This is a new translation of an open letter Trotsky addressed to the Provisional Government on the arrest of Bolshevik leaders, which took place during the crackdown that followed the July Days (see: July 17-23: The “July Days,” insurrection and counterrevolution in Petrograd). The letter is dated July 23, 1917 (July 10, O.S) and was published in the journal Novaya Zhizn, N. 73, on July 13 (O.S.). The Provisional Government responded to this letter by issuing a warrant for Trotsky’s arrest.
Citizen Ministers!
I am informed that the arrest warrants that were issued in connection with the events of July 3-4 extend to comrades Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, but not to me. Accordingly, I consider it necessary to bring to your attention the following:
1. I share the principled position of Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamenev, and I have advocated it in the journal Forward (Vperiod) and in all of my public speeches.
2. My attitude towards the events of July 3-4 was identical with the attitude of the above comrades, namely:
(a) Concerning the anticipated demonstration of the First Machine Gun Regiment and other regiments, comrades Zinoviev, Kamenev and I first learned of it at a meeting of the joint Bureaus on July 3, and we immediately took the necessary steps to ensure that this demonstration did not take place; in taking this position, comrades Zinoviev and Kamenev were in contact with the centers of the Bolshevik Party, as I was with my comrades in the “Interdistrict” organization, to which I belong;
(b) When the demonstration nevertheless took place, I, like the comrade Bolsheviks, repeatedly spoke before the Tauride Palace, expressing my full solidarity with the main slogan of the demonstrators: “All power to the Soviets,” but at the same time I emphatically called on the demonstrators to return promptly to their military units…