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315

Leon Trotsky

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Leon Trotsky

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Auction Date:2010 Nov 10 @ 19:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, 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 French, signed “L. Trotsky,” two pages (one onionskin), 7.25 x 11, April 4, 1939. Letter to “cher camarade Gerard” concerning getting his grandchild into Mexico. In full (translated): “We have received your telegraphic message through Roberts and we have replied to you by telegram to Rosmer's address. We have received your letters dated March 21 and 22 yesterday in Van. It is not necessary to mention our gratefulness to you as to Marguerite and to all the friends who have helped us in such an important matter. I am a little worried about Molinier's threats. There are traits of gangsterism in this group and with its chief. You must personally take precautions. The same for the small boy before he leaves the country. Marguerite would be of course the best accompanying person. But when could she do it? Each week delayed is dangerous. In these conditions the best solution would be Natalia's [Trotsky second wife] trip to France. She could personally approach the small boy before he goes into a new house. I do not think that the French authorities opposition is serious. Natalia would have a Mexican passport and could come back at any time. It is a matter of a short stay, which has of course no political objective. I think that your forceful intervention at the Quai d'Orsay [where the French Foreign Ministry is located], foreigner services, could be decisive and would resolve the matter. I will write you tomorrow concerning the archives. Most hearty thanks from Natalia and I.”

In a postscript on the second sheet, he adds: “I am adding a very brief memorandum concerning the remittance. Memorandum Leon Sedov letter of April 8 1937 enclosed indicates that during my stay in Norway I sent monthly amounts of 270 Norwegian krones (approximately 1400 Francs of the period). These remittances were a lot more modest than in the past period due to my own financial matters. During the first year of our stay in Mexico my son had received approximately the same sum from European publishers for my work. During that year he also earned a little money for his literary work. After his death one hundred fifty dollars and one thousand francs were sent by telegraph for various expenses. In April 1938 forty-five dollars were sent for Sieva, then twenty or twenty-five dollars monthly. The last remittance of twenty dollars was sent on January 1939. All this can be shown on documents, testimonies, etc. L.T." Intersecting folds to first page, as well as a uniform shade of mild toning, and a trimmed top edge to second page, otherwise fine condition.

Trotsky was already a walking dead man when he tried to arrange safe passage for his grandson via this letter. The one-time Bolshevik leader had already participated in a decade-long odyssey following his deportation from the Soviet Union in February 1929, as he and his family found it impossible to secure safe refuge for most of the 1930s. Living in Turkey and later deported from France, Trotsky was refused entry into Britain, and moved to Norway before finally being granted asylum by Mexico in 1936. In 1938, Joseph Stalin ordered Russian agents to execute Trotsky for his betrayal of the working class—and his criticism of the Soviet leader. He died in August 1940 after being struck in the head with an ice axe.
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