30. In Moscow¶
Core Argument¶
Following the signing of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, Trotsky resigned from the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, succeeded by Chicherin. Lenin, fulfilling an original intention, appointed Trotsky War Commissar and chairman of the Supreme War Council. Trotsky felt profoundly unprepared for military work, having no army service, but accepted because no one else was available. He distinguished his task from that of capitalist war ministers: he had to build a new army from scratch under fire, not merely maintain an existing one.
The government moved from Petrograd to Moscow in March 1918, over opposition led by Zinoviev. Trotsky argued the move protected both the government and Petrograd from capture. He arrived in Moscow the day after his appointment. The Kremlin’s antiquated surroundings contrasted sharply with revolutionary life. Trotsky and Lenin lived in adjacent rooms in the Kavalersky building, sharing a dining room. Their Brest-Litovsk disagreements had dissipated, and they met frequently. Old Tsarist staff, like the attendant Stupishin, remained, adjusting to new conditions. Trotsky chaired a commission to resolve jurisdictional conflicts with the Moscow Soviet of People’s Commissars, which was eventually dissolved. Lenin and Trotsky worked closely to impose order and efficiency, combating slovenliness. They often agreed on policy; when they disagreed, discussion was deferred. Trotsky conducted most work from the war commissariat outside the Kremlin.
Trotsky’s wife joined the Commissariat of Education, responsible for protecting museums and historical monuments during the civil war, which brought her into conflict with the War Commissariat over troops damaging cultural sites. Trotsky communicated with Lenin chiefly by telephone, handling a vast range of issues daily. French military representatives, including General Lavergne, shifted position after the German advance, offering help with army-building, though Trotsky suspected them of being more competent in espionage than administration. A formal presentation of Allied military missions in his small room was awkward and inconclusive. Trotsky focused on military affairs, selecting the right personnel and merging army organisation with party work. He chose Sklyansky, a 26-year-old doctor, as his deputy; Sklyansky presided over the Revolutionary War Council in Trotsky’s absence, was indefatigable and exact, and was defended by Lenin against intrigues stirred by Stalin. The war department remained relatively free of cliques. The civil war kept Trotsky away from government business, with decisions made at the Politburo; his correspondence with Lenin concerned civil war matters. Lenin proposed Trotsky attend Wilson’s conciliation conference, but it came to nothing. Gorky recorded Lenin praising Trotsky’s army-building and dismissing lies about their relations. Trotsky notes that anti-Semitism was ineffective in the Red Army, citing a White Guard account of a Cossack insisting Trotsky was “Russian… a fighter,” and that anti-Trotskyism and anti-Semitism arose together from petty bourgeois reaction against October.