Message to the Conference of the Spanish Left Opposition

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Dear Comrades:

The very fact that the conference of the Spanish Left Opposition is being convoked in itself represents an undeniable achievement for which I sincerely congratulate you.

I deeply regret that circumstances have kept you from publishing in convenient time the draft resolutions, and thus from giving foreign comrades an opportunity to take part in these deliberations before the conference. For this reason, with no opportunity to pronounce my views more concretely on the questions on your agenda, I here confine myself to a few short remarks. It is quite possible that their elementary character renders them superfluous. I should be the first to rejoice if this is so.

1. First of all, it seems to me that in the regional reports it is necessary to clarify just what part the Bolshevik-Leninists have taken in the genuine acts and struggles of Spain's working class. That is the central question. A political group that stayed outside of the actual movement and occupied itself with criticisms after the events, especially under revolutionary conditions, would be rejected by the working class. I do not doubt for a moment that the majority of the Bolshevik-Leninists in the regions have participated in all the mass movements, even when they regarded them as not conforming to their own purposes. A revolutionist criticizes not from the outside but from the very heart of the movement itself. On January 9, 1905, the Bolsheviks, together with the workers, marched to the czar to lead the republican propaganda, with far greater success.

I do not doubt that on this fundamental question we shall not have the slightest difference among us. If I nevertheless raise the question it is because the experience of other countries has shown that certain isolated elements are preparing to link themselves with the Left Opposition, elements that under the pretext of "Marxist criticism" actually dodge the revolutionary struggle. For these gentlemen, the revolutionary movement is never sufficiently "conscious," "mature," and "noble," for them to indulge themselves in coming out on the streets with the workers. At an opportune moment, we must purge the organization of people who, in the crucial moment of the struggle, are inclined to profoundly contemplate their navels.

That is why I advise, in connection with the critical work of the Opposition, that its direct participation in the struggle be clarified in the regional reports. A concrete report on this subject would be very useful for our entire international press.

2. Another question to which I would like to call your attention touches upon the international character of our work.

Opportunists like Maurín and his Madrid imitators built up their entire policy on their national peculiarities. Not to know these peculiarities would of course be the greatest idiocy. But underneath them we must know how to discover the motivating forces of international developments and grasp the dependence of national peculiarities upon the world combination of forces. The tremendous advantage of Marxism and consequently of the Left Opposition consists precisely in this international manner of solving national problems and national peculiarities.

For your young organization a particular task is carefully following the work of the other sections of the International Left Opposition in order always to do your work in conformity with the interests of the whole. Without international criteria, without regular international links, without control over the work of a national section, the formation of a true revolutionary proletarian organization is impossible in our epoch.

3. Germany stands at the center of the world picture right now. I do not doubt that your conference will devote all necessary attention to the burning problems of the German revolution. This is a question of immeasurable as well as immediate importance for the Spanish Opposition. The more clearly the Spanish Bolshevik-Leninists pose and decide the problems of the German revolution before the eyes of the official party and the proletariat of Spain, the more smashing a blow they will deal to bureaucratic centrism, and the more quickly they will concentrate about them the sympathies and support of the advanced workers of Spain.

In confining myself to these short remarks, I warmly wish you success in the work of your conference. Forward! There are mighty tasks and decisive struggles; may your conference forge the necessary weapons for these struggles.

With communist greetings,.

L. Trotsky