Fascist Agents Exposed in the Moscow Trials

Table of contents :
The Background
The Indictment
How the Soviet Court Works
The Admission of Guilt
Between Two Worlds
In the Service of the Fascist Aggressors
Unity with Fascist Plans
The Trial and World Peace
Conclusion

Citation preview

THE BACKGROUND THE INDICTMENT HOW THE SOVIET COURT WORKS THE ADMISSION OF GUILT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS IN THE SERVICE OF THE FASCIST AGGRESSO RS UNITY WITH FASCIST PLANS THE TRIAL AND WORLD PEACE CONCLUSI ON

This pamp hlet summ arises . the discu ssions carrie d on by its two autho rs durin g ithe ·t en days throu gh whic h ·t hey sat toget her durin g ,t he trial of the Bloc of Righ ts and Trotskyists. It is not a -r ecord of the trial, -'o r ah analy sis of 1th.e proce eding s. Read ers intere sted in the detail s of this histor ic process and in the pains takin g meth ods by which the gui.lt of the accus ed w.as prove d are urged to read the offici al recor d, whic h is publi shed in Engli sh. It conta ins the full testim911;y 9f. witne sses, r~cqrds of evide nce, 1indic 9Ilen t, ~eech of :the ~prosecu·ting .attor ney .and statem ents ;of eash oI the, accus ed testif ying on his own behal f or cross -exan iiriing other witnesses, as well as the final statem ents made by\th e accuseal befor e the verdi ct of 1the court was annou nced. I.t aims rathe r to· draw the a.ttenition of in.terested peopl e to the signif icanc e of this trial as a part of the confli ct betwe en the forces invol ved in .t he effort to main.r ain world p·e ace and poss,i bilitie s for demo cratic progr ess, and those invol ved in the despe rate effort to plung e- 1the world into fascis m and war. The trial itself 'vas an impo rtant actor in the strug gle to. main tain peace . The wri.t rs of this pamp hl·e t sat throu gh every session of the trial. Each of them has exper ience of court processes. in whic h they have acted as one of the princ ipals. They had the servic es of a skille d ·in.terpreiter, in addit ion to \vhic h one of them unde rstan ds some.t hing of the . Russian langu.age. Watc hing the proce eding s, studying the evide nce and, particularly, study ing the relati onsh·i p of this widesprea d and malig nan·t consp iracy to the world -wide strug gle of the fascist aggre ssors ito invol ve tthe world in war, one caugh:t a glimp se of an unfol ding pictu re of a treme ndou s strug gle proce eding betwe en two worlds. Behin d the crimi nal consp irator s in the dock one felt the sinist er p·ow.er and t·h e ceaseless e.ffort of world reacti on., and pa1ititularly of the fascist st.ates, to seek out tools ana allies withi n the Socia list Repu blic of Work ers al}d Peasa nts as a part of their despe rate prepa ration s for ;the war of aggre ssion .

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FAS CIS T AG EN TS EXP OSE D in the osco w Tria ls THE BACKGROUND HE backgro und of tl1e trial \vas not only the tremend ous world struggle between fascism and the forces of progress ive, advanci ng mankin d, but also the historic devdop ments of twenty years since the great Socialis t Revolut ion of I 917, and even earlier the struggle s of the revoluti onary working class in Tsarist Russia and internat ionally. In ·the building up by Lenin and S:talin of the Bolshev ik Party, under \vhose leadersh ip the power of the landlord s and capitalis ts was· overthro wn ·throughoUJt a sixth of the globe, a fierce and µnending struggle had to be w.aged, nojt only .a gainst th·e open enemy but against thos:e who brought enemy policies into the ranks of the working class. After 1917 that struggle under one form or ano·t her still continued: just as before 1917 there had been the twenty years and more of struggle against Social-R evolutio naries and Menshe viks, so after the Revolut ion the fight had to be waged agai,n st Trotsky ists and Right deviatio nists as represen1tatives of false and misl,e ading tendenc ies inside the working class. But since 1929 there had been a complet e transfor mation of what had previous ly been poli1tical trends within the Labour movem ent into a gang of unprincipled professi on.a l wreckers, spies and • assassins. I;t \Vas this gang, or rather a section of it, which was brought to trial at Moscow . It has also to be borne in mind that the course of the Russian Revolut ion has not been smooth, bu t has had to encount er and overcome 9rodigio us obstacles. The first ten years were m .a rked by the terrific struggle of the young Soviet Republi cs against the armed interven tion of fourteen capitalisit powers, against the whites and other couniter -revolut ionaries in the Civil War. After the end of , Civil War and interven tion (the Japanes e were only cleared out of 1

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Vladi vosto ck in 1922) came the diffic ult perio d of restor ation of a ruine d econo my. Then in the last ten years came the period of recon struct ion, of a Socialist offensive again st the_rich peasa nts and other remn ants of capitalism withi n the Sovie t Unio n. This reconstruction period is the epoch of ·t he famo us first and secon d Five- Year Plans . Now in 1938 there has opene d the third Five- Year Plan. The first Fivey ear Plan provided for the industrialisa·tion of the count ry, the collootivisation of agriculitu·r e and the liquid ation of the rich peasa nts as a class. The start of the second Five-Year Plan coincides in its open ing mont h (January) wi,t h the comi ng to powe r of Hitle r in Germ any. Its trium phan·t close in l937 coincided with the forma tion of the three -pow er fascist bloc centr ed in Berlin , Toky o and Rome . This frame work of event s shoul d be borne in mind by the reade r when tracin g .the activities revealed in the trial of the antiSovie t ''Blo c of Right s and Trots kyist s." •

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THE IND ICTM ENT The crime s with which the accused wete charg ed startl ed the avera ge progr essive perso n out of the comp lacen cy with which so many view the whol e vast world consp iracy again st demo cracy . The indic tmen t charg ed that ''upo n instru ction s of the intell igenc e services of foreig n states hostile towa rd the U.S.S .R, the accused organised a: groi1p of plotte rs unde r the name of ' the bloc of Right s and Trots kyist s , aimin g at the overt hrow of the Socialist Social and Stite system existi ng in the U .S.~.R., the restor ation of capitalism in the U.S.S .R., the dism embe rmen t of the U.S.S .R. and the separ ation fi:om ·it of the Ukra ine, .Whit e Russi a, the Centr al Asiat ic !lepublics, Georg ia, Arme nia, Azerb aidj an, and the Marit ime Province for the benefit of the above -men tione d states .'' The . detail ed charg es inclu ded ev_e ry ch.aracteristic crime of couriter:..revolutionary activity, treaso n again st the sta.te, servic~ to a hqstil e foreig n power, felonies again st individuals and the people as a whole , blackmail, theft and murd er.

The prisoners were not tried for hold1:ng opinions contrary to the social and political system of gover nmen t in the Soviet Union. They were not tried for disagreeing with the policy of the Soviet Governfl'Jent or the aspiratt.ons of the Soviet people. They were charged with and tried for the direct crimes enumerated above, and to the eye-witness whos e experience has been main ly limite d to the court s of capita list count ries, the care with which the case .again st them had to be prove d, the privileges they enjoy e·d in the condu ct of their defence, dnd the atmo spher e of the court in which they were

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addressed as '' citizen ,, and treated in much the same way as

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State Prosecu tor himsdf, were ~a revdatio n. •. •

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HOW THE SOVIE T COUR T WORK S To the writers of this pamphlet, ~ch of whom has experien ced the procedu re of the cour~s of our respective counitries, ·the pr9cedu re of this µ-ial was not~wotthy. The pJisoner s sat it ogether , separate d from the public by a light wooden railing. The tab}e from which the State P rosecuto r a'ddressed both . ri~oners ;t-!ld .court was fully ~wenty-five f~et from the front row o tlle:prio one.t s, and at no time during the whole course of the trial did the State Prosecu tor address the prisoner s £rom ~ny position other than standin g behind his own table. The threatening mien, the pointing finger, the sudden str,i ding up to point straight tb .the prisoner1s' face and focus all eyes UIJ9n hitri which is sue\} an established ·technique of American or Can4dia n prosec~tors wt;.re cons icuous by their absence . The State Prosecutor's attitu e ttow.a rds ·.the prisoner s was at all times courteou s. Each acct1sed was provide d with a copy of the 4idictmen·t, of all .the ma,teria.l at the disposal of .the State Prosecu tor which had ·been dealt with in the prelimin~ry enquiry. Each was given further opportu nity to retain counsel (three of them were defend{ed.by counsel) and each of them was reminde d by Presidin g Jlldge Blrich of his right, guaran.teed by Soviet la'w, to in tervene at 'any ··t ime durin·g .the h · ing of evi~nce, to call witnesses, • • • • question witnesses, or expres an op1n1on. -' ·The sig4.t of bne after another of the accused leaping to his feet, in·terjecting or interrup ting, or of an acctl}er.l -in .t he dock qemand ing of the· President of the Cour·~ that he stop the State Prosecutor,.~from pressing for a direct answer to question, would startle the avei;age. judge in English -speakin g cobn:tries out of his legal equilibrium. Even more surprisi ng to anyo.be who has not p{eviou sly witness ed ~ Soviet trial would be •the froid with which the accused said ~' No '' when asked if they would give a direct reply to a certain question . It was·alm ost a gen~ral experien ce ·that in the ginning -0£ .his testimo ny.each prisone r would be asked by Vyshin y to deal ·i.n .more detail wit~ a certtain poin·t. Fr-equen tiy th~ prisone r would .answer quite.ca lmly to the effec·t that he.had his stateme nt p~epared and he was going 10 make it in his own .way and .would -come to the -P?int in which Vyshinsky was interested in his o.'\Vn. good ~tinic. · The most outstanding example s of this freedom of action enjpycd. by. the prisoner s, howeve r, were provide d by. .the .a~used Yagoda· =~n~.K;ektfuskX·. Fro~ time to time w~ile Yago~. w~s ~giying. Ji.isp tFsttinon y Vys~ky wo1!1d .ask a Pei:tm~Pt question , only to be. met by the confident reply from Yagoda : ' Allow me not to answer 1

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ih·is questio n.'' And ol)ce or twice by the blunt declarat ion '' I won't answer tha·t .'' Upon enquiry we learned that Soviet law guarant ees .t o an accused the privileg e of refusing to answer a question ·at any time if ,he considers that an answer would be detrimen.tal to his case. The illustrat ion provide d by Krestinsky was perhaps the most revealin g of all. . .f\.t the opet}ing of the proceedings on the first day of the trial (~arch 2nd} when the prisoner s were formally asked if they pleaded guiJty or not guilty, Krestin sky burst out with a stateme nt that made the public, knew somethi ng pf his record, star-t with surprise . He replied: ~

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'' I plead not guilty. I am not Trotsky ist. I was never a member of the Bloc of Rights and Trotsky ists, of whose existence I was not aware. Nor have I commit ted any of the crimes with which I, personally, am charged , in particul ar I plead not guilty to the charge of having had connect ions with the German ·intelligence service.' ' ~ and' 4eclared that what he had admi~ted during the prelimi nary investig ation was false. Later, dut\ng the: evidenc e of Bessonov, Vys~insky was qu~sti"ning Krestin sky to wli:y he had given such ecttlier testimon y if it were false wl1en K~estin~ky suddenl y complained ''I don't feel well." Vy~hinsky's answer was ''if the accused declares that he doesn't feel well, I have no right to question him~.". Vyshins ky then called the accused ~essonov to take the stai?-a, and Bessonov launche d into ~·n explana tion of his treasona ble activities in German y while stationed ther~e in a diploma tic post. Witllih five ~inutes of his complai nt that fhe did not feel well enough to be qu~stioned, Krestip sky was on his feet interjec ting v~h'emently in connect ion wjth Bessbnov's,.evidence and the court accepted this behavio ur ·unthink able in a similar trial in a cap~ ta!ist court as ~quite permissible.

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THE ADMISSION OF GUILT Syst~matic. efforts have been made by the reaction ary capitalis t press 'and elements within the Labour movem ent to create the opinion that r~t; ~1ccuse9 are conv.i.J:ted mainly upon testimon y of their own corifessions.• and a subtle attempt is made to create prejudic e hy ~printing the word '' ..confession ,, within quotatio n marks.. I' " ' t ·:~