[The following article appeared in the December 27 issue of the French Trotskyist daily Rouge. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
Anyone who thinks that there is no one left to take up the polemic against Trotskyism in classic Stalinist fashion is in error-Stalin has heirs who remain loyal to him. Unfortunately, we are not talking about a few hacks on Brezhnev's payroll, but of one Jesús Orta Ruiz, writing in the November 12 issue of Granma, newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party.
We should pick out a few choice items:
"Trotsky felt that revolutionary changes were the work of certain select groups that could 'store' the will of the proletariat for a revolutionary transformation of society. He tried to make people believe that social change came about in an absolutely voluntarist manner. He overlooked the laws of the revolution."
"Trotsky denied the revolutionary potential of many millions of peasants...
"Trotsky had predicted that the peasants would wage war against the working class and thus threaten to deal the achievements of the revolution a death blow."
"Trotsky held the view that the revolution should be 'extended' all over the world, using the armed forces of Soviet Russia.
"However, there are petty bourgeois minorities pseudo-revolutionary who, given the upsurge of socialism and the overwhelming reality of the Soviet Union, have tried to revive Trotsky, building up idols with clay feet."
We will not insult our readers by showing them that Granma's contributor is an avowed falsifier. On the contrary, we ask: Why does the newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party resort to such methods?
Would it be jumping to conclusions to assume that there are militants in Cuba who have questions about the present policy of the workers state and of its leadership? Who are raising questions about the international character of the revolution and about the possibility-or impossibility-of successfully building socialism in Cuba while the rest of Latin. America remains under the heel of American imperialism and the ruling classes in each country? Who are interested in the history of the Russian revolution and in the ups and downs that culminated in the bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet state?
Fidel Castro declared recently on French television that the Cuban state was battling against its enemies, but that those who wished to make criticisms for the good of the revolution could do so without fear. We would like to ask him a specific question: Would it be possible for a reply to the assertions of Jesús Orta Ruiz-even purely on the level of historical fact—to be published in Granma?
The answer-should one forthcoming—would be of major interest to us and to the entire revolutionary movement.