Appeal of the Deportees

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We, the undersigned, expelled from the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party before the Fifteenth Party Congress or by a resolution of that congress, felt it necessary to appeal our expulsion in due course to the highest body of the world Communist movement, that is, to the Sixth Congress of the Communist International. However, at the orders of the GPU (or in part by a resolution of the party's Central Committee) we, Old Bolshevik party militants, are being exiled to the remotest parts of the Soviet Union, without the presentation of any accusation against us, for the sole purpose of preventing our communication with Moscow and the other working class centers, and, as a consequence, with the Sixth World Congress. We consider it necessary, therefore, on the eve of our enforced departure to distant parts of the Union, to address this declaration to the presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, with the request that the presidium make our declaration known to the central committees of all the Communist parties.

1. The GPU is banishing us on the basis of Article 58 of the Criminal Code, i.e., for "propaganda or agitation calling for the overthrow, undermining, or weakening of Soviet power or for the commission of individual counterrevolutionary acts."

With calm disdain, we reject the attempt to subsume under this article dozens of Bolshevik-Leninists who did a great deal to establish, defend, and consolidate Soviet power in the past and who in the future as well will devote all their strength to defending the dictatorship of the proletariat.

2. This banishment of veteran militants by administrative order of the GPU is only a new link in the chain of events that are shaking the Soviet Communist Party. These events will have immense historical significance for years to come. The present disagreements are among the most important in the history of the international revolutionary movement. What is involved, in fact, is the issue of how to preserve the dictatorship of the proletariat that was won in 1917. Yet the struggle in the Soviet Communist Party has gone on behind the backs of the Communist International, without its participation, and even without its knowledge. The most important documents of the Opposition, dedicated to the major problems of our era, are still unknown to the International. Always the Communist parties are presented with accomplished facts, and they merely rubber-stamp decisions that have already been made. We maintain that such a dangerous situation grows out of the radically wrong regime within the AUCP and the whole Communist International.

3. The exceptional harshness of the struggle within the party recently which led to our expulsion from it (and now our exile, without any additional reasons being given) is the result of nothing other than our desire to make our views known to the party and the International. Under Lenin such a desire by a minority was considered quite normal and to be expected. During that period, discussions were held on the basis of the publication and full examination of all the documents concerning the questions in dispute. Without such a system the Communist International cannot become what it must be. The international proletariat still has ahead of it the struggle for power against the very powerful bourgeoisie. This struggle presupposes that the Communist parties will have strong leadership, enjoying moral authority and capable of acting on its own. Such leadership can be created only over a period of years, by selecting the staunchest, most self-reliant, most consistent, and most courageous representatives of the proletarian vanguard. Not even the most conscientious functionaries can replace revolutionary leaders. The victory of the proletarian revolution in Europe and in the whole world depends, in large measure, on the solution of the problem of revolutionary leadership. The internal regime of the Communist International at present prevents the selection and training of such a leadership. This is most strikingly evident in the completely passive attitude of the foreign Communist parties toward the internal processes of the AUCP, with whose fate the destiny of the Communist International is intimately linked.

4. We Oppositionists have broken the norms of party life. Why? Because we have been deprived of the opportunity to exercise our normal rights as party members. In order to bring our point of view to the attention of the [Fifteenth Party] Congress, we were forced to make unauthorized use of a state-owned print shop In order to refute before the working class the misrepresentation of our position, and in particular the vile slander concerning our alleged ties with a "Wrangel officer" and with the counterrevolution in general, we raised picket signs at the tenth anniversary demonstration bearing the following slogans:

"Let us turn our fire against the right: against the kulaks, NEPmen, and bureaucrats."

"Carry out Lenin's last Testament."

"For real democracy in the party."

These undeniably Bolshevik slogans were declared not only hostile to the party, but counterrevolutionary. We openly warn you that in the future there will be attempts to invent so-called links between the Opposition and the organizations of the White Guards and the Mensheviks, although we, of all tendencies, are the farthest removed from them.

No grounds were given by us for such an amalgam, but none were necessary – just as none were needed for our banishment.

5. In the declaration addressed to the Fifteenth Congress, signed by comrades Smilga, Muralov, Rakovsky, and Radek, we announced that we would abide by the decisions of the Fifteenth Congress, and that we were ready to cease factional work. In spite of this, we have been expelled and are being exiled because of our opinions. Above all, however, we have stated – and we repeat here – that we cannot renounce our opinions, which we expressed in our theses and in our Platform, since the whole course of events is confirming their correctness.

6. The theory of building socialism in one country inevitably leads to separating the fate of the Soviet Union from that of the international proletarian revolution as a whole. To pose the question in this way is to undermine the very foundations of the theory and politics of proletarian internationalism. Our struggle against this thoroughly anti-Marxist theory, which was invented in 1925 – that is, our struggle for the fundamental interests of the Communist International – is what has led to our expulsion from the party and our official exile.

7. The revision of Marxism and Leninism on the fundamental question of the international character of the proletarian revolution derives from the fact that the period since 1923 has been marked by very severe defeats for the international proletarian revolution (Bulgaria and Germany in 1923, Estonia in 1924, England in 1926, China and Austria in 1927). These defeats in themselves made possible what has been called the stabilization of capitalism, since they temporarily consolidated the position of the world bourgeoisie; because of the latter's renewed pressure on the USSR, these defeats slowed the pace of the construction of socialism; they reinforced the positions of our domestic bourgeoisie; they gave it the opportunity to strengthen its ties with many elements in the Soviet state apparatus; they increased the pressure of this apparatus on that of the party; and they led to the weakening of the left wing of our party. During these same years, Social Democracy enjoyed a temporary renaissance in Europe, accompanied by a weakening of the Communist parties, and a strengthening of the right wing within these parties. The Opposition in the Soviet CP, as its left, proletarian wing, suffered defeats at the same time as the positions of the world proletarian revolution became weaker.

8. While the parties of the Comintern have not yet had a chance to correctly evaluate the true historical significance of the Opposition, the world bourgeoisie, by contrast, has already passed unambiguous judgment on it. All of the more or less serious bourgeois newspapers of all countries consider the Left Opposition their mortal enemy, and see on the other hand the politics of the present ruling majority as a necessary transition for the USSR toward the "civilized" – i.e., capitalist – world.

We believe the presidium of the Comintern ought to collect the opinions expressed by the political leaders and the major publications of the bourgeoisie concerning the internal struggle in the Soviet CP, in order to let the Sixth Congress draw the necessary political conclusions on this most important question.

9. The outcome and the lessons of the Chinese revolution, a revolution that constitutes one of the greatest events in world history, have been kept in obscurity, barred from discussion, and have not been assimilated by the public opinion of the proletarian vanguard. In reality, the Central Committee of the AUCP has prohibited discussion of the questions related to the Chinese revolution. But without studying the mistakes that were committed – the classic mistakes of opportunism – it is impossible to imagine the future revolutionary preparation of the proletarian parties of Europe and Asia.

Aside from the question of knowing who was immediately responsible for the leadership of the December events in Canton, those events furnish a striking example of putschism during the ebb of the revolutionary wave. In a revolutionary period, a deviation toward opportunism is often the result of defeats, whose direct cause is to be found in an opportunist leadership. The Communist International cannot take a single new step forward without first drawing the lessons of the experience of the Canton uprising, in correlation with the course of the Chinese revolution as a whole. This is one of the main tasks of the Sixth World Congress. The repressive measures taken against the left wing will not only fail to correct the errors already made but, even more serious, they will teach nothing to anyone.

10. The most blatant and ominous contradiction in the politics of the AUCP and the Comintern as a whole is this: after four years of the process of stabilization leading to a reinforcement of the right-wing tendencies in the workers' movement, the fire continues to be directed, as before, against the left wing. During the past period, we have witnessed mistakes and monstrous opportunist deviations in the Communist parties of Germany, England, France, Poland, China, etc. . . . Meanwhile, the left wing of the Comintern has been the object of a campaign of annihilation that still persists. It is incontestably true that at the present time the working masses of Europe are moving to the left politically, because of the contradictions inherent in the process of stabilization. It is difficult to predict the pace of this leftward movement or the forms it will take in the near future. But the continuing campaign against the left-wing elements paves the way for a new crisis of leadership when the revolutionary situation becomes critical, as we have seen in recent years in Bulgaria, Germany, England, Poland, China, etc. Can revolutionaries, Leninists, Bolsheviks be asked to remain silent in the face of such a perspective?

11. We do not think it necessary once again to refute the absolutely false statement that we deny the proletarian character of our state, the possibility of building socialism, or even the necessity of an unconditional defense of the proletarian dictatorship against its class enemies from within and without. That is not what the discussion is about. It is about how to assess the dangers that threaten the dictatorship of the proletariat, what methods to use to combat these dangers, and how to distinguish true friends from false and genuine enemies from imaginary ones.

We contend that in the last few years, influenced by both internal and international pressures, the relationship of forces in our country has changed in an unfavorable direction for the proletariat; that its influence in the economy and in the political, economic, and cultural life of the country has shrunk, rather than grown; we maintain that in this country the forces of Thermidorian reaction have been strengthened, and that to underestimate the dangers that result from that is to worsen those dangers to an extraordinary degree. The expulsion of the Opposition from the party is an unconscious but no less real service by the party apparatus to the non-proletarian classes, who seek to strengthen themselves at the expense of the working class. It is from this point of view that we judge our deportation, and we do not doubt that in the near future the world proletarian vanguard will make the same judgment on this question as we do.

12. The reprisals against Oppositionists coincide with the new sharpening of economic difficulties unprecedented in recent years. Shortages of industrial goods, the disruption of grain collections after three good harvests, the growing threat to the monetary system – all of this slows down the development of the productive forces, clearly weakens the socialist elements of the economy, and prevents improvements in the living conditions of the proletariat and the rural poor.

Under conditions of a worsening situation with respect to consumer goods on the market, workers inevitably repulse attempts to revise the collective agreements in the direction of lowered wage rates.

The GPU declares that these colossal failures of the prevailing course are criminally attributable to the exiled Oppositionists, whose actual crime has been to predict repeatedly, over the past several years, that all the present difficulties would be the inevitable consequence of the incorrect economic course and to have, in a timely manner, demanded that the course be fundamentally changed.

13. The preparations for the Fifteenth Party congress – which was called after a two-year interval, in violation of the party statutes – were themselves a glaring and serious example of the growing violence of the apparatus, which relies more and more on repressive government measures. As for the congress itself, without consideration or debate it adopted a resolution calling for biennial congresses in the future.

In a country with a proletarian dictatorship, of which the Communist Party is the expression, it was necessary ten years after the October Revolution to take away the party's elementary right to check up at least once a year on the activities of its institutions and, above all, its Central Committee.

Even under the most unfavorable conditions created by the civil war and the famine, congresses were sometimes held twice a year, but never less than once a year. Then the party truly discussed and truly decided every question, never ceasing to be the master of its own fate. What powers now force us to regard congresses as necessary evils, that have to be kept to a minimum? These powers are not those of the proletariat. They are the result of bourgeois pressure brought to bear on the proletarian vanguard. This pressure led to the expulsion of the Opposition and the deportation of Old Bolsheviks to Siberia and other remote places.

14. We reject the charge that we aim to create a second party. We warn that the elements of a second party are in reality taking shape, behind the backs of the party's masses, especially its proletarian nucleus, wherever the degenerated elements of the party apparatus meet those of the state and the new property-owning class. The worst representatives of the bureaucracy, whether they are card-carrying party members or not, having absolutely nothing in common with the aims and methods of the international proletarian revolution, are becoming ever more concentrated, thus creating points of support for a second party, which, in the course of its development, could become the left wing of the Thermidorian forces. The accusation that we, defenders of the historical line of Bolshevism, aim to create a second party serves unconsciously to cover up the underground work of historical forces that are hostile to the proletariat. We warn the Comintern of these processes. Sooner or later, they will become obvious to everyone. But every day lost makes resistance to these processes more difficult.

15. The Sixth Congress of the International should be prepared for as in Lenin's time: publish all the most important documents touching the questions under discussion; put a stop to the persecution of Communists guilty only of acting upon their rights as members of the party; raise in its full dimensions, in the discussion preceding the congress, the question of the situation within the Soviet CP, its regime, and its political line.

The debated questions cannot be solved by additional repressive measures. Such measures can play a great positive role when they supplement a correct political line and hasten the dissolution of reactionary groups. As Bolsheviks we fully understand the role of such measures of revolutionary repression; we used them many times against the bourgeoisie and their agents, the Social Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks.

Nor do we consider for one moment renouncing such measures against the enemies of the proletariat. But we remember clearly that repression by our enemies against the Bolsheviks remained ineffective. What is decisive, in the final analysis, is the correct political line.

To us, soldiers of the October Revolution and comrades-in-arms of Lenin, our deportation is the clearest expression of the changes in the relationship of class forces in this country, and of the leadership's drift toward opportunism. In spite of all this, we remain firmly convinced that the basis of Soviet power is still the proletariat. It is still possible, by means of a decisive change in the line of the leadership, by correcting the mistakes already made, by profound reforms, without new revolutionary upheavals, to straighten out and solidify the system of proletarian dictatorship. This possibility may become a reality if the Communist International intervenes decisively.

We appeal to all the Communist parties and to the Sixth Congress of the International, urgently demanding that they examine all these questions in the open and with the full participation of the party membership. The Testament of Lenin never sounded more prophetic than at this moment. Nobody knows how much time the course of historic events will leave us to correct the mistakes that have been made. Submitting to force, we are leaving our posts in the party and the Soviets for a meaningless and futile exile. But in doing so we do not for one minute doubt that each and all of us will not only be needed by the party again, but will take our places in the fighting ranks in the great battles to come.

On the basis of all that has been said we urgently request the Sixth Congress of the Communist International to reinstate us in the party.

M. Alsky

A. Beloborodov

A. Ishchenko (candidate member, Profintern Executive Bureau)

L. Trotsky

K. Radek

Kh. Rakovsky

Ye. A. Preobrazhensky

I. N. Smirnov

L. Serebryakov

I. Smilga

L. Sosnovsky

N. Muralov

G. Valentinov

Nevelson-Man

V. Eltsin

V. Vaganyan

V. Malyuta

V. Kasparova

S. Kavtaradze

Vilensky (Sibiryakov)