The United Secretariat of the Fourth International and its French section are in mourning. With the death of Pierre Frank we have lost one of our most valiant members, one of our best leaders.
Pierre Frank was a companion of Leon Trotsky and with him a co-founder of the Fourth International and of its French section. He was in the thick of every battle. His life is an example of a militant in the service of the revolution and the working class. He never faltered, right to the last, even during those terrible years when there was only an isolated handful of Trotskyists to denounce Stalin's crimes as well as the abominations of imperialism.
Pierre Frank, along with the generation of militants who shared his commitment, passed on to us an irreplaceable heritage — the heritage of Marxism and the revolutionary tradition of Lenin and Trotsky. Against the social democratic and Stalinist betrayals he was in the front ranks of those who kept alive the revolutionary experience which is the cornerstone of our struggle today. We benefited from his vast knowledge of the French workers movement and his acute understanding of its debates and traditions.
Throughout his life Pierre Frank placed internationalism and building the Fourth International at the centre of his political activity. In all the debates and when there 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 proletariat rests on internationalism'.
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International and its French section pay tribute to the memory of this workers' leader, this exemplary revolutionary leader. We call on our members and sympathisers to pay him solemn homage on Friday April 27. At this difficult time the LCR especially sends its militant solidarity to his companion Marguerite, who was deported to Ravensbruck for the same ideal and was at his side in all his battles.
Paris, April 18, 1984, 10:00 am
United Secretariat of the Fourth International
Political Bureau of the LCR