Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

=== Moscow show trials ===
In August 1936, the first Moscow show trial of the "Trotskyite–Zinovievite Terrorist Center" was staged. Zinoviev, Kamenev, and 14 other prominent Old Bolsheviks confessed to plotting with Trotsky to kill Stalin and other Soviet leaders. The court found all defendants guilty, sentencing them, including Trotsky [[Trial in absentia|in absentia]], to death. The second show trial (Karl Radek, [[Grigori Sokolnikov]], [[Yuri Pyatakov]], and 14 others) in January 1937 linked more alleged conspiracies and crimes to Trotsky. These trials were widely seen as fabrications. In response, an independent Commission of Inquiry, chaired by American philosopher [[John Dewey]], was established. After investigating the allegations, the [[Dewey Commission]] found Trotsky not guilty of the charges made against him in the Moscow Trials. Its findings were published in the book ''Not Guilty''.<ref>''Not Guilty; Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials, John Dewey, chairman'', New York, London, Harper & brothers, 1938, xv, 422 pp. 2nd edition New York, Monad Press, distributed by Pathfinder Press 1973, c. 1972 xxiii.</ref>
{{blockquote|The Moscow trials are perpetuated under the banner of socialism. We will not concede this banner to the masters of falsehood! If our generation happens to be too weak to establish Socialism over the earth, we will hand the spotless banner down to our children. The struggle which is in the offing transcends by far the importance of individuals, factions and parties. It is the struggle for the future of all mankind. It will be severe, it will be lengthy. Whoever seeks physical comfort and spiritual calm let him step aside. In time of reaction it is more convenient to lean on the bureaucracy than on the truth. But all those for whom the word 'Socialism' is not a hollow sound but the content of their moral life—forward! Neither threats nor persecutions nor violations can stop us! Be it even over our bleaching bones the future will triumph! We will blaze the trail for it. It will conquer! Under all the severe blows of fate, I shall be happy as in the best days of my youth; because, my friends, the highest human happiness is not the exploitation of the present but the preparation of the future.|Leon Trotsky, 'I Stake My Life', opening address to the [[Dewey Commission]], 9 February 1937{{sfn|North|2010|p=viii}}<ref>Full text of ~ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/09/life.htm "I Stake My Life!"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114233838/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/09/life.htm |date=14 November 2010}} – Leon Trotsky's telephone address to the N.Y. Hippodrome Meeting for the opening event of the [[Dewey Commission]] on the Moscow Trial, delivered on 9 February 1937.</ref>}}