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64 0 T h e Nation [Vol. 128 No. 3334
A Letter from27
T o THE WORKERS F U.S.S.R.:DEAR I wr ite o you in order o el l
you
again that Stal in, Yaroslavsky, et al . are deceiving you. T h
eysay that I made use of the bourgeois press in orde r o carryon a
struggle against the Soviet Republic, in whose creat ionand defense
I w o r k e d h a n d n h a n d w i t h L e n i n . T h e y a r
edeceiving you. I used th e bourgeois press in orde r to defe ndthe
intere sts of the Soviet Rep ublic again st the lies, trickery,and
perfidy of Stal in and Company.
They ask you tocondemnmy articles. H av e you readthem No, you
have not read hem. The y are givi ng you acounterfei t ranslat ion
of separate ragmen ts. M y art icleshave been published in
heRussian anguage n specialbooklet in xactly he orm nwhich I wrote
hem.De-mand tha t S ta l in repr in t them wi thout abbrev ia t
ions or fal si -f ications. H e darenotd o t . H e f e a r s h e r
u t hm o r e h a n
anyth ing e lse. He re I w a n t o u m m a r i z e h econtents
ofmy articles.1. n the esolu tion of the G.P.U. as o mybanish-
ment t t a tes ha t I amconduct ingpreparat ions oranarmed
truggle gainsthe oviet Republic. I n P r a v d a
No. 41 February 19, 1929) he ta tement bout rm edstrugglew a s m
i tt ed . W h y ?W h y d i d t a li n o t a r erepeat n P r a v d a
w h a twa s said in he esolut ion of theG.P.U.? Because heknew ha t
no onewo uld believe him.After the history of t he W ran ge l
officer, af ter the exposureof the sent by Stal in to the Oppo sit
ionistswi th the proposa l of a mili tary plot , no one will
believe thatthe Bolshev ik-Leninists, desiring to convinc e the
party of thecorrectness of their views, are preparing an armed
struggle.
Bu t if t ha t is true, why ntroduce his obvious l ie nto
heresolution of the G.P.U.? N o t o r h e U.S.S.R. b u t o rEurope
, for hew h o l e u t s i d ew o r l d .T h r o u g h h eT.A.S.S.
agencyStal in ystematical lyanddaily cooperateswith the bourgeois
pressof the whole wor ld , p ropaga t ing h isslander gainsthe
Bolshevik-Leninists. Stali n ann oother way expla in h i s ban
ishment and h is nnumerable a r-rests, exceptby accusing theOppo
sit ion of preparing narmed struggle. Wi t h thismonstrous l ie he
has done enor-mous harm o heSovie tRepubl ic . T h e whole
bourgeoispress has discussed the fact that Trotzk y, Rakov sky,
Smilg a,Radek , I. N. Smirnov, Beloborodov, Muralov,M r a t c h k o
v -sky andm a n yothersw h obui l t heSovie tRepubl ica n ddefended
i t , a re now prepar ing an a rmed s t ruggle aga ins t theSoviet
power. I n order o us t i fyhis repressions, Stalin iscompelled to
compose these monstrous legends, doing incalcu-lableharm o
heSovietp o w er. T h a t is w h y I consideredit necessary to appe
ar n he bourgeois press and say to hewh ole wo r ld : I t i s no t
rue ha t he Oppos i t ion n tends owage n rmedtruggle gainsthe
Sovieto w e r. T h eOpposit ion has waged and wil l wage a ruthless
s truggle o rthe Soviet powe r against all ts enemies. T h is
declarationofminehas been printe d nnewspaperswithacirculat ion
oftens of millions inal l he anguage s of thew o r l d . I t w i
llServe totrengthenhe Soviet Repub lic tal inwantsostreng then his
position at the expenseof the Soviet Republic.
Leon TrotzkyI wa nt to streng then th e Soviet Repu blic by
exposing the of theStalinists.
2. Stal in and his press have fo r a ong ime been ming al l over
the world the statement that I declare the SoviRepublic has become
a bourgeois s tate, hat he proletaria npower is wrecked, etc. n
Russ ia , many workers know ha tthis is a vicious sland er, hat t
is foun ded onfalsified qutations. I hav e exposed these
alsificatlons doz ens of timin et terswhichhave been circulated
romh a n d ohand .But the outside bourgeois press bel ieves them ,
or pretendsbelieve them. AI1 these coun terfeit quo tations appe ar
in co lumns of the newspapers of the wor ld as a demons t ra t ioof
the assert ion that Trotzky considers the fal l of the Sovpower
nevitable. Tha nks to the enorm ous interest of intnation al ublic
pinio n, nd especially th at of the bropopular masses, in wh at is
beingcreated n heSovietRe-pub lic, the bourgeois press, mpelled by
its business intere
its desxre for c irculatio n, the d em ands of its readers, was
copelled toprint my art icles. I n those art iclesI said to hewh
ole wo rld that the Soviet power, n spi te of the misleing policies
of theStalin eade rship, is deeply ooted in hmasses, is very
powerfu l , and wil l outl ive i ts enemies.
You must no t forge t tha t the overwhelming major i ty the
workers n Europe , and especial ly in Am erica, s t i l l reathe
bourgeois press. I m a d e t a condit ion hat my art iclshould be
printedwithout he l ightest change. I t is t ruthat certain papers
in a few countries violated this condit ionbut the majori ty fulf i
l led i t. I n any caseall the papers havepublished the fact that,
in spite of the lies and slanders of Stal inists , Trotz ky
isconvinced of the deep inner pow er othe Soviet regime, and f
irmly believes t hat the wo rker s wi
succeed by peaceful measures inchanging hepresent falspolicy of
the Cent ra l Comm it tee .
I n t h e s p r in gof 1917, Lenin, imprisoned inside Switzelan
d, employed a sealed tra in of theHohenzol le rns norder oge t to
theRussianworkers. T h e chauvinist preat tacked Lenin, going so fa
r as to ca l l h im a German agenta n daddressh i masHerrLenin .
mpr isoned by theT h e r -midorians in Constantinople I employed
the bourgeois preas a sealed tr ain no r d e r to speak the ru th o
hew h o l ewor ld . T h e a t tacks of the S ta l in i s t s aga
ins t M r. Tro tzk ystupid in their intemperance, are nothing bu t
a repetition othe bourgeois and Social Revolutionary at tacks upon
HeLenin.LikeLenin I regardwith ranquil ontemp t hepublic opinion of
th e philistines an d bu reau crat s whose spStalin represents.
3. I told in my art icles, distorted and falsif ied by
Yarslavsky, how, why, and und er what circumstances I was banished
fromheU . S .S . R . T h e S t al in i st sre ropagatinqrumors n
heEuro pean press to he effect tha t I wasper-mit ted to leave
Russia at my o wn request. I exposed this lieI to ld ow I was ent
over the order orcibly f terpre l iminary agreement be tween S ta l
in and the Turk isholiceA n d h e r e I acted not only n he
nterests of my own per-sonal defense against s lander, but f i rs t
of al l in the interestof theSovietRepublic. If theOppo sitionists
eally desireto leave thebord ers of theSovie tUnion , ha twould
b
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May 29 929 Nation 641
understood by thewholeworld as a sign hat hey consid-ered the
ituation of the Soviet Gov ernm ent hopeless. W ehave n ot h e
shadow of such a hought. T h e Stal inist poli-cies hav e dealt a
terr ible blow not only to the Chinese Rev o-lut ion,
heEnglishworking-classmovement,and hewholeCom intern , ut also to
thenner tability of theSovietreglme. T h a t is
ndisputable.However, hesituation is notin he east hopeless. T h e
Opposit ion nno case intends ofly fromSoviet Russia. I
categorically refused to cross theborder, proposing instead that
they should imprison me. T h eStalinistsdidnotdare esort o
hatmeasure, they wereafraid that the wo rker s wo uld insistenltly
demand m y libera-t ion . T he y prefer red om a k eabarga inwi th
heTurk ishpolice, an d they transported me to Con stantin opl e by
mainforce. This I explained o hewholeworld. . . .
4 I n tens of mil l ions of newspapers I told thewholeworld that
i t was no t , the Russian wo rkers who exiled me,ortheRussian
peasants, or heSovie tRedGuards ,or thosewi thw h o mwe ame n
topower nd ought houlder toshoulderonallfronts n he civi l war. I t
was hebureau-cralts who exiled me, people whohavegot hepower
ntotheirhand s nd onve rted themselves intobureaucrat iccastebound
togetherbyasolid arity of privilege. Ino r d e rto defend he
October Revolution, he Soviet Republic, andthe evolutionarynam e of
theBolshevik-Leninists , I toldthe whole wo rld the truth about
Stal in and the Stal inists . Ireminded them again that Lenin in
his maturely consideredTestament described Stalin asdisloyal T h a
t w o r d is u n-derstood n al l he anguages of the world. I t
means an un-trustwo rthy or dishon est man who is guided in his
activitiesby bad motives, a man whom you cannot t rust . T h a t is
howLenincharacterizedStalin,andwe see againh o wcorrectLenins warn
ing was. Th er e isno worse crime for a revolu-tion ist than to
deceive his par ty, to poison with lies the mindof thewo rkin g
class. An d ha t is at presenlt Stalins chiefoccupation. H e is
deceiving theCornintern nd he nter-nat ional working class, at t r
ibuting to the O pposit ion counter-revolulfonary ntentions nd
activities.Because of Stalinsincl inat ion or hatkind of
activity,Lenin called him dis-loyal. Ex actl y for hat reason, Len
in proposed to hepartythat Stalin removed his post.
5 T h e s landerers Yaros lavsky nd heother gentsof Sta l in) a
re ra i s ing a great noise on the subject of
Ameri-candollars.Otherwise it wouldhard ly be wor thwhi le ostoop
to this rubbish. Bu t he mostviciousbourgeoisnews-papers
akesatisfaction nspreading Yaroslavskys dirt. I norder o eave
nothing unexplained I wil l herefore el l YOUabout hedollars .
I gave m y articles to an A merica n press agency in Paris.Lenin
and I dozens of times, have given interview s and writ-
tenexposit ions of ou r views on onequestionor
another osuch agencies. Thank s to my banishmen t and the
mysteriou scircumstances of it, the interest in this matter throu
ghou t thewor ldwas colossal . T h e agency countedona good
profit.I t offered me half of the income. I answered hat I
person-ally would not take a cent, bult tha t the agency might
deliverat my direction half the income from my art icles, and
hatwith his money I would publish in theRussian anguageand in
foreign languages a whole seriesof Lenins wri t ings
his speeches, articles, etters)whichare suppressed in
heSovietRepu blic the talinist censorship. I shall alsopublish w
ith this money a num ber of impo rtant party docu -
me nts rep or ts of conferences, congresses, letters,
rticles,etc.) which are concealed fr om the pa rty because they
dem-onstrate he h eoret icalandpoliticalbank ruptcy of Stalin.T hi
s is the counter-revolutionary according to Stal in andYaroslavsky)
l i terature which intend to publlsh. accu-rate accou nt of the
sums expended in his way will be pub-l ished when the t ime comes.
Every worker wil l say thatit isinfinitely better to publish the
writings of L enin with moneyreceived in the form of an accidental
contr ibution from hebourgeoisie than t o propa gate slanders
against the Bolshevik-Leninistswith money collected rom
heRussianworkersan d peasants.
D o not orget ,comrades : TheTes tament of Leninremains as befo
re nRussiaacounter-revolutionarydocu-ment, orhe irculat ion of
which you are rrested ndexiled. An d tha t is not accidental.
Stalin is wag inga strug-gle againstLeninism on an nternational
scale. T he re re-mains hardly one country in the world where at
the head oftheCommunis tPar ty odaystand those revolutionistswholed
theparty in thedays of Lenin .They re lmo s t l lexpelled from
heComm unist nternational .Leninguidedthe first four congresses of
theComintern .Togetherwi thLenin I drew up al l the fundamental
docum ents of the Com-intern. At theFour thCongress ,n 1922, Lenin
ividedequallywith me thefundamenta lrepor t on t h e N e w E c o
-nomic Policy and the Perspectives of th e Inter natio nal Revo-lut
ion. After the death of Lenin, almost al l the part icipants ,at
any rate al l withou t exception of the part ici-pants of the irst
our congresses, were expelled from heComintern. I n order to adopt
an anti-Leninist policy, i t wasnecessary first tooverthrow
heLeninist eadership.Stal inhas done this, relying upon the
bureaucracy, upon new petty-bourgeois circles, upon th e state
apparatus, upo n the G.P.U.and upon he financial resourcesof the
state. T h is has beencarried hroughnotonly n he U.S.S.R., butalso
nGer-many, in F rance, in I taly, in Belgium, in the United
States,in heScandinaviancountrles.
W he n they were pounding the Bolshevik-Lenin is ts ,
theyreassured theparty by saying hat twould now be mono-l i, thic.
You kno w h at he party is now more spl i t up hanever. this is not
the end . Th ere is no salvation on heStal inist road. You can
adopt either an Ustriaiov is-that isa onsistentlyTherm idorian
po1icyor aLeninist policy.T h e Cen tris t posit ion of Stal in
nevitably eads oan accu-mula tion of enorm ous economic and
political difficullties andto the continu al decim ation and
destructio n of the party.
I t is still not too late to abter the course. It is
necessaryabrupt ly ochange he policy and heparty egime n hespirlt
of theOpposlt ionplatform. It is necessary toputanend to he
hamefulpersecu tion of the best revolu tionaryLeninists the Com mun
ist Party of the Soviet Union andin hewholeworld. It is necessary
to estore heLeninistleadership. I t is necessary to cond emn and
root out he dis-loyal, that is, untrustworthyanddishonest ,meth ods
of theStal in apparatus. T h e Opposit ion is ready withall its
forceto help the proletarian kernel of the party to fulf i l this
vi taltask. Rabidersecution, dishonest slanders ,ndovern-mental
repressions cannotd imour oya l ty o heOctoberRevolution or o he
nternational party of Lenin. W e sr- il lremain true t o them both
to the end-in t he Stalinist prisms,in exile, and in banishmen
t.
LEON
