Then Trotsky split with Lenin and denounced the separate peace treaty.
The German army marched forward into the Ukraine, the bread basket of
Russia, where huge stores of grain, oil and metals were seized. But Lenin
won the majority of the Soviet leaders to his side and the separate peace was
signed, although sporadic fighting continued. The country was in a chaotic
condition, but still the routine living, with limited supplies of food, went on
from day to day.
It should be emphasized here that catchy slogans, as well as military
strength, won the revolution for the Reds, as they were called by the outside
world. "Peace, Bread, and Land” was the powerful slogan repeated over and
over in speeches, posters, banners and newspapers. "All power to the
Soldiers, Workers, and Peasants soviets” was another slogan hammered home
over and over, as was "Workers of the World Unite”.
Early in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson instructed Secretary of War
Newton B. Baker to advise the Y that secretaries in Russia eligible for the
draft should remain in Russia if they chose to stay in Y service to the Russian
people. Most of the secretaries elected to continue their work, although a few
started for home over the Trans-Siberian railroad to Vladivostock. They were
delayed interminably.
Meanwhile the Nyackers in Moscow headquarters were doing their job
of handling YMCA finances, a difficult task in a period when the banks were
taken over by Bolshevik commissars and cash withdrawals were limited to
small amounts. They were faced with a cash and barter economy. One time
when a large bank draft was received from New York headquarters Secretary
Jerome Davis went to Trosky and got him to direct the State Bank to cash it
into rubles. (My recollection is imperfect, but it seems to me the draft was
for $50,000 and the going rate of exchange then was about 10 rubles to the
dollar.) Stacks of brand new ruble notes, printed in bright colors in various
denominations, were turned over the the Nyack "bankers”. (Traphagen,
Martine and Blauvelt actually were in the banking business at home. Bryant
was a young lawyer).
The valuable funds were stored in a large canvas covered suitcase, kept
under their beds when no safer place could be found in the palatial Moscow
house which was Y headquarters. Its owner, a wealthy "capitalist” merchant
named Ushkov, was happy to lease it to the Y for the relative safety from
seizure which the presence of American tenants insured.
Traphagen, Martine and Bryant in a Norwegian train en route to North Russia, 1918.
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