Speech in Honour of the Communist International¶
Core Argument¶
Here, in a speech delivered on the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution, Leon Trotsky offers a defiant balance-sheet of the Soviet Republic’s first five years of existence. The core argument is that the regime has not merely survived but has been forged into an unbreakable unity by the very ordeal of struggle. Trotsky’s narrative thrust is to counter the persistent expectation of the capitalist world that the Soviet state is a temporary aberration, an ephemeral phenomenon destined to collapse. He directly addresses the “journalists, the politicians and all representatives of the other camp,” challenging them to find any crack between the Soviet power, the Red Army, and the toiling masses. The evidence he offers is the spectacle of the demonstration itself: the harmonious ranks of Red Army soldiers, workers, and peasants marching across Red Square. This visible solidarity is presented as the definitive refutation of enemy hopes for a gulf between the government and the people.
The speech draws heavily on the immediate historical context of the post-war revolutionary wave and its setbacks. Trotsky notes that after five years, the Soviet Republic has normal relations with only one major power, defeated Germany, and remains unrecognised by the rest. This isolation is not a sign of weakness but of a deeper, historical recognition: the regime has been “adopted and accepted with enthusiasm into the family of the world working class.” The polemical target is clear: the capitalist statesmen, personified by David Lloyd George. Trotsky recalls the Genoa Conference, where Lloyd George haughtily demanded to “take a look at what sort of passengers you are” before allowing the Soviet delegation aboard the ship of international diplomacy. Trotsky’s retort is a cutting polemic: “He kept looking at us so long that he stubbed his toe and fell overboard himself.” This encapsulates the argument that capitalist arrogance is self-defeating and that the Soviet Republic’s patient endurance is a form of strategic victory.
Trotsky also strikes a note of cautious internationalism. He addresses the delegates of the Communist International from fifty countries, assuring them that the Soviet Republic is not passively waiting but has tirelessly worked to improve its organisation and win over the most backward layers of the working class. The speech balances a militant readiness to defend the “fortress of the Soviet Republic” with a stated desire for peace. Trotsky announces a forthcoming conference on disarmament with former enemy states and pledges that the Soviet government would gladly reduce its army to a fraction of its size in response to sincere peace overtures. Yet the final note is one of unyielding vigilance: “we wait without letting the rifles slip out of the hands of the workers and peasants.” The speech concludes with a rhetorical flourish, contrasting the fogs that had covered Moscow with the clear blue sky and red banners of the anniversary, a metaphor for the inevitable dawn of a superior, peaceful culture of human brotherhood.