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Lot #296
Leon Trotsky

1937 letter concerning the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky

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Estimate: $1500+
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Description

1937 letter concerning the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky

TLS, one page, 8 x 4.5, March 15, 1937. Letter to "Comrade Schachtman," in full: "I am sending you a copy of my letter to LaFollette. I must say to you that the seriousness and energy of our comrades in this matter in the next days is for me the condition sine qua non for our further collaboration." In very good to fine condition, with trimmed edges and somewhat irregular overall toning.

Trotsky writes concerning a letter sent to Suzanne La Follette, an American journalist who served as secretary of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky. In March 1937, the committee initiated the so-called 'Dewey Commission' (officially the 'Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials'), a pseudo-judicial process following the first of the Moscow 'Show Trials' held by the Soviet Union in 1936. The hearings introduced evidence that was said to demonstrate Trotsky's innocence. In September 1937 the commission made its findings public, proclaiming that it it had cleared Trotsky of all charges made during the Moscow Trials and, moreover, exposed the scale of the frame-up of all other defendants. An important letter from Trotsky to an American ally.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
  • Dates: #525 - Ended April 11, 2018





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