T h e Nation

64-0

[Vol. 128, No. 3334

-

A Letter from Leon Trotzky

I want to strengthen the Soviet Republic by exposing the lies
27
of theStalinists.
U.S.S.R.:
2. Stalin and his press have for a long time been makDEAR
I write to you in order to tell you
again that Stalin, Yaroslavsky, et al. are deceiving you. T h e y ing all over the world the statement that I declare the Soviet
Republic has become a bourgeois state, that the proletarian
say that I made use of the bourgeoispress in order to carry
power
is wrecked, etc. In Russia, many workers know that
on a struggle against the Soviet Republic, in whose creation
this is a vicious slander, that it is founded onfalsified quoand defense I worked hand in hand with Lenin. They are
deceiving you. I used the bourgeois press in order to defend
tations. I have exposed thesefalsificatlons dozens of times
been circulatedfromhandtohand.
the interests of the Soviet Republic against the lies, trickery, inletterswhichhave
But the outside bourgeois press believes them, or pretends to
and perfidy of Stalin and Company.
T h e y ask you to condemn my articles. Have you read believe them. AI1 these counterfeit quotations appear in the
them ? No, you have not read them.
They are giving you a columns of the newspapers of the world as a demonstration
of the Soviet
counterfeittranslation of separatefragments.
M y articles of the assertion that Trotzky considers the fall
have been published intheRussianlanguageina
special power inevitable. Thanks to the enormous interest of internationalpublicopinion,and
especially that of the broad
I wrotethem.Debooklet inexactlytheforminwhich
mand that Stalin reprint them without abbreviations or falsi- popular masses, in what is beingcreatedintheSovietRefications. H e dare not do it.
H e fears the truth more than
public, the bourgeois press, impelled by its business interests,
anything else. Here I wanttosummarizethecontents
of its desxre for circulation, the demands of its readers, was compelled toprint my articles. I n those articles I said tothe
my articles.
1. In theresolution of the G.P.U. asto mybanishwhole world that the Soviet power, in spite of the misleading policies of theStalinleadership, is deeplyrooted inthe
mentitstatesthat
I amconductingpreparationsforan
armedstruggleagainsttheSoviet
Republic. I n Pravda masses, is very powerful, and will outlive its enemies.
You must not forget that the overwhelming majority of
(No. 41, February 19, 1929)thestatementaboutarmed
the workers in Europe, and
especially in America, still read
strugglewasomitted.
W h y ?W h y
didStalinnotdare
of the the bourgeois press. I made it a conditionthat my articles
repeatin Pravda whatwas said intheresolution
change. It is true
G.P.U.? Because he knew that no one would believe him. should be printedwithouttheslightest
After the history of the Wrangel officer, after the exposure that certain papers in a few countries violated this condition,
but the majority fulfilled it. I n any case all the papers have
of the
sent by Stalin to the Oppositionists
with the proposal of a military plot, no one will believe that published the fact that, in spite of the lies and slanders of the
the Bolshevik-Leninists, desiring to convince the party of the Stalinists, Trotzky isconvinced of the deep inner power of
the Soviet regime, and firmly believes that the workers will
correctness of their views, are preparing an armed struggle.
succeed by peaceful measures inchangingthepresent
false
But if that is true, why introduce this
obvious lie into the
policy of the Central Committee.
U.S.S.R. butfor
resolution of the G.P.U.? Notforthe
I n the spring of 1917, Lenin, imprisoned inside SwitzerEurope,
forthewholeoutsideworld.Throughthe
T.A.S.S. agencyStalinsystematicallyanddaily
cooperates land, employed a sealed train of theHohenzollernsin
T h e chauvinist press
with the bourgeois press of the whole world, propagating his ordertoget to theRussianworkers.
attacked Lenin, going so far as t o call him a German agent,
slanderagainstthe
Bolshevik-Leninists. Stalincaninno
andaddresshimasHerrLenin.Imprisoned
by the Therother way explain this banishment and his innumerable armidorians in Constantinople I employed the bourgeois press
rests, exceptby accusing theOpposition
of preparingan
as a sealed train in order to speak the truth to the whole
armed struggle. With thismonstrous lie he has done enormous harmtotheSovietRepublic.
T h e whole bourgeois world. T h e attacks of the Stalinists against Mr. Trotzky,
stupid in their intemperance, are nothing but
a repetition of
press has discussed the fact that Trotzky, Rakovsky, Smilga,
the bourgeois and Social Revolutionary attacks upon Herr
Radek, I. N. Smirnov, Beloborodov, Muralov,MratchkovLenin.LikeLenin
I regardwithtranquilcontemptthe
sky, andmanyotherswhobuilttheSovietRepublicand
defended it, are now preparing an armed struggle against the public opinion of the philistines and bureaucrats whose spirit
Soviet power. I n ordertojustifyhis
repressions, Stalin is Stalin represents.
3. I told in my articles, distorted and falsified by Yarocompelled to compose these monstrous legends, doing incalculableharmtotheSovietpower.
T h a t is why I considered slavsky, how, why, and under what circumstances I was banished fromtheU.S.S.R.
T h e Stalinistsarepropagatinq
it necessary to appear in the
bourgeois press and say to the
rumors in the European
press tothe effect that I wasperwhole world: It is not true that the Opposition intends to
wageanarmedstruggleagainstthe
Sovietpower.
T h e mitted to leave Russia at my own request. I exposed this lie.
I wassent over theborderforciblyaftera
a ruthless struggle for I toldhow
Opposition has waged and will wage
police.
the Soviet power against all its enemies. T h i s declaration of preliminary agreement between Stalin and the Turkish
own perAnd here I acted not only in the interests of my
minehas been printedinnewspaperswithacirculation
of
tens of millions inallthelanguages
of theworld.
I t will sonal defense against slander, but first of all in the interests
of theSovietRepublic.
If theOppositionistsreally desired
Serve tostrengthenthe
Soviet RepublicStalinwantsto
be
strengthen his position at the expense of the Soviet Republic. to leave theborders of theSovietUnion,thatwould

To

THE

WORKERS
OF

May 29, 19291

641

Nation

understood by the whole world

as a sign that they
considered thesituation of the Soviet Government hopeless. W e
T h e Stalinist polihave not the shadow of such a thought.
cies have dealt a terrible blow not only to the Chinese Revolution, the English working-class movement, and the whole
Comintern,but
also to theinnerstability
of theSoviet
is not
reglme. T h a t isindisputable.However,thesituation
in the least hopeless. T h e Oppositioninno case intends to
fly fromSoviet Russia. I categorically refused to cross the
border, proposing instead that they should imprison me. T h e
Stalinistsdidnotdareresorttothatmeasure,
they were
afraid that the workers would insistenltly demand my liberation. T h e y preferredtomakeabargainwiththeTurkish
police, and they transported me to Constantinople by main
...
force. T h i s I explainedtothewholeworld.
4. I n tens of millions of newspapers I told thewhole
world that it was not ,the Russian workers who exiled me, or
theRussian peasants, ortheSovietRedGuards,or
those
withwhomwecameintopowerandfoughtshoulder
to
shoulder on all fronts in the
civil war. I t wasthebureaucralts who exiled me, people whohavegotthepowerinto
theirhandsandconverted
themselves intoabureaucratic
castebound togetherbyasolidarity
of privilege. Inorder
to defend the October Revolution, the
Soviet Republic, and
therevolutionaryname
of theBolshevik-Leninists, I told
I
the whole world the truth about Stalin and the Stalinists.
reminded them again that Lenin in his maturely
considered
Testament described Stalin as disloyal. T h a t word is understood in all the languages
of the world. I t means an untrustworthy or dishonest man who
is guided in his activities
by bad motives, a man whom you cannot trust. T h a t is how
LenincharacterizedStalin,andwe
see againhowcorrect
Lenins warning was. T h e r e is no worse crime for a revolutionist than to deceive his party, to poison with lies the mind
of theworking class. And that is at presenlt Stalins chief
occupation. H e is deceiving theCorninternandtheinternational working class, attributing to the Opposition counterrevolulfonaryintentionsand
activities.Because
of Stalins
inclinationforthatkind
of activity,Lenin called him disloyal. Exactly for that reason, Lenin proposed to the party
that Stalin removed
his post.
5 . T h e slanderers(Yaroslavskyandtheotheragents
of Stalin) are raising a great noise on the subject of Americandollars.Otherwise
it wouldhardly be worthwhileto
stoop to this rubbish. But the mostviciousbourgeoisnewspaperstakesatisfactioninspreading
Yaroslavskys dirt. I n
order to leave nothing unexplained
I will therefore tell YOU
about the dollars.
I gave my articles to an American press agency in Paris.
Lenin and I, dozens of times, have given interviews and written expositions of our views on onequestion or another to
such agencies. Thanks to my banishment and the mysterious
circumstances of it, the interest in this matter throughout the
worldwas colossal. T h e agency countedona
good profit.
I t offeredme half of the income. I answered that I personally would not take a cent, bult that the agency might deliver
a t my direction half the income from my articles, and that
withthis money I would publish in theRussianlanguage
and in foreign languages a whole
series of Lenins writings
(his speeches, articles,letters)whichare
suppressed inthe
SovietRepublic
theStalinist
censorship. I shall also
publish with this money a number of important party docu-

ments(reports
of conferences, congresses, letters,articles,
etc.) which are concealed from the party because they demonstratethetheoreticalandpoliticalbankruptcy
of Stalin.
T h i s is the counter-revolutionary (according to Stalin and
Yaroslavsky) literature which
intend to publlsh.
accurate account of the sums expended in this way will be published when the time comes. Every worker will say that it is
infinitely better to publish the writings of Lenin with money
received in the form of an accidental contribution from the
bourgeoisie than t o propagate slanders against the BolshevikLeninistswith money collectedfromtheRussianworkers
and peasants.
D o notforget,comrades:
The Testament of Lenin
remains as beforeinRussiaacounter-revolutionarydocuof which you arearrestedand
ment,forthecirculation
exiled. And that is not accidental. Stalin is waging a struggle againstLeninism on aninternational scale. T h e r e remains hardly one country in the world where at the
head of
theCommunistPartytodaystand
those revolutionistswho
led theparty in thedays of Lenin.Theyarealmostall
expelled fromtheCommunistInternational.Leninguided
the first four congresses of theComintern.Togetherwith
Lenin I drew up all the fundamental documents of the Comintern. At theFourthCongress,in
1922, Lenindivided
equallywith me the fundamental report on the New Economic Policy and the Perspectives of the International Revolution. After the death of Lenin, almost all the participants,
particiat any rate all without exception
of the
pants of thefirstfour
congresses, were expelled fromthe
Comintern. I n order to adopt an anti-Leninist policy, it was
necessary first tooverthrowtheLeninistleadership.Stalin
has done this, relying upon the bureaucracy, upon new pettybourgeois circles, upon the state apparatus, upon the G.P.U.,
and upon the financial resources of the state. T h i s has been
carriedthroughnotonlyinthe
U.S.S.R., butalsoinGermany, in France, in Italy, in Belgium, in the United States,
intheScandinaviancountrles.
W h e n they were pounding the Bolshevik-Leninists, they
now be monoreassured the party by saying that it would
li,thic. You know that the party
is now more split up than
ever.
this is not the end. There is no salvation on the
is
Stalinist road. You can adopt either an Ustriaiovis-that
aconsistentlyThermidorian
po1icyor aLeninist
policy.
T h e Centrist position of Stalin inevitably leads to an
accumulation of enormous economic and political difficullties and
to the continual decimation and destruction of the party.
I t is still not too late (to abter the course. It is necessary
abruptlytochangethe
policy andthepartyregimeinthe
It is necessary toputan
spirlt of theOpposltionplatform.
end totheshamefulpersecution
of the best revolutionary
Leninists
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and
inthewholeworld.
It is necessary torestoretheLeninist
leadership. I t is necessary to condemn and root out the
disloyal, that is, untrustworthyanddishonest,methods
of the
Stalin apparatus. T h e Opposition is ready with all its force
to help the proletarian kernel of the party to fulfil this vital
task. Rabid
persecution,
dishonest slanders,
and
governmental repressions cannotdimourloyaltytotheOctober
Revolution or to the international party of Lenin.
W e sr-ill
remain true t o them both to the end-in the Stalinist prisms,
in exile, and in banishment.

LEON