DOCUMENT 43
Sekr.
d. EKki
22.III.38
“5”
1944/5
rc/Trans. Russ. M.L.
17.5.38 Confidential
ON
CARRYING OUT A CAMPAIGN OF ENLIGHTENMENT
IN
CONNECTION WITH THE TRIAL OF THE “BLOC OF
RIGHTS
AND TROTSKYITES”.
1.
The central point of the campaign in connection with the trial of the
“Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites” must be the expalantion of the fact that there
is a world conspiracy of reaction and fascism directed immediately
against the Land of Socialism, but also against the peace and liberty of all
peoples. There exists a conspiracy,
inspirated [sic] by the espionage centres of Hitler[‘s] Germany and Japan and
carried out with the participation of
the remnants of all anti-Soviet groupings:
The Trotskyites, Rights, Zinovievites, Bourgeois-Nationalists,
Mensheviks[i]
and S.R.s,[ii]
as agents of the fascist war incendiaries.
Therefore, the disclosure and crushing of this conspiracy is a great
service rendered to all of peace-seeking humanity.
2.
On the basis of the military aggression of the fascist powers in Spain
and China and especially on the basis of the occupation of Austria by
Hitler[‘s] Germany,[iii] it is
necessary to show that the same reactionary forces are operating here, which
with the help of their Right-Trotskyite agency are organizing an attack against
the Soviet Union. Consequently, he who
defends the Trotskyite accomplices of fascism is acting in favour of the
fascist murderers of the Spanish, Chinese and Austrian peoples.
3.
With the occupation of Austria, Hitler begins direct military operations
in Central Europe. All forces of peace
must be rallied and exerted to the utmost in order to curb the blood-thirsty
onslaught of fascism and save universal peace.
Consequently, he who uses the extermination of the fascist Trotskyite
agents in the Soviet Union as a pretext for deepening the split in the working
class and for slander against the Soviet Union, weakens the forces of peace and
clears the road for the fascist aggression.
4.
It has been proven that the Mensheviks were connected with the
Right-Trotskyite criminals. The leading
circles of the Second International, who on their part [sic] conduct a
particularly furious campaign against the trial, have come out in their
defence. An energetic repulse must be
offered against this attack and the masses of Social-Democratic workers must be
told the truth about the trial and its significance. This is necessary in the interests of working-class unity in the
struggle against war and fascism.
5.
We must effectively refute the various hypocritical and slanderous
arguments of the enemy. For example, we
should point out that the liquidation of the fascist agency is a sign of the
strength of the Soviet Union. If, for
example, France took the same action with regard to the Cagoulards,[iv]
then the French people would feel themselves much more at ease in the face of
reaction at home and Hitler[ite] fascism.
Facts of people [sic] who occupied important posts in the past turning
traitors are known both at the present time and in the history of all
countries. But in the Soviet Union such
people are punished independent of the position they once occupied, whereas in
capitalist countries they often remain free.
With regard to the reasons which prompted the accused to admit their
guilt, on this point it is necessary to show that on the one hand the accused
were caught red-handed, and on the other hand, the admittance of their guilt
was facilitated by their isolation from the masses of people and by the fact
that no social forces in the country stood behind them.
6.
The abundance of facts in connection with the trial makes it easier to
conduct a successful struggle against the slanderous campaign of the enemy and
to go over to the offensive. We must
analyze and refute the enemy’s arguments, basing ourselves on the concrete
conditions of each specific country. We
must especially convince the wide masses of the criminal character of
Trotskyism.
7.
With regard to practical measures in the further carrying out of the
campaign, the following is decided upon:
a) Leading comrades of the
individual Parties must deal with the trial in the press and at meetings,
basing themselves upon the specific interests of the working masses in their
country.
b) The comrades who were personally
present at the trial must, on their return to their respective countries,
especially speak at meetings giving information on the trial.
c) A protest must be registered at
all meetings, factories and organizations, against the anti-Soviet slander
initiated by the enemy in connection with the trial. Special attention should be devoted to having Social-Democrat[ic]
and trade union workers refute the anti-Soviet slander of their leaders and
newspapers and demonstrate this by protest resolutions, telegrams and
deputations to various organs.
d) The full report of the
court proceedings is to be published in English, French and German languages
and must be circulated not later than March 20, 1938.
e) An abridged report of the
court proceedings in the form of a book in the Spanish, Italian, Czech,
Hungarian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Croat languages
should be published not later than March 25, 1938.
Special attention must be devoted to
circulating the report of the court proceedings among Social-Democratic and
trade union functionaires [sic] and among functionaries of other anti-fascist
organizations.
f) Apart from this, the same
material will be published in a special edition of the “Rundschau” with an
enlarged circulation in the following languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Czech, Hungarian and Swedish.
g) The following pamphlets on the
trial will be published here:
Gottwald, general pamphlet on
the trial.
Ponomarev, material on the
trial.
Arnot & Tim Buck,[v]
pamphlet for Anglo-Saxon countries.
Cognoit, pamphlet for France
and Belgium.
Smerel, pamphlet for
Czechoslovakia.
Dengel,[vi]
pamphlet for Germany.
Lager,[vii]
pamphlet for Scandanavian countries.
Willard,[viii]
pamphlet dealing with the trial from the juridical point of view.
Freidrich, reports from the
courtroom.
Garlin, an American reporter
at the trial.
The manuscripts of these pamphlets
must be submitted not later than March 20, 1938. The pamphlets to be published not later than March 30, 1938. Besides this, a pamphlet should be prepared
dealing with the provocative activites of the Trotskyites in the ranks of the
labour movement in capitalist countries.
h) The Radio Commission must make it
its duty to see to the further enlightenment on the trial [sic] over the radio,
especially in connection with the enemy’s slanderous campaign.
i) All Party representatives and
referents [analysts] are instructed to cooperate in dealing with the trial in
the press of their countries as well as over the radio.
j) The Information Bulletin
(Kellerman) is instructed to supply regular information regarding both the
campaign of the enemy and the counter-campaign of our Parties.
k) The Press Department is
instructed to increase the supply of our press with materials on the positive
sides of Soviet life (for example, the return of the Papanin expedition).
8.
We must especially demand that in the explanatory campaign in connection
with the trial, the most thorough use be made of fact[ual] material contained
in the trial report (by using it in the press, pamphlets, at meetings,
etc.). All our assertions and
conclusions must be sustained by facts in order to make our campaign more
convincing and give it a more driving force.
9.
A Commission consisting of Comrades Gottwald, Ponomarev and Freidrich is
responsible for conducting this campaign.
The Commission is instructed to submit to the Secretariat by April 1,
1938 a summary report of the campaign in connection with the trial.
RGASPI, f. 495, op.
18, d. 1238, ll. 29-33. Original in
English with handwritten notes, translated by ECCI translator.
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[i] Mensheviks – originally the moderate wing of the RSDRP; it became an autonomous group with the RSDRP after the party’s second Party Congress in 1903. After 1912, it was an independent party, although retaining the RSDRP name. It existed legally in Russia until 1922.
[ii] SRs – abbreviation for the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, which was created in 1901 as a left radical party representing the interests of peasants. The party stood for democratic political reforms and for the liquidation of private ownership of land. Among its methods of struggle were the organization of mass movements as well as individual terror. In August 1917, the left wing broke away and formed an independent party, the Left SRs. Between late November 1917 and March 1918, several Left SRs held ministerial portfolios in the Soviet government. They quit to protest the terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty and conducted an active anti-Bolshevik struggle. It ceased to exist as a legal party in the USSR after 1923.
[iii] Germany occupied Austria on 11 March 1938.
[iv] Cagoulards (from the French word cagoule – a hood) – members of the French Social Movement for Revolutionary Action, headed by the Secret Committee for Revolutionary Action. It was an extreme right-wing, illegal organization. The members attending the Secret Committee’s sessions reportedly wore hoods in order to conceal their identities.
[v] Tim Buck (1891-1973). Born in Great Britain, he emigrated to Canada in 1921. He joined the CPCan and became a member of its CC. Between 1929 and 1962, he was General Secretary of the CC CPCan. After January 1962, he was Chairman of the Party. In 1935-1943, he was member of the ECCI.
[vi] Philipp Dengel (1888-1948). A member of the CPG from 1919, he was a member of the Political Bureau of its CC. After 1929, he worked in the ECCI apparatus as head of the Scandinavian Lendersecretariat. Between 1937 and 1938, he was head of the CC CPG delegation in the ECCI. In 1938-1941, he was deputy head of the ECCI’s Agitation and Propaganda department. After 1935, he was a member of the ECCI
[vii] Lager Fritiof (1905-1973). A member of the CPSwed from 1925. Between 1929 and 1967, he was the Organizational Secretary for its CC and Political Bureau. Between 20 December 1937 and 1 May 1938, he was the representative of the CPSwed in the ECCI. In 1949, he became the Chairman of the CPSwed; in 1961-1964, he was its Deputy Chairman.
[viii] Marcel Willard (1889-1956). A lawyer, he joined the SFIO in 1919, and the CPFr in 1923. He was a member of the French section of the MOPR, and a member of the International Committee Against War and Fascism. In 1944, he was Secretary General of the French Ministry of Justice.
[ix] Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov (1898-1942). A Soviet writer and journalist, he was the Secretary of the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers. On 12 December 1938, he was arrested by the NKVD and later shot. In 1938, the Gosizdat published his pamphlet A Thunderbird: The Life and Death of Maksim Gorky.
[x] Maksim Gorky (real name – Aleksei Peshkov) (1868-1936). A Russian and Soviet writer, he was the organizer and the Chairman of the first all-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934. The indictment of the Procurator of the USSR and the verdict of the Military Board of the Supreme Court of the USSR in the case of the “Right-Trotskyist bloc” stated that the accused were responsible for Gorky’s death.