35. The Defence of Petrograd¶
Core Argument¶
By mid-1919, the Seventh Army guarding Petrograd had been fatally weakened by prolonged inaction; its chief of staff, Colonel Lundkvist, was a White conspirator. General Yudenich, backed by England and Estonia, launched an offensive timed to coincide with Denikin’s advance on Moscow. The Seventh Army collapsed without resistance. Lenin, believing Petrograd could only be saved by stripping other fronts, argued for abandoning the city. Trotsky opposed this, insisting Yudenich would use Petrograd’s resources to march on Moscow. On 15 October, the Politburo adopted Trotsky’s resolution: Petrograd would not be evacuated but defended to the last. Trotsky drafted a decree for street fighting and planned a possible withdrawal of workers to the southeast.
Arriving on 16 October, Trotsky found the leadership demoralised — Zinoviev in particular was paralysed by panic. Bypassing the broken official apparatus, Trotsky mobilised district party organisations and workers. The city was fortified with barricades, trenches and artillery positions. On 21 October, the Red Army held the Pulkovo line; by 23 October it retook Tsarskoye Syelo. The routed Whites were driven to the Estonian frontier, where they were disarmed and left to perish from typhus.
The White leaders’ complaints that Admiral Cowan broke promises of support were exaggerated; three British torpedo boats were sunk by mines, killing 550 sailors. An order to the army and navy on 24 October 1919 distinguished between two Englands: the England of profit and violence fighting them, and the England of labour and international solidarity supporting them. Trotsky received a commendation from Zinoviev on behalf of the Communist International for saving Petrograd, but these documents were later removed from archives when Zinoviev changed political direction. The Politburo awarded Trotsky the Order of the Red Flag, despite his initial hesitation about revolutionary orders. Kamenev proposed awarding the same decoration to Stalin; Kalinin objected, but Bukharin explained it was Lenin’s idea to satisfy Stalin’s jealousy. At the award ceremony, applause for Stalin was minimal and the hall bewildered; Stalin was absent. Trotsky was more pleased that his train received the collective decoration, listing those killed, wounded, and shell-shocked. Lenin urged Trotsky to read Kirdetzov’s book, a White account of Yudenich’s advance, which praised Trotsky’s burning energy in organising worker-communist detachments, marine battalions, and military students who fought like lions against tanks.