Neue Freie Presse
- Shanghai in Danger
- Heavy Price Falls on the New York Stock Exchange
- Lenin's Political Testament
The front page of 18 October 1926 led with cabled news from abroad. A United Press dispatch from Shanghai reported a state of siege after the civil governor of Zhejiang (Chekiang), long a loyal helper of Marshal Sun, went over to the Cantonese, allegedly through bribery; it added that three Nanking regiments had joined them, that refugees were pouring in, and that a steamer explosion had killed 1200 men. From New York came word of Saturday's sharpest price fall since March, with 1,103,000 shares sold in two hours and financial circles fearing that American business had peaked. The centrepiece was Max Eastman's signed article introducing what he called the first full publication of Lenin's 'testament' on Stalin and Trotsky, which Moscow had denied existed.
Translation
Shanghai in Danger
Paid announcements contained in the editorial section (Kleine Chronik, local report, theater news, Economist) are marked by a preceding E.
Shanghai in Danger.
Governor of Chekiang Goes Over to the Cantonese.
Special cable service of the "Neue Freie Presse" (United Press).
Shanghai, October 18. A state of siege prevails here. The civil governor of Chekiang province, who until now was one of the most loyal helpers of the governor-general of Shanghai, Marshal Sun, has gone over to the side of the Cantonese and is preparing an attack on Shanghai. It is believed that the governor of Chekiang was won over by the Cantonese through bribery. Three regiments from Nanking joined the Cantonese troops. It does not seem impossible that Shanghai will fall shortly. Countless refugees are streaming into the city, which is hastily being put into a state of defense. A steamer that had left Shanghai with war material and troops for Marshal Sun was destroyed by an explosion, and 1200 men lost their lives. It is assumed here that the explosion was caused by Cantonese incendiaries.
Worsening Mood among the English Miners.
Telegram from our correspondent.
London, October 18.
Heavy Price Falls on the New York Stock Exchange
... were at work, has ended with a victory of the extreme elements, who spoke out against the resumption of work and against the conclusion of district agreements.
Heavy Price Falls on the New York Stock Exchange.
Special cable service of the "Neue Freie Presse" (United Press).
New York, October 18. On Saturday, prices on the New York Stock Exchange suffered the sharpest fall since March, and sales reached the highest turnover of any Saturday session this year. Within two hours, 1,103,000 shares were sold. Individual industrial stocks lost from one to twelve points. Cotton stocks in particular came under sharp price pressure. In financial circles the view is that business activity in the United States has now reached its peak, and that developments for the coming year therefore deserve particular attention.
* * *
Lenin's Political Testament
Reprinting, even in excerpts, prohibited.
Lenin's Political … First Publication of the Histo…
By Max Eastman
Editorial preface. We print below the text of Lenin's political testament, in which the founder of Soviet Russia expresses himself on the persons of the two strongest talents of the party, Stalin and Trotsky, and voices his misgivings about some of their qualities. In view of the struggles within the Bolshevik party, this sensational publication is of particular topicality and significance. Also important is the declaration of the spokesmen of the Communist opposition, which we publish at the same time. The author of the article, the well-known American Communist Max Eastman, worked in Russia for years and had a special relationship there with Trotsky. It goes without saying that he alone bears responsibility for the content of the article.
* * *
New York, October 18. Three years ago, on his deathbed, already deprived of speech, Lenin wrote a letter in which he foretold the struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, analyzed the character of the two men, and indicated the path the party would have to take to avoid a split. Never did Lenin's extraordinary political foresight appear in a brighter light than in this short letter addressed to the party, which has been called Lenin's "testament." The letter reads like the prediction of a prophet. This letter was kept under lock and key and declared nonexistent by Stalin and his associates at the head of state affairs, because it contained a vigorous criticism of Stalin and the demand that Stalin be removed from the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Russia. In my book "Since Lenin Died" I quoted some passages from this letter. These quotations were attacked and denied throughout the world by the Communist press, which obeyed the instructions of the group ruling in Russia. The Politburo in Moscow published a document in which it declared that Lenin's letter does not exist and that I had quoted it incorrectly. I am now in a position to reproduce this "testament" in its full text. It is the first time that this document is being publish…
Context
How far the Northern Expedition had come by mid-October 1926
The "Cantonese" of the Shanghai cable were the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang government in Canton, whose Northern Expedition formally began when Chiang Kai-shek accepted command in a ceremony on 9 July 1926. The "Marshal Sun" whom the paper calls governor-general of Shanghai was Sun Chuanfang, whose coalition controlled Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. The nationalists first moved against Wu Peifu, whose last troops in walled Wuchang held out until the city was taken on 10 October. Against Sun the result was mixed: Jiujiang and Nanchang in Jiangxi were in Kuomintang hands by 19 September, but the offensive was forced to retreat when Sun arrived from Nanjing with reinforcements on 21 September. When this dispatch was filed, Sun was therefore still holding his Jiangxi front, while the fall of Wuchang had just freed the nationalists for further pressure. The Zhejiang defection the paper reports struck at a province behind Sun's main army, which was still intact.
The defecting governor and the fate of his march on Shanghai
The unnamed civil governor was Xia Chao, for years Zhejiang's police chief, whom Sun had appointed civil governor for his cooperation in the 1924 takeover of the province. The paper's Shanghai informants believed he had been bought by the Cantonese; historical accounts describe secret negotiations that ended in an agreement with Chiang Kai-shek. Xia declared Zhejiang independent on 16 October, and by late 17 October his force was just 5 kilometres from Shanghai, which accounts for the state of siege reported on the 18th. Xia's advance failed within days. The uprising inside Shanghai that was meant to support him failed to materialize, Sun's reinforced army captured Jiaxing on the 21st and Hangzhou on the 23rd, and Xia was captured and shot in the street of a nearby town. The cable's expectation that Shanghai might soon fall was not borne out in October 1926. Its further reports, of three Nanking regiments joining the Cantonese and of a steamer explosion killing 1200 men, remain the paper's wartime claims.
What Lenin's testament actually said about Stalin and Trotsky
The document Eastman introduced was a confidential letter that Lenin dictated, giving his estimate of the leaders in the Central Committee. Trotsky later gave its date as 4 January 1923, a year before Lenin died on 21 January 1924, so Eastman's "three years ago, on his deathbed" is approximate, and "wrote" stands for dictation. Lenin judged that Stalin, having become General Secretary, had concentrated an enormous power in his hands, and he faulted Trotsky for too far-reaching self-confidence and a disposition to be drawn to the purely administrative side of affairs, which matches the editors' note that Lenin voiced misgivings about both men. The postscript went further: Stalin was too rude, a fault insupportable in the office of General Secretary, and Lenin proposed that the comrades find a way to remove him. That demand is what Eastman says led Stalin and his associates to keep the letter locked away.
The first full publication and Moscow's denials
Eastman's claim of a first publication agrees with the record of the English text: the full testament first appeared in English in the New York Times of 18 October 1926. The Neue Freie Presse carried the German version on the same date, under a New York dateline and with a reprint ban, which points to a coordinated simultaneous release. Eastman also reports that the Moscow Politburo had published a document denying the letter's existence and accusing him of misquotation; that account is his own, and the editors explicitly left responsibility for the article with him. The later record contradicts the denial: in International Press Correspondence of 17 November 1927, Stalin himself openly accepted the authenticity of the testament. The editors printed Eastman's article alongside a declaration by spokesmen of the Communist opposition, tying the document directly to the inner-party struggle then under way.
The October 1926 sell-off within the 1920s boom
The Saturday slump the cable describes came in a market that had already risen steeply: on the index Galbraith used, stock prices climbed from 106 in May 1924 to 181 by December 1925. In Galbraith's account, 1926 brought only a couple of short downturns before prices began to increase in earnest throughout 1927, and the market rose from 245 to 331 during 1928 alone. Speculative trouble was nevertheless visible elsewhere in 1926: the Florida land boom was ended by the 1926 Miami hurricane, and by 1926 smaller Florida banks were failing under depositors' withdrawals and loan defaults. The view the cable attributes to financial circles, that American business had reached its peak, proved premature for the stock market. The October fall was one of the brief interruptions in a boom that ran for three more years before the crash of 1929.
Original
Schanghai in Gefahr.
Im redaktionellen Teil (Kleine Chronik, Lokalbericht, Theaternachrichten, Economist) enthaltene entgeltliche Mitteilungen sind durch ein vorgesetztes E kenntlich gemacht. Schanghai in Gefahr. Uebergang des Gouverneurs von Tschekiang zu den Kantonesen. Spezialkabeldienst der " Neuen Freien Presse " (United Preß). Schanghai, 18. Oktober. Hier herrscht Belagerungszustand. Der Zivilgouverneur der Provinz Tschekiang, der bisher einer der treuesten Helfer des Generalgouverneurs von Schanghai, des Marschalls Sun, war, hat sich auf die Seite der Kantonesen geschlagen und bereitet einen Angriff auf Schanghai vor. Man glaubt, daß der Gouverneur von Tschekiang durch Bestechung von den Kantonsen gewonnen worden ist Drei Regimenter aus Nanking vereinigten sich mit den kantonesischen Truppen. Es erscheint nicht ausgeschlossen, daß Schanghai binnen kurzem fällt. Zahllose Flüchtlinge strömen in die Stadt, die eilig in Verteidigungszustand gesetzt wird. Ein Dampfer, der aus Schanghai mit Kriegsmaterial und Truppen für Marschall Sun abgegangen war, wurde durch eine Explosion zerstört und 1200 Mann verloren dabei ihr Leben. Man nimmt hier an, daß die Explosion durch kantonesische Brandstifter hervorgerufen worden ist. Verschärfung der Stimmung der englischen Bergarbeiter. Telegramm unseres Korrespondenten. London, 18. Oktober
Schwere Kursstürze an der Newyorker Börse.
an der Arbeit waren, hat mit einem Sieg der extremen Elemente geendet, die sich gegen die Wiederaufnahme der Arbeit und gegen den Abschluß von Distriktsabkommen aussprachen. Schwere Kursstürze an der Newyorker Börse. Spezialkabeldienst der " Neuen Freien Presse " (United Preß). Newyork 18. Oktober. Am Samstag erfuhren die Kurse an der Newyorker Börse den stärksten Kurssturz seit März und die Verkäufe erreichten den Höhepunkt der Umsätze an allen Samstagbörsen während dieses Jahres. Innerhalb von zwei Stunden wurden 1, 103. 000 Aktien verkauft. Einzelne Industriepapiere verloren einen bis zwölf Punkte. Besonders die Baumwollpapiere standen unter einem scharfen Kursdruck. In finanziellen Kreisen ist man der Ansicht, daß die Geschäftstätigkeit in den Vereinigten Staaten gegenwärtig ihren Höhepunkt erreicht habe und daher die Entwicklung für das nächste Jahr besondere Aufmerksamkeit verdient. * * *
Das politische Testament Lenins.
Nachdruck, auch im Auszuge, verboten. Das politische Lenins Erste Veröffentlichung des histo Von Max Eastman Vorbemerkung der Redaktion. Wir bringen im folgenden den Wortlaut des politischen Testaments von Lenin, in welchem der Begründer des sowjetistischen Rußland sich über die Person der zwei stärksten Talente der Partei, Stalins und Trotzkis, ausspricht und seine Bedenken wegen mancher ihrer Eigenschaften äußert. Diese sensationelle Veröffentlichung ist angesichts der Kämpfe innerhalb der bolschewistischen Partei von besonderer Aktualität und Bedeutung. Wichtig ist auch die Erklärung der Wortführer der kommunistischen Opposition, die wir zugleich veröffentlichen. Der Autor des Artikels, der bekannte amerikanische Kommunist Max Eastman, hat jahrelang in Rußland gearbeitet und stand dort in besonderer Beziehung zu Trotzki. Es ist selbstverständlich, daß er allein die Verantwortung für den Inhalt des Artikels trägt. * * * Newyork, 18. Oktober. Vor drei Jahren, auf seinem Sterbebette, bereits der Sprache beraubt, schrieb Lenin einen Brief, in dem er den Kampf zwischen Trotzki und Stalin voraussagte, den Charakter der beiden Männer analysierte und den Weg angab, den die Partei einschlagen müßte, um die Spaltung zu vermeiden. Niemals zeigte sich die außerordentliche politische Voraussicht Lenins in hellerem Lichte, als in diesem kurzen, an die Partei gerichteten Briefe, der das " Testament " Lenins genannt worden ist. Der Brief liest sich wie die Wahrsagung eines Propheten. Dieser Brief wurde unter Schloß und Riegel gehalten und von Stalin und seinen Gefährten an der Spitze der Staatsgeschäfte als nicht existierend erklärt, da er eine energische Kritik Stalins und die Forderung enthielt, daß Stalin von dem Posten des Generalsekretärs der kommunistischen Partei Rußlands entfernt werde. In meinem Buche " Seit Lenin starb " zitierte ich einige Stellen aus diesem Briefe. Diese Zitate wurden in der ganzen Welt von der kommunistischen Presse, die den Instruktionen der in Rußland herrschenden Gruppe gehorchte, angegriffen und dementiert. Das Politbureau in Moskau veröffentlichte ein Dokument, worin es erklärte, daß der Leninsche Brief nicht existiert und daß ich ihn unrichtig zitiert hätte. Ich bin nunmehr in der Lage, dies " Testament " in vollem Wortlaut wiederzugeben. Es ist das erstemal, daß dieses Dokument veröffentlicht