TLS in German, signed “With best and friendliest regards and wishes, Yours, L. Trotsky,” one page both sides, 9 x 14.25, October 20, 1932. Letter to "the Directors of the Communist League of America (Opposition)." In full (translated): "I am answering your letter of October 7, 1932 on the Field case: 1.) You seem to place the Field case in a certain context with the Weisbord case. I must thus begin with the latter. The Weisbord group lodged a formal request with the International Secretariat to intervene. Weisbord came to me on his own initiative. The International Secretariat wanted to know my opinion on this question, and I had no formal possibilities of evading giving an opinion, also I saw no political reason for such a course. Of course, I thought it my duty in this special, delicate case to do everything to bolster the position and authority of the League toward the Weisbord group. As of now I see no reason to regret anything that was done on this question in Prinkipo. In the most important issues, the Weisbord group had to realize the incorrectness of its own position toward the League. That is a significant political gain. Your reply to Weisbord's letter can only further bolster your position and authority. I saw that already as exemplified by Comrade Field: he recognized that your reply was tactful and correct. So what could you complain about in this case?
2.) The Field case is an entirely different matter—different and more complicated: simpler because it is only about a single comrade; more complicated because our practical goals seem not to coincide completely. After conversations with Comrade Glotzer, after pertinent articles in the Militant, and after personal discussions with Comr. Field, I had gained the definite impression that Field's work in the League has not become more difficult and impossible just because you regard him as a politically or morally unworthy person or as a type of person who is alien to us in his core, but because due to his past he has not been trained for a leading role in a revolutionary organization, but is being urged on this path because of his intellectual qualities. This contradiction, which is by no means a rare occurrence, could be surmounted in a large organization. But as the League continues to be a small pioneer organization, it feels compelled to take more severe steps for its own self-preservation. This is approximately my view of the matter. On the other hand, it seems to me that Comrade Field could be of very important service to the Leftist Opposition on the whole because of his economic and statistical expertise. We need somebody to observe the world economy attentively day in and day out and who is capable of interpreting it for himself and others. I had been looking for such an economics expert for the Leftist Opposition for some time. In vain. I hardly think we could now find somebody else with Field's qualifications. I have of course noted the significance of the fact that Comr. Field has been expelled from the New York local organization. But a formal act such as expulsion must be evaluated not only formally, but also politically. Somebody can be expelled because he is a spy, someone else because he is morally corrupt, a third person because he represents a fundamentally hostile trend. But a person can also be expelled because he—although as such honest and fully capable—disturbs the unity of the organization in the given circumstances and jeopardizes its capability to act. In this last case (and that is the case with Field), it would perhaps be good to appeal to the international organization for help from the beginning so as to neutralize a comrade of this kind for the national organization and yet not lose him altogether. This is not a reproach, but rather a suggestion for the future.
These are the general thoughts I base my case on. The cases of Landau, Gorkin, etc., which you mention and you use with great polemic skill (from which I derived much private pleasure), have no bearing here. Landau was never expelled; he tried to expel the majority of his own organization. When this was objected to, he constituted his own faction. Two 'leftist oppositions' competed with each other for followers. Taking up Landau's cause would really amount in this case to betraying our German organization.
Gorkin left the leftist opposition to become a comrade-in-arms of the most suspicious political organizations. Even with the right-wing opposition. According to the accusations of the Spanish comrades, Gorkin was involved in dirty personal matters (financial matters, etc.). The Weisbord group can to a certain degree be regarded as a rival organization. But in no way can Comrade Field be. Also, Field didn’t contact Muste or the Lovestone people to oppose the League. The difference is really great. That he circumvented the Directors of the League, is not correct as regards the organizational standpoint. That he went to Europe to find the way to the Leftist Opposition, does not speak against him, but for him. This proves that he is serious about the matter. All of this has moved me, after serious deliberations, to send Field's work on America to the sections as discussion material. The work contains important ideas and suggestions and deserves to be read and thoroughly discussed. Even if an international decision on the Field case should be arrived at, this work could serve as important information material for the sections. The fact that articles by Comrade Field have been printed in the opposition press without previous notification to you, is really not correct. In this I assume my part of the responsibility myself and am willing to send all sections an apology to this effect, if you think that would be constructive. But I persist in feeling that the Field case should be decided individually; not only from the standpoint of the organizational committee in New York, but also from the standpoint of the international organization. I would be very grateful to you if you would translate this letter into English so as to make it accessible to all the members of the Director's Committee." In very good to fine condition, with light staining, and splitting along folds. Accompanied by a typescript of the League's response.
This fascinating letter goes into great detail concerning 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 does his best to diplomatically adjudicate the issues within the Communist League and make recommendations for the betterment of the movement.
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