Labor Condemns Trotskyism
The Mexican Confederation of Labor, Confederacion d e Trabajad ores de M exico (C.T.M.), the most powerful trade union body in Mexico, was created in February, 1936, by the National Unification Congress, an assembly composed of more than two thou and delegates from organizations of industrial worker , in tellectuals, federal employees and peasants.
Numbering nearly one million membersi the Confedera tion of Mexican Workers includes 3,600 separate organiza tions, composed of worker in agriculture, the raw material industries, manufacturing, transport, wholesale and retail trade, banking, and of professional workers and technicians, as well as of peasants who have received land in the form of ejid os, as a result of the Mexican agrarian revolution and land reform. The various u nions and other organizations of the C.T.M. are united in every state of the Republic in
32 Regional Federation .
In the two years of its existence, the C.T.M. has already won a number of significant victories for the working class of Mexico, ou tstanding of which are the amendmen t of the Federal Labor Law maki ng payment for the weekly day of rest compulsory on all employers, and the raising of the legal minimum wage for u nskilled labor in many regions of the country. The C.T.M. has become a vital factor in the political, economic and cultural life of Mexico. Under the leadership of Vicente Lombardo Toledano, General Secre tary of i ts Na tional Committee, the C.T.M. today exerts a
powerful influence reaching in to every sphere of activity, and rallyi ng all progressive forces in a common fron t agaimt reaction.
It was the whole-hearted support of the C.T.M., repre senting the un ification of the Mexican working class, which inspired President Lazaro Cardenas to propose to the Mexi can people the inauguration of a new party, constituting the People's Front i n Mexico, a party which the C.T.M. pro po ed "should be made u p of the organized workers and peasants, the National Army, and of the women, you th, and middle-class organ izations already existing, so as to fomen t the solidari ty of i ts ind ividual members, as well as a permanen t alliance between these groups of the popula tion, who should together share the responsibility for the
political orien tation of the country." The Constituen t As sembly of this new party was inaugurated on the last day of March, 1938, a poli tical event of the greatest importance in the con temporary history of Mexico.
Even before his arrival, the C.T.M. made a puhlic state men t in which i t declared that it considered the presence of Trotsky in Mexico u ndesirable. His actions since then have confirmed the C.T.M. in its belief tha t "Trotsky is carrying out a counter-revolu tionary campaign in his efforts to weaken the struggle against fascism by attacking exclusively the governmen ts and the labor organ izations threatened by fascist barbarism and by coinciding in everything he does with the ideas and actions which derive from fascism."
This pamphlet, Labor Condemns Trotskyism, contains the resolu tion presented by Vicente Lombardo Toledano, General Secretary of the Mexican Confederation of Labor, at its First National Congress, held February 21-25, 1938, and unanimously adopted by the more than 4,000 delegates present, representing 900,000 organ ized workers.
TO THE FIRST NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE MEXICAN CONFEDERATION OF LABOR : GREETINGS.
I N THE name of the undersigned org·anizations we propose for the approval of this sovereign assembly the following statements and resolu tions concerni ng Leon Trotsky. Vet eran m}litants in the working class movemen t of our coun try, withou t ties to the Commu nist Party of Mexico or to the Comintern and, consequently, beyond suspicion of being Communists or sympathizers of the Communist Party, our words express the thoughts of the revolu tionary masses in the C.T.M., with no other emotion save interest in truth and justice.
The intensive propaganda which the capitalist press of the whole world has carried on, usi ng Leon Trotsky's at tacks against the Soviet Union, has sown great confusion about the real significance of Trotskyism today. It can be said that the activities of the capitalist press have fostered two viewpoin ts among broad sections of the population of various countries, namely, that the struggle between Trot sky wi th his followers and the present Soviet government is, basically, only a dispu te arising from the ambitions of both groups to gain control of the Russian people, and that no fundamental difference in principle is involved. The other version, upon which reactionary writers have placed major emphasis, is that Trotsky and the persons executed i n the Soviet Union constitu te the Old Guard of Commu nism, victimized by Stalin, who has betrayed the principles of Marxism-Leninism. This latter version corresponds, naturally, to that ma i ntai ned and propagated by Trotsky's own followers.
The introductory note which the Mexican Section of the
Fourth International attached to Leon Trotsky's letter to "All Working Class Organizations;, of November 2, 1937, con tains the following:
"Leon Trotsky was the presiden t of the first Russian Soviet in 1905. In 1917, having led the October armed insurrection, it was he who proclaimed the first dicta torship of the proletariat in the Petrograd Soviet, which gave all power to the soldiers, workers, and peasants, Af ter the Soviet revolu tion, Leon Trotsky devoted him self exclusively to the defense of the Soviet Union and the struggle for the world proletarian revolu tion."
What degree of tru th is there in these statements? Is it really true that Trotsky's revolu tionary path was closely linked with Lenin's? Is it perchance true that Trotsky was the organizer and leader of the October Revolu tion? Js it possible to maintain that Trotsky has dedicated himself exclusively to the defense of the Soviet Union?
The fact that Trotsky worked at a specific period under the Bolshevik banner does not by any means signif y that such had always been his position and that he continues to maintain it now. History offers us nu merous examples of men who had been active u nder the Marxist label, but who really never were Marxists, and who became enemies of Marxism when a critical moment arrived. Among others we can mention Noske, Scheidemann , Severing, and even Kautsky, whom Lenin in a famous pamphlet called the Renegad e Kautsk y. A more recen t example is that of Jacques Doriot who, af ter having been- a leading mem ber of the Communist Party of France, has become an ally of de la Rocq ue, who is chief of the French f ascists. In the followi ng we shall briefly set forth some data and facts concern ing Trotsky, taken from reliable sources, in order that the delega tes to the C.T.M. Congress may make
a corren e\·a luation of Trotsky's work, past and presen t.
TROTSKY AGAlNST LENIN
If Trotsky's past be examined, i t is not difficull to u nd er stand his presen t cou n ter-revolu tionary position. A t the famous Congress, held i n London in 1903, at which occurred the historic division into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks, Trotsky lined u p with the Mcnshevik group against Lenin. Frequently modif ying his theoretical position, he fought against the Bohheviks u ntil the 1917 Revolu tion. Here are some of the statemen ts made by Trotsk y immediately af ter the above-men t ioned Congress:
"The dead dicta ted their will to the living. We have been offered for payment a us.u rer's bill for the debts of the recen t past-and history, wi th r he mercilessness of a Shylock, demanded flesh from the living party organ ism. Curse! \i\Te had to pay. . . . Of course, we do not mean to den y hereby the personal responsi bility of Comrade Leni n at the Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democra tic Labor Party. This man, with the en ergy and .talent which are natural to him, played the role of a Party <lisorganizer." (Leon Trotsky, The Sec und Congress nf the Russian Social-Democratic Labo1 · Part y, Report of Siberian Delegation, p. II; quoted in
M. ]. Olgin's Trotskyism: Cuunter- R e11olution in Disguise, p. 67.)
Shortly thereaf ter, Trotsk y exprcs-;c<l himself wi th more scehemence:
"What an indignation takes hold of you when you read those hideou want only demagogic lies [of Lenin]! The proletariat, that same proletariat of which you were told only yesterda y that it naturally drifts toward trade u nionism, today al ready is called to give lessons of political discipline! And to whom? To tha t same in telligen tsia, which, accord ing to the scheme of yester day, was supposed Lo play the role of bringi ng into the proletariat the class consciousness, the political con sciousness! Yesterday the proletariat was still crawling i n the dust, today it has been elevated to an u nexpected height! Yesterday the i n telligentsia was the bearer of socialist consciousness, today the gaun tlet of factory dis cipline is being invoked against i t! And this is Marx ism! And this is Social-Democratic thi nki ng! Verily, i t is impossi ble to treat wi th greater cyn icism the best ideological heritage of the proletariat than this is done by Lenin!" (Leon Trotsky, Our Political Taslu, r90-1 ,
p. 75; quoted by Olgi n, Ibid ., pp. 67-68.) .
Fi nally, in order to understand that there is nothing new in the charge which Trotsky now con tin ually h u rls at the leaders of the revolu tionary movement-tha t they are reac tionary- it suffices to read the followi ng paragraph in which we find Trotsky making the same charge against Len i n :
"Not an accident bu t a deep 'omen' is the fact that I he leader of the reactionary wing of our jJart y, Com rade Len in, who is defending the tactical methods of caricatu t e Jacobinism, was psychologically forced to give such a defin ition of Social-Democracy which rep resen ts nothing bu t a theoretical attempt at destroyi ng the class character of ou r party. Yes, a theoretical at tempt no less dangerous than the poli tical ideas of a Bernstei n." ( I bid ., p. 98; quoted, Olgin, pp. 68-69.)
Here we have Trotsky, whom his followers try to portray as the inseparable comrade of Leni n, comparing the great revolu tionary to Bernstein, the representative of the most disgraceful reformism!
LENIN ON TROTSKY
Such was Trotsky's attitude toward Lenin's determina tion to establish a Bolshevik Party perfectly organized and discipli ned, which later wou ld become the Communist Party, bu ilt i n accordance wi th the lines marked ou t by Len i n at that Congress and which Trotsky opposed wi th all his strength. Because of the posi tion Trotsky adopted at the London Congress and his subsequent attitude, Lenin never considered him a genu ine Bolshevik. Here are some of the judgm ents expressed by Len i n concerning Trotsk y which prove this:
"In my opin ion, our mai n task is to guard against get ting en tangled in foolish attempts at 'uni ty' wi th the social-pa triots (or, what is still more dangerous, with the waveri ng ones, like . . . Trotsky and Co.) and to contin ue the work of our own party in a consistently internat innnlist spirit ." (V. I. Len in, The Re11olutio11
of I9 I7, Book I, p. 2 1; quoted, Olgi n , p. 1 1.)
In May, 1917, V. I. Len in, ref erri ng to the waveri ng atti t.ude of certain grou ps, remarked:
"The vaci llations of the petty-bou rgeois: Trotsky
. . . ." (V. I. Lenin, Collect ed Work s, Vol. XXX, Rus sian edi tion, p. 331 ; quoted, Olgi n, p. l J.)
Du ring the years from 1912 Lo 1914, Trotsk y's efforts were directed Lo u n itrng the differen t Menshevik factions wi t h certain Bolshevik groups, which he attempted to in duce to abandon Lenin. This attitude caused Lenin to express himself as follows:
"Men like Trotsky, wi th his inflated phrases about t he Russian Social-Democra tic Labor Party and with his slavish crawling before the Liquidators [extreme Right Mensheviks] who haYe nothing in common with the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party, are now the 'affliction of ou r times.' They wan t to make a career on the cheap preachment of 'conciliation' -with anybody, wi th everybody . . . . In reali ty, they are preachers capit ulating before the Liquidators who are building a Stolypin Labor Party [Stolypin was the Tsar's prime minister]." (V. I. Lein, Collected Works) Russian ed i t ion, Vol. XV, p. 197; quoted, Olgi n, pp. 143-144.)
The followi ng remarks also reveal clearly wha t opinion Len i n held concerning Trotsky:
"lt is impossi ble to argue wi th Trotsky about princi ples, for he ha no views at all. It is possible and neces sary to argue with convi nced Liquidators and Otzovists [a grou p of Bolsheviks demand ing the recall from the Du ma of the Bolshevi k depu ties]. \\Ti th a man who only plays at covering up the mistake.-; o[ both of them, one · docs not argue: one exposes hi m as a d iploma t of the lowest order." (V. l. Len i n. Collat ed Works, Vol. XV, pp. 303-304, R ussia n cd i t i on ; q uoted, Olgi n, p. 14-4 .)
\\'i t h grea t clari t y and bl u nt ness, Len i n declared :
· "Trotsky d istorts Bolshevism, for Trotsk y never ha · been able to get any defini te views on the role of the
IO
proletaria L i n Lhe Russian bou rgeois revolution. M uch worse, howe,·er, is his distortion of the history of that revolu tion." (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XV,
p. 15, R ussia n edition; quoted, Olgin, p. 145.)
TROTSKY IN THE 1905 REVOLUTION
It is true that Trotsky was a member of the first Soviet organized du ri ng the 1905 Revolu tion, bu t this Soviet was not composed exclusively of Bolsheviks. In it there were represented various tendencies of the Lef t, its first president having been Cherustalev-Nosar who was not at all a Socialist. The Russian historian, Pokrovsky, has described Trotsky's real posi tion du ring this period in the following terms:
". . . Du ring the whole period of its activity, the Petersbu rg Soviet had at i ts head a very intelligent and clever Menshevik, an adept in the .art of combining Menshevik substance with revolu tionary phrases. The name of tha t Menshevik was Trotsky. He was a gen uine, full-blown Menshevik, who had no desire what ever for the armed insurrection and was altogether averse to bri nging revolu tion to its completion, i.e., to the overthrow of tsarism." (M. N. Pokrovsky, Brief H is tory of Russia, Vol. ·II, p. 320.)
The foregoing shows that Trotsky, far from being Lenin's right arm, as he and his followers have tried to make it appear, was during the whole pre-revolu tionary period a Menshevik, an opportunist, in constant and systematic opposition to Lenin. Thus is refuted the first statement of the Trotskyi tes and of the reactionaries become panegyrists of Trotsky's pseudo revolu tionism.
Let us now examine the second part of the statement glorif ying Trotsky. Was it Trotsky who proclaimed the first diclatorship of the proletariat af ter having led the October armed insurrection?
What . degree of tru th is there in this assertion, which places Lenin in a secondary position and which does not take into account at ali the role fulfilled by the Central Committee of the Communist Party?
On the eve of the October Revolution, Trotsky accepted the line of Bolshevik action, entering the Petrograd Soviet, and although it is doubtless true that he played an impor tant role in the October uprising, he was not, as he claims, the leader of the movement. This is proved by the fact that Trotsky was not included in the group of five people named by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to take charge of the organization of the uprising. These five per sons were Sverdlov, Uritsky, Bubnov, Dzherzhinsky, and Stalin.
IN OPPOSITION TO LENIN AFTER THE REVOLUTION
Af ter power had been captured, Trotsky opposed the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, which Lenin considered necessary in order to halt the advance of the German troops and to permit the consolidation of the proletarian revolu tion.
During the Civil War, Trotsky held the office of Com missar of War. He has claimed for himself all the glory of the victories won against the White armies. Actually, the supervision of all the military operations was directly in charge of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and under Lenin's personal watchfulness. The triumph of the Revolution was not Trotsky's work, nor of any other individual, bu t of the millions of toilers of the whole country who fought desperately u ntil they triumphed, inspired by the iron will of Lenin.
Later, during the process of organizing the country m a socialist basis, Trotsky manifested opposition to Lenin in respect to certain fundamental problems. For example, in reference to the organization of the trade unions, Trotsky, gathering arou nd himself a small group which threatened the unity of the Communist Party, contended that the trade unions should not be constituted as organizations repre se_pt ng the workers in factories and industry, but that they serve as administrative organs. Commenting on this atti tude of Trotsky, Lenin ·said:
"Even if the 'new tasks and methods' had been pointed out by Trotsky just as highly correctly as in reality they have been poin ted out incorrectly throughout, . . . by such an approach alone Trotsky would have caused in jury both to himself, to the Party, to the union move ment, to the education of millions of members of the labor un ions, and to the Republic." (V. I. Lenin, Col
lected Works, Vol. XXVI, p. 116, Russian edition; .. quoted, Olgin, p. 14.)
PERSISTS IN OPPOSITION AFTER LENIN'S DEATH
His trade union plan having failed, Trotsky, upon Len in's death, renewed his policy of opposition to the Com munist Party's line of action, uniting for this end with Zinoviev and Kamenev, who in 1917 had been character ized as "strike-breakers" by Lenin because of their opposi tion to the October revolu tionary movement. Despite the fact that the differences between the leadership of the Rus sian Communist Party and Trotsky, due principally to the latter's defeatist attitude in relation to the program of the New Economic Policy which was ou tlined by Lenin, had been the subject of wide discussions wi thi n the organ ization and that the opposi tion program had been rejected by the masses, Trotsky persisted in his posi tion and efforts to break the discipline of the Party. For this he was expelled from the Soviet U nion. Trotsky's attitude before his expul
·ion from the cou n try, his systema tic opposi tion to all measu res which aimed at organizing the economic syslem, and to prepare the bases of socialist organiza tion, certainly does not sustain the allegation that he has devoted hims(;flf exclusively to the defense of the Soviet U nion. To the claim that he has done so since his expulsion, the only possi ble reply is the popular saying: "Save me from m y friend-;. . . ."
TROTSKY AGAI NST THE U.S.S. R.
Blinded and cnrag·ed by his hatred of Stalin, Trotsky has also made the Soviet Union the object of his hate. Even the enemies of the socialist system have been forced to ac knowledge the extraordi nary progress achieved in that cou n try, in the industrial and agricultu ral as well as in the cultural fields. From a semi-feudal country, twen ty years ago considered one of the most backward in the world, the U.S.S.R. has become one of the most industrialized coun tries of Europe; i ts agriculture has been collectivized, i n creasing from year to year the volume and quality of i ts crops and improvi ng the standard of living of i ts peasan ts. Notwithstanding this, Trotsky "defend " the Soviet Union by a pamphlet entitled The Failure of the Five-Y ear Plan . Instead of directing his attacks against fascism, Trotsky collaborates with fraction in its offensive against the Soviet Union, selling his articles full of vi tuperation and calumn ies for publication in the periodcals of Hearst and Macfadden, the standard-bearers of North Amercan fascism, where they are used for editorial comments to demonstrate the failu re, not of the Soviet Union, •but of socialism in theory and practice. And this is the man who is to be sanctified as the leader of the world revolu tion!
TROTSKY'S COMING TO MEXICO
On i;eceiving information concerning Trotsky's an- 11ounced comi ng to our country, the National Committee o the C.T.M., taking into account his past, issued a timely statemen t defining its position on this question. Although this statemen t is already known, it is not ou t of place to quote its princi pal parts.
''The rumors reaching the National ·Commi ttee, and which had been reported in the press, that Leon Trot sky would be permi tted to settle in our country, have been confirmed by the governmen t, which has declared that it has given its authorization on the formal re quest [of Trotsky], basing itself on respect for, and exercise of, the right of asylum, a right which is recog nized in our legal system.
"In face of this accomplished fact, the C.T.M. con siders it its duty to explain to the proletariat of our coun try and of the whole world, as well as to the other sections of society, what i ts opinion is and what its con duct will be concern ing Trotsky's stay i n Mexico.
"The C.T.M. is not against the right of political asylum. It considers it as one of the most worthy con quests of which international law, which is so weak, can boast. For this reason the C.T.M. has resolu tely defended his righ t, advocating that asylum be given in our country to t he victims of reaction and imperialism.
Consequently, the C.T.M. favors the . right of asylu m from the viewpoint of its revolutionary position.
"In the concrete casa of Trotsky, the C.T.M. leaves responsibility for his presence in Mexico to the govern ment, which has given its permission and to which belong the exercise and enforcemen t of the political rights subject to the au thority of the state.
"Nevertheless, the C.T.M. considers i t necessary Lo define its position concerning Leon Trotsky and the ideas he supports.
"Leon Trotsky is the head of an international poJit -r_
ical organiza tion. Consequently, wherever he may live, he will have to carry on the activi ties inherent in his office, otherwise he would negate himself ; and the exis tence of National Sections of the International Commu nist League (Fou rth In ternational) in almost all the countries of the world, including Mexico, shows that Trotsky is the active leader of an. existing institu tion which fights for the realization of its program. Now, the program of the Fou rth International is opposed to the program of the C.M.T. which represents the great majori ty of the Mexican proletariat. Trotsky and his followers fight for self -sufficiency of the worki ng class and combat all temporary alliances of the proletaria t wi th the other exploited sections of the popu lation and with democratic governmen ts in order to oppose the advance of reaction and fascism, while the C.T.M. has resolved (at the Second National Council) to build the Mexican People's Front with the organizations repre senting the political sector and peasan t sector of our country, inviting the middle class, petty-bourgeois, and studen t organizations to adhere to i ts platform . This People's Front has as its object support of the progressive acts of the governmen t presided over by General Lazaro Cardenas, and to check the developmen t of the activities of reaction, thus secu ring the development of the Mexican Re,·olu tion agai nst i n t ernal and exter nal threats.
"Rejection of the People's Front i n Mex ico, which Trotskyism proclaims, is to go not only against the special interests of the working class, but also against L he normal fulfillment of the government's program and the general i n terests of the nation, which, i n view of its semi-colon ial character, needs the support of all the oppressed sections of the population more than others.
"At this hou r, when the whole world finds i tself fac i ng the d ilemma of falling prey to fascism or of main t aining the positive aspects of bourgeois democracy; when the proletaria t should, above all, prevent retro gression of the poli tical regime of capitalist society through cooperation of all the sections of the popula t ion threa tened by fascism, and i n order to secure its historical development-all effort which tends to weaken the Fron t opposing the conservative forces is su icidal. ''Consequently, should Trotsky, if solely by his presence, stimulate the grou p of his followers in Mexi co, who, disregardi ng the characteristics of this historic
period, propose immediate armed insurrection and estab lishmen t of the dictatorshi p of the proletariat-that is, should the presence of Trotsky in Mexico serve to give rise to differences in the ranks of the working class, hindering the u nited fron t movement of the people, which lives in the consciousness of the masses, as was shown by the gigantic demonstration of November 20, i 937, u npreceden ted i n our history-then the C.T.M. will consider Trotsky's presence among us unwelcome. "Therefore, we declare that the C.T.M., as always, will defend i ts in tegri ty and the achievemen t of i Ls revolu tionary program, and should Trotsk y's presence, unfortu nately, cause harm to the organization of t he proletariat and to the govern men t i tself, be it for the causes slated or because reaction would try to u tilize Trotsky's presence, as i t is alread y doing, i n order to foment division within the working class, then the
C.T.M. will expect that the governmen t itself, as it has promised, wi ll take the necessa ry steps to preven t th is."
The forecast made then has come Lrue, since Trotsk y's activi ties as leader of the Fou rth International have neces sarily had repercussions in our cou n try. At this momen t, when the so-called independent press daily speaks of the democratic Spanish governmen t as a Comm unist govern men t and denou nces all Mexica ns who lend i t support, tha t is, the whole working class of the cou ntry as well as the
· government of General Cardenas as Communists, although naturally i t does not d are to mention the latter directly; at this time, when the Spanish governmen t is being de fended wi th the blood of the whole Spanish people against the aggression of Mussolini and Hitler, Trotsky u pholds the Mexican bou rgeoisie, raising his voice, not to accuse fascism, bu t to state, literally, that all the members of this government are direct accomplices of Stalin.
TROTSK Y AGAINST SPA IN AND CHINA
Stalin, Stalin! That is his obsession. Jn the same way, a t this time when the people of China i n the struggle against Japanese fascist aggression are defend ing a cause which is ours and that of all peoples oppressed by imperialism, a t this time when the heroic Red Army '*' holds back the Nipponese offensive in North China, Trotsky writes foi The New York Times:
"Moscow furnished arms to Spain, dema nding in ex change the suppression of the initiative and indepen dence of mass organizations. The results are clear_ Franco did not win a victory, bu t Stalin-Negrin suffered a defeat. . . ."
"There are sufficien t reasons to suppose that Moscow Is applying the same policy in China at this time. . . . The Mikado will suffer a terrible catastrophe, if Chiang Kai-shek and Stalin do not save him." (Retranslated from the Spanish.)
TROTSKY AGAINST LOMBARDO TOLEDANO
However, it is not only through the reflection i n om midst of his activities on international questions which affect us directly that Trotsky participates in Mexican in ternal l!fe. His participation is in reality direct and active. In his work The Crimes of Stalin, recently published i n French, Trotsky states on page 130:
"The Secretary of the Confederation of La bor, Lom bardo Toledano, assumed an undignified attitude. A lawyer who devotes himself to politics like a dilettante, foreign to the proletariat and the Revolution, this gentleman, visiting Moscow in 1935, returned converted into a friend of the U.S.S.R. Disinterested, as is natural, Toledano has compared Dimitrofl's report to the Sev enth Congress of .the Interna tional, a document reveal-
• Part of the regular Ch i'nese na tiona l a rmy, called the Eigh th Rou te Anny [Translator].
ing obtuseness in theory and policy, to The Commu.nist M anifesto. Since my arrival in Mexico, this gentleman has calumniated me without any restraint, relying on the immunity which my agreemen t not to mix in the affairs of the country offers him." (Retranslated from the Spanish.)
THE EMPLOYER CLASS APPLAUDS TROTSKY
The industrial ists of Monterrey gave immediate publicity to Trotsky's attacks, stating in their so-called Press N ews Service (Servicio d e Informaciones Period isticas) of- Jan uary 23:
"There ha ve arrived here elaborate statements sent by Leon Trotsky for pu blication abroad in which he expresses himself wi th full freedom for the first time concerning the Mexican Commu n ist 'lackeys of Stalin,' as he calls them, in order to distinguish them from those whom he considers the real followers of Marx Leninism (sic). On entering Mexico, Trotsky accepted the obligation of not mixing in local poli tics, for which reason his opinions concerning Lombardo Toledano and other 'servants of Stalin' have not been published in Mexico."
Bu t not only the bulletin of the Monterrey industrialists has given publicity to Trotsky's attacks against Comrade Lombardo Toledano, General Secretary of the C.T.M., bu t El Universal* has likewise already commented on them in an article.
Moreover, Trotsky, on November 2, 1937, issued a letter which was pu blished i n Spanish and cireula ted in Mexico,
• A reactionary newspaper published in Mexico City [Translator].
addressed "To All Working Class Organizations." Trotsky thus addressed himself to the C.T.M. This letter states:
"It is necessary to establish in all working class Ol' ganizations a rule of rigid distrust toward anyone who is directly or indirectly linked to the Stalinist appara tus. From the agents of the Comintern, volitionless instruments in the hands of the G.P.U., one can expect only some perfidy in rela tion to revolu tionaries."
> Since Trotsky has characterized Com.rade Lombardo To ledano as a lackey of Stalin and agent of the G.P.U., it is evident that the aim of the letter ·of Trotsky, as far as the C.T.M. is concerned, is to sow confusion in our ranks, defaming our General Secretary and asking his organization to expel him from i ts midst.
POSITION OF C.T.M. CONGRESS ON TROTSKY
In view of the above, it is necessary to tate anew the posi tion of the C.T.M. in regard to Trotsky. This position should be based on the following conclusions:
1. Leon Trotsky and his followers falsif y facts when they assert that Trotsky is the continuator of Leninist theory. Trotsky never was a genu ine Marxist-Leninist.
2. Trotsky acts, at least objectively, in complicity wi th international fascism.
3. Trotsky is an enemy of the People's Fronts, and par ticularly of the peoples of Spain and China who are fighting at this time against fascism.
4. Trotsky participates in the internal problems of Mexi co as an enemy of the unity of the working class.
5. Trotsky, by all his activity regarding the fundamental problems of the historic period, has revealed himself as an enemy of the working class of the world.
6. The C.T.M. Congress adopts as its own all the declara tions of Comrade Lombardo Toledano and the National Committee of the C.T.M. concerning Trotsky and Trotskyism.
7. Comrade Lombardo Toledano is the genuine repre sentative of the Mexican proletariat.
"Workers' Federation of the State of Jalisco:
J. Godinez
'Vorkers' Federation of the State of Durango:
Agustin Lopez H.
Workers' Federation of the State of Coahuila:
L. B. Pared€s
'Yorkers' Federation of the State of Tlaxcala: General Secretary-]. Pilar Acoltzi Munoz
Secretary of Social Insurance- Ramon Flavio Mora
For the Federa tion of Workers in the Cinema Industry:
F. J. Macin, E. Mayorga, G. Gutierrez
Na tional Confederation of Professional Associations
(C.N.A.P.): Octavio Medellin Ostos
lVorkers' Federation o( Guanajuato:
J. Gonzalez, General Secretary
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