In Defense of Marxism-2

In Defense of Marxism

Trotsky and Iskra

The young Social Democratic
movement was still scattered and almost
without any organization. The task of
organizing and uniting the numerous
local Social Democratic groups inside
Russia was taken up by Lenin together
with Plekhanov’s exiled “Emancipation of
Labor Group”. With Plekhanov’s backing
Lenin launched a new paper, the Iskra,
which played the key role in organizing
and uniting the genuine Marxist tendency.
All the work of producing and distributing
the paper and maintaining a voluminous
correspondence with Russia was carried
out by Lenin and his indefatigable
companion Nadyezhda Krupskaya. Despite
all the obstacles, they managed to smuggle
Iskra into Russia clandestinely, where it
made an enormous impact. Very quickly
the genuine Marxists united around the
Iskra, which by 1903 had already become
the majority tendency in the Russian Social
Democracy.
In 1902 Trotsky turned up on
Lenin’s doorstep in London, where
he joined the staff at Iskra, working
closely with Lenin. Although the young
revolutionary, who had just arrived from
Russia, was not aware of it, relations on the
Editorial Board were already tense. There
were constant clashes between Lenin and
Plekhanov over a series of political and
organizational questions. The truth of the
matter was that the old activists of the
“Emancipation of Labor Group” had been
seriously affected by the long period of
exile, when their work had been limited
to that of propaganda on the fringes of
the Russian labor movement. It was a
small group of intellectuals, who were
undoubtedly sincere in their revolutionary
ideas, but who suffered from all the vices
of exile and small circles of intellectuals.
At times, their methods of work were
more those of a discussion club, or of a
circle of personal friends, than those of a
revolutionary party whose aim was that of
taking power.
Lenin, who practically did the
most important part of this work, with the
help of Krupskaya, struggled against these
tendencies, but with very little results. He
had placed all his hopes in the calling of a
Party Congress, in which the working class
rank and file would have put order “in their
own house”. He placed a lot of hope on
Trotsky whose writing skills had earned
him the nickname “Pero”—the Pen. In the
earliest edition of her Memoirs of Lenin,
Krupskaya underlines the high opinion
Lenin had of the “Young Eagle”
Lenin was desperately looking for
a capable young comrade from Russia to
co-opt onto the Editorial Board in order to
break the deadlock with the old editors. The
appearance of Trotsky, recently escaped
from Siberia, was eagerly seized upon by
Lenin in order to make the change. Trotsky,
then only 22 years old, had already made
a name for himself as a Marxist writer,
hence his party name Pero (the Pen). In the
earliest editions of her memoirs of Lenin,
Krupskaya gives an honest description of
Lenin’s enthusiastic attitude to Trotsky.
Since these lines have been cut out of all
subsequent editions, we quote them here in
full:
“Both the hearty recommendations
of the ‘young eagle’ and this first
conversation made Vladimir Ilyich pay
particular attention to the new-comer. He
talked with him a great deal and went on
walks with him.
“Vladimir Ilyich questioned him
as to his visit to the Yuzhny Rabochii
[the Southern Worker, which adopted a
vacillating position between Iskra and
its opponents]. He was well pleased with
the definite manner in which Trotsky
formulated the position. He liked the way
Trotsky was able immediately to grasp
the very substance of the differences and
to perceive through the layers of wellmeaning
statements their desire, under the
guise of a popular paper, to preserve the
autonomy of their own little group.
“Meanwhile, the call came from
Russia with increased insistence for
Trotsky to be sent back. Vladimir Ilyich
wanted him to remain abroad and to help in
the work of Iskra.
“Plekhanov immediately looked
on Trotsky with suspicion: he saw in him
a supporter of the younger section of
the Iskra editorial board (Lenin, Martov,
Potresov), and a pupil of Lenin. When
Vladimir Ilyich sent Plekhanov an article
of Trotsky’s, he replied: ‘I don’t like the
pen of your Pen.’ ‘The style is merely a
matter of acquisition,’ replied Vladimir
Ilyich, ‘but the man is capable of learning
and will be very useful’.”