Leon Trotsky: Andres Nin and Victor Serge

Published March 1931

[Writing of Leon Trotsky, Vol. 13. Supplement (1929-1933), New York 1979, p. 69 f.]

The name of Comrade A. Nin is fairly well known to the advanced workers of the world. Nin was one of the first to stand under the banner of Communism. In accordance with the line of the Comintern and, especially, with the line of the Profintern, Nin carried out the most responsible work for several years. It is enough to say that when Lozovsky was absent, Nin substituted for the president of the Profintern; but even when Lozovsky was present in Moscow, Nin carried out a considerable share of the [Profintern’s] central work.

At the same time Nin did not bear responsibility for the policies of the Comintern and the Profintern, for he has stood in the ranks of the Left Opposition since 1923.

Stalin could not bring himself to arrest and deport Andres Nin as a foreigner — and a very well-known foreigner at that. After experiencing repeated harassment, abuse, insult, and persecution, Nin, with his wife and two children, was forced into exile under the most disgraceful conditions: suffice it to say that he was not permitted to take his manuscripts with him; several completed and unfinished works passed into the archives of the GPU. Only the book On Dictatorships, which had been secretly dispatched from Moscow before his departure, was published not long ago in the Catalan language in Barcelona and, more recently, in Spanish in Madrid.

The advanced workers of Spain, especially of Catalonia, greeted Comrade Nin with open arms. After settling down with his family, Nin set to work to complete a number of literary projects. But Berenguer ruled otherwise: several weeks after his arrival in Spain, Nin was arrested and is in a Barcelona prison at the present time. The governor-general of Catalonia told a correspondent of the French paper Matin in an interview: “We have arrested Andres Nin, who is a co-thinker of Trotsky and came here to spread revolutionary propaganda.” Thus the governor-general stated with absolute exactness why Nin was arrested: for the same reason that he was exiled by Stalin from the USSR. Stalin and Berenguer utter in unison: “Trotskyism — that is the enemy!”

Comrade Nin informs us of the extremely serious situation in which the Stalinist bureaucracy has placed Comrade Victor Serge, a prominent revolutionary with an international record of service and importance. His original name is Kibalchich: he is a nephew of the famous Narodnaya Volya chemist. Under the name of Victor Serge, Kibalchich, a Belgian citizen, is well known in French literature. Not long ago he published in Paris a large volume (470 pages), L’An I de la Revolution russe (Librairie du Travail), dealing with the October Revolution and its immediate aftermath. The book is in every respect an outstanding work, which will be studied by the advanced workers in (Latin countries.

Since 1923 Victor Serge has been a member of the Left Opposition. Like Nin, he never faltered and did not conceal his views; on the contrary, he carried out a firm struggle for them. It is difficult to recount all the repulsive persecutions Victor Serge and his family have been subjected to: Stalin’s resourcefulness in this area is inexhaustible. At the present time Victor Serge has been deprived of work, light, and water. Under the blows of unceasing persecution his wife has become gravely ill. At this time Victor Serge has been denied the opportunity to go abroad.

It is time these facts be told to the advanced workers of the world! It is time to sound the alarm! The International Left Opposition must fulfill its duty to one of its finest members.