the "tsarist" to "Belarusian" and get the modern Belarusian opposition.
  9. +13
    21 December 2020 10: 43
    Today is Stalin's birthday.
    Happy holiday, comrades!
  10. +5
    21 December 2020 17: 44
    Author, thank you for touching on a little-known topic.
    I knew that Stalin published a lot in local newspapers. Much was said about this period of his biography until 1956, and then it happened in the Central Committee of the CPSU: "memory loss". Not completely forgotten, but fragmentarily remembered.
    And the fact that Trotsky was a good writer is new to me.
    I just thought that in the early 20's there were many outstanding political writers: Axelrod, Bogdanov, Dzhugashvili, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Lenin, Milyukov, Plekhanov, Trotsky. All of them, to the best of their talents (some bright, some boring) defended their convictions through the press, and after Stalin's death there were no such politicians. The era has come: "literary consultants and press secretaries"
  11. 0
    22 December 2020 00: 18
    It seems to me that all world politicians of the 1st half of the 20th century (the era of leaders) - when they rose to a certain level of influence, they began to beautifully recreate their past ... This was done everywhere (both in the West and in our country) - around politicians quickly appeared an invisible layer of deputies, secretaries, clerks, etc. These legions of unknown scribblers have been doing that for months and years on end - writing the memoirs of the leaders, editing correspondence, looking for theses and the like - this is where 10-20 volume works appear ...)))

    The leaders were people too - but they thoroughly cleaned up their past by exposing themselves to the masses exclusively in a heroic pose ...
  12. 0
    23 December 2020 02: 49
    The leader of the peoples, in fact, personally cut them down to 13 volumes,

    I.V. Stalin did not cut anything, it was Khrushchev, after Stalin's death, who ordered to scatter all the proofs of the subsequent volumes.

    Through the efforts of researchers from the Tver Publishing House of Stalinist volumes, only in 1997 there were 14, and by 2006 - already 18

    You cannot trust these volumes, because a lot of fabrications of a certain Zhukhrai were thrown into them, which were attributed to Stalin ..

    .
    The main thing is that both, following parallel courses, were, by and large, Leninists. Joseph Dzhugashvili (then not Stalin yet) immediately and forever recognized himself as his student

    Stalin - yes, he recognized himself as a student of V.I. Lenin, but Trotsky intended to replace Lenin.
  13. +1
    26 December 2020 20: 44
    All these endless arrests, and then "miraculous" escapes of the revolutionaries speak only of one thing:
    The monarchy was initially doomed, because it had traitors, in the form of revolutionary bombers and expropriators, not only in the highest and lowest civil society, but also in the tsarist army and navy, the Russian police and Russian special services of that period. Everything worked to undermine the monarchy and personally the authorities of Nicholas II, starting from the "Brunswick" pack of grand dukes who occupied all key positions in the Russian Empire and who had direct instructions for action from the British Foreign Ministry (Consider British intelligence, for a foreign ambassador is considered a legalized foreign spy who is true to seize, torture and shoot at This is impossible !!) Along the way, preparations were made for the elimination of the Russian monarchy by neutralizing the power apparatus of the state:
    1) A banal undermining of the work of the police apparatus through endless reforms and the elimination of the most dangerous representatives of the Gendarme Office by the hands of revolutionaries, like the same Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve. There was a certain Dzhunkovsky, who clearly and suspiciously sympathized with the revolutionaries and was inexplicably known in high society as a liberal. By the way, he is extremely "on time" released a book about the methods of work of the Russian secret police (It became the table bible of all revolutionaries in Russia !!). Along the way, he cut down the gendarme staff and fired almost all agents, in a word, Vadim Bakatin of the tsarist days. That is, Dzhunkovsky simply blew the country's police power apparatus. Naturally, the Stalinist Chekists did not give him a probable second such chance ... moreover, on the eve of the Great World War with the Germans / French / British, so Dzhunkovsky, a seasoned traitor to the cause of Russian statehood, was simply arrested, interrogated and shot the next day in 1938. !! The same can be said and about the intelligence of the General Staff, which also deliberately squandered the army and navy, successfully stuffed right during the participation in the First World War, by the revolutionary militants of the London Workers' Association (Later it was really called the International Workers Association, so that unnecessary questions would not arise! True, its members, as they were spies, saboteurs and saboteurs in the service of the English crown, remained so !!) But under the direct leadership of the revolutionaries, the "Baltic brothers" worked extremely well for the enemy, that is, the Baltic sailors simply eliminated all command with their own hands Baltic Fleet (By the way, the highest officers of the Imperial Baltic Fleet were destroyed literally according to lists, by family name and exactly by address !!) Moreover, they destroyed convinced monarchist sailors and patriots of the empire who could fight back in the event of direct intervention. Then the truth of these Baltic "nadomoryachki" is strong relaxed and disorganized massacre of their often unarmed officers, the Germans simply dared and more They were cut out during the assault on the capture of Russian ports in the Baltic !! The same was the case with the tsarist army, which was destroyed on the eve of the end of the great war, simply massacring a huge number of army officers of the tsarist army, who were also cut out by the revolutionaries, only with the hands of soldiers (General Dukhonin, commander-in-chief of the front, tried to stop the collapse of the front, so he was simply killed by his own soldiers !!).
    This explains all the facts of repression in the Red Army of the tsarist military experts and former tsarist intelligence officers in the organs of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD, for very many of them, being noblemen and with regalia, acted inexplicably treacherously and extremely hostilely against their own Russian Empire (And many of them had the history of families directly connected with the Russian imperial statehood !!) Therefore, the newly minted citizens of the Soviet State, the country of workers and peasants, who had calmly and coolly ruined the centuries-old Tsarist Russia before, obviously did not have much difficulty to go over to the side of the enemy again. e years of arrests and executions they beat sometimes blindly, but on the whole they were preemptive and for sure !!!

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