Korets–Landau leaflet

The Korets–Landau leaflet was authored by the Soviet physicists Mosey Korets and Lev Landau in 1938, and condemned Joseph Stalin and the NKVD as the response to the Great Purge in the Soviet Union.[1][2][3]

The Soviet leader Stalin was accused for betrayal of the October Revolution and the sociopolitical work of his regime, especially the secret police NKVD, was compared with the ones organized by German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and the Italian Fascism leader Benito Mussolini, who at this time made active political struggle against Communism in their countries and were both ideological and political enemies of the Soviet Union. In making the opposition against Stalinism, the leaflet had made use of purely socialist ideas. In particular, it had used as the title the communist ideological slogan "Workers of the world, unite" borrowed from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which laid the ideological foundations of Stalin's All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks).

Creation of the leaflet was greatly motivated by the UPTI affair, which resulted in a serial liquidation of then leading Soviet scientists. Its propagation was planned on the International Workers' Day 1 May 1938, but did not come into the effect because was discovered by the NKVD which arrested the authors. The investigation, which included then usually applied brutal hearings, showed that the leaflet was compiled by Korets and edited by Landau. Some historians have supposed that its creation was a result of the wide provocation action performed among the Jewish scientists by the NKVD, which aimed at a many-year imprisonment at the Gulag concentration camps system for the forced labor in the Soviet military industry. Korets pointed out that the Jewish poet Pavel Kogan was the NKVD's instigator for the leaflet. Together with Landau and Korets also the Soviet physicist Yuri Rumer was arrested. Landau was released thanks to Pyotr Kapitsa's support, but both Korets and Rumer were imprisoned for the forced labor.

Original text

"Пролетарии всех стран соединяйтесь."

Товарищи!

Великое дело Октябрьской революции подло предано. Страна затоплена потоками крови и грязи. Миллионы невинных людей брошены в тюрьмы, и никто не может знать, когда придет его очередь. Хозяйство разваливается. Надвигается голод. Разве вы не видите, товарищи, что сталинская клика совершила фашистский переворот. Социализм остался только на страницах окончательно изолгавшихся газет. В своей бешеной ненависти к настоящему социализму Сталин сравнился с Гитлером и Муссолини. Разрушая ради сохранения своей власти страну, Сталин превращает ее в легкую добычу озверелого немецкого фашизма. Единственный выход для рабочего класса и всех трудящихся нашей страны – это решительная борьба против сталинского и гитлеровского фашизма, борьба за социализм.

Товарищи, организуйтесь! Не бойтесь палачей из НКВД. Они способны избивать только беззащитных заключенных, ловить ни о чем не подозревающих невинных людей, разворовывать народное имущество и выдумывать нелепые судебные процессы о несуществующих заговорах.

Товарищи, вступайте в Антифашистскую Рабочую Партию. Налаживайте связь с ее Московским Комитетом. Организуйте на предприятиях группы АРП. Налаживайте подпольную технику. Агитацией и пропагандой подготавливайте массовое движение за социализм.

Сталинский фашизм держится только на нашей неорганизованности. Пролетариат нашей страны, сбросившей власть царя и капиталистов, сумеет сбросить фашистского диктатора и его клику.

Да здравствует 1 Мая – день борьбы за социализм!

Московский комитет Антифашистской Рабочей Партии[4]

English translation

"Workers of the world, unite."

Comrades!

The great cause of the October Revolution is badly betrayed. The country is flooded with blood and dirt. Millions of innocent people are thrown into prison, and no one can know when his turn will come. The economy is falling apart. Famine is coming. Don't you see, Comrades, that Stalin's clique has carried out a fascist coup. Socialism remained only on the pages of the totally lying press. In his furious hatred of true socialism, Stalin became equal to Hitler and Mussolini. Devastating the country to keep his power, Stalin makes it an easy prey of inhuman German fascism. The only way out for the working class and all the workers of our country is a decisive struggle against Stalin's and Hitler's fascism, the struggle for socialism.

Comrades, organize! Do not be afraid of the executioners of the NKVD. They can only beat defenseless prisoners, catch unsuspecting innocent people, plunder national wealth and invent ridiculous trials against nonexistent conspiracies.

Comrades, join the Antifascist Workers Party. Get in touch with its Moscow Committee. Organize at meetings of AWP groups. Set up underground equipment. By agitation and propaganda prepare the mass movement for socialism.

Stalin's fascism is based on our disorder. The proletariat of our country, which has overthrown the power of the tsar and the capitalists, will be able to overthrow the fascist dictator and his clique.

Long live May 1 – the day of the struggle for socialism!

Moscow Committee of the Antifascist Workers Party

References
  1. Reinders, L. J. (28 February 2018). "The Landau-Korets-Rumer Case". The Life, Science and Times of Lev Vasilevich Shubnikov. Springer Biographies. Cham: Springer. pp. 221–233. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-72098-2_13. ISBN 978-3-319-72098-2.
  2. Ioffe, Boris (2013). "Lev Davidovich Landau". In Shifman, Mikhail (ed.). Under the Spell of Landau: When Theoretical Physics Was Shaping Destinies. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. pp. 5–29. ISBN 978-981-4436-55-7.
  3. Gorelik, Gennady (May 1995). "Lev Landau, Prosocialist Prisoner of the Soviet State". Physics Today. 48 (5): 11–15. Bibcode:1995PhT....48e..11G. doi:10.1063/1.2808009. Archived from the original on 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  4. "Original text of Korets-Landau leaflet".
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