Second Letter to the International Secretariat, July 17, 1935

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For Defense of Soviet Revolutionaries

To the International Secretariat Dear Comrades: 1. It is very important that Action socialiste has adopted the proposal for an international commission on acts of terror against revolutionary elements in the Soviet Union. I think we have to build a big international action around it. The IS could publish an appeal on this question. Perhaps the secretariat could do so for the Fourth International. In any case the matter should not be dragged out. In my opinion the appeal should be short and it should have an unemotional, totally “objective” character: The terrorist measures against Communist elements and against Lenin’s old co-workers are increasing (the Zinoviev affair, the Yenukidze case). The charges against old and young revolutionaries in the official and officious Comintern press (Deutsche Rundschau) are becoming increasingly monstrous and difficult to believe. (Perhaps some quotations from the Rundschau.) Even the big Comintern newspapers do not dare to reprint these charges from the Rundschau. Nevertheless, individuals are being sentenced and executed on the basis of these charges. The disquiet and concern, and often the indignation, within the ranks of the entire world proletariat are very great. In order to dispel the growing mistrust, the Soviet government has to prove with facts and documents that it is really a question of combating the enemies of the workers’ state and not one of a war of extermination by a bureaucratic grouping carried out against its opponents and critics. This it can only achieve through an international commission whose composition could guarantee complete objectivity as well as loyalty to the workers’ state and the world proletariat. This is only an approximate indication of the contents. The task would be to win the support of different groups, organizations, and individuals. In this matter collaboration with respectable centrist organizations is completely in order. If the project is undertaken energetically, perhaps the creation of an international relief organization could be achieved. 2. We have not received the manifesto yet. The supplement on America could create the suspicion that the intention was to commit oneself and others through general phrases to a position on the struggle of the different tendencies in the WPUS. If that was not the objective of the authors of the supplement, so much the better. 3. On the composition of the General Council: of course every section must be represented in it, even those that are not represented in the International Secretariat. In my last letter I did not mention some sections only because the question of personnel did not seem clear to me. In the German section, for example, Bur, Johre, Fischer, or Nicolle as members of the IS? It should be decided in consultation with the section itself which two comrades should be incorporated. I am not clear on how matters stand in Spain, Greece, and Latin America. In any case, all important groups, or those that have qualified comrades (our Polish friends, too), must be in the General Council. During the period of illegality, when thoroughly organized congresses will be impossible, the General Council would remain the decision-making body. 4. We must now give the Belgian experience the closest attention. It is already clear: essentially our Belgian friends are right. Sharp conflict with Marteau is the best protection against a Stalinist degeneration of the left wing of the SP. In the course of time the SP wing will acquire a totally different significance in Belgium than in France. By the way, the Belgian example proves that in entering into reformist or centrist parties it is not so much a question of legal rights, but rather one of the political situation inside and outside the party. Details in the letter to the Polish comrades.