The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1921-10-13
Trotzky Tells How Great Soviet
Military Force of 100000
Men Was Organized.
VEIL OF SECRECY IS RAISED
First Created as Several Armies, Each
Supported by Small War Council
Which Welded the Power of
Life and Death.

raris.-The curtain of secrecy be-
hind which the Russian Reds organ
lied the great soviet army Of five
million men which enabled the mill
tary directors of communism to beat
off or defeat all exterior and inte-
rior enemies during the past three
years, except drought and famine, is
lifted by Trotzky, according to the
Paris organ Of Communism, "L'Hu-
mantle" which newspaper prints an
interview with the military director
for Russia.
Trotzky gives credit for organiZa-
ton to the old officers of the cZarist
regime who turned reds. The soviet
army was created as several armies,
and each supported small war coun-
Gil, which welded the power of life
or death. The defeat Of the white"
army in the VOlga region in 1913 af-
forded sufficient enthusiasm to build
the greater armies. Trotzky says:
THE army was instituted in prin-
ciple by a decree signed January 10,
1918, by Lenin and his war and naval
commssaries, DybenkO and Podovis-
Ky. l was then negotiating the Brest-
Lit0vsl1 peace treaty with Germany as
minister of foreign affairs, and it was
in March that / began my duties,
There was nothing left of the old
army then; men had gone home. the
materials lay scattered everywhere,
abandoned where the trains happened
to stop. The local soviets, barely or
ganized, telegraphed me We have ten
cannon We have an avi-
alton park. Ten soldiers. .
Five sailors. > Everything was in
q middle
'My bureau was at SmoIny. People
came from all corners of the country ::
Give us shoes! Don't you need a
colOnel?' they asked. It was exact
" like the description made by Lis
Eagaray of the war ministry under
the French commune. It was not easy
to establish order. I had no compe-
tence and thought first of accepting
the aid Of foreign missions who hoped
to bring US back into the European
war. Eventually, however, comrade
Of the party, Bontch-BrOueVltcn'
brought his brother, a cZarist general,
to me. I asked him to construct
general staff after putting him under
the watch of two communists. He
filed his Office perfectly.
Raises Cries Of Treason.
with his help we began to clear
up the situation. But do you see the
effect? A czarist general? People be-
gan to cry treason and refuse to obey
me. The central committee, fortu-
nately, understood me and aided me.
In order to establish discipline we In
1icted rigorous punishments.
All sorts of men offered themselves
to me: Brigands and part brigands.
One maA, who came with little troop,
had his Docket full of gold and watch
es. He was shot. There were also
spies anu secret agents. Army n.y.
glene had to be revOlutionfZed.
Everywhere interesting problems
came to light. When colony had
been established, a local federal in
stlnct mixed with it, with the result
that we would have an army Of the
town Of Tver or of Vladimir. The
general disgust of miIitarism every
Where hindered all cooperation.
FINALLY in May the essential part
OF the apparatus was put on it's feet
seven regions had been constructed
With their governmental SUBDIVISIONS
their cantons and volOsts.
Il did not dare to begin with com
pulsory military service; voluntary
service sufficed. We then had about
$4,000 men, mostly former soldiers
and members of the Jeunesses com
munists. The Czecho-SlOvakian al
1alr, however, came to our aid.
You remember that adventure