Jean van Heijenoort

On Some Critics of Trotsky

Published: Fourth International, August 1942

Liberals have always distinguished themselves by lac o! understanding o! revolution" For them it is merely an #e$cess,# an #accident# which interru%ts the #normal# course o! history" &hey have no ey with which to %enetrate the determinism o! this accident" &his is not sur%rising" &he consciousness o! the classes and o! their s%o esmen de%ends on their %osition in society: only those who stand !irmly on the ground o! revolution can gras% all the as%ects o! the social !orces" Liberal thought is no better e'ui%%ed to understand the %ersonalities o! the great %roletarian revolutionists" Its inability to enter into the dynamics o! events leads it to a !alse conce%tion o! men" (verything that the liberals have written on Lenin is barren, revealing the limitations o! their thin ing rather than Lenin)s genius" An even more di!!icult ob*ect o! study !or them is &rots y" +ne o! those who has attem%ted to e$%lain &rots y is ,a$ (astman" -etter e'ui%%ed than other liberals by his contact with the revolutionary milieu and his %ersonal ac'uaintance with &rots y, (astman reveals only the more clearly the liberal)s organic inability to com%rehend the %ersonality and historic role o! a great ,ar$ist" &rots y ended the introduction to his autobiogra%hy with these words: #&o understand the causal se'uence o! events and to !ind somewhere in the se'uence one)s own %lace.. that is the !irst duty o! a revolutionary"# &his duty &rots y !ul!illed to the utmost" For him /or !or Lenin0 the tas o! the biogra%her, *ust as that o! its hero, is to #understand the se'uence o! events"# +nly then can the man)s real %lace in history be !ound and his true role established" 1istorical materialism does not deny the role o! the individual in history nor the in!luence o! the di!!erent as%ects o! his character" +n the contrary, it reveals !or the !irst time the mechanism o! this %rocess by recogni2ing the individual as the re%resentative o! a class or a layer o! a class" It thus %rovides a rational e$%lanation o! his historical role and at the same time establishes the limits o! his activity" All the idealistic *argon about #heroes# loses its mystical and mysti!ying character" &he tra*ectory described by each

historical %ersonality is the result o! the interaction o! the di!!erent social grou%s, each o! which demands di!!erent 'uali!ications !rom its re%resentatives" +! these delicate relationshi%s between a social grou% and its leaders, liberal thought gras%s nothing3 history becomes a mere bac dro% !or the hero, the liberal observer delves more and more dee%ly into the individual in order to discover his #secret# and that o! the events" For years the liberals insistently e$%lained 4talinism as the %roduct o! some original sin o! -olshevism, Lenin)s 'uasi.diabolic invention" As !or the de!eat o! the Le!t +%%osition, !rom where could it s%ring i! not !rom some #de!ect or wea ness,# as (astman %uts it, in &rots y)s character5 1e remained isolated, hence #he could not handle men"# 1e was beaten, hence #%oorer %olitician never lived"# 1egel once observed that common sense, when unable to give an e$%lanation, o!ten ta es re!uge in the ty%e o! meta%hysics which #e$%lains# that o%ium causes slee% because o! its #dormitive 'uality"# 1aving se%arated the %arty or the individual !rom the historical develo%ment o! the class struggle, the doctors o! liberalism then observe them through the meta%hysical s%ectacles o! common sense" &hus to give rise to 4talinism, -olshevism must contain a #dictatorial 'uality# and the !all o! &rots y can be e$%lained only..obviously..by his lac o! #%olitical 'uality"# 1ow sim%le6 A Bullet or Cup of Tea? 7e are waiting to be told what this #%olitical 'uality# is" ,a$ (astman merely %oints out to us two %ossible mani!estations o! this 'uality" &he !irst would have been !or &rots y to #have gone into the !actories with a !ew !orthright s%eeches and raised every !ighting revolutionist in ,oscow and Leningrad against the 4talinist cli'ue"# In short, &rots y should have made an insurrection" &he second would have been to invite 8amenev, #who was his brother.in.law,# to come ta e a cu% o! tea and #tal it over man to man"# 7e leave it to ,a$ (astman)s common sense to reconcile the armed insurrection against the 4talin.9inoviev.8amenev troi a and the cu% o! tea with the same 8amenev" An insurrection does not !all !rom the s y, even when there is someone to lead it" 7hat are the indications that, in 192: or later, the 4oviet wor ing masses were ready to revolt against the rising bureaucracy5 An a%%eal to the masses against the %arty could have led only to an immense 8ronstadt and %re%ared the entrance o! the counter.revolutionary bourgeoisie" As !or arousing the %arty against the bureaucratic to%s, %recisely this was the tas underta en by the o%%osition, but it had to begin with the wor o! educating and o! gathering together cadres !or this tas " 1ow can one s%ea o! an armed insurrection when the o%%osition was in the minority even in the ran s o! the %arty5 1ow call on a %arty member to ta e gun in hand and !ight in the street when in his %arty cell, under %ressure o! his su%eriors in the !actory or o!!ice, through !atigue, through lac o! con!idence in the !orces o! the revolution, he voted !or the a%%aratus5

-ut a!ter all, didn)t &rots y have une'ualled %o%ularity in the army5 &his is true and there is little doubt that in 192: it would have been very easy, with the hel% o! the military a%%aratus, to dis%erse the troi a..a matter o! only a !ew hours and very little blood, i! any" 1ere common sense seems to trium%h" 7ith such a sim%le o%eration all the degradation o! 4talinism would have been avoided..and it was not even tried6 -ut history ma es a !ool o! common sense" +ne cannot use the army li e a sword which one %uts bac in its sheath once the o%eration is done" Any army which enters the %olitical arena and assures the victory o! one o! the !ighting !actions %roceeds to %ay itsel! well" &he %rices would have been, !or the o!!icers cor%s, more security and more %rivileges" Instead o! s%reading chie!ly through the %arty a%%aratus, then, the &hermidorian reaction would have s%read through the military a%%aratus" ;ndoubtedly the regime would have had a di!!erent coloration than that o! 4talin, but the !undamental %olitical reality would have been the same and the %rocess o! degeneration %robably more ra%id" <iting the revolutionary integrity o! &rots y changes none o! this" 1e would have !ound himsel!, the day a!ter the -ona%artist cou% d)etat, !aced with the demands o! an o!!icers cor%s become conscious o! its %ower in the country" 1e would then have had to ca%itulate to the o!!icers, or, in resisting them, !all victim to one o! their %lots" Indeed, the army is always a stronghold o! bureaucratism" &he =ed Army was no e$ce%tion" &he military a%%aratus was not se%arated !rom the state a%%aratus by an air. tight %artition, but was %art o! it, !ollowing the same %rocess o! degeneration" In 1921 the war was over, and the heroic e%och o! the revolution was succeeded by the hum. drum o! daily e$istence" &he di!!erence between the two %eriods was even greater !or the army than !or the rest o! the %o%ulation, and could not !ail to be re!lected in its state o! mind" ,oreover, the army had been reduced !rom >,:??,??? men to @??,??? thus greatly increasing the s%eci!ic weight o! the remaining cadres" 7e must not !orget that a not negligible !raction o! these remaining cadres came !rom the <2arist army" &he demobili2ed %art o! the army was also a strong !actor in the bureaucrati2ation o! the country" ,any o! the commanders, returning to their villages and %rovincial towns, !ound themselves %laced, by their %restige and their e$%erience, at the head o! the local administration" &here they o!ten em%loyed methods di!!ering very little !rom the military command to which they were accustomed, and they integrated themselves very easily into the 4talinist a%%aratus" In !ace o! these social realities the %restige o! their !ormer leader carried little weight" Politics, Science of Perspectives In Auly 19:: &rots y was living near =oyan3 nearby lived a <ommunist wor er, an old in!luential %arty member, dissatis!ied with the 4talinist line" Lev Bavidovitch desired to meet him" &he enter%rise was ris y" 1is so*ourn in France might have been

com%romised, but the desire to s%ea with a wor er won out" 4o, one evening, with all %ossible %recautions, this wor er was brought into the wor room o! Lev Bavidovitch" &he conversation soon turned to the de!eat o! the =ussian +%%osition" #1ow did you lose the %ower, comrade &rots y5#..#Ah, you now, one does not lose %ower li e one loses his %oc et boo "# &hen came an e$%lanation which lasted long into the night" Power is not a tro%hy %resented to the most clever, but it is above all, through individuals, a relationshi% between the classes and their social layers" &he leader, as a re%resentative o! a social grou%, de!ends the interests o! that grou% more or less well" -ut i! the %osition o! the grou% changes, he loses his !ooting, is sus%ended in the air, %owerless" &hus, on the 9th &hermidor, =obes%ierre, head o! the government, a%%ears be!ore the <onvention" &he session is so tumultuous that he cannot s%ea and it is ended by a decree o! arrest against him" &he !ollowing day he is guillotined" <learly, the !orces which su%%orted him were e$hausted" Any e$%lanation that would reduce the dynamics o! the revolution to a com%arison o! the %ersonal 'ualities o! =obes%ierre and -arras would not get very !ar" Cever weary o! accusing &rots y o! being a %oor %olitician, the %hilistines rarely ta e the trouble to e$%ound their own conce%tion o! %olitics" -ut their accusations show clearly that their lac o! understanding o! the relationshi% o! the individual to the %arty, o! the %arties to the classes, reduces their conce%tion to the most degraded !orm o! %olitics, the an o! %ersonal combinations" +! course, this art is !ar !rom being unnecessary" -ut the !irst condition !or its use is to now its limits" +ne can deceive men3 one cannot deceive history" 4talin thought he could" In 192: he was merely loo ing !or a #surer# way !or the revolution, thought he was avoiding danger by con!ining the revolution within the !rontiers o! the ;44= and by building socialism in one country" &his #ruse# led him to the terrible catastro%he o! today" &he #im%ractical# theory o! the %ermanent revolution was, on the other hand, !ull o! %ro!ound realism" Li ewise, one could not, in 192:, s i% over the wave o! &hermidorian reaction by such a #ruse# as an insurrection, a military cou% d)etat or a cu% o! tea with #brother.in.law# 8amenev" In Auly 19:> Lev Bavidovitch was s%ea ing o! the France he was leaving: #&here is truth in what the French say: %olitics is the science o! %ro%ortion" +h, !or them it is the science o! small %ro%ortions"# &hus he described in a single word a stri ing characteristic o! the French bourgeoisie" &hen he continued: #&o be e$act one must say that %olitics is the science o! %ers%ectives"# I! one acce%ts this de!inition o! %olitics.and this is the only valid one !or ,ar$ists..&rots y was a great, a very great %olitician" Revolution an Reaction

&he critics o! &rots yism li e to re%eat: when it is a 'uestion o! e$%laining the de!eat o! the Le!t +%%osition, you underline the im%ortance o! the ob*ective !actors, but when it is

a matter o! accusing Cin o! having collaborated in the de!eat o! the 4%anish revolution, you bring to the !ore the sub*ective !actor and you %lace the res%onsibility on the individual" Precisely6 In the 4%anish revolution the movement o! the masses created the ob*ective conditions o! victory" 4ub*ective initiative was lac ing and our criticism o! Cin rests on his de!inite acts, such as his entry into the <atalan government, which acted directly against the movement o! the masses" Cin and his %arty did not %rovide an outlet !or the revolutionary energy o! the 4%anish %roletariat" +ne %roo!, among others, is the leaderless ,ay 19:D insurrection o! the <atalan wor ers in -arcelona" 7as there some analogous insurrection in the ;44= during the struggle o! the Le!t +%%osition or even some bold movement o! the wor ers5 A revolutionary leadershi% must not let an occasion %ass, but it cannot create this occasion as it li es when ob*ective conditions are not ri%e" ,ar$ism gives great im%ortance to the initiative and audacity o! an individual or a small grou% in the carrying out o! the insurrection, but at the same time it establishes %recise rules !or determining the moment o! that insurrection, which does not *ust ha%%en at any time but crowns the revolutionary rise o! the masses" 1istory demands so much !rom a revolutionary leadershi% %recisely because the lost occasion cannot be recreated at will" &he im%ossibility o! acting when ob*ective conditions are lac ing and the obligation o! resolutely intervening when they materiali2e..these are two sides o! the same coin" &he de!eat o! the Le!t +%%osition was too com%lete to allow us to attribute it to some tactical error o! its leader" Caturally, this does not mean that events necessarily had to ha%%en as they did" Cumerous variants were %ossible, but the general trend leaves little doubt" &rots y)s %ersonal 'ualities have their im%ortance in determining his %lace: it is not by chance that he led the o%%osition and that 4talin was the agent o! the reaction" In 192@, when she still !elt !airly close to Lenin)s last ideas, 8ru%s aia declared: #I! Ilyitch were alive, he would be in %rison today"# -y these words she wished above all to denounce the lie o! 4talin)s so.called #Leninism# and to show the reality o! the struggle, that o! the bureaucratic reaction against the revolutionary wing" 1owever, 8ru%s aia)s words also seem to contain, in their own way, a re%roach directed to the Le!t +%%osition: i! Lenin were alive, he would have led the struggle against the bureaucrati2ation o! the 4oviet state with such vigor that he would already have been in %rison, while the o%%osition was still in the %arty" 4urely we have the right to discern this criticism in 8ru%s aia)s words, but in this case we must not !orget the conclusion: Lenin himsel! could not have overcome the bureaucracy, #he would be in %rison today"# &o %lace the %roblem on the level o! %ersonal 'ualities alone leads, willy nilly, to a great e$aggeration o! the stature o! &rots y)s adversaries" &hus, it is characteristic o! liberal thought to con!er some demoniacal %ower on 4talin when in reality 4talin)s motivations were very sim%le and very narrow: the !ear o! revolutionary ris , the absence o! %ers%ectives, envy o! a more brilliant rival, mediocrity and %rovincial grossness" -ut it was %recisely these 'ualities that the a%%aratus re'uired o! its leader"

Boes this mean that the struggle o! the Le!t +%%osition was !utileE &his mechanical and abstract way o! %osing the 'uestion betrays a !atalism !oreign to ,ar$ism" 1istory does not give its verdict li e an oracle" &he relationshi% o! !orces can be determined only by the struggle itsel!" Co one can measure in advance the de%th and the duration o! the reaction" A %roletarian victory outside the ;44= could have reo%ened the 'uestion" Above all there was the duty o! assuring the revolutionary !uture" 7here would we be without the struggle o! the Le!t +%%osition5 !T"e Tri#e of P"ilistines! 7hile ,a$ (astman)s lac o! com%rehension holds a good deal o! naivete, amusingly sim%le, that o! A" =" Aohnsons is mi$ed with a large dose o! hy%ocrisy" 1is !ailure to understand #the causal se'uence o! events# leads him directly to conscious !alsi!ication, which is not amusing" Aohnson bro e !rom the Fourth International a!ter a bitter !actional struggle in which &rots y actively %artici%ated..not on Aohnson)s side, as everyone nows..and Aohnson tries to ta e revenge" In (astmanian terms he de%icts &rots y as a #very de!ective %olitician,# who #in the hands o! 8amenev and 4talin was a child"# 1is entire criticism, su%er!icial and im%ressionistic, without serious discussion o! !acts and te$ts, is sterile !rom a historical and %olitical %oint o! view" -ut Aohnson 'uic ly arrives at the raison d)etre o! his article" I! he tries so hard to %rove that &rots y was a #child in 4talin)s hands,# it is to show that he was also a child in <annon)s hands at the time the -urnham.4hachtman grou%, to which Aohnson belonged, le!t the Fourth International: #Bes%ite his unwillingness he /&rots y0 was cunningly maneuvered into a %osition in which his authority and energy were unscru%ulously used !or an aim he did not have in mind" 7hen he recogni2ed what was ha%%ening, it was too late"# 7hat baseness in this last sentence5 7hat is Aohnson hinting at in this hy%ocritical innuendo5 1e is care!ul not to be too %recise" Fes indeed, &rots y #recogni2ed what was ha%%ening# and called it by its name: #a %etty.bourgeois o%%osition o%ening a struggle against ,ar$ism with ideological charlatanism"# All this is well nown" As !or the s%lit, &rots y wrote: #&he discussion in the 4ocialist 7or ers Party o! the ;nited 4tates was thorough and democratic" &he %re%arations !or the convention were carried out with absolute loyalty" &he minority %artici%ated in the convention, recogni2ing thereby its legality and authoritativeness" &he ma*ority o!!ered the minority all the necessary guarantees %ermitting it to conduct a struggle !or its own views a!ter the convention" &he minority

demanded a license to a%%eal to the masses over the head o! the %arty" &he ma*ority naturally re*ected this monstrous %retension"# And again: #7e have the !act that the minority s%ilt away !rom us, in s%ite o! all the measures ta en by the ma*ority not to s%lit" &his signi!ies that their inner social !eeling was such that it is im%ossible !or them to go together with us" It is a %etty.bourgeois tendency, not a %roletarian"# Co, ,r" Aohnson, it is not so easy to ma e &rots y out as a %olitical sim%leton whom <annon leads around by the nose" &o su%%ort his !able o! &rots y, the #very de!ective %olitician,# inca%able o! *udging men, Aohnson has one last argument: his assassination" 1ere is what he writes: #Cot the least signi!icant was the tragic circumstances o! his death" 1e had been warned against his murderer, but this GP; agent earned his !avor by an e$aggerated devotion to &rots y)s %olitical %osition" For si$ months he discussed %olitics with the greatest living master o! %olitics and &rots y never detected a !alse note, a%%arently set no tra% !or him" 7e can be certain that whoever else might have been deceived by an im%oster, ,r" Aose%h 4talin would not have been" In the end the idea e$%ressed was more im%ortant and interesting to &rots y than the %erson e$%ressing it" It was his strength, the cause o! some o! his greatest trium%hs" but It was his wea ness, the cause o! some o! his greatest !ailures"# Catalia &rots y has already had occasion to indicate the direct and !actual lies in these !ew lines: there was no warning, no !avor earned by an e$aggerated devotion, no si$ months o! %olitical discussion"H Cone o! that e$isted" -ut we must as ourselves why Aohnson had to use such means" Let us glance bac and we will !ind a historical %recedent which will enlighten us" In his old age 8auts y wrote o! ,ar$ and (ngels: #Ceither o! them were great *udges o! men"# Aust li e Aohnson, 8auts y had a very %recise ob*ect in ma ing such a *udgment" It was both sel!.de!ense and revenge" A!ter 8auts y)s !irst visit with ,ar$, the latter wrote to his daughter Aenny: #1e is a mediocrity with a small.minded outloo , su%erwise /only 2@0, very conceited, Industrious in a certain sort o! way, he busies himsel! a lot with statistics but does not read anything very clever out o! them, belongs by nature to the tribe o! the %hilistines, but is otherwise a decent !ellow In his own way"#

&hese lines were written in 1II1 and rereading them now, with 8auts y)s whole li!e be!ore our eyes, we can only marvel at the %ower o! insight which had %enetrated so dee%ly into the young man o! 2@ years" 7e can easily understand why 8auts y could not let himsel! ac nowledge ,ar$ as a #great *udge o! men"# &o *usti!y this a%%raisal o! ,ar$, 8auts y wrote: #In 1I>2 ,ar$ gave his !ullest con!idence to the 1ungarian Aournalist -angya, even turning over to him a manuscri%t in which various )great men o! the emigration) were %ortrayed" And then it turned out that this 1err -angya was a s%y In the service o! the Prussian government into whose hands he delivered ,ar$)s manuscri%t"# &o try to save themselves %ersonally, 8auts y and Aohnson must build u% a ,ar$ and a &rots y inca%able o! *udging men" -ut, as there is no material !or such a construction, both must have recourse to a com%letely arti!icial case, that o! a s%y.%rovocateur, a case which has no bearing on the understanding o! men by men, but rather on the art o! divination" 7hat a stri ing %arallel6 Trotsky$s %et"o s It is on such !oundations o! sand that Aohnson tries to build a *udgment o! &rots y and to establish #his %lace in history"# A!ter having %resented &rots y as #cunningly maneuvered# and #unscru%ulously used# by <annon, having described him as unable to #detect a !alse note# in his murderer, Aohnson does not hesitate to conclude: #&o the end he remained what he was, a man inca%able o! leaving his main wor and concentrating his %ower!ul intellect on the tric s and dodges which are Inse%arable !rom %olitics" ;nscru%ulous men not !it to clean his %en could gain his con!idence and get the better o! him"# 7hile Aohnson believes he has discovered a dee% characteristic o! &rots y, o! im%ortant %olitical conse'uence, he in reality *ust re%eats an old and des%icable calumny" 4ince the a%%earance o! the Le!t +%%osition on the international arena, &rots y has had to brea with a number o! grou%s and individuals a!ter attem%ts at collaboration" Cot sur%rising: the Fourth International was born in a %eriod o! general retreat o! the labor movement" Inde%endently o! each other, most o! those !rom whom &rots y had to se%arate re%eated the same accusations: &rots y)s ideas are e$cellent, but he understands nothing o! organi2ation, he does not now how to *udge men, he allows himsel! to be maneuvered3 immersed in his theoretical wor , he lets himsel! be misled by the !alse in!ormation and the intrigues o! those who !ollow him, etc" """ Cot once, but do2ens and do2ens o! times

these same recriminations came !rom the di!!erent countries o! (uro%e" 4ouvarine, whom Aohnson nows well, is es%ecially brilliant in this ind o! rhetoric" For a long time Leon 4edo!! was the target o! these accusations" =udol%h 8lement also su!!ered !rom them..in !act, all those who were close to &rots y" For many deserters it was the only e$%lanation o! their brea with the Fourth International" &he thinness o! this e$%lanation betrays their lac o! understanding o! %olitical reality as well as their resentment: it is not %ossible that &rots y is really against me6 7hoever is even slightly !amiliar with &rots y)s methods o! wor can only shrug his shoulders at such accusations" &rots y a%%lied the same scienti!ic conscientiousness in all that he did, whether it was writing the history o! the revolution or intervening in an im%assioned !action !ight within a grou% o! ten %ersons" In his o!!ice he studied the letters received li e a scientist in his laboratory observing his test.tubes" 1e new how to collate evidence and to hold bac until he had been able to !orm a clear %icture o! the situation" -ut once he had !ormed an o%inion, he entered the !ight with !irmness and decision" Personal relations counted !or little then and became entirely subordinated to %olitical *udgment" Cumerous adversaries were disconcerted by this attitude" Inca%able o! %enetrating to the bottom o! %olitical reality and its re'uirements, they tended invariably to sli% over to another %lane3 they a%%ealed to %ersonal relations in order to reestablish an understanding which had become im%ossible" +r, as &rots y e$%ressed it in re!erring to one o! them, they were li e a child who sha es the watch whose s%ring he has bro en in order to ma e it go again" &hen in s%ite, they %laced the res%onsibility !or the brea on the maneuvers and !alse in!ormation o! which &rots y had been the victim" Aohnson tries to raise this gossi% to a theoretical and historical level, and %resent a &rots y clever in the world o! ideas but inca%able o! reading men" &he !acts decisively contradict such a !abrication" Among the great ,ar$ists, &rots y is incontestably the one who was the most interested in !ollowing the course o! men through events" &he corres%ondence o! ,ar$ and (ngels does not lac %enetrating estimates o! the men o! their e%och, in s%ite o! what 8auts y might have thought" -ut &rots y was able to draw much more rounded %ortraits" -e!ore 191D there were already numerous silhouettes among his writings: Jictor Adler and -ebel, (bert and Bavid, Aaures and Jaillant, Ple hanov and ,artov, Ledebour and =a ovs y..%ractically all the !igures o! the international movement" -ut it is in the writings o! his third e$ile that &rots y becomes master o! the art o! integrating the individual into the #causal se'uence o! events"# 1is 1istory o! the =ussian =evolution contains %ortraits o! %ractically all the actors in the drama, !rom Cicholas to 8erens y, !rom ,iliu ov to ,artov" 7ith no arti!iciality6 &he men are in their %laces, with their words, their gestures, their intonations" &he com%le$ mechanism whereby each historical tas chooses its men is revealed to us" &rots y)s other writings o! the same %eriod..his criticism o! the %rogram o! the <ommunist International, his autobiogra%hy, etc"..reveal the same %ower o! %erce%tion through his study o! other individuals..the e%igones o! Leninism" &he death o! the old -olshevi s, the ,oscow &rials, !urnished him with the occasion to %aint %ortraits which history will

record as de!initive3 among others, those o! Lunachars y, 8ru%s aia, 8amenev, 9inoviev, 4mirnov" Finally, the last two great wor s, un!inished, were the %ortraits o! Lenin and 4talin" &he !uture historian will have to %ause long over &rots y)s %ile o! manuscri%ts on these men be!ore ho%ing to be able to say something new" From the time he le!t ,oscow to his murder in the sunny o!!ice at <oyoacan, !rom the end o! 192D to August 194?, Lev Bavidovitch carried on an active %olitical corres%ondence" At !irst, during the year s%ent at Alma Ata, this consisted o! the hundreds o! letters to the o%%ositionists de%orted throughout 4iberia" &hen in the 11 years o! his last e$ile, there were thousands o! letters to his co.thin ers in some :? countries" Cew contacts, %olemics, s%lits..all were %resent during this %eriod and all that corres%ondence is !ull o! his estimates o! men" Although written !or the immediate occasion, when reread a!ter a la%se o! several years they are o!ten astonishing in their de%th and their eenness" In a !ew stro es, an individual)s !undamental characteristics are %ainted with %ro!ound verity" ,ore than once Lev Bavidovitch %redicted the road which an individual was going to !ollow when less %ers%icacious eyes were still !ar !rom discerning it" <ertainly there were errors, but in the main they were astonishingly rare and the greater %art o! his *udgments was con!irmed by !uture develo%ments" Lev Bavidovitch had an e$traordinary ca%acity !or drawing out %eo%le" -y the 'uestions he as ed, by the discussion he started, he new how to ma e his visitor reveal his bac ground, his %re*udices, his manner o! a%%roaching %roblems" In e$%laining the de!eat o! the Le!t +%%osition, (astman always says that &rots y did not now the art o! %ersonal relations and he adduces his own e$%erience, that sometimes #you !eel that he was not %resent in reality at all"# <ertainly Lev Bavidovitch did not have much taste !or sitting around over a cu% o! tea s%ea ing o! little nothings and eternal %roblems" Any conversation without a %recise %ur%ose greatly irritated him" 7hen he grew weary o! it, he develo%ed, it is true, an air which might be termed #absent#3 his %oliteness then became somewhat mechanical and a!!ected as though he had to !orce himsel!" -ut he was very much %resent when contact was established with his visitor" Above all, the conversation had to have an ob*ect: comrades discussing %olitical %roblems, young %eo%le whom he !elt a desire to teach or, !inally, someone having a branch o! nowledge !rom which he wished to %ro!it" Faced with visitors !rom whom he could learn nothing and whom he could teach nothing, he was somehow disarmed" &he great gi!t o! &rots y in dealing with men was that he new how to mobili2e them" 1e new how to %aint the grandeur o! an aim, to ins%ire enthusiasm, to !orti!y the will" Lenin marveled at &rots y)s ability to rally many technicians to the 4oviet %ower, to ins%ire them with con!idence and to win them over to wor in de!ense o! the country" In his last e$ile, in %roblems small or big, he new how to gain the coo%eration and the devotion o! %eo%le who were not directly tied to him by ideas and who could e$%ect no recom%ense o! any ind" 1is secret, i! one wishes to use the word, was always to

demand o! an individual the best in him" &rots y addressed himsel! to the best in men, !or on the rest, he new, one can build nothing durable" H #Catalia &rots y Answers a Foul 4lander,# 4ocialist A%%eal, +ctober 2@, 194?"