21. Through Spain¶
Core Argument¶
In Chapter 21, “Through Spain,” Trotsky recounts his expulsion from France and transit across Spain, a journey that exposes the character of the bourgeois state and the peculiarities of Spanish political life. Escorted by two French police inspectors from Paris to the Spanish border, Trotsky notes the older man’s knowledge of Russian geography and the younger’s cynical disquisitions on Latin decadence and determinism. Released at Irun with instructions to pose as a tourist, Trotsky visits the Prado in Madrid, reflecting on how war would transform art. There he contacts a French socialist, learning that the Spanish party is dominated by French patriotic socialism, with genuine opposition found only among Barcelona syndicalists.
On 9 November, Spanish police arrest him and hold him for seven hours. The police chief declares Trotsky’s ideas “too advanced for Spain” and orders his deportation. Trotsky is taken to the model prison, where cells cost 1.5 pesetas or 75 centimes, with unequal walking times. He refuses fingerprinting and foot-measuring but is forcibly subjected to both. On 12 November, he is sent to Cadiz for deportation to Havana. Refusing to pay for the ticket, he sends telegrams to politicians and papers, securing permission to wait for a New York boat instead. Two years later, in 1918, Bidet—the Paris police chief who orchestrated the expulsion—is arrested in Soviet Russia as a spy, admitting his rudeness and that prison had done him good.
In Cadiz, police surveillance proves paternal and cooperative, unlike the adversarial pursuit in Paris where dodging detectives was a sporting game. The Cadiz detective protects Trotsky’s interests, haggles with vendors and swears at a shrimp seller who overcharges. Trotsky studies Spanish history and conjugations, renews his English vocabulary for America, and notes that the local paper carries no war news. After securing permission to meet his family in Barcelona, they embark on the steamer Monserrat on 25 December, bound for New York. The old, uncomfortable tub flies a neutral Spanish flag, reducing sinking risks. Passengers include deserters, adventurers, and speculators fleeing conscription; third-class passengers are sullen, impoverished migrants heading to uncertain labour in America. The boys befriend a republican fireman who expresses anti-monarchist views. The voyage lasts seventeen days, and Trotsky wonders what 1917 will bring.