Extracts from the Politburo meeting 1927
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On the "Draft Platform" by Trotsky, Zinoviev, Muralov and others
September 8, 1927
Zinoviev. ...You won't succeed in trying to scare us. We have a number of things to say to our party; this is stated in our platform, and we will say this to our party. No Bonapartist attempts to shut our mouths will succeed.
Voice.
What?
Uglanov.
A coward but pretends to be a brave man.
Zinoviev.
At the recent joint plenum of the Central Committee to the Central Control
Commission, 5 comrade. Kamenev, expressing our common opinion, said
that we would soon introduce our platform to one of the next meetings of the
Politburo. None of you objected to it then. Now that we want to do this, you
want to shut our mouths. Having put off the congress for two years, having made
a bunch of mistakes, having started a split in the Comintern from above, you
now do not want to let us say what we think.
Stalin. What
about the plenum's decision?
Zinoviev. No
one protested strongly against this statement by Kamenev at the plenum. If now
you want to print your document read with all the cuckoos and other nonsense,
without printing our platform, I will tell you that you will only make the
party laugh.
Stalin.
We will not print it.
Zinoviev. Oh, you won't print it, but you'll distribute it clandestinely! [This will not happen.] We said right at the plenum that we would introduce our platform. You didn't dispute it. And now you will not intimidate us.
(...)
Molotov
We can tell you a lot too.
Zinoviev.
If you have called me here, then let me speak. All these Ugolanov things are
fraudulent things. If you don't like the word focus, I say it's a scam.
Uglanov.
You yourself are a political swindler.
Zinoviev.
But you will not be able to deceive the workers.
Stalin.
Nothing to threaten.
Zinoviev.
I don't threaten anything. But don't threaten us either. Everything that you
could do to us bad, you have already done.
Molotov
[Are you right] Were you brave in October 1917?
Zinoviev.
Allow me, comrades, if you have called us here, then allow me to say what we
think. Everything you could do to us; you have already done. If you want to
exclude, please try!
Trotsky.
It won't work.
Zinoviev. The
worst thing you want to do to us is to try to slander us, and that's something
you won't be able to do. It is still possible to slander us, but it is no
longer possible to slander us. The workers already know what we want. And even
a significant part of the workers abroad already knows about it. You wanted to
portray us as a "Social-Democratic deviation", you will not be able
to do this. Therefore, you can no longer threaten us with anything. You won’t
be able to slander, and everything else is not scary for us [just like you].
(...)
You wrote a paragraph without letting us
object, and then your Knorins came to the assets and said that we were
"saving our own skin"! I think that your attempts to impromptu
convene assets also did not add laurels to you.
You had three
"plans". Your attempt to [crush] split the united opposition...
Kalinin.
United with whom? With Sapronov?
Zinoviev. ... she didn't come out. Then the plan is to
force us to sign a new statement in the form of October 16, 1926. 15
This also did not work out.
(..)
Our platform is a
Leninist platform through and through. You will not be able to deceive the
working class, you will not be able to convince the workers of our alliance
with the "renegades", because you yourself know very well that the
people you call renegades are not renegades. The Left Opposition has 180
comrades in the German Communist Party. 18 And they keep growing.
The Comintern Left will rebuff the Martynovs, the Shmerals and your non-Leninist
policy in China.
Chairman.
Comrade Muralov has the floor.
Muralov. It seems to me, comrades,
that this document, to be honest, is of a complete feuilleton character.
(...)
Go to the workers, call
us to a meeting and say, they are deceivers, they say this and that. And listen
to us. But you don't, you're afraid, and that shows how strong you are.
Stalin.
Have a discussion every day?
Muralov. The strong man is not afraid to expose the deceivers of the working class. If we are deceivers of the working class, then we must be exposed without fear of the working class, and you are now afraid. We are not afraid to go to the court of the Party, but you do not want to bring this to the court of the Party.
(...)
You will not succeed in
this deception. If you are deceiving, you are afraid to bring us to the court
of the Party. We are not deceiving our party, the common party, someone else is
deceiving it. To be honest, I thought that when we were called here, it was to
talk about the platform.
Kalinin.
How sincere you are!
Muralov.
They said on the phone that you were invited to a meeting of the Politburo and
the Presidium of the Central Control Commission regarding your platform. I
thought we would be told that your platform is wrong, but we accept the offer
to discuss this platform and point out the mistakes. We see that the discussion
has taken on a completely different character, they are discussing the draft
resolution of a completely [unbelievable nature] not on the merits.
(...)
Intra-party democracy
has reached the point where it is read not only by full members of the party,
but also by candidates, read without discussion, savoring individual passages
against the opposition.
Uglanov.
Are you jealous of this?
Muralov. The mothers come with the boys and the sound of the reading is interrupted by the sound of the baby suckling. This is the greatest democracy, comrade. Yaroslavsky. This means that the guys suck up this hatred of the opposition with their mother's milk. What does this fact say?
(...)
Chairman. Comrade Yenukidze has the floor.
Yenukidze. You all know, comrades, that I am not experienced in discussions and
polemics, but as one of the rank-and-file members of the Party...
Trotsky. And in 1917 you were discussing against the Bolsheviks when I dragged you into
the party.
Yenukidze. Are you in a dream or something, comrade Trotsky?
Trotsky. No, not in a dream, in 1917 I dragged you into the party.
Yenukidze. Why, I have been a member of the Party since its founding, and 14 years before
you I was a Bolshevik. If you insist on your own, I will challenge you to
the party court because you are not telling the truth, I will prove to you that
you are either confusing me with someone else, or you have invented something
to say about me.
Trotsky.
You were with Eliava, Surits, etc.
Yenukidze. It never happened, and I never spoke to you at that time.
Trotsky. It's not true, I told you: "Come to us."
Molotov. Comrade Trotsky confused you with some Menshevik.
Yenukidze. This is not true, comrade. Trotsky, and once again I ask that it be recorded
in the transcript that I am summoning Trotsky to the party court. Nothing like
this has ever happened, and I am surprised at what Comrade Trotsky says..
Molotov.
It was some kind of Menshevik.
Yenukidze.
I affirm, comrades, at this joint meeting that, beginning with the February
Revolution...
Voices. We know, we know!
Yenukidze. ... after the arrival of comrade Trotsky, and before the October Revolution I never spoke a single word to him. We met with him at meetings , but there was never any conversation between us. ..
He must have confused
by telling lies about me.
Trotsky.
Well, of course, confused !
Yenukidze. Why have you been silent for 10 years? This is not good. When they said
something about you, I always thought, but when you say such a thing today, I
will believe everything about you now and say that you are a lost person after
that.
Trotsky. For Yenukidze.
Chairman. Comrade Yenukidze let's get to the point.
Yenukidze. That's what I want to say in essence. When I read this document, the platform of the opposition handed out to us, I got the impression that this platform was not written as the platform of a party or group before a congress or conference, but as a document covering absolutely all questions. There has never been such a platform in the history of our Party.
(...)
The real platform of
the opposition is the declaration of people who have decided to leave the party.
Voices.
Correct!
Yenukidze.
I am sure that if you, who signed this document, ended it in such a way that
you are leaving the CPSU, then everyone would say that, perhaps, the authors of
this declaration are right, they have exhausted everything, they have said
everything to justify their departure, and, perhaps, in that case, you could
not be reproached for anything.
(...)
Or you deliberately lie
both before the Party and before the entire working class, then that is one
thing, but if you are sincere, if you are really convinced that you are
writing, then under no circumstances even if all members of the
Central Committee, starting from Stalin, they will disappear from the face of
the earth, you will not have to take on the leadership of the party, for the
restoration of our republic, our country, because the matter, based on how you
describe the situation in the USSR, is absolutely lost.
(...)
Further, no one will
believe you, just as you yourself do not believe it, when you shout everywhere
that an extraordinary regime is being applied to you, repressions are being
poured on you that oppress you.
On the contrary,
everyone is talking about the softness of the Central Committee towards you.
You regard this softness as the fact that they are afraid to apply strict
penalties to you, that they are generally afraid of you, and you have become
too bold.
But how to explain
the softness of Stalin, Molotov, and others towards you?
Not because they burn
with tender feelings for you, but because they put the interests of the
party above everything else....
Chairman. Comrade
Uglanov has the floor.
Uglanov. I will first say a few words about the speech made by Comrade Zinoviev...What did Comrade Zinoviev say? He said that Stalin wanted to confuse the party congress....Your catchphrases that a congress can be twisted and confused stem from your own practice of past years in the Leningrad organization..And you want to, so to speak, blame the Central Committee for this, blame Stalin, and you think that such methods of leading the Party are inherent in everyone.
(...)
No matter how much you
lie, not a single person will believe you. Try it - you will see
how they drive you out of the factories.
Stalin.
Like (they did) at the Putilov factory.
Zinoviev.
What are you afraid of then? Then why are you trying to hide our platform? Does
that speak volumes about your courage?
Stalin.
We do not want to turn the party into a discussion club.
Uglanov. Now
on to the content of your platform. From the point of view of the party
charter, from the organizational point of view. I do not take the ideological content;
I am going to read it again.
Zinoviev.
Here it is useful. Read well.
Uglanov. Don’t worry at any meeting we will be able to prove your demagoguery.
(...)
The same will happen
today.
Molotov It
will be worse.
Uglanov. Yes,
it will be worse, we will try to add more so that they hit harder.
Zinoviev. Will
you turn off the light? Will you seat the whistlers in the corners?
Voice. I'll
tell you about it.
Uglanov. Stop engaging in demagogy, comrade Zinoviev,
(...)
The international
working class is following the Party and the Central Committee, but not a damn
thing is behind you.
Chairman. Comrade
Antipov has the floor.
Antipov. I won't talk about the platform. The answer given by the Politburo illuminates all questions sufficiently. I want to talk about the behavior of our opposition and its tactics after the plenum of the Central Committee, after the statement that it made at the united plenum about the rejection of factional work. In fact, the opposition has deepened factional work to such a degree that it has never been brought before.
(...)
Twice a week, these
groups met regularly, they had one permanent day - Wednesday, we have a party
day - Thursday, and they, the oppositionists, have Wednesday. This day was
apparently chosen not by chance, but in order to prepare for the collectives,
to speak there and to carry out their own factional line.
Stalin. This
is what they call building socialism.
Antipov. Yes,
they had a regular day - Wednesday and another day, depending on the need.
Zinoviev. So,
did you put out the fire or not?
Antipov. So, let them give an explanation why it was the oppositionists who read the transcript on August 16? How did they get it, did the Central Committee send it?
(...)
Bukharin. It's
at the same meeting (laughter).
Antipov. I
say that their eyes went dark because they collected only 5 signatures.
Stalin. Is
it in the light they collected so much?
Antipov. Yes,
it was collected in the light. We left Comrade. Bukharin last, no
light was put out.
Zinoviev. I
ask [examination] to appoint an investigation.
Antipov. Appoint,
appoint, it will not do you any good.
Now, comrades,
regarding their tactics. What are their tactics? Tactics are those
that can be displayed not by members of the party, but by people who are in
another party that is clearly hostile to us. Allow me to read one excerpt.
Zinoviev. Aren't
you expelling old Bolshevik comrades from St. Petersburg?
Antipov. No,
we are excluding oppositionists from the party for their
disruptive activities.
Chairman. Zinoviev
Calm down, please.
Antipov. Here is an excerpt from the speech of a comrade who came to us and told us frankly about all the work they were doing against the Party....Here the opposition threw the words "Bonapartism". From the whole behavior of the opposition one can see where the "Bonapartists" are to be found.
Rudzutak. I
take your word for it.
Trotsky. Ask
Kharkov Amsterdam.
Rudzutak. Comrade Trotsky,
I know what you have smart head, but the fool got it. [So leave me
alone for once, I didn't touch you.]
Trotsky. Your
wit is already known throughout the USSR more than your administrative talents,
which are talked about in the NKPS 42 and everywhere and
everywhere, and even Stalin talks in the back streets about your administrative
talents.
Stalin. You
saw this in a dream?
Rudzutak. I know you, comrade. Trotsky. You specialized in slandering individuals.
Trotsky. I
refused to raise the story before October 16, that's what I refused. And
phone eavesdropping is a fact.
Rudzutak . You
do not refuse any history, even kitchen history, if you can harm our party and
the workers of our party. You abandoned history because you couldn't prove
the unprovable.
(...)
I think that in this respect we must
undoubtedly carry on appropriate preparatory work in our Party before the
Congress so that we can give a sufficient rebuff to this handful of arrogant
people who are now doing everything to bring the country and the Party to such
a state as they describe in their platform.
Stalin. So they brought it.
Molotov. Including the speeches of the opposition.
Rudzutak. Including the speeches of the opposition. And you yourself, before the publication of the transcript of the Central Committee, tried to acquaint your supporters, but only with your speeches. ...
Chairman. Comrade Zinoviev has the floor.
Zinoviev. I
want to make practical suggestions. 1) Print the platform of the
opposition in Pravda and Inprekorr. 2) To publish
immediately in pamphlet a collection of opposition documents on the question of
the Chinese revolution, the Anglo-Russian Committee, etc. 3) Allow the
oppositionists to print pamphlets and collections for the congress, as well as
to print articles in Bolshevik. 4) To begin publishing the discussion
paper no later than October 1, introducing one comrade from the opposition to
the editorial board.
Stalin. On
behalf of what organization?
Zinoviev. On
behalf of the 13 members of the Central Committee and the Central Control
Commission, we have the right to ask the Central Committee about this.
Molotov. This
will not work, there is the Central Committee.
Trotsky. We
are asking the Central Committee to do this. What's so terrible?
Molotov. Just
remember that the Central Committee is not a collection of "trends".
Zinoviev. 5) Immediately discuss and take appropriate measures on the second part of the statement of the opposition at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission. The joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission instructed the Politburo to consider the second part of our statement. The Politburo ignores this and does not even observe the formalities.
Voice. Not
properly.
Chairman. Maybe
hand over to the Politburo? We do not have this document.
Zinoviev. The
joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission, which
met in July or August 27, adopted such a resolution.
Chairman. No,
I'm asking for your offer.
Zinoviev. Now I'll read it and pass it on.
(...)
After two years of your
torturing the Party, after two years of mistakes (no matter what you say, but
you made a number of grave mistakes, and the Party silently voted against you
on the Chinese question), you have no right to reject our proposals. The
proposals that I have announced here are the minimum for finding a way out of
the crisis.
Chairman. Comrade
Mikoyan has the floor.
Mikoyan. There
are two questions here: the first question is about the procedure and plan for
preparing for the Fifteenth Congress, and the second question is essentially
about the nature of the platform proposed by the opposition and the meaning of
this platform.
(...)
It is absolutely
strange when comrades from the opposition and Comrade Muralov oppose the
reading of transcripts at party meetings.
Zinoviev. He
didn't say anything of the sort.
Mikoyan. They
protest against reading these protocols. You do not understand that the
distribution of transcripts of the plenum of the Central Committee is one of
the most important weapons linking the Central Committee with the entire Party,
one of the most important methods of inner-Party democracy.
(...)
They say that documents
must be handed over, but aren't the transcripts a document by which the party
learns about the plenum of the Central Committee?
Zinoviev. And
in millions of copies, Pravda misrepresents.
Mikoyan. Millions of Pravda are read not only by members of the Party, but also by the main cadres of the Party, hundreds of thousands of Party members who also read the transcripts. you are not deceived.
(...)
Zinoviev. You
delayed the release of transcripts for three months, as was the case after the
April plenum.
Mikoyan. Sometimes for your reason they were detained. After all, it is a very difficult thing to edit the transcripts and distribute them...
Zinoviev. Three
months! Isn't it a fact that after the April plenum you delayed the
release of the transcripts for 3 months?
Mikoyan. I must say that none of these speaks for you
(...)
Chairman. Comrade Bukharin has the floor.
Bukharin. I
would like to make a few remarks about the first speech of
Comrade Zinoviev. He uttered many "terrible words", said
that the party was pursuing a policy of impudence towards the opposition, and
so on. But I believe that it is the party that is subjected to systematic
attacks from the opposition and systematic impudence at every stage of
development.
Zinoviev. You
are not a party.
Bukharin. I
know that I am not a party.
Let us take, for example, what has been said here about "deceiving the party" and other things. Doesn't any member of the Party understand all the unheard-of hypocrisy of these statements of the opposition?
(...)
What do you want to say
that we forced you to retreat from Leninism? Remarkable political leaders who
can be forced by a couple of people to retreat from the positions of
Leninism. Or were you lying then?
Trotsky. Even
then we said that bureaucracy inevitably breeds factionalism.
Bukharin. Or
did you then deceive the party? Choose one of the two. It is clear
that the third is not given.
Trotsky. And
what about your own letters to the Central Committee about the unbearability of
the current party regime?
Bukharin. About all this is in the appropriate congress transcripts, everyone can read all this
(...)
This is
Bonapartism. Bonapartism has always been like that. What are you
doing? You write down the party according to the Bonapartist department but write yourself down according to the Party department.
Zinoviev. Not
true.
Bukharin. Zinoviev shouts: "It's not true." Here he further has remarkably witty arguments - the party is one thing, but Stalin, X and Y are another.
(...)
...if you have any thought
left in your head, you must put before yourself such a question, but why does
it always turn out so that some people “impose” the will of the party ...
Trotsky. Our
entire platform answers this question.
Bukharin....and others cannot do this, although yesterday they were at the very top positions, leading positions of this very team.
(...)
And we are played with
false indignation when we want to understand what all this is born of, when we
analyze in perfect conscience that we are talking about the Trotskyist theory
that led to the "cuckoos". Zinoviev begins to laugh - cuckoo,
cuckoo, Zinoviev, who was the first to talk about the cuckoo. And now he
claims that the cuckoo after the fact is no good. This is after he himself
began to cuckoo in unison with Trotsky, this cuckoo of pure blood.
Trotsky. [You had a desire to arrest Lenin.] All this is
nonsense. Here you better tell us how you were going to arrest Lenin.
Bukharin. I
did not say that. I said that the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries proposed to
us, and we [rejected] drove them away.
Trotsky. It
is very commendable of you that they [did not tell] were “rejected”
and not arrested. And they hid from the party.
Bukharin. Wonderful. But
you just want to go to the state that it was then. You say that it was
ideal that during the Brest-Litovsk peace there was such a broad discussion and
freedom of factions. And we consider it a crime.
(...)
About the conference,
Uglanov said bluntly that the Moscow Committee would hold district conferences
before the plenum only in small agricultural areas of no importance.
Voice. "The
child is small."
Bukharin. "The child is small", but when talking about the age composition, you need to distinguish between a baby and a bearded man. Concerning practical actions...
Kalinin. counter
theses.
Bukharin. Yes, counterpoints. And we stand in this position. But if you now want to break through our front of Party work and break through the plan that we have outlined, you are frustrating all your promises to the Central Committee. We cannot allow this...
Chairman. Comrade Janson has the floor.
Janson. We, Presidium of the Central Control Commission. We think that Party discipline is obligatory for all Party members, including those who for some reason consider themselves Party aristocrats...we see on the part of comrades Trotsky, Zinoviev, and others an attempt to rape the majority of the Party, to impose on the Party decisions against those adopted by the Party in the person of its leading bodies regarding the discussion.
(...)
This last statement is
completely illiterate even in meaning. So this Dashkovsky in the party has
long been listed among the ranks of dissenters, and now he has come to the
point that he has no place in the ranks of the party.
Trotsky. We
have not read this article.
Janson. Even
you, perhaps, do not have time to read what your supporters write.
Trotsky. Where
was it printed so we can read it?
Janson. It would be disrespectful to our Party if we began to publish such things in the Party press. (...)
Trotsky. It
is only you who are forcing your articles and transcripts of your speeches to
be read in the order of party discipline, we are already being read.
Janson. I
think that it is more useful not only to read what you write, but to read the
works of Lenin. This is a thousand times more useful than reading what
Dashkovsky and other [fools] like him have written.
I must say, comrades,
that along with the fact that we are excluding Dashkovsky, we are patiently
fiddling with such a member of the Party as Comrade. Safarov, who has
enough reason to be expelled.
Zinoviev. He
is a more honored member of the party than you.
Janson. I
don't know how you endow your supporters with epaulettes. I don't know
what rank he has. I never wore epaulettes and I don't judge people by
them.
Zinoviev. I'm
not talking about epaulettes. He is more deserving before Bolshevism,
before the revolutionary movement than you are.
Janson. [You
don't know me very well. ] I used
to know you only from the good side, with which you publicly showed yourself
and with which the party, at one time, advertised you. And now, working in
IIKK. I see the other side, and a very unpleasant one.
Kalinin. [So, the nasty downside.]
Janson. [She
is quite fat, but very nasty.]
Kalinin. On the other hand, Trotsky is very pleased with her.
Janson. I affirm that Com. Safarov conducted his disorganizing activities for two years. ....
Zinoviev. You
exile him to Constantinople before the congress in order to shut up the
criticism of your mistakes.
Janson. Why
"refer"? Any party member must go there if the party
sends. You can imagine the characteristics of people who, when they are
sent to responsible economic work ...
Zinoviev. Trade
lemons.
Janson. Be sure to sell lemons.
(...)
Chairman. Comrade
Trotsky has the floor.
Trotsky. As
to the fact that factionalism is not an organizational principle of Leninism,
we declared both on October 16 last year and on August 8 this year71 in our
statements cited here.
But in order for
factionalism not to be born in practice, it is necessary that the regime in the
party be Leninist. And this is not. I declare that the present regime of the
party will not kill factionalism, but, on the contrary, will breed factionalism
more and more.
(...)
on the part of Stalin,
who does not able to lead the right line, whom we, together with Lenin, twice
removed from the Red Army when he was pursuing an incorrect policy.
We filmed him from Tsaritsyn, then from the Southern Front, where he pursued the wrong policy. (Stalin interrupts.) I have a note from Lenin to Sklyansky, where Lenin writes that in vain Stalin speaks against the commander-in-chief, finds fault, is capricious. It was! (Stalin interrupts.) Twice you were removed from the front, and each time in the name of defense
(...)
At the plenum,
on the other hand, a struggle against the opposition is played out especially
for the transcript, speeches are delivered according to a special dress.
Stalin. And
who comes with written speeches?
Trotsky. Comrade
Stalin do not interfere, you will have the final word, as always.
Stalin. Why
not?
Trotsky. You
always take the floor last in order to put forward new lies, slander, slander
and poison the Party with it through the Party apparatus.
Bukharin. And
how do we want to leave China?
Trotsky. I will now tell you how you want to leave China
Stalin. Maslov
to support?
Trotsky. ...
in such difficult conditions, after all the mistakes made, after all the
defeats, together with you we are ready to support this movement, weakened by
everything that preceded it to the last degree, so that you yourself are
extremely cautious about it: “we are not sure”, “we will see » etc.
Why? Because with all your false policy you have made the situation
unfavorable to the last degree (noise, screams) .
Kaganovich. This
is the defeatism of the Chinese revolution...
Trotsky. And
I say whoever does not believe in the methods of Kaganovich-Amsterdamsky is a
defeatist. You went to Amsterdam in China, and now you are talking about
the defeatists (laughter, noise, talk).
Zinoviev. Who
is poisoned... (noise, laughter).
Trotsky. I
think that this time will be credited to me.
Rudzutak. Comrade Zinoviev is shouting.
Trotsky. Comrade
Zinoviev is not the only one. I think Comrade Zinoviev and I will agree on
this issue, as on many others (noise, conversations).
(...)
Molotov Shame
on Clemenceau?
Stalin. About
Clemenceau?
Trotsky. No,
it's a pity for the Moscow Committee, which talks about nothing, whether it
talks about the war, about the Anglo-Russian Committee, whether it talks about
the Chinese revolution, it invariably talks nonsense. It's a shame not for
Clemenceau, but for MK.
(...)
Bukharin wants to know
why he is so strong against us, I will answer, he has been strong since the
time when he put forward that the main task is to expand the productive forces
of the kulak.
Bukharin. I
didn't say anything of the sort.
Trotsky. There
is a perfectly accurate quote on our platform.
Chairman. Comrade Trotsky,
your term has expired.
Trotsky. You
gave 20 min.
Bukharin. I spoke for 13 minutes.
Trotsky. Comrade Bukharin
became agitated when it came to quoting from his speeches.
Kalinin. Here's
the kick!
Trotsky. This is what you said: "The problem is posed in such a way that it is necessary to unleash the economic possibilities of the prosperous peasantry, the economic possibilities of the kulak."
(...)
Chairman. I
ask you to raise your hands, who is in favor of extending the time of
Comrade. Trotsky? No.? Comrade Kaganovich has the floor.
Kaganovich. Actually, the question here is about who and how will direct the preparations for the Party Congress. Either the Central Committee will lead, or the opposition will take advantage of its factionalism and reduce the role of the Central Committee in the preparations for the congress to naught.
(...)
And what does Comrade's statement today mean?
Zinoviev that a real left wing is being prepared and organized in the
Comintern, i.e. split is being prepared.
Zinoviev. As
for the split, you compose.
Kaganovich. And
what does it mean that you declare that the left wing of the Comintern is being
organized?
Zinoviev. [We
do not say that we are with the Martynovs and the Shmerals.] This
means that if the leadership passes to the Martynovs. Meyeram,
Shmeralam 82 , then all Leninists will fight against this.
Kaganovich. Excuse me, by this you once again confirm that you, in alliance with Maslov and Ruth Fischer, are preparing a split in the Comintern...
Voice. They
are against the transcripts of the plenum.
Kaganovich. Comrade Muralov
is also a democrat; he always reproached the party for allegedly not covering
the life of the party in front of the entire party mass ...
Trotsky. Not
true, that's not what he said.
Kaganovich. ...
and now he says that there is no need to distribute the transcripts of the
plenum.
Trotsky. Not
true, we are against replacing live discussion with rigged transcript readings.
Kaganovich.
You can shout as much as you like, but everyone heard what Muralov was saying.
(...)
Molotov (...) The meaning of this platform, the meaning of the opposition’s platform appearing before the Fifteenth Party Congress on literally all questions of party policy, the meaning of this lies in the fact that the party is ready for a split, that in our party they are trying to prepare a new party, they are trying to create a new party on a new platform.
Trotsky. Who
will believe you? You also talked about the rebellion.
Trotsky. Well,
well, here it is.
Molotov Conference
against the Party, against the Central Committee.
Molotov Do
not try to cowardly refuse your words, your speech is perfectly clear.
Trotsky. Why
should I be responsible for your lies? I didn't say anything like
that. After all, I myself gave you the number of 150-200 people.
Rudzutak. Calm
down, comrade Trotsky.
Trotsky. You,
as chairman, should have told the speaker not to lie.
Rudzutak. Comrade Trotsky,
I ask you to apply this, first of all, to yourself.
Molotov Against this, I am accustomed to not answering Comrade Trotsky, because Trotsky's slanderous methods, insinuations are the main method of Comrade Trotsky
(...)
The theory of this
platform, the line of this platform is the line of Ossovism, not Leninists, but
Ossovites, that's who you are, in practice Maslovites.
Trotsky. If
Molotovism is Leninism, then you are right.
Molotov Your
theory is Ossovism, you are not Leninists-Bolsheviks, but Ossovites. Your
practice is the practice of the renegade Maslov, this is proved by your
platform. Here, in fact, is the response of the Central Committee to this
line of opposition, which is moving further and further away from our
Party.
Chairman. Comrade Stalin has the floor.
Stalin. Comrades, before Above all, I must refute certain statements by Zinoviev and Trotsky, which are completely untrue. Comrade Zinoviev now and then pokes us Martynov, Rafes and others. But he hides from the party that Martynov and Rafes were recruited to work in the Comintern by Comrade. Zinoviev, not anyone else.
Zinoviev. Nothing
of the kind, the Organizing Bureau decided. [The Orgburo appointed all
Russian workers to the Comintern .]
Stalin. We
will prove this on the basis of documents that Rafes and Martynov were brought
to work in the Comintern at the suggestion of Zinoviev.
Bukharin. There
are Zinoviev's letters on this subject.
Stalin. Secondly,
about the fact that Stalin was allegedly recalled from the front twice for his
mistakes. This is what Comrade Trotsky said here. I declare, comrades, that
this is absolutely lie. I will prove that Trotsky is playing the wrong guy
here, that it was Trotsky who spoke out from the front for his mistakes on
the fronts of Kolchak and Denikin.
There are a number of
documents, and it is known to the whole party, that Stalin transferred the
Central Committee from front to front for three years, to the south and east,
to the north and west, when things became tight on the fronts.
I remember well how in
1920 the Central Committee demanded that I move from Kharkov to Rostov,
where things were not going well with us, and when I persistently asked the
Central Committee to cancel this decision, pointing out that it was time for me
to return to my people's commissariats, to the RKI and to the Narkomnats that
Trotsky, and not I, should go to Rostov, that I was tired of cleaning
"other people's stables."
I remember just as well
how, in the same 1920, the Central Committee demanded that I go to the Polish
front at the moment when the Poles occupied Kyiv and when I negotiated for
myself the right to return from the front after we succeeded in liberating Kyiv
and Rovno, and despite to this, even after the liberation of Kyiv and Rovno,
the Central Committee forced me to stay at the front. It is somewhat
embarrassing for me to talk about these facts, but I am forced to recall
them in order to refute Comrade Trotsky's fabrications.
And here are some facts
about how Trotsky was recalled from the front.
The first fact concerns
the question of the liquidation of Kolchak. I affirm, I stated this in the
press and no one denied that in the most important cases of the Civil War, when
it was a question of the main enemies, about Denikin and Kolchak, the main
military issues were decided in our country without Trotsky, against
Trotsky.
Trotsky. How
can I refute all the slander against me? Where? Which way? We
will publish all the correspondence with Lenin, I have picked it up.
Stalin. I
didn't bother you, don't bother me.
Trotsky. You
always have the closing word.
Stalin. You
are not telling the truth because you are a pathetic coward who is
afraid of the truth.
Trotsky. You
are putting yourself in a ridiculous position.
Muralov. This
is a lie, ask the Red Army.
(...)
From that time
on, Trotsky was completely "rejected" from the Eastern
Front. Vatsetis was replaced by Kamenev, new people were sent to the
Eastern Front, and in this way, Kolchak was liquidated against Trotsky.
Trotsky. We
will print and distribute all my correspondence with Lenin on military matters.
Stalin. I don't know why you still don't send out correspondence. That is the fact, comrades. After this incident in the Politburo, Trotsky fled the Politburo and did not show up for work, [Lenin] Sverdlov was instructed to persuade Comrade Trotsky, and we decided that Trotsky was obliged to obey the decisions of the Central Committee...
(...)
Knowing Trotsky's
manner and methods of work at the front, knowing that he would arrive on
three trains, disorganizing the work of the headquarters, I told the
Central Committee that I would go to the Denikin front if Comrade
Trotsky did not interfere in the affairs of this front.
The Central
Committee acknowledged that my demand was correct and agreed with my
proposal for Comrade Trotsky's non-intervention. From that time on, Comrade
Trotsky did not appear on the Southern Front. We regained Orel, Kursk, liberated
Rostov, and Odessa without Comrade Trotsky's interference in this matter.
Not once did Comrade
Trotsky come to this front, starting from the moment Orel was
taken. There was only one case when Comrade Trotsky telephoned me to the front,
asking if I had any objection to him coming to the front for a short time with
his wife. And he really came at night for half an hour.
Trotsky. What? I
arrived at night with my wife? What nonsense! Nonsense!
Stalin. Comrade
[Serebrovsky] Serebryakov will confirm this.
Trotsky. My
wife never came to the front, a pure lie.
Stalin. I
am responsible for my every word. You arrived at night, you arrived for
half an hour, like a thief, because you were forbidden to travel to the
Southern Front.
Trotsky. Who
will believe you?
Stalin. [Serebrovsky,
Egorov] Serebryakov is still alive. He must confirm
this.
Muralov. But
under the leadership of Trotsky.
Stalin. Do
not pretend, comrade Muralov, to be a kind peasant. I know your whole
soul.
Muralov. What
soul?
Stalin. Pharisees. You are as friendly with the truth as with Leninism.
There was, therefore,
the first attempt to liquidate Denikin, an unsuccessful attempt. There was
a second attempt that defeated Denikin and liberated Ukraine from him. So,
during this second attempt, Trotsky no longer went to the Southern Front.
Trotsky. Why
did the party keep me at the head of the army? After all, you are
slandering the Party, not me.
Stalin. You
are a miserable person, deprived of an elementary sense of truth, a coward and
bankrupt, impudent, and insolent, allowing himself to say things that are
completely untrue. Here is my answer.
Trotsky. That's
all he is: rude and disloyal. [Who is this: "leader" or horse
dealer] .
Stalin. With
regard to Trotsky, I will never have loyalty, because he is not loyal to the
party.
Trotsky. Lenin
was not talking about your attitude towards me, he generally determined your
soul, weighed you in the palm of his hand and said: rude and disloyal.
Stalin. You
are a miserable person, a coward, impudent and insolent, for which the workers
will never forgive you.
Trotsky. Your
impotence reveals your abuse.
Stalin. I
respond to your swearing with the swearing you deserve, so that you know your
place in the party and so that you know that the workers will beat you up for
such things.
presiding. Comrade Stalin,
your time is up.
Vote. Extend
the time.
Trotsky. Give
him another 5 minutes.
presiding. No
objections?
Trotsky. Of
course not, let him speak.
Stalin. Comrade Trotsky
demands equality between the Central Committee, which carries out the decisions
of the party, and between the opposition, which undermines these
decisions. Strange affair! On behalf of what organization do you take
the liberty of speaking so insolently to the party?
Zinoviev. Before
the congress, every member of the party has the right to speak, and not just
organizations.
Stalin. I
think that before the congress the party will not allow the renegades of the
party to speak so insolently.
Zinoviev. Don't
splurge, don't threaten, please.
Stalin. You have cut yourself off. This is where your misfortune lies.
(...)
They talk about
Bonapartism. What is Bonapartism? Bonapartism is
an attempt by a minority to impose its will on the majority by force. Who,
except for eccentrics, can assert that the majority of our party imposes on
itself its own will by force? Isn't it stupid? If an attempt at
Bonapartism is possible at all in our country, then it can only come from the
opposition, since it represents an insignificant minority, and, in all
probability, will not have a single delegate at the Party Congress...
Trotsky. Obviously.
Stalin. Just
like the opposition did not have a single delegate at the Thirteenth Party
Congress. If attempts at Bonapartism are possible, then most likely
from the minority of our Party, from the opposition, which is trying to
impose its will on the overwhelming majority of our Party.
(...)
We can no longer create
the harmful illusion that the Party has become a debating club in our country,
that the Party is unstable, and so on. We cannot do this because, firstly, it
is not true, secondly, it contradicts our idea of the party and, thirdly, we
are surrounded by enemies. And then, if you please, rejoice, the oppositionists
have come up with the idea of writing a large pamphlet, be sure to answer
this pamphlet so that all this strife becomes the property of foreign countries
and that this creates an impression of weakness in our country.
Trotsky. They
from "Pravda" know this, you in "Pravda" do nothing but
lead the discussion.
Stalin. About
the regime in the party. They say that under Lenin the regime was
different, that under Lenin the oppositionists were not transferred to other
places, they were not expelled, etc. Your memory is weak, comrades from
the opposition. But don't you remember that Lenin proposed that Comrade Trotsky
be sent to the Ukraine? Comrade Zinoviev, is
this true or not? Why are you silent?
Zinoviev. I'm
not under interrogation. (Laughter, noise, call of the chairman.)
Trotsky. Are
you hiding Lenin's "testament"? Lenin in his
"testament" said everything about Stalin. All Stalin is visible
at a glance. Nothing can be added or subtracted.
Molotov Receptions
of the real Martov!
Stalin. You
are lying, claiming that someone is hiding Lenin's "testament". You
know well that it is known to the whole Party. You know as well as the
whole party that Lenin's "testament" kills you, the current leaders
of the opposition ... Further, is it true that it was under Lenin that they
were transferred to work in other regions, in Turkestan and other places
Comrades. Tomsky and Sokolnikov? True or not? Is it true or not
that Lenin, at such a crucial moment as the moment of the October
uprising, insisted on the expulsion of Comrades Zinoviev and
Kamenev from the party? Is this a fact or not? What does all
this say? The fact that Lenin recognized the need for repression no
less, if not more, than the Central Committee of our party. Judge now
what the opposition's chatter about the regime in the party is worth.
Last question. It's amazing what the leaders of our opposition have come to. They assert in their “platform” that in the circles of the leading majority of our Party there is a plan to abolish the monopoly of foreign trade, a plan to refuse aid to the Chinese revolution, a plan to endow the kulaks and the new bourgeoisie with political rights, and so on. It is characteristic that this vile lie and slander against our Party is repeated exactly in its press by the counter-revolutionary group of Maslov and Ruth Fischer.
(...)
Zinoviev. If
you say that we are agents of Chamberlain, does this help the state and the
party, or does it help Chamberlain? Of course, Chamberlain!
Stalin. Nobody called you Chamberlain's agent. But understand how blind you are in your factional struggle. You have become so isolated in your miserable factional shell, you have lost your head in your struggle against the Party to such an extent that you are ready to write a false denunciation against the Party for the bourgeoisie, assuring it, this bourgeoisie, that the Party is ready for all concessions....
Zinoviev. This is what the author says, "from Chamberlain to Trotsky. "
Stalin. Only
people who have slipped into the camp of our enemies can reach this
point. Well, we want to get you out of this impasse.
Trotsky. Get out
of the swamp yourself earlier. (Noise,
screams, call of the chairman.)
Zinoviev. Get
yourself out of the dead end as soon as possible. We are
on Leninist Road, and you left it.
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