Leon Trotsky: Protests to the GPU

March 5 and 8, 1929

[Writings of Leon Trotsky. Vol 1, 1929, New York 1975, p. 63 f.]

March 5, 1929

To your demand today that I leave the consulate I make the following response:

Bulanov and Volynsky offered me in the name of the GPU, i.e., the Central Committee of the CPSU, the following terms for settlement in Constantinople:

a. GPU agents are locating an apartment in a private country home i.e., one whose layout provides at least minimal topographical guarantee that it will not be easy for White Guardists or foreign fascists to make an attempt on my life and get away with it.

b. Sermuks and Poznansky are to be brought here on the next steamship, i.e., in no more than three weeks.

c. Until their arrival I will live — depending on my choice — either in the consulate (which, according to the GPU, was preferable) or in a private residence of the type indicated above under the temporary protection of the GPU agents.

Not one of these conditions has been met.

a. Of the five or six apartments that have been indicated, only one of them meets specifications for security to some degree. But to get it into suitable condition would take from two to three weeks, and I am not at all sure that I can afford the financial demands of such a household.

b. Despite the explicit commitment, Sermuks and Poznansky have not been allowed to come.

c. Fokin left without fulfilling any of the obligations that, according to Bulanov, had been entrusted to him.

Meanwhile, Constantinople is swanning with White Russians. The White newspapers sell out here in quantities of over a thousand copies. References to the fact that “active” Whites have been deported are totally absurd. The most active, of course, are keeping under cover, not to mention that they can come from other places at any time and find shelter among the “inactive” Whites. For them, impunity is assured beforehand.

Under these conditions, Moscow’s refusal to fulfill its obligations to send Sermuks and Poznansky and your simultaneous demand that I leave the consulate building although you have not offered any suitable quarters represents a demand that I voluntarily open myself up to the blows of the White Guardists.

After you told me about Moscow’s refusal to fulfill the promise given concerning Sermuks and Poznansky, I stated that in order to avoid a world scandal for reason of “quarters,” I will try to summon friends from Germany or France who will help me get settled in private quarters or escort me to another country (in the event that I receive a visa).

Despite the fact that the persons I have sent for have not yet been able even to leave, you are presenting me with the new demand that I leave the consulate. This haste flies in the face of the most elementary requirements for my safety and that of my family.

I do not desire in any way to complicate a situation that is already complicated enough. I have no interest in remaining in the consulate even a day longer than necessary. However, I have no intention of waiving the most elementary requirements for the safety of my family. If you try to resolve the problem not on the basis of the agreement but by physically isolating me and my family, as you told me today, then I reserve for myself full freedom of action. The Central Committee of the CPSU will bear total responsibility for the consequences.

L. Trotsky

March 8, 1929

To GPU agent, Citizen Minsky:

In forcefully evicting us from the consulate under the existing circumstances, you are carrying out the instructions of the Thermidoreans, who consciously and with forethought want to subject me and my family to the blows of the enemies of the October Revolution.

You cannot help but realize this since you know all too well the circumstances in Constantinople.

Therefore not only Stalin and his faction but also you, his agents, will bear full and complete responsibility for the consequences.

L. Trotsky