EXILED FROM RUSSIA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 February 1929, Page 5

EXILED FROM RUSSIA

TROTSKY TELLS HIS STORY.

OUTCAST IN CONSTANTINOPLE. STALLIN' BITTERLY BLAMED. l*uol')VJ**/ray bStfjj — t \Q, Upright., (.Yusiiivliaii iTeas AssociivLion.j LONDON, Eeb. 27. TroteKy, who is ill, exited! m Conbt.anpnop'ie, where he i.s protected by itussian ofticia.is against tii© danger or assassination, has dramatically broken hjs silence by revealing the story ox his banishment, which has been published exclusively in the “Daily Express.” The “Express’’ states that the articles were written in Russian before Trotsky’s arrival in Turkey, and were ca bled "to Paris, where they were translated and 1 forwarded to London. Trotsky bitterly blames his arch enemy Stalin, whose downfall he predicts. He ditches the present regime and reveals (the secret history of the developments which led to his being a penniless political outcast Describing his exile he says he was sent 1500 miles from. Moscow and 150 miles from the nearest railroad, and lived there with hi is wife and son. He had a few .books, but. received letters and newspapers at irregular intervals. _ His recreations were shooting expeditions, accompanied by agents of the O.G.P.U. (secret police). when they lived the lives of nomads for weeks, sleeping under .the Only .about half his own letters reached, their destinations. Some were turned into tracts and distributed over wide areas at home and abroad!. Then came October, with thei last sudden change. Correspondence ceased. There were no more letters and no more telegrams. One day in January, armed men surrounded the house, and an O.G.P.U. agent handed! Trotsky a. decree of expulsion on the ground “of his.having organised an illegal party which has been endeavouring lately to foment anti-Spviet revolts and prepare aumed resistance against the Soviet power. Asked to .sign the .receipt, Trotsky wrote thereon “The decree, is criminal in substance and illegal din form.” _ Then fallowed feverish packing. Trotsky, with his wife and son and their escort, departed ax. dawn in a frightful blizzard. The, tractor which was to take, them across the mountains j sank in the snow, as. did seven motor cars which it was towing. The party had to leave the cars and'. tako sledges, eventu.a’ifv boarding a train. During (the journey Trot,slcy was informed that his destination was Constantinople, on which he mtagoricalTy refused “to leaive "the couTrfcry, so i>lie train was shunted into a sidling while Moscow debated the matter. The coud was intense. ‘ ‘Wo spent out time cougjhing, waiting and attacked by orippe, reading and playing chess,” he says. “Wo did not know where we were. So passed 12 days and nights.” Then the agent at Bulanov announced that in .spite of the Moscow Government’,s best efforts, Germany had re--fused admission. Trotsky must go to Turkey in spite of has protests. The journey was then resumed and Constantinople was reached in spite of the hardships. It took 22 days to go. 4000 miles. , Trotsky stresses two points: His expulsion without his consent was ifegall, and the charge of preparing armed resistance was false l . . Tnotskv declares his opposition policy had nothing to do with armed resistance or a method of internal! reform. “I declare this throughout the world in order to protect the interests of the Soviets against th©_ blow dealt them bv the false accusations of the O.G.P.U. as dictated 1 by Stalin,” he says. ... “However great the 'difficulties of the Soviet Reoubiho may be, those who anticipate the early overthrow of the regime are destined' for _ another cruel disappointment. Such difficulties arise not. only from! objective circumstances, but also from a sterile policy of hesitation.” '