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thats better h e l p
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on revolutions
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and welcome to revolutions
2:39
two hundred
2:42
history average ten
2:46
point one hundred i'm
2:48
just laughing at absurdity of all
2:51
this we are a long ways
2:53
from wherever i started this podcast back and twenty
2:55
thirteen twelve to fifteen
2:57
episodes series i said it'll be simple said
3:00
i really want switch gears and not do anything
3:02
as insane lee largest history of room
3:04
i said the even after
3:06
i left the genie of the bottle in the french revolution
3:08
ran for fifty five episodes it
3:10
did not even remotely occur to me that i
3:12
would approach that many episodes ever again
3:14
let alone blow past it so long
3:16
ago i can't even see it in the rearview
3:19
mirror
3:20
we have been doing the russian revolution series for three
3:22
years now three calendar years which
3:24
is just about as long as expected the entire
3:26
podcast run all series combined
3:29
when i first launch the show almost a decade
3:31
ago this is truly
3:33
insane thanks very much for sticking
3:35
around but let's start bringing
3:37
this mother and for landing shall we what
3:41
did great lessons i hope you've taken away from
3:43
this series the whole of revolutions
3:45
and the whole of the history of rome if you listen to that
3:48
the history just keeps happening things
3:50
just keep happening one after the other been
3:52
an unbroken continuum crises
3:55
conflicts accomplishments setbacks old
3:57
people retire and i knew people are born
4:00
replace them any random
4:02
historical year could appear in one biography
4:04
in final pages covering their final
4:06
days and death in another biography
4:09
in the first pages covering birth in
4:11
early childhood
4:12
historical causes produce historical
4:14
facts that then become historical causes
4:17
of the next historical effects
4:19
the world war one originated in the franco prussian
4:21
war which came from eighteen forty eight which
4:23
came from the napoleonic wars which came
4:25
from the french revolution drawing
4:28
invisible line to divide up years
4:30
and periods in ages there's an
4:32
absolutely artificial exercise as
4:34
one day simply follows from the next in a seamless
4:37
transformation from one day to the next
4:40
history passes one day at time one
4:42
hour a time one minute at time
4:44
when moment at it there's
4:47
never break there's never a pause
4:49
that's just the relentless passing of time the
4:52
the beginning time though
4:54
because history's always happening there
4:57
is always something happening that
4:59
thing to deal with something exploding
5:02
something imploding something
5:04
beginning something ending but
5:07
there's always always always
5:09
something that comes along and derails carefully
5:11
laid plans and forces people into that
5:13
place that humans eternally live
5:16
but are eternally trying to escape that
5:19
place where we must scramble an improvised
5:21
responses to unexpected events ever
5:24
since october nineteen seventeen for example
5:27
lennon and his comrades had been aiming
5:29
for this thing they called the breathing
5:31
spell the moment
5:33
of relative peace tranquility and
5:35
regularity where they would be able to
5:37
implement their program free of mortal
5:39
threat to the soviet regime this
5:42
was the logic behind the tree abruptly task
5:45
make peace at enormous cost because
5:48
we need a breeding spell this
5:51
was the great price to be worn during the civil war
5:53
if we defeat all our enemies we
5:55
shall be able to finally work in peace
5:59
that this breed spell they yearned for
6:01
was a mirage and it's always
6:03
mirage we all know
6:05
from our own daily lives that fabled
6:07
next week or next month or next
6:09
year when we will finally
6:11
be able to do all the things we have to put
6:13
off today because we're too busy to
6:15
harried and dealing with too many other
6:17
emergencies big small that
6:20
deadlines that forces to drop everything unexpected
6:22
events that just opened our lives except
6:26
when we get to that next week and next month
6:28
next year we find the same set
6:30
of unexpected emergencies often
6:32
the same type and category that snuck is throughout
6:34
our lives and we are forced back into
6:36
our natural state of scrambling a reaction
6:38
in improvising a response
6:40
and despite this never quite being able
6:42
to give up the fantasy that next week next
6:45
month or next year it will be different
6:47
that will finally get that breeding spell
6:50
the there's never gonna be breathing spell that's
6:52
not how life works that's not how history
6:54
works if
6:57
historical breathing spells existed
6:59
by all rights the russian communist party should have been
7:01
long into one in summer nineteen twenty three
7:04
nineteen twenty one
7:06
they had survived the end of world war one the
7:08
civil war and every other uprising
7:11
invasion and crisis that had threatened their
7:13
new regime
7:15
but instead bit just continued to be
7:17
one damn thing after another there
7:19
was catastrophic famine and economic crisis
7:22
conflict within between nationalities
7:24
classes and political factions the
7:27
now here nineteen twenty three was just more the same
7:29
always always more in the same
7:32
stop me if you've heard this before but in nineteen
7:34
twenty three the conditions endured
7:36
by the industrial working classes of russia
7:38
in their factories and minds and railroads becoming
7:41
intolerable on threatening violent upheaval
7:44
there was a broader economic crisis
7:46
sweeping central europe they might open
7:48
the door for the long hope for worldwide communist
7:50
revolution along with
7:52
this they're still poison real possibility
7:55
that russia was about to dragged back into war
7:57
between the great powers the war that
7:59
should have been on thinkable as they are all
8:01
just five years removed from the great war which
8:03
was somehow a very light possibility
8:06
by the fall of nineteen twenty three though
8:10
there's no breeding spell there's never
8:12
going to be breathing spell there was
8:14
only history over and over and over
8:16
again forever so
8:19
yeah unrest in the industrial sector
8:22
it's been a constant companion of our series going
8:24
back to david vitter boom in the eighty nineties
8:27
they mentioned few times over the past several episodes
8:30
since the beginning of world war one the
8:32
russian working classes have been absolutely
8:36
when the war came the ranks of the proletariat
8:38
practically doubled overnight as every
8:40
factory russia turn to cranking
8:42
out coats and boots and trains
8:45
equipment and munitions one
8:47
person from october cities to fill jobs
8:49
the urban population grew exponentially through
8:52
nineteen fourteen and can fifteen and eighteen
8:54
sixteen then
8:56
it all came crashing down the
8:58
dawn of nanking seventeen scarcity and inflation
9:01
produced rolling social crisis that smash
9:03
through the industrial economy and then
9:05
smash right through the summer no
9:08
fuel and no resources meant factory shut
9:10
down and workers were later inflation
9:12
meant their wages were worthless failures
9:15
the destruction of the railroad meant there no food to
9:17
buy anyway the
9:19
the explosive growth the proletariat since the
9:21
eighty nineties and then especially after
9:23
nineteen fourteen up like
9:25
bubble and when it popped
9:28
the factories when idol the workers fled
9:30
back to their villages the populating the
9:32
cities and leaving behind only the demoralized
9:34
and shell shock remnants of the industrial
9:36
working class the families
9:39
who simply had nowhere else to go now
9:42
i'm not saying there is a causal relationship
9:44
here that one cannot help but notice
9:47
the ironic demographic correlation
9:49
the great communist revolution of october nineteen
9:52
seventeen as outlined
9:54
by marxists revolution was meant to driven
9:56
by the inexorable transformation agricultural
9:58
peasants into industrial workers since
10:01
october nineteen seventeen the opposite
10:03
has occurred workers turning
10:06
back into peasants
10:09
what was left the russian working class was so demoralized
10:12
and exhausted that they're angry convulsions
10:14
in spring nineteen twenty one convulsions
10:16
i had sparked crunched out rebellion
10:19
tribally dissipated in matter of days
10:21
they were no longer able to sustain the kind of
10:23
energy the had driven ninety five and nineteen
10:26
seventeen afraid
10:28
of this briefest of flickers the
10:30
communist party leadership and set work making
10:32
sure it never happened again leadership
10:35
jobs and all the labor unions went to loyal members
10:38
at the party those were among the key
10:40
patronage positions now doled out by general
10:42
secretary the
10:44
job of the union bosses were to keep the workers
10:46
working not press their claims for abuse
10:49
mistreatment and exploitation meanwhile
10:52
the ban on factions issued by the tent party congress
10:54
had been specifically aimed at the so called
10:57
workers opposition that
10:59
nascent faction inside party that wanted to advance
11:01
and defend the working classes against
11:03
the policies of a central committee that
11:05
seem totally divorced now from the proletariat
11:07
a claim to represent as
11:10
if to drive home the point that the communist party
11:12
was no longer in any sense the party of labor
11:15
the signature economic reform initiated
11:18
to grapple with the great economic dislocation
11:20
caused by attacking of war and conflict the
11:22
any p was specifically
11:24
designed to favor peasants over the workers
11:27
it was meant to favor the bosses over the workers
11:30
bourgeoisie over the proletariat the
11:33
turn to market economics led the soviet
11:35
regime to expand their policy of leasing
11:37
state owned factories minds railroads
11:39
to private operators the
11:41
idea was that these operators were
11:43
the ones with the technical knowledge and experience
11:45
to run the factories minds and railroads
11:47
efficiently and productively in
11:50
practice it meant they were inviting
11:52
back same set engineers and managers
11:54
who had run everything before the revolution though
11:57
much though the by spring of nineteen twenty three the
11:59
rebels the top appeared to be a cruel joke
12:02
the nineteen seventeen the revolution had promised control
12:05
the factories would be handed to the worker soviets
12:08
this was the very essence of workers owning
12:10
and controlling means of production this
12:13
promise had been forgotten ages ago the
12:16
reality was they were abused exploited
12:18
in controlled by the same old bosses now
12:20
working and profitable partnership with grandy
12:22
sitcom his party the
12:24
factory floor in their canteens
12:26
and in their be populated and dilapidated
12:28
working class neighborhood the
12:30
urban labor force of soviet russia
12:33
bitterly referred to the any p has
12:35
been new exploitation of the proletariat
12:39
the two years after the unrest
12:41
of nineteen twenty one griping
12:44
of the workers in moscow petra grad
12:46
another city once again gave
12:48
way to active agitation oppose
12:51
by the communist party and the union leaders
12:53
the party appointed working class
12:55
dissidents took matters into their own hands in
12:58
many cases these leaders were themselves longstanding
13:01
party members they weren't reflexively
13:03
anticommunist outsiders a
13:05
few of them had joined bolshevik faction way back
13:07
in nineteen oh five their membership
13:10
card older than all but few of lennon's close
13:12
as followers but
13:14
they did not come from the intelligentsia set who
13:16
ran the party and they filmed the
13:18
hard turn away from representing worker
13:20
interests this was meant to be
13:22
revolution by and for the proletariat
13:25
workers the world unite our power to
13:27
the soviets does anyone even remember the
13:29
slogans the senior
13:31
leaders could do is for the deeply
13:33
unsatisfying assertion that because communist
13:35
party was the party of the workers they
13:38
must be the party of
13:40
the workers
13:43
as know be of wrote in an article in eighteen twenty
13:45
three party can be a workers'
13:47
party and it's composition and yet not
13:49
be proletarian and organization program
13:52
and policy ha
13:54
and how's that again so
13:57
despite the ban on factions clandestine group
14:00
erm to oppress the interest of forgotten proletariat
14:03
on called the workers group any other called yorkers
14:05
trying in july and august
14:07
nineteen twenty three they organize wildcat strikes
14:10
labour shut down to posting condemned by
14:12
official union leadership this
14:14
was an incredibly vexing for the leaders
14:17
the communist party because at that same moment
14:19
they were watching similar rise and worker
14:21
unrest over in germany and concluding
14:23
it meant that revolution was in the air and
14:26
if such conditions meant that revolution loomed
14:28
over germany did
14:30
it mean for reason this
14:33
is where here what's hop over to germany
14:36
because nineteen twenty three was a year of major
14:39
crisis for the young weimar republic even
14:41
more so than the young soviet regime reparations
14:44
payments to diversify treaty compounded
14:46
the devastation wrought by world war one leaving
14:49
the german economy in shambles as
14:52
we've seen british tried ease the punitive burdens
14:54
in the intercept general peace and stability
14:57
the interests of the british economy but
15:00
the french government adamantly opposed
15:02
any changes their economy
15:04
was also a devastated shambles and
15:06
it required german money and capital and
15:08
manufactured goods to review was
15:12
there was the unspoken belief
15:14
that these reparations payments were simply
15:16
repayment plus interest the
15:19
reparations germany had imposed on france
15:21
after the franco prussian and
15:24
you'll recall was amount calculated by bismarck
15:26
to be identical to amount napoleon
15:28
had imposed on prussia in eighteen oh seven
15:30
because this is all just one unbroken
15:33
continuity of history
15:35
causes becoming fax becoming causes
15:37
becoming effects anyway
15:40
by the end of nineteen twenty two the germans fell behind
15:42
schedule navigation the official reparations
15:45
commission created by the side treaty declared
15:47
germany and default leading the french
15:49
and belgian armies to move in and occupied
15:51
or or valley in january nineteen twenty
15:53
three as punishment and
15:56
as guarantee for future payment as
15:59
the road the valley contain something like three
16:01
quarters of german iron steel and coal
16:03
production the occupation triggered
16:06
collapse of the german economy a crisis
16:08
political legitimacy for the german government
16:10
and an international diplomatic crisis
16:13
that might turn into the guns of august
16:15
all over again it was
16:17
among the suit my triggers for the infamous
16:19
run of hyper inflation that
16:21
rock the very similar foundation to the weimar
16:23
republic and my
16:26
hyperinflation we mean hyper
16:28
inflation german marks
16:30
weren't hit my five ten or twenty percent
16:32
inflation not even one hundred percent
16:34
that's nothing talking about
16:36
thousands of percent millions of
16:38
percent infinity of percent
16:41
the and nineteen twenty three it took literally
16:43
billions of german marks to
16:45
get back one single us this
16:49
was an economic apocalypse that triggered massive
16:51
social and political crisis and
16:53
revolutionaries on both sides right and
16:55
left lick their lips hungrily
16:58
the on the same summer nineteen twenty three when
17:00
workers in moscow and patrick grad we're launching
17:02
small scale wildcat strikes a
17:04
massive strike way broke across germany
17:07
including somewhere between three and three and half
17:09
million people that horse the
17:11
government to resign the european
17:13
leaders to fret about total systemic collapse
17:16
and lead radical groups across the political spectrum
17:18
to arm and mobilize including
17:21
for example a small quake of cartoonishly
17:23
second rate reactionary clowns down in
17:25
bavaria for
17:28
the self proclaimed leaders of the international
17:30
communist revolution in moscow event
17:33
in germany seem like a golden opportunity
17:35
to finally harpoon they're great white
17:37
whale ever since
17:39
marx and engels had written the communist manifesto
17:42
back eighteen forty eight industrial
17:44
germany had been considered the epicenter
17:47
of the proletarian revolution
17:49
as we've discussed at length all
17:51
the russian marxists going back play han
17:53
off axelrod and sassou it assumed
17:56
any hypothetical russian revolution would
17:59
be a precursor who or and and celery
18:01
project of the main event
18:03
in germany nearly
18:05
all european socialists not like that as
18:08
german spd took the lead in the second international
18:11
it was practically axiomatic the the proletarian
18:13
revolution would be german speaking
18:15
revolution the failure
18:18
of the german revolution to materialize during
18:20
and after world war one add
18:22
forced bolsheviks to improvise new policies
18:25
but never led them to give up hope that
18:27
in the and they were just holding ground until
18:30
the real revolution broke out in germany with
18:33
the french occupation of the rare valley and
18:35
massive strikes exploding in summer nineteen
18:37
twenty three all the disheartening
18:40
setbacks and spartacus revolt and nineteen
18:42
nineteen seem to be on the verge
18:44
of a dramatic reverse as
18:47
the head of the common turn the
18:49
third international comrade
18:52
the know vf was all in on stating
18:54
what he referred to as a german october
18:57
they're not all his comrades were zegers he
19:00
was they were skeptical the suppose
19:02
it's strength of german communist party and
19:04
supposed weakness of their enemies but
19:07
you know the of push the party to send money
19:09
agents and all manner of support to stage
19:11
a revolution in germany for
19:14
you know vfl possible benefit of german
19:16
revolution were enormous as
19:18
when invaded towards death someone
19:20
was gonna wind up feeling his shoes
19:22
the know bf saw no reason why it should
19:24
not be sunovia if
19:27
the revolution truly widened beyond the borders
19:29
of russia the his role as chairman
19:31
of the common turn would make him
19:34
the preeminent russian communist far
19:36
more than possible rivals like trotsky
19:38
installing
19:40
last year sunovia daring lee and
19:42
forcefully pushed for successful revolution
19:44
in face of skepticism and down you
19:47
could at least partially shake the heavyweight
19:49
he had born since opposing the october revolution
19:51
back nineteen seventeen opposition
19:54
lennon had just reminded everyone in the politburo
19:57
about that is dictated testament
20:00
that they ever needed reminding and
20:02
so in summer of nineteen twenty three you know
20:04
bf pushed and pushed for german
20:06
october
20:09
while they were all discussing how to harness
20:11
angry worker enemy in germany the
20:13
waiters of communist party wanted to repress
20:16
it at home the
20:18
background the trial of the srs the
20:20
tracker had rebranded itself
20:22
as the state political director it and
20:25
was now known as the gp you but
20:28
they were still essentially the same operation
20:30
led by the same people on staff by the same
20:32
people there still passed with
20:34
internal political security and served
20:36
as a regime secret police now
20:39
order to root out the causes of the worker strike
20:42
the gp you first tried to prove links to the
20:44
mencia back to the as ours one
20:47
of consequences of so thoroughly purging
20:49
dementia vixen the srs that
20:51
no links can be found there's no links
20:53
existed the drawbacks
20:56
of crushing all your enemies is that
20:58
they are no longer around to blame
21:00
for all your problems though
21:02
agents of the gp you followed leads
21:05
into the workers group and workers truth
21:08
and found most of them as i said we're longstanding
21:10
members of the communist party the
21:14
gp you struggled to find anyone willing to
21:16
turn them in and found many party members
21:18
even in the middle rungs of leadership unwilling
21:21
to help the gp you read them out there
21:23
was anything to use a secret police
21:25
target monarchists and liberals and as
21:27
ours quite another to turn
21:30
them on our own people that
21:32
in september nineteen twenty three bgp you
21:34
finally pinpointed their culprits and
21:37
carried out police sweet to lock up the leadership
21:39
of both groups their ultimate
21:41
punishment however was miles mir
21:43
expulsion from the party the
21:46
logs and midnight executions not
21:48
yet come to the
21:51
amid the debates about
21:53
what to do about encouraging the workers
21:55
in germany to revolt while discouraging
21:58
the workers in russia from revolting the
22:00
leadership in economy is party found itself in novel
22:02
position the first
22:04
time they
22:06
had grapple with major political dilemmas
22:09
without lennon they
22:12
had always argued bickered disagreed
22:14
both among themselves and with lennon lennon
22:17
had always been there undisputed leader the
22:20
now when and is laying out the gorky estate
22:23
immobile non verbal he
22:25
could not lead them anymore they had
22:27
figure this out for themselves and
22:30
that met not just settling matters of policy
22:32
administration and governance but
22:34
also figuring out how to get along
22:36
with one another without lennon's
22:38
presence as mutual
22:40
resentment and conflicting ambitions random
22:43
headlong into one another lenin
22:45
was not there to be the ultimate authority
22:47
that they all acknowledged the arbitrator
22:49
of all debate the for
22:51
example trotsky listen to and respected
22:53
lana but he exhibited habitual
22:56
contempt for his other comrades in politburo
22:59
and the feeling was mutual karate
23:01
had never really been one of them lenin's
23:04
not unjustified insistence that trotsky
23:07
was irreplaceable had both been trump
23:09
his greatest protection inside the party
23:11
and also major source of ongoing resentment
23:14
you know and he likes him even though he's
23:16
a stepchild hockey
23:19
for his bird remained ever aloof
23:21
did not dame to hang out with his politburo
23:23
conrad socially as
23:26
i'm sure you all know the if a bunch coworkers
23:28
get together to drink gossiping talk shit
23:31
which members the politburo routinely did
23:34
you're probably when they're gonna gossip and talk shit about if
23:36
you're not there
23:39
know if know even little bit about russian
23:41
politics the early nineteen twenties know
23:44
that what about to happen is that is innovia
23:46
stamina up and are
23:49
about to form a unified triumvirate
23:52
troika in russian parliament the
23:54
explicit and purposeful exclusion
23:57
in marginalization trotsky but
24:00
this troika was just one temporary alliance
24:02
organized within the long game that would
24:04
decide who among them would claim
24:06
lenin's mantle as the preeminent
24:09
leader of thirty during
24:11
this long game which got going in earnest
24:13
you're nineteen twenty three everyone
24:16
believed they were using everyone else alliances
24:19
would form dissipate and realign
24:21
as circumstances dictate it and
24:23
each played their own hands he
24:26
was not inevitable that first move would be against
24:28
trotsky in the summer of
24:30
nineteen twenty three it actually looks like stalin
24:32
would be first ago groups
24:35
gaia handed to know vf copy of
24:37
what they now referring to as elitist
24:39
letter about the secretary which
24:42
was tantamount to lennon using his dying
24:44
breed the same get rid of so the
24:47
letter circulated the other members of politburo
24:49
discussed doing just there
24:51
bunch a clandestine meetings and exchanges
24:53
are very passive aggressive correspondence that
24:56
seem to be moving against stalin
25:00
but probably because the know vf
25:03
ultimately disliked and feared trotsky
25:05
more than he disliked and feared stolen
25:08
instead of taking the poison dagger crips
25:10
gaia had given him and using it to slit
25:12
stones throw he instead
25:14
got together with stolen and cabin after former
25:16
working majority inside politburo specifically
25:19
atrocities expense in
25:23
september nineteen twenty three central committee the party
25:25
met for for session to discuss the german
25:27
question after being briefed
25:29
on the readiness the german communists and
25:31
state of russian national defenses the
25:34
allied powers might invade any event of
25:36
russian backed revolution in germany the
25:39
party approved plans to launch a communist
25:41
insurrection in germany on november
25:43
ninth the anniversary the german revolution
25:45
of nineteen eighteen small
25:48
group of senior party officials was dispatched to
25:50
germany to oversee preparations and coordinate
25:52
uprising but
25:54
after discussing this motion and
25:56
followed to revamp the military
25:58
revolutionary committee which
26:00
had been shared by trotsky since the october
26:02
revolution and which was understood by
26:05
everyone to be one of his basis of power
26:08
the motion would enlarge the council
26:10
and put stalin on the board
26:14
stalin took this as a direct an unexpected
26:17
attack on his dignity and authority he
26:20
dramatically responded by announcing his
26:22
resignation from all posts in both the party
26:24
and state and demanding the he
26:26
be allowed to decamp for germany to serve
26:28
as as he put it a soldier
26:30
of the revolution but
26:32
after discussing matter the politburo now
26:35
controlled by the troika of the know via
26:37
cabinet installing projected
26:39
both his resignation and his request to go
26:41
to germany trotsky
26:43
left his leadership post he might become
26:45
an uncontrollable loose cannon trotsky
26:48
greatest asset by far was his
26:50
popular appeal his oratory
26:53
soared above everyone and his powerful
26:55
biting words had made him great
26:57
champion the people both and nineteen o five
26:59
and nineteen seventeen sounds
27:02
unlikely trotsky would have tried to rally
27:04
the people against the soviet regime as
27:06
he had once rally damn again czar nicholas
27:08
and alexander kerenski no
27:11
it was better to keep him muzzled by party rules
27:13
prohibiting leaders from unauthorized speechmaking
27:16
the just letting him wander around free and
27:19
as for germany trotsky
27:21
went to germany and lead a second great
27:23
revolution it be no stopping
27:26
that is the troika
27:28
refused his resignations and refused
27:30
to allow him to go germany at
27:33
meeting the politburo shortly thereafter sunovia
27:35
crowed right to trotsky space that
27:38
you see you're in a ring the tricks no
27:40
longer work you're in minority you're
27:42
in the singular
27:46
trotsky could see that was being boxed in
27:48
and that his situation prevented him from launching
27:50
public broadside against party
27:53
so instead he sent a fiery
27:55
internal memo on october the eighth but
27:58
opened his new period as leader of any
28:00
more fuss and purposely ill defined
28:02
opposition to the troika hurting
28:05
sharply on his former defense of rigorous
28:07
discipline and takedown change command trotsky
28:10
now attack the increasingly bureaucratic
28:12
spirit of party the said
28:14
functionaries being appointed from on high
28:16
who just mindlessly carry out orders the
28:19
old spirit of open debate and collective
28:21
decision making giving way too rigidly
28:24
calcified apparatus that couldn't think for
28:26
itself and was thus losing it's spontaneity
28:29
creativity and adaptability one
28:32
need not struggle to hard to see talkies
28:34
tired from defender of labor armies
28:37
and one party dictatorship the more open
28:39
democratic decision making
28:41
oh inside with him being pushed off the
28:43
top most wrong at party
28:46
throughout his life trump's geese single
28:48
most consistent position was a he was
28:50
right and everyone else is wrong so
28:52
he had no problem switching procedural forms
28:55
to ensure that his voice was always heard loud
28:57
and clear because he was
28:59
right and everyone else was wrong
29:03
within days of trot his letter another
29:05
letter followed this
29:07
one was not technically signed by trotsky
29:09
but his fingerprints are all over it this
29:12
is so called declaration of
29:14
the forty six we signed by
29:17
you guessed forty six members
29:19
of the communist party critique
29:21
the politburo and central committee the
29:24
declaration opened with absolute broadside
29:26
saying
29:28
the economic and financial crisis beginning
29:30
the end of july this year
29:31
with all the political consequences flowing from
29:34
it including those within the party as
29:36
mercilessly revealed the inadequacy
29:38
at party leadership in the
29:40
economic realm and especially in the
29:42
area of inner party relations
29:45
they then proceeded to attack the politburo on
29:48
to france first picking
29:50
up the banner of the angry workers the
29:52
declaration attack the industrial policy the
29:54
any p saying it was insufficiently
29:57
committed to communists principles russia
29:59
needed was not market and bosses but more
30:01
rational planning hackett
30:04
echoing trot he's letter they attack
30:06
the central committee for allowing one small faction
30:09
to dominate offices appointments
30:11
and then declare themselves immune from criticism
30:13
in name a party unity they
30:16
said if the situation which has
30:18
developed not radically changed the
30:20
very near future the economic
30:22
crisis in soviet russia and crisis
30:24
of the fractional dictatorship within the party
30:27
the strike heavy blows to the workers dictatorship
30:29
and russia and to the russian communist party
30:32
such a burden on it shoulders the
30:34
dictatorship the proletariat in russia and
30:37
it's leader the russian communist party the
30:39
not enter the field of the impending new
30:41
international shocks and any other way
30:44
and with the perspective of failure along
30:46
with entire front a proletarian struggle
30:50
the authors of the declaration the forty six
30:53
cleverly tried turn the question factionalism
30:55
back around on the politburo saying
30:58
you are actually the one engaging in factionalism
31:01
not us but this
31:03
cleverness was no match for the stark reality
31:05
of the party rules they had all prove back and
31:07
ten congress the
31:09
central committee had total discretion to determine
31:12
what counted as on authorize factionalism
31:14
and what didn't the central
31:16
committee was controlled by the politburo which
31:18
was in turn now controlled by the trigger the
31:22
recession of the central committee at the end of october
31:24
which was packed by stalin with allies ski
31:27
and other forty six were all denounced for their
31:29
a radical factionalism the
31:32
ban on factions and rules
31:34
enforcing it would be unchanged and upheld
31:37
forever after this would be the method
31:39
of purging internal enemies of
31:41
whoever happened control the politburo the
31:45
troika was not yet a totally monolithic
31:47
force trotsky the
31:49
forty six and others who found themselves on
31:51
the wrong side of troika would continue
31:53
to tried to dislodge them we'll
31:56
talk more about this next week when we discuss
31:58
the rise and fall of the so called
32:00
that opposition there's
32:04
this was all playing out moscow
32:06
got heavy news from abroad the
32:09
agent sent to germany to organize and lead
32:11
the revolution reported that situation was
32:13
far worse than had been led to believe there
32:15
not nearly as many communist party members
32:17
or groups or weapons as had been supposed
32:21
those forces loyal to the government probably
32:23
outnumber them twenty two the
32:25
bolsheviks had one in october nineteen seventeen
32:28
because nobody was willing to fight for current his government
32:30
and so handful guys with machine guns could pull
32:32
it off that was not the case
32:35
in germany nineteen twenty three in
32:37
fact state of emergency had already been declared
32:40
local police had been forced give way to the army
32:43
which had no love it all for any kind of left
32:45
radicalism on
32:47
october twenty third the leaders
32:49
of groups and tend to lead the revolution
32:52
pull the plug on revolution they
32:54
sent backward to moscow saying whole thing has
32:56
to be post no
32:58
one small communist group in homburg did
33:00
wind up trying to move forward they
33:03
were quickly and easily crash there
33:06
would be no german october the turned
33:08
out to be just another miserable failure the
33:10
white whale swam away it
33:14
was only small comfort their
33:16
enemies the right fared know better in
33:18
that same november nineteen twenty three that small
33:21
clique of cartoonishly second rate reactionary
33:23
clowns and bavaria that together in
33:25
beer hall and tried copy mussolini's march
33:27
on rome they to failed miserably
33:30
were all arrested what turned out to a dismal
33:32
fiasco lost in jail
33:34
exposed as bunch of cartoonishly second
33:36
rate reactionary clowns they were
33:39
thankfully never heard from
33:41
again the
33:44
said before when it comes to history
33:46
the beginning of one biography often overlaps
33:49
with the end of another one person
33:51
start line is another person's finish line and
33:54
for vladimir elites lennon the
33:56
end was now at hand that
34:00
stroke in march nineteen twenty three had knocked
34:02
him completely out of commission there
34:04
were no more arguments about whether he was trying to
34:06
work too hard he wasn't able to
34:08
work at all he could
34:10
communicate now only by gesturing and
34:12
was confined to a wheelchair on days when he
34:14
felt able to get up and move around the
34:17
early victories were simply staying alert
34:19
and happy the eating and drinking well
34:22
listening group skier or his sister read
34:24
him books bad days
34:26
were full of vacant depression where he
34:28
seem more dead than alive the
34:30
only real hope left him and his family
34:33
we simply that he would recover enough to control
34:35
his own body and speakers on thought clearly
34:38
that as the weeks and months pass there were more
34:40
bad days and good the truth
34:43
was he was slipping away in
34:46
october nineteen twenty three his his comrades intrigued
34:48
against each other and he ever
34:50
elusive german revolution was pronounced
34:53
ever elusive
34:54
when and insisted on traveling the ten miles
34:56
up to moscow one last time the
34:59
didn't tell anyone who was coming had no
35:01
meetings with any of the bolsheviks the
35:03
just to where kremlin one last time and went back
35:05
to gorky exhausted but
35:07
satisfied
35:10
after new years his doctors tentatively
35:12
suggested he might actually be getting better kurds
35:15
guy was more attuned to him and more pessimistic
35:19
starting on thursday january seventeenth
35:21
she wrote i began to feel something
35:23
terrible was coming you were horribly
35:25
tired and tormented the was closing
35:28
his eyes frequently and went pale the
35:30
main thing was that somehow the expression on his
35:32
face change the gays became
35:35
somehow blind on
35:38
january twenty first nineteen twenty four the
35:40
current happen to a quirky visiting and
35:42
describe what he saw lennon
35:45
he said was propped up on
35:47
a pillow in a sleigh and watched well
35:49
group of workers on the estate when out hunting
35:51
the was in good spirits clearly enjoying
35:53
himself there are few things he enjoyed
35:56
more than one hunt when retriever
35:58
brought back a bird to one of the work the near the
36:00
sleigh lennon raised his good
36:02
hand and managed to say the
36:07
that night after returning his quarters drinking
36:09
some broth when it started slip
36:11
into unconsciousness the
36:13
sky wrote at first i held
36:15
his hot damn hand and then just watched
36:17
as the towel beneath him turned red with blood stamp
36:20
of have settled on his face the
36:23
had suffered fatal brain hemorrhage and
36:25
died just before seven o'clock on january
36:27
twenty first nineteen twenty four
36:31
was dead
36:33
more than any
36:35
of the other leaders have any of the other political
36:37
parties are factions that we have talk about in
36:39
series that includes czar
36:41
nicholas alexander current give your
36:44
turn off
36:45
have amelia cough sergei vitter
36:47
purest leap and these old mentor
36:49
planner
36:50
all of whom had enormous personalities
36:53
that filled every room they step foot in
36:55
none of them define their political
36:57
parties and factions the way lennon to find
36:59
his above and beyond
37:01
any defining ideology or policy
37:04
or worldview the bolsheviks the
37:06
bolsheviks where party of lenin so
37:09
much so that in the days after the infamous second
37:11
party congress and ninety no two
37:13
the difference between bolsheviks and mentioned x
37:15
can be described almost entirely by one's
37:18
own personal feelings about lennon those
37:20
who continued to support his leadership or bolsheviks
37:23
those who thought was far too dictatorial
37:26
bullying and close minded were mentioned ex
37:29
very little well separated them at time the
37:31
first rupture it was the
37:33
thing that ruptured damn lennon
37:36
stamp on his party meant that his party
37:38
resembled his own personality the
37:41
bolsheviks were hard disciplined sarcastic
37:43
blunt and dismissive they
37:46
also ever practical flexible and
37:48
adaptable but lenin's
37:50
domineering personality meant that the whole party
37:52
structure was designed to fit the leadership
37:55
of domineering personality those
37:58
we've seen lenin was not a straight up dick
38:00
it inside his party his
38:02
particular brand of megalomania was
38:04
of peculiar sort inside
38:06
the party he got his way through the force persuasion
38:09
strong arming people insisting very
38:11
occasionally wooing and coaxing and
38:14
if on occasion he lost votes to his comrades
38:16
in central committee on a matter policy the
38:18
gave way as for example
38:20
when they decided to boycott elections to the
38:22
duma when he thought they should run candidates
38:26
that as the years past those who disagreed
38:28
with lennon typically fill out favor and out of the
38:30
party mostly other was left
38:32
in the end those whose deference to
38:34
lenin was matter habit we
38:36
should note that any and the bolsheviks
38:39
did run candidate for the duma those
38:42
deference to strong leader was ingrained in
38:44
bolshevik party now the communist party
38:46
from the beginning as
38:49
was the way lennon built the party on basis
38:51
of congress's elections and committee and
38:53
yet always seeming to get his way
38:56
by manipulating those votes are packing
38:58
the committee's with people who voted way he wounded
39:01
brodsky noted this from the very beginning
39:04
just after the split ninety know to observed
39:06
of lenin methods in the
39:08
internal politics at the party these
39:10
methods lead to the party organization
39:12
substituting itself for the party the
39:15
central committee substituting itself for the party
39:17
organization and finally the dictator
39:19
substituting himself for the central committee the
39:23
wrote this way back nineteen o two that
39:25
describes was perfectly the trick is moved to
39:27
take over communist party now that lenin
39:29
was fading dying and
39:31
dead for good
39:33
or ill the bolshevik party
39:36
was lenin's party and even though
39:38
lenin was now gone the party
39:40
he had built remained ever
39:42
the same
39:42
the
39:45
russian revolution was not the work of single
39:47
man it
39:48
was obviously an impossibly convoluted
39:50
set of events that sprawled across decades
39:52
and swept up literally millions of people
39:54
great and small while contributed
39:57
how the revolution unfolding
39:59
well we can't fisher say this
40:02
more than any other single person the
40:04
russian revolution was defined by lennon
40:06
there are few moments in history
40:08
when he can really say i yeah that one
40:11
person caused this particular
40:13
massive historical events the
40:15
october revolution is that way the
40:18
october revolution is no happen without letting he
40:21
was absolutely going out of his mind
40:23
pushing his comrades to do it take
40:25
power even in face of heavy
40:27
doubt from those comrades and nervous
40:29
resistance from the rank and file of his party
40:32
now obviously even the october revolution is work
40:34
of tons of people the core
40:37
drive to do the engine that
40:39
produce the october revolution not the february
40:41
revolution mind but the october revolution came
40:44
from one and had he died
40:46
or been arrested or been detained coming
40:48
back from finland the october revolution
40:51
does not happen and
40:53
so love him or hate him revere
40:55
him or loathe him lennon singular
40:57
impact on world history can never
40:59
be doubted
41:00
but
41:03
now lennon is dead and gone and
41:05
next week communist party the
41:08
u s s r the international communist
41:10
revolution the have to move on
41:12
without they're indispensable man that
41:14
has now gone to that graveyard that is full
41:16
of indispensable man next
41:19
week will be the first of are three
41:21
final wrap up episodes and it
41:23
will revolve around the great duel between stalin
41:25
and trotsky for control the communist party
41:28
u s r any international
41:30
communist revolution because
41:32
even though we are ending their sand drawing
41:34
a line the sand says over there is revolution
41:37
and over there is early soviet history there
41:39
never is break in history there's never
41:41
a pause just keeps going one day
41:43
after the next and
41:45
so even though the revolution is ending and
41:48
revolutions is ending history
41:59
yeah
42:07
yeah
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