Declaration of the FOURTH INTERNATIONAL national Secretariat of the international and the LIGUE COMMUNISTE REVOLUTIONNAIRE
Trotskyist organisation led by Trotsky.
In July 1932 he went to Turkey to
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International and its French section are in join Leon Trotsky, still in exile in Prin-
With the death of Pierre Frank we have lost one of our most valiant kipo, and was his secretary for a year.
Once back in France, he was in the
Pierre Frank was a companion of Leon Trotsky and with him a co-founder of forefront of all the political battles of the Fourth International and of its French section.
the Trotskyists in 1934, at a time when battle. His life is an example of a militant in the service of the revolution and the the ranks of the working class were deep-
He never faltered, right to the last, even during those terrible years ly divided faced with the fascist threat.
when there was only an isolated handful of Trotskyists to denounce Stalin's crimes
At the end of 1934, the Ligue Com-
, along with the generation of militants who shared his commitmuniste publicly decided to send all its members into the Socialist Party (SFIO, ment, passed on to us an irreplaceable heritage — the heritage of Marxism and the revolutionary tradition of Lenin and Trotsky.
Francaise de
Stalinist betrayals he was in the front ranks of those who kept alive the revolution-
French section of the Socialary experience which is the cornerstone of our struggle today.
ist International at the time). Within the his vast knowledge of the French workers movement and his acute understanding of party they formed the Groupe Bolchevik-
Throughout his life Pierre Frank placed internationalism and building the Fourth
Group). Pierre Frank was elected as al-
International at the centre of his political activity.
ternate member of the Permanent Adminthere were big political and organisational choices to be made he taught us that - as Rosa Luxembourg said - 'the centre of gravity of the class organisation of the istrative Commission of the SFIO at its
June 1935 congress in Mulhouse. But in
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International and its French section pay
October 1935, along with other leaders tribute to the memory of this workers' leader, this exemplary revolutionary leader of the GB-L, he was expelled from the
We call on our members and sympathisers to pay him solemn homage on Friday party on the pretext of disciplinary
At this difficult time the LCR especially sends its militant solidarity to
The Socialist Party then his companion Marguerite, who was deported to Ravensbruck for the same ideal in constituting the
Popular Front with the Communist Party.
Following the expulsion of the Trotskyists from the SFIO, divisions emerged
In December 1935,
International Viewpoint 7 May 1984 members, one of our best leaders.
as well as the abominations of imperialism.
its debates and traditions.
proletariat rests on internationalism' and was at his side in all his battles.
He was in the thick of every
Against the social democratic and
We benefited from
In all the debates and when
Paris, April 18, 1984, 10:00 am
Political Bureau of the LCR
17