34. The Train¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 34: The Train
The train of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council was far more than a mode of transport; it was a mobile apparatus of administration and a fighting institution rolled into one. Over the course of at least thirty-six journeys covering more than 105,000 kilometres, it functioned as the nervous system of the Red Army during the Civil War, predominantly serving the most critical fronts, especially the southern front in 1920. Its purpose was not passive inspection but active construction: building, educating, administering, and supplying the army under fire. The train carried a secretariat, printing press, telegraph and radio stations, electric-power station, library, garage, and even a bath. It formed companies, battalions, regiments, and entire divisions from the raw materials of war—irregulars, refugees, mobilised peasants, and worker detachments. It carried reserves of communists, fighting men, boots, leather jackets, machine guns, and other vital supplies. The train held conferences with representatives from all levels, yielding immediate practical results and enabling direct-wire demands to Moscow for urgent supplies. It combated catastrophes caused by treason, and its arrival put isolated units in touch with the wider army and world, dispelling rumours and firming morale. The train substituted improvisation for system to prevent perishing before a system could be built.
Yet the train was also a fighting institution, more akin to an armoured train than a staff headquarters. It carried a squad of sharpshooters and machine gunners; all crew could handle arms and wore leather uniforms with metal badges. Frequent alarms and ‘landing parties’ kept men alert. The train’s presence a few kilometres behind the firing line had an overwhelming effect on morale, often deciding the outcome of engagements. Over two and a half years, the train lost about fifteen men killed or wounded, and it was decorated with the Order of the Red Flag for its role in battles against Yudenich. Commanders often asked Trotsky to linger so news of the train’s arrival would spread, calling it “as good as a division in reserve.” The enemy imagined it as far more formidable than it was. Socialist-Revolutionaries planned to wreck it, but had lost political faith. The train was wrecked at Gorki station due to faulty switching; eight cars were destroyed, but no one was seriously hurt. The crew also helped during famine, epidemics, propaganda campaigns, and international congresses. The train was disbanded a few months after the Crimean campaign, the last of the civil war.