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Leon Trotsky

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Leon Trotsky

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Auction Date:2018 Dec 05 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS in German, signed “With best communist regards, Yours, L. Trotsky,” one page, 8.75 x 13, November 13, 1932. Letter addressed to "The Leadership of the Communist League of America (Opposition)," in full (translated): "I wrote to you about our intention to 'legalize' comrade Field in one of our European sections for the duration of his work in Europe. At the time we anticipated a longer stay in Europe; but for financial reasons, that turned out to be impossible, and he has to return to America rather soon. That cancels our aforementioned plan which, in any case, would not have been executed without your consent. With regard to his future in America, Field's plans, as far as I understood them after talking with him, are as follows: He will return with the best intention to work for the left wing opposition and to regain entry into the League. But, to be sure, not in the way Weisbord did. He will offer his services to the League without immediately attempting to renew his membership. I think he could render valuable services in attracting the intellectual Marxists (an activity, let's say in the sense as laid out in my letter to Calverton). Because of our theoretical and political predominance against the party, we can expect a certain sympathy from the 'academicians,' and this sympathy could well be exploited to our advantage in a material as well ideal sense, without, however, handing over the organization to those elements. In working that way, Field might prove to belong to the organization himself, but you will be better able to judge that than we would from here. But I should insist that the relation to Field will be such that he can be further utilized in our international theoretical work. Again I should like to assure the leadership of the New York organization that I was, and still am, far from taking easy the decisions of your organization. What guides me in the whole matter is the necessity to preserve such a qualified man for our international work." Trotsky has underlined a few sentences of the letter. In very good to fine condition, with some light staining, and areas of paper loss to the edges.

This desirable letter concerns internal strife within the American Communist movement, stemming from conflict between B. J. Field, Albert Weisbord, and others. Weisbord had led the first split in the American Trotskyist movement in 1931, when he founded the Communist League of Struggle; Weisbord remained aligned with Trotsky until 1934, when the group openly broke with him. Field would split from the Communist League of America in 1934, founding a separate leftist sect of ‘Fieldites.’ Here, Trotsky writes in support of Field—a skilled statistician, economist, and linguist—and makes recommendations for the betterment of the Communist movement in America.