" This profession of concern for the Constituent
Assembly was hypocritical, dishonest, and insincere. He did not in the
least care about or believe in the Constituent Assembly, and had not done
so at any time since the First Revolution of 1905-06. His whole thought
rejected such a democratic instrument. However, he and his associates knew
that the demand for a Constituent Assembly was almost universal, and that
to resist that demand was impossible. Their very obvious policy in the
circumstances was to try and force the holding of the Assembly prematurely,
without adequate preparation, and without affording an opportunity for a
nation-wide electoral campaign. A hastily gathered, badly organized
Constituent Assembly would be a mob-gathering which could be easily
stampeded or controlled by a determined minority.
Trotzky assailed the Coalition Government with vitriolic passion. At the
moment when it was obvious to everybody that unity of effort was the only
possible condition for the survival of the Revolution, and that any
division in the ranks of the revolutionists, no matter upon what it might
be based, must imperil the whole movement, he and all his Bolshevik
colleagues deliberately stirred up dissension.
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