“Trotsky Innocent, Trials Frame-Ups”

“We find the Moscow Trials to be a frame-up! We find Trotsky and Sedov not guilty!” The thunderous applause of 2,500 people greeted these findings of the International Commission of Inquiry into the Moscow Trials as announced by John Dewey, world famous educator and commission chairman, at a mass meeting held Sunday, Dec. 12 in New York City. The commission report was the greatest triumph of truth against frame-up since the brilliant Emile Zola, French author, exposed the Dreyfuss trials at the close of the 19th century. ^ It was a mortal blow to ® “ ” Stalinism . The. commission’s conclu­ Withdraw America’s sion flatly challenged the Dewey Broadcasts on Trials; verdict of the Moscow court Forces from China! on twenty-one s e p a r a te Hits Minneapolis Frame-Up An Editorial counts. Basing its judgment both on the trial records and The sinking of the United States gunboat, Panay, in on a mass of new document­ NEW YORK.-r-Warning that the methods used in Chinese waters by Japanese bombers, has let loose a ary evidence and new af­ the Russian frame-ups are increasingly being transported veritable wave of jingoism in the United States. for use against opponents of Stalinism in the rest of the All the war-mongers are screeching for “strong fidavits, the Commission af­ measures”. Both the yellow press and the “respect­ firmed, among its more im­ world, Dr. John Dewey followed up the publication of the able” Big Business press are demanding “action”. Join­ portant findings: findings of the International Commission of Inquiry Into ing the blood-pack is the Daily Worker, the organ of the Charges Made against Leon®------——; ,. , ,—~ ------“That Trotsky never ins­ the Communist Party. It rushed to endorse Roosevelt Trotsky in the Moscow Trials I Monday night m which he discus- tructed any of the defendants with a radio broadcast last sed the implications of the ver- and to demand that American imperialism join with or witnesses in the Moscow | (Continued on page 2) French and British imperialism to take common action trials to assassinate any poli­ against Japan. tical opponent«, to engage in “Our” gunboat has been sunk. sabotage, wrecking, and diver- “Our” flag has been insulted. sionism __ or to enter into Trotsky’s Telegram to “Our” honor has been sullied. agreements w ith foreign powers “We” must be avenged. against the Soviet Union.1’ “ On the basis of all the evi­ The Commission These are the cries of the hypocritical scoundrels who dence we find that Trotsky would like to rush the American workers and farmers never recommended, plotted or The commission condemned nobody to death or to into another war to “make the world safe for dem­ attempted the restoration of prison. Yet it is impossible to imagine a more ter­ ocracy” . capitalism in the U.S.S.R.” rible verdict. The commission says to the rulers of We say, however: Call a halt to the imperialist war­ mongers now, before it is too late. “Fantastically Falsified a great country: All our sympathy and support go to the valiant Trotsky’s Role” “ You committed a frame-up for the purpose of Chinese people who are fighting against such terrific justifying the extermination of your political adver­ “ We find further that the pro­ odds to preserve their independence from Japan’s at­ secutor fantastically falsified saries. tempt to convert the country into a colony. In China, Trotsky’s role before, during, “ You tried to deceive the toilers of the world. it is the elementary duty of every man and woman to and after the October Revolu­ “ You are unworthy to serve the cause which you fight to the bitter end against the monstrous invasion tio n .” by Japan. In Japan, it is the elementary duty of every Once again, Trotsky’s place in invoke”. working man, every peasant, to promote the defeat of history as the co-leader with The commission, which includes people of different his ruling class, to sabotage its criminal war, to over­ Lenin of the Russian revolution political views, could not follow our political aims. turn its despotic sway by revolution. In the United in 1917 was re-affirmed by the But its verdict has an immeasurable political im­ States, it is the duty of every worker, especially every­ commission’s findings. one in the maritime industry, to refuse to load any Once again, Trotsky's role in portance. The methods of lying and blundering ships destined for Japan and to speed all ships destined world politics as the greatest frame-ups which contaminate the inner life of the (Continued on page 12) (Continued on page 2) U. S. S. R. and the workers’ movement of the whole world received today a terrible blow. Let the official friends of the U. S. S. R. and the other pseudo-radical bigots say that the verdict will be used by reaction. This is untrue. Nowhere and never did the truth serve the cause of reaction. And nowhere and never is progress fed on liés. The commission, it is true, delivered a blow to the bureaucracy, but this bureaucracy has become the main brake upon the progress of the Soviet Union. Aiming to serve the truth, the commission served the liberating struggle of all mankind. From now on the work of the commission as well as the names of its participants belong to history. t SOCIALIST APPEAL December 18,1937 "Trial Procedure Flimsy and Vicious” (Continued from page 1) of Trotsky and the 4th Interna­ upon which the foundations of® tio n a l. civilization are laid. In presenting the report of the “It signifies an extraordinary living exponent of Marxism, of commission, Dr. Dewey declared corruption of the idealistic heri­ the teachings of Lenin, the genius Dewey Broadcasts on Trials; in p a rt: tage of the Russian Revolution. It a f the October revolution, has signifies a danger against which been emphasized by the exposure Dr. Dewey’s Speech our own people must guard them­ m t the hideous crimes and be­ selves without illusion and without trayal of principle by the Stalin­ "It is not too much to say that, compromise.” Hits Minneapolis Frame-Up is t. particularly as this new evidence The Commission's report is an accumulated, the members of the Much of the new documentary 80,000 word document, soon to be Commission have been without ex­ evidence obtained by the Com­ published in book form, continu­ ception appalled by the utterly mission focused upon the testi­ (Continued from page 1) believe that, because Moscow ing the series of publications discreditable character of the mony given at the trials by Holtz-- courts held Trotsky guilty of begun with the report of the pre­ whole Moscow tria l proceedings, man, Pyatakov, and Vladimir diet for workers and free-minded conspiring with H itler and Japan, liminary hearings held by the at once flim sy and vicious. Others, Romm. At the first trial E. S. people in the United States. therefore Minneapolis workers Commission in Mexico City and like a distinguished colleague of Holtzman testified that on the “There is the question which friendly to Trotsky assassinated published by Harpers as ‘•The mine who declined to share our invitation of Leon Sedov, Trots­ is constantly asked: What of it? ”, Corcoran. When unionists who are Case of Leon Trotsky.” labors, may still take the position ky’s son, he went to Copenhagen Dr. Dewey said. “ What difference not in any way connected with that it is impossible to prove a during Trotsky’s stay there from does it make to us in'the United Trotsky ridiculed the charge, they Signatories of Report negative, hence, in that technical November 23 to December 2, States? I want to tell you why were at once denounced as Trots- sense impossible to prove Trotsky 1932; that by previous arrange­ the Moscow trials and our inquiry kyite stooges. This is a fresh ex­ The final report is signed by guiltless of the fantastic charges ment he met Sedov in the lobby have a claim on the attention of ample of the way what went on 'Professor John Dewey, Chair­ made against him. of the Hotel Bristol and went every American citizen, especially in Russia is used to disrupt the man; Suzanne LaFollette, editor “It is, however, possible to fro m there w ith him to see T ro ts­ those who call themselves pro­ ranks of labor in this country. and author, secretary; John prove beyond reasonable doubt, ky. The Commission found that gressives, liberals or who are in­ It won’t be the last time. Amer­ Chamberlain, form erly of the staff the existence of a frame-up, and there was no Hotel Bristol in terested in labor. I want to tell ican labor and progressive groups of The New York Times; Alfred I submit that the Commission has Copenhagen in 1932, and that you why the Russian situation, as are going to be asked over and Rosmer, former member of the done just that. Sedov was not in Copenhagen it is illustrated in the Moscow over again to decide local ques­ Executive Committee of the" Com­ “The implications of this find­ during his parents’ stay there. frame-ups and the blood purges tions on the basis of charges a- munist International and former ing are of course profoundly disr- reported almost daily in the co­ gainst Trotsky and Trotskyites in editor-in-chief of l’Humanité; turbing. These implications are Checked Dates Closely lumns of the press, are living Moscow.” Professor Edward Alsworth Ross, j not a matter of intellectual spe events, in the consequences of Department of Sociology of the One of the most important While making clear that he culation; they have been fulfilled which the American people and was opposed to Trotsky’s poli­ ■University of Wisconsin. witnesses against Trotsky and and demonstrated by the events our democracy is involved.” tical views, the eminent educator Otto Ruehle, biographer of which followed close upon the Sedov in the second trial was Calling attention to the fact Vladimir Romm, former Wash­ expressed the opinion, concurring .Karl Marx, former member of the tria ls . that the frame-up artists have with Trotsky’s, that the results German Reichstag and close po­ “The continuing arrests and ington correspondent of Isvestia, already intervened with disastr­ who claimed to have met Trots­ of the inquiry and the establish­ litical associate of Karl Liebk­ executions of Soviet officials and ous results in the internal life ment of the true facts cannot necht and Rosa Luxemburg; Ben­ citizens on charges of terrorism, ky in the Bois du Bologne in Pa­ of the Spanish working class and ris at the end of July, 1933. help reaction, but on the contrary, jamin Stolberg, labor journalist; wrecking, sabotage, “Trotsky­ the anti-fascist front, Dr. Dewey are the surest way of aiding the Carlo Tresca, editor of II Martel­ ism,” etc. have strengthened the The Commission cited a mass of said that the method of brand­ progress of humanity. The brief lo; F. Zamora, liberal Mexican suspicion of thousands of genuine cohesive evidence covering the ing Trotskyists and other oppo­ summary he gave of the Com­ friends of revolutionary Russia publicist; and Wtendelin Thomas, movements of Trotsky from his nents as “Fascists” is being car­ mission’s findings, and his appeal former member of the German that the present regime is seeking departure from Turkey on July ried into every other country by to every thinking man and woman Reichstag; John Finerty, counsel to identify political opposition to 1933 to October 9th o f th a t year, the Stalinists by means of propa­ to read the facts contained in to the commission, concurring. itself with criminal, activity a- which conclusively disproved ganda around the fake court the full report and judge for Contradicting the assertions of gainst the Soviet Union and Romm’s testimony. The Commis­ proceedings in Moscow. He themselves, were especially perti­ the English jurist, D. N. P ritt and people. sion declared that, despite six pointed out that a start in this nent and effective. others, the Commission reported “Still more shocking is the separate efforts on its behalf, two direction has already been made The reply attempted by Corliss that “the conduct of the Moscow systematic use by the Communist of them by high French officials, in the United States. L a m o n t , Chairman of the trials violated Soviet law at every parties throughout the world of it was unable to obtain the exist­ “Friends of the Soviet Union” important point:” In support of the vicious “Trotskyist-terrorist- ing police records of Trotsky’s Brands Frame-Up in and a Stalinist apologist, sounded this statement the report cited an fascist amalgam” as a means of movements at this period. In Minneapolis feeble in its hysteria, by contrast official Soviet textbook on cri­ destroying political opposition every case the answer was that to Dr. Dewey’s sober presenta­ and even of justifying gross “for reasons of State” the record minal law by Professor M. S. “Only the other day,” he con­ tio n . Strogovich, published in 1936, and frame-ups and assassinations, as could not be given out. tinued, “ a trade union official was edited by the state prosecutor in Spain in the case of Andres On the charges of sabotage, the murdered in Minneapolis, which Another powerful blow has been struck against Stalinist re­ himself, A. Y. Vishinsky. Nin and others. Commission presented new evi­ is certainly an American city. “Even in this country, the dence in the form of a long and . "Already Communists and their action, a blow which is bound to Contradicted Precepts of Communist Party and its labor- completely documented deposition sympathizers are asking us to resound the world over. S o viet L a w and liberal sympathizers have by Ivar Windfeld-Hanson, the used this strictly amoral tactic, Danish engineer mentioned as In this Professor Strogovich indistinguishable from the tactic “Wienfeld” an alleged Trotskyist w rites, that “denunciation”—the o f Fascism,' to slander and perse­ saboteur, by the accused Hrasche testimony of a defendant impli­ cute opposition, with a resulting in the January trial. cating another defendant or ex­ confusion and disruption of the This deposition and the docu­ traneous individuals—is regarded forces of economic and political ments submitted with it prove Truth under Soviet law as “the least progress which cannot be too that from the time of his arrival meritorious” category of evidence. strongly condemned. in Russia in 1932, Mr. Windfeld- The Commission found that it Hansen warned the Soviet author­ The International Commission was rammed down the throats of was upon precisely this category Cannot Be Ignored ities that the chemical fertilizer investigating the charges made the capitalist press and the Sta­ of evidence, entirely uncorrobo­ “This is no strife of personal­ industry was headed toward di­ against Leon Trotsky and his son linist frame-up artists. rated by documentary proof, that ities or of political factions, which saster. Sedov in the Moscow trials has The Socialist Appeal must con­ Trotsky and Sedov were declared the American public can afford The complete text of the found them Not Guilty. Truth is tinue to spread the truth—not convicted in both verdicts. Pro­ comfortably to ignore. It signifies Abstract of the Commission of truly on the march. The historic­ only about the Moscow Trials— fessor Strogovich declares that the repudiation by a disciplined Inquiry’s fu ll report is publish­ al significance of these findings but about every phase of the whereas “The Fascist criminal political organization, world-wide ed on pages 5, 6, 7, and 8 o f can be translated into every day struggle of the international tria l fixes its course upon the ad­ in scope and influence, of the this issue of the Socialist political action through the So­ working class with the interna^ mission of guilt by the accused, principles of truth %nd justice AppeaL cialist Appeal which has always tional bourgeoisie and the Co­ extorting this admission by all stood for the TRUTH. m intern. sorts of violence and torture,” Even the capitalist press has If you want the truth to be the Soviet procedure requires been forced to accept and publish .that “the testimony of the accus­ known you can do your part by the innocence of Leon Trotsky ed, particularly his admission o f subscribing at once to the Social­ Report Cabinet Absolves and Sedov. The Appeal which is guilt, like every other piece of official organ of the American ist Appeal or by contributing evidence, is subject to verification Jailed P.O.U.M. Leaders section of the 4th International toward its maintenance. A blank and careful evaluation as a re­ knew the truth long before it is provided below. sult of juxtaposing it with all the other evidence gathered in the LONDON, England.—A report quietly one by one, Brockway Case.” was received here from Fenner says. The Commission found that Brockway, leader of the British The two voting against the Respite this stated requirement of Independent Labor Party that the freedom of the P.O.U.M . lead­ Soviet law, no other evidence of People’s Front regime in Spain ers were the representatives of the any importance was presented in was forced to absolve five arrest­ Stalinist party. either case than the confessions ed P-.O.U.M. leaders of charges Putting pressure on the cabinet, -of the accused and of self-incul­ of espionage. the Stalinists forced a reconside­ pating witnesses. According to the report, the ration of the question and it was Besides Dr. Dewey, the full Minister of Justice, Senor Irujo, ' finally agreed to keep the prison- commission was represented at informed the People’s Front ca­ jers in confinement without penal -Mt* meeting by the following binet that after a thorough in ­ conditions, but not to proceed members : LaFollette, Stolberg, vestigation into the charges made with the trial. Finerty, Thomas, Tresea and against the P.O.U.M. leaders, The Stalinists indicated that a Chamberlain. Each told why he he and his advisers have conclud­ failure to vote for their proposals Joined the commission and hew ed that there is no case against would be considered a major is­ the inquiry was conducted. them to present to the Special sue in the Kremlin and might The Commission members made Tribunal for espionage. tjuite clear their opposition to the The cabinet voted, seveta to affect the “ co-operation” between psFtieal and theoretical position tw o, to liberate the prisoners Spain and the Soviet state: December 18, 1937 SOCIALIST APPEAL 3 Convention Date Near; New Jersey C.I.O. Meets Locals Elect Delegates Challenge of Boss Hague By Jack Wilson After two months of a thorough-going discussion in To Defend Marxism JERSEY CITY, N. J.—The wide-spread publicity all locals and branches on the most important questions Conscious of the tremendous given to the C.I.O. organizing drive here because of the facing the American and the world working class in this tasks facing them and proud to outrageous actions of “I am the Law” Mayor Frank Hague period of storm and stress the Rank and File Convention carry aloft the banner of revolu­ revealed the shocking extent to which this sweat-shop area of the Socialist Party is to convene in Chicago on New tion amid Stalinist treachery and is controlled by the Democratic party machine as a brutal the disasters of class collators^ Year’s Eve. The convention, called by the State Committees tion, the delegates w ill come to dictatorship without any civil of the Socialist Party in Minne-5 Chicago to revive once more the rights for the exploited workers. fers great profit-making possi­ bilities at the expense of the de­ sota, California, Ohio and India­ Third International, the militants flame of Marxism which once lit Labor is terrorized in this city na, together with the National gathered at Chicago w ill no up the workers’ world in the by the cops acting under Hague’s fenseless workers. Executive . Committee of the orders. He promised the chamber doubt join with the revolutionists Paris Commune and in the Oc­ Appalling Conditions Young People’s Socialist League all over the world in the firm tober, Revolution in Russia. The of commerce that he would keep Jersey City open shop and he’s and the Executive Committee of determination to set up a n^w indomitable spirit of proletarian The state Department of Labor doing his best in that direction. the Left Wing organizations in instrument of international revo­ struggle which crushed Czarism last week revealed that over 34,- Chicago and New York, has since lution in the Fourth International. along with all other obstacles in 000 women and children were em­ been endorsed by numerous locals Raid (ni Organizers The Chicago convention w ill the glorious victory of the Bol­ ployed for less than $6 a week and branches all over the country, mark a milestone not only in sheviks twenty years ago w ill ins­ When forty CIO organizers working over 40 hours. in such important centers as American, but in world socialism. pire the thoughts and the actions were run out of town recently and Rochester, New York; Boston; It also reported that over 292,- Revolutionists everywhere, in the of the convention’s participants. thirteen others were arrested for Kansas City and St. Louis Coun­ 000 women were 'employed at less Fascist dungeons of H itler and Their’s w ill be the glorious job distributing leaflets, the oppres­ ty, Missouri; Philadelphia, Bucks than $17 a week, which is con­ Mussolini, in the jails of Austria of laying the basis of a party sive conditions here were first County, and Allentown, Pennsyl­ sidered the minimum wage ne­ and the Balkans, on the battle­ which, carrying aloft the banner exposed. vania, among others. cessary to stave off starvation. fields of Spain and on labor’s of Marx and of Lenin, w ill not The railroading of the arrested Everywhere the revolutionary Over 326,000 are employed at battle front in France w ill be only lead the- American workers organizers into prison without socialists are determined to throw starvation wages in New Jersey! cheered by its dédisions. In a to the establishment of a work­ any pretence of giving them a out from their ranks the La- Magnificent prospects for profits! world overshadowed by the ad­ ers’ state in the United States, fa ir tria l (no jury or bond rights) Guardia traitors and to build so­ Just as the open shop South but more than that, is destined emphasized the nature of the lid ly the foundations of the Marx­ vances of Fascism, the Chicago threatens the unions in the North­ to play an important part in build­ Democratic party regime here. ist workers party. convention w ill be a beacon light ern states because o f lower wage ing the Fourth International, the Not content with “teaching the to workers fighting capitalism in levels etc., the Jersey sweatshops international of working class C .I.O .” that lesson, Hague clos­ not only exploit their own em­ Model of Discussion every country. victory all over the world. ed all union halls and kept C. ployes but drag down wage scales The internal bulletins issued I.O. unions already organized in nearby areas, especially New by the Convention Organizing from holding meetings. York, whose "runaway” factories Committee have given expression Convention Agenda Hague’s influence is not a local have settled in Hague’s domain. to the widest latitude of opinion affair. Last summer an exposure Even though the deepening of among revolutionary socialists. (Proposed by the Convention Organizing Committee) of Nazi activities in New Jersey the crisis makes organizing cam­ A ll views have been represented. brought a demand for a congres­ paigns infinitely more difficult, In sharp contrast to the stifling 1. Opening Address by James P. Cannon sional investigation. Hague call­ the C.I.O . is seeking to smash of democracy in the organization 2. Organization of the Convention ed Jim Farley, right hand man through the dictatorship over the of President Roosevelt, and told sweatshops. controlled by the Thomas-Altman- 3. Political Resolution Clarityite faction, the atmosphere him to get it called off! It was One of the leading militants in in the Left Wing has been vib­ 4. Trade Union Resolution. Reporter: J. P. Cannon. called off. the C .I.O ., B ill Carney, veteran of the Goodyear and General rant with live discussion. Supplementary Reports: Glen Trimble Tie-Up With Roosevelt The militants in the ranks are B. J. Widick Motors strikes, is directing the now preparing to draw the pract­ C .I.O . campaign in New Jersey. V. R. Dunne Roosevelt’s plurality in New ical conclusions from the discus­ Jersey was due to the Hague sion at Chicago and to settle 5. Unemployed Resolution machine, and Hague hasn’t been “Underground” down to the serious work of build­ 6. Russian Resolution. Reporter: Shachtman a political boss for twenty years Organizing ing the party of the American 7. Spanish Resolution. Reporter: Albert Goldman without knowing how to extract revolution. benefits for votes given! While the various legal moves Delegates are being elected 8. International Resolution. Reporter: Maurice Not since the late Huey Long of the C .I.O . have been receiving from every section of the count­ Spector smashed every pretence of so- the bulk of the publicity in the ry. Steel workers from Ohio, auto­ 9. Youth Resolution called democratic government and drive, the chief work of the mobile workers from Michigan, C.I.O. organizers remains in 10. Declaration of Principles. Reporter: James ruled by the might of the National trade unionists steeled in the Guard has America seen a more carrying out “underground” or­ stirring organizational progress Burnham dangerous menace to Organized ganizational activity in Jersey made in Minnesota and on the 11. Party Organization and Constitution. Reporter: Labor than “I am the Law” C ity. waterfront on the West Coast Until the workers of Jersey Martin Abern Hague. are making ready to depart. A The Hague-Democratic party City themselves can be placed in wealth of experiences in the class 12. Party Press. Reporter: Martin Abern machine in New Jersey is smooth­ struggles against the Hague struggle of America w ill be con­ Supplementary Report: Robert Browne ly organized and operates with machine and the employers whom centrated in the delegations. 13. Election of National Committee. the power and influence that only he represents, the C.I.O . cam­ ^ . J Tammany Hall, in its greatest paign cannot assume major pro­ Agenda is Revealed days, could be compared to it. portions. Legal battles against Hague The convention agenda, made Besides building a party bureau­ cracy on the basis of government have been won, time and again, public this week by the Conven­ but he merely ignores the court tion Organization Committee, has Steel Workers Meet; Progressives Ready jobs, Hague has devised a new and more effective method of decisions, w ith the silent approval allotted a place high on its list of the judges who took office as to an exchange of these ex­ keeping his machine intact and To Fight for Democracy and Autonomy influential. h is men. periences and to the elaboration The outstanding lesson to date of a line of strategy and tactics PITTSBURGH, PA.—Over 1,- as the meeting is not a constitu­ of the Jersey City situation is for mass work based upon them. Basis of Hague Control 000 delegates, representing as tional convention.” that the workers who voted De­ The Convention w ill meet under many Locals of the C.I.O. steel Every open shop employer is mocratic because Roosevelt and Circumstances which w ill make A struggle by rank and file workers unions were gathered guaranteed no “labor trouble," if his administration pretended to it of world historic importance. delegates to establish an inter­ here this week to participate in he allows Hague to control part be “friends of labor” were deceiv­ Under the impress of the startl­ national industrial union with the the first rank and file gathering of the jobs in the plants. Any ed and are beginning to realize ing events in Russia, it w ill have same autonomy as the United called by the Steel Workers Or­ man going to a factory with an it. to hammer out a policy embody­ Automobile Wbrktrs, and other ganizing Committee since it was OK by Hague is given work. The sentiment for a labor party ing the attitude of revolutionary C.I.O . international unions was set up two years ago. Hague thus builds his political is partly based in Jersey on the socialists to the Soviet Union— sxpected. While many delegates were machine among the wprkers on fact that the workers see they a policy that w ill stand up under It was evident that no effort under the impression that the the basis of his job distribution cannot get anything by tagging the test of events to come would be made by the Steel gathering would be a regular power. along with the capitalist parties, Towards the crucial situation Workers Organizing Committee union convention to elect officers, Is it any wonder that Hague’s Republican or Democratic. created for the Spanish workers to draw the real lessons of the adopt a constitution, and create machine has withstood various In fightjng to smash the dic­ and their fight against Fascism “Little Steel” strike fiasco. On an autonomous international in­ ttacks fo r the past twenty years ? tatorship of Hague and the De­ by the disastrous policies of the the contrary, the mistakes of the dustrial union, authoritative re­ The employers know the power mocratic machine, the workers class collaborationists and the past would be covered up with ports beforehand indicated that of Hague’s machine and have learn that until capitalism itself abominable treachery of the Sta­ the approval of the Stalinists who the C.I.O . top leadership had been flocking to New Jersey to is destroyed the sweatshops w ill linists and their G“P.U.—the control a bloc of the delegates. erect sweatshops because it of­ rem ain. convention w ill likewise have the an entirely different program, in m ind. A progressive bloc at the con­ task of evolving a clear and cor­ vention was preparing to lead rect policy. It was a surprise to the inex­ perienced delegates to hear that the rank and file* in its desire to “ALWAYS EXCITING SWELL TIMES” create an international union. to be had at For 4th International the New York Times published a story by Louis Stark, its expert Also, the slogans of democracy The Upper West Side Branch - 916 Ninth Ave. (near 58th St.) within the union movement and Finally, the convention w ill de­ labor reporter, whose connections PARTY DANCE — MUSIC AND DRINKS for independent working class cide the question of affiliation to with the top C.I.O . leaders is political action were among the an international organization. well-known, which said, “the Saturday, December 18th Drawing the balance sheet of the question of electing officers rallying points of the progres­ ------DON’T MISS THE FUN! ------betiteyals of the ¡Second and w ill not be before the delegates sive platform. ..______;______—' 4 SOCIALIST APPEAL December 18,1937 SOCIALIST APPEAL Vol. I. - No. 19. Saturday, Dec. 18, 1937 Browder Announces C.P. Packinghouse Workers Published every week by the SOCIALIST APPEAL PUBLISHING ASS’N. Repudiate Fake C .I.O . Published at 116 University Place, N. Y. Subscriptions: $2.00 per year; $1.00 for 6 Purge Coming In U. S. months. Foreign: $2.50 per year. Bundle order MINNEAPOLIS—A smashing blow against the 3 cents per copy. Single copies 5 cents. A purge is being prepared in grasp a Phil Frankfeld, let us Stalinist attempt to link the progressive labor A ll checks and money orders should be made the American Communist Party. say, in the role of Carrie Nation movement here with gangsterism was delivered out to the Socialist Appeal. If it is not as bloody as Stalin’s or Pussyfoot Johnson. at the December 5 St. Paul meeting of the Minne­ Entered as second-class matter September 1, purge in the Soviet Union, it is No, the whole point of the im­ sota State Council of the Packinghouse Workers 1937 at the post office at New York, New York, only because the Browder gang pending American purge, as is of the C.I.O . under the Act of March 3, 1879. does not have state power. the case in Russia, is that it Contrasting the national C .I.O . policy with the pursues not moral but political ______j If officials and members of the rule or ruin policy of the Stalinist-controlled V.------American Communist Party are aims. And political aims no less C .I.O . of this state,, the Packinghouse Council The Dewey Report not to be sent to prison or to base and reprehensible than the unanimously went on record against the Stalinist Siberian concentration camps, it immorality and immodest be­ attempt to dishonor the memory of Pat Corcoran No more vigorous blow has been dealt the Stal­ havior which Browder pretends is only because the American by terming his death the result of gangster strug­ inist assassins in recent times than the report of purges do not have them at their to combat. the Commission of Enquiry iBto the Moscow trials, gle for control of the A. F. of L. disposal in this country. The Stalinists are intent on The Packinghouse Council is constituted by headed by Professor John Dewey. making the Communist Party as representatives from all the Packinghouse locals It is not only the unchallengeable probity and Threat Made Public respectable as possible in the intellectual integrity of the commissioners that eyes of the American bourgeoisie in the state. It represents the only real union In the threat delivered to the give such weight to their report, but also the fact —to make it entirely acceptable locals in the C.I.O . here, outside of the needle recent Plenum of the Central that none of them shares the political position to the ruling class, to prove that trades which also oppose the Stalinist policy. The Committee of the American Stal­ of Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International; in it is fully house-broken—any­ resolution follows: inists, Browder, the party’s gen­ thing at all if Wall Street will WHEREAS, the labor movement is at present fact, they are its adversaries. eral secretary, declared (accord­ only decide to join the “democra­ divided, and The hysterical cries of the Stalinist press and ing to the Daily Worker of Dec. tic front against Fascism”. Stalin WHEREAS, such a condition is of benefit only spokesmen, the charges that the commissioners 3, 1937): themselves are only part of a world-wide plot to demonstrates his suitability as a to the enemies of the labor movement and cannot “Our party is operating today overthrow “democracy" on the part of Hitler, nob-to-be-feared ally of the continue without virtual civil war, in the midst of the great mass French and British bourgeoisie Trotsky and the Mikado, are taken least seriously NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the movement. The spotlight is on by physically annihilating every by those who are paid to utter them. As insiders, Minnesota State Council that we stand definitely us. The slightest weaknesses are man and woman who to the they are best equipped to know the hideous frame- for a unified tra'de union movement, and exaggerated and made use of by slightest or remotest degree sym­ tip system and methods of the G.P.U. our enemies. And let no one bolizes or incarnates the revolu­ BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call These cries cannot drown out the firm and un­ think that you can separate per­ tionary ideas that make the Oc­ upon the Washington Unity Negotiations Confe­ assailable conclusions of the Commission which sonal from political life. You tober insurrection of 1917 pos­ rence to make all possible haste in unifying the {demonstrate the ghastly mockery that has been cannot do it; not in leading work sible. Essentially, that is what labor movement on the basis of democratic indus­ made of the great ideals of the proletarian move­ in the communist movement. We is what is being planned for the trial unionism in the mass production industries. ment by those who pretend to represent them in must create a much keener real­ American Stalinist “cadres". W.HEREAS: The Minnesota State Council of jthe seats of power of Russia. And though the ization of this fact in all our Packinghouse Workers is a labor organization members. Any manifestations of Commission itself draws no political conclusions Their Only Way founded on the principles of m ilitant and democ­ of its own—nor was that its purpose or province looseness or penetration into our ratic industrial unionism and on the firm belief ranks of bourgeois habits, par­ its report serves to underline a conclusion which These “ old-timers”, all of them that Labor as a class must fight its class enemies, ticularly with respect to personal reduced by this time to obliging yre consider inescapable: life, must be rooted out, because AND WHEREAS: We fully realize as class hacks of the political machine, The Stalinist bureaucracy has become a cancer it is precisely from such things conscious workers that Pat Corcoran was slain by must be shoved into the back­ which disgraces, betrays and undermines the great as this that the enemies recruit the mortal enemies of organized labor and that ground or wiped out of the party Russian Revolution and its imperishable ideals. in our ranks. It has been an his murder, therefore, is equally a blow at our entirely. That cannot be done Unchecked, the cancer w ill rot the whole body. almost invariable result of ex­ section of the labor movement as well as against on political grounds, for a poli­ Xn the ruthless removal of this bureaucracy and amination of political degenera­ tical purpose. And what shadow, all labor, and must be avenged by the united strug­ the restoration of proletarian democracy lies the tion that it almost always is ac­ or even evanescent whisper of a gle of all workers regardless of their affiliations, salvation of the Soviet Union. The Dewey report companied by personal degenera­ disagreement is permissible in AND WHEREAS: We deeply resent the vicious tion. We must begin to examine is another weapon in the struggle to achieve these the ranks of the party bureac- blow struck at all labor in the brutal assassina­ the private lives of all our lead­ aim s. racy? tion of Patrick J. Corcoran, m ilitant Minnesota ing cadres as a necessary and labor leader—a death which We deeply mourn, Stalin ’s V icto ry unavoidable part of the guaran­ The only way of getting rid of tee of the political integrity of burdensome elements w ith some­ THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the M. The entire world is laughing at the latest Soviet our party. And this applies to thing of a past, is by framing S. C. hereby go on record against Corcoran’s en­ elections, even the Stalinists who pretend to take everybody, from top to bottom. them up. And since the most emies—the enemies of powerful workingclass them seriously. And to the degree that we find loathsome way is the one usually organizations— and, Only, it is no laughing matter. The elections problems that cannot be correct­ preferred by the wholly degene­ BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we do our are a tragic commentary on the decline and dege­ ed, let us know in advance that rated “cadres” of the Stalinist very utmost to find and convict those responsible, neration of the Russian Revolution, undermined there is always a final way of leadership, the frame-up is to be and by a counter-revolutionary bureaucracy. based on the “immoral conduct” guranteeing the party against BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we protest The “democratic” elections were a travesty, dangers—that is, removing peo­ of the victim. against and deplore the erroneous actions of the Which could be justified only by people with a ple from responsible positions if We are not among those who State C .I.O . Committee and the Hennepin Comp Hitlerian attitude towards the masses, or those they cannot give us a guarantee hold up the decadent lives arid ty C.I.O . Council for their policy of interposing .who never saw anything wrong in a trade union of their ability to protect the manners of the bourgeoisie as and injecting the issue and cry of “gangsterism When a reactionary machine prevented any m inority party, to protect its line, to pro­ anything like a standard of in the labor movement of Minneapolis"—a policy from contesting an election by presenting its own tect its prestige, protect its re­ morality. Nor are we so ignorant as to believe that the wanton, which we feel is most harmful to the welfare and {candidates. putation among the masses. Every member of the leadership irresponsible - Stalinist bureau­ future of the C.I.O . and a united labor move­ The “nominations” were made in public meet­ of the party has got to contri­ crats—from top to bottom and ment—one which can only lead to the destructiqn ings, and heaven help the person who ventured to bute positively, making the par­ excluding precious few of them of bonafide unionism—and which we feel is cer­ nominate a candidate who was not a 100 per cent ty’s reputation spotless, unat- —conduct what Browder calls tainly in sharp contradiction to the policies of the supporter of the Stalinist machine—for the G.P.U. tackable among the masses.” their “private lives” in a way C.I.O . nationally, especially in view of the fact Would not help him. That is why the vast m ajority that guarantees them canoniza­ that George Cole, Regional Director of the C .I.O ,, flf the districts had only one candidate running. A “Uriah Heep” tion by the Catholic Church. Nor, at the Coroner’s inquest clearly repudiated these Only a totalitarian regime could regard such moreover, are we very much expressions of the State C.I.O . Committee and phenomena with joy and pride. In actuality, it Browder’s announcement that interested in that question; the their Hennepin County Council and its newspaper only shows how the bureaucracy has crushed the the private lives and conduct of political lives of the Stalinists on "gangsterism." last remnants of workers’ democracy. all the Stalinist functionaries are are, heaven knows, sufficiently Copies to be sent to: The Unionist, The Packing­ The only “right” the Soviet voter had was to to be investigated, immediately repulsive. house Worker, and the C IO Industrial Unionist, Cast his ballot for Stalin and those designated by reveals the nature-of the frame- and to the national and regional offices of the Stalin. He had no right to nominate a candidate ups in preparation. The hypo­ Significant Fact crisy of Browder’s piety is of C.I.O. of his own choosing; he had' no right to run on course perfectly obvious. It is It is, however—we repeat— Adopted unanimously by the Minnesota State any platform of his own, regardless of how pro- not beviuse of their “Twentieth political aims that Browder pur­ Council of Packinghouse Workers, December 5, Soviet it might be; and he had no possibility of Century Americanism" that the sues. Highly significant is the 1937. Voting effectively against the candidates he had Stalinist chieftains are taking fact that in appointing the editor pushed under his pencil. over the traditions of the Society for the new Chicago daily paper What a revealing light is thrown on the “democ­ for the Suppression of Vice, of the C. P., Browder went over Last Minute Minneapolis News racy" of the elections when we read that at the which indiscriminately hunts por­ the heads o f a dozen more or less last minute, without the electorate acting or being nographic postcards and great indicated “old-timers ” — Wein- Important developments in Minneapolis, consulted, “regularly nominated” candidates were works of art. The only qual­ stone, Minor, Amter, Bedacht, reported as we go to press, are being held over withdrawn by a “mysterious” hand and new ones ification that Earl Browder has W. Dunne, Don, Gannes (who is for fu ll publication for the next issue of the So­ put in, guaranteed the same unanimous vote as for donning the mantle of the morally qualified, to boo t), cialist Appeal. Among them are the following: those whose place they had taken if the latter had late Anthony J. Comstock or his Darcy, Williamson, and others— 1. Teamsters Union wins the strike of the remained. successor, John S. Summer, is and selected for the post a man Wholesale Grccery Drivers. that part of his character which How significant is the fact that one of the last- who virtually just entered the 2. Detlaf Wieck, a Stalinist paid official of for years earned him the name party, Louis Budenz. minute candidates was born in 1913, the very year the Carpenters Union, was removed from office of “Uriah Heep” in the Com­ The purge is coming—for by the indignant membership following a slander­ In which the man whom he replaced became a munist Party. member of the Bolshevik party. The old revolu­ Browder’s threat was no idle or ous attack on I’at Corcoran and the Teamsters The mind of anyone who is accidental remark. Protestations tionists, however servile, are being replaced by U nion. even slightly acquainted with the of loyalty, which prospective vic­ the representatives of the new and rising strata General-Secretary of the Amer­ tims are sure to make, w ill avail 3. Capitalist Press threatens a Vigilant« o f Soviet society who want to put the last nails ican Stalinists, cannot conceive them as little as they did the Movement against unionism. into the eoffin of the revolution and restore a of him in the position of a moral capitulators to Stalin in the 4. William Wright, A. F. of L. representative, regime of capitalist exploitation.. judge, any more than it could Soviet Union. exploded the “Bridges A assassination" hoax. December 18, 1937 SOCIALIST APPEAL 5 Abstract of the Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials

M s abstract is a condensation of the 80,000 word fully The case for Trotsky and Sedov is based on: documented report of the Commission of Inquiry, re­ 1. Analysis of the trial reports. leased to the Press on Dec. 13, 1937. The Commissioners 2. Proceedings and reports of sub-commis­ JOHN DEWEY, Professor of Philosophy, sions. Part One Columbia University, Chairman; 3. Verified depositions of witnesses, letters, SUMMARY OF FINDINGS JOHN CHAMBERLAIN, editor and author, telegrams, and other documents submitted in evidence to the Commission or its sub-commis­ formerly daily book reviewer of The Commission finds, on the basis of all sions. the New York Times; available evidence, both for the prosecution and 4. The testimony of the Russian refugees ALFRED ROSMER, former member of the for Leon Trotsky, that Leon Trotsky and his Tarov and Dr. Anton Ciliga, taken by the Co­ Executive Committee of the Com­ son Leon Sedov are not guilty of the charges mité pour TEnquete sur le Procès de Moscou, munist International and former md transmitted to the Commission. made against them in the Moscow trials of Au­ editor-in-chief of VHumanité; 5. The published writings of Trotsky, Sedov, gust, 1936 and January, 1937. It also finds EDWARD ALSWORTH ROSS, Professor of Lenin, Stalin, Radek, Zinoviev and others. that the trials were frame-ups. Independent of Sociology, University of Wiscon­ 6. The archives of Trotsky, consisting of extrinsic evidence, the Commission finds that sin ; thousands of documents, to which the Commis­ the conduct of the Moscow trials was such as sion has had fu ll access. OTTO RUEHLE, former member of the Ger­ to convince any unprejudiced person that no man Reichstag and biographer of effort was made to ascertain the truth ; and that Karl Marx (without any political Part Three the confessions of the accused contain such in­ affiliation since 1919) ; THE TWO MOSCOW TRIALS herent improbabilities as to convince the Com­ BENJAMIN STOLBERG, author and labor mission that they do not represent the truth, 1. General Nature of the Charges. journalist ; irrespective of any means used to obtain them. CARLO TRESCA, editor of II Martello; The defendants in the trial of August, 1936, The Commission, on the basis of evidence in FRANCISCO ZAMORA, liberal Mexican pub­ were charged with having organized and oper­ its possession, flatly contradicts the verdict of licist ; ated a terrorist center for the purpose of assas­ the Moscow Court on twenty-one separate WENDELIN THOMAS, former member of sinating the leaders of the Communist state with counts. * It presents new affidavits and new the German Reichstag; the object of seizing power; and specifically dbcumentary evidence, which, in its judgement, SUZANNE LA FOLLETTE, editor and au­ with having organized the assassination, on Dec. prove conclusively that neither Holtzman, Ber- thor, Secretary; 1, 1934, of Commissar S. M. Kirov. raan-Yurin, nor David saw Trotsky in Copen­ The defendants in the trial of January, 1937, hagen or received terrorist instructions from JOHN F. FINERTY, counsel to the Commis­ were charged with having organized and con­ him ; that Pyatakov never flew to Oslo to see sion, concurring in the report. ducted a “parallel center” employing espionage, Trotsky in December, 1935; that Olberg never diversive, and terrorist activities to undermine went to Russia with terrorist instructions from Members of the French Sub-Commission the military power of the U. S. S. R., and with Trotsky or Sedov. It finds that Vladimir (Commission Rogatoire) conducting treasonable negotiations with foreign Romm never met Trotsky in the Bois de Bou­ G. E. MODIGLIANI, Chairman, member of powers with the purpose of overthrowing the logne. It finds that the disproof of all this the Executive Committee of the Soviet power and restoring capitalism in the vital testimony invalidates the confessions of Labor and Socialist International, Soviet Union. Karl Radek and other defendants. leader of the Italian Socialist In both indictments Trotsky and Sedov are The Commission is convinced that the letters P a rty ; definitely charged with having instigated and in which Trotsky is alleged to have conveyed MME. CESAR CHABRUN, Chairman of the led the criminal activities with which the de­ conspiratorial instructions to the various de­ Committee for Aid to Political fendants were charged. fendants in the Moscow trials never existed, and Prisoners; that the testimony concerning them is fabrica­ M. MATHE, former secretary of the Nation­ 2. Procedure of Soviet Court. tion. Concerning the charges of advocating al Union of Postmen; terrorism and sabotage, and of conspiring with JEAN GALTIER-BOISSIERE, writer, editor The Commission states, as one of its most fascist powers to attack the Soviet Union, the o f CrapouiUot; important findings, that the Prosecutor A. Y. Commission finds that Trotsky throughout his PROFESSOR JACQUES MADAULE; Vyshinsky, and the Soviet Court in the Moscow, chreer has been a consistent opponent of indivi­ MAURICE DELEPINE of the Paris Bar, trials, violated Soviet Law on criminal procedure dual terrorism, never instructed any of the de­ member of the Permanent Admin­ on every important'point. fendants or witnesses in the Moscow trials to istrative Committee of the Social­ For authority on Soviet Law the Commission, assassinate any political opponent, never ad­ ist Party of France, president of has taken Professor M. S. Strogovich’s book vocated sabotage or wrecking, has always been the Socialist Lawyers’ group. entitled “Criminal Trial, a Textbook for Law a forthright opponent of fascism, has always ^------...... — . ■ - '■» Schools and Juridical Courses,” edited by the uncompromisingly advocated the defense of the State Prosecutor, A. Y. Vyshinsky (Third edi­ Soviet Union, and has always opposed both the Reichstag Fire Commission. Its sole purpose tion, corrected and amplified, 132 pp. Published restoration of capitalism in the U. S. S. R., and has been to investigate the charges made in the By OGIZ, Moscow, 1936). Moscow trials of August, 1936, and January, its existence anywhere else. The Commission finds that the accused in the 1937, against Leon Trotsky and his son Leon Moscow trials were convicted on the basis of Sedov. For the past nine months the Commis­ their confessions and those of self-inculpating Part Two sion has been occupied with uncovering all avail- witnesses uncorroborated by significant docu­ ible facts, whether favorable or unfavorable to HISTORY AND PROCEDURE OF THE mentary evidence. It quotes Strogovich-Vysh- Trotsky and Sedov. It has succeeded in obtain­ COMMISSION insky on the value attached to confession in ing a mass of important evidence bearing on Soviet law as follows : The Commission of Inquiry into the Charges the case. Sub-commissions in Mexico, France Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow and New York City examined witnesses, includ­ Under the system of formal proofs the admission Trials was constituted in March, 1937, by the ing Trotsky and Sedov, and their records have of guilt by the accused was considered the “best American Committee for the Defense of Leon proof extant,” “the sovereign proof of proofs.” been accepted by the Commission. Nowadays faith in the absolute correctness of the Trotsky, acting under mandates from similar After completing the preliminary work of in­ defendant’s admission has been in large measure des­ bodies in France', England and Czechoslovakia. vestigation, the Commission met in New York troyed. The accused might be pleading guilty false­ The Commission has acted as an independent City and examined all the evidence. Due to the ly (for example, in a desire to shield another per­ body; its procedure has been similar to that of failure of the Soviet government to produce re­ son, or, by pleading guilty to a minor crime, to Senate investigating committees and the avoid the accusation of a grave crime). Therefore, cords or to delegate representatives to examine the admission of the accused, like any other evi­ witnesses, the published records of the Moscow dence, is subject to verification and evaluation in ’See Summary of Findings on page 8. trials embody the case for the prosecution. the sum total*of the circumstances of the case. 6 SOCIALIST APPEAL December 18,1937

The Commission also finds that since the w it­ Trotsky or Sedov toward the formation of the He testified that he made two trips to the So* nesses were people who were brought into court center, or concerning their role, if any, in its viet Union on this passport in 1935. formation. The only actual crime attributed to The Commission has the following documents under arrest and who inculpated themselves by the terrorist center was the assassination of bearing on Olberg’s testimony: their testimony, the following passage from Kirov in December, 1934, after which the cen­ 1. Ten holograph letters in Russian from Strogovich-Vyshinsky is especially pertinent: ter, according to the indictment and some of the Olberg to Trotsky dated Jan. 10,1930, to March witnesses, broke up. The Commission, after 4, 1931, and copies of six typewritten answers In bourgeois juridical theory for a long time com­ analysis of the trial record, finds testimony in Russian from Trotsky to Olberg dated Jan. plete credence was placed in the testimony of w it­ concerning the alleged center and Trotsky's 30, 1930, to April 7,1930. This exchange of cor­ nesses, sealed by oath, while the “ inner conviction" participation in it so contradictory as to throw respondence proves: of the judges was deemed an adequate guarantee doubt upon the “credibility of the confessions a) That Olberg had not been a member against mistakes in the evaluation of testimony of and of the whole record of the trial.” witnesses... Impressions are a basis which is quite of the Left Opposition from 1927-8, and was nob flimsy and deceptive... a false witness who has 5. The Definitive Charges Against Leon a member of the Left Opposition at the time that learned his role by heart can give very seductive his correspondence with Trotsky began. testimony because of its categorical and lucid char­ Trotsky and Leon Sedov. b) That Olberg’s contact with Trotsky and Sedov was not initiated through Anton Gry- acter. Much of the new documentary evidence ob­ lewicz, but directly by Olberg himself, in a letter tained by the Commission focuses upon the tes­ to Trotsky. The Commission finds that the testimony on timony given at the trials by accused and wit­ c) That Trotsky’s connection with Olberg which Leon Trotsky and his son Leon Sedov nesses claimed to have acted as T rotsky’s emis­ was in no sense confidential, but entirely poli­ saries or agents in terrorist activities against were convicted belongs in the category of “de­ tical; and that he wrote him nothing that he the leaders of the Soviet Union. In the Zino- nunciation,” which Strogovich-Vyshinsky define might not have said to any political sympathizer viev-Kamenev trial the chief witnesses on this with whom he was not closely associated. as: point were Holtzman and Olberg. 2. Fifteen holograph letters in Russian testimony of one of the defendants implicating an­ a) Holtzman. from Olberg to Leon Sedov, dated March 1,1930, other defendant or extraneous individuals and by to Feb. 3, 1931, and one copy of a typewritten virtue of this very thing mitigating the respon­ In the Zinoviev-Kamenev trial, the accused letter in Russian from Sedov to Olberg dated sibility of the individual himself. Holtzman testified that on Sedov’s invitation he July 11, 1930. These letters deal almost exclu­ went to Copenhagen during Trotsky’s stay there sively with such matters as the publication and —a category of evidence characterized by Stro­ from Nov. 23 to Dec. 2, 1932. He affirmed that distribution of Opposition literature, Olberg’s govich-Vyshinsky as “the least meritorious.” by previous arrangement he met Sedov in the services in this work, etc. The Commission gives further quotations from lobby of the Hotel Bristol, and went from there 3. A letter from Franz Pfemfert to Leon with him to see Trotsky. The Commission has Trotsky dated Berlin, April 1, 1930, and one Strogovich-Vyshinsky which show that the Pro­ evidence showing that there was no Hotel Bris­ from Alexandra Pfemfert (Trotsky’s German secutor in the Moscow trials did not adhere to tol in Copenhagen in 1932, and that Sedov was translator) dated April 2, 1930, informing the principles of Soviet criminal procedure as not in Copenhagen during his parents’ stay Trotsky that they have met Olberg, who makes stated in an official text-book edited by himself. there, but was in Berlin, He could not leave a very bad impression upon them, and warning Among additional defects in procedure the Germany and return without renewal of his of­ Trotsky against employing Olberg as his secre­ ficial permission of residence ( Aufenthaltser- ta ry . Commission cites the failure of the Court to laubnis), which had expired, and witHbut this 4. A holograph statement by Olberg’s mother take into account the evidence in refutation of renewal he could not receive a Danish visa. He saying that her son went to Russia for the first the charges published in the world press by received the renewal *On Dec. 3, the day after time in 1933, having been expelled from Ger­ Leon Trotsky and others during the course of Trotsky left Copenhagen, and on that same day many as an undesirable foreigner; that he used the trials; the failure to produce the existing received a French visa good for five days which the passport of a friend, since he had only a enabled him to meet his parents in Paris on their Nansen passport with which he could go no­ French police-record of Trotsky’s whereabouts way through France. where ; that he received a Soviet visa through the at the time of his alleged meeting with Romm The outstanding documents in the Commis­ Berlin Intourist, paid for by a relative (name in Paris. sion’s possession on Holtzman’s testimony are in the possession of the Commission) ; that he The Commission holds to the generally ac­ as follows: left Russia again in 1933, and went to Prague. 1. Two class-books and one separate exer­ In Prague a lawyer whose name she does not cepted principle that adherence to procedure cise-sheet bearing signatures of professors and remember undertook to get him a Honduran could not make the accused guilty, if the char­ stamps dated Nov. 25 and .27, 1932, showing passport, for which he did not have money to ges proved false; that only if a procedure en­ Sedov’s attendance at the Technische Hoch- pay, and therefore the same relative came ito his ables the establishment of the ascertainable schule in Berlin on those days; Sedov’s atten­ assistance. These facts directly contradict Ol­ truth is it justifiable; and only in so far as pro­ dance book at the Technische Hochschule also berg’s testimony. bearing signatures and stamps of Nov. 25 and secutor and court conform to the spirit as well 29, 1932, showing his attendance on those days. c) Other Defendants. as the letter of a justifiable procedure can they 2. The passport of Leon Sedov, showing the The Commission has in its possession evi­ be held to safeguard the rights of accused per­ renewal on Dec. 3, 1932, of his permit to remain dence bearing on the testimony of other accused sons. But the violation of Soviet legal principles in Germany, good until Jan. 2, 1933; also a per­ persons in this trial implicating Trotsky and and procedure by the Soviet Court and Prose­ mit to leave and return to Germany dated Dec. Sedov, namely : Smirnov, Dreitzer, Burman- 3, 1932, good until Dec. 17, 1932; also a French Yurin, David, and M. and N. Lurye. On the basis cutor tended, in the Commission’s opinion, to visa dated Dec. 3, 1932, and good for five days; cast initial doubt upon the validity of both of this evidence it finds the testimony of these also a stamp of entry into France dated Dec. 4, accused to be worthless. trials. 1932. 3. A letter from Leon Trotsky to Leon Se­ 6. The Pyatakov-Radek Trial: The “Par­ 3. The Capitulators. dov written on board ship as Trotsky was leav­ allel” or “Reserve Center.” ing Denmark, and dated 3-12-32, expressing his Trotsky testified that of the 18 accused in the disappointment at not having seen his son in The Commission, after detailed examination two trials who were known to him, two had Copenhagen. of the testimony concerning the alleged “re­ never belonged to the L e ft Opposition -bloc o f 4. A postcard from Natalia. Sedov Trotsky serve” or “parallel center,” which was involved from the port of embarkation in Denmark, in the January trial, concludes : “In none of this 1926-7, the remaining 16 had been expelled with stamped Esbjerg 3-12-32, to her son in Berlin, conflicting testimony is there the slightest evi­ it from the Communist Party, and all had capi­ expressing her grief over their failure to meet dence, direct or indirect, that Trotsky either tulated to the ruling faction except Muralov, in Copenhagen. instigated thè formation of the alleged reserve who withdrew from the Opposition without a 5. Six holograph letters from Leon Sedov or parallel center or selected “its members.” The formal declaration. He introduced in evidence to his parents during their stay in Copenhagen, Commission declares: “We consider that the dated Nov. 21, Nov. 26 (three), Nov. 28, and shocking discrepancies... entirely discredit

of the U .S.S.R ., accelerating an armed attack on it. In this section it cites Trotsky’s counter­ 6. We find that Holtzman never met Sedov the U .S.S.R ., assisting foreign aggressors to seize charge that the trials of August, 1936, and in Copenhagen ; that he never went with Sedov territory of the U.S.S.R., and to dismember it, January, 1937, were the logical culmination of to see Trotsky; that Sedow was not in Copen­ and of overthrowing the Soviet power and restoring a series of frame-ups by the ruling majority of hagen during Trotsky’s sojourn in that city; capitalism and the rule of the bourgeoisie in the the Party, directed against the Left Opposition. that Holtzman pever saw Trotsky in Copen­ Soviet Union. It quotes from a compilation, introduced in hagen. evidence by Trotsky, of quotations from state­ 7. We find that Olberg never went to Russia This charge is supported in the record of the ments to the Central Executive Committee of with terrorist instructions from Trotsky or second trial, according to the accused Radek, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, let­ Sedov. only by his testimony and that of Pyatakov— ters, and articles from the Left Opposition press, 8. We find that Berman-Yurin never ré- a statement which the Prosecutor does noh chal­ showing that the attempts of the Majority to ceived terrorist instructions from Trotsky in lenge. The Commission has found that the tes­ inculpate the Left Opposition began in 1927 and Copenhagen, and that Berman-Yurin never saw timony of 'Pyatakov and Radek to their treas­ proceeded in a mathematical series to the trials Trotsky in Copenhagen. onable communications with Trotsky is dis­ of August, 1936, and January, 1937 ; also that 9. We find that David never received terror­ proved by the evidence in its possession. the leaders of the Opposition predicted and ist instructions from Trotsky in Copenhagen In addition, it has a large quantity of ma­ warned the Communist Party against those very and that David never saw Trotsky in Copen­ terial showing the nature of Trotsky’s political developments which afterward took place. This hagen. preoccupations during the period when he is document shows that in 1929 Trotsky warned 10. We find no basis whatever for the alleged to have been conspiring with Germany that Stalin would “try to draw a line of attempt to link Moissei Lurye and Nathan Lurye and Japan against the Soviet state. This ma­ blood between the Party and the Opposition. He with an alleged Trotskyist conspiracy. térial. which consists of affidavits, oral testi­ must absolutely connect the Opposition with 11. We find that Trotsky never met Vladimir mony. and a sound film made by Trotsky in terrorist attempts, preparations for armed in­ Romm in the Bois de Boulogne; that he trans­ Copenhagen for Left Opposition propaganda, as surrection, etc.” mitted no messages through Romm to Radek. well as his published writings and private cor­ In connection with the conclusions inevitably We find that Trotsky and Sedov never had any respondence, shows that Trotsky has consist­ flowing from the mass of material on which connection with Vladimir Romm. ently opposed fascism in Germany and else­ previous sections of this report are based, the 12. We find that Pyatakov did not fly to where. as well as Japanese imperialism. Commission finds that this document substan- Oslo in December, 1935; he did not, as charged, The Commission finds on the basis of all this j tiates the argument that the Moscow trials of see Trotsky; he did not receive from Trotsky evidence that the charge of agreement with | August, 1936, and January, 1937, constituted any instructions of any knd. We find that the foreign powers is not only not proved but pre- ! the culmination of a series of repressive meas- disproof of Pyatakov’s testimony on this crucial postemis. jures against a political opposition. point renders his whole confession worthless. I Moreover, the Commission finds that the of- 13. We find that the disproof of the testi­ 4 . The Historical Connection. ¡fidai reports of previous Soviet trials alluded mony of the defendant Pyatakov invalidates the , , . ,. ... j , . , D_to either in the reports of the Moscow trials or testimony of the witness Bukhartsev. In his summation in the second trial, the Pro- in Preliminary Commission, indicate 14. We find that the disproof of Vladimir secutor attaches great importance to the his- ^hat political motivation on the part of the pros­ Romm’s testimony and that of Pyatakov com­ torical connection which confirms the theses of ecution is not exceptional in Soviet trials. It pletely invalidates the testimony of the de­ the indictment on the basis of the Trotskyites’ adduces, in illustration of this point, the trial fendant Radek. past activity.” He maintains that Trotskyism of the Industrial Party in 1930 and that of the 15. We find that the disproof of the confes­ has “spent the more than 30 years of its exist­ Mensheviks ia 1931. In each case the accused sions of Smirnov, Pyatakov and Radek com­ ence on preparations for its final conversion were alleged to have formed an anti-Soviet cen­ pletely invalidates the confessions of Shestov into a storm detachment of fascism, into one of ter for the purpose of bringing about the over­ and Muralov. the departments of the fascist police.” He main­ throw of the Soviet régime and the restoration 16. We are convinced that the alleged let­ tains that it has been waging a struggle for of capitalism through wrecking activities, dis­ ters in which Trotsky conveyed alleged conspir­ decades “against the working class and the Par­ ruptive work in the army, and the furthering of atorial instructions to the various defendants ty, against Lenin and Leninism.” armed intervention against the Soviet Union. in the Moscow trials never existed; and that the The Commission finds, after a careful study The Commission finds that the only significant testimony concerning them is sheer fabrication. of the relevant historical material, that the difference between the indictments and confes­ 17. We find that Trotsky throughout his Prosecutor’s argument is based upon systematic sions in these trials and the trials ?f August, whole career has always been a consistent op­ distortion of history, and that the fact that the 1936, and January, 1937, is in the names of ponent of individual terror. The Commission Prosecutor resorted to historical falsification in­ those foreign powers and interests whom the further finds that Trotsky never instructed any evitably reflects upon the entire conduct of the accused were alleged to be serving. In these of the defendants or witnesses in the Moscow trials, by revealing that their purpose was to previous trials the accused were alleged to have trials to assassinate any political opponent. discredit an opposition faction past and present conspired with the Polish, French, and British 18. We find that Trotsky never instructed within the party, rather than to discover the governments, with White Russians, and, in the the defendants or witnesses in the Moscow trials actual truth through a fair procedure. case of the Menshevik trial, with the Social to engage in sabotage, wrecking, and diversion. The Commission makes clear that its purpose, Democratic parties of foreign countries and On the contrary, he has always been a consistent in considering all this material is in no sense to with the Second International. The Commis­ advocate of the building up of socialist indus­ determine who was right or wrong in any his­ sion finds that the conclusion appears to be try and agriculture in the Soviet Union and has torical controversy within the Bolshevik Party inevitable that the indictments and the confes­ criticized the present régime on the basis that or the Soviet State, but solely to establish sions in the series of widely publicized trials its activities were harmful to the building up whether or not the Prosecutor’s alleged “his­ of alleged plotters against the regime, were gov­ of socialist economy in Russia. He is not in torical connection” represents historical truth. erned in each case by current internal difficul­ favor of sabotage as a method of opposition to ties, economic and political, and by the current any political régime. situation in the foreign relations of the Soviet 19. We find that Trotsky never instructed Part Five Union. In other words, that the trials have any of the accused or witnesses in the Moscow been not really criminal, but political. trials to enter into agreements with foreign FINAL CONCLUSIONS All these considerations, in connection with powers against the Soviet Union. On the con- In its concluding section, the report states its previous conclusions, lead the Commission trary, he has always uncompromisingly ad- that although the Commission does not presume ¡*° the conclusion that the trials of August, 1936,, vocated the defense of the U.S.S.R. H e has to judge the motives which prompted the accus-,,an^ January, 1937, were frame-ups. .also been a most forthright ideological opponent ed, and witnesses in the two Moscow trials to ; k®818 a^. ^ ls evidence and these of the fascism represented by the foreign pow­ confess that they were guilty of the charges, occlusions, the Commission finds Leon Trotsky ers with which he is accused of having con­ against them, it has taken the testimony of three an(* Leon Sedov not guilty, spired. former Soviet political prisoners: Dr. Anton 20. On the basis of all the evidence we find Ciliga, Yugoslav Communist, Victor Serge, well- that Trotsky never recommended, plotted, or known Russian-French writer and revolution­ Summary of Findings attempted the restoration of capitalism in the ist, and A. Tarov, Old Bolshevik and Russian U.S.S.R. On the contrary, he has always un­ mechanic. These three men have escaped or compromisingly opposed the restoration of been released from Soviet prisons. From their capitalism in the Soviet Union and its existence Conduct of Trials anywhere else. personal knowledge and experience they cite cases of extortion of false •testimony by the G. Independent of extrinsic evidence, the Com­ 21. We find that the Prosecutor fantastically P, U. through the use of the most revolting mission finds: falsified Trotsky’s role before, during and after the October Revolution. methods. Their testimony indicates that the 1. That the conduct of the Moscow trials system of extorting false confessions and em­ was such as to convince any unprejudiced per­ ploying them to inculpate the confessors and son that no effort was made to ascertain the Conclusions others is today a common practice of the Soviet tru th . police. 2. While confessions are necessarily entitled 22. We therefore find the Moscow trials to The Commission finds that this testimony, to the most serious consideration, these confes­ be frame-ups. taken in connection with the fantastic discre­ sions themselves contain such inherent im­ 23. We therefore find Trotsky and Sedov not pancies which it has pointed out in the confes­ probabilities as to convince the Commission that g u ilty. sions of the accused in the two Moscow trials, they do not represent the truth, irrespective of justifies the presumption of duress in the ob­ any means used to obtain them. Signed: John Dewey, Chairman taining of these confessions. This presumption, Benjamin Stolfoerg again taken in connection with the character The Charges Wendelin Thomas of the charges and the testimony in the two 3. On the basis of all the evidence, we find Alfred Rosmer trials, constitutes strong justification for assum­ that Trotsky never gave SmiraoV any terrorist John R. Chamberlain ing that the trials were frame-ups. The Com­ instructions through Sedov or anybody else. Carlo Tresca mission has already cited the Prosecutor’s con­ 4. On the basis of all the evidence, we find E . A . Ross tention that the alleged criminal activities of that Trotsky never gave Dreitzer terrorist in­ Otto Ruehle the accused in the Moscow trials followed logic­ structions either through Sedov or anybody else. F . Zam ora ally from their opposition to the policies of the 5. On the basis of all the evidence, we find Suzanne La Follette, Secretary ruling majority of the Communist Party in that Holtzman never acted as go-between for Session of the Commission 1926-27 ; and has pointed out that the Prosecu­ Smirnov on the one hand and Sedov on the on Monday, September 20, tor* here deliberately identifies political opposi­ other for the purposes of any terrorist conspir­ 1937, held at 231 East tion to the régime with criminal activity against acy. 14th ’ St., New York City December 18, 1937 SOCIALIST APPEAL 9 . C .P. Acquits Capitalism; G.P.U. Plot Against Grylewicz “Bad Monopolists” Held Collapses; Old Militant Freed PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia. — Another clumsy G.P.U. frame-up has collapsed of its owp weight. Anton Gryle- Responsible for Crisis wicz, old German trade union militant and revolutionist who was arrested by the Czechoslovakian political police By James Casey last Summer and imprisoned for several months as a Ger­ (This is the third article of a series on the the economic situation). man spy on the basis of faked documents, has finally been released and expelled from the ®------With the industrial decline in its sixteenth consecutive week, Wall Streeters and country of his refuge. 12 under charges of "espionage”. Stalinists, alike, continue to refer to the new capitalist crisis as a “business recession.” The political police confronted Workers will recall how, during the whole first year of the last economic debacle, Big Veteran of 32 Years him with "extracts" from his archives and files, which he had Business had steadfastly refused to admit the existence of a crisis. Grylewicz has been in the or­ given for safekeeping to a friend While misery and unemploy,- ® ------ganized socialist movement for named Batany at the end of Oc­ ment were spreading through the I time because, by all signs, it has “ Down w ith dividends, we’re tired thirty-two years. Active in the tober, 1936. And here the clumsy land, Herbert Hoover kept pout­ 'not yet fully exploited all possi­ of clipping coupons!” metal workers’ union in Germa­ hand -of the G.P.U. emerges, ing about "prosperity being bilities present for the continuan­ They can also send the stock ny since the days of his youth, with blunders as gross as those around the corner.” Today Wall ce o f the recovery tre n d s.” market soaring, but these sabo­ he became during the War one which permeated the Moscow Street is pursuing a similar cour­ A fter cramming unemployment, taging monopolists simply spurn of the leaders of the anti-chau­ trials. Among other "documents.” se. Only today Wall Street’s ef­ the high cost of living, the steel the idea of fleecing the public. vinist struggles of the Indepen­ presented was a short report al­ forts to blind America’s toilers industry and the chamber of com­ They deliberately refuse to aid dent Socialist Party, which he legedly written by a Czechoslovv to the facts of the situation are merce into one paragraph, Bittle- industrial recovery because, in the afterwards left to adhere to the akian soldier concerning the being aided through the develop­ man embarks upon exploiting terms of Stalinist analysis, the Communist Party of Germany. movements of his troop, and a ed People’s Frontist role of the some of the possiblities of the monopolists vindictively have de- In subsequent years he played a brief report in German concern» Communist Party. Party’s "new line.” ;lared a moratorium on profits. prominent role as functionary of ing the plans of the German Moreover, says the Political the C. P. and as deputy in the embassy for the occupation of And Now.... “Honest” and “Honest” Monopolists Bureau report, these monopolists Prussian Landtag. In 1926 he Czechslovakia—the latter dated “Dishonest” Bosses Too? “are threatening the national was expelled from the C. P. as February 17, 1937; that is, over economy.” Just think of it! The a Left Oppositionist. three-months after the archives In August, 1937, the C. P. Cen­ The blame for the economic jip - “reactionary” monopolists are As one of the chief founders from which it was supposedly tral Committee, in a statement set Bittleman places on the "re­ conspiring to wreck their own of the German Opposition move­ taken Bad le ft Grylewicz’s hands! published in the Daily Worker actionary” monopolists. It w ill be profit system and the “plot” has ment, he incurred the enmity of The True purpose of the arrest on the "furtherance of the noted here that from “honest” sent the Stalinist leadership into both the Stalinists and the rising and imprisonment emerges with People’s Front", distinguished and "dishonest” bourgeois ele­ a la th e r. Fascist movement. For many striking, clarity from the proce­ between "honest” and "dishonest” ments discovered by the Central years he served as the translator dure of- the investigation itself. bourgeois elements and decreed Such is the analysis on the ommittee last August, the Stalin­ economic situation offered up by and publisher of Trotsky’s pam­ Several police officials begin to that the Party membership sup­ ist leadership, By October, had the party of “Twentieth Century phlets in German, as editor of cross-examine the prisoner. Sud­ port the "honest” bourgeoisie a- unearthed the startling phenome­ the German Opposition organ denly all but one leaves. The re­ gainst the "dishonest” capitalists. Americanism. ” But the C.P. thesis na of “ reactionary” monopolists and of the Russian Bulletin of maining official, conducting an In that statement, the Communist carries other implications. on the one hand, and “non-reac­ the Left Opposition. examination of a "Hitlerite Party for the first time acknow­ tionary” and, presumably, “ho­ agent”, begins a lengthy discus­ ledged its alignment with a sec­ How To End Recession... nest” monopolists on the other. Hounded by Nazis sion, replete with names and de­ tion of the American ruling class. Says the Stalinist theoretician: If these “reactionary” mono­ tails, of... Moscow trials! Gry- Applied now to the economic “A very important contributing This oldtime revolutionist, now ewicz is shown prescriptions fpr situation, the advanced role of polists can create a “recession" factor to the decline in the stock denounced and framed by the G. the compounding of secret ink, People’s Front ism embraces the by studied sabotage,, can they not market, and the uneven recession end the decline by "expanding P. U. and its police cohorts in false -passports; and other ele­ gravest attempt undertaken thu3 in various branches of industry is “friendly” Czechoslovakia as a ments - of the stock-in-trade of far by the American C. P., to and. investing?” Naturally the this: that big capital, the reac* “Fascist agent”, was one of the- the conspiratorial profession, all undermine m ilitant working class Stalinist leadership does not yet tionary monopolist (emphasis dare to present to its rank-and- first to feel the blows of the allegedly taken from his files. activity and to bury, the class A. B.) may be considered as be­ H itler regime. His home raided stru g g le . file the proposition of “an orga­ ing on a sort of political strike. and destroyed by the storm- Fraud Collapses On December 1, 2 and 3, the nized capitalism,” but the Peop­ troopers, his person hounded by Daily Worker carried articles by le s Frontist line implies this very the H itlerite police, he was forc­ Grylewicz was able to estab­ JSarl Browder purportedly on the The Bosses’ “S trike” position. ed to flee from Germany imme­ lish irrefutably that this "docu­ economic situation. The essence Inasmuch as the “reactionary” "They have refused to expand, diately after H itler’s assumption mentation” was a police fraud of the first was the usual wild- monopolists “plan” recessions to make new investments, they of power, and finally went to from beginning to end. He was ac­ name-calling attack on the through sabotage and “political sabotaged recovery, thereby Czechoslovakia as political re­ cordingly conducted back to his “ Trotskyites.” The second assur­ strikes”, the role of the pure threatening the nation’s economy, monopolists must be, according to fugee. cell, l&pt imprisoned until No­ ed the C. f. membership of the they m ilitate against the govern­ “ correctness" of Roosevelt’s view the Communist Party, “to safe­ . But in exile, too, Grylewicz vember 2, then expelled from the ment’s program for control of guard and promote the interests continued his activities in the country in a most brutal fashion «1 the situation, as well as his the stock market and in many program, with only a gentle hint of the people and the govern­ Opposition movement, aided in without a real trial,, hearing, or other ways are striking against ment.” The logical conclusion to the publication and distribution even a- word of explanation. But to the President to be less con­ the well-being and security of the ciliatory toward the economic this thesis is for the “non-reac­ of the works of Trotsky and other this fact in itself furnishes the people. ” royalists. Browder added that tionary” monopolists to win over Opposition literature. When the best expose of the vicious fram­ And still further on, in discus­ Boosevelt’s position also proved to their side the naughty mono­ G.P.U. set to work executing ed-up'^nature of the accusation, sing the special session of Con­ the “ correctness” (he didn’t bother polists and, at long last, there its directives, received in May of the political exigencies which gress, Roosevelt’s program and to explain how) of the aforemen­ would be an end to all capitalist this year from the Communist motivated it, and the complicity “the role of the reactionary mo­ tioned Central Committee state­ recessions and crisis. International, to exterminate of the G. P. U. in the entire af­ nopolists," Bittleman asserts: ment on the furtherance of the If the C. P. Political Bureau Trotskyism on a world scale and fa ir . . .. 'But, most particularly, big capi­ People’s Front. The third article is correct in its People’s Frontist to bolster up the Moscow trials The G.P.U., and with it the tal’ sabotages the further develop­ discussed the need of “purity” in analysis, then Marx and Engels by transporting them to other entire. Stalinist bureaucracy, is ment of recovery by failure to the private lives of the Party never had the remotest concep­ countries, Grylewicz was seized today on the defensive through­ do the traditional thing, that is, members. For reasons not to be tion of the origin and historical upon as one of the first victims out the world. For the first time to come to the support of a weak­ discussed here Browder pointedly development • of society and their of its campaign. The police of its international system of re­ ening market and weakened spots warned that this “order for spot­ works must be shelved at once “ democratic ” Czechoslovakia, pressions, terrorism and frame- in industry during a period of lessness” applied to every mem­ as a curiosity. eager to satisfy its Russian ally up is cracking. The first blows recovery, by failure to energe­ ber “from top to bottom.” Millions of the nation’s work­ and, in its own interests, to were the apprehending of the. tically exploit the basis of still In all these articles Browder ers, who w ill not be blinded by crush every vestige of revolution­ agents who assassinated Ignace existing recovery by further ex­ referred to Alex Bittleman’s the Communist Party’s drive to ary thought—were only too wil­ Reiss -in Switzerland. Now, with pansion, narrow though this basis analysis of the economic situa­ the right, by its rabid support of ling to cooperate in the technic­ the collapse of the Grylewicz is. ” Let us for a few moments tion. It is this analysis that w ill the Roosevelt wing of American al work of manufacturing accusa­ frame-up, a new impressive de­ examine these statements of the Dow be given attention here. ca pita lism , w ill see in the B ittle ­ tions and fabricating documents. feat of Stalinist terrorism has Stalinist spokesmen. man thesis a frightful counter­ Grylewicz was arrested on July been registered. The "reactionary” monopolists Official Position revolutionary role on the part of “refuse to expand, to make new the Stalinists, on both the labor Bittleman, the Communist investments,” and further, “they and political fronts. Party’s foremost theoretician, sabotage by failure to do the Revolutionary Socialists and all submitted a report to the Political traditional thing,” to “ come to the m ilitant workers w ill expose and Bureau which was published on support of the market and indus­ combat this counter-revolutionary WORLD October 18. Political Bureau re­ try.” This Stalinist thesis affords activity in the trade unions, un­ ports, when published for the con­ no two meanings. employed groups, fraternal bodies sumption of Daily Worker read­ and in all other assemblies of the REVOLUTION ers, constitute the Party’s official “Tired of Clipping labor movement. position on respective issues. Coupons” ? (The next article will deal in By C. L. R. JAMES. 440 pages. $3.50 Along with the Wall Streeters, New Statesman:—“ A book which is unique of its kind, very Bittleman concedes the existence There are possibilities for a detail with the tasks of Revolu­ tionary Socialist in the crisis). badly needed, and likely to excite more anger than anything of a “ business recession” and a growth in trade, but the “reac­ yet published this year. A history of the last twenty years decline in the stock market. The tionary” monopolists don’t want from a Trotskyist angle.” (R. W. POSTGATE.) coming on of this "recession" was it, according to the C.P. view­ SOCIAL and DANCE NEW Leader:—“It must be read three times to realise its Bot necessary, Bittleman says, point. These monopolists can Saturday Eve., Dec. 18 significance. It is a book which w ill influence substantially and he continues: make new investments in un­ at LEAH DILLON’S STUDIO the thought of our time.” (Fenner Brockway.). “ American capitalist economy exploited fields that w ill garner 137 E . 13th S treet has not yet entered the phase of more dividends for themselves, Auspices: ADMISSION 20c PIONEER PUBLISHERS B new cyclical crisis; or more but they prefer to sabotage—on Lower Manhattan Branch 100 Fifth Ave., N. Y. C. correctly it need not necessarily whom? According to the Stalin­ V and Y . P. S. L . enter the crisis phase, at this ists, the monopolists are saying: IO SOCIALIST APPEAL December 18,1937 Rivera Bares Mexican INTERNATIONAL NOTES G.P.U. Supervises Soviet Election—Arrests and Shootings Continue—Last Minute. Removals Plot Against Trotsky From Ballot. By John G. Wright MEXICO CITY, D.F.—A devastating exposure of the aims and frame-up plots n the most elementary principles w ith the program of the Progress­ The legislators felt apparently of revolutionary Marxism. the leadership of the W. A. to that they were just setting the ive Group. "W hy not fight against drive out anyone who does not People’s F ro n t — the anti-union signs in the home stage fo r the cops to listen in. The N. Y. Membership agree with them. This policy is Commission received only carbon Mayflower Product relief bureaus? Why was the being carried out in all parts of espies of the police transcripts, Meeting Sunday Washington march held after the country and is wrecking the And it would seem also that Congress adjourned.? Why no and the official record of the pro­ even the People’s Fixait came over Local New York, Socialist Party organization. ceedings is still not available. fight on the part of the Alliance The culmination of this proce­ on the Mayflower: "The People’s (Left Wing)., announces an im­ against the gradual elimination The quotations given in these ar­ Front in Massachusetts would be dure here in N. Y. C. is the sland­ portant membership meeting to of the Workers’ Alliance from the ticles are all taken from the a continuation under present day erous attack upon Neil Harrison be held Sunday, December 19th, bureaus ? Boston press—the Globe, Post, conditions of the same kind of at 2:30 P. M.—at Manhattan at the delegates couneil meeting and Herald (none of them a People’s Front that was estab­ Plaza—66 East 4th Street. Embarrassing Questions —an attack such as would not be Hearst paper, by the way)— ; lished against British tyranny in ‘tolerated in any other trade which covered the case quite com­ 1776 and against slavery in LaGuardia and the “Why no fight against the dis­ union. pletely, citing much of the testi­ 1861”—which is true enough since missal of ‘aliens’ from W.P.A.? I have served faithfully the mony verbatim. The accounts in both were movements on behalf Gravediggers Harrison was “ answered" by over Workers’ Unemployed Committee, these papers check against each the Workers’ Unemployed Union, of American capitalism, when it W ith Mayor LaGuardia threat­ two hours of slanderous attacks Other, though only one may be and the Workers’ Alliance. I was progressive. ening to send in City employees jy members of the Communist quoted here for any question. refuse to be used as a front and Today when American capital­ as strikebreakers, the strike of Party, in which he was called There can be no doubt—and a stooge for the Communist Party ism has become reactionary impe­ gravediggers at the Greenwood all the names in the Stalinist re­ this appears also from the hear­ leadership in the W. A. rialism, the People’s Front is still Cemetery, Brooklyn was ended pertoire: "procurer1," "stool pi­ ings—that shortly before the in­ Very truly yours, advocated by the C.P. in order last week. The men returned to geon", "thief”, etc. Only two op­ vestigation started, the national (Signed) Charles Mack to preserve it. "The People’s work, "pending probable appoint­ ponents of the Stalinists, Bertha leaders of the C.P. held a conclave Member Adjustment Comm., Front,” defines the pamphlet, “is ment of a fact-finding committee Butler and Larry Selman, were to determine their strategy. The Member of City Executive a movement for improvement and by Mayor LaGuardia to study .llowed three minutes each. Har- sense of their deliberations one Committee of W.A. Unemploy­ reform under present day society conditions at the cemetery and •ison was not allowed to reply. can imagine: "Boys, we’ve hedg­ ed D ivisio n ." and conditions"—purely a move­ recommend possible changes." Following this barrage of slander, ed up to now and used weasel- ment to reform capitalism. words, but now we have to come The committee is “ probable", the The entire tenor of the Con­ recommendations "possible,” the clean. We’ve got to go the whole fession has one aim: to convince hog." And they went the whole return to work "definite." The the legislators that the C.P. is strikers are members of the Christmas Eve Dance hog. no danger to anything they hold United Cemetery Workers Union, dear, and that in two ways: first, C.I.O . The Mayor is a member The Stalinists Confess by proving that they, the Stalin­ Friday, December 24th, at 9 P. E of the A.L.P. ists, do not want to overthrow Before the investigation start­ capitalism, and secondly, by ab­ ed, the State Committee of the IRVING PLAZA jectly describing how they are Relief Sit-Down Ends C.P. published a pamphlet entitl­ too weak to do it if they wanted In Settlement lath STREET AND IRVING PLACE ed “ A Confession of Faith," with to. The first statement w ill be Protesting against delays in the slogan: "Let the Truth Be in the next aPticle. thfi Tickets: In Advance 55 cents — At the door 75 cents Known to the People of Mass­ assisting relief applicants 76 men second' appears from the Confes­ achusetts." This pamphlet, one women and children staged a sit- sion. of the most degrading ever issued down in the Department of by any working-class organisa- J N o Danger Public Welfare building, 376 La­ tion, is sold only in Massachusetts fayette Street, New York. After For Sale at: Labor Book Shop. 28 E-iit I2!h St. and is unobtainable elsewhere. It "The reactionaries deliberately some 60 hours during which no begins properly enough with exaggerate our strength and in­ food was allowed to enter the some extra-fancy belly-crawling fluence,” it reads. “We Commun­ building the strike was settled AUSPICES: Convention Arrangements Oommittev before the Commission. The C.P. ists are the . best and most real­ with a promise of immediate ac­ Socialist Party (Left Wing) is addressing the American Le­ istic judges of ourselves." And tion on the 25 cases which were gion commander, illiterate recf- it repudiates the “slander" that the direct cause of the sit-down. 1 2 SOCIALIST APPEAL December 18,1937

Revolution”. It is not ready for distribution yet but it has been Truth is On The March! reviewed by Stalin and wider his direction w ill be completed. Its complete objectivity is thereby assured. Some reports of the preview have been published here. In the picture as .".Lenin” steps of the train on’ his return to Russia, his first question is: Voting Machines "Where is Stalin?” After that his main activity seems to have and Machine Guns been acting as a sort of John In New York the results of the Baptist for the great god the Council elections were not “Josef.” We can confidently as­ known until weeks later. Anxious sert that all the “100% Twen­ to overcome the lag the City is tieth Century Morons” will en­ thusiastically acclaim this pic­ investigating various types of ture. Yes, just as enthusiastically voting machines. If they want as they condemned the real pic­ the last word in time-saving de­ torial record of the October re\<- vices they should look into those olution when compiled and shown used to "count out” opposition under the title “From Tsar to candidates in Stalin’s "most dem­ Lenin ”. ocratic” election. So effective did they work there that, “catch­ Zams “Bright future” ing up with and surpassing the most advanced capitalist nation”, in Reading Soviet authorities are able to We understand now why Zam report election results weeks saw a “ particularly bright futu­ ahead of the actual date of the re” in Reading. Zam is ‘ consoli­ voting. The machine used there, dating the forces of the “united we understand, has a trigger at­ left wing” in an effort to avoid tachm ent. playing the part of the corpse at the coming morticians convention Flash!!. Last minute news of the Thomas-Tyler outfit. The Mainovich and Vermontsky elect­ “consolidation” in Reading inc­ ed supporters of Stalin today. ludes those whose “clarity” was Shortly after the crack! crack! expressed b y v o tin g arid cam-* of dawn the widows of the op­ »signing for the Democratic Party position candidates conceded the against the Social Democrats in election. the November election. Zam has not lined up any Republicans yet Revolution and but give him time, give him time. Cinema Revolution Anything, anything for a “united left wing,” that is, anything and A t long last the “inside story” everything but a genuine left can, or rather must, be told and w ing er. in Moscow it is being told by the cartload through radio, books, Robinson Case press and film . The very new­ World-Telegram h e a d lia e : est “ inside story” of the Revolu­ “OGPU To Hunt For Robinson,” tion in film is about to be re­ As it should be written: “To leased under the title “ October Hunt OGPU For X*biMen.” Revived “New Union Vigilance Necessary Withdraw America's International” Richin Content Against Employers’ Offensive Forces from China! Although printing the highest By Manny Mills them . number of any period of its ex­ As the time for renewal of con­ In order to see such a ta ctic in operation, we need only refer (Continued from page 1) istence, The New International tracts in most of the large indus­ magazine, January issue, is al­ tries rapidly approaches, the ca­ to the recent scuffle in Flint. for China. That is the working class, the progressiva ready sold out and copies are in pitalist class is preparing to sys­ There the bosses, in spite of a way of helping China and smashing Japan. demand. The re-issued New In­ tematically smash the American sacred contract, had discriminat­ But we haven’t the slightest iota of confidence in the ternational has met with an en­ labor movement which has grown ed to such a degree that it be­ capitalist government of the United States. Any fight thusiastic response, fu lly warrant­ so swiftly in the last year. The came necessary for the rank and ed by the excellent content and aggressive spirit of the bosses file to call “wildcat strikes” In it undertakes with Japan is not conducted for the pur­ order to halt them. pose of aiding China, but for the purpose of protecting technical calibre of the magazine. has been stimulated by the victory and extending American imperialist interests against “ Twenty Years of the Russian over the workers in Little Steel. Instead of converting these Revolution” by Max Shachtman Simultaneously, the defeat of the “wildcat strikes” into a general Japanese imperialist interests—nothing more and noth­ unified and effective protest, ing less. Any war of the capitalist government of this covers in fundamental form the steel workers has resulted in the period from the Bolshevik upris­ loss of that spirit of invincibility Homer Martin has joined hands country would be Wall Street’s war, not ours. with the bosses in strike break­ And for such a war—not a penny and not a man! ing to the present situation in which has led the workers through the Soviet Union. so many successful struggles in in g . What are American troops and American fighting the past. Moreover, the steel In this fashaai the ground is ships doing in China, anyway? Are they there to “pro­ Leon Trotsky, who contri­ butes a special article for each strike exposed Roosevelt’s treach­ being broken fo r the bosses’ next tect our citizens”? Or “our interests”? ery to such an extent, that many move; namely, to push forth^si Who are those citizens? Did we send them there? issue of The New International,, expounds on the significance and narrow-minded capitalists have decisive -and fin a l showdown with Are they the representatives of the American people? lasting values of the principles finally learned that not only is the union. In the case of General No, they are the business men who went to China for enunciated by Marx and Engels Roosevelt a vicious enemy of la­ Motors, the corporation, knowing the purpose of squeezing profits out of the terribly in the Communist Manifesto in bor, but that he is by far the that the ranks of the union have oppressed and exploited Chinese masses. Why should an article, “ The Communist Ma­ cleverest and smoothest defender been thinned, w ill proceed to ■* we send one penny or one man to China to “protect” nifesto 90 Years A fter.” of capitalism that has yet enter­ thorough and concentrated strike* ed the White House. W ith such breaking campaign during thé them? Dealing fully with the va­ a bright picture before them, the struggle for a new contract. The If the investments of the Standard Oil Company are rious conceptions concerning the bosses see n oth in g w hich can pre­ degree of success which GM. in jeopardy, that’s Rockefeller’s headache, not ours. Soviet Union now being expound­ vent them from successfully tak­ attains w ill, no doubt, determSe The American capitalist class, the Roosevelt govern­ ed, Maurice Spector reviews re­ ing away all of the worker’s re­ the policy which the other cor­ ment included, has no particular objection to shedding cent books on Russia by Eugene cent gains. porations w ill adopt. Lyons, Feuchtwanger, Victor the blood of millions of American workers in a war to There are many indications Whether or ndt the capitalist Serge, Fred Beal and Andre Gide. defend American imperialist interests abroad. that the capitalists, in their drive class w ill win in this intensive W e have! “ Archives of the Revolution” to annihilate the labor movement, drive to crush the labor movement We know only one war: the war for the oppressed reprints of documents of the are proceeding in accordance w ith depends upon the alertness of and exploited, against their oppressors and exploiters. History and theory of the work­ a well prepared plan. More than the union rank and filé. It is ing class movement; editorials on There is enough of a war to fight right here: the war likely one step of the plan is to quite obvious that if strike-break­ the Dewey Commission and other crowd the agenda o f the National ing by the leadership is permit­ against wage-cuts, against relief-cuts, against unem­ matters fill out a solid and mag­ ployment, against the open-shoppers— and against the Labor Relations Board to such ted to continue, nothing short, of nificent first issue of The New disaster w ill be the result. If, pn capitalist war-mongers. an extent that the Board w ill be­ InternationaL come hopelessly unable to cope the other hand, the rank and fils Let’s fight that war, and win it! Opportunity is now afforded to with so great a volume of cases. comes to a realization of its own Meanwhile let’s drown out the screams of the war- the large number who w ill want Meanwhile, with the class colla­ intelligence, and it proceeds' to howlers with the peace cry of the masses: to receive The New International borationist labor leaders m artyr­ meet the bosses in a fighting and Withdraw all American armed forces from China! regularly to subscribe. The price izing the Board and upholding uncompromising fashion, then tha is $2.00 per year, and checks and the sanctity of a contract, capital labor movement w ill once more Withdraw every American soldier, sailor and marine money orders for same should w ill silently push its drive further be awakened to the militancy from the soil or waters of China! be addressed to The New Inter­ by provoking small strikes in which, in the past, has carried Withdraw every gunboat and battleship from Chinese national, 116 University Place, such a way that the near-sighted it through so many brilliant vic­ w a te rs ! New York, N. Y. labor leaders will help break to rie s.