In Memory of A. A. Joffe

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Comrades, Adolf Abramovich has become part of the history of the last decade above all as a diplomatic representative of the first workers’ state in history. It has been said here — and in the press — that he was an outstanding diplomat. That is correct. He was a diplomat — that is, he served at the post to which he was assigned by the revolution and the workers’ government. But he was a great diplomat because he was a revolutionist through and through.

By social origin, Adolf Abramovich was the product of a bourgeois environment — more precisely, of a wealthy bourgeois family. But as we know, there have been cases in history when the products of this sort of environment have made such a sharp break with their background — a break that goes to the very marrow of their bones — that from then on, there is no danger of their ever being won over to petty-bourgeois ideas. Adolf Abramovich was and remained a revolutionist to the end.

Speakers here today have referred — and rightly so — to the high level of his cultural attainments. As a diplomat he was forced to move in enemy circles, among cunning, sharp-eyed, and venomous foes. He knew this world, its customs and habits, and he assumed the ways of this world with subtlety and skill; but for him this was like putting on a uniform required by his post of duty. Adolf Abramovich never wore a uniform on his soul. It has been said here — and said correctly — that he was a stranger to routine or stereotyped attitudes on any question whatsoever. He approached every problem as a revolutionist. He held posts of responsibility but he was never a bureaucrat. Bureaucratism was alien to him. He looked at every problem from the point of view of the working class, which had raised itself from the depths of the underground to the heights of state power. He approached every problem from the point of view of the international proletariat and the international revolution. And this was the source of his strength, a strength he called on constantly to combat his own physical weakness. His strength of mind and his ability to exert its power remained with him to the very last moment, when the bullet left the dark stain that we can see here today upon his right temple.

Comrades, you might say that he withdrew from life by his own choice. And the revolution permits none of us to withdraw on our own initiative. But let no one presume to judge Adolf Abramovich. For he withdrew at a point when, in his own thinking, he had nothing left to give the revolution but his death. Then, firmly and courageously, as he had lived life, he left it.

Difficult times never frightened him. He remained on the same even keel in October 1917 when he was a member, and later chairman, of the Military Revolutionary Committee in Petrograd; the same on the battleground outside the city as the shells from Yudenich’s cannon burst all around; and the same at the diplomatic table in Brest-Litovsk, and later in so many capitals of Europe and Asia. Difficulties did not distress him. What impelled him to abandon life was the consciousness that it was impossible for him to combat those difficulties.

Comrades, let me say this — and it is a consideration I believe corresponds in full to Adolf Abramovich’s last thoughts and last testament — such an action, withdrawing from life by one’s own decision, has a contagious power. Let no one presume to follow the example of this old fighter in his death. No. Follow him in his life.

Those of us who were his close friends, who not only fought side by side but lived side by side with him for decades, are forced now to tear ourselves away from the vivid image of this exceptional person and friend who remains in our hearts. There was a gentle and steady glow about Adolf Abramovich that gave warmth to all around him. He was a focal point around whom others gathered — in the emigre circles, in the penal colonies, and in prison. He came, as I have already said, from a well-to-do family, but the means at his disposal in his younger years were not just his own property. They became the resources of the revolution. He helped comrades with a generous hand, not waiting to be asked — as a brother, as a true friend.

Here in this coffin we bring the mortal remains of this exceptional person, at whose side it was so easy and pleasant for us to live and fight. Let us take our leave of him in the same spirit that he lived and fought: he took his stand under the banner of Marx and Lenin; under that banner he died. And we vow to you, Adolf Abramovich, we will carry your banner through to the end!