Trotsky (48 page)

Van…departed for the United States: Van, 145; Feferman, 177–78.

“You treat me as though I were an object”: Van, “Lev Davidovich,” in
Leon Trotsky,
45; Van, 136.

“messy and complicated”: Buchman to Glotzer, July 19, 1991, Glotzer papers, box 48.

a Hollywood version of Sing Sing: Hansen to Reba Hansen, October 13, 1939, Hansen papers, 19:1.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Klyman, “Revolutionist in Exile” Buchman to Glotzer, January 5, 1990, Glotzer papers, box 48.

wanted more time to take photographs and films: Hansen to Rose Karsner, December 14, 1939, TC 23:10.

guard and secretariat were overstretched: Robins to Rose Karsner, May 6, 1940, TC 24:10.

increased from four to five: Cornell to Rose Karsner, February 20, 1940, TC 24:10.

Otto Schiissler…Charley Cornell: Irish O’Brien to Rose Karsner, April 6 and July 2, 1939, TC 23:8, 23:9; Lillian to Rose Karsner, April 6, 1939, TEP 11743.

Robins was born Harold Rappaport: Robins statement on May 24 raid, TEP 17193; Glotzer to Ralph Kessler, August 31, 1988, Glotzer papers, box 40; Ralph Kessler memorial tribute to Robins, February 1, 1988, Buchman papers, box 1.

a worker-intellectual…“one of the coolest militants”: Hansen to Van, August 19, 1939, TEP 6424.

“the most important condition”: Trotsky to Rose Karsner, September 1, 1939, TEP 11717; Rose Karsner to Irish O’Brien, September 7, 1939, TEP 2167.

This was too much for Trotsky: Trotsky to Sara Weber, January 2, 1940, Trotsky’s letters to Sara Weber, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

training in small-arms fire: Buchman to Glotzer, January 5, 1990, Glotzer papers, box 48.

submachine gun, which had a tendency to jam: Goldman to Hansen, February 29, 1940, Hansen papers, 15:4; Cornell to Rose Karsner, March 21, 1940, TEP 11723.

a strain in relations…“the height of folly”: Young to Dobbs, April 26, 1940, TC 24:10.

“the cream of the earth”: Robins to Rose, May 13, 1940, TC 24:10.

Bob Shields, a twenty-five-year-old New Yorker: Bridget Booher, “Death of a Romantic Revolutionary: Sheldon Robert Harte, Duke 1937,” unpublished manuscript, Spring 1991, Duke University Archives, Durham, North Carolina; Dobbs to Cornell, March 8, 1940, TC 24:10; Rose Karsner to Cornell, March 10, 1940, TEP 6631; Dobbs to Cornell, March 22, 1940, TEP 6277.

To the NKVD…known by the code name “Amur”:
Ocherki,
100–101.

now posing as a Canadian businessman named Frank Jacson:
Ocherki,
96–97; Kolpakidi, 158–59.

he explained his change of identity to Sylvia…Ramón said goodbye to Sylvia…she suffered from a sinus condition: FBI, 7:58–67.

Sylvia encountered Alfred Rosmer…they were introduced to Jacson…picnic to Mount Toluca…political lightweight…he spoke Parisian French…her Jac was fine, just busy…Alfred was admitted to the French hospital…he understood why this would be impossible: “Memorandum of talk with Rosmers about Frank Jacson,” August 23, 1940, TC 24:6; Rosmers, “We never saw ‘Jacson’ in Paris,” TC 24:6; Salazar, 137.

NKVD established a second and much larger network: Kolpakidi, 160; Andrew & Mitrokhin, 86.

David Alfaro Siqueiros: Stein,
Siqueiros;
Rochfort, 28–31, 38–39, 50; Wolfe, 154–57; Brenner, 260–67; Nikandrov, 90–91; Salazar, 60, 205–9; Siqueiros obituary,
The New York Times,
January 7, 1974.

the papers famous masthead: Stein, 41.

Siqueiros was a swashbuckler: Levine, 69–70; Wolfe, 154–57, 426.

friends called him Caballo: Nikandrov, 101.

a union organizer among the silver miners: Stein, 56–57.

Moscow in March 1928: Stein, 59–60.

expelled from the party…seized in a police sweep: Stein, 66–67.

house arrest in Taxco: Stein 70.

moved to Los Angeles to teach and to paint…
Tropical America:
Rochfort, 145–47; Stein, 72–80.

One of the workshop participants was Jackson Pollock: Rochfort, 150–51; Stein, 98.

Siqueiros published a savage attack on Rivera: Rochfort, 149; Stein, 93.

Siqueiros sailed to Spain: Stein, 102.

Carlos Contreras: Stein, 102–3; Nikandrov, 52.

considerable energy lobbying President Cárdenas: Stein, 111.

a mural for the new headquarters of the Mexican Electricians’ Union: Rochfort, 149–59; Jennifer Jolly, “Art and the Collective: David Alfaro Siqueiros, Josep Renau and Their Collaboration at the Mexican Electricians’ Syndicate,”
Oxford Art Journal,
Vol. 31, No. 1, 2008; Stein, 112–14.

Pierre Matisse Gallery: Jolly, 137; Stein, 111.

Luis Arenal and Antonio Pujol: Stein, 76, 96; Nikandrov, 81–82.

the mural’s theme was antifascist…a more generic anticapitalism: Jolly, 144.

“one of the great moments in twentieth-century mural art”: Rochfort, 151.

“difference between a brush and a gun”: Brenner, 242–43.

Iosif Grigulevich: Nikandrov,
Grigulevich;
Andrew & Mitrokhin, 86–87; Kolpakidi, 138, 147, 153–54;
Ocherki,
94.

Orlov and Grigulevich were part of a mobile group: Nikandrov, 63–72; Kolpakidi, 138.

Grigulevich and a colleague were sent to Mexico City…taken to meet Beria: Nikandrov, 74–78, 91;
Ocherki,
95; Kolpakidi, 160.

booby-trapped potted cactus: Nikandrov, 94.

Dies Committee: HUAC to Trotsky [October 12, 1939], TC 13:73; Trotsky to HUAC, October 12, 1939, TC 12:53; Hansen, “Report on Invitation of Dies Committee,” December 14, 1939, TEP 16906.

use the reactionary Dies Committee as a tribune: Trotsky to Dear Friends, November 28, 1939, TEP 8112.

Stories in the American and Mexican press…an agent of Yankee imperialism: Broué, 928; Levine, 81.

“Death to Trotsky!”: Trotsky, “The Comintern and the GPU” Rosmer in
Leon Trotsky,
78.

sweeping purge of its top leadership: Broué, 928–29; Levine, 78–79.

Trotsky understood that such a purge: Trotsky, “The Comintern and the GPU.”

“Throw out the most ominous and dangerous traitor Trotsky”: Levine, 81; Robins to Rose Karsner, May 6, 1940, TC 24:10.

concentration in the city of Stalinist killers: Trotsky, “The Comintern and the GPU” Levine 70.

Trotsky called a meeting: Robins memoir, TC 30:1.

Robert Sheldon Harte: Booher, “Death of a Romantic Revolutionary.”

harbored literary aspirations: for example, Robert Sheldon Harte, “Strike Scenes,” TC 30:1.

forged documents supplied by Hitler: Nikandrov, 103–4.

The rain fell heavily at times during the night of May 23–24: general accounts of the Siqueiros raid: Salazar, 3–26, 45–46; Natalia, 257–58; Mosley, 37–39; Nikandrov, 102–6; Trotsky, “Stalin Seeks My Death,” June 8, 1940,
Writings,
12:233–35.

the guards were awakened by the gunfire: for the guards’ perspectives on the raid, see Henry Schultz to Dobbs, May 25, 1940, TC 23:12; Harold Robins testimony, TEP 17193; Jake Cooper testimony, TEP 17025; Hansen, “The Attempted Assassination of Leon Trotsky,” in
Leon Trotsky,
5–12; Walter O’Rourke to Al Goldman, June 10, 1940, TEP 11412; Hansen, “Memorandum,” June 30, 1940, Hansen papers, 70:3; Mark Harris, ed.,
My Brother, My Comrade: Remembering Jake Cooper
(Walnut Publishing, 1994), 27–28.

famously Mephistophelian features: Salazar, 6.

Salazar grew suspicious…Trotsky himself had staged the raid: Salazar, 7–10; Natalia, 258–59.

twenty-five men on duty…They put the odds at fifty-fifty…“No, no, please don’t”…tricky ignition switch: Henry Schultz to Dobbs, May 25, 1940, TC 23:12; also Hansen to Goldman, June 20, 1940, TEP 11402; Hansen to Reba Hansen, June 24, 1940, Hansen papers, 19:4.

Suspicion fell on Sergeant Casas…self-assault,
auto-asalto:
Hansen to Goldman, June 20, 1940, TEP 11402; Hansen to Reba Hansen, June 24, 1940, Hansen papers, 19:4.

Casas was compromised:
Writings,
12:223–27.

Jesse Sheldon Harte: Mosley, 43–44.

a photograph of Stalin, warmly inscribed…Trotsky sent a telegram: Salazar, 93–94.

to bury the story for good: Jesse Harte to Trotsky, May 30, 1940, TEP 1841.

Trotsky’s household servants: Salazar, 18–19.

Salazar arrested Charley and Otto: Salazar, 20; O’Rourke to Cannon, June 2, 1940, TC 24:11; Hansen, “The Attempted Assassination of Leon Trotsky,”
in Leon Trotsky,
5–12.

came to arrest Robins: Robins memoir, TC 30:1.

“We are always holding conferences”: Salazar, 24.

Trotsky did not follow his usual routine: Salazar, 94.

the cook lied and ought to be fired: Salazar, 25;
Writings,
12:316–22; Hansen to Reba Hansen, August 4, 1940, Hansen papers, box 19:4.

a put-up job, staged by Trotsky: Trotsky, “The Comintern and the GPU.”

“moral preparation of the terrorist act”…“David Alfaro Siqueiros”: Trotsky, “Letter to the Mexican Attorney General, May 27, 1940,
Writings,
12:223–27.

Room 37 at the Hotel Europa…payoff money: Salazar, 49.

could not have been bought…why organize twenty to thirty raiders: Trotsky, “False Suspicions about Robert Sheldon Harte” (unpublished manuscript in Russian), July 15, 1940, Hansen papers, 69:57; Natalia, 258; Natalia, “Father and Son,” in
Leon Trotsky,
42.

Harte’s peculiar behavior: Salazar 24

intestinal problems: Trotsky, “False Suspicions” Trotsky to Jesse Harte, July 10, 1940TEP TEP 8452.

Trotsk’s Russian secretar…“Pure coincidence”: Salazar 94–95.

Salazar broke the case: Salazar, 34–42; Levine, 95–96.

confession of Nestor Sanchez Hernandez: text in Hansen papers, 70:3; Salazar 42–49.

arrests of some two dozen people: Levine, 95–96; Salazar, 65–66; “Trotsky case,” undated press release, TC 23:12.

rearrest of Casas: Schultz to Solow, June 18, 1940, TEP 15388.

a farmhouse in the village of Santa Rosa…Lucky Strike: Salazar, 70; Levine, 96–97

the corpse was exhumed: Salazar, 70–78.

Bob’s kinky red-brown hair…“Poor Bob”…his face streaked with tears…the morgue in San Angel: Hansen to Goldman, June 25, 1940, TEP 11402; Hansen to Reba Hansen, June 26, 1940, Hansen papers, 19:4; Salazar, 77.

One of the conspirators told the police: Salazar, 82–86; Levine 98; Kolpakidi, 162;
Ocherki,
101.

“His memory is spotless”…pantheon of his fallen secretaries: Trotsky, Natalia, and staff statement [June 25, 1940], TEP 8451; Trotsky statement of June 25, 1940,
Writings,
12:293–94; Hansen to Goldman, June 25, 1940, TEP 11402.

a stone plaque: Trotsky to Jesse Harte, July 10, 1940, TEP 8452.

Chapter Eleven: Deadline

“It was a real attack”: Cannon to Goldman, June 14, 1940, TC 24:11.

bombs, not bullets: Hansen to Dobbs, July 31, 1940, TC 24:12.

several thousand dollars: “Memorandum for JPC,” June 18, 1940, TC 23:12; Cannon to Goldman, June 11, 1940, TC 24:11.

“made the supreme sacrifice”: Trotsky Defense Appeal, July 11, 1940, TC 23:12.

“depistolization”: Hansen to Dobbs, July [?], 1940, TC 24:12; Hansen to Dave Hansen, July 21, 1940, Hansen papers, 17:9.

President Cárdenas had refused to name a successor…Camacho won an overwhelming victory:
Cambridge History,
55–63.

the Socialist Workers Party raised over $2,250: Sylvia Caldwell to Hansen, August 6, 1940, TEP 6671.

sale of his archives: Trotsky to Rose Karsner, September 28, 1939, TC 11:42; Goldman to Trotsky, May 10, 1940, TEP 1569.

The precious cargo: Trotsky to Goldman, July 17, 1940, TC 10:72.

Hank Schultz, a comrade from Minneapolis: Dobbs,
Teamster Rebellion,
138, 152–53;
Teamster Power
(Monad Press, 1973), 52, 82;
Teamster Bureaucracy
(Monad Press, 1977), 49, 143.

“all caved under the overload”: Robins to Rose Karsner, June 1, TC 24:11; Trotsky to Cannon, May 28, 1940, TEP 7569.

“indefatigable, absolutely selfless”: Trotsky to Rose Karsner, July 27, 1940, TC 11:43.

due back at his job: Hansen to Cannon, July 9, 1940, TC 24:12; Dobbs to Hansen, July 12, 1940, TC 24:12.

renovations made to the house on Avenida Viena: Adam [Hank Schultz] to Smith [Dobbs], June 24, 1940, TC 24:11; Hansen, “With Trotsky to the End,” in
Leon Trotsky,
16–26; Hansen to Dobbs, July [?], 1940, TC 24:12; Adam [Schultz] to Dobbs, July 13, 1940, TEP 11156; Hansen to Dobbs, July 31, 1940, TC 24:12.

delayed by the police investigation: Hansen to Dobbs, July [?], 1940, TC 24:12; Adam [Schultz] to Dobbs, July 13, 1940, TEP 11156.

the heavily guarded city courthouse: Hansen to Reba Hansen, June 24, 1940, Hansen papers, 19:4.

the judge and his associates took about five hours…hands on their guns: Hansen to Reba Hansen, July 21, 1940, Hansen papers, 19:4.

the Arenal brothers behaving like innocent museum-goers: FBI, 4:34, 5:46.

not to install a photoelectric alarm system: Dobbs to Hansen, July 31, 1940, TEP 6298; Hansen to Dobbs, August 6, 1940, TC 24:13; William Bryan to Dobbs, July 25, 1940, TC 24:12.

“the next attack will most likely be bombs”: Hansen to Dobbs, July 31, 1940, TC 24:12.

“permanent threat of a new ‘blitzkrieg’ assault”: Trotsky to Mr. Kay, August 3, 1940, TC 11:44; Craig II, 670–71.

“in the next attack the GPU will use other methods”: Hansen, “With Trotsky to the End,” in
Leon Trotsky,
22.

Jacson had met Trotsky for the first time: “Memorandum of talk with Rosmers

about Frank Jacson, August 23, 1940, TC 24:6; Rosmers, We never saw Jacson’ in Paris,” TC 24:6; Henry Schultz statement, September 10, 1940, TC 24:7 [hereafter: HS]; Hansen, “With Trotsky to the End,” in
Leon Trotsky,
17.

Marguerite Rosmer was very close to Natalia: Van, 146.

Jacson entered the patio on May 28, at 7:58 a.m.: Levine, 93–94.

Trotsky surprised everyone: Joes notes on Trotsky, Hansen papers, 40:7.

Natalia wondered about this: Levine, 94.

Natalia was returned to the house: Levine 94.