 On the first issue, Hook acted directly by requesting John Dewey to serve as the judge of a proposed impartial tribunal which would examine the justice of the charges that had been brought by the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin against Leon Trotsky. To a degree, such a tribunal could be justified as an extension and application of the pragmatic method. The tribunal would seek to resolve conflicting opinions by an appeal to evidence and by undertaking a form of free inquiry. Dewey accepted Hook’s argument that Trotsky may have been the victim of injustice by a socialist society. Presumably, such an injustice merited some attempt at rectification, particularly since the Soviet Union had assumed a role of a morally progressive society in its relation to Western societies and Dewey himself had lauded Soviet education experiments as progressive on his visit to that country in 1928. Accordingly, Dewey agreed to become the judge of a quasi-formal trial of Leon Trotsky to be held in the country of Trotsky’s exile, Mexico, on the charges that the Soviet Union had brought against him. This form of trial does not have a juridical function so that the goal of the trial may be considered as carrying out an educational rather than judicial function. The moral authority of John Dewey enhanced the credibility of the proceedings. The trial involved a rigorous examination of the evidence against Trotsky. Trotsky himself was cross-examined as a witness at the trial. The result was a verdict rendered by Dewey which was essentially recognized as a declaration that Trotsky was not guilty of the charges brought against him by the Soviet authorities.