Thread by @claraweiss_wsws

1/ 98 years today, on September 2, 1924, Mikhail Glazman, Trotsky's closest collaborators during the Civil War, shot himself bc he had been expelled from the party, based on false accusations. He was the first Trotskyist who was driven to death by the Stalinist bureaucracy.

2/ Glazman was a remarkable representative of a generation of revolutionaries who played a key role in the Left Opposition. Shaped by the experience of the civil war, fought under Trotsky's leadership, they were unwavering in their commitment to the revolution, honest, and firm.

3/ Trotsky wrote this moving tribute to Glazman. sites.google.com/site/sozialist…

4/ “The authority of this small, sickly person, with his quiet movements and weak, always even-toned voice, was recognized by everyone. It was the authority of moral strength, revolutionary duty, honesty, and supreme selflessness."

5/ “He was a soldier of the revolution, and not in the figurative, but in the most immediate and literal sense. He knew how to use a rifle, a pistol, and an automatic pistol, and use them well. He was obliged to carry out many an assignment in combat and under fire."

6/ "A countless number of tasks passed through his hands... in every task and every assignment he displayed remarkable sensitivity and personal tact, and always distinguished correctly between what was important and what was not, what was true and what false."

7/ "All my literary work of the past six years was done in constant collaboration with Glazman.His part in this collaboration went far beyond mere stenographic transcription."

8/ "No, he was always at the heart of the matter, collecting materials, finding sources, references, quotations. With what endearing shyness he would give his suggestions, invariably well thought out, serious, and valuable."

9/ "The expulsion of Glazman has been ruled an error by a higher party body. He was buried today — the day these lines are written — as a revolutionary, a party member, a Bolshevik, that is, as what he was in life."

10/ "To the grave has gone a priceless individual — pure, firm, never ingratiating or sly. One of those on whom the party could rely under the most trying circumstances. People like Glazman remain true to the end."