LETTER TO COMANDANTE FIDEL CASTRO
(In our last issue, we ran the full text of Fidel Catro's closing speech at the Tricontinental Conference which was recently held in :Havena. The speech included a considerable section attacking ~ "Trotskyism." Below we are publishing the full text of a reply by the ' United Secretariat, the highest body of the Fourth International. The reply is dated 1 February 1 and the translation is bY World Outlook. )
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We have just read the full text of your closing speech at the First Tricontinental Conference, as published by Prensa Latina January 20, 1966. On the one hand this speech is imbued with en incomparable revolutionary spirit, as when you proclaim that "for Cuban revolutionaries the battleground against imperialism covers the whole globe," when you promise that "revolutionary movements in any corner of the globe can count on Cuban combatants," when you tell the American imperialists once again that the only way they can gain peace is to get out of Vietnam, when you call upon the Latin-f#merican revolutionists to exténd armed struggle to an ever growing number of countries in order to make it impossible for'the imperialists to concentrate their forces against the revolutionary forces of a sister people. Reading this part of your speech we feel in solidarity more than ever with this orientation and line of action. —
But on the other hand the speech also levels systematic, slanderous attacks against Trotskyism, the Trotskyist movement and the Trotskyist program as a whole, attacks whose unjustified nature is felt by us with the deepest indignetion and revulsion.
The "dossier" you placed before the participants at the First Tricontinental Conference and offered to world public opinion is made up of amalgams and linkages which collapse at the slightest touch under objective examination. .
You make much of the assertions of one Felipe Albaguante, according to whom Che Guevara was quite likely assassinated in Cuba. You present this person as the "leader of the Mexican Trotskyists" on the basis of a dispatch issued by the UPI, an imperialist press agency. But this Felipe Albaguante is not the "leader" or even a member of the Mexican Trotskyist organization. This is not his first provocation; he made a provocative declaration on November 26, 1963, attributing Oswald's assassination by Jack Ruby to the Communist party. On November 430, 1963, Comrade Pierre Frank, speaking for the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, denied in the most categoric way that this person had. anything whatsoever to do with Trotskyism and the Fourth International. This declaration was sent to Cuba, to you personally, .as well as to many other Cuban officials.
If it was a question of aséertaining the truth, and not of taking the UPI dispatch as a pretext for attacking the Trotskyist movement, you could have asked your research services -- which are efficient -- for material about the provocateur Albaguante; and these
services would then have brought our November 30, 1963, statement to your attention.
You link up the declaration of this person with the articles by Adolfo Gilly published in the leftist weeklies Marcha and Nuovo Mondo as well as in the Monthly Review. It must first of all be pointed out that the excerpts from Gilly which you refer to say nothing at all about Che Guevara's alleged assassination; they say only that Che Guevara left Cuba because of political differences with you. To place on the same plane provocative declarations about Che's alleged assassination and the hypothesis of differences between Che and you is to manufacture an amalgam. This is a dishonest method of engaging in polemics and levelling accusations. You likewise manufacture an amalgam when you place on the same plane the provocative declarations of Albaguante and a quotation from the newspaper La Batalla, organ of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista), which does not belong to the Fourth International and which spoke only of differences between you and Che Guevara.
You next make a link between Gilly and a group that calls itself Trotskyist which split from the Fourth International and which is led by one Juan Posadas. You focus attention on the irresponsible criticisms which this group directs at Cuba and its government, particularly with regard to Che's leaving Cuba and the alleged inadequate aid Cuba gave to the Dominican revolutionists. You know that the irresponsible positions of this group are not at all the positions of the Fourth International, the organization founded by Leon Trotsky, organized on a world scale, represented by magazines, periodicals and officially edited bulletins in a great many countries and which are sent both to Cuba and to its representatives abroad. These publications printed an article by Comrade Joseph Hansen, editor of the Trotskyist newspaper in the United States The Militant, entitled "A New Field of Battle for Che Guevara," which gives a responsible interpretation of Che's departure from Cuba.
On January 20 we again sent you our official position expressly on Che's leaving Cuba. It is now your duty to make clear to the international revolutionary audience that only a small faction of splitters adopted an irresponsible attitude on this question, the official bodies of the Fourth International and the overwhelming majority of the international Trotskyist movement showing themselves on this occasion as always to be stubborn defenders of the Cuban Revolution. Unfortunately this rectification will not be forthcoming because your good faith was not abused. The text of your speech leads one in fact to draw the conclusion that you are utilizing the confusion in order to try to discredit and attack the Trotskyist movement as_a_whole. To take but one example -- you well know that the organ presenting the views of the Italian Trotskyists is not the one with an insignificant circulation which you cite (Lotta Operaia) but Bandierra Rossa which has been in existence for almost ten years, which has a circulation in the thousands among the vanguard of the workers movement, including the Italian Communist party, and which was the first Italian publication to reproduce the Second Declaration of Havana.
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-How else can the scandalous passages of your speech be inter preted where, for example, you say, "this discredited thing, this antihistoric thing, this fraudulent thing which emanates from individuals so known to be -at the service of Yankee imperialism, as is the program of the Fourth International." (Erense Latina, p- ll.) Or again, in relation to Guatemala:
‘What the Fourth International thus committed was a true crime against the revolutionary movement, to isolate it from the rest of the people, to isolate it-from the masses, by corrupting it with the stupidities, the discredit and the repugnant and nauseating thing that is Trotskyism today within the field of politics... For if Trotskyism ‘represented at-‘a certain stage an erroneous position, but a position within the field of political ideas, Trotskyism became in later ¥se5° a vulger instrument of imperialism and reaction." (Ibid. P- ii- 12. . : .
It is shameful, Comrade Fidel Castro, to utilize your prestige and the admiration and affection which the revolutionary masses of the entire world feel for the Cuban Revolution to dig out of the dustbin of history-the slanders and:lies that no one dares to utter, even in the Soviet Union itself, after the twentieth.and twenty-. second congresses of the Communist party of the Soviet Union!
- Trotskyism has. beconie "a vulgar: ‘instrument of imperialism ‘and reaction"? At what time? What are the proofs? Stalin assassinated the majority of the members of the Central Committee of the CPSU of Lenin's day, tens of thousands of 01d “Bolsheviks, including Leon Trotsky himself, the founder of the’ Red Army, under the vile and. slanderous accusation: of being “agents of Nazi imperialism." At the end of the war, the archives were opened, tons of documents were searched from top to bottom with the participation of Soviet judges, the Nuremberg trials took place -~ not a document, not a line, could be produced in support of this slanderous accusation. The twentieth congress of the Communist party of the Soviet Union revealed that the "confessions" made by Stalin's victims were wrung from them through torture and other barbarous and inhuman means. No reasonable. person gives the slightest credence any longer to these slanders. And it is you, the great leader of the Cuban Revolution, the man who said that the revolution above all needs the truth,’ who is exhuming these in-famous slanders buried by history!
After the terrible experience with Stalin, no one will accept accusations without proofs no matter what the authority of the. accuser. Take care that your irresponsible accusations do not turn against you and --‘despite our efforts +- gravely discredit ‘the magnificent, the immortal Cuban Revolution © Atself. :
For ‘contrary ‘to what you seem to imagine ; .the world mrotskyist movement today is no longer a-handful of persecuted people without an audience, without influence, unknown and ‘isolated from the masses. Thanks to its. heroic’ resistance to the murderous: assault of Stalin. and Stalinism; ‘thanks to its courageous and. enduring | ‘participation in all the mass movements, Trotskyism today is widely known and recognized by the revolutionary vanguard in many countries. And this
vanguard will address numerous questions to you which you will find -it embarrassing to answer, Comrade Fidel Castro:
Is Comrade Hugo Blanco a "vulgar instrument of imperialism and reaction" ~- Hugo Blanco, who organized the poor peasants in his own country, ‘led them in occupying the land stolen from them by the proprietors, brought them to resist arms in hand the repressive measures undertaken by the army and the proprietors, thereby actually launching the Peruvian Revolution to which you attach so much importance in your speech?
Are the Trotskyist militants of Bolivia "vulgar instruments of imperialism and reaction," the militants at the head of the armed miners who dealt the first military defeat to reaction in their country in the battle of Sora-Sora? Is: Comrade Cesar Lora a "vulgar instrument of imperialism and reaction," this trade-union leader foully murdered by the reaction whose funeral procession, attended by thousands of miners, constituted-a veritable challenge to the military dictatorship? Or. Comrade Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso, whose arrest was protested by thousands of students and workers . in ‘La Paz in a spon-taneous strike? - be Beas
Is Comrade Kanai Pal a nyulgar instrument of imperialism and reaction," Kanai Pal, the Trotskyist deputy in the legislature of East Bengal, arrested for his intransigent. fidelity to proletarian | internationalism, for his refusal to support the bourgeoisie of his own . country against the Chinese workers state? » we
Are the Trotskyists of the United States, who were among | the: first to raise the banner of defense of the Cuban Revolution within the very heart of the main imperialist stronghold in the world -are they "vulgar instruments of imperialism and ‘reaction"? What about Comrade Farrell Dobbs, presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers ‘party, who made. defense of the Cuban Revolution the main plank in his electoral campaign. in 1960 and toured the» entire country, speaking out in defense of: ‘this Revolution?»
Are the French Trotskyists “yulgar instruments of: imperialism, " they who were the first in their country to’organize political and material aid for the Algerian Revolution, at a time when the French Communist party considered the leaders of this revolution to be "Sutschist edventurers''?
ire the Trotskyists “vulgar instruments of imperialism" -- the Trotskyists who are organizing, aiding and promoting committees today in forty countries-of the world to mobilize the masses with the aim of : forcing the unconditional withdrawal of the American troops from Vietnam in'‘order to help the National Liberation Front and the Vietnamese Revolution to win?
No; Comrade Fidel Castro; forthe first time, no one will believe you when you launch this slander; and it will ricochet -through your fault -- injuring the prestige and the hearing given the Cuban Revolution ‘throughout the world.
To give a semblance of political justification to your unjustifiable attack upon Trotskyism, you touch briefly on the case of Guatemala, insinuating that "where a vast revolutionary front has united the immense majority of the people and has closely grouped different sectors of. the population around the liberation movement. in the struggle: against: imperialism, to Trotskyites this-is- absurd, it. is sounterrevolutionary. " po, QS
We give wholehearted support to the guerrilla movement in a Guatemala. We do not know who is responsible for the division that hes occurred in this movement, although your account would imply that the responsibility does not lie with Comandante Yon Sosa but . with Comendante Turcios, since you praise him because he "broke away . from the '14th of November Movement.'" At least it is a strange way . to uphold the idea of a united anti-imperialist revolutionary front -- glorifying a split in this front under pretext that it is impossible to collaborate with anyone who collaborates with Trotskyists..., Whatever the case may be, we object most strenuously to your insinu-. ation that the Trotskyists, in Guatemala, Vietnam, or anywhere else . consider the establishment of a united anti- imperialist. front to be vabsurd™ or “counterrevolutionary. " This is an added slander.
The Trotskyists, the revolutionary Marxists, are partisans of the broadest: united anti-imperialist front, of the sincere collaboration of all the forces within the colonial revolution ready to deal blows against the imperialist enemy. But they add two lessons from _ history, two lessons formulated by Lenin, two lessons that the whole course of. the. ‘revolution since 1917 has continually confirmed.
First , “the party ‘of the working class and the poor peasants must under no pretext give up ‘its organizational independence within this united anti-imperialist front, for only .the proletariat and poor peasantry are capable of fighting imperialism without reservation or hesitation up to the very end. Second, if -- under pretext of constituting a united anti-imperialist front and winning over the "national bourgeoisie" to this front -- the program, the slogans, ‘the forms and methods of action are shaped to fit, not the aspirations of the masses and. the possibilities open to them, but unity with the "national" bourgeoisie, then leadership of the anti-imperialist movement is abdicated and. what is constituted in fact is a. "bloc of classes" with the bourgeoisie and under its direction. The outcome is defeats and disasters of the bloodiest kind.
Without going further ‘back, it is sufficient to cite two. recent cases. In Brazil the whole movement was subordinated to the directives and initiatives of a Goulart, who could only capitulate before imperialism. In Indonesia the same kind of bloc, named NASE- KOM, ended in the massacre of 100,000 Communists and the imprison- . ment of another 100,000 militants. These two cases show that the _ teachings and warnings of the > Trotskyists in this ‘respect are not without foundation. :
‘This is also what the Cuban. people clearly “proclaimed in the Second Declaration of Havana, thus putting down as false the policy
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pursued by the Communist parties and confirming the correctness. of: the theory of permanent revolution:
"In the present historical conditions of Latin America, the: national bourgeoisie cannot lead the antifeudal and anti- -imperialist.. struggle. Experience has. demonstrated that in our countries, even when their: interests run counter..to those: of Yankee imperialism, this class has always been incapable of resistance due to fear of the social revolution and the exploited masses."
As: early as. 1905; Trotsky said the same thing in his theory of permanent: revolution. Wherever. the revolutionary workers movement took the: leadership of the revolution, guiding it uninterruptedly . -.: up to the victory of the socialist revolution, it has triumphed. This was the case in Russia in 1917, in Yugoslavia in 1945, in China in 1949, in north Vietnam in 1954,-in Cuba in 1959-60.:Wherever it has abdicated, handing over this leading role to other classes or to. other social forces, the outcome has been a bloody defeat. This is what the. Trotskyists, armed with the lessons of a half century of revolutionary experiences, have continually. procleimed.
Your: attack against. the Trotskyists will. objectively reinforce the opportunistis in Latin America who in practice reject the teach- | ings:of the Second Declaration of Havana, the teachings of the Cuban. Revolution, and who continue to peddle the "peaceful road" and an "alliance with the national bourgeoisie." And this can have grave consequences for the Latin-American revolution. ar
You dared, finally, to characterize the program of the Fourth .. International and the organization itself as "antihistoric" and “discredited. "
“Stalin and the Soviet bureaucracy attempted ‘to discredit Trotskyism. In 1947, at the time of the infamous Moscow Trials, -. : Trotsky hurled his ‘celebrated prophecy in the faces of the masters. -. of the Kremlin: "The: revolution will open all the secret archives, ::review all the trials, rehabilitate the slandered, raise monuments : to the victims, swear an everlasting malediction on the executioners. -- Stalin will disappear from the scene under the weight of his crimes as the gravedigger of the revolution and the most sinister figure in history."*At the time, Trotsky hardly had an organization, his friends and partisans were being murdered in great numbers; Stalin stood at the head. of one of the world's principal powers which . . emerged victorious in the second world-war. But a quarter of a cen-... . tury:later Trotsky's prophecy has largely come true. Today in the. USSR and among the Communist parties, despite the monstrous falsifications launched against Trotsky, despite the difficulties that militants often experience in trying to gain access to Trotskyist literature, between Trotsky and Stalin; it is certainly not the former who is "discredited" but rather the one who besmirched the banner of socialism by organizing such crimes as the "purges" and. setting up concentration camps about which millions of the citizens..- *Les Crimes de Staline, pe 376.
in the workers: states today know at least a part of the truth. 9
Trotskyism, an antihistoric undertaking? It is the Marxism of our: epoch, and those who wish to develop in-a creative and living way the Marxist analysis of the problems of contemporary imperiai-° = isn, of monopoly capitalism, of the colonial revolution, of the ‘con= struction of socialist | Society, are continually obliged’ to drink at this spring.
Trotskyism, an antihistoric undertaking? But since the second world war, from Chile to Japan, from Great Britain to Argentina, from Ceylon to Belgium, from Greece and Italy to the United States, young socialists and communists , the vanguard of the young workers and students, . keep moving in large numbers toward Trotskyism.
Trotskyism;- an’ antihistoric undertaking? Trotskyism is the struggle for the international extension. of the socialist revolution, for the overthrow of the capitalist regime in all countries, for the organization of a dictatorship of the proletariet based upon genuinedemocracy for the workers and poor peasants, for the organization of: the workers state on the basis of democratically elected committees of workers and poor peasants, for the management of. the plants by the workers themselves, for the free play.of art and culture, for the withering away of the state, of classes, of the market economy. Trotskyism is the untiring struggle to recreate a new mass Communist International. Trotskyism is simply the conscious expression of the march of history in our century. For no force in the world can © definitively prevent the realization of our program, otherwise neither the well-being nor even the survival of mankind can be assured in the long run.
The Fourth International has never ceased to defend all revolutions, no matter what the attitude of the leadership toward Trotskyism. We completely identify ourselves with the Cuban Revolution and with its repercussions in Latin America and in the world, whatever you may Say or do against us, Comrade Fidel Castro.. Noth- _ ing can stop Trotskyism, the Fourth International. But your imitation of the Soviet and Chinese leaders:.in the employment of amalgams, of epithets. like “agents of imperialism," instead of political discussion, injures the Cuban Revolution. i.
To the Fidel Castro of January . 15, 1966, the Fourth Interna-— tional and all revolutionists will reply with the Fidel Castro of March 1%, 1962, who at the University ‘of Havana, denounced the doctoring of documents and the falsification of history, who proclaimed that "the revolution must be a school of unfettered thought" and who said:
NBow | can we, in the presence of a new generation, a genera—' tion which is beginning to study, which is thirsting ‘for knowledge, which is thirsting to. read, which is thirsting to embark on the study of history, which is ‘thirsting to embark ion the. study of Marxism, how can we put on that generation blinders so large that we will not permit them to read the full text of a historical document...?"
- They will reply ¥ with the Castro who, in the same _ Speech, declared:” .
"The revolution has to induce men to study, to think, to: analyze in order to possess profound conviction, so profound that there willbe no need to’ have recourse to such tricks (like the: falsification of documents)....It is simply because of: this.,.-because‘we have faith in our ideas and in the people that. “we. are not. so cowardly: as to be able to accept such a thing. Westy eek.
f4nd to the Castro who. has: just. ‘declared - that Trotskyism has. become "a vulgar instrument of imperiatism and reaction," the Fourth International makes the following challenge:: that he submit his. proofs before a tribunal of the Cuban=:péople; five of the most representative leaders:.of-the Fourth International are ready to. stand before such a public tribunal and: answer: the daecuser before the people of all’ Cuba.. ous the eo le. of Cuba: will discover that the
ae) onel-are devoted to but one aim: the ee oe the world socialist revolution!
' United Secretariat of the .
Fourth International.
THE TRESENT