It is the second year of the Revolution. Clouds somberly move over Moscow, to where the first socialist government of the world has moved to during 1918, as a symbolic return of the power to the people from the Petrograd aristocracy. Weather is rather horrid this summer. It is constantle alternating between unberable warmth and equally unbearable cold.
I was a lawyer (though I hated and hate that proffession; I only picked it up to try and help people out, but naturally that was ineffective, as I came to realize with time), but I knew that such unstable temperature accompanied fevers. Indeed, Russia is undergoing a fever, a very bad one. But hopefully, it - and the world - would emerge from it better off then before...
I am a realist, and I applied rigorous self-disciplinne against sentimentalities, but it is an unbearable thought that all these sacrifices could possibly have been... for nothing. Within the next few years, ofcourse. Still, this ideal is worth fighting for. Worth dying for. Many died before the Revolutions. Many more will die...
---
It all begun in early 1917. The Tsar still ruled in Petrograd. It seemed back then, just like now, that all the sacrifices were for naught. The war went on, and on, and on... in spite of all, the inherent wish to be free was subdued by artificial stratification; the peasants died from starvation, but didn't try to change anything. The people of the world had increasing apathy towards everything.
I didn't abandon hope completely, but... my heart was being filled with doubts. We went by a different path; but was it the right one? I knew not what to do with myself. Living out my life as an emigre was something the chauvinist-anarchists could do, what bourgoise liberals could do... but I was born to be a revolutionary. Either I would triumph, either I would die on the barricades.
My ponderings were cut short by the events of March 8-15 (I scorned the Old Calendar; another icon of backwardness that will have to go). The inevitable has happened; the Tsar was overthrown. Who was in power? The "Provisional Government", led by Knyaz Lvov. Bourgoise democracy... nice, nice, but its not enough. Still, its a step forward for Russia. And a step forward for the Cause.
Having gathered the other VKP(b) emigres, I held a hasty revolutionary council. The Party was spread out, that was its weakness; it could be useful, but now it was more of an impendiment. Who do we have on our side? Dzhugashvilli is a good comrade, he will be useful... though he is rather lacking in ambition and initiative. But this makes him only better. Where is he exactly? On the way to Petrograd? Reasonable of him. Skryabin is there too? Excellent.
The big threats weren't in the Provisional Government; from its very name one could see lack of confidence, lack of inspiration. Lvov? Ha... Kerensky? He had promise in him when he was young, but he is just another politician, another orator who is, on practice, incompetent. Who are our real enemies, Parvus? Those who seek to overthrow the Provisional Government. The Tsar? He's weak-willed and can be discounted. Velikiy Knyaz Mikhail? Lack of ambition. Good for him, I guess... The only Romanov who, if given a good chance and the ambitions, could effectively hold on to the government is the Dowager Tsarina... ofcourse, Nikolai Nikolaivich is a threat as well. He's popular.
No ambition there. And Dowager Tsarina only stands a chance if she finds some allies.
No, comrades. The threats are Bronshtein and Kornilov. Kornilov is more dangerous right now; Bronshtein is in America, and for his sake I hope he stays there. Too dangerous outside. He's too much of bonoparte. Such people rarely come to power, but when they do they bring down the entire country with them.
We must act fast. Parvus - pull some strings. The capitalists are a very egoistical class; no solidarity there. The Kaiser will be only too happy to have us remove Russia from his war altogether, he's a very gullible person. His friends aren't much smarter neither...
What exactly do I want, Parvus? Well, I want to get to Russia. There, and only there, I will be able to understand the situation fully.
The rest of you... You will be coming with me. We need all the people we could get.
---
Things have changed since then. Now, Bronshtein (or Trotsky, as he still preffers to call himself for the Imperial general who conquered Central Asia) was on our side... until the Whites are defeated, anyway. He was an useful ally, though his ego was dangerous.
Bonaparte, indeed.
Still, he is on our side. Everybody has to take a side now - either with us... or with them. With Denikin and that arctic explorer with black teeth... Kolchak.
Trotsky, Dzhugashvilli (Stalin), Skryabin (Molotov), Dzerzhinsky (Iron Felix), Zinovyev (though he can't be trusted neither - too emotionally-unstable)...
The situation is dire, comrades. The Whites are recovering from their recent military disasters, and their coordination seems to be improving.
---
There is such a party! The Bolshevik Party!
Sadly, though I won't tell you this, its too weak to act yet. We didn't recover quite well from July... Though there is a certain consolation. That fool Bronshtein finally saw reason. All the damage caused in July was more then worth it, considering it from that point of view - Bronshtein, after getting in jail, joined us. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer... where you can order them around safely.
Not all enemies are useful, ofcourse. Some are better off dead. Others should be kept as far as possible, like that maverick Parvus.
What, he will be upset about it? He's a well-off bourgoise, he doesn't care about Russia. The only reason he would come here is to get more of the scorned metal.
Very well comrades. Here we are now. Kerensky has done better then I expected, but... if he tries to end the war, a civil war will begin in Russia. If he doesn't end the war, he will be overthrown. He knows about both options, I believe, and hopes that his magical Americans would conquer Germany any time now. In some regards, that snob didn't change from when I saw him last.
Now, who is the threat? Kornilov, ofcourse. Yudenovich and Denikin are possible accomplices, as is Brusilov... What? I forgot Chkheidze? He, just like Kerensky, is walking on thin ice. Kolchak and his schemes to capture Tsargrad are irrelevant as well; too late for him to pull off anything like that.
Lets see what will Kornilov do...
---
Kolchak, Denikin, yes, I know... Alekseyev, Kornilov... dead. Wrangel... A relative? Well, irrelevant...
Comrade Dzerzhinsky, who are those new White commanders? No, not Slashyev... The "consultants".
Gelionov, Smirnov... The new generation, just like Wrangel and Slashyev. Unlike the senile White leaders we faced and soundly beat up thus far, this is more dangerous. The hydra of reaction keeps getting new heads. We need to find some new comrades to balance them out... Or old ones.
Candidatures?
---
And so here I am, at the absolute power... Pushkin was for his time very progressive. Collectivism is the only natural path for Russia - after all, in the early times of the Eastern Slavs the collective was above the indiivdual.
Pushkin has another good idea... I quote: "And with the guts of the last priest, we'll strangle the last tsar!" Genius! Though we are progressing - this will have to be done in a less gory fashion, lest we shock the English upper class. They might vomit out their tea and declare war.
For now, ofcourse, they're being nice... They were nice in India, very polite. They will be only too happy to repeat the experience here. We won't let them, though.
Well, comrades... Thank you. Thank you for the plan, Lev Davidich. Thank you for the execution, Iosif Vissarionich. Now, we have work to do. We have to carry out our promises.
Factories to the workers, land to the peasants... peace to the Germans. Ah, Trotsky, you have a good mind but some of your ideas just aren't practical.
---
I put the list on the table, containing the rage in myself. Calm down, Volodya, calm down...
Comrade Trotsky, Comrade Dzerzhinsky. Your ideas about cadres are, as always, reasonable.
With one exception.
Parvus is out. Gelionov and Smirnov did save the Whites from collapse, but they aren't allmighty. We've faced worse. Its best to deal with them ourselves then to invite a tiger to eat the wolves.
---
Pettura, Pettura! Well, that's that.
Victory is near, comrades. My health? Don't worry, bullets don't kill lawyers, even former ones at that...
Jokes aside... It has been hard, but we managed it. We outlasted Kaiser and his Huns, and Belarussian comrades already allied with us. Finland is unfortunate, but it doesn't matter. In the end, they will all come to us. Mensheviks and Right eSeRs? They should have joined us earlier, we can't trust them now, we said. They said it will be our undoing.
Well, look at that. Kiev is ours. Ufa is ours. Kolchak is running as fast as he could, whilst harrassed by partisans. Denikin still has some forces with him, but... there's too few of them.
Our victory is near. Oh, there still are many things that could go wrong... but the Revolution survived its most perilous hours. Neither Germany, nor the Whites, nor the Entente managed to bring us down.
It is a shame that Sverdlov is dead. A blow to the cause. But the cause lives on; it will outlive us all. Lets just hope that we can finish off the Whites now, rather then in a few more years.
---
Alright. I agree. You have persuaded me, comrades - but Comrade Dzerzhinsky, he is your responsibility now. On the first suspicion of his double-dealing... Parvus gets it. And if you don't ensure that, it will be equal to treason.
You know how we handle traitors, Feliks. In fact, you're the one who handles him. But we have other comrades with sufficient knowledge of the matter...
