[lbo-talk] Trotsky attribution

[turbulo at aol.com]

And for some reason, it's been attributed to Trotsky ever since, both 
in
the original and in the alternative form of "You might not be 
interested
in the War, but the War is interested in you."

Michael

------------------------------

Actually, the quip did originate with Trotsky, but in a slightly 
different form.

During a debate on Soviet foreign policy at one of the party congresses 
in the 1920s, a Stalinist said the USSR should simply ""ignore" the 
international situation, to which Trotsky replied: "You can also walk 
naked through the streets of Moscow in January, if you ignore the 
weather and the police. They won't ignore you, comrades!"

This exchange is recounted in Deutscher's Prophet Unarmed, though I 
don't have time to look up the page reference at the moment.

Jim