Soviet historian calls for publishing Trotsky's works

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Lenin and Trotsky (in the center) with Petrograd workers and soldiers, cc. 1921.

In late April, I met Prof. Victor Danilov, a Soviet historian doing research in the United States on Leon Trotsky.

Danilov had learned that I was a member of a committee that had been to Moscow to petition for the clearing of Trotsky's name and the publication of his writings. He was interested in finding out more about this and in exchanging ideas.

I began by saying that I did not regard Trotsky as an infallible seer but that I did believe he was so perceptive of the direction in which the Soviet Union was going under Stalin that much of what he had to say remains relevant and a guide to understand what needs to be done in the Soviet Union Danilov replied that this is his own position exactly. He added that he considers the publication of Trotsky's writings as necessary not just for the work of Soviet historians but for the sake of the Soviet people, who will find in it much of value.

An "internal dissident"

Danilov, as a result of the restrictions on Soviet historians in the past and even today, has been much hampered in his study of Trotsky. A man of 64 years of age, he was denounced in the 1960s by top officials of the historians' organization as an "internal dissident." He has more freedom today, but there is much material he has been unable to obtain.

For instance, he was able to read only parts of Trotsky's book, "The Revolution Betrayed." Here in the United States, however, he has been able to get a copy of it. He has also been able to study Trotsky's archives at Harvard University and at the Hoover Institution in Stanford University. He does not know the publications of the Fourth International or any of its sections.

As a consequence of his recent study, he will write an article on Trotsky for a Soviet publication, which he expects to get published. He will work in conjunction with Professor Stuartsev, the historian whom we heard deliver a lecture on Trotsky in Moscow before the Writers' Union.

Stuartsev will write an article on Trotsky during the 1917 revolution and the civil war, and Danilov will write one on Trotsky during the periods of the New Economic Policy of the 1920s and collectivization.

Gorbachev attacks Trotsky

Danilov has in the past polemicized with Otto Latsis, the deputy editor of the Central Committee's theoretical journal, whom we saw in Moscow. Danilov said that Latsis is not sympathetic to Trotsky's ideas. He told me that at a recent plenum of the Central Committee, Gorbachev attacked Trotsky as the originator of Stalin's program of collectivization of agriculture. This section of Gorbachev's speech, he believed, was probably written by Latsis.

I pointed out that Trotsky had advocated collectivization not through force but through patient explanation and gradual demonstration of its advantages for poor peasants, with ample state credits and the prior production of agricultural machinery. He opposed the brutal manner that brought the country to the brink of disaster. Danilov expressed agreement.

As for perestroika, Danilov stated, there are differing views among Soviet intellectuals as to whether it is conducive to building socialism or to restoring capitalism. Some are not dismayed by the latter prospect.

Danilov himself believes that market reforms are necessary but must be carefully controlled. He agreed with me that Lenin regarded the New Economic Policy, with its market mechanisms, as a temporary forced retreat instead of a solution to all ills. Trotsky also pointed to its dangers as well as to its advantages.

Finally, we discussed the Moscow Trials Campaign Committee's petition to clear Trotsky's name and publish his writings. The petition, which we gave to Latsis and others in the Soviet Union, had been signed by many leading intellectuals, trade-union leaders, and left-wing parliament members in Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world.

Danilov said that the petition has not been extensively circulated in the Soviet Union. He volunteered to take it back and see that it gets around.

having read his works-and they comprise 80