TROTZKY
Almost inseparable from the name of Lenin, in the minds of Americans, is that of Trotzky, Minister of War, whose history is well known here. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs up to the time of the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, when it became necessary to mobilize an army to protect Soviet Russia from foreign invasion, and he was made Minister of War. He took hold of a badly disorganized and worse discouraged army, and through his own hard work, and with the assistance of others, built up an army probably better than any other in the world today.
While in Moscow I heard him address a gathering of some two thousand women, in the Labor Temple—formerly a noblemen’s club. He had just returned from the front, and was still wearing his suit of plain khaki and high boots. He reviewed the work of the Red Army, recounting its victories and defeats.
LITVINOFF
Assistant Commissar of Foreign Affairs
A well-set figure, with black eyes flashing through a pair of thick glasses; a wealth of jet black hair brushed back from a high forehead; dark moustache and small beard; his whole face tanned from being in the open with the troops, he paced the platform from one end to the other, like a caged lion. When he spoke of the counter-revolutionary forces his voice resounded through the hall, filled with scorn, and his face wore a look that was uncanny. The next moment his expression changed, and lowering his voice he spoke in soothing tones of the heroism and devotion of the soldiers of the Red Army.
I could understand at the end of his forty minutes’ address what Colonel Raymond Robins meant when he said: “Trotzky is a great orator.” He is undoubtedly the most convincing I have ever heard, and I have heard many in several countries. He seems to tug at his listeners until they find themselves leaning forward so as not to miss a single word. The history of this man’s life and activities would make an interesting book. I hope it will be written.