Leon
Trotsky: Letter to Jeanne Martin
March
10, 1938
[Writings
of Leon Trotsky 1937-1938, New York 1970, p. 257 f.]
Dearest
Jeanne, our little Jeanne:
Natalia
just received two letters from you. I have received one letter from
you, not counting the report on the progress of Lyova’s [Sedov’s]
illness. Natalia has sent you a telegram. She is still unable to
write. She reads and rereads your letters. She weeps, she weeps a
great deal. When I can succeed in freeing myself from my work
(answering new accusations against Leon and myself) I will join her
in weeping. She loves you very much. She has always loved you very
much, Jeanne. She thinks and speaks of you with the greatest
affection. She imagines you in the small apartment that you shared
with Leon until a short time ago. She thinks about these little
things, and about you, Jeanne, first of all. For Natalia you are now
not just Jeanne, the daughter she loves with such tenderness and with
such reserve – as Natalia alone knows how to love – you are now a
part of Leon, that which remains of the most intimate side of his
personal life in the last few years. My dear little one. …
Leon
meant a great deal to me. Far more than anyone imagines. He was
dearer to me than anyone in the world except Natalia. With Natalia’s
help I tried to set down on paper the magnitude of the loss we have
just suffered. We too cannot accept the idea that he is gone. Ten
times a day I catch myself thinking: I have to write to Lyova. … I
have to ask Lyova. … And Natalia? She grieves for herself, she
grieves for me, and she grieves for you. Jeanne, we are ready to
accept any proposal you have to make concerning your future. If you
wish to come here to embrace Natalia, to be embraced by the two of
us, we will immediately do everything to make your trip possible. If
you decide to stay with us, you will be our beloved daughter. If,
after two or three months, you find that it would be better to return
to Paris, we will accept that as only natural. Finally, if you feel
that it would be too difficult to be separated from Sieva and the
others right now, we will understand how you feel. Sieva’s coming
here would present certain difficulties – school, language – but
we are ready to take that possibility into account as well
Despite
her tears and her grief, Natalia helps in my work. We are fighting
for the memory of Leon, for our movement. Leon has already taken his
place there, in the history of our movement, forever. From all over
the world we receive letters concerning him. The young people are
learning to know him and love him. He will become a symbolic figure,
our little Lyova, like Karl Liebknecht and others. Yes, dearest
Jeanne, our little Jeanne, he is no longer at your side nor will he
ever be again. But he has entered into a new life, one that has
merged with the liberation movement. We must go on. We must go on
with courage. In Paris, or here with us, my dear little child, life
will be hard for you. The only way to rise above its blows is through
struggle. . . . Natalia will write to you as soon as she is strong
enough to hold a pen. But in spirit she has written to you
continuously since the terrible news of February 16. Natalia embraces
you with all her torn, bleeding heart. I embrace you too, Jeanne. We
will send you another telegram tonight. We are thinking of you. We
grieve with you.
Yours,
L.T.
[P.S.]
– We read your statement to the Journal
in the Mexican press concerning the “American dollars.” It is
very good that you have entered the fight. You must continue. It is
necessary to write about Lyova … about his life in Berlin and in
Paris. The three of us together will write his biography. We will
gather all the documentation on his life. Lyova had a heroic nature –
in the truest sense of the word. He must remain – he will remain –
in the memory of humanity. … Courage, my little Jeanne.