Leon Trotsky: Letter to the USSR

Accompanying the August 22 Declaration

September 25, 1929

[Writings of Leon Trotsky. Vol 1, 1929, New York 1975, p. 329-331]

Dear Comrades,

I am sending you the declaration to the Central Committee and Central Control Commission by exiled and arrested Oppositionists. The declaration was drawn up by Comrades Rakovsky, V. Kossior, and M. Okudzhava. By early September, some four hundred Oppositionists, scattered out in some eighty-five different exile colonies and prisons, had subscribed to the statement. Among those who signed, in addition to the three mentioned above, were N. Muralov, B. Mdivani, L. Sosnovsky, Kavtaradze,. V. Kasparova, Malyuta, V. Sibiryakov, Yu. Solntsev, M. Lazko, Rafail, and N. Nechaev. LN. Smirnov has brought out a draft declaration of his own which, we are told, is capitulationist in character.

Since the declaration is rather long and not all Opposition publications will be able to print it in full, I have marked the margins to indicate the most important passages, in case of need.

At the same time I am enclosing a copy of my open letter to comrades who signed the above-mentioned declaration, and I ask that you print this open letter.

It seems to me that things should not be limited simply to publishing the enclosed documents. This is too important a question, and with a correct policy on our part it could play a major role in the development of both the Russian and the international Opposition.

Certainly a number of critical observations could be made concerning the text of the declaration. I have presented some of these, in positive and constructive form, in my open letter. It cannot be forgotten that the document was formulated through correspondence between exiled and imprisoned persons and constitutes, as always in such cases, a compromise among various shades of opinion. There will be dissatisfaction with it both from the left and from the right. But one must know how to single out the central idea of the document. At a time of severe foreign and domestic difficulties for the USSR, the Opposition is demanding a place for itself in the party, so that it may defend the cause of the international revolution in a way consistent with its own views. At a time of increasing defections from the Comintern to the Right Opposition and even to the social democracy directly, the Communist Left Opposition is demanding a place for itself in the ranks of the Comintern and first of all in the Soviet Communist Party.

What is the task of the international Opposition in relation to this important step taken by the Russian Opposition? To take advantage of it to expose the lies about the “defeatist, counterrevolutionary,” etc., character of the Opposition, before the eyes of worker Communists who have been deceived. The declaration must be used to shake, loosen, and knock over the artificial barriers that the Comintern leadership has erected between the members of the official Communist parties and the Left Opposition.

The declaration is written in a very cautious tone, which is consistent with its purpose. This purpose is indicated quite clearly in the last two lines: The signers do not of course hope for immediate practical results but wish “to win the sympathy and support of the overwhelming majority of the ranks of the party and of the working class." What is involved here is the use of a united-front policy toward the official Communist parties. Some of those who signed the declaration may still go off to the right, that is, toward the capitulators, when they receive the Stalinists’ answer, the nature of which is obvious beforehand. But it is likewise to be expected that there will be wide discussion in party cells about the very existence of the declaration, that it will attract the attention of many revolutionary-minded workers and increase the Opposition’s contacts and influence within the ranks of the party.

Some ultralefts will perhaps see the declaration as a capitulationist move. But if we gave in to such ultralefts, we would inevitably turn into a sect. That is why the question of the declaration, of how to interpret it, and of the agitational campaign we should develop around it in order to break through to the party rank and file — these questions, it seems to me, can have no less importance than the Sino-Soviet conflict for the further evolution of the groupings within the international Opposition.

With greetings,

L. Trotsky