25. Concerning Slanderers¶
Core Argument¶
In his twenty-fifth chapter, "Concerning Slanderers," Leon Trotsky dissects the calumny that dogged the Bolshevik leadership in 1917, tracing its origins, its political function, and its eventual refutation by history. Upon arriving in Petrograd in May 1917, Trotsky found himself tarred with the same accusation levelled at Lenin: that of being a German agent, smuggled into Russia via a "sealed car" on the orders of the Kaiser. The slander, initiated by Ambassador Buchanan, was first publicly challenged by Trotsky at the first All-Russian Congress of Soviets on 5 June. He declared that until Milyukov withdrew the charge, the brand of a dishonourable slanderer would remain on his forehead. The entire congress, nine-tenths of whom were political opponents, rose to give him a standing ovation. Undeterred, the newspaper Rech then alleged that a German association in New York had given Trotsky $10,000 to overthrow the Provisional Government. Trotsky countered by explaining that a farewell collection had raised only $310, which he distributed among five emigrants short of funds; he had never possessed even a tenth of that sum at one time.
Imprisoned on 23 July on the same charge, Trotsky refused to participate in the investigation, declaring the key document—the deposition of Corporal Yermolyenko—a purposeful fabrication. In 1928, Alexander Kerensky revived the slander in his book. Trotsky dissects Kerensky’s account with surgical precision, showing Yermolyenko to be a petty adventurer who claimed the German staff gave him 1,500 roubles for separatist propaganda. Yermolyenko’s evidence mentioned Lenin only senselessly, claiming he had attended conferences in Berlin. Kerensky introduced Ganetsky, Kozlovsky and a Madame Sumenson as intermediaries, but provided no evidence. Kerensky claimed a Stockholm agent carrying incontrovertible documents was never arrested because the secret was leaked prematurely. Yet Kerensky’s own account admits that the two-month investigation into Bolshevik "German intrigues" ended in failure, despite earlier claims that Lenin’s connection with Ludendorff was "incontrovertibly established". Kerensky then swears "before history" that the charge is true, yet later confesses the Provisional Government "lost forever the possibility of proving Lenin’s treason decisively". In Trotsky’s own case, Kerensky includes him in the espionage system with studied vagueness, avoiding any detail. The sole evidence against Trotsky was that he had travelled with Lenin in the sealed train; in fact, Trotsky arrived from New York a month later via Canada, a fact the court examiner had not bothered to check. Trotsky exposed this in court. Kerensky knows his case collapsed, which is why he says nothing about it. Kerensky’s general claim that German propaganda and espionage destroyed Russia is self-defeating: if Germany’s apparatus could so easily install Bolshevism, why have the Entente powers failed to overthrow it in twelve years? The Bolsheviks published only a small newspaper and handbills; Kerensky offers no evidence of German material support. Ludendorff’s memoirs reveal only that he allowed revolutionaries through Germany hoping to weaken Russia; Lenin used this for his own ends. History has since judged: the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, and the German revolution overthrew Ludendorff a year later.