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The
International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum, and the fund-raising
campaign to ensure the preservation and expansion of the Trotsky house
museum, received an important send-off with a series of public
conferences last month in Coyoacán, Mexico.
The
activities culminated on Aug. 20, with an indoor rally at the Foro
Coyoacanense. The audience included activists from Trotskyist
organizations from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and the United States,
diplomatic officials from a number of countries, representatives of
other Mexican museums and cultural institutions, and the media.
The
event started with a 45-minute session dedicated to “stories told to
Trotsky and Natalia” by the professional group of story-tellers Sol
Azul-Río Abierto. Then came a 10-minute talk on Mexico’s tradition of
asylum by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, founder of the Partido de la Revolución
Democrática (PRD) and son of President Lázaro Cárdenas, who granted
political asylum to Trotsky and Natalia. He was followed by a 30-minute
talk on “The right of asylum in Mexico” by Prof. Pablo
Yankelevich, a historian on this subject.
A
message was sent to the rally from Jeff Mackler, national secretary,
Socialist Action, U.S. fraternal section of the Fourth
International (founded by Leon Trotsky), and from Barry Weisleder,
federal secretary, Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action
socialiste, in solidarity with the Fourth International in the
Canadian state. Their remarks follow:
Comrades
and friends,
Please
accept our deepest apologies for not being with you on
this special weekend as we all join in the effort to preserve and
expand the Leon Trotsky Institute and Museum.
We
extend a loving embrace to Esteban Volkov, friend and comrade, and
representative of the revolutionary tradition pioneered by
his grandfather—a tradition that lives today everywhere human
beings fight for freedom and dignity, against the ravages of the
crisis-plagued world capitalist system.
Trotsky
once said that his greatest contribution to humanity was ensuring
the continuity of Marxism, of revolutionary socialism, after its
degradation, betrayal and abandonment by the Joseph Stalin regime.
His greatest achievement, Trotsky insisted, was the
founding of the Fourth International. True enough! Our
movement would have faltered without Trotsky’s guidance, but we
submit that his ideas would never have been lost.
We
point to another contribution of Trotsky that rivals, if
not exceeds, all others. There was a moment of truth in October
1917 that the world will never forget.
It
was in fact on Oct. 11 [old style], the day that Lenin and the
Bolshevik Party voted to prepare for an insurrection to challenge for
power in the world’s largest country—inside the empire that was called
a prison house of nations and oppressed peoples, conquered by
Tsarism. Russia was then the nation whose rulers insisted on
sacrificing the people to pursue an imperialist war fought for the
rich at the expense of the lives of the poor.
The
sheer audacity of Lenin’s proposal shook the Bolshevik ranks to their
core, leading most to regard Lenin’s direction as more a statement
of intent than a deed that could be carried out immediately. The stakes
were high. Failure meant certain death and the annihilation of a
party that had spent decades in preparation.
Trotsky
was assigned by the Petrograd Soviet and his party to take charge.
He was chosen by Lenin, still in hiding, because Trotsky was the
single leader who, above all others, understood the enormity
of the task and would not falter. Trotsky took this assignment seriously,
as he did all others. He never questioned its necessity, or
pondered the consequence of failure.
Indeed,
so ripe were the conditions for revolution and so prepared were
the Bolshevik ranks that few believed that the deed had actually
been done on Oct. 25. “A one-day coup!” the bourgeoisie prattled,
as they sipped their drinks in the fine cafes on the Nevsky Prospect
and published their denunciations via their still roaring
newspaper presses.
Nothing
had really happened they insisted. Kerensky would soon return with
troops from the front, and the Bolshevik scoundrels would be
ousted in a matter of days.
But
there were no troops to restore capitalist order. They had
gone over to the side of the revolution, as had the urban working
masses, the Navy, the Petrograd garrison, the mass of the
peasantry—indeed all of the oppressed and exploited.
The
revolution led by Lenin and Trotsky was achieved in a single day,
but it was preceded by the theory and practice of Marx, Engels, and
many other revolutionary fighters over the course of a lifetime. More
than three-quarters of a century of struggle crystallized in that
one day. The earth shook and the working class and peasant masses
came to power.
That
precious moment when Lenin and Trotsky teamed up to lead in
the seizure of power was perhaps humankind’s most sacred
achievement. It was the first time that the people, the producers
of social wealth, ruled in their own name, through their own
institutions and in their own interests.
Trotsky,
co-leader with Lenin in that historic moment, resides in our
hearts and minds today. Our collective effort in maintaining and
improving the Museum and Institute is indispensable both to
his legacy, and as a pledge to the future which must be cleansed
of all oppression.
For
this valiant effort, let us put aside differences. Let us preserve
for all generations this precious ground and what Leon Trotsky
contributed to humanity’s bright future. He was no harmless icon.
Capitalists of the world beware! His followers are on the march!
We
greet you comrades in unity and solidarity. Let us restore
this Museum and Institute and strengthen the ideas that made
Trotsky’s life an inspiration to us all.
To
join the International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum or to donate
to the preservation/renovation fund, please send checks, payable to
Global Exchange, to International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum,
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. Please write “Trotsky Museum”
on memo line of your check.
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