The union of Hitler and Trotsky. 90 years of the "world revolution"
90 years ago, in November 1923, an attempt was made to inflate the "World Revolution." Moreover, not only the Comintern and the Soviet Communists, but also the recently born German National Socialist Workers' Party participated in this. Simply put, the Nazis. It must be said that the “world revolution” was considered one of the cornerstones of Marxism, the victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia alone was recognized only as a temporary phenomenon, and Trotsky even pointed out that Russia itself should become just a “bundle of brushwood” to foment the global fire.After World War I, the whole of Europe was plagued by crises and political disorder. Several empires collapsed, liberal and democratic governments came to power, this was accompanied by monstrous abuses, embezzlements, “privatizations”. After the revolutionary outbreak, Hungary and Austria could not calm down. In the newly emerged Yugoslavia, ethnic tensions ran high. Territorial losses, reparations and outrages of the authorities created a revolutionary situation in Bulgaria. In Romania, the peasants were worried - they were robbed of their own grabbers and foreigners (later they calculated that in the 15 of the post-war years 50 billion lei were plundered).
In Turkey, an attempt to dismember the country and the occupation caused an uprising. The people rallied around the popular military leader Mustafa Kemal, drove away the invaders. Another fascist revolution took place in Italy. Benito Mussolini in 1922 began the march to Rome and won. He introduced the dictatorship and at first achieved remarkable success. He brought order to the country, overcame the crisis, even managed to eradicate the mafia - most of its members had to emigrate to the United States. Political squabbles bruised Germany and the putsch and insurgency were organized either by the left or the right parties.
The Soviet leadership and the Comintern developed two scenarios of the “world revolution” - “industrial” and “agrarian”. According to the first, the most suitable object for the uprising was Germany. Supporters of the second theory believed that it was easier to organize revolutions in poorly developed, agrarian countries. The most suitable of them looked Bulgaria. The situation there is very reminiscent of Russia 1917 th. The ruling party was the Bulgarian Agricultural Union - something like the Russian Social Revolutionaries. The weak government of Stambolisky took a compromising position, constantly making concessions to the extreme left.
Emissaries from Moscow headed by Pyatnitsky came to Bulgaria. From Odessa was transferred weapon and combat squads. This explosion was supposed to close with the civil war in Turkey, overlap in Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy, and then “burn” Austria and Germany. But for various reasons, the uprising was postponed, and in 1923 the situation in Germany became aggravated. A terrible crisis broke out there. In six weeks, the mark's course has collapsed a thousand times. States disappeared, the market paralyzed, the plants stopped.
The German government suspended the payment of reparations to the winners, but France considered this a good excuse to grab German lands. Shamelessly occupied the Ruhr area and Saar. The Germans were outraged. Guerrilla groups were formed in the Ruhr to fight the French. The invaders responded with repressions, the captured militants were shot. But the Social Democratic government of the Weimar Republic proclaimed the policy of “passive resistance” - it tightened its tails and kept mum in a rag. This line of authority has increased general discontent. Separatist tendencies broke through, especially noticeable in Bavaria. If the central government does not want to protect the interests of the country, then what is to be considered?
Moscow decided that the revolution in Germany was overdue. 23 August 1923. A meeting of the Politburo was held on this issue. Trotsky argued that the moment had come to stake everything - that is, the Soviet state itself. Say, the international imperialists will not allow the victory of the revolution among the Germans, they will fall upon them with their military forces. Well, and the USSR will help the “German proletariat” - this is where the decisive clash will occur. Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev, spoke out more carefully. In principle, they did not object - at that time they were not supposed to object to the “world revolution”. But they called upon to weigh everything, to evaluate, so as not to get involved in a disastrous adventure.
A commission of the Central Committee consisting of Radek, Pyatakov, Unshlikht and Schmidt, a German by nationality, was sent to Germany. Radek was supposed to lead the German Communist Party, Schmidt - to transform the trade unions into Soviets, Unshliht to take up arms transfers and the creation of combat detachments. And the Soviet ambassador to Germany, Krestinsky, was charged with financing from the commercial funds of the State Bank deposited in Berlin. In addition to them, Larin, Berzin, Tukhachevsky, Krylov (Sobolevsky), Yagoda (Yehudi) were seconded to Germany to lead the uprising, graduates and students of the special department of the Academy of the Red Army were sent. 20 of thousands of German-speaking Communists were mobilized. The money stood out almost without an account - the secretary of the Berlin Reich resident testified that suitcases, bags and boxes of money were lying around with them, cluttering up tables and chairs, confused under their feet.
In September, another meeting of the Politburo took place. Set date for the uprising - 9 November, the anniversary of the German revolution. 7 November, on the anniversary of the Russian revolution, was ordered to organize demonstrations. When they were carried out, the “red hundreds” of Unshlicht should have provoked clashes with the police in order for blood to be shed. Well, then it was necessary to inflate the “popular indignation” about this. Red troops began to advance to the western borders. The Soviet emissary Kopp conducted secret negotiations in Warsaw on their passage through Polish territory. For this, Poland was promised to give East Prussia. Warsaw politicians seemed very tempting. One small “but” prevented - the Poles did not trust the Bolsheviks ...
There was every reason for this. Massive preparations for the "world revolution" various Soviet departments were someone who in that much. If on the line of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs there were negotiations with Warsaw, then the Red Army Intelligence Directorate at the same time intensified its “partisans” in Poland. And in the GPU they decided that if a coup is planned in Germany, then Poland should “catch up”. A "pull" began terrorism. The bombings rattled in the editorial offices of newspapers, in public and political organizations. Pilsudski’s attempts were organized. A powerful explosion was prepared at the opening of the monument to Poniatowski, which was supposed to be attended by the government and foreign delegations, including the French marshal Foch. But there was a leak of information, and the attack had to be canceled.
In September, a signal was given to Bulgaria - to start a revolution. But time was lost here. The right-wing forces and the officers managed to organize themselves and staged their own coup, overthrew the compromising government of the Agricultural Union. Moreover, the Communists were ordered not to support the Social Democrats in any way, to maintain the combat potential for their own uprising. When they themselves came out, the power was already stricter than under Stamboliisky, and the revolutionaries were crushed. However, the failure in Bulgaria gave up. The main thing was - Germany.
Radek, passing through Warsaw, gave a briefing to the staff of the Soviet embassy. He explained that after the victory of the revolution the Germans immediately break the Treaty of Versailles and start a war with France. But it is necessary to focus on cooperation not only with the communist, but also the nationalist circles. Radek taught: “German Social Democracy is much more dangerous for us than the nationalists. It takes away the working masses. Nationalists will play a positive role. They will mobilize large masses and throw them against the Rhine against French imperialism, along with the first Red Guards of the German proletariat. ” Within the framework of this program, the Bolsheviks established contacts with nationalist organizations, including the Nazis. In particular, Richard Sorge worked in this direction.
But with the Communist Party of Germany there was an overlay. In it began the strife between the so-called “Brandler group” and the “Maslova - Ruth Fisher” group. Now this conflict urgently sought to eliminate. The leaders of the second group were threatened that Unshlikht would liquidate them, offered to take a payoff and go abroad. But they turned out to be “ideological”, did not agree. However, in passing, it turned out that the leadership of the KKE as a “combat headquarters” is no good at all. Therefore, it was recognized that "the Communist Party is not prepared for quick and decisive action." From the Central Committee of the German Communist Party, the center for training the uprising moved to the Soviet embassy.
But with finance there was another overlay - a significant part of those sums that came through different channels, evaporated as a result of rampant German inflation. However, in actual fact the situation was much simpler - Lenin’s personal envoy Reich was caught stealing, that's all. How much he pocketed, forever remained a mystery. In the future, an investigation was appointed, thanks to the patronage of Krupskaya and Radek Reich managed to get out. But immediately after the acquittal, he escaped to the United States, where he healed a very wealthy man.
Although the preparation of the uprising was considered the strictest secret, but with such a scope secrets leaked out. The German government was alarmed by the Kopp negotiations in Poland, making requests. He also demanded the immediate withdrawal of Radek from Germany, threatening to break off diplomatic relations. With the threat of an explosion in the very center of Europe, the Entente powers became alarmed. The French counterintelligence began to assist Berlin by supplying it with information from its sources. French troops were brought to combat readiness. England began diplomatic demarches against the USSR.
With the support of the West, the German government of Stresemann behaved more resolutely. In late September, it imposed a state of emergency throughout the state. Drew attention to the activities of the Nazis in Bavaria. He ordered the Bavarian Minister-President von Kar to normalize the situation, arrest the leaders of the volunteer "Freikor", close the Nazi newspaper "Felkischer Beobachter". Not here it was! Bavarian separatism already broke out with might and main. Kar refused to comply with the requirements of Berlin. He qualified them as an attack on the rights of Bavaria - and, in turn, declared a “state of siege” on its territory. At the head of the land was the “extraordinary triumvirate” of Kara, commander of the military district of General von Lossow and police chief Colonel von Seisser. The commander of the Reichswehr von Sekt dismissed Lossow from his post, threatened to send military units to Munich, but the triumvirate did not obey.
And the Communists, through their own channels, continued to “activate” the revolution. In Poland, 12 October a powerful explosion blew ammunition depots and military ammunition in the Warsaw citadel. He was so strong that the company of soldiers standing on the parade ground for 500 meters from the fortress, was lifted into the air and thrown into the Vistula. Hundreds of people suffered. Following this, unrest began in Lithuania, Estonia. In early November, an uprising broke out in Krakow. The rebels defeated the Uhlan regiment and disarmed the Kraków garrison. Telegrams from Trotsky and Unshlikht poured into the embassy of the USSR in Warsaw with orders to take the leadership of the uprising into their own hands, to create detachments of the Red Guard. But on these very days, 5 - November 8, the Polish Communists staged a railroad strike! Agitators from Warsaw got to Krakow too late, when members of the Sejm Marek and Bobrovsky managed to persuade the rebels to disarm.
In the Baltics, too, nothing happened. Here only a few hundred lumpen and unskilled laborers were raised, and the troops immediately dispersed them. And in Germany, the measures taken by Stresemann and von Sect gave their results. Yes, and most Germans realized that the case smells like another rampant chaos and disasters. They began to shy away from mass actions. In general, the “world revolution” got confused and sank into confusion. However, there were reasons for this not only in Germany, but also in Moscow. There was no unity in the Soviet leadership itself. Lenin was in Gorki in a hopeless state. The power struggle unfolded between Trotsky, on the one hand, and the triumvirate from Stalin-Zinoviev-Kamenev, on the other.
Unlike Trotsky, who assigned the Russian people only the role of “an armful of brushwood” to incite the “world revolution”, Stalin was a “statesman”. He considered the main task of economic restoration and strengthening of Soviet Russia. Recklessly throwing it into a catastrophe of a new world war for the sake of ghostly ideological chimeras, he did not consider it necessary. Zinoviev and Kamenev did not differ in their special patriotism, but the export of the revolution to Germany and the great war automatically brought Trotsky to the first place in the leadership. But neither Zinoviev nor Kamenev were interested in this.
Stalin and his temporary allies in 1923 could not ban a venture advantageous for a competitor. The “world revolution” remained an indisputable postulate of the entire Marxist-Leninist doctrine. But you could simply not deal with these issues, let it go. The case began to fall apart due to departmental inconsistency and disorganization. On the eve of the decisive events, the Politburo stated that the “revolutionary wave” subsided, they did not have time to finish the preparations, and the British and French are clearly ready to intervene. So, there is no chance of success. We decided to postpone the uprising until better times. Trotsky rolled the barrels at Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin, that they delayed the preparation, and at the critical moment “freaked out”. He shouted that he had to give an order for an uprising, and the matter itself would have gone as it should. They, in turn, accused Trotsky of “overestimating” the revolutionary situation in Germany.
Confusion really reigned such that there is nowhere else. After the decision of the Politburo to abolish the uprising, even the command of "rebound" did not understand how. I didn’t reach it at all, I was late somewhere, I didn’t listen to it somewhere. Three days of street fighting raged in Hamburg. Formed "Soviet government" in Saxony and Thuringia. Even the Cheka, led by Krylov, was formed in Leipzig and was preparing lists for dealing with the "counter-revolutionaries." Parts of the Reichswehr under the command of von Sect and Merker were thrown to suppress these foci. And in Bavaria, the Nazis revolted - as it is easy to see, it was clearly coordinated with the projects of Trotsky and Radek, it happened in those days, to which the communists appointed the revolution.
Although the Nazis while acting separately according to their plans. It was supposed to organize a similar campaign against Berlin, like that of Mussolini and his fascists, to overthrow the “capitulatory” government. On November 8, when the Bavarian Minister-President von Kar spoke to the industrialists in the Burgerbroykeller beer, 600 stormtroopers surrounded her. Hitler rushed into the hall with a revolver, jumped on the podium, and blurted out into the air, proclaiming: “The national revolution has begun!” Storm troopers took the exits, a machine gun rolled into the lobby. And Hitler, in a separate room, persuaded the Bavarian rulers Kara, Lossov and Zeisser to enter the leadership of this revolution. They shuffled, denied, the leader of the NSDAP threatened with a revolver. After much controversy, he pulled out an agreement. He announced to the Nazis who had gathered in the pub about the creation of a “provisional government” and a march on Berlin.
An oath to this “government” was organized. But then Kar, Lossow, and Zeisser prudently withdrew, ostensibly to give orders for the preparation of the march. As soon as they escaped from the control of Hitler and his thugs, the “rulers” hurried to leave Munich for the neighboring city, where they issued proclamations that their consent was forced, at gunpoint. The Nazi Party, the Oberland and the Reichsklaglagge unions were declared dissolved, and the police and the Reichswehr were ordered to suppress the insurgency. A similar order from Berlin was sent to military units von Sekt. The parliamentarians sent by Hitler to the barracks of the Munich regiments were arrested. True, the popular General Ludendorff joined the Nazis, and Rem, with a detachment of militants from Reichskrigflagge, captured the headquarters of the military district. But it was blocked by soldiers and police.
The very beginning of the campaign was scheduled for November 9. However, the Nazi forces were fragmented and not very organized. There were already 56 thousand members in the NSDAP, but only 3 thousand arrived at the Burgerbroykeller beer brewery. It was hoped that sympathizers would join the march and that the troops would submit to Ludendorf. The column moved to the center of Munich to connect with the detachment of Rem. At the head were Hitler, Goering, Ludendorff, the banner of the organization “Reichskrigflagge” carried Himmler. Part of the stormtroopers was armed, they carried machine guns by car. The bridge over Isere was blocked by policemen, but Goering, having run out to them, announced that there were hostages in the convoy, Bavarian ministers, promising to shoot them at resistance. The procession passed through the bridge. On this day, Streicher brought the Nazis from Nuremberg and rallied with them in the Marienplatz quarter. They joined the procession.
By noon, the column entered the Residenz Strasse, which led to the besieged district headquarters. But this narrow street was blocked around 100 by police officers under the command of Major Hunglinger. Skip the Nazis, he refused. After negotiations and quarrels, Ludendorff and his adjutant went ahead. Behind him was a part of the column. But a shot rang out, either Hitler, or Streicher, and the police opened fire. The shootout lasted only a few minutes. Three policemen and 16 Nazis died, and the panic effect worked. In the head of the column shot, the wounded screamed, in the tail did not see what was happening. Head leaned back, pushing against the tail, and people ran. Ludendorff both walked and kept going - the police pointed their weapons to the side so as not to hurt the famous general. Passed through the chain and was arrested. Rem surrendered after two hours. Hitler was taken to a suburban estate, where he was taken out and treated - he fell in a crush and broke his collarbone. Wounded Goering and Hess fled to Austria ...
However, the trial of the participants of the “beer putsch” turned out to be quite “democratic”. I mean, toothless. Popular Ludendorff was acquitted, the rest of the leaders got the minimum time, ordinary participants were not tried at all. Hitler was sentenced to five years probation with a probation period of four years. But really stayed in the prison Landsberg 13 months and 20 days. He successfully used this time and quite comfortable conditions for writing the book “Mein Kampf”.
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