After the failure of the 1923 communist uprising in Germany, and similar but smaller-scale disturbances in Poland, the three Ws vigorously defended the leaders of the German party, who were accused of passivity, and as a power struggle developed in the Kremlin between during Lenin's terminal illness, pitching Joseph Stalin and the chairman of Comintern, Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky, they issued a statement in December 1923 declaring that the name of comrade Trotsky is for our party, for the whole International, for the whole revolutionary world proletariat, indissolubly bound up with the victorious October Revolution."
Following the collapse of the 1923 communist revolt in Germany, and smaller-scale disturbances in Poland, the three Ws strongly defended the leaders of the German party, who were criticized for their passivity. As a power struggle developed between Lenin's illness and the rivalry between Stalin and Zinoviev against Trotsky, they issued a statement in December 1923 emphasizing that Trotsky's name is forever linked to the October Revolution as a symbol of the global proletariat.