TROTSKY LEON: (1879-1940) Russian Marxist Revolutionary and Theorist, the founding leader of the Red Army.

T.L.S., Leon Trotsky, one page, 4to, Coyoacan, Mexico, 14th January 1939, to Gerard Rosenthal, in French. Trotsky announces 'Jeanne Molinier sent on the 25th December a letter in which she accuses Cannon to have "shamefully deceived" her in an unworthy way in the case of the Leon's letter affair, letters which she forwarded through her intermediary' and continues 'She expresses suspicions against Naville who was seen in Le Havre when the boat left'. Trotsky remarks 'All this is a premeditated madness. Cannon is our most devoted friend. It is to him that I gave full power of attorney regarding all the things in Paris that are mine and Natalia's….I cannot tolerate any control from Jeanne Molinier over things that do not concern her. I refuse to grant the least trust in her, most of all since she has tried to hand over my documents to Vereecken, Leon's enemy and slanderer, and she has publicly slandered Rudolf Klement, the friend and collaborator of Leon. I cannot permit the person who is capable of such betrayals to touch the documents that are mine. I can even less entrust this person with the education of my grandson and Leon's nephew', further adding 'I grant by this letter full power of authorisation to my friend Jim Cannon to take Sieva to America. I cannot accept any further delay in this matter. I kindly ask you, my friend, to act with extreme vigour. I want to finish as soon as possible with this black mail, behind which I can perfectly identify Raymond Molinier'. Trotsky further explains that he is sending his correspondent copies of the letters (no longer present) from Henri Molinier and Jeanne Molinier, 'which prove that they had no doubt at all about the fact that the documents belonged to me. I will send to you, for the court case, the photocopies of Leon's letters in which he expresses his opinion on the Molinier clique and on Vereecken, whose memory Jeanne Molinier tried to betray. We must finish with this….The most disgusting thing is that all these betrayals are happening under the guise of loyalty to Leon's 'will''. A rare letter of good content and references to many of Trotsky's associates (and some of his enemies). A couple of very minor staple rust stains to the upper left corner, not affecting the text or signature, otherwise VGGerard Rosenthal (1903-1992) French Lawyer, a militant Trotskyist and friend of the Russian Marxist Revolutionary.James P. Cannon (1890-1974) American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.Leon Sedov (1906-1938) Russian Trotskyist, son of Leon Trotsky and Natalia Ivanovna Sedova.Jeanne Martin de Pallieres - also known as Jeanne Molinier, wife of the French Trotskyist Leader Raymond Molinier (1904-1994) whom Trotsky was to break with.Pierre Naville (1903-1993) French Surrealist Writer. Initially a Communist, and then a Trotskyist, before joining France's Unified Socialist Party (PSU).Natalia Ivanovna Sedova (1882-1962) Russian Revolutionary and cultural writer on Marxism, the second wife of Leon Trotsky.Georges Vereeken (1896-1978) Belgian Socialist who broke with the Trotskyist movement on a couple of occasions during his career.Rudolf Klement (1908-1938) German Communist who became disillusioned with the rule of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and became active in the Left Opposition. In 1933 he offered to work for Trotsky and was employed as his secretary whilst in exile in Turkey. Assassinated.Leon Trotsky had two sons by his second wife, Natalia, Leon Sedov and Sergei. When Leon Sedov died (possibly having been killed by Stalin's agents) in 1938 only Zinaida Volkova's (Trotsky's eldest daughter by his first wife) son Sieva was alive and at liberty. After Sedov's death Sieva was in the custody of Sedov's companion and mistress, Jeanne Martin de Pallieres (or Molinier). Trotsky had hoped to have Molinier bring his grandson to him in Mexico, but she was reluctant to do so. The present letter, written to Trotsky's lawyer and friend, relates to the court case he brought against Molinier in an attempt to remedy the situation with his grandson and resolve the fact that Molinier was holding Trotsky's archives 'hostage'. Trotsky eventually won the case and in August 1939 Sieva was reunited with Trotsky in Mexico.Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks shortly before the 1917 October Revolution and eventually became a leader within the Communist Party alongside Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and others and was one of the seven members of the first Politburo. During the early days of the Soviet Union Trotsky served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army. He was a major figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918-23). After leading a failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s, Trotsky was removed from power, expelled from the Communist Party and finally exiled from the Soviet Union. As the head of the Fourth International, Trotsky continued to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union from exile. On Stalin's orders, he was assassinated in Mexico in August 1940. Trotsky's ideas formed the basis of Trotskyism, a major school of Marxist thought that opposes the theories of Stalinism.