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The Russian Revolution: A New History QUOTES

The Russian Revolution: A New History QUOTES

1 " Trotsky's assault on Kronstadt in March 1921 marked a point of no return. There was no longer even a whiff of pretense that the Communist government had the support of the people over whom it ruled. The Red Terror had been aimed at "class enemies"; the Civil War was a struggle against "imperialists and White Guards." Even the peasant wars had pitted, in theory at least, proletarians against "capitalist farmers." But now the world's first "proletarian" government had begun slaughtering urban proletarians, too. It is no wonder that "Kronstadt" became, in addition to a black mark on Trotsky's record, a byword of Bolshevik betrayal for European socialists who refused to bow to Moscow. "

― , The Russian Revolution: A New History

2 " The only mercy Trotsky granted the Germans, as formal negotiations began at Brest-Litovsk on December 9, was not to show up in person. "

― , The Russian Revolution: A New History