So in speaking of the new compulsory labor armies under military discipline Trotzky said at the same congress:
This is but the beginning of our work. There will be many drawbacks at first, much will have to be altered, but the basis itself cannot be unsound, as it is the same as that on which our entire Soviet structure is founded (i.e., this is not a temporary military expedient).
As to the workmen, Trotzky said:
All artisans will be sent into the works and transferred from one place to another, according to the indications of the Government. We will have no pity for the peasants; we will make labor armies of them, with military discipline and Communists as their chiefs. These armies will go forth among the peasants to gather corn, meat and fish that the work of the workmen may be assured.
The Soviet scheme of compulsory labor is being applied on such a broad scale and is so boldly presented as a "proletarian" scheme that it constitutes the gravest danger that has confronted labor for centuries. It is undoubtedly destined to become historic. It is therefore well worth while to present at somewhat greater length the extraordinary reasoning by which Trotzky and Lenin seek to defend it. The first full justification was presented by Trotzky to the Communist Party Congress in March, 1920, and was published in the official Soviet organ of Moscow on the 21st. Its most important points are perhaps the following:
