Leon
Trotsky: A Few Remarks on
Revolution
December
1934
[Writing
of Leon Trotsky, Vol. 14, New York 1979, p. 550-552]
1.
Revolution
must be a workers’ newspaper or it must not be at all. A workers’
newspaper is not a newspaper written for
workers. Nor is it necessarily a newspaper written by
workers. But it must reflect the life of the working class and give
timely answers to the questions raised among young workers by events,
both large and small.
2.
It is necessary to write clearly; to do this it is necessary to
understand well both the question being dealt with and the goal of
the presentation. Never write merely for the sake of writing, in
order to create a lead story, or to fill up a given column.
3.
Before writing an article on a specific question, it is necessary to
speak with some young workers about the topic and to listen closely
to their questions, suggestions, objections, etc. After the article
is written, it must be submitted to the young workers’ criticism.
4.
Do not copy the big papers either in the layout of the columns or in
the treatment of the subject or in the tone of presentation. When an
important question for the working class and especially for the youth
arises, it is possible and necessary to sweep aside the regular
columns and devote the entire issue to that question (for example,
unemployment among the youth, an important strike in which youth are
taking part, etc.) from different angles: an accurate presentation of
the facts, eyewitness reports, a theoretical article on the same
theme, analogous episodes from international experience, etc. Such an
issue of the paper is like an artillery shell that blasts open its
own path.
5.
Never adopt the tone of a teacher of little children. Always speak to
the readers as your equals, but speak honestly, after study and
preparation, without covering up for your deficiencies with empty
phrases.
6.
Never give articles the character of commentaries on events which it
is assumed that the reader knows all about. Each article must contain
its own solid framework, composed of precise facts and dates.
Commentaries must be sober, flowing from the presentation of the
facts themselves. This is the only way to avoid sterile and demeaning
didacticism.
7.
Do not be afraid to repeat the most elementary things, always
refreshing them with new facts.
8.
Follow carefully the entire French press — bourgeois and working
class, political and trade union, Parisian and local; clip out all
facts, even insignificant ones, which relate to the life of working
class youth; place the clippings in file folders; consult the files
each time an article has to be produced on this or that question.
9.
Create immediately a revolutionary reporters’ roster. Assign each
reporter a district of the city or a special function (the workers
and bourgeois justice, unemployment, soup kitchens, foreign workers,
the barracks, etc.). The reporters must also be agitators and
recruiters. They must be in constant contact with the milieu they are
covering.
10.
Once, twice, or four times a month, depending on the frequency of
publication, all the writers, reporters, and some young workers
should meet to exchange impressions, compile suggestions, and discuss
the articles being prepared.
11.
The news columns of the press contain heaps of facts which are highly
significant for understanding society in general and the life of
young workers in particular. Every day brings news of the suicides of
young people who have lost all hope, of the murder of children by
desperate parents, etc. A whole page can often be filled by carefully
matching up these news items and adding short vigorous comments.
12.
Signed articles are not very appropriate for the working class press
in general and the young workers’ press in particular. The reader
should become accustomed to seeing in the newspaper a collective
personality, that is, the organization.
13.
The question of socialist society as an alternative to capitalist
society must be highlighted by this or that feature in each issue and
on every possible occasion. It is necessary to find in the writings
of the great socialists, starting with the Utopians, penetrating
formulations, each a few lines long. Two or three of these should be
published on every page.
14.
It is absolutely intolerable to use allusions which can be understood
only by young “bureaucrats,” slangy insiders’ expressions, and
abbreviations which are absolutely incomprehensible for the average
young worker.
15.
The newspaper can only become a workers’ newspaper provided that
all the forces of the organization are directed toward the workers’
districts, the industrial districts, etc. The newspaper which does
not recruit workers to the organization does not deserve to exist.
16.
Finally, the nature of our epoch must be reflected well by the paper.
The essential feature of this epoch is that it raises the most
profound questions about society and demands the most radical
answers. The prerevolutionary epoch we live in needs only a real
combat party to transform it into a revolutionary epoch. The
newspaper must be combative and courageous, and aim high.
A
Group of Readers [Leon Trotsky]