Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

==== Brest-Litovsk ====
{{Main|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk}}
[[File:Leon Trotsky Lev Kamenev Brest-Litovsk negotiations.jpg|thumb|Trotsky and [[Lev Kamenev]] at the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|Brest-Litovsk negotiations]], c. 1917–1918]]
In preparation for peace talks with the Central Powers, Trotsky appointed his old friend Adolph Joffe to represent the Bolsheviks. When the Soviet delegation learned that Germany and Austria-Hungary planned to annex Polish territory, establish a rump Polish state, and turn the Baltic provinces into client states ruled by German princes, the talks were recessed for 12 days. The Soviets hoped that, given time, their allies would join the negotiations or that the Western European proletariat would revolt; thus, prolonging negotiations was their best strategy. As Trotsky wrote, "To delay negotiations, there must be someone to do the delaying".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Trotsky|first1=Leon|title=My Life|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/1930-lif.pdf|website=Marxists|publisher=Charles Schribner's Sons|page=286|date=1930}}</ref> Consequently, Trotsky replaced Joffe as head of the Soviet delegation at [[Brest-Litovsk]] from 22 December 1917 to 10 February 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/treaties-of-Brest-Litovsk|title=Treaties of Brest-Litovsk|website=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]|date=2 February 2024 }}</ref>

The Soviet government was divided. [[Left Communists (Soviet Russia)|Left Communists]], led by [[Nikolai Bukharin]], believed no peace was possible between a Soviet republic and a capitalist empire, advocating a revolutionary war for a pan-European Soviet republic.<ref name="Leon Trotsky">{{cite web|title=Leon Trotsky|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/leon-trotsky|website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofmodernr00robe |title=A history of modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin |year=2005 |location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Harvard University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-674-01801-3 |pages=75–80}}</ref> They cited early Red Army successes against Polish forces, [[White movement|White]] forces, and [[Ukrainian People's Republic|Ukrainian]] forces as proof of its capability, especially with propaganda and [[asymmetrical warfare]].<ref name="Leon Trotsky" /> They were willing to negotiate to expose German imperial ambitions but opposed signing any peace treaty, favouring a revolutionary war if faced with a German ultimatum. This view was shared by the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries|Left Socialist Revolutionaries]], then junior partners in the coalition government.<ref name="lsrm">[https://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/l/e.htm#left-srs Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (Left SRs)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716012705/https://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/l/e.htm#left-srs#left-srs |date=16 July 2018}}; Glossary of organizations on [[Marxists.org]]</ref>
[[File:Map Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-en.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Territory lost by Russia under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]

Lenin, initially hopeful for a swift European revolution, concluded that the German Imperial government remained strong and that, without a robust Russian military, armed conflict would lead to the Soviet government's collapse. He agreed a pan-European revolution was the ultimate solution but prioritized Bolshevik survival. From January 1918, he advocated signing a separate peace treaty if faced with a German ultimatum. Trotsky's position was between these factions. He acknowledged the old Russian army's inability to fight:<ref>The "Brest-Litovsk" chapter in Trotsky's 1925 book [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1925/lenin/04.htm ''Lenin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125145958/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1925/lenin/04.htm |date=25 November 2005}}, marxists.org; Retrieved 1 June 2018.</ref>
{{Blockquote|That we could no longer fight was perfectly clear to me and that the newly formed [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guard]] and Red Army detachments were too small and poorly trained to resist the Germans.}}
However, he agreed with the Left Communists that a separate peace treaty would be a severe morale and material blow, negating recent successes, reviving suspicions of Bolshevik-German collusion, and fuelling internal resistance. He argued that a German ultimatum should be refused, which might trigger an uprising in Germany or inspire German soldiers to disobey orders if an offensive was a naked land grab. Trotsky wrote in 1925:<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1925/lenin/04.htm ''Lenin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125145958/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1925/lenin/04.htm |date=25 November 2005}}, marxists.org; Retrieved 31 January 2018.</ref>
{{Blockquote|We began peace negotiations in the hope of arousing the workmen's party of Germany and Austria-Hungary as well as of the Entente countries. For this reason we were obliged to delay the negotiations as long as possible to give the European workman time to understand the main fact of the Soviet revolution itself and particularly its peace policy. But there was the other question: Can the Germans still fight? Are they in a position to begin an attack on the revolution that will explain the cessation of the war? How can we find out the state of mind of the German soldiers, how to fathom it?}}
In a letter to Lenin before 18 January 1918, Trotsky outlined his "no war, no peace" policy: announce war termination and demobilization without signing a treaty, placing the fate of Poland, Lithuania, and Courland on the German working people. He believed Germany would find it difficult to attack due to internal conditions and opposition from various German political factions.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Letters From Trotzky and From Kerensky's War Minister |journal=[[Current History]] |date=1918 |volume=VIII |issue=Second part |page=113 |url=https://archive.org/details/currenthistoryfo08newyuoft/page/113/ |access-date=10 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Magnes |first1=Judah Leon |author1-link=Judah Leon Magnes |title=Russia and Germany at Brest-Litovsk: A Documentary History of the Peace Negotiations |date=1919 |publisher=[[Rand School of Social Science]] |pages=122–123 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/russiagermanyatb00magnrich/page/122/ |access-date=10 April 2023}}</ref><ref>The authenticity of this letter was confirmed by Trotsky to John Wheeler-Bennett in 1937. {{cite book |last1=Wheeler-Bennett |first1=John W. |author1-link=John Wheeler-Bennett |title=Brest-Litovsk: the Forgotten Peace, March 1918 |date=1938 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan and Co., Limited]] |location=London |pages=185–186 |edition=1st |quote=The authenticity of this letter, which has been in doubt for twenty years, was personally confirmed to the writer by Leon Trotsky in conversation in Mexico City, in September 1937.}}; the letter was auctioned in 1990. {{cite news |last1=Pyle |first1=Richard |title=Revolutionary's Letter to Lenin Auctioned |url=https://apnews.com/article/346eacc1c0640c0659dc0d8edfb866e1 |access-date=10 April 2023 |work=[[Associated Press]] |date=23 March 1990}}</ref>
Lenin initially responded on 18 January: "Stalin has just arrived; we will look into the matter with him and let you have a joint answer right away," and "please adjourn proceedings and leave for Petrograd. Send a reply; I will wait. Lenin, Stalin."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Meijer |editor1-first=Jan M. |title=The Trotsky Papers, 1917–1922 |date=1964 |publisher=Mouton & Co. |location=The Hague|pages=6–7}}</ref> Trotsky, sensing disagreement, returned to Petrograd. During their debate, Lenin concluded: "In any case, I stand for the immediate signing of peace; it is safer."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trotzky |first1=Leon |title=Lenin |date=1925 |publisher=Blue Ribbon Books Inc. |location=New York |page=107-110 |url=https://archive.org/details/lenin00trot/ |access-date=10 April 2023}}</ref>

On 10 February 1918, Trotsky and the Russian delegation withdrew from peace talks, declaring an end to the war on Russia's side without signing a peace treaty.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Trotsky |first1=L. |title=Statement By Trotsky At The Brest-Litovsk Peace Conference On Russia's Withdrawal From The War |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917-1918/1918/February/10a.htm |website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=10 April 2023}}</ref> Privately, Trotsky had expressed willingness to relent to peace terms if Germany resumed its offensive, albeit with moral dissent.{{sfn|Deutscher|2015a|pp=389}} Germany resumed [[Operation Faustschlag|military operations]] on 18 February. The Red Army detachments proved no match for the German army. On the evening of 18 February, Trotsky and his supporters abstained in a Central Committee vote, and Lenin's proposal to accept German terms was approved 7–4. The Soviet government sent a [[Radiogram (message)|radiogram]] accepting the final Brest-Litovsk terms.<ref name="Felshtinsky">{{cite book | first = Yuri | last = Felshtinsky | title = Lenin and His Comrades: The Bolsheviks Take Over Russia 1917–1924 | publisher = Enigma Books | location = New York | isbn =978-1-929631-95-7 | date = 26 October 2010}}</ref>

Germany did not respond for three days, continuing its offensive. The response on 21 February contained such harsh terms that even Lenin briefly considered fighting. However, the Central Committee again voted 7–4 on 23 February to accept. The [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] was signed on 3 March and ratified on 15 March 1918. Closely associated with the previous "no war, no peace" policy, Trotsky resigned as Commissar for Foreign Affairs.