Leon
Trotsky: Letter to Colonel Sanchez Salazar
May
31, 1940
[Writing
of Leon Trotsky, Vol. 14, New York 1979, p. 860 f.]
Sir:
Simultaneously
with the protest I am sending to President Lazaro Cardenas, I find
myself obliged to draw to your attention the following circumstances:
1.
The [May 24] attack is not an unexpected accident which can be
attributed to God, to Diego Rivera, etc. The incident is not the
first of its kind; facing the prospect of an inevitable attack by the
GPU, I had taken every precaution. Now that the attack is an
accomplished fact, it is my friends and defenders who are
apprehended, and suspicion lights on my former friends rather than on
my true enemies, who are well known to all.
2.
I know nothing of Mr. Rivera’s chauffeur. But the attempt to
ascribe a role in the conspiracy to the great artist himself is an
utterly absurd fantasy.
3.
That attempt accords surprisingly well with the effort of the
attackers themselves by shouting “Viva Almazan!” to give the
impression that the attack was an incident of domestic politics.
Rivera, as can be read in the press, was involved with the campaign
of General Almazan. The classic rule of the GPU is to kill an enemy
and throw the blame on someone else.
4.
I have nothing in common with Diego Rivera’s political activities.
We broke off our personal relations fifteen months ago. For over a
year I have had no dealings whatever with him, either directly or
indirectly, that could provide so much as a superficial pretext for
the monstrous fabrication making Rivera responsible for an act
undoubtedly committed at the instigation of the GPU and covered up
politically by the hateful campaign of Messrs. Toledano, Laborde,
Encinas, Salgado, and others.
5.
One of today’s newspapers has printed the following: “There later
arose personal differences between Trotsky and Diego Rivera. There
was the further circumstance that the artist also had certain words
with his wife, Mrs. Frida Kahlo, which culminated in divorce. Trotsky
moved out of his friend’s house and into the villa where he now
lives.”
These
disgraceful lines, which I am sure were written by some corrupt
reporter, entirely disregard the official sources of information. My
differences with Rivera were of a political, theoretical, and
artistic character and were aggravated by his impulsive temperament.
All the correspondence concerning the breach of relations between us
is available for inquiry, if a serious inquiry is also made into this
matter, which has nothing to do with the attack by the GPU.
My
family left Rivera’s home thirteen months ago. We learned of his
divorce through the press only five or six months ago. It is with
indignation and revulsion that I reject these insinuations, which
have nothing to do with the attack by the GPU under the moral
protection of Messrs. Lombardo Toledano, and others.
6.
I am absolutely sure that the apprehension of my collaborators and
friends is based on facts of the same kind as those concerning Diego
Rivera. I am certain that the investigation is proceeding into a
dead-end street. With each new day, with each new fact, with each
serious new clue that arises, all of these artificial fabrications
are fading and the true criminals are being unmasked, together with
their instigators and intellectual protectors.
7.
Until now I have been moved to absolute silence by the wish not to
interfere with the investigation. But in view of the unexpectedly
false turn it is taking, I reserve the absolute right to appeal to
Mexican or international public opinion in this matter.
Yours
truly,
Leon
Trotsky