going to build: hospitals, schools and decent accommodation for the workers.
' We will turn Russia into a proletarian paradise that will be the envy of every worker in the Capitalist world. Want, sickness and exploitation will be consigned to the history books. Workers when they see what we have done and achieved will copy us. And I tell you 'Good Comrades' we shall be glad to let them copy us! We shall show them the way! We shall blaze the trail!!'
With that he raised his papers aloft for the umpteenth time and then descended from the rostrum. He shook hands with those immediately present, and then sat down in the corner of the chamber. It was now the turn of Leon Trotsky to speak.
' Comrades, The Whites will soon be beaten. There are signs comrades, that their sponsors are losing interest. They are sick and tired of listening to Deniken and the others arguing all the time. They have their own domestic problems at home! They don't want to back losers, especially when they know that the Bolshevik horse is going to win the race ...'
Like Lenin before him Trotsky told crowd that they were going to build new cities , they were going to mobilise the army and the peoples to build canals, foundries, cities, railways and roads. Ten years to build 'The Socialist Utopia.' He berated Russia for being backwards. They simply had to move forwards. It had to be a 'Permanent Revolution'. A revolution without end! The country had to modernise or perish. Time was not on their side. He reminded them that the dark forces of capitalism waited just beyond Russia's borders and, if they united against them, then everything they had achieved would be lost. Industrialisation was the key to their survival!
Georgii looked at all the people around him. They were spellbound by Trotsky's oratory. Some applauded at the end of each sentence; others stood mesmerised and took it all in. He looked around to the place where Joseph Stalin had been standing. He was standing there frantically writing notes into a small notebook. They were all lapping up this propaganda.
Lenin was just about to congratulate Trotsky when a strange thing happened. An old man jumped up onto a chair and accused Lenin and Trotsky of betraying the people and the revolution. People turned around in amazement and stared at this frail old man, who alone railed at these two giants of 'Bolshevism'. They were still staring when the Red Guards came in and dragged him away. Georgii turned around and Lenin was gone. Trotsky was talking to some people near the door. He could feel the unease.
Auguste Gerhardt walked up to Georgii and said, 'There is someone that I would like you to meet.'
Gerhardt took him over to where Trotsky was standing. They shook hands.
' Haven't we met somewhere before?' Trotsky said.
' Yes, I arrested you in 1905 at the 'Moscow Soviet'. Good evening gentlemen.'
' Bastard!' Trotsky replied tersely
' Like you I serve the people ...' with that Georgii took his leave.
Turning around as he left , he nearly walked right into Anya Trofimov. She gave him one of her icy stares. Walking towards the entrance, Georgii passed a room with an open door. The old man from the public meeting was sitting on a chair. Georgii could see that the guards had worked him over. He felt strangely sympathetic towards the old man. They made eye contact momentarily. Turning away he walked on to the exit, showed his papers and then walked out into the night. Snow was still falling.
Walking across Red Square he wondered about the 'Old Man.' He wondered what all that 'Betraying the Revolution 'nonsense' was about. He also thought about the moustachioed Stalin who just stood there writing notes into a tatty old notebook. He also thought about Anya Trofimov and the kind of reception he was likely to get from ''The Granite Faced Slag' of Bolshevism' the next day. Forty minutes later he arrived at his lodgings. It was freezing, so he went to bed with all his clothes on.
Georgii needn 't have
' We will turn Russia into a proletarian paradise that will be the envy of every worker in the Capitalist world. Want, sickness and exploitation will be consigned to the history books. Workers when they see what we have done and achieved will copy us. And I tell you 'Good Comrades' we shall be glad to let them copy us! We shall show them the way! We shall blaze the trail!!'
With that he raised his papers aloft for the umpteenth time and then descended from the rostrum. He shook hands with those immediately present, and then sat down in the corner of the chamber. It was now the turn of Leon Trotsky to speak.
' Comrades, The Whites will soon be beaten. There are signs comrades, that their sponsors are losing interest. They are sick and tired of listening to Deniken and the others arguing all the time. They have their own domestic problems at home! They don't want to back losers, especially when they know that the Bolshevik horse is going to win the race ...'
Like Lenin before him Trotsky told crowd that they were going to build new cities , they were going to mobilise the army and the peoples to build canals, foundries, cities, railways and roads. Ten years to build 'The Socialist Utopia.' He berated Russia for being backwards. They simply had to move forwards. It had to be a 'Permanent Revolution'. A revolution without end! The country had to modernise or perish. Time was not on their side. He reminded them that the dark forces of capitalism waited just beyond Russia's borders and, if they united against them, then everything they had achieved would be lost. Industrialisation was the key to their survival!
Georgii looked at all the people around him. They were spellbound by Trotsky's oratory. Some applauded at the end of each sentence; others stood mesmerised and took it all in. He looked around to the place where Joseph Stalin had been standing. He was standing there frantically writing notes into a small notebook. They were all lapping up this propaganda.
Lenin was just about to congratulate Trotsky when a strange thing happened. An old man jumped up onto a chair and accused Lenin and Trotsky of betraying the people and the revolution. People turned around in amazement and stared at this frail old man, who alone railed at these two giants of 'Bolshevism'. They were still staring when the Red Guards came in and dragged him away. Georgii turned around and Lenin was gone. Trotsky was talking to some people near the door. He could feel the unease.
Auguste Gerhardt walked up to Georgii and said, 'There is someone that I would like you to meet.'
Gerhardt took him over to where Trotsky was standing. They shook hands.
' Haven't we met somewhere before?' Trotsky said.
' Yes, I arrested you in 1905 at the 'Moscow Soviet'. Good evening gentlemen.'
' Bastard!' Trotsky replied tersely
' Like you I serve the people ...' with that Georgii took his leave.
Turning around as he left , he nearly walked right into Anya Trofimov. She gave him one of her icy stares. Walking towards the entrance, Georgii passed a room with an open door. The old man from the public meeting was sitting on a chair. Georgii could see that the guards had worked him over. He felt strangely sympathetic towards the old man. They made eye contact momentarily. Turning away he walked on to the exit, showed his papers and then walked out into the night. Snow was still falling.
Walking across Red Square he wondered about the 'Old Man.' He wondered what all that 'Betraying the Revolution 'nonsense' was about. He also thought about the moustachioed Stalin who just stood there writing notes into a tatty old notebook. He also thought about Anya Trofimov and the kind of reception he was likely to get from ''The Granite Faced Slag' of Bolshevism' the next day. Forty minutes later he arrived at his lodgings. It was freezing, so he went to bed with all his clothes on.
Georgii needn 't have
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