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Leon Trotsky Collection http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf296n98nm No online items Register of the Trotsky collection, 1917-1995 Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Hernán Cortés Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6010 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998, 2016 Register of the Trotsky collection, 92032 1 1917-1995 Title: Leon Trotsky Collection Date (inclusive): 1917-1995 Collection Number: 92032 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: Mainly in RussianEnglish Physical Description: 47 manuscript boxes, 4 envelopes, 2 phonorecords, 1 framed painting(20.2 linear feet) 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in the Moscow Trials; correspondence and writings of Nataliia Sedova Trotskaia and of Lev Sedov; and published and unpublished material relating to Trotsky.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. Location note: Hoover Institution Archives. Access Collection open for research. The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives. Acquisition Information The Hoover Institution 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. Accruals Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number of boxes listed in this finding aid. Alternate Forms Available Boxes 1-45 available on microfilm (50 reels). Phonotape cassette dub of sound recordings also available. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Leon Trotsky collection, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives. Historical Note 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 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. Register of the Trotsky collection, 92032 2 1917-1995 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. Scope and Contents note 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. Subjects and Indexing Terms American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky. Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials. Fourth International. Lenin, Vladimir Il'ich, 1870-1924. Sedov, Lev, 1906-1938. Socialist Workers Party. Trotskaia, Nataliia Ivanovna, 1882-1962. Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940. Wright, John G., 1902-1956. Audiotapes. Communism. Mexico. Moscow Trials, Moscow, Russia, 1936-1937. Phonorecords. Russia (Federation) Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921. Soviet Union--Politics and government--1917-1936. Soviet Union. United States--Politics and government. Register of the Trotsky collection, 92032 3 1917-1995 V. I. LENIN FILE, 1917-1924 Box 1-9 V. I. LENIN FILE, 1917-1924 Scope and Contents note Typed copies of documents in Soviet archives, consisting largely, but not exclusively, of correspondence between Leon Trotsky and V. I. Lenin, and of each with third parties, during the Russian Civil War and subsequent period up to the death of Lenin. Three sets of copies were made under the direction of Trotsky between 1925 and 1927. The other two sets are in the Harvard University Library and the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam, respectively. Published versions of most of the documents appear in Jan M. Meier, ed., The Trotsky Papers, 1917-1922, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1964, 1971). Arranged by physical form. Correspondence Leon Trotsky to V. I. Lenin 1918 Box: 1, Folder 1 January 31 Folder 2 August 6 Folder 3 (ca.) August 7-9 Folder 4 August 9 Folder
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