"The Little Corporal"

The Russian sky is very large and under it some of the queerest things in history have happened. One of them happened last week. Leon Trotzky, ne Bronstein, former War Lord of Russia, arrived in Moscow. His entrance was as quiet as was his exit last January (TIME, Jan. 26). There were no bands, no cheering people, no officials--the Kremlin was cold to his return. At the same time, Grigori Zinoviev, Chairman of the Third (Communist) Internationale, nicknamed "the bomb-boy of Bolshevism," left Moscow for the Caucasus, allegedly for his health.

Only a few days ago, Trotzky was a sick man, but almost overnight he became hale and hearty. The significance of his "recovery" lies deep and is best explained a posteriori.

Significance. During the past month, the Bolshevik Government granted the same privileges to private traders as it was giving to State trusts, permitted long land leases to the peasants and allowed them, under minor restrictions, to hire labor, granted business men the right freely to engage in industry, proposed the suspension of State control of private banks (TIME, Apr. 27 et seq.).

The decommunizing process was unquestionably designed to throw the country open to domestic and foreign enterprise, but it had small chance of success with Zinoviev riding the Third Internationale at a gallop. Christian Rakovsky, Charge d'Affaires at London, and Leonid Krassin, Ambassador at Paris,* had both complained bitterly about having their every project and diplomatic advance stampeded by Zinoviev and his wild men.

Then, there was a visit paid by Alexei Rykov, Chairman (Premier) of the Council of People's Commissars (Cabinet), to Trotzky in the Caucasus. There were long secret discussions between Rykov, Kamenev and Stalin (the last two, with Zinoviev, formed the so-called triumvirate, a body bitterly opposed to Trotzky). Suddenly Trotzky came back. Zinoviev departed. The Council of Commissars is to be reshuffled. Rumors say that Trotzky is to supplant Krassin as Commissar of Foreign Trade, Kamenev is to supplant Zinoviev as Chairman of the Internationale, "other employment" is to be found for Zinoviev.

Evidently, Bolshevism has reached its apogee, has begun to wane. Diplomatic circles heralded the change as a virtual liquidation of the Internationale and the ushering in of a new era, shortly to be announced by Trotzky, which is, once for all, to recognize the rights of private property and the sanctity of inter national debts. But the future alone will decide whether they are right.

Cause. Trotzky, or more properly Bronstein, was born near Odessa 48 years ago ; and, although his hair is gray, his beady, bright eyes confirm his youth. Quite early in life, he became a revolutionary; and History records his movements from Odessa to Siberia (escaped), to Geneva, back to Russia, to Siberia (escaped), to Austria. On the outbreak of the War, he went to Paris, was deported to Spain, arrested, left for the U. S., edited the Nory Mir in Manhattan, left early in 1917 for Russia, where he became Lenin's right-hand man and took prominent part in the Oktober (Bolshevik) revolution.

For a short time, he was Foreign Commissar; but, early in 1918, he be came Commissar of War or Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army, a posi tion which he held until last February. The dominating trait of his character is energy. One week he was in Siberia, another at Moscow, another at Sevastapol. Always was he on the move. His discipline made that of the Tsars a sort of mother's love and it was said that every officer and soldier went in terror of his life. So much for his efficiency.

Lenin died and, allegedly, designated Trotzky as his logical successor. But there was too much jealousy in the Bolshevik camp to permit of so easy a solution. Rykov, a moderate, succeeded Lenin. Trotzky remained War Lord, wrote a book called 1917, made several speeches in which he attacked the policy of the Government.

From this moment, there began a bombardment on his character and his dangerous heterodox leanings, led by Kamenev, Zinoviev, Stalin, Dzerzhinsky and others who did not stop at calling him the "Little Corporal." The gist of this attack was that Trotzky was trying to substitute Trotzkyism for Leninism. It was alleged, according to an official document, that his attacks "had been interpreted by the bourgeoisie and the Social Democrats [Menshevists] as a sign of a split within the Russian Communist Party, and consequently as the disruption of the dictatorship of the proletariat"; that he had "declared war against the very foundation of Bolshevist doctrine"; that "the Second Internationale, the most dangerous servants of the bourgeoisie, are endeavoring to use Trotzky's rebellion 'on principle' for compromising Leninism, the Russian revolution and the Communist Internationale"; that "the peasants have become convinced that there is no party unity on the peasant question"; that Trotzky "actually supports the enemies of Bolshevism in the camp of the Second Internationale." Following this judgment, Trotzky was deposed, went to the Caucasus "for his health."

The charge of alienating the peasants, who have always been the chief problem of Bolshevism, was the most serious and could be borne out by a speech which Trotzky made some years previously: "We will have no pity for the peasants; we will make labor armies of them, with military discipline and Communists as their chiefs." But in his letter of defense, published last January in the Isvestia and the Prarda, he said : "Great political significance is attached to this term [Trotzkyism] in relation to the peasant question. I repudiate emphatically the assumption that the formula 'permanent revolution' was used by me as denoting lack of care in handling the peasant question." And he goes on to defend himself against the charge that he was seeking to create a personal platform for himself.

It now appears that Trotzky was too big a man to be kept out in the cold. The "Little Corporal" has come back; and many people inside and outside of Russia wondered if it was to be a Waterloo or an Austerlitz.

*Also Commissar of Foreign Trade.