The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-31
CONTINUED from last Saturday.
VI
Whittier II the Present Development
of Trofskv I eadfnd2

lures of character which are only
characteristic for him personally.
Comrade Trotsky often sets up such
q political platform that only one per
son can stand on It.: Comrade Trot-
sky himself, as upon this platform
there is no room for anybody else. 1t
would be mistake, however, to see In
this standpoint of Trotsky only the
individual There Is no doubt that he
represents fairly broad section Of
the factor Of our situation.
Since 1922, but even more since
1928, there has been an indisputable
increase in the prosperity of the coun-
try, an indisputable improvement in
the material situation and the mood OF
the workers. At the same time we
see from all the expressions Of Com
rade Trotsky that precisely during
these years his political mood has be-
come worse. Tbs curve Of the polit-
zeal mood of the broad masses of the
workers of our country is in an up
ward direction, the political mood of
Comrade Trotsky is in a downward di-
rection.
Comrade Trotsky is beginning to
see things in ever darker colors. He
prophesies the decline of the country
on the eve Of an indisputable improve
ment in the economic situation, he
makes false diagnoses and proposes
wrong remedies, he loses more and
more of his followers, etc. Let US
call to mind that Comrade Trotsky, al
the time of his first encounter with
4 arair fho nYfT1 cf n n
at the time Of the dispute over the
Brest peace, still had a considerable
portion of the party on his side. At
the time of the second encounter with
Lenin, in 1921 Grade union discus
sion), Comrade Trotsky still had
about fifth of the delegates to the
party conference on his side, and this
in the presence of Lenin. During last
years discussion Trotsky's following
was already much smaller, but never
theless there were still hundreds of
comrades who were prepared consis-
tently to defend his platform. In the
present attack of Comrade Trotsky
against the c. G. the comrades defend
ing the platform of Comrade Trotsky
can be counted on the fingers. And
this is not mere chance.
This fact alone shows that Comrade
Trotsky in recent years, Of course
without wishing it himself, has given
expression, not to the mood of the
proletarian masses, but often involu-
tarily to the mood of other sections of
the population.
If we pursue the line of develop
ment of Comrade -Trotsky, if we test
his latest political evolution in all
its details during the last two or three
years, it is not difficult to encounter
apparent contradictions; and some
times it may seem as if Comradt
Trotsky were criticising the c. c., not
from the right but from the left. Was
it not Comrade Trotsky who accused
the C. c. and its representatives in
the Comintern that they had missed"
the German revolution? Is that then
not a left criticism? But when We
bear in mind that along with the .'left"
phrases of Comrade Trotsky there
stands the fact that Trotsky, during
the whole of 1923, supported the right
wing of the c. p. Of Germany, and on
the other hand the fact that the right
elements of all sections of the Com
intern during last years discussion
supported the standpoint of Trotsky
then the question is seen in quite
another light. When we remember
that even in January, 1924. the draft
resolution of Comrade Trotsky, Radek
and Piatakov contained passages, ac-
cording to which if the G. p. of Ger
many in October, 1923 had entered
upon a revolt it would today be
heap OF ruins, then it becomes clear
that Comrade Trotsky here, as in all
the other questions which he deals
with in the Lessons of October, has
not been in any way consistent.
In the activity of Comrade Trotsky
there is much that is individual, much
that is the mere reflection of passing
moods, much that is brilliant. His
platform is not yet finally settled. His
political standpoint shimmers in all
the colors of the rainbow. Our task
consists in understanding what sub