Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky - Trotskyism: In the Service of Fascism Against Socialism and Peace

The materials in this pamphlet are taken from the official court proceedings in the case of the Trotsky-Zinoviev Terrorist Center, held August 19-24, 1936.

Published by Workers Library Publishers, Inc.

P.O. Box 148, Sta. D, New York City, September, 1936.

in the case of G.E. Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev, G.E. Evdokimov, I.N. Smirnov, I.P. Bakayev, V.A. Ter-Vaganyan, S.V. Mrachkovsky, E.A. Dreitzer, E.S. Holtzman, I.I. Reingold, R.V. Pickel, V.P. Olberg, K.B. Berman-Yurin, Fritz David (I.I. Kruglyansky), M. Lurye and N. Lurye, accused of crimes covered by Articles 588, 19 and 588, 5811 of the Criminal Code of the R.S.F.S.R.

On January 15-16, 1935, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. at a special session in the city of Leningrad tried the case of the underground counter-revolutionary group of Zinovievites calling itself the "Moscow center", the principal leaders of which among the others convicted in that case were G.E. Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev, G.E. Evdokimov and I.P. Bakayev.

The preliminary and the Court investigation of that case established that for a number of years this so-called "Moscow center" guided the counter-revolutionary activities of diverse underground groups of Zinovievites, including the counter-revolutionary activities of the Leningrad group of Nikolayev-Kotolynov which on December 1, 1934, foully murdered Comrade S.M. Kirov.

The trial established that the so-called "Moscow center", being the ideological and political leader of the Leningrad group of Zinovievites, knew that this group was inclined towards terrorism and did all it could to fan this inclination.

This had to be admitted also by the accused Zinoviev and Kamenev, who denied that they took any part in the murder of Comrade S.M. Kirov, hypocritically stating at the trial that they bore only moral and political responsibility for the assassination of Comrade Kirov.

It now transpires that eighteen months ago, during the investigation of the case of the assassination of Comrade S.M. Kirov, the investigating and judicial authorities were not in possession of all the facts revealing the true role of the Zinovievite leaders of the so-called "Moscow center" on the one hand and the leaders of the Trotskyite underground organization on the other, in the whiteguard, terroristic underground activities.

On the strength of newly revealed circumstances ascertained by the investigating authorities in 1936 in connection with the discovery of a number of terrorist groups of Trotskyites and Zinovievites, the investigation has established that Zinoviev, Kamenev, Evdokimov and Bakayev, who were convicted in the "Moscow center" case, actually not only knew that their adherents in Leningrad were inclined toward terrorism, but were the direct organizers of the assassination of Comrade S.M. Kirov.

The investigation also established that Zinoviev, Kamenev, Evdokimov, Bakayev, and a number of other accused in the present case, who will be mentioned later, were the initiators and organizers of attempts which were being prepared on the lives of other leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of the Soviet government as well.

The investigation has also established that the Zinovievites pursued their criminal terroristic practices in a direct bloc with the Trotskyites and with L. Trotsky, who is abroad.

These newly revealed circumstances establish without a doubt that:

1. At the end of 1932 the Trotskyite and Zinovievite groups united and formed a united center consisting of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Evdokimov, Bakayev (from the Zinovievites) and I.N. Smirnov, Ter-Vaganyan and Mrachkovsky (from the Trotskyites), all charged in the present case.
   
2. The principal condition for the union of these counter-revolutionary groups was their common recognition of individual terrorism against the leaders of the C.P.S.U. and the Soviet government.
   
3. Precisely from that time onwards (end of 1932) the Trotskyites and Zinovievites, acting on direct instructions from L. Trotsky, received by the united center through special agents, concentrated their hostile activities against the C.P.S.U. and the Soviet government mainly on the organization of terrorism against the most prominent leaders of the Party and the government.
   
4. With this end in view the united center organized special terrorist groups, which prepared a number of practical measures for the assassination of Comrades Stalin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Kirov, Orjonikidze, Zhdanov, Kossior, Postyshev and others.
   
5. One of these terrorist groups, consisting of Nikolayev, Rumyantsev, Mandelstamm, Levin, Kotolynov and others, who were convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. on December 28-29, 1934, carried out the foul murder of Comrade S.M.. Kirov on December 1, 1934, on the direct instructions from Zinoviev and L. Trotsky, and under the direct guidance of the united center.
   

The testimonies of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Evdokimov, Mrachkovsky, Bakayev and a number of other accused in the present case, have established beyond doubt that the only motive for organizing the Trotskyite-Zinovievite bloc was their striving to seize power at all costs, and that the sole and decisive means chosen for this purpose was the organization of terroristic acts against the most prominent leaders of the Party and the government.

Lacking all support in the working class and the toiling masses of the people of the U.S.S.R., having lost all their ideological possessions, having no political program and imbued with bitter hatred toward the Socialist victories of our country, the leaders of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite counter-revolutionary bloc, Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, sank definitely into the swamp of white-guardism, joined forces and merged with the most inveterate enemies of the Soviet Power, and became the organizing force of the last remnants of the exploiting classes which had been routed in the U.S.S.R. In their desperation and hatred they resorted to the most despicable means of fighting the Soviet government and the leaders of the C.P.S.U., namely, political assassinations.

At first, in the face of the first successes of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., they held to their hopes that difficulties would arise, with which, in their calculations, the Soviet Power would not be able to cope. But later, seeing that these difficulties were being successfully overcome and that our country was emerging victorious from these difficulties, they frankly banked on the complication of international relations, on war and the defeat of the Soviet Power.

Seeing no favorable prospects for themselves, they resorted to the gun; they organized underground terroristic groups and made use of the most detestable method of fighting, namely terrorism.

At present the Trotskyite-Zinovievite conspirators, as a reason for their fight against the C.P.S.U. and the Soviet government, no longer advance the claim that the Party and the Soviet government are pursuing an allegedly wrong policy, or that the C.P.S.U. and the Soviet government are leading the country to its doom, as they lyingly and slanderously asserted in the past. As their principal motive for resorting to terrorism they now advance the successes of the building of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., the successes in the cultural and economic growth of the country, which successes, demonstrating the ideological and political bankruptcy of the Trotskyites-Zinovievites, fan their hatred of the Soviet government still more and intensify their desire to avenge themselves on the Soviet government for their political failure by resorting to terrorism.

In spite of obdurate denials, the accused Zinoviev was compelled by the weight of evidence which was laid before him by the investigating authorities to admit that: