SOCIALIST APPEAL SEPTEMBER 7, 1940 TO THE MEMORY OF THE OLD MAN By JAMES CANNON entered the workers movement in the provincial Russian town Speech Delivered at Trotsky Memorial Meeting, New York, Aug. 28, 1940 hearts of the Russian people. They didn believe the lies.
of Nikolajev at the age of 18, up till the moment of his death in Mexico City 42 years later, was completely dedicated to work and struggle for one central idea. He stood for the emancipation of the workers and all the oppressed people of the world, and the transformation of society from capitalism to socialism by means of a social revolution. In his conception this liberating social revolution requires for success the leadership of a revolutionary political party of the workers vanguard. In his entire conscious life Comrade Trotsky never once diverged from that idea. He never doubted it, and never ceased to struggle for its realization. On his death bed, in his last message to us, his disciples his last testament he proclaimed his confidence in his life idea. Tell our friends am sure of the victory of the Fourth International Go Forward!
The whole world knows about his work and his testament. The cables of the press of the world have carried his last testament and made it known to the world millions. And in the minds and hearts of all those throughout the world who grieve with us tonight one thought one question is uppermost: Will the movement which he created and inspired survive his death? Will his disciples be able to hold their ranks together, will they be able to carry out his testament and realize the emancipation of the oppressed through the. Victory of the Fourth International. THE PROGRAM MAKES THE PARTY Without the slightest hesitation we give an affirmative answer to this question. Those enemies who predict a collapse of Trotsky movement without Trotsky, and those weakwilled friends who fear it, only show that they do not understand Trotsky, what he was, what he signified and what he left behind. Never has bereaved family been left such a rich heritage as that which Comrade Trotsky, like a provident father, has left to the family of the Fourth International as trustees for all progressive humanity. great heritage of ideas he has left to us: ideas which shall chart the struggle toward the great free future of all mankind. The mighty ideas of Trotsky are our program and our banner. They are a clear guide to action in all the complexities of our cpoch, and a constant reassurance that we are right and that our victory is inevitable, Trotsky himself believed that ideas are the greatest power in the world. Their authors may be killed, but ideas, once promulgated, live their own life. If they are correct ideas they make their way through all obstacles. This was the central, dominating concept of Comrade Trotsky philosophy. He explained it to us many, many times. He once wrote: It is not the party that makes the program (the idea. it is the program that makes the party. In a personal letter to me, he once wrote: We work with the most correct and powerful ideas in the world, with inadequate numerical forces and material means. But correct ideas, in the long run, always conquer and make available for themselves the necessary material means and forces.
Trotsky, a disciple of Marx, believed with Marx, that an idea, when it permeates the mass, becomes a material force.
Believing that, Comrade Trotsky never doubted that his work would live after him. Believing that, he could proclaim on 2012 HE COMPLETED HIS TESTAMENT They waited and hoped for his return. His words are still his death bed his confidence in the future victory of the one social system and the birth pangs of another. When they there. His memory is alive in their hearts.
Fourth International which embodies his ideas. Those who see through the historian lens how the oppressed masses of doubt it, do not know Trotsky.
the people everywhere were groping, blinded and confused.
Just a few days before the death of Comrade Trotsky the they will mention with unbounded love the name of the geneditors of the Russian Bulletin received a letter from Riga. It THE WHOLE TROTSKY IS PRESERVED ius who gave us light, the great heart that gave us courage.
had been mailed before the incorporation of Latvia into the Trotsky himself believed that his greatest significance, his of all the great men of our time, of all the public figures Soviet Union. It stated in simple words that Trotsky Open greatest value, consisted not in his physical life, not in his epic to whom the masses turned for guidance in these froubled, Letter to the Workers of the USSR had reached them, and deeds which overshadow those of all heroic figures in history terrible times, Trotsky alone explained things to us, he alone had lifted up their hearts with courage and shown them the in their sweep and their grandeur but in what he would leave gave us light in the darkness. His brain alonc unravelled the way. The leiter stated that the message of Trotsky had been behind him after the assassins had done their work. He knew mysteries and complexities of our epoch. The great brain of memorized, word by word, and would be passed along by that his doom was sealed, and he worked against time in or Trotsky was what was feared by all his enemies. They word of mouth no matter what might happen. We verily beder to leave everything possible to us, and through us to man couldn cope with it. They couldn answer it. In the increlieve that the words of Trotsky will live longer in the Soviet kind. Throughout the eleven years of his last exile he chained clibly horrible method by which they destroyed him there was Union than the bloody regime of Stalin. In the coming great himself to his desk like a galley slave, and labored, as none hidden a deep symbol. They struck at bis brain! But the rich cay of liberation the message of Trotsky will be the banner of us knows how to labor; with such energy, such persistence est products of that brain are still alive. They had already of the Russian people.
and self discipline, as only men of genius can labor. He escaped and can never be recaptured and destroyed.
WHY STALIN KILLED TROTSKY worked against time, to pour out through his pen the whole TROTSKY AND THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE rich content of his mighty brain and preserve it in permaWe do not minimize the blow that has been dealt to us, The whole world knows who killed Comrade Trotsky.
nent, written form for us, and for those who will come after us.
io our movement and to the world. It is the worst calamily, The world knows that on his death bed he accused Stalin and The whole Trotsky, like the whole Marx, is preserved in We have lost something of immeasurable value that can never his GPU of the murder. The assassin statement, prepared in his books, his articles and his letters. His voluminous corresbe regained. We have lost the inspiration of his pliysical preadvance of the crime, is the final proof. if more proof is needs pondence, which contains some of his brightest thoughts and sence, his wise counsel. All that is lost forever. The Russian ed, that the murder was a GPU job. It is a mere reiteration his most intimate personal feelings and sentiments, must now people have suffered the most terrible blow of all. But by the of the lies of the Moscow Trials; a stupid police minded atbe collected and published. When that is done, when his letvery fact that Stalinist Camarilla had to kill Trotsky after tempt, at this late day, to rehabilitate the frame ups which ters are published alongside his books, his pamphlets and his articles, we, and all those who join us in the liberation struggle all their energies and plans to destroy the life of Trotsky.
eleven years, that they had to reach out from Moscow, exert have been discredited in the eyes of the whole world. The motives for the assassination arose from the world reaction, of humanity, will still have our Old Man to help us.
that is the greatest testimony that Trotsky still lived in the the fear of revolution, and the traitors sentiments of hatred He knew that the super Borgia in the Kremlin, Cain and revenge. The English historian, Macaulay, remarked Stalin, who has destroyed the whole generation of the October that apostates in all ages have manifested an exceptional marevolution, had marked him for assassination and that he lignity toward those whom they have betrayed. Stalin and would succeed sconer or later. That is why he worked so urhis traitor gang were consumed by a mad hatred of the man gently. That is why he hastened to write out everything that who reminded them of their yesterday. Trotsky, the symbol was in his mind and get it down on paper in permanent form of the great revolution, reminded them constantly of the cause where nobody could destroy it.
they had deserted and betrayed, and they hated him for that.
Just the other night talked at the dinner table with one They hated him for all the great and good human qualities of the Old Man faithful secretaries a young comrade who which he personified and to which they were completely alien.
had served him a long time and knew his personal life, as he They were determined, at all cost, to do away with him.
lived it in his last years of exile, most intimately. urged him Now come to a part that is very painful, a thought to write his reminiscences without delay. said: We must which, am sure, is in the minds of all of us. The moment all write everything we know about Trotsky. Everyone must we read of the success of the attack am sure everyone among record his recollections and his impressions. We must not forus asked: Couldn we have saved him a while longer? If we get that we moved in the orbit of the greatest figure of our had tried harder, if we had done more for him couldn we time. Millions of people, generations yet to come, will be hunhave saved him? Dear Comrades, let us not reproach our gry for every scrap of information, every word, every impresselves. Comrade Trotsky was doomed and sentenced to death sion that throws light on him, his ideas, his aims and his peryears ago. The betrayers of the revolution knew that the resonal life.
volution lived in him, the tradition, the hope. All the reHe answered: can write only about his personal qualisources of a powerful state, set motion by the hatred and ties as cbserved them; his methods of work, his humanerevenge of Stalin, were directed to the assassination of a single ness, his generosity. But can write anything new about his man, without resources and with only a handful of close folideas. They are already written. Everything he had to say, lowers. All of his co workers were killed; seven of his faitheverything he had in his brain, is down on paper. He seemed tul secretaries: his four children. Yet, in spite of the fact that to be determined to scoop down to the bottom of his mind, they marked him for death after his exile from Russia, we and take out everything and give it to the world in his writsaved him for eleven years! Those were the most fruitful ings. Very often remember casual conversation on some subyears of his whole life. Those were the years when he sat down ject would come up at the dinner table; an informal discusin full maturity to devote himself to the task of summing up sion would take place, and the Old Man would express some and casting in permanent literary form the results of his exopinions new and fresh. Almost invariably the contributions periences and his thoughts.
of the dinner table conversation would find expression a little Their dull police minds cannot know that Trotsky left later in a book, an article or a letter.
the best of himself behind. Even in death he frustrated them.
Because the things they wanted most of all to kill the memCannon Addressing the Memorial Meeting ory and the hope of revolution that Trotsky left behind him.
which he occupied himself, was a defense of Marxism against contemporary revisionists and skeptics. The power of Trotsky, first of all and above all, was the power of Marxism.
If you reproach yourself or us because this murder than ever before, because for the first time we realized with Do you want a concrete illustration of the power of machine finally reached Trotsky and struck him down, you full consciousness that we have to do it all now. We can Marxist ideas. Just consider this: When Marx died in 1883, must remember that it is very hard to protect anyone from lean on the Old Man any more. What is done now, we must Trotsky was but four years old. Lenin was only fourteen.
assassins. The assassin who stalks his victim night and day do. That is the spirit in which we have got to work from Neither could have known Marx, or anything about him. Yet very often breaks through the greatest protections. Even Rusnow on.
both became great historical figures because of Marx, because sian Czars and other rulers, surrounded by all the police pow The capitalist masters of the world instinctively underMarx had circulated ideas in the world before they were born. ers of great states, could not always escape assassination by stood the meaning of the name of Trotsky. The friend of the Those ideas were living their own life. They shaped the lives small bands of determined terrorists equipped with the most oppressed, the maker of revolutions, was the incarnation of of Lenin and Trotsky. Marx ideas were with them and guid meagre resources. This was the case more than once in Russia all that they hated and feared! Even in death they revile him.
ed their every step when they made the greatest revolution in the pre revolutionary days. And here, in the case of Trot Their newspapers splash their filth over his name. He was in history sky, you had all that in reverse. All the resources were on the the world exile in the time of reaction. No door was open to So will the ideas of Trotsky, which are a development of side of the assassins. great state apparatus, converted into a him anywhere except that of the Republic of Mexico. The the ideas of Marx, influence us, his disciples who survive him murder machine, against one man and a few devoted disciples. fact that Trotsky was barred from all capitalist countries is today. They will shape the lives of far greater disciples who So, if they finally broke through we have only to ask our in itself the clearest refutation of all the slanders of the Stalinare yet to come, who do not yet know Trotsky name. Some selves, did we do all we could to prevent it or postpone it? ists, of all their foul accusations that he betrayed the revoluwho are destined to be the greatest Trotskyists are playing in Yes, we did our best. In all conscience, we must say we did tion, that he had turned against the workers. They never conthe school yards today. They will be nourished on Trotsky our best.
vinced the capitalist world of that. Not for a moment.
ideas as he and Lenin were nourished on the ideas of Marx In the last weeks after the assault of May 24th, we once THEY FEAR HIS DEAD BODY and Engels.
again put on the agenda of our leading committee the ques The capitalists all kinds fear and hate even his dead HIS IDEAS WERE ENOUGH tion of the protection of Comrade Trotsky. Every comrade body! The doors of our great democracy are open to many Indeed, our movement in the United States took shape agreed that this is our most important task, most important political refugees, of course. All sorts of reactionaries; demoand grew up on his ideas without his physical presence, withfor the masses of the whole world and for the future genera cratic scoundrels who betrayed and deserted their people: out even any communication in the first period. Trotsky was tions, that above all we do everything in our power to protect monarchists and even fascists they have all been welcomed exiled and isolated in Alma Ata when we began our struggle the life of our genius, our comrade, who helped and guided in New York harbor. But not even the dead body of the friend for Trotskyism in this country in 1928. We had no contact us so well. delegation of party leaders made a visit to of the oppressed could find asylum here! We shall not forget with him, and for a long time did not know whether he was Mexico. It turned out to be our last visit. There, on that oc that! We shall nourish that grievance close to our hearts and clead or alive. We didn even have a collection of his writings. casion, in consultation with him, we agreed upon a new cam in good time we shall take our revenge.
All we had was one single current document, his Criticism paign to strengthen the guard. We collected money in this The great and powerful democracy of Roosevelt and Hull of the Draft Program of the Comintern. That was enough. country to fortify the house at the cost of thousands of dol wouldn let us bring his body here for the funeral. But he By the light of that single document we saw our way, began lars: all our members and sympathizers responded with great is here just the same. All of us feel that he is here in this hall our struggle with supreme confidence, went through the split sacrifices and generosity.
tonight not only in his great ideas, but also, especially towithout faltering, built the framework of a national organiza And still the murder machine broke through. But those night, in our memory of him as a man. We have a right to tion and established our weekly Trotskyist press. Our move who helped even in the smallest degree, either financially or be proud that the best man of our time belonged to us, the ment was built firmly from the very beginning and has rewith their physical efforts, like our brave young comrades greatest brain and strongest and most loyal heart. The class mained firm because it was built on Trotsky ideas. It was of the guard, will never be sorry for what they did to protect society we live in exalts the rascals, cheats, self seekers, liars nearly a year before we were able to establish direct comand help the Old Man.
and oppressors of the people. You can hardly name an intelmunication with the Old Man.
lectual representative of the decaying class society, of high So with the sections of the fourth International throughWHEN THE TERRIBLE NEWS CAME or low degree, who is not a miserable hypocrite and contempout the world. Only a very few individual comrades have ever At the hour Comrade Trotsky was finally struck down, tible coward, concerned first of all with his own inconsequenmet Trotsky face to face. Yet everywhere they knew him. In was returning by train from a special journey to Minneatial personal affairs and saving his own worthless skin. What China, and across the broad oceans to Chile, Argentine, Bra polis. had gone there for the purpose of arranging for new a wretched tribe they are. There is no honesty, no inspiration, vil. In Australia, in practically every country of Europe. In and especially qualified comrades to go down and strengthen nothing in the whole of them. They have not a single man the United States, Canada, Indo China, South Africa. They the guard in Coyoacan. On the way home sat in the railroad that can strike a spark in the heart of youth. Our Old Man never saw him, but the ideas of Trotsky welded them all to train with a feeling of satisfaction that the task of the trip was made of better stuff. Our Old Man was made of entirely gether in one uniform and firm world movement. So it will had been accomplished, reinforcements of the guard had been different stuff. He towered above these pygmies in his moral continue after his physical death. There is no room for doubt. provided for grandeur HIS PLACE IN HISTORY Then, as the train passed through Pennsylvania, about CITIZEN OF THE COMMUNIST FUTURE Trotsky place in history is already established. He will four o clock in the morning, they brought the early papers Comrade Trotsky not only struggled for a new social stand forever on a historical eminence beside the other three with the news that the assassin had broken through the de order based on human solidarity as a future goal; he lived great giants of the proletariat: Marx, Engels and Lenin. It is fenses and driven a pick axe into the brain of Comrade Trotpossible, indeed it is quite probable, that in the historic memevery day of his life according to its higher and nobler stansky. That was the beginning of a terrible day, the saddest day dards. They wouldn let him be a citizen of any country. But, cry of mankind, his name will evoke the warmest affection, of our lives, when we waited hour by hour, while the Old Man in truth, he was much more than that. He was already, in his the most heartfelt gratitude of all. Because he fought so long, fought his last fight and struggled vainly with death. But even mind and in his conduct, a citizen of the Communist future against such a world of enemies, so honestly, so heroically, then, in that hour of terrible grief when we received the fatal of humanity. That memory of him as a man, as a comrade, and with such selfless devotion!
message over the long distance telephone: The Old Man is is more precious than gold and rubies. We can hardly underFuture generations of free humanity will look back with dead. even then we didn permit ourselves to stop for weep stand a man of that type living among us. We are all caught insatiable interest on this mad epoch of reaction and bloody ing. We plunged immediately into the work to defend his in the steel net of the class society, with its inequalities, its violence and social change this epoch of the death agony of memory and carry out his testament. And we worked harder (Continued on page 3)
WE TRIED IN VAIN TO SAVE HIM HE COMPLETED HIS TESTAMENT They killed Trotsky not by one blow; not when this murderer, the agent of Stalin, drove the pick axe through the back of his skull. That was only the final blow. They killed him by inches. They killed him many times. They killed him seven times when they killed his seven secretaries. They killed him four times when they killed his four children. They killed him when his old co workers of the Russian revolution were killed.
Yet he stood up to his tasks in spite of all that. Growing old and sick, he staggered through all these moral, emotional and physical blows to complete his testament to humanity while he still had time. He gathered it all together every thought, every idea, every lesson from his past experienceto lay up a literary treasure for us, a treasure that the moths and the rust cannot eat.
There was a profound difference between Trotsky and other great men of action and transitory political leaders who influenced great masses in their life time. The power of such people, almost all of them, was something personal, something incommunicable to others. Their influence did not survive iheir deaths. Just recall for a moment the great men of our generation, or the generation just passed. Clemenceau, Hindenburg, Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Bryan. They had great masses following them and leaning upon them. But now they are dead and all their influence died with them. Nothing re. mains but monuments and funeral eulogies. Nothing was distinctive about them but their personalities. They were opportunists, leaders for a day. They left no ideas to guide and inspire men when their bodies became dust, and their personalities became a memory.
Not so with Trotsky. Not so with him. He was different.
He was also a great man of action, to be sure. His deeds are incorporated in the greatest revolution in the history of mankind. But, unlike the opportunists and leaders of a day, his deeds were inspired by great ideas and these ideas still live.
He not only made a revolution; he wrote its history and explained the basic laws which govern all revolutions. In his History of the Russian Revolution, which he considered his masterpiece, he gave us a guide for the making of new revolutions, or rather, for extending throughout the world the revolution that began in October, 1917.
HE HIMSELF WAS DISCIPLE Trotsky, the great man of ideas, was himself the disciple of a still greater one Marx. Trotsky did not originate, or claim to originate, the most fundamental ideas which he expounded. He built on the foundations laid by the great masons of the 19th Century Marx and Engels. In addition, he went through the great school of Lenin and learned from him. Trotsky genius consisted in his complete assimilation of the ideas bequeathed by Marx, Engels and Lenin. He mastered their method. He developed their ideas in modern condiand applied them in masterful fashion in the contemporary struggle of the proletariat.
If you would understand Trotsky, you must know that he was a disciple of Marx, an orthodox Marxist. He fought under the banner of Marxism for 42 years! During the last year of his life he laid everything else aside to fight a great political and theoretical battle in defense of Marxism in the ranks of the Fourth International! His very last article, which was left on his desk in unpolished form, the last article with