MODEST PROPOSAL
"Tf possible war with China is what the President means by his San Francisco remarks about opening an 'offensive in the pursuit of peace,! he should let Congress and the people know in: explicit terms," -- From an editorial entitled "War Against China?" in the June 22 New York Times.
THE "BOMB" OF GRAMSCItS LETTER
By Livio Maitan
Two journals of international reputation have given sensa~ tional prominence to a "revelation" made by the official weekly of the Italian Communist party. A daily as sober as the Paris Le Monde [June 20] even went so far as to entitle an article by K.S,Karols. "Mr, Togliatti launches a bomb dealing with the crisis in the Bolshevik party after the death of Lenin." (The article appeared simultaneously in the British publication New Statesman and Nation, )
What is it really about?
Two weeks ago, the Italian Communist weekly Rinascita published the complete text of a letter which Antonio Gramsci, one of the founders of the party and without doubt one of the leaders of greatest stature in the history of the Italian workers movement, sent to the leaders of the Soviet Communist: party in the name of the Political Bureau of the Italian party in 1986. This letter shows clearly enough that Gramsci did not grasp the fundamental reasons for the struggle conducted by the Left Opposition, a fact that is shown, incidentally, in many things he wrote. What is interesting is that while not sharing the political orientation of the Opposition, Gramsci in no way associated himself with the campaign of: denigration then under way and even recalled the revolutionary merits of leaders like Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev. He took a stand against any measures that might lead to a split, stating among other things the following: “For nine years you have been the organizers of the world Bolshevik movement. You have carried out a historic mission without precedent. But today, by forgetting the international repercussions of your polemics you are in process of destroying your own work and you risk degrading the leading function which you acquired under the influence of Lenin... But.:cyou must never lose sight of the fact that your duty as militants must be carried out in the frame~ work of the interests of the international proletariat.’ u
Rinascita, after recalling that. upon receiving this letter the International center had decided to send its representative. Jules Humbert Droz to Italy, also published Togliatti's reply to Gramsci, a reply which showed that Togliatti was already on the side of the Russian majority and that he sharply condemned the hesitations of Gramsci and other members of the Italian leadership. Gramsci replied with another letter that rejected the arguments of Togliatti. But, according to Togliatti, this second letter has been lost.
Kes. Karol, commenting on the publication of Gramsci's letter, states that its text was not previously known and that “some of Gramscits companions. . . becoming Trotskyists. . « solemnly testified that this missive. . . had most certainly been sent to Palmiro Togliatti, . . But none of them having a copy of the document, they could not consequently furnish irrefutable proof of its existence:
or reveal its contents." Referring to the silence with which Togliatti had met questions on this subject pressed by Trotsky's biographer, Isaac Deutscher, for instance, Karol adds: "Everyone came to the conclusion that he would take the explosive secret of this correspondence with him to the other world, "
Completely unexpectedly, to believe Karol, Togliatta decided to reveal the secret. This caused an immense sensation when it was learned at a meeting in Rome of some twenty philosophers headed by Jean~Paul Sartre, Karol believes it can set off "a chain reaction" that can have considerable’ consequences among Communists throughout: the world, "including those of Moscow and Peking." Karol speculates over the reasons that might have led Togliatti to take such an action. Was it a way of reminding Moscow and Peking of the grave possible consequences of a split today?
Unfortunately Karol's information turns: out to be quite faulty. It is. true, of course, that this 1926 letter remained under wraps for a long time and that you could learn about it only in opposition circles, especially the. Trotskyists. But Karol does not seem to know that the text of the letter was in reality brought to light by Tasca, a former leader of the Communist party and member of the Communist International, who broke to the right even before.1930. After a later political evolution that was altogether lamentable, : Tasoa, who was never a Trotskyist, published the letter in France by 1938, After the end of the war he circulated copies of it in restricted circles in Italy around 1950. In January 1956, the complete text was published by the Italian Trotskyist newspaper Bandiera Rossa a was then reprinted by other opposition publications. - It should be added that after Tascats. death,.his archives, including the famous letter, were opened to anyone interested in the history of the workers movement. In fact, an Italian publisher has just brought out .a thick book of Gramsci!s writings, including the letter, It was precisely on the occasion of the publication of this book that Rinascita published Gramsocits letter a few days in advance, explicitly thanking the publishers for granting permission, Karol ignores this detail, which is nevertheless decisive, It is because of this that his. deductions are ill-founded.
The truth is first of all that Togliatti could not take the secret with him to the other world,.. The letter was already published and available to anyone interested. Secondly, he could not even hope that its oirculation would remain limited to narrow circles beoause © it was included in a book that would have wide circulation. He was thus faced with the choice of continuing to remain silent, in this way testifying to his embarrassment, or of seeking to draw at least some advantage from a situation he could ‘not avoid, He chose the second alternative, :
In reality it was not Gramsoi's letter but Togliattits reply — that had. not yet been published... The question posed then is rather:
why did Togliatti.publish his own. letter,-which shows him to have supported the hard Stalinist core in the struggle against the Opposition? In seeking the reasons, it must not be forgotten first of all that if Togliatti was not entirely on the line this was because he was’ a Bukharinist, (At the time Bukharin was with Stalin.) In the second place, Togliatti is desirous today of playing the-role in | Italy of someone who is concerned about historic truth and it. would — have been risky for him'to hide his own letter, To reconstruct the ~ career and the. evolution of .the head of the Italian Communist party, _ the letter he has just made public is. really important and it can- ~ not be- ‘exoluded - ‘that this consideration carried a certain weight ~~ __ with him. Of course it would be highly desirable’ to know more about” the contents of Gramsci's second letter. Has it really disappeared?.” If so, what were the circumstances? This is a question to which'a reply must be sought sooner or Taber e eon
As for the objective consequences of ‘publishing Gramscits letter, aside from the ‘specific things that might have motivated Togliatti, there is no-doubt that this again corresponds to the tde-Stalinized" climate of the Italian workers movemént which is no _ longer surprised at such moves, (In fact it was much’ more sensation=_ al abroad than in Italy.) In certain cireles of the international. : Communist movement, it will be considered encouraging, | coming as*it does from one of the biggest Communist parties, In particular it will increase.the number of those who-believe that the official Soviet attitude toward not’ only” Trotsky but also Zinoviev and Kamenev, is becoming more and more untenable. It is possible that’ Togliattits move will inspire analogous steps in: other sectors of the Communist movement . fe se