“Helping the US State Department to own the Stalinists” is not, in fact, a stance that it makes sense for a principled Bolshevik to take. How seriously is he taking his Third Camp credo when he seeks to help the First Camp purge itself of the influences of the Second Camp?
The Dewey commission was not about finding and purging communists, it was about clearing the name of Trotsky and others accused in the Moscow trials, and he appeared in front of HUAC to say that they should not pursue either communists or fascists.
His appearance there can be seen as a defense of fascists, but arguing that he was engaged in American purges is wholly unsupported and doesn’t make much sense. He was working with American communists to “clear his name”, why would he throw them under the bus?
On this latter occasion, Trotsky told McGregor Jr. [of the US Consulate in Mexico]… he remembered that over 1929-31, the COMINTERN had spent between Five Hundred Thousand and One Million American Dollars on subsidy to the foreign press. He also named names about the Communist Parties of Mexico (Lombardo Toledano, Alejandro, Rafael Gerillo, Victor Manuel) and Spain (Carlos Contreras, Col. Lister). He ended the meeting by telling McGregor Jr. that USA was committing a great mistake by being conciliatory towards Stalin for the aim of crushing Germany.
Here we find what was referred to when GarbageShoot said:
“Helping the US State Department to own the Stalinists” is not, in fact, a stance that it makes sense for a principled Bolshevik to take. How seriously is he taking his Third Camp credo when he seeks to help the First Camp purge itself of the influences of the Second Camp?
Trotsky’s participation in the Dewey commission is very open to criticism. But it is not in any way indicative of a lack of beliefs on Trotsky’s part.
“Helping the US State Department to own the Stalinists” is not, in fact, a stance that it makes sense for a principled Bolshevik to take. How seriously is he taking his Third Camp credo when he seeks to help the First Camp purge itself of the influences of the Second Camp?
The Dewey commission was not about finding and purging communists, it was about clearing the name of Trotsky and others accused in the Moscow trials, and he appeared in front of HUAC to say that they should not pursue either communists or fascists. His appearance there can be seen as a defense of fascists, but arguing that he was engaged in American purges is wholly unsupported and doesn’t make much sense. He was working with American communists to “clear his name”, why would he throw them under the bus?
From the article he shared:
Here we find what was referred to when GarbageShoot said: