Leon Trotsky collection, 1917-1995

View only results with digital items
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940, Lenin, Vladimir Ilʹich, 1870-1924, Socialist Workers Party, Wright, John G., 1902-1956, Trot͡skai͡a, Natalii͡a Ivanovna, 1882-1962, and Sedov, Lev, 1906-1938
Abstract:
Writings and correspondence of the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, including drafts of articles and books, correspondence with John G. Wright and other leaders of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, and typed copies of correspondence with V. I. Lenin; correspondence and reports of secretaries of Trotsky and leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, relating especially to efforts to safeguard Trotsky and to his assassination; records of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and of the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials; correspondence and writings of Nataliia Sedova Trotskaia and of Lev Sedov; and published and unpublished material relating to Trotsky. Assembled from records of the Socialist Workers Party and from papers of Wright and other party leaders. Also includes detailed summaries of correspondence in the Trotsky Papers at Harvard University. Boxes 1-45 also available on microfilm (50 reels). Phonotape cassette dub of sound recordings also available.
Extent:
47 manuscript boxes, 4 envelopes, 2 phonorecords, 1 framed painting (20.2 Linear Feet)
Language:
Mainly in Russian and English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Leon Trotsky collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

Writings and correspondence of the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, including drafts of articles and books, correspondence with John G. Wright and other leaders of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, and typed copies of correspondence with V. I. Lenin; correspondence and reports of secretaries of Trotsky and leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, relating especially to efforts to safeguard Trotsky and to his assassination; records of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and of the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials; correspondence and writings of Nataliia Sedova Trotskaia and of Lev Sedov; and published and unpublished material relating to Trotsky. Assembled from records of the Socialist Workers Party and from papers of Wright and other party leaders. Also includes detailed summaries of correspondence in the Trotsky Papers at Harvard University.

Boxes 1-45 also available on microfilm (50 reels). Phonotape cassette dub of sound recordings also available.

The Addendum includes United States government documents detailing surveillance of Leon Trotsky in exile (photocopies obtained from government archives); bibliographies of writings by Trotsky and of internal bulletins of the Fourth International movement during his lifetime; and a subject file of assorted correspondence, memoranda and printed matter relating to Trotsky and Trotskyism. Also included is a portrait painting of Natalia Sedova Trotsky.

Biographical / historical:

The Leon Trotsky Collection of material by and about the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was assembled by the Socialist Workers Party and its affiliate, the Library of Social History. Originating as the Communist League of America in 1928, the Socialist Workers Party adopted its present name and form of existence in 1938. As the American section of the Fourth International movement led by Trotsky, it maintained close contact with him, especially during the period of his exile in Mexico, from January 1937 until his assassination in August 1940. The collection was housed in the Library of Social History in New York City until it was acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1992.

The major sources of material in the collection are central files of the Socialist Workers Party, and papers of individual leaders of the party, most notably John G. Wright, but also James P. Cannon, Farrell Dobbs, Albert Goldman, Joseph Hansen, and others. There are, in a few instances, photocopies of documents from the Harvard University Library, the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, and other archival repositories.

The collection includes original manuscripts of writings by Trotsky--notably portions of Vie de Lenine: Jeunesse, Les Crimes de Staline, and Stalin--as well as typed copies and rare printed copies. Original manuscripts and many typed copies are from the papers of John G. Wright, the principal translator during Trotsky's lifetime of English language editions of his works.

The collection also includes many original letters from Trotsky to leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, as well as carbons of their replies, and originals, carbons and typed copies of Trotsky's correspondence with others. Of particular note in the collection is one of three existing sets of typed copies of correspondence between Trotsky and V. I. Lenin, prepared from Soviet archival sources at Trotsky's direction.

Originals and copies of letters and writings of Trotsky's wife Nataliia Sedova Trotskaia, and of his son Lev Sedov, are distinct parts of the collection.

Correspondence between Socialist Workers Party leaders in New York and secretaries and guards of Trotsky in Mexico (many of them members of the party) form a significant part of the collection, as do Socialist Workers Party records relating to the Dewey Commission hearings of 1937 on the charges made against Trotsky in the Moscow Trials; the investigation of Trotsky's assassination; the disposition of his archives; and posthumous publication of his biography Stalin.

The collection also contains selected published and unpublished materials about Trotsky collected by the Socialist Workers Party and the Library of Social History up until 1980; and survey sheets prepared by a Socialist Workers Party/Library of Social History team inventorying correspondence in the Exile Papers section of the Trotsky Papers in the Harvard University Library.

Audiovisual materials include photographs of the Coyoacan household from the papers of Evelyn Reed and George Novack; and a sound recording of a speech by Trotsky.

Acquisition information:
The Hoover Institution Library Archives acquired the Leon Trotsky Collection from the Anchor Foundation in 1992. A register to the collection was prepared that year and remains the principal overall description of and finding aid to the collection. Material subsequently received from the Anchor Foundation was described in the Addendum in 2016.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Boxes 20 and 24 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Leon Trotsky collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
Website