THE CASE OF

Leon Trotsky

Report of Hearings on the Charges Made Against Him
in the Moscow Trials

by the
Preliminary Commission of Inquiry
into the
Charges Made Against Trotsky
in the
Moscow Trials
Held April 10 to 17, 1937 at Avenida Londres, 127 COYOACAN, MEXICO
John Dewey, Chairman
Carleton Beals (resigned)
Otto Ruehle
Benjamin Stolberg
Suzanne LaFollette, Secretary


Reported by
ALBERT M. GLOTZER
Court Reporter of Chicago, Illinois

Transcribed for the Trotsky Internet Archive by David Walters, August–September 2000

Contents


Introduction to the Merit Publishers, 1969 Edition, by George Novak

FOREWORD

REPORT TO THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

FIRST SESSION

Opening Statements – Biography of Leon Trotsky – Early revolutionary activity – Revolution of 1905 – Opposition to World War – Sojourn in America – Role in October Revolution, Civil War, Soviet Government – Expulsion from Party – Exile – Activities Abroad – Copenhagen – France – Norway – Arrest

SECOND SESSION

Mexico – Loss of Citizenship – Family – Writings on Terrorism – Petrograd, Warsaw, Brest-Litovsk – Archives – Danger of Bonapartism – Policy of Comintern – Lenin’s Testament – Vyshinsky’s Charges of Anti-Leninism

THIRD SESSION

Relations with Lenin – Open Letter to Central Executive Committee – Relations with Defendants – The Troika – Bloc with Zinovev and Kamenev – Expulsion of Opposition – Capitulations – Olberg – Radek

FOURTH SESSION

Trotsky’s Attitude Toward Defendants, Zinoviev-Kamenev Trial – Radek – Capitulators – Relations with Defendants – Loyal Opposition – Communications with USSR – Blumkin – Copenhagen – Return – Meeting with Son – Witnesses – Sedov’s Passport – Telegram to Herriot – Hotel Bristol – Danish Press

FIFTH SESSION

Testimony of Trotsky’s Secretary on Copenhagen Hotel Bristol – Sound Film to Opposition – Olberg – Romm – Trotsky’s Removal to France – Landing at Cassis – Trip to Saint Palais – Fire – Life in Saint Palais – Bagnères – Barbizon – Discovery – Press Attacks – Romm – Documentary Evidence

SIXTH SESSION

Precautions on Trip to France – Documentary Evidence – Romm – Pyatakov – Trotsky’s Life in Norway – Knudsen’s Telegram to Vyshinsky – Norwegian press – Trotsky’s Proposition to Moscow Court – Pyatakov – Certain Defendants

SEVENTH SESSION

Soviet Treason Law – Aftenposten on Pyatakov – Hrasche – Ciliga on Confessions – Brobnis – Tsentralnaya Explosion – Industrialization, Five-Year Plan, Collectivization – Soviet Statistics – Trotsky’s Warnings – Attitude on Terror – Kirov Assassination – Communications with USSR

EIGHTH SESSION

Terroristic Tendencies Among the Youth – The Question of Conspiracy – Attitude Toward Change of Soviet Régime – Omission of Molotov from List of Victims – Defense of USSR – Clemenceau Thesis – Fourth International – Spain – Position in Case of Attack on USSR

NINTH SESSION

Stalinist Policy in Spain – Foreign Policy of Lenin and Trotsky – Soviet Union in a Capitalistic World – War and Socialism – Attitude toward Germany and Japan – Alliance of USSR with Capitalist Countries – Lenin’s Trip Through Germany – Polish War – Struggle Between Left Opposition and Stalinists – Theft of Archives – Finances – General Denial of Charges.

TENTH SESSION

History of Bolshevik Party – Governing Bodies – Membership in 1919 – Constitution of Soviet Union – Council of People’s Commissars – Members in 1919 – The Soviets – Relations Between Party and Government – Democratic Centralism – Dictatorship of the Proletariat – New Constitution – The Socialist Revolution – The Question of Propaganda – Revolutionary, Individual and Thermidorean Terror – The Hearst Press.

ELEVENTH SESSION

Bureaucracy and Fascist Alliances – Terrorism – United Front and Popular Front – Party Purges – Sabotage – Trotskyites in Siberia – Muralov’s Confession – Method of Securing Confessions – Removal of Stalin – Accusations in First Trial – Soviet Law on Evidence – Pyatakov’s Alleged Flight – Socialism in One Country – Relations with Lenin – Distortion of Revolutionary History – Borodin in Mexico – Communist International.

TWELFTH SESSION

Demand for Investigation of Mr. Beals’ Question – Mr. Beals’ Resignation – Statement of Chairman – Statement of Counsel for Witness – Letter from Socialist Party – Bolshevik Discipline – Slogans of the Opposition – Phases of Party Struggle – Constructive Work – The Menshevik Trials – Lenin’s Testament – Left Opposition – International Revolution – Dictatorship of the Secretariat.

THIRTEENTH SESSION

Part I
Part II
Part III

Closing Speech of Counsel for Witness – Questions of Mexican Labor Organizations – Statement of Counsel for Commission – Trotsky’s final argument: Why Is an Investigation Necessary? – Is the Investigation Politically Admissible? – The Opinion of Professor Charles A. Beard – A “Purely Juridical” Examination – Autobiography – My “Juridical” Situation – Three Categories of Proofs – The Mathematical Series of Frame-ups – The Political Basis of the Accusation: Terrorism – The Kirov Assassination – Who Drew Up the List of “Victims” of the Terror? (The Molotov “Affair”) – The Political Basis of the Accusation: “Sabotage” – The Political Basis of the Accusation: The Alliance with Hitler and the Mikado – Copenhagen – Radek – Vladimir Romm, “Witness” – Pyatakov’s Flight to Norway – What Has Been Refuted in the Last Trial? – The Prosecutor-Falsifier – The Theory of “Camouflage” – Why and Wherefore These Trials?

APPENDICES

In re: Copenhagen – Supplementary Statement by Albert M. Glotzer – Factual Corrections – Correspondence – Why and Wherefore These Trials?


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Last updated on: 20.4.2007