Supplementary and Indispensable Explanations of My July 2 Statements

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To show the injustice with which El Popular, Futuro, and La Voz de Mexico accuse me of defamation, I choose Futuro among these publications. The reasons for this choice are the following: Futuro is not published daily, but monthly — as a result, the editorial staff has the opportunity to choose its contributors carefully and to weigh their articles; the editor of the magazine is Lombardo Toledano; on the editorial board, along with Victor Villaseñor and Luis Fernandez del Campo appears Mr. Alejandro Carrillo, editor of El Popular. So it is that everything that can be said and proved about Futuro applies even more so to El Popular, not to mention La Voz de Mexico. As a result, I will refer here to the last two periodicals only in passing, reserving the right to return to them.

It is hardly my intention to enter into a political or theoretical polemic in this article with the editorial board of Futuro, which considers me "counterrevolutionary." Their political opinions and evaluations don't interest me. I do not accuse Futuro — a magazine without principles — of having nothing to do with Marxism, proletarian communism, or the traditions of the October Revolution, but of publishing, in the course of the three and a half years of my stay in Mexico, defamatory articles about me, and of deliberately circulating false accusations, fabricated in the laboratories of the GPU and translated into Spanish by their agents or with their collaboration. I accuse Futuro of having rejected, using futile pretexts, my numerous proposals that they present the proof of their deliberate lies to an impartial commission, governmental or otherwise

I accuse Futuro of having participated in the moral preparation for the attempt on my life by means of their malicious campaign, with the collaboration, in many cases, of future participants in the attack itself. I accuse Futuro of having aided the assailants, by all possible means, to obscure the vestiges of the crime after May 24; of having berated me with false and stupid accusations of "self-assault," thus making objective investigation difficult I accuse Futuro of continuing, even during the court investigation, its contemptible campaign of lies, slander, and falsehoods and, consequently, of participating in fact in the moral preparation for the second attempt, which undoubtedly is already occupying the agents of the GPU. As a result I accuse Futuro of being an agent of the GPU in things affecting me, my family, and my friends.

The Participation of "Futuro” in the Moral Preparation for the Attempt

In the work of selecting the examples and proofs of Futuro's malicious slanders against me, I am meeting with the following two difficulties: an abundance of material and moral repulsion. To save time for the court, I limit myself to choosing some examples that do not need a great number of dates or commentary.

The issue of Futuro dated March 1940 included an article by one Oscar Creydt Abelenda, "The Significance of Trotskyism," in which are included, among others, the following statements:

"Today, when American imperialism has become the most potent and open exponent of armed intervention against the USSR (by means of Mannerheim), and at the same time the direct organizer of the foreign counterrevolutionary intervention in Mexico (by means of Almazan), Trotsky and his agents of information and provocation have placed themselves, as is logical, at the service of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.

"Scarcely a month ago, Mexico City was surprised by a multitude of posters of various sizes, colors, and texts, on which Leon Osorio, president of the so-called "Public Salvation Party," declared his relations with the Trotskyites broken. …

"The posters, written in the style typical of the Gestapo, like all of those which appear signed by Leon Osorio, originated in the office of the press attache of the German embassy in Mexico… ,

"Simultaneously, the Gestapo expelled from its own bosom Trotsky's spies, which corroborates once again the unassailable results of the celebrated anti-Soviet Moscow trial (1938) in relation to the direct connection of Trotskyism with the Gestapo.

"The rupture between Trotsky and the Gestapo has its origin in the legacy established by the Trotskyist agents, principally by Diego Rivera, with 'international Jewry,' a political insult which Nazism applies with notorious frequency to the Wall Street imperialists, especially since the repeal of the arms embargo.

"The rapprochement of Trotsky and the FBI of the United States has occurred at the same time as the tightening of relations between Almazánism and the North American oil companies.

"Trotsky had foreseen things clearly since the beginning of the European war. The nonaggression pact between Germany and the USSR and the subsequent Moscow accord of September 29 had presented evidence that the services of Trotskyism were no longer indispensable for the Gestapo. Trotsky had to seek a new employer. This operation was nothing new to Trotskyism, given the fact that since 1924 Trotskyism found itself in the simultaneous service of various espionage agencies, like the British intelligence service."

It spoke later of a "… central command — Trotsky and the FBI…" and finally:

"Today it is completely evident that Trotskyism in Latin America is no more than an agency of penetration, confusion, provocation, and espionage in the service of the Wall Street imperialists."

No one in the world, except the inquisitors of the GPU, have dared to accuse me of ties with the Gestapo or with the secret police of the United States. In spite of the monstrous nonsense of the accusation, which in itself discredits it, I insisted three years ago on an examination of the Moscow trials to be conducted by a commission composed of eleven persons of high authority, in their great majority irreconcilable adversaries of mine politically, under the direction of the internationally renowned philosopher and teacher John Dewey. Invited to participate on this commission, which worked with open sessions, were representatives of the Communist parties of the United States and of Mexico, the lawyer of the North American party, Mr. Brodsky, and Mr. Lombardo Toledano. Naturally they refused, following instructions from Moscow. The Moscow trials were exposed by the Dewey Commission to be the most colossal judicial fraud in history. I am honored to enclose two volumes of the work of the Commission, which contain more than a thousand pages. In the press of the whole world, the judicial fraud of Moscow is upheld only by the organs dependent directly on the GPU.

With respect to the political meaning of the accusations included in the article by Abelenda, I have only a few words to say, with the aim of identifying the hidden source that inspires Futuro. During all of my political life I have been an irreconcilable adversary of imperialism, under whatever political mask it may wear. No one can show that any of my acts or any of my writings contradict this position. When the Kremlin was preparing an alliance with the "democracies," and the Comintern was humbling itself before them, forgetting the problem of the colonies, I warned the workers that such democracies are imperialist In answer, the GPU attacked me as an agent of Hitler and Futuro portrayed me in numerous caricatures with a swastika. When Stalin unexpectedly concluded a pact with Hitler, and I denounced the partition of Poland and the invasion of Finland, the GPU presented me as an ;agent of British and North American imperialism. The article by Abelenda, like many other articles in Futuro, is only an interpretation of the slanders of the GPU.

Who is Mr. Oscar Abelenda, author of the article In question? "A Paraguayan, professor at the Workers University," as he advertises himself. At the same time, he is a collaborator of La Voz de Mexico, and a prominent collaborator. Abelenda gave a report in La Voz de Mexico about the secret discussion in the National Committee of the Communist Party, although he himself is not a member of said committee. I consider it justified to assume that he is a super-member His article, "The Significance of Trotskyism," is enough to recognize that he is an agent of the GPU.

The editors of Futuro are people sufficiently knowledgeable in politics and law to understand the true meaning of the article by Mr. Abelenda. Naturally Mr. Lombardo Toledano and Mr. Villaseñor do not believe a single word of that article. Why do they compromise themselves printing seeming libel? There can only be one answer: their relations with the Kremlin oblige them to print against me whatever vile statements come out of the GPU. And these men accuse me of slander when I declare their political function to be an agency of the GPU!

The article of Mr. Abelenda is illustrated on page 35 with a cartoon against me. The author of the cartoon hid his name in a hieroglyph. Nonetheless, a comparison with other cartoons in the same magazine allows me to conclude that it was the work of Luis Arenal, assassin of Robert Sheldon Harte.

Of the utmost gravity is the date of the article by Abelenda: March 1940; that is to say at the moment the Communist Party announced at its congress a new "anti-Trotskyist" campaign, and when preparation for the attempt was going full steam ahead.

It is impossible to close one's eyes when confronted with the following evidence: the article by Abelenda in Futuro; the purge in the Communist Party with the participation of Abelenda; the technical preparation for the attempt on my life, with the participation of members of the Communist Party; all have a common source, and this source is the GPU, powerful international agency of the Kremlin.

The small lies astonish by their omnipresence. In almost every issue of Futuro one can find another slander against me. I will give an idea of them. El Popular and La Voz de Mexico reported on my "secret counterrevolutionary ties with General Cedillo, Dr. Atl, General E. Acosta, and others. I denied those fantastic reports in the press. With respect to this, Futuro writes:

"Trotsky … has the honor of knowing Don Emilio N. Acosta, for although in a recent declaration he confessed that 'I don't have the honor of knowing General Acosta,' by this time he must have met him, judging by the diligence of Don Emilio in seeking converts" (January 1940).

Here we have the chemically pure lie At first glance, the lie can appear to be lacking in importance. Nevertheless, it is a question of a little lie in the service of an important purpose. Futuro wants to suggest the idea that I am participating in the election campaign on the reactionary side. The date of this lie warrants attention: January 1940; that is to say, the month in which the technical preparation of the attempt on my life began.

The Collaboration of the GPU Terrorists in the Pages of "Futuro”

The list of articles and cartoons appended to this article testifies that the future participants in the attempt, or their close friends, suspected by the police and subject to arrest or to questioning in relation to the May 24 attempt, played an important role in the pages of the "academic" press (Workers University Review!). As collaborators we find the following names: David Serrano Andonegui, D. A Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, Angelica Arenal, sister of Luis and wife of Siqueiros; Nestor Sanchez Hernandez and Felix Guerrero Mejia. Some of them, like Luis Arenal and Nestor Sanchez Hernandez, attacked me directly with the pen or pencil, before attacking me with the machine gun and the revolver; others, more cautious, prefer not to name me or hide themselves beneath pseudonyms. Aside from the terrorist agents of the GPU mentioned above, we find among the permanent collaborators the names of people repeatedly mentioned during the investigation: Leopoldo Mendez, Enrique Ramirez y Ramirez (one of the authors of the theory of "self-assault"), Andres Garcia Salgado and others. The list of collaborators of Future incontrovertibly testifies that the "gunmen" of the GPU were not strangers to such an environment On the contrary, they were of the same flesh and blood.

One sees this very clearly in the personality of Siqueiros — not only in his artistic personality but also in his political one. Now, after the failure, his friends and collaborators of yesterday try to unload all the blame on him, describing him as a "pedant?' ("pedant" with machine gun!), "irresponsible," and even "crazy," But yesterday it was different. In the May 1939 issue of Futuro, in the section "Profile of the Month," one finds, after one of the customary attacks against me, these lines:

"David Alfaro Siqueiros is an artist of great prestige and of universally recognized quality. In all America, from New York to Buenos Aires, his work as a painter is esteemed. He is a man who honors Mexico. In any country of the world, a person of this class is an object of respect, no matter what his political affiliation. In Mexico this is not the case. Recently he has been the object of arbitrary abuse by the city police."

D. A. Siqueiros is presented to us in these lines not only as an artist, but also as a political personality who is not sufficiently appreciated by the Mexican police. This pathetic apology for Siqueiros emerged, so it seems, from the pen of Mr. Alejandro Carrillo, editor of El Popular, who threatens to jail me for slander.

The special May 1939 issue is in and of itself very important. In the section, "Profile of the Month," one of the anonymous artists (Luis Arenal?) describes how Diego Rivera evicts Trotsky for not paying rent (Here you have the level of this "educational" magazine.) In the same section, an ode in honor of Siqueiros. An article by Victor Manuel Villachez Hernandez describes the alliance of Trotskyism with the "Nazis." A cartoon by Luis Arena! An article by Alejandro Carrillo. This list speaks for itself.

Here no one is dealing with hypotheses or guesses, but with incontrovertible facts, printed in the very pages of Futuro.

The editors of this magazine are closely associated with the most visible perpetrators of the May 24 attempt. The editorial staff of Futuro took part in the moral preparation for the attempt, before any of their collaborators had carried out the assault against my household, had kidnapped and killed Robert Harte, had tried to kill me, my wife, and our grandson.

"Futuro” After the May 24 Attempt

In the July issue of this year, one can read, on page 24, editorial section, "The Profile of the Month”:

"It does not cease to be amazing that three hundred shots from a machine gun were fired at a person from the doorway of his bedroom and he escaped without even a scratch.

"But for Mr. Trotsky the only explanation is that he threw himself under the bed upon hearing the shots; or to state it more correctly, it is not the only explanation, because later he affirmed that he had been elsewhere, and a little later he declared that that night he had slept in another place; and this series of contradictions is another of the bizarre things in this affair.

"The only clear thing in this question is that it was an act to provoke a reaction against Mexico, in order to let loose, not only within Mexico, but also in the United States, a movement of unfavorable opinion about our country, with a purpose that perhaps one of the members of the Dies Committee could explain, since they are so interested in inventing fabulous anti-Mexican stories."

There is not one grain of truth among the facts contained in this article Moreover, it is stupid to suppose that a man capable of preparing a gigantic "self-assault" before the very eyes of the police, would be incapable of elucidating where he slept the night of the assault In the USSR anyone who dared to show a similar contradiction in a fraud of the GPU would be shot immediately. Fortunately in Mexico that danger does not exist The editors of Futuro should be more cautious. But even though it's stupid, their accusation is extremely serious: I organized — according to their statements — the assault against myself with the purpose of provoking the intervention of the United States in Mexico. Nothing more nor less! Why would I want an attack against Mexico, whose hospitality I enjoy? Why, moreover, would the United States intervene as the result of an attempt against a foreigner, an exiled Russian, to whom the United States has not opened its doors? None of this makes sense. In this case the lies came out of thin air. But bad faith remains. If the authorities take the lies of Futuro seriously, that could have very tragic consequences for me and my family.

With respect to the crime of May 24, Futuro is carrying out the same treacherous politics as El Popular and La Voz de Mexico. It should be added that in a New York weekly, the Nation of June 8, Harry Block, who lives in Mexico and is closely tied to the Futuro group, published an article about the ''self-assault" Though it is very cautious, it is impossible to avoid verifying that there is direct communication between the editors of Futuro, El Popular, and La Voz de Mexico, with the purpose of unloading on me the responsibility for the crime executed by the collaborators of those periodicals.

That is the final conclusion that issues from the facts. And after all this, let the directors of Futuro, El Popular, and La Voz de Mexico accuse me of "slander!"

Appendix — The Moral Preparation of the Attempt

The Persecution of Trotsky and the Participation in It of the Future Assassins

No.	Month	Year	Page	Article
22	Dec.	1937	24	Title page by Luis Arenal. Article by Enrique Ramirez y Ramirez: "Current Problems of the Revolution.”
23	Jan.	1938	17	Title page by Leopoldo Mendez. Illustration by Luis Arenal.
24	Feb.	1938	18	Title page by Luis Arenal. Illustration by Leopoldo Mendez.
			30	Illustration by Luis Arenal.
25	March	1938	17	"Profile of the Month": "A Trotskyist Unmasks" — "Mr. Stolberg, wiping off the powder and rouge of a revolutionary clown, has revealed his true personality, that of a traitor, spy and fascist agent — in short, the personality of a Trotskyist."
			33	Article by Joshua Kunitz, translated from New Masses: "Guilty!" — supporting the Moscow trials.
			39	Illustration by Luis Arenal.
26	April	1938	23	Title page by Luis Arenal. Illustration by Luis Arenal.
			31	Article by Angelica Arenal. "The Congress of the CTM."
27	May	1938	15	Illustration by Leopoldo Mendez.
			52	(back cover) Illustration by Luis Arenal.
30	Aug.	1938	20-21	Illustration by Luis Audirac: "The Present Panorama of Mexico" (against Trotsky).
			40	Illustration by Xavier Guerrero: "The Organized Workers Will Finish off Trotskyism."
31	Sept.	1938	38	Article about "Trotsky in Mexico:" "Therefore Leon Trotsky Is an Enemy of the Mexican People" (with three photos of Trotsky). "Trotsky responds deliberately and slanders the government of Spain, vilifies the Chinese people, accuses the Mexican proletariat of selling out for Moscow gold, indirectly attacks the Cardenas government by attacking the theory of the Popular Front and agrees in everything with the ideas and acts arising from fascism."
33	Nov.	1938	21	"Profile of the Month": Against Trotskyism.
			23	"Profile of the Month": Against Abelardo L. Rodriguez and Trotskyism.
32	Oct.	1938	19	(special supplement) Illustration by Leopoldo Mendez.
34	Dec.	1938	9	Illustration by Luis Audirac against Trotsky.
			12	Illustration by Luis Audirac against Trotsky. "The Reaction is Prepared."
			15	Article by Luis Fernandez del Campo: "What Trotsky Means": "And in Mexico, at this very moment in which a new political struggle is being launched, Trotsky has adapted himself to serve as an instrument of the counterrevolutionary sectors …"
			16	Illustration by Santos Balmori:”Leon Trotsky, as he really is."
			32	Article by Victor Manuel Villaseñor: "The USSR and Abelardo," with illustrations against Trotsky.
35	Jan.	1939	21	Illustration by Leopoldo Mendez.
			35	Illustration against Trotsky.
36	Feb.	1939	19	Illustration by Luis Arenal.
			30	Illustration by Luis Audirac: "Mousetrap of Fascists and Mexican Ex-Revolutionaries," against Trotsky.
37	March	1939	16	Article by Andres Garcia Salgado: "What We Find in Spain."
			16	Article by Felix Guerrero Mejia: "The Popular Army."
			17	Article by A. D. Serrano: "The Invading Army."
			17	Article by David Alfaro Siqueiros: "Our Vision of Mexico."
			15	Editorial: "The Return of Our Volunteers."
			27	Illustration by Luis Arenal.
			14	Editorial: "… Around some of the nominees, hover the agents of Leon Trotsky …"
38	April	1939	28	Article by Andres Garcia Salgado: "Peace Without Honor in Spain."
39	May	1939	17	"Profile of the Month": paragraph against Trotsky.
			18	"Profile of the Month": "David Alfaro Siqueiros is an artist of great prestige and of universally recognized quality. In all America, from New York to Buenos Aires, his work as a painter is esteemed. He is a man who honors Mexico. In any country of the world, a person of this class is the object of respect, no matter what his political affiliation. In Mexico, this is not the case. Recently, he has been the object of arbitrary abuse by the city police."
			28	Illustration by Luis Arenal.
			29	Article by Nestor Sanchez Hernandez: "The Spanish People Have Not Been Defeated" against Trotsky: "But the Spanish people and the world have learned, moreover, many other interesting things; they have learned to size up the true role of the Trotskyists as fascist agents. …"
40	June	1939	24	Article by Angelica Arenal: "Women in Present Society."
43	Sept.	1939	15	"The USSR in the Inter-imperialist Struggle"; "The attitude of the USSR in no way signifies an accommodation between Moscow and Berlin, as the Trotskyists affirm with malevolent idiocy."
47	Jan.	1940	24	"The Honor of Trotsky," Accuses Trotsky of knowing General Acosta.
			32	"The International Police of the U. S." by Carlos Enrique Rivas. A paragraph against Trotsky in relation to the Dies Committee.
48	Feb.	1940	32	Enrique Ramirez y Ramirez: "Youth and Tragedy": … the pupils of Blum and Trotsky have opposed the unity of the young generations, they have sabotaged it and have openly fought it."
49	March	1940	34	Oscar Creydt Abelenda: "The Significance of Trotskyism": "… Trotsky and his agents of information and provocation have placed themselves, as is logical, at the service of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U. S. … The Gestapo has expelled from its own bosom Trotsky's spies. … The split between Trotsky and Rivera is transparently obvious. …" "Today it is completely evident that Trotskyism in Latin America is no more than an agency of penetration and provocation, of confusion and espionage in the service of the Wall Street imperialists."