Leon Trotsky: Repressive Measures of the Republican Government

April 20, 1931

[The Spanish Revolution (1931-39). New York 1973, p. 106 f.]

Many features of similarity between the February regime in Russia and the present republican regime in Spain strike the eye. But there are also deep differences: (a) Spain is not at war and you have no slogan of struggle for peace; (b) you don't have workers' soviets yet, not to speak of soldiers' soviets. From the press I do not even see that this slogan is being raised among the masses; (c) the republican government from the very outset applies repressive measures against the left proletarian wing, which we did not have in February because the bayonets were at the disposal of the workers' and soldiers' soviets and not in the hands of the liberal government.

The last circumstance has a tremendous significance for our agitation. The February regime, in the political sphere, immediately realized full and almost absolute democracy. The bourgeoisie maintained itself by the good will of the masses of workers and soldiers. Your bourgeoisie maintains itself not only on good will but also on the organized violence that it took over from the old regime. You do not have complete and unconditional freedom of assembly, speech, press, etc.

The electoral basis of your new municipalities is very far from democratic. Meanwhile, in a revolutionary epoch, the masses are particularly sensitive to every inequality in rights, to every form of police rule. This should be utilized. In other words, it is necessary for the communists at present to come forward as the party of the most consistent, decisive, and intransigent defenders of democracy.

On the other hand, it is necessary to proceed immediately with the formation of workers' soviets. The struggle for democracy is an excellent point of departure for this. They have their own municipal government; we workers heed our own city juntas to protect our rights and our interests.