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Special pages :
Letter to the National Committee of the Communist League of America, December 25, 1931
| Author(s) | Leon Trotsky |
|---|---|
| Written | 25 December 1931 |
The CLA Role in Europe
National Committee of the Communist League of America
Dear Comrades:
In a few days you will receive a circular letter from me to the national sections which speaks of our successes and our failures. In this letter we also deal with an American comrade who delivered a scandalous report on Russia. This American is Miller. It was related to me as though he had had a recommendation from an American Opposition comrade. I consider this out of the question and shall be very glad if you clear up this misunderstanding.
In my letter I also had to take a position against our friend Shachtman. The reason for this will be clear to you from the enclosed copy of my letter to Comrade Shachtman himself. My efforts to find a common language with him in the most disputed European questions were never crowned with success. It appeared to me that Comrade Shachtman always was â and still is â guided in these questions, which are somewhat remote from America, more by personal and journalistic sympathies than by fundamental political considerations.
I know very well that from America it is not easy for you to understand the internal European struggles in the Opposition immediately and to take a precise position on them. Nor can anybody demand this of you. You must understand, however, that it is not received very well here when Comrade Shachtman at the sharpest moments adopts a position, presumably with the authority of the American section, which completely counteracts the struggle that the progressive elements of the Opposition have been conducting for a long time and upon the basis of which a certain selection has taken place. Naturally it does not occur to me to deprive Comrade Shachtman of the right to intervene in European affairs according to his standpoint or his inclination as much as he wants. But then it must be clear in this connection that it is only a question of one of the leading American comrades, not of the American League as an organization.
Do not take these remarks badly; they are dictated by the interests of the cause.
With best communist greetings.
Yours,
L. Trotsky