The Military Writings of Leon Trotsky Volume 1, 1918 How the Revolution Armed Read This In E-Book Format! These writings were first published in 1923 by the Soviet Government. They were translated by Brian Pearce. Annotation is by Brian Pearce. Footnotes are from the original Russian edition. Transcribed for the Trotsky Internet Archive, now a subarchive of the Marxists’ Internet Archive, by David Walters in 1996 with permission from Index Books/Trade Union Printing Services, 28 Charlotte St, London, W1P 1HJ.

Introduction to the on-line version

This five volume collection of Leon Trotsky’s military writings are a major contribution to Revolutionary Marxism. Trotsky was Commissar of Military and Navel Affairs for the newly formed Soviet Republic. In this capacitiy he lead the organization of the Red Army and Navy. This workers’ and peasants’ army, the first regular army of a workers’ state, was to immediately face its first conflict with Imperialism and it’s Russian representatives in 1918. The five volumes represents the sum total of Trotsky’s articles, essays, lectures and polemics as the leader of the Red Army. Some of the writings here were given at Red Army academies, at Bolshevik Party meetings and at national and local soviets. These writing represent official Soviet policy in general and Bolshevik Party positions specifically. All the writings represent Trotsky’s thoughts in reaction to the events as they were transpiring around him from 1918 through 1922: war, revolution, counter-revolution, all without the calm reflection a historian, for example, would have enjoyed in writing about such events with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. These are the writings of a revolutionary under the actual gunfire of counter-revolution, often times written on the armored train Trotsky used to command the Red Army during various campaigns of the Civil War.

This on-line version consists of everything available from the printed Russian and English editions with the exception of the color maps showing the various stages of the Civil War, which were to fine in detail reproduce for the World Wide Web. I have tried to keep chapters under 130k to facilitate downloading from the Web. Each chapter listed under the table of contents below is followed by the size of each chapter in parenthesies. – David Walters

Contents

1. Author’s Preface: Through Five Years (13.6k)

2. Introduction: The Path of the Red Army (31.9k)

The Spring of 1918

• 3. We Need an Army) (Speech at the session of the Moscow Soviet of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, March 19, 1918 (22.4k)
• 4. Our Task (7.2k)
• 5. Work, Discipline, Order (Report to the Moscow City Conference of the Russian Communist Party, March 28, 1918) (51.5k)
• 6. The Internal and External Tasks of the Soviet Power (Lecture given in Moscow, April 21, 1918) (77.8k)
• 7. Two Roads (Speech made at joint session of members of the 4th All-Russia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, the All-Russia and Moscow Central Trade Union Council, representatives of all the trade unions of Moscow, factory committees and other workers’ organisations, June 4, 1918). Included here is resolution on the question of combating famine, adopted at the session of June 4, 1918 (20.4k)
• 8. Into the Fight Against Famine (Report read at a public meeting in Sokolniki, June 9, 1918) (78.6k)
• 
  

Organizing the Red Army

• 9. The New Army (Speech at the Alekseyevskaya People’s House, March 22, 1918) (7.6k)
• 10. The Red Army (Speech at the session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, April 22, 1918) (79.9k)
• 11. Decree on Compulsory Military Training, adopted at the session of April 22, 1918 (6.9k)
• 12. The Socialist Oath, promulgated at the session of April 22, 1918 (3.4k)
• 13. To All Province, Uyezd and Volost Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’ and Cossacks’ Deputies (3.9k)
• 14. The Organization of the Red Army (Speech at the First All-Russia Congress of Military Commissars, June 7, 1918)(14.8k)

The Military Specialists and the Red Army

• 15. A Necessary Explanation (about the military specialists) (4.3k)
• 16. The First Betrayal (Testimony before the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal in the Shchastny case, June 20, 1918) (32k)
• 17. To the Commissars and the Military Specialists (4.9k)
• 18. The Officer Question (15.4k)
• 19. The Demonstration by ex-General Novitsky (Letter to the Head of the General Staff Academy) (4.4k)
• 20. About the officers deceived by Krasnov (7.8k)
• 21. Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and the Red Navy, August 11, 1918: No.21 (2.8k)
• 22. Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic, September 30, 1918 (3k)
• 23. About the ex-Officers (a necessary statement) (5.1k)
• 24. The Military Specialists and the Red Army (27.9k)
• 25. The Military Academy (Speech at the ceremonial meeting of November 8, 1918 at the Military Academy, on the day when it opened) (22.6k)
• 26. Scientifically or Somehow? (Letter to a friend) (15.6k)
• 27. Order by the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs, August 3, 1918 (3.8k)
• 28. Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Call-up for Compulsory Military Service of Persons Who Have Served in the Forces as Non-Commissioned Officers, August 2, 1918 (5.3k)
• 29. The Non-Commissioned Officers (Speech made to the Petrograd Manoeuvring Battalion of NCOs at Kozlov, autumn 1918) (17.8k)

30. The Communist Party and the Red Army (39.7k):

• On the Military Commissars
• The role of Communists in the Red Army (Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic to the Red Army and the Red Navy, December 11, 1918: No.69, Voronezh)
• Our Policy in Creating the Army (Theses adopted by the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party in March 1919)

The Civil War in the RSFSR in 1918

31. The First Acts of Intervention by the Allies (27.6k):

• Towards Intervention
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, July 1, 1918
• The Landing at Murmansk
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, July 17, 1918
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and the Red Navy, July 22, 1918
• A Warning
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, to the Member of the Board of the People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs Comrade Kedrov, the Kazan Revolutionary War Council and the Vologda Province Military Commissariat, August 6, 1918
• An American Lie (To all, to all, to all. Announcement by the People’s Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs)

32. The Czechoslovak Mutiny (69.2k):

• The Czechoslovak Mutiny (Communiqué of the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs, May 29, 1918)
• Answers to Questions Put by the Representative of the Czechoslovak Corps Vaclav Neubert
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs, to All Units Fighting Against the Counter-Revolutionary Czechoslovak Mutineers, on June 4, 1918
• Order by the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, to All Units of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Fighting Against the Counter-Revolutionary Mutineers and Their Czechoslovak Allies, June 13, 1918
• Order by the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, to the Army and Navy Departments and to the Red Army and Red Navy, June 13, 1918
• The Socialist Fatherland in Danger (Report to the extraordinary joint session of the 5th All-Russia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet of Workers’, Peasants’ and Red Army Men’s Deputies, trade unions and factory committees, July 29, 1918)
• Resolution Adopted on the Report at the session of July 29, 1918
• The Masters of Czechoslovak Russia

33. The Fight for Kazan (76.3k):

• Order by the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, August 8, 1918
• The Lettish Semigallian Regiment (From the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Chairman of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee)
• Order by the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, No.18 of 1918
• On Collaborators with the Czech-White Guards
• Comrade Sailors of the Volga Flotilla!
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, August 24, 1918
• To the Mutinous Forces in Kazan Fighting Against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, to the Deceived Czechoslovaks, to the Deceived Peasants, to the Deceived Workers: August 27, 1918, Sviyazhsk
• On the Mobilisation (To the peasants and workers of Kazan Province)
• What is the Struggle About?
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and Red Navy, August 30, 1918: No. 31
• At the Gates of Kazan
• Remember Yaroslavl!
• A Warning to the Working People of Kazan
• The Kazan Peasant is Wise After the Event
• What is Panic?
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and Red Navy, September 10, 1918: No.32
• Telegram to the Chairmen of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets, Comrades Zinoviev and Kamenev
• The Significance of the Taking of Kazan in the Course of the Civil War (Speech in Kazan Theatre on the day after the taking of Kazan, September 11, 1918)
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and Red Navy, September 12, 1918
• An Appeal to the Czechoslovaks
• About the Burglars who Seized in Kazan Part of the Gold Reserve of the Russian Soviet Republic
• About the Victory
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and Red Navy, November 3, 1918: No.56, Tsaritsyn
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Red Army and Red Navy, November 15, 1918: No.60, Moscow

34. The Revolt of the Left SRs, July 6-8 1918, in Moscow (124.8k):

• Before the Revolt (Moving of emergency resolution at the 5th Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Men’s Deputies, July 4, 1918)
• Resolution on the Question of War and Peace, adopted by the 5th Congress of Soviets
• The Murder of Count Mirbach (Order by the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs)
• The revolt (Report to the 5th All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Men’s Deputies, July 9, 1918) & Concluding Remarks.
• Order by the People’s Commissar for Military Affairs on Investigation of the Revolt in July 1918
• Liquidation of the Revolt (Official communiqué)
• Soldiers of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army! (Order of the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, July 15, 1918: No.561)

35. The Red Army in the Civil War (128.9k)

• The Creation of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (Report to the 5th Congress of Soviets, July 10, 1918)
• Resolution on the report on creating the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, adopted by the 5th Congress of Soviets
• Resolution on the Report on Creating the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army
• Before the Capture of Kazan (Speech at the meeting of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, September 2, 1918)
• The Red Officers (Speech at the Military Administration courses, September 1918)
• The Don Cossack Host (Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars, September 3, 1918)
• The Military Situation (Report to the 6th All-Russia Extraordinary Congress of Soviets, November 9, 1918)
• Resolution of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, November 30, 1918

36. On Various Subjects (En Route) (34.3k)

• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the forces on the Southern Front, October 5, 1918: No.43, Kozlov
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, October 7, 1918: No.44, Bobrov (about deserters)
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, November 4, 1918: No.55, Tsaritsyn
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, November 7, 1918: No.58
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, to the Red Army and the Red Navy, November 16, 1918: No.61
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to the Eighth Army, November20, 1918: No.62, Liski station
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs to all troups on the Southern Front, November 24, 1918: No.64
• Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic to the troops and Soviet institutions on the Southern Front, November 24, 1918: No.65
• A Word about the Cossacks and to the Cossacks

37. The Civil War in the RSFSR and the International Revolution (110.1k)

• The Situation at the Fronts (Speech at the meeting of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, September 30, 1918)
• The International Situation (Speech at the special loint session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow city and city district Soviets, and representatives of the factory committees and trade unions, October 3, 1918)
• The Breathing-Space (Speech at the meeting of the 5th all-Russian Central Executive Committee, October 30, 1918)
• On Guard for the World Revolution (Report read at the joint session of the Voronezh Soviet of Workers’, Peasants’ and Red Army Men’s Deputies, November 18, 1918)

38. Chronology of the Most Important Military Events (18.1k)

Last updated on: 20.12.2006