A Menace to Progressive Mankind
CHAPTER V
A Menace to Progressive Mankind
TROTSKYISM is a menace to all progressive mankind. Trotsky's conspiracies with Rudolph Hess-Hitler's deputyand with the Japanese military-fascist clique are a menace to the peace of the world. Trotsky's conspiracies against the antifascist People's Front movements in Spain and in all countries are a menace to progress and peace. They are direct help to fascism. Trotskyite conspiracies within labor organizations are a menace to the much needed unity of labor against the economic royalists.
Labor and all progressives are vitally interested in stamping out Trotskyism wherever it raises its head.
It is well known that Trotsky's agents in Spain are helping the fascists to undermine the People's Front government and to destroy it. In Spain, as in the Soviet Union, Trotskyites are working for the def eat of democracy and for the victory of fascism.
Under cover of revolutionary-sounding phrases, Trotskyism in Spain is in fact an ally of Franco and Hitler. Covering themselves with proposals that sound "more revolutionary" than the programs of the Socialists and Communists, the Trotskyites in Spain seek to break up the unity of labor and of the people. In Spain, as in the Soviet Union, Trotsky is exposed as an ally and collaborator of bloody fascism.
Trotsky in Mexico, where he now resides, is playing the same reactionary and treacherous role. He is becoming the darling of Mexican reaction and fascism. Listen to the voice of Vicente Lombardo Toledano, a progressive leader ·of Mexican labor, the head of the Mexican Confederation of Labor which went on record as opposed to Trotsky's residence in Mexico. Says Toledano:
"Trotskyism preaches a tactic of struggle opposed to the policy of the People's Front •.•• Trotskyism in practice is equivalent to the policies of the reactionaries who constantly seek to divide the proletariat, to confuse the people, to place the masses in opposition to the progressive government, in order that they may prosper from the division among the democratic forces. Quite naturally, therefore, the Mexican Workers' Confederation does not want Trotsky in my country." (New Masses, February 2.)
The Mexican workers and progressives do not want Trotsky in Mexico because Trotsky is a traitor and an enemy. But the reactionaries do want Trotsky. Says Toledano:
"Events have already borne out the correctness of our judgment: conservative sectors of opinion, the newspapers of the bourgeoisie, the reactionary intellectuals and students, and those small groups of workers loo by treacherous leaders have applauded Trotsky's arrival in my country. Mexico's conservatives have never defended the right of asylum until today; for the first time, they now speak of respect for the sacred right of hospitality, seal of pride in our gentlemanly tradition." (Ibid.)
Mexico's reactionaries and fascists are the defenders of Trotsky. Why? Because Trotsky works for their cause.
The same in the United States. Hearst is the ·outstanding champion of Trotsky. Hearst's press is becoming Trotsky's megaphone to wage war against the peace movements of all countries, against the anti-fascist People's Front, against the Soviet Union.'
The American labor movement also has some hitter experiences with the agents of Trotsky. In strikes, Trotskyites invariably attack the unions and seek to disrupt the unity of the workers. Recent examples of such treachery are found in the rubber strike in Akron and in the great victorious strike of the maritime workers.
They won their way into the Workers' Alliance--the organization of the unemployed-and carry on there campaigns of disruption and sabotage.
They have entered the Socialist Party and, through their secret groups and conspiratorial actions, are trying to make it a vehicle for their treacherous policies against labor, against progress, against peace. And in many places they have succeeded only too well because of the tolerance of certain leaders. of the Socialist Party.
In his speech to the people of New York at Madison Square· Garden, Earl Browder drew attention to the fact that:
"It is on the war question, above all, that the horrible nature of the Trotskyite-fascist alliance stands out most clearly."
Browder called to the attention of his hearers the fact that one point in the agreement between Trotsky and the Japanese General Staff was that the Trotskyites, if their plot to overthrow the Soviet government succeeds, would provide the Japanese with oil and other supplies in case of a Japanese war against the United States.
Browder then asked:
Browder then asked:
"Is there anything in the conduct of the Trotskyites in our country which would tend to contradict this agreement of their leader? No, on the contrary, the American Trotskyites could not have acted differently if they had known of and agreed to this policy. For several years now, the American Trotskyites have been hammering on the coming war between the United States and Japan, in order to demand, first, that all preparations must be made to insure the defeat of the United States in such a war, and second, consequently, that a fight be made against all idea of mutual assistance between the Soviet Union and the United States. Those are exactly the things that would be required by Trotsky of his American followers in order to carry out his agreement with the Japanese General Staff."**
(New Masses, February 2.)
As usual, as was the case also in the days of Lenin, Trotskyism carried out deeds of treason to the people under the mask of revolutionary sounding words. "Left'' phrases--reactionary deeds-Lenin used to say of Trotskyism. Now, too, the American Trotskyites are preparing to work for the victory of the Japanese fascist-military clique in the event of a Japanese attack upon the United States-all in the name of the "revolutionary class struggle". We have been trying to unmask this fraud all the while. Today, however, even the origin of this fraud has become known. It was plotted out by the Japanese General Staff in collaboration with Trotsky.
Trotskyism, like its ally, fascism, is a menace to the world. It is a menace to its peace, its progress, its democracy. It is a menace to labor and its organizations because Trotskyism is the carrier of disruption and of treason. Where Trotskyism thrives the unity of labor, the unity of the people against fascism and war, are always in danger.
Drive the Trotskyites out of your midst!
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