In Defense of Marxism:3

In March 1903, Lenin formally
requested the inclusion of Trotsky as a
seventh member of the Editorial Board.
In a letter to Plekhanov, he wrote: “I am
submitting to all members of the Editorial
Board a proposal to co-opt
“Pero” as a full member of the
Board. (I believe that for co-option not
a majority but a unanimous decision is
needed.)
“We are very much in need of a
seventh member both because it would
simplify voting (six being an even number)
and reinforce the Board.
“’Pero’ has been writing in every
issue for several months now. In general
he is working for Iskra most energetically,
delivering lectures (and with tremendous
success) etc. For our department of
topical articles and items he will be not
only very useful but quite indispensable.
He is unquestionably a man of more than
average ability, convinced, energetic, and
promising. And he could do a good deal
in the sphere of translation and popular
literature.
“We must draw in young forces:
this will encourage them and prompt
them to regard themselves as professional
writers. And that we have too few of such
is clear-witness 1) the difficulty of finding
editors of translations; 2) the shortage of
articles reviewing the internal situation,
and 3) the shortage of popular literature.
It is in the sphere of popular literature that
‘Pero’ would like to try his hand.
“Possible arguments against: 1)
his youth; 2) his early (perhaps) return
to Russia; 3) a pen (without quotation
marks) with traces of feuilleton style, too
pretentious, etc.
“Ad 1) ‘Pero’ is suggested not for
an independent post, but for the Board. In
it he will gain experience. He undoubtedly
has the ‘intuition’ of a Party man, a
man of our trend; as for knowledge and
experience these can be acquired. That he
is hardworking is likewise unquestionable.
It is necessary to co-opt him so as finally to
draw him in and encourage him…”
However, Plekhanov, guessing
that Trotsky would support Lenin, placing
him in a minority, angrily vetoed the
proposal.
“Soon after,” adds Krupskaya, “Trotsky
went to Paris, where he began to advance
with remarkable success.”
These lines by Lenin’s lifelong
companion are all the more remarkable for
having been written in 1930, when Trotsky
was expelled from the Party, living in exile
in Turkey and under a total ban inside the
Soviet Union. Only the fact that Krupskaya
was Lenin’s widow saved her from Stalin’s
wrath, at least for the time being. Later on
she was forced by intolerable pressure to
bow her head and accept, passively, the
distortion of the historical record, though
to the end she steadfastly refused to join
in the chorus of glorification of Stalin,
who, in the pages of her biography, plays
a minimal role-which, in truth, reflects the
real situation. Unfortunately, this early
collaboration between Lenin and Trotsky
was brought to an abrupt halt by the split at
the Second Congress of the Russian Social
Democratic Labor Party.