DAVID TWERSKY
465
sky should live out his remaining years in Israel. Hadn't Idelson of–
fered him a haven in Palestine in 1937? "Aren't you frightened of
me?" he had asked then. "No ," she had replied, "because our idea is
stronger even than you ." Within a few months-could he hold out
that long? - the British would pull out and the Jewish state, if it
could survive the pangs of birth, would come into being. Trotsky
replies immediately .
He rings Gomez and asks for time. The General understands.
"An interesting solution,
monsieur,"
Gomez congratulates him. Evi–
dently his mail is monitored . "You shall have your time ." Despite his
misgivings, his ideological reluctance gives way before the harsh
reality: he must move . He must decide.
Four months later in June 1948, he leaves Mexico forever. In
similarly worded editorials accusing him of ancient villanies,
Pravda,
the
Daily Worker , L 'Humaniti
denounce him. Compared to the invec–
tive hurled at him in the thirties, this is kid stuff. The Nazis are
gone : with whom shall he conspire? White Guardists?
Mter
all,
Gromyko, that pygmy , was the most eloquent voice in the United
Nations (United Imperialists) for the establishment of a Jewish Na–
tional Home. After that Zionist speech , what do they want from
him?
It
was the fear of an outburst like this which had prompted him
to ask for Idelson's silence in 1937. And to many, the official accusa–
tions again appear plausible. He is accompanied by bodyguards on
the boat : they fear an assassination at sea. In fact, this is justified
paranoia: Trotsky does have enemies. Beria, drawing up various
scenarios, actually proposes a wet operation in the water. Inexplic–
ably , the "Georgian mountaineer" turns him down in a rage . Men
are pushed out of windows in Prague and of the old Bolsheviks ,
those who actually knew Trotsky, few are left. (Shapiro, Conquest,
and Medvedev list all those killed and when.) Young Soviet pioneers
would not recognize Trotsky if they saw him; his face has been ex–
punged from their history, erased from memory, although they are
familiar with his name and his alleged villainy . But some instinct
keeps Stalin's hand away from Trotsky. Although he has no reason
to fear him any longer, he does . He cannot risk another failure . And
for reasons much greater than this fossilized feud with an old fool, he
is supporting Israel, allowing arms sales through Czechoslovakia,
hoping to get Britain out of Suez.
En voyage,
the worst thing that happens is that Trotsky is bed–
ridden for almost a week with seasickness. How Plekhanov would
