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Volume 3 Far East Story Chapter 415 Democracy is more important than centralism

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    July 13, 1918 19:50 Moscow Kremlin

    "Comrade Chairman, I just received a reply from the Ufa-Ufa coalition. The other party agreed to negotiate a truce. However, it refused to cease the war first and then negotiate. Instead, it waited for the results of the negotiations before agreeing to a truce Moreover, the price offered by the U-Fa coalition was very high.  "Trotsky said in a heavy tone to Ulyanov, who entered the conference room with an anxious look.

    "What conditions did the other party put forward?" Ulyanov snatched the telegram manuscript from Trotsky's hand, moved it to the light and read it. The windows of the conference room were opened, and the evening breeze rolled up the curtains.  The temperature inside suddenly seemed to drop by a degree or two.

    "The other party agreed to use the Volga River as the dividing line, but required that all parts from Saratov to the west to Kursk and south should also be assigned to the Kolchak regime!" Bukharin gasped, waving his hands.  .

    "This is simply too much! Wouldn't this mean that the entire Tsaritsyn area has been wiped out? Without the granary and transportation and railway hub of the lower Volga River, what will millions of people in Moscow eat?" Ulyanov hurriedly looked at it.  After finishing the telegram, he slammed the table and shouted.

    "The lower Volga region is very important to us. We must not agree to this, otherwise we will put the noose around our necks for the enemy!" Bukharin kept talking with a blushing face.

    Kamenev and Dzerzhinsky have both gone out to do business and have not returned yet. There are only four Central Committee members, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Trotsky and Ulyanov, in the conference room.  At this time Zinoviev sighed and glanced at Trotsky and Ulyanov before he could say anything.

    "Tsaritsyn is very important to us. Comrade Joseph has spent a lot of effort there in the past six months. The establishment of the Southern Front and the three battles to defend Tsaritsyn are just to consolidate the salient of Tsaritsyn. Give up Tsaritsyn  This is absolutely not possible. This coalition commander is simply crazy! Zinoviev, do you think the Chinese king is a lunatic? He actually thinks we will give up on Tsaritsyn?"

    Ulyanov pinched his waist and walked back and forth in the conference room. From time to time he picked up the crumpled telegram manuscript from the table and took a look at it. Then he slapped the table and continued to circle around while breathing heavily.

    Seeing that Zinoviev was silent, Trotsky had no choice but to stand up and said thoughtfully, "Tsaritsyn is indeed very important to us, but now it is not a question of whether we are willing to cede Tsaritsyn;  The question is whether we have the strength to defend Tsaritsyn!¡±

    "Huh? Comrade Trotsky, what do you mean? Do you think we should and can hand over the Tsaritsyn area to the Allied forces? I have seen through it now, no matter what Kolchak's All-Russian Provisional Government  No matter what, the Western Siberian Autonomous Government and that bullshit Kazakh Alash Autonomous Republic are all puppets of the coalition! "

    Ulyanov's face was livid and he was breathing heavily. He originally thought that the Allies were suppressed by Germany and Austria on the Western Front and could not breathe. As long as the Soviet government could armistice and negotiate peace with Germany and Austria, it would have won a rest.  With the opportunity to breathe, we can consolidate the political power as soon as possible and carry out the revolution. Unexpectedly, China, which is as sick as a cat in Asia, has actually developed completely in this year.

    Not only did Japan, the strongest country in Asia, tidy up and join the Sino-Japanese Alliance, but the United States, Britain and France also honestly returned the land they occupied to China. Now, thousands of miles away, the East with the Chinese and Japanese teams as the core  The Allied forces on the front line actually extended their hands directly to the Volga River Basin!

    "Comrade Trotsky's opinion is worthy of everyone's consideration. The question now is not whether we are willing to cede the Tsaritsyn area on the lower reaches of the Volga River, but whether we can hold on to Tsaritsyn, instead of continuing to fight and losing a lot of troops.  We still can¡¯t keep supplies and supplies, so it¡¯s better to exchange for an armistice. Now the food shortage is only increasing, and the defeat of the Eastern Front in the Battle of Ufa became the last straw for us.¡±

    "If Kolchak attacks from the Kazan line to the west, and the Ufa coalition attacks from the Samara line across the river to the south, our combined strength on the eastern and southern fronts is less than 200,000, and we have to resist at least 200,000 troops.  There are 400,000 enemies, and the opponent's aviation, machine gun and artillery firepower are far superior to ours, it is impossible for us to win!" Zinoviev said bitterly.

    "If we continue to fight, we will not only lose Tsaritsyn and the lower Volga area, we will not even be able to defend Moscow. Even if we transfer both the Western Front and the Northern Front from Petrograd to defend Moscow, there will be no food and  Ammunition, this war can¡¯t be fought! By then it¡¯s not a question of Tsaritsyn and Moscow, it¡¯s a question of whether the Soviet regime can still exist! The wallflowers and opportunists have never been staunch revolutionaries, and they are very likely to be able to do so when the time comes.  There is a situation of total collapse.¡±

    Trotsky frowned, ignoring Bukharin¡¯s look that wanted to kill the cat, but killed him in one breathThe possible bad situation is spread out in front of everyone.

    "Where is Kamenev? Zinoviev, you said that we must rely on the working class and arm all workers. We have more than 1 million workers in Moscow, right? In Nizhny Novgorod we also have 20  There are at least 100,000 workers in Tsaritsyn, and no less than 700,000 workers in Petrograd. The working class must defend its power!" Ulyanov shouted, waving his arms.

    "Comrade Ulyanov, not to mention that there is not so much food, even if there is food, all the workers have joined the Red Army, then who will produce it? Guns, weapons, ammunition and all industrial supplies require the working class to stay mainly in the factory  Instead of going to the battlefield, otherwise it will be drying up the lake, fishing and burning the forest, and hunting. Without material production and food supply, the entire regime will collapse without the enemy attacking!

    The Southern Front Army on the Tsaritsyn Front has an average of twenty rounds of ammunition per soldier. We do our best to protect the Eastern Front Army, but each soldier receives no more than fifty rounds of ammunition. You know the individual soldiers of the Allied Powers?  What is the base number of bullets carried?  At least one hundred and fifty rounds!  If all the workers in our arsenal went to the front line, we wouldn't even be able to guarantee twenty rounds of ammunition for each Red Army soldier!  "

    Zinoviev and Kamenev are jointly responsible for the production and logistics of all Russia's materials. At this time, they couldn't help but jump up and explain.

    ¡°Due to the policy we had to adopt as a last resort, all factories were owned by the Soviets, all industrial products were distributed by the Soviets, and a surplus grain collection system was implemented in the countryside. Now the opposition between the countryside and farmers and us Bolsheviks is quite serious.

    In addition, Kolchak¡¯s All-Russian Provisional Government has promulgated the ¡°375 Rent Reduction Regulations¡± and the ¡°All-Russian Provisional Land Management Measures¡±. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to gain the support of rural areas and farmers!  "Trotsky's voice was a bit cold and scary.

    "The big landowners and big capitalists are the ones we want to overthrow and fight against. The rich peasants and middle peasants hide grain and do not comply with the regulations on unified grain purchase and monopoly. If we don't rob their grain, whose grain will we rob? I must once again draw your attention to the fact that some of our leaders  His thoughts, words and deeds are slipping more and more to the right. If he continues like this, he will sooner or later become an accomplice of the leftist Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks!¡±

    Bukharin shouted emotionally, of course, this guy did not dare to look directly at Trotsky and Zinoviev when he said this, but the target of the finger was obvious.

    At this time, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and Kamenev walked in. Seeing that the atmosphere in the conference room was tense and depressed, he couldn't help being stunned and asked, "I have issued an order from the garrison headquarters. From now on, every night in Moscow  From 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. is the period of martial law. Anyone staying on the streets without a special pass will be arrested and interrogated. Workers¡¯ pickets are now on the streets to enforce the law and patrol!¡±

    After Vacetis went to the Kazan front to serve as the commander of the Eastern Front of the Soviet Red Army, Kamenev, chairman of the Moscow Soviet and member of the Central Committee, also served as the commander of the Moscow garrison, commanding three workers' infantry divisions and responsible for maintaining Moscow's defense and security.  , and more than 30,000 workers' pickets helped maintain order.

    "The Ufa Allied Forces responded and agreed to a truce with the Volga River as the boundary, but asked us to cede Saratov to the area south of Kursk, so that the entire Tsaritsyn must be ceded to the other side!" Zinoviev explained  road.

    Kamenev's face darkened when he heard this. He quickly walked to the conference table, picked up the telegram and read it again. He raised his head and looked at the people in the room and said, "If we want to negotiate peace, I'm afraid we must agree to the conditions proposed by the other party."  ! Otherwise it will be useless if we can¡¯t hold on. Should we seek Comrade Joseph¡¯s opinion on this matter?¡±

    Ulyanov was stunned when he heard this. He really forgot about Joseph. Tsaritsyn could be said to have won three defense battles under the joint command of Joseph and Trotsky, and the Southern Front was also led by Joseph.  It was organized by one hand. If you really want to give up the Tsaritsyn area, you have to convince Joseph first. Otherwise, maybe the Bolsheviks and the Soviet Red Army will split internally first?

    When Trotsky heard what Kamenev said, he felt a little disapproving. He couldn't help but said, "Whether we fight or we defend must be decided by the Central Committee through collective discussion. It's not just one person who says what to do. What we say now is collective."  Leadership and democratic centralism, right?¡±

    "No, no, Comrade Trotsky, even a leader cannot act arbitrarily. What's more, on such an important issue as giving up Tsaritsyn, we should listen to what Comrade Joseph has to say!" Ulyanov had been thinking about Tsaritsyn just now.  , this guy discovered painfully that it was absolutely impossible to continue fighting with the coalition forces now. It was expected that Tsaritsin would be lost in exchange for losing the battle, which was really more valuable in exchange.

    Although he thought so in his heart, Ulyanov did not intend to let himself take the blame alone. Therefore, he planned to do it again just like he did when negotiating the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany.This time, we raised the banner of democratic centralism and listened to the opinions of other Central Committee members.

    "Okay, then send a report to Tsaritsyn and listen to Comrade Joseph's opinion. If he has the ability to lead the troops to defend Tsaritsyn, Trotsky can just go down and become a division commander for him!" The Supreme Revolutionary  Trotsky, Chairman of the Military Committee, gritted his teeth.
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