Evening star., 1937-02-02
|TR0YANOVSKY HITS.
CRITICS OF TRIAL
Ambassador to U. S. Says
Observation-Disclosures
Are Negligible.
BY FRED C. KELLY.

regarding the recent trial OF Trotzky-
lists In Moscow.
"If the Stain government" I be-
gan, "is carrying out the purposes OF
the revolution that all the original
revolutionists fought for, how do you
account for the fact that so many OF
those old reVolutionists are bitterly
opposed to the present regime?"
You must understand" replied the
Ambassador, that the differences are
between two PHILOSOPHERS. Long before
the October revolution Of 1917, one
group insisted that it would be i'm
possible to build Socialist state in
Russia-because, they said, Russia was
industrially backward. mainly an agri-
cultural country. and it would never
be possible to get the cooperation Of
the peasants. They thought of the
peasants as hopelesSly reactionary
force. A Socialist regime they MAIN
tanned could not Withstand Capitalist
enemies on all sides and hence 1t would
be necessary to carry out world revo-
luton. The Trotzkyists continued to
hold those views.
Collectivism Held Success.
Opposed to them is another philos-
ophy, represented today by Stain
and already demonstrated by the
present regime agriculture could
be collectivized. that in so large an
area as the Soviet Union a Socialist
state is possible, and that the success
OF socialism there is the most i'm
portant means to inspire belief In the
desirability of socialism elsewhere. We
do not think revolution can be trans
ported. If another country adopts
socialism it will not be because agents
Of the Soviet Union went there and
led them to do so, but because the
people themselves want 1t. They are
more likely to want it if they should
see an example of one country where
| a Socialist government is gradually
| able to provide better and better
life for the people.
so much for the basic differences
Now. people are sometimes slow to give
up ideas or theories they have jealous
ly believed in, even when there is evil
dence to show they were wrong. As
We have made progress in the Soviet
| Union, fewer and fewer people adhered
| to the TrotZkyist theories until numeri-
ically these people were negligible
Today there is no mass following what
soever of the counter-revolutionis
It was this very lack Of mass follow
ing, their total inability to persuade
any considerable number Of people to
exert influence in behalf of their ideas
that left the Trotzkyists with only one
means of attack-terror, sabotage
murder. They would not have muir
dered Kirov if they could have induced
a widespread demand for his removal
Plotting Resumed in 1882.
"From time to time events happened
which, fro mthe point Of view of the
Trotzkyists, seemed to give them en-
couragement to feel that they must
have been right, after all. An ex-
ample Of what 7 mean was the great
difficulty of bringing about the COL
lectiviZation of agriculture-the thing
they had said could never be done
That victory is now won, but there Is
no question that it was difficult time
Along in 1882, many counter-revolu-
tionists, whose activities had somewhat
subsided, once more began to carry
on their plotting. They said: Didn't
we always say so? Present policies
are not going to succeed. We must
force a change in the regime
Then when collectivization became
an accomplished fact. q few-though
a smaller number-still refused to con-
cede they had been wrong. Their
numbers had changed according to
difficulties and successes within the
Soviet Union. For example, Vladimir
Romm, who was here in Washington
as correspondent for the newspaper
Izvestia, had been an ardent Trotzky-
ist. But, II we believe his testimony,
along in 1928 he decided he had been
mistaken. Then when he evidently
saw the difficulties Of collectivization,
he returned to his original beliefs and
thought Stalin's policies were doomed
to failure. But, he testified, since 1884,
that Is to say when the success Of agri-
cultural socialization could no longer
be doubted, he changed his mind again
and did nothing further for those Sc
cretly opposing Stain.
"Radek testified that he thought Of
confessing everything in 1882. but
was deferred by fear Of involving his
friends. Others who have been tried
might have given up their plotting
except that they had become too deep
Iy involved. A few declared they were
no longer free to follow their own
inclinations because they would be
betrayed by foreign agents with whom
they had become associated. AS I
have said. the number of these plot
tiers had become negligible, but their
activities were by no means negligible,
for they held responsible positions
where they could do great HARM"
Precedent for Attitude.
"Stil," I countered, you haven't
accounted for the fact that these
men were willing. according to their
testimony. to plot with foreign gov
ernments TO place Russia in the hands
Of Fascists, to bring on war, to sell
out to capitalists. to do everything
they could to upset Socialist regime.
Yet they had been Socialists. Hadn't
something happened to shake their
faith in socialism,"
There Is historic precedent" re-
piled Troyanovsky. "for fighting one
enemy with another. In the history
Of the Russian revolution there were
social revolutionists like Savinkov'
who allied with all secret police OF
the world. There was one Alexinsky.
Bolhevik member Of the Second
Duma, who went through q similar
evolution.
There are examples in other coun-
tries. Doriot, In France, was a Com
munist. but when unable to have his
own way he became a Fascist. 1t is
worth noting that, while he wasn't a
Trotzkyist. some of the Trotzkyists