The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-10


THAT was completely smashed by
events. Then the Mensheviks be-
came purely counter revolutionary
organization.
Several dealt with the question:
why did we not think of these
things five minutes earlier than the
G.P.U. got us?" These were the
words of Sukhanov Petunin asserted
1t was not an idiotic conception that
forced their confessions, or the bio
logical instinct of preservation,
Tor there was nothing left to die for.
Rubin said that all Mensheviks in
the last period carried seeds of doubt
OF the correctness of their anti-revo-
lutionary policy. Ikov said the prose-
cutor, an old Party member, can I'M
derstand what it means at the age of
30 to break with the Party after 80
years Of work, not in diplomacy, but
IN the realization of Menshevism
which now leads only to fascism.
Even then he was powerless to ar
rest the development of Socialism.
Rubin, Sokolovsky and Berlatsky
asked for an opportunity to repair
partially the damage done by their
work. Ikov agreed that the demand
OF the prosecutor was politically cor
rect, and that it was his most pain
full thought that the workers struggle
proceeds without him after so many
years. If isolation in prison is not
unreducable, then he requests the OPP
portunity to use his knowledge in the
service OF the workers even in prison.
Petunin said if the court does not
find anything healthy in his past &C
tivity ito destroy me-" If not, "give
me an opportunity to atone for my
crime by work in the service of the
proletariat and not to die branded
as a traitor"
Then Krylenko renowned the right
to reply on the ground that the &C
cused themselves exposed the petty
bourgeois nature of Menshevism and
gave a political estimate Of their
counter-revolutionary work
The accused, under the Soviet code,
and mequalled anywhere, were then
given the right to the last word, but
used 1t briefly, adding little to their
defense speeches, excepting that Suk-
hanov declared he wanted to die if
the court required it, as he was filled
with extreme contempt for his own
crimes and the idea of his wrecking
and Intervention work.
The court then retired to consider
the decision.
Especial Gable to the Daily Worker)
MOSCOW, March This morn
ing's session opened with the defend
ing speeches of Volkov and Teitle-
baum, through their defense counsel,
Braude. He emphasized that the
Mensheviks were distinguished only
politically and psychologically by
their hesitancy, half-heartedness, and
because they were unable to under
stand the trend Of events.
Volkov, he said, an ex-worker, was
typical in not being against the No
vember revolution. He, however,
unmobilized the pro-red army, and
like many Mensheviks tried the mid
die course Of neutrality. He re-
garded the Nep as stage of in
evitable restoration of capitalist re-
lations, hostile to the socialist Of
fensive, and being isolated and sur
rounded by specialists, he was easily
recruited, through Stern, for the
criminal work. He broke with this
internally long ago, and asks for an
portunity to rejoin the proletariat in
creative work.
Regarding Teitelbaum ne said he
was for many years in a Bolshevik
jail, that he was an exile and an
unstable character. Though he was
sent to do Menshegik work in Ber-
lin, he formed Tade Mission. He
formed a coup Of only three or four
and returned without hesitation to
the Soviet Union, unlike many others,
despite his frequent contact and in
fluence Of the Menshevik leaders in
Berlin. The latter called the defend
ants towards, but there is too long a
political struggle for this to be true.
Braude challenged Krylenko's
doubts about the sincerity of Suk-
hanov and Ikov, which was a heavy
blow to the old party worker Ikov to
admit In the Industrial Party trial
he saw himself as in mirror. You
must take into account the heavy
blow inflicted on Russian and world
Mensheviks by the revelations of the
accused.
Y Komodov on behalf of Finnyeno-
taesky, also emphasized the total fail
m'e to understand events which led
out Of the Bolshevik Party in 1915,
and after years of work caused him
to misunderstood the New Economic
Policy as the beginning of capitalist
restoration, as well as the n1isunder-
standing Of the discussions in the
Communist Party Of the Soviet Union,
believing this to be the disintegra-
ton of the Communist Party. He
misunderstood the role of the Soviet
Power. which led him to the wreck
ing work and finally to the appeal
for Intervention, which would also be
beaten.