Letter to Jan Frankel, April 29, 1933

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Recommendations to the IS

Dear Jan:

This is in reply to your letter of April 23. Your malaria is a great misfortune. You must consult a good specialist no matter what.

1. You complain that the editors of Unser Wort do not answer letters. Otto writes, for his part, that the International Secretariat does not answer its letters. It’s impossible to understand anything in this. I think you are giving unreliable addresses, where the letters lie around or get lost. Most countries write care of Raymond. Isn’t it possible to find a more inoffensive address? It is also possible that the complaints about the IS date from the time before you were in Paris.

2. If the plenum is not postponed, I cannot provide any documents for the plenum — much as I would like to.

On the question of the old party and the new party in Germany, the plenum should of course express its opinion but not in such a way that it seems to be giving a direct “order” to the German section. They must be given time to get the feel of the new situation and accustom themselves to the new perspective.

3. As for the technical questions having to do with Germany, they can be solved only on the condition that the newspaper is brought out properly. The situation in Germany is such that the paper must be paid for mainly from resources outside the country. Subscribers and distributors must be obtained for the paper in all German-language countries and wherever there are German emigres. I believe this is entirely possible.

4. The consideration you raise, that the Left Opposition should show more independence and initiative in every country, in particular toward the left Social Democrats, is absolutely correct. As the letter I received from Krieger in Austria shows, the Left Opposition inside the Austrian Social Democracy is growing rapidly, and sympathy toward us is increasing in their midst. We must watch for similar developments in other countries. This question must be raised as a special point on the plenum agenda. It must be obligatory for each section to follow closely what is going on inside the Social Democracy in its own country, to establish its own nuclei [inside the Social Democratic party], and to issue appeals, not of an abstract character but geared to the actual internal processes within the Social Democracy. This is a very important question now.

5. I just finished a big article for the Russian Biulleten and the foreign press, “Problems of the Soviet Regime: The Theory of Degeneration and the Degeneration of Theory.” It is being translated into French and German, and will be sent to you tomorrow or the day after.

6. In Germany, the provinces — all of them, not just Leipzig — complain about the leadership in Berlin. These complaints are not very serious. The leadership, under the present circumstances, cannot take very big initiatives; it does not have the people, the funds, or the technical resources. All these things can be built up only gradually on the basis of initiatives taken in the provinces. The local organizations often convert their own impotence into complaints addressed to the center. We must fight against that, calling on the local organizations to take initiatives themselves.

7. On the SAP, I have written an article in letter form, which was sent to you in Russian. This piece has not been translated into German here.

I have been told about Thomas’s possible trip here, but in extremely unclear form.

For links with the SAP, it seems to me the Secretariat should make use of Neurath, who knows all these people well and has a high degree of interest in attracting them to us.

8. It is good that Goldenberg has come back from the dead. I had gathered together all the material about him (his articles, dissertation, and letters to me) in order to write an obituary about him. It is a pleasure to drop that work. Pass on my greetings if you see him, and my hopes that he will energetically undertake to bring our organizations closer together.

9. What you report about the NOI I find extremely amazing. I have not received any documents about the expulsion of Blascoand the others. On what grounds was this done? From your letter one can draw the conclusion that a break is unavoidable and that the only question is what form it should take. I am astounded in the utmost. I have not heard of any differences in principle. Apparently the basis for the conflict lies in the relations between the NOI and the League. If that is so, we must make serious concessions to the NOI, i.e., allow it not to join the League but to carry on its work completely independently. It seems to me that , mistaken statements were made and mistaken steps taken in relation to the NOI and these were bound to offend the sensibilities of the emigre circles especially deeply. These mistakes must be corrected, rather than being deepened and being carried to the point of a split.

10. The successes in South America are very gratifying, but we cannot forget that for the most part South America uses Spanish literature. We should especially direct the attention of all our South American sections to our differences with the Spanish section. It would be good to send them in Spanish my correspondence with Nin and my last two letters dealing with Spanish matters.

Greetings and best wishes.

Yours,

L.T.