The Assassination of Trotsky (L'Assassinat de Trotsky)

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein, born 1879

Trotsky, revolutionary student 1896

Trotsky first arrest, exile in Siberia 1900

Trotsky exiled from Tsarist Russia 1907 - 1917

Lenin & Trotsky leaders of the 1917 revolution in Soviet Russia

Trotsky founder of the Red Army 1918

Trotsky exiled by Stalin to Turkey 1929

Trotsky wandering as an exile 1932

The proven facts have been presented as accurately as possible.

The unproven facts are open to interpretation.

In a revolution there is no coercion, except that of circumstances.

Revolutions arise only when there is no other way out.

1 May 1940 Labour Day

Jack.

Where are you going?

To the bank.

That's impossible, it's closed.

Why?

Have you closed the banks?

Then I'll go to the office.

Jack, yesterday I went to your office.

It wasn't there.

At the address you gave me, there was no office.

What would a girl like you do in an office?

Bourgeois.

Communist.

Enough!

Get out!

The beginning of the war has further worsened the situation.

Because of my constant confrontation with politics

inside and outside the Kremlin, my statements and articles

they are published throughout the world press.

Discontent within the U.R.S.S. is growing.

Therefore Stalin has ordered his agents

to eliminate me as quickly as possible.

Otto. - Comrade Trotsky.

Today, now that the workers have been betrayed,

now that the U.R.S.S. conspires with the imperialists,

the fascists and the bureaucrats of Wall Street,

now by the order of one man, Joseph Stalin,

and with the help of his bloodthirsty henchmen,

even here in Mexico City,

the vultures have gathered,

the poison of the counterrevolution.

Seva.

Stalin no longer fights the ideas of his enemies,

but against their shadows.

Seva, look how small they are.

Life is a struggle.

Stalin no longer fights the ideas of his enemies,

but against their shadows.

Do you have anything to do here? Aren't you bored?

It is hard to live with an old revolutionary.

You should have been with us during the storming of the Winter Palace.

And in the beginning with Lenin in Moscow.

How wonderful it was then, to live and fight.

I would like to be your age to relive those days.

Lev Davidovich, did you take a nap?

No.

You work too much.

Tonight you must go to bed early.

The old workhorse, do you want to see it in bed?

Don't take too many pills.

Pills, pills, don't bother me.

Natasha, go inside. I'll be there soon.

Sheldon.

Yes, Comrade Trotsky.

Sheldon. - Yes.

How long have you been with me? Two months?

My life depends on loyalty.

Four children murdered, my son poisoned,

my daughter driven to suicide, her husband in Siberia.

I have only one grandson left and millions dead in Russia.

The dictatorship of one man.

I must keep fighting.

Everywhere in the world there are lies, and my followers remain silent.

Actually, Sheldon, I cannot bear their silence.

How is your family?

Good.

I have good friends in New York,

who are following the situation.

They think we can achieve nothing here.

Far from Europe, under the protection of Mexico.

Stalin is furious. Why else would he pursue us?

He knows we are right.

One day, Sheldon, you and I, or at least you,

will rise from the ashes.

The ashes of a great betrayal.

The betrayal of Marxist principles.

The new workers' state.

The Fourth International, still so weak today,

and tomorrow so powerful.

We will win, Sheldon.

We will win!

Do you like these murals?

The painter is a man of action.

A great artist.

Can a painter be a man of action?

Can a man of action have imagination? What do you think?

A colorful song of violence.

And gone, don't you think?

This action may fail.

They are not professionals.

It doesn't matter.

We achieved something.

Some progress, just as in painting.

The workers, the craftsmen, the ordinary people of this country

will have shown their hostility toward Trotsky,

but there will still be much work to do.

You are quiet.

What's the matter? What is hidden behind those mysterious blue eyes?

Do you want me to talk?

Do you trust the girl?

Yes.

Is she going to the house?

Yes.

Will you be there too?

Outside.

You have not answered my question.

Which question?

Do you want me to talk?

No.

We all want to stay alive.

That old man is on my mind.

Do you know anything about dreams?

You look good.

God! Have you lost your tongue?

Why are you acting like this?

Is it because of the altitude?

Or because of something you ate?

I don't think you should seek out Trotsky.

What are you going to talk about, imports and exports?

I don't know why you worry about war.

I know that you are Belgian.

Monsieur Jacques Mornard.

Mr. Frank Jackson.

War is a game of the capitalists.

My dear capitalist.

I am not Belgian.

I am Canadian.

I don't care who you are.

To me you look Mediterranean: an attractive man with dark skin.

What's wrong?

Why did you write Jackson without a K in your passport?

Do you want to talk?

No. - What?

Who am I?

Good morning.

Perhaps you'd like to read the morning newspaper.

Thank you, good idea.

Don't you know how they got in?

No.

They were let in.

Impossible.

By one of your men. - Who?

He was seen by the police. - And why didn't they stop him?

Your man, Sheldon Harte. - No.

He went with them voluntarily. - That's not possible.

So what do you think happened?

It's not clear... Why won't you let me

finish speaking without interruptions?

My wife Natasha and I were in the room when we heard the shots.

We dived under the bed. Natasha

tried to protect me with her body.

I pulled her down; that saved us.

You went under the bed? - Beside it, beside it.

There were hundreds of bullets. - Am I immortal, Colonel?

I think you weren't in the room. You had been warned.

The attack creates a certain sympathy for you.

And also my own death.

What purpose would I achieve by such a

monstrous and dangerous act? Why?

Why would I endanger my life and that of my family,

my political prestige and that of the people I serve?

What would I gain from that?

Fortune was on the side of the righteous.

The attackers were incompetent.

Why didn't your guards fire back then?

They are Americans.

Perhaps they have too much respect for police uniforms.

Do you trust them?

Completely.

In my profession you learn to trust, Colonel.

I like that boy. - Maybe he's dead.

That does not exonerate them. On the contrary.

There are murderers in the city, saboteurs. You know them; arrest them.

Do you have a theory about who was behind it?

Certainly.

Joseph Stalin.

Of the twelve apostles, only Judas was a traitor,

but if he had gained power,

the other eleven would also have been traitors.

How much I love you, Natasha.

My faithful one, my friend, my partner,

my love, my victim.

You will always support me, Natasha,

just as you have done all our lives.

Perhaps you won't get help.

Most of our friends will be arrested.

But they will not arrest you. You are a businessman.