Leon Trotsky: Letter to Michel Collinet

August 20, 1931

[Writing of Leon Trotsky, Vol. 3, 1930-1931, New York 1973, p. 298, title: “A Motion and Its Interpretation]

Dear Comrade Collinet:

Thank you for the interesting news. The teachers congress motion on the USSR, etc., is undoubtedly quite sympathetic, but I must admit that I really cannot see how you can compare this motion to the proposal of La Vérité. It is certain that the majority of the federation has not expressed its opinion on the Chinese question, the problems of the Spanish Communist Party, or the question of the five-year plan. The motion of the Federation of Teachers has a purely demonstrative character and, for a good part of the congress, a purely platonic one. Insofar as I understand it, the Monattists and even the pure anarcho-syndicalists voted affirmatively. Do you really think these irreconcilable adversaries have decided to support the Left Opposition? No, they are using a "sympathetic" gesture to continue their anticommunist struggle. This isn't an argument against the motion itself. But it is an argument against the false interpretation of this motion and, permit me to say it, ,also an argument against the political attitude of comrades who are inclined toward false interpretations of the activities of communists and anticommunists: too hostile toward the former, too soft on the latter.

L. Trotsky