ESPIONAGE AGAINST THE SOVIET STATE AND TREASON TO THE COUNTRY
Heard Before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R.
August 19-24, 1936 (Moscow)
The investigation has established that the majority of the leaders of the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" accused in the present case carried on their criminal activities on the direct instructions of TROTSKY and in accordance with plans which were widely conceived and elaborated by the General Staffs of certain foreign states.
Agent of the German intelligence service, prominent Trotskyite, the accused KRESTINSKY, while under examination at the office of the Procurator of the U.S.S.R. on December 2, 1937, stated:
"I established espionage connections with the Germans on the direct instructions of TROTSKY, who instructed me to start negotiations on this matter with General SEECKT. . . ." (Vol. Ill, p. 102.)
As regards the circumstances under which connections between the Trotskyite organization and the German intelligence service were established, the accused KRESTINSKY testified that in the winter of 1921 he carried on negotiations with General SEECKT, Commander-in-Chief of the German Reichswehr, with a view to receiving from the Reichswehr funds for the purpose of carrying on Trotskyite underground work in exchange for espionage materials which the Trotskyites were to supply the German intelligence service.
On this matter the accused KRESTINSKY testified as follows:
" . . TROTSKY instructed me on my arrival in Berlin, to start negotiations on this matter with General SEECKT. This instruction of TROTSKY I carried out. . . "(Vol. Ill, p. 14 reverse.)
Dealing with his own treasonable activities and with those of his accomplices, the accused RESTINSKY testified as follows:
"We came to an agreement with Generals SEECKT and HASSE to the effect that we would help the Reichswehr to create a number of espionage bases on the territory of the U.S.S.R. by permitting the unhindered entry of spies sent by the Reichswehr, and that we would supply the Reichswehr with espionage materials, i.e., to put it plainly, that we would be German spies. In return for this the Reichswehr undertook to pay us 250,000 marks per annum as a subsidy for counter-revolutionary Trotskyite work. . ."
(Vol. Ill, p. 102.)
"The monetary subsidy was paid in regular instalments sevital times a year, mostly in Moscow, but sometimes in Berlin. . . .
"If for some reason the money was not paid in Moscow, I received it in Berlin myself directly from SEECKT; and I used to take it to Moscow myself and hand it to TROTSKY." (Vol. Ill, p. 15.)
Another prominent Trotskyite, one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet Trotskyite underground organization and an active participant in the conspiracy, the accused ROSENGOLTZ, who is charged with espionage, during the investigation corroborated the fact that TROTSKY had entered into an agreement with the Reichswehr and testified as follows:
"My espionage activities began as far back as 1923, when, on TROTSKY S instructions, handed various secret information to the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, SEECKT, and to the Chief of the German General Staff, HASSE. Subsequently, direct connections with me were established by the Ambassador in the U.S.S.R., Mr. N, to whom I periodically gave information of an espionage character. After Mr. N s departure I continued my espionage connections with the new Ambassador, Mr. N." . (Vol. VI, p. 131 reverse.)
After the fascist coup in Germany, the espionage activities of the Trotskyites assumed a still wider and sharply expressed defeatist character.
The accused BESSONOV, who on his own confession took an active part in the secret negotiations between the Trotskyites and the German fascist, mainly military, circles, on the matter of jointly fighting the U.S.S.R, not only personally negotiated or support for the anti-Soviet conspiracy with DAITZ, ROSENBERG S closest colleague in the foreign affairs department of the fascist party but was kept informed of the meetings and negotiations between L. TROTSKY and HESS, NIEDERMEIER and Professor HAUSHOFER, with whom L. TROTSKY reached an agreement on the terms mentioned by PYATAKOV at the trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyite Centre.
The accused BESSONOV testified:
" As is evident from these terms . . . the main emphasis in the underground work of the Trotskyites was placed on undermining, espionage, diversion and terrorist acts in the U.S.S.R." (Vol. XI, p. 106.)
The existence of an agreement between L. TROTSKY and the Trotskyite organization in the U.S.S.R., on the one hand, and the fascist circles, on the other, and the carrying on in the U.S.S.R. of undermining defeatist activities on the instructions of the German intelligence service was admitted during the instigation by other accused in the present case.
However, the defeatist activities of the Trotskyite hirelings were not limited merely to connections with German fascism. In conjunction with other participants in the anti-Soviet conspiracy, in conformity with L. TROTSKY S line, they orientated them selves also on another fascist aggressor Japan.
The factual side of the treasonable connections of the anti-Soviet conspirators with the Japanese intelligence service is presented in the materials of the investigation in the following way.
As was testified by the accused KRESTINSKY, at a meeting he had with L. TROTSKY in Meran in October 1933, TROTSKY urged the necessity of establishing closer connections with the Japanese intelligence service.
KRESTINSKY conveyed TROTSKY S instructions to PYATAKOV and other leaders of the conspiracy, who through the medium of the accused RAKOVSKY and other participants in the conspiracy entered into treasonable connections with representatives of Japan, the latter undertaking to render the conspiracy armed assistance in overthrowing the Soviet government, in exchange for which the conspirators promised to surrender the Soviet Maritime Region to Japan, As has been established by the investigation, the accused RAKOVSKY, in view of his departure for Japan in the summer of 1934, received from PYATAKOV instructions to the effect that it was
". . . necessary at the same time to increase activities abroad in the sense of establishing contact with governments hostile to the U.S.S.R. . . . necessary to make efforts to take advantage of the visit to Tokyo and probably will take the necessary steps in this direction."(Vol. IV, p. 194)
The accused RAKOVSKY carried out this instruction, and while inTokyo did indeed enter into criminal connections withcircles.
On this matter the accused RAKOVSKY testified as follows:
"All these circumstances had as their logical and practical consequence the fact that I ... when I was in Tokyo became a direct spy-agent of , being enlisted for this purpose, on the instructions of , by Mr. N, a most influential political figure in capitalist-feudal Japan, and one of her biggest plutocrats." (Vol. IV, p. 186.)
The aforementioned accused RAKOVSKY, speaking of the connections of enemy of the people L. TROTSKY with the British Intelligence Service, testified as follows:
";I knew that TROTSKY has been an agent of the Intelligence Service since the end of 1926. TROTSKY himself informed me of it." (Vol. IV, p. 363.)
The groups of bourgeois nationalists which belonged to the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites"were also very closely connected with foreign intelligence services.
Thus, the accused GRINKO, who was an agent of the German and Polish intelligence services, in dealing with the anti-Soviet activities of the Ukrainian national-fascist organization of which he was one of the leaders, testified as follows:,
". . . In 1930, we in our organization discussed the necessity of coming to an agreement with Poland about obtaining military assistance for an insurrection in the Ukraine against the Soviet government. As a result of these negotiations with Poland an agreement was reached and the Polish General Staff increased the quantity of arms and the number of diversionists and PETLIURA emissaries sent to the Ukraine." (Vol. IX, p. 18.)
And he said further:
"At the end of 1932 I, in connection with my nationalist activities, entered into treasonable connections with Mr. N.We met in my office, where Mr. N used to come to see me on business concerning a German concession.
"In the latter half of 1933 Mr. N told me plainly that the German fascists wanted to co-operate with the Ukrainian nationalists on the Ukrainian question. I expressed to Mr. N my readiness to co-operate. Subsequently, during 1933 and 1934, I met Mr. N several times, and before his departure from the U.S.S.R. he put me in touch with Mr. N, with whom I continued my treasonable connections." (Vol. IX, p. 286 reverse.)
Another participant in the anti-Soviet conspiracy, and one of the leaders of the nationalist organization in Uzbekistan, the accused IKRAMOV, testified as follows:
"The question constantly arose before us of orientating ourselves upon one of the strong European states, which would render us direct assistance at the outbreak of the armed struggle against the Soviet power. . . ."
(Vol. XI I, pp. 59-60.)
. . Some of the members of the counter-revolutionary organization were of the opinion that England was the most likely country in regard to helping us, as she was a powerful country and could render us sufficiently effective assistant in the direct armed struggle. (Vol. XII, p. 60.)
The accused SHARANGOVICH, agent of the Polish intelligence service and one of the leaders of the anti-Soviet organization of Byelorussian national-fascists, has admitted that this organization pursued its undermining activities not only on the instructions of the Rights and the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites,but also on the instructions of the Polish intelligence service.
On this matter the accused SHARANGOVICH testified as follows:
"By this time (1933) all differences between the Rights, the Trotskyites and the national-fascists had been ironed out. We all set ourselves the same task, the task of fighting the Soviet government by every possible method, including terrorism, diversion and wrecking. The ultimate object of all three organizations operating in the territory of the national republic was to sever Byelorussia from the Soviet and Union and to create an independent buffer state, which undoubtedly would have been entirely in the hands of Poland and Germany "
(Vol. XIV, p. 27.)
And he said further:
"Notwithstanding the fact that the instructions we received came from Moscow, from the centre of the Rights and Trotskyites, on the one hand, and from Warsaw, from Polish circles, on the other, there was no difference between them, they were exactly the same, and we were carrying them out."
(Vol. XIV, p. 31.)
The accused RYKOV fully corroborated the existence of treasonable connections between the Rights and fascist Poland in the following testimony:
"...A group of members of the Right organization, in conformity with the instructions of the centre of the Rights and my personal instructions, with the object of achieving our conspiratorial, treasonable plans, established connection with fascist Poland, and with the Polish intelligence service in particular."(Vol. I, p. 118.)
Speaking further of the plans to sever Byelorussia from the U.S.S.R., the accused RYKOV testified as follows:
"The general formula on which we then agreed was that in the negotiations with the Poles ... we would agree to the severance of the Byelorussian Soviet Republic from the U.S.S.R. and to the formation of an independent Byelorussia as a Polish protectorate" (Vol. I, p. 119.)
As has been established by the investigation, the whole of the criminal activities of the anti-Soviet group of Rights which belonged to the"bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" proves that the Rights were agents of foreign General Staffs equally with the other participants in this conspiracy.
Some of the Rights directly, and others through the medium of their accomplices, were also connected with the intelligence services of foreign states, on whose assistance alone they counted their fight against the Soviet government.
The accused BUKHARIN was aware of the negotiations carried on between L. TROTSKY and the German fascists and, like L. TROTSKY, made preparations for the defeat of the U.S.S.R.and for the severance of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Maritime Region, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Central Asiatic Republics from the U.S.S.R.
This has been fully admitted by the accused BUKHARIN, who testified as follows:
"At the time TROTSKY was negotiating with the German fascists and promising them territorial concessions, we, Rights were already in a bloc with the Trotskyites. RADEK told me that TROTSKY considered that the main chance of the bloc coming into power depended upon the defeat of the U.S.S.R. in a war with Germany and Japan and that he proposed after this defeat to surrender the Ukraine to Germany and the Far East to Japan. RADEK told me this in 1934..." (Vol. V, p. 107.)
On this matter the accused F. KHODJAYEV testified as follows during the investigation:
"BUKHARIN urged that Uzbekistan and Turkmenia should be severed from the U.S.S.R. and should exist as protectorates of Japan and Germany; but it would be impossible to ignore England, and it was therefore necessary to establish connection with the English. The most feasible proposal was a British protectorate, and that is why stress was laid on England.
(Vol. XIII, pp. 89-89 reverse.)
The testimony of the accused F. KHODJAYEV is fully corroborated by other materials of the investigation, which fully expose the defeatist line of the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites." Thus, on this point the accused RYKOV testified as follows:
"As for our defeatist position, BUKHARIN fully agreed with it and expressed himself in its favour even more strongly than we did. In particular, it was he who proposed and formulated the idea of opening the front to the Germans in the event of war."
(Vol. I, p. 152.)
Characterizing his own attitude towards this question, the accused RYKOV testified as follows:
"Like the other members of the Rights centre, I was aware of the treasonable negotiations that were being carried on between the representatives of our counter-revolutionary organization and the German fascists, whose assistance we sought. Naturally, this assistance was dependent upon our making concessions to the German fascists, and to this we agreed" (Vol. I, p. 151 reverse.)
Such were the espionage and defeatist activities of the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites"of these traitors who sold Soviet state secrets to foreign intelligence services, who traded in the freedom of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., in the independence and inviolability of the workers and peasants Socialist states.
In pursuit of their criminal designs, the anti-Soviet conspirators, on the direct instructions of foreign fascist intelligence services, organized a wide network of diversionist and wrecking nests in a number of industrial, transport, agricultural and distributing enterprises in various republics, territories and regions of the Soviet Union.
Entering into an agreement with the fascist circles treacherous ly to open our fronts to the armies of these fascist states in the event of war, the participants in the Right and Trotskyite conspiracy prepared to undermine the material and technical base of the Red Army the defence industry.
By preparing for a number of destructive and diversionist activities, the conspirators counted in the event of war on blowing up and destroying the decisive defence enterprises in our Socialist fatherland. They also made preparations to wreck troop-trains, causing great loss of life.
They set themselves the task of paralysing the whole economic life of the country, of paralysing the food and munition supplies of the army.
The investigation has established that the conspirators actually carried out a number of diversionist and wrecking acts of this kind in various branches of national economy.
As has been established by the investigation, that hireling of foreign intelligence services, enemy of the people TROTSKY, in a number of his letters and personal instructions to the leading participants in the anti-Soviet conspiracy in the U.S.S.R., demanded the intensification of wrecking and diversionist activities in the Soviet Union.
The accused KRESTINSKY, a leading participant in the conspiracy, testified that in 1933, in Meran, L. TROTSKY told him personally that
". . . it would be easier for him, TROTSKY, to negotiate with the Germans if he could tell them that really serious work was being carried on in the way of diversionist and wrecking activities and preparation for terrorism." (Vol. Ill, pp. 54-55.)
The investigation has established that a number of diversion ist acts committed in the Far Eastern Territory were planned and carried out by the participants in this anti-Soviet conspiracy on the direct instructions of the Japanese intelligence service and of enemy of the people L. TROTSKY. Thus, on the instructions of the Japanese intelligence service they organized the wreck of a military freight train at Volochayevka Station, and the wreck of train No. 501 on the Khor-Dprmidontovka section, in which 21persons were killed and 45 injured. In conformity with the same Japanese instructions, acts of diversion were committed in pits No. 10 and 20 in Suchan. (Vol. XLV, pp. 1-14.)
Detailed testimony on similar instructions emanating from L. TROTSKY has been given by the accused ROSENGOLTZ, who stated the following:
"In addition to instructions I received from TROTSKY through KRESTINSKY and SEDOV to carry on wrecking activities in the sphere of foreign trade with the object of rendering direct assistance to Germany and Japan, the character of my wrecking activities was also determined by instructions I received from the Ambassadors in the U.S.S.R., Mr. N and Mr. N, connections with whom played an important part in this matter, as I had to be guided in my work by their definite instructions.
"After I had established contact with TUKHACHEVSKY and RYKOV, I informed the former through KRESTINSKY, and the latter I myself informed, of TROTSKY S instructions regarding wrecking activities, and both approved of the work I had done.
"As the result of all this, wrecking activities in foreign trade proceeded mainly along the following three lines:first economic assistance to Germany and Japan at the expense of the U.S.S.R.; second causing economic loss and damage to the U.S.S.R.; third causing political damage to the U.S.S.R" (Vol. VI, p. 49.)
On the instructions of the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" the accused SHARANGOVICH carried on extensive wrecking activities in agriculture and industry in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
On this matter the accused SHARANGOVICH testified as follows:
"For the purpose of putting our wrecking designs into effect we created in the local districts a network of wrecking and diversionist groups. ... All of us, from the leaders of the organization down to the rank-and-file members, were nation al-fascists and carried on activities against the Soviet government for severing Byelorussia from the U.S.S.R., sticking at nothing in our efforts" (Vol. XIV, p. 40.)
The accused CHERNOV, who for a number of years has been connected with the German intelligence service as one of its secret agents in the U.S.S.R., also took active advantage of the high official position he occupied in the U.S.S.R. to organize, on the instructions of the German intelligence service, a number of diversionist and wrecking acts in the sphere of agriculture.
The accused CHERNOV, a German spy, giving testimony on his criminal connections with the German spy SCHEFFER, the Correspondent of the "Berliner Tageblatt," and on his wrecking activities in the sphere of agriculture, stated the following:
"When I went to work at the Committee of Agricultural Stocks SCHEFFER conveyed to me the instructions of the Germans ID carry on wrecking activities in the sphere of operations of the Committee of Agricultural Stocks, particularly in regard to mobilization reserves.
The wrecking instructions I received from the intelligence service coincided with those which I, as a member of the Right organization, had received from RYKOV. All the more ready was I, therefore, to carry them out" (Vol. VIII, pp. 98 reverse, 25.)
In respect to this, CHERNOV testified as follows:
"In 1934 I met RYKOV at his country house and he gave me instructions to carry on wrecking activities on a wide scale in the sphere of agriculture. I carried out these instructions and pursued wrecking and undermining activities fairly actively." (Vol. VIII, p. 93.)
The investigation has revealed considerable undermining wrecking activities in the sphere of agriculture also in Uzbekistan, where the nationalist organizations, which, through their leaders, the accused IKRAMOV and KHODJAYEV, were in alliance with the centre of the anti-Soviet conspiracy, operated.
The accused FAIZULLA KHODJAYEV, one of the leaders of this nationalist organization, testified as follows:
"We did not confine ourselves only to preparing cadres for our armed struggle against the Soviet power; we were already actively working with the object of undermining the power of the U.S.S.R."(Vol. XIII, p. 66.)
The extensive application of wrecking measures in Uzbekistan was also fully corroborated by the accused IKRAMOV, who testified that the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" had set him thefollowing tasks:
"...a) to make extensive preparations in Uzbekistan for armed insurrection, to be started simultaneously with the beginning of intervention;
" b) vigorously to carry on wrecking and diversionist operations in all branches of the national economy with a view to their consequences rousing among the toilers discontent
with the Soviet power and thus creating favourable ground for the organization of armed insurrection at the proper moment."
"In addition to this,"; the accused IKRAMOV stated, "the object of our wrecking activities was to hinder the strengthen ing of the defence of the U.S.S.R."(Vol. XII, pp. 95-96.)
Wrecking activities in agriculture as well as in a number of other branches of the national economy and Socialist construction were also carried on by other accused in the present case.
Thus, the accused GRINKO pursued wrecking activities in the sphere of finance.
The accused GRINKO testified as follows:
" The main object of undermining work in the People s Commissariat of Finance was the following: to weaken the Soviet ruble, to weaken the financial power of the U.S.S.R.,to dislocate the economy and thus rouse among the population discontent with the financial policy of the Soviet power, discontent over taxes, discontent with the bad savings banks service, delays in paying wages, etc., which were to result in wide, organized discontent with the Soviet power and were to help the conspirators to recruit adherents and to develop insurrectionary activities." (Vol. IX, p. 79.)
The accused ZELENSKY and the group of wreckers he organized in the Centrosoyuz and the cooperative societies caused confusion in the planning of such goods as sugar, butter, eggs, makhorka,etc., deliberately held up the shipment of goods to the rural districts, utterly confused accounts, which facilitated the robbery and squandering of state funds with impunity, and encouraged the cheating and robbery of consumers.
Speaking of the wrecking system of accounting of goods and money he introduced in the Centrosoyuz, the accused ZELENSKY testified as follows:
"Under these circumstances the thief remained unpunished, while, owing to the complicated system of accounting, the honest worker got muddled up and was immediately accused of embezzlement. "
(Vol. X, p. 56.)
Treasonable wrecking activities on a considerable scale were also carried on by the now exposed agent of foreign intelligence services, the accused ROSENGOLTZ.
Concerning his treasonable activities in this sphere, the accused ROSENQOLTZ testified as follows:
"In so far as TROTSKY had an agreement with Germany and Japan, of which I had been informed (both during the negotiations at my meeting with Sedov in 1933; and of the agreement that had been reached at my meeting with him in 1934), [received corresponding instructions fromTROTSKY, and my wrecking activities in the sphere of foreign trade served the same purpose." (Vol. VI, p, 48.)
Simultaneously with the organization of active diversionist and wrecking activities, the conspirators, on the orders of the fascist intelligence services, set themselves the task of rousing an insurrectionary bandit movement in our country with the object of organizing an armed rising of their insurrectionary anti-Soviet gangs in the rear of the Red Army on the outbreak of intervention against the U.S.S.R.
The accused RYKOV testified as follows:
"We took the course of the violent overthrow of the leadership of the Party and the Soviet power, and we decided to secure this overthrow by organizing kulak risings."
(Vol. I, p. 150 reverse.)
The investigation has established that the kulak insurrection ary armed risings that were being organized to take place in the rear of the Red Army were part and parcel of the plans and calculations of the fascist states which were preparing to attack the U.S.S.R.; and that the Right and Trotskyite conspirators were preparing to rise at the signal of the General Staffs of the fascist countries.
Pursuing the instructions of the fascist intelligence services, the participants in the conspiracy collected insurrectionary bandit cadres, preparing them for an active armed rising in the Far East, the North Caucasus and other places in the Soviet Union, particularly in Uzbekistan.
On this matter the accused KHODJAYEV testified as follows:
"The main object of the practical work of our organizations was to prepare active anti-Soviet cadres and to train them in the spirit of struggle against the U.S.S.R. We accustomed the members of the organization to the idea that the fight against the Soviet power would assume acute forms and would lead to armed conflicts. That is why we devoted attention to the preparation of the fighting forces of our organization." (Vol. XIII, p. 66.)
The organizers of insurrectionary bandit cadres relied only on the remnants of the old counter-revolutionary elements, expecting to reinforce their insurrectionary reserves with the remnants of the Basmachis and White Guards, who were to be smuggled into the Soviet Union from abroad, and with criminal bandits, inmates of prison camps, etc.
Speaking of the insurrectionary bandit activities of the bour geois nationalist organization headed by him in Uzbekistan, the accused IKRAMOV testified:
"We preserved the necessary cadres, which in future were to be utilized for an armed struggle against the Soviet power. These cadres consisted chiefly of remnants of the kulaks, priests and former Basmachis. We instructed the members of our organization holding leading district posts to preserve these cadres. Furthermore, We assumed that in case of armed action the remnants of the Basmachi bands which at one time had had to retreat across the frontier would return to Soviet territory"(Vol. XII, p. 56.)
The materials of the investigation and the personal testimony of the accused BUKHARIN, ZUBAREV, ZELENSKY and otters establish the fact that they had engaged in the active training of insurrectionary cadres, attempting to cover as many districts of the Soviet Union as possible, and that, with the purpose of enlarging the insurrectionary base to the maximum, the leaders of the conspiracy had established contact with an illegal Socialist Revolutionary organization.
Thus, the accused BUKHARIN testified:
"The establishment of connections with the Socialist-Revolutionaries dates back to the period when the organization of the Rights placed its stakes on kulak risings. In view of the fact that the Rights had embarked on the organization of such risings, the necessity arose of establishing connections with the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who had their roots in the kulak strata in the countryside.
. . . I personally established connections through SEMYONOV with the underground Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionaries within the Soviet Union, and through
CHLENOV with the foreign Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionaries in Paris."(Vol. V, pp. 90-91.)
Such is the chain of shameful villainies perpetrated by the "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites,"" which for many years carried on its treasonable activities in the interests of foreign states hostile to the U.S.S.R.
Next
.jpg)
