The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-02-16

EDITORS NOTE-A Joffee, for
many years member of the Com
munist Party, recently committed
suicide in Moscow, leaving letter
in which he attacked the Party, the
Communist International and the
Union of Socialist Soviet Republics
from the point of view Of the petty
bourgeois class, citing among other
things the money contributions
which he had made to the Party at
a time when he was a prosperous
petty bourgeois, remarking (from
the class point of view of the petty
bourgeoisie) the fact that the Revo-
luton of the Russian working class
had confiscated his property, and
renouncing the teachings of Lenin
in favor of those of Trotsky.
Mutilated and edited" versions
of this letter has been published in
this country by various enemies of
the working class. Not only in
Guiding the capitalist press, but
also the New Leader" organ of
the socialist party. The latest of
these mutilated versions was pub
lished by Mr.. Max Eastman, the
renegade Communist" in a recent
number of 'The Nation" In that
version Eastman omitted certain
portions of the letter which most
clearly showed the moral break
down and petty bourgeois whining
Of Joffee.
The DAILY WORKER will pub
lish the full text of the letter, the
first part of which appears below.
Joffe's letter will be followed by an
article commenting upon it by J.
Yaroslavsky. The Joffe letter is as
follows:
Joffe's Letter to Trotsky.
MY dear Leo Davidovitch,
1 have all my life maintained tina
politician, or any person occupying
a public position, must understand
when to retire from life, and that j
is better to do so too soon than to-
late. When, long ago, the suicide O
Paul Lafargue and his wife Laur'
Marx created a great stir in the var
ious socialist parties, |, inexperience'
youth as I then was, emphaticall,
champicned the rightness in principl
of their standpoint, and, as l still
remember, l very vehemently replies
to August Bebel, who was greatly in
censed at the suicide, that even though
there might be objections to the ag
limit set by Lafargue and his wife
since it was here not question o
years but of the possible usefulness
of politician, the principle could b.
no means be attacked of the retire
ment of a politician from life as sool
as ever he was convinced that h
could be of no further use to tn
cause to which he had devoted all hi
efforts.
More than thirty years ago l &C
quired the philosophy that human lif
is only of value to US so long as an
in so far as it serves that infinit,
which mankind represents to ou
mind. Seeing that all else is finite
work in its service is senseless; where
as humanity, though possibly not alb
solutely infinite, is yet not likely t
meet with it's end for such long age
to come that it may be looked upol
as an infinity. And he who believe
in progress as / believe in it, ca
very well picture to himself that
even if our own planet perishes, man
kind will by that time know tn
means of removing to other, younge
planets.
True to Philosophy.
Mankind will thus continue to exist
and consequently everything done il
it's service in our time will also leav
it's traces in those distant epochs o
the future, thus imparting to exist
ence it's sole possible sense and pur
pose. Herein and herein only can
recognize the sense of my own life
And if I now look back on my pas
life, 81 years Of which have passe,
in the ranks of our Party, ! have ii