Leon Trotsky in Mexico with his wife Natalia, circa 1938. Photograph: KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
“Trotskyism” is, no doubt, a very mysterious subject, but even the most ardent defender of Stalin will hardly deny that those who bear its name must be considered authorities upon it. It is therefore of more than passing interest that on January 15 we published an article on the Russian trials by Trotsky’s son and that to-day we publish a message from Mexico by Trotsky himself.
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 25 January 1937
In response to a request from the "Manchester Guardian" for a message on the present trial in Moscow Mr. Leon Trotsky cables from Mexico:—
All the most infamous State trials of history seem to have been no more than ingenuous practical jokes when compared to the judicial concoctions now prepared by Stalin in Russia. The present trial contains its own refutation. Since 1928 I have had no relations whatever with Radek or Piatakoff, who have periodically insulted me in the official press. Piatakoff has never visited me in Oslo. I have never been to Oslo except in the company of the Knudsen family and my own secretaries. I have never known Vladimir Romm, who is alleged to have played the part of intermediary between myself and Radek.
Questions for Stalin
There are two or three fundamental questions which neither the State Prosecutor, Vishinsky, nor his disinterested defender, D.N. Pritt, will be able to evade. First, how can one accept that all the men who carried through the revolution, with the one exception of Stalin, have become terrorists, enemies of Socialism, agents of the Gestapo, ready to dismember the Union of Soviet Republics? Secondly, how is it that these "criminals," who for nearly ten years have been committing terrible crimes, can suddenly repent and demand [death] for themselves? Thirdly, how is one to explain that Zinovieff, Kameneff, and other leaders of this alleged "Trotskyist group" knew nothing about this grotesque plan to dismember the U.S.S.R. for the benefit of Hitler and the Mikado, while Radek, whom none of us ever took too seriously, now reveals himself as the head of this world conspiracy?
Stalin's Dictatorship
Stalin's totalitarian dictatorship has come into an ever-more serious conflict with the economic and cultural development of the country. He is the embodiment of bureaucracy. The spirit of daring which he learnt in the school of revolution is now applied only to maintain his own omnipotence by methods that are fantastic in their criminal ingenuity. This trial shows that a terrible political crisis is approaching in Russia. I am ready to denounce Stalin before any impartial and authoritative international commission. I make this appeal to all men of goodwill and to all that section of the press which is honest and independent. And I know full well that the "Manchester Guardian" will be one of the first to serve the cause of truth and humanity.
LEON TROTSKY
[Trotsky was convicted in absentia at the Moscow show trials and assassinated by a Soviet agent in Mexico in 1940.]
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