Collection ID: LMC 2022
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Eastman, Max, 1883-1969 and Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940
Abstract:
The Trotskii mss., 1900-1957, consist principally of the correspondence of Lev Trotskii, 1879-1940, Russian communist leader, and Max Eastman, 1883-1969, author, during the period when Eastman was preparing his book about Trotskii in 1922 and 1923 and later when he served unofficially as Trotskii's literary agent from 1929 to 1933.
Extent:
3 Boxes (3 standard)
Language:
Russian .
Preferred citation:

[Item], Trotskii mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Leon Trotskii), 1879-1940, was a Russian revolutionary leader. With Lenin, he helped organize the October Revolution and build up the Red Army, which would defeat the White Russian forces during the 1917 Russian Civil War. After Lenin's death in 1924, Trotskii's divisive views on socialism and increasing alienation from Stalin caused him to be expelled from the Party in 1927, exiled in 1929, and assassinated in Mexico in 1940.

Max Eastman was an American writer and, at this point, a socialist activist. He toured the Soviet Union from 1922-1923, observing the aftermath of the Revolution and the power struggle between Trotskii and Stalin. Upon returning to the West, Eastman published a biography of Trotskii, Leon Trotsky: The Portrait of a Youth (1925), and works critical of Stalin, including Since Lenin Died (1925). Eastman also published "Lenin's Testament," a 1923 letter in which Lenin called for Stalin's removal, in the New York Times in 1926. Eastman later served unofficially as Trotskii's literary agent from 1929 to 1933. He also translated several of Trotskii's works into English, including his History of the Russian Revolution.

Scope and Content:

Some of Trotskii's letters are addressed to Eliena Vassilyenva Krylenko who became Eastman's wife; some of Eastman's letters are addressed to Leon Sedoff, the name Trotskii assumed (that of his son) during the period of his exile in Turkey.

The correspondents are Albert Boni, Max Eastman, Harcourt, Brace and Co., Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaia, Maxim Lieber, Maurice Paz, Roger William Riis, Alfred Rosmer, The Saturday Evening Post, Max Shachtman, Boris Souvarine, Lev Trotskii, Joseph Usick Vanzler, Sara Weber.

Other materials include Eastman's notes surviving from his first talks with Trotskii in 1922 and 1923, notes of a conversation with Mrs. Natalie Ivanova (Sedova) Trotskii after the attack on Lev Trotskii in Moscow, two impressions after living three days in Trotskii's home in 1932, Eastman's translation of The Revolution Betrayed by Trotskii, an interview with Trotskii about economic difficulties in the Soviet Union in 1932, and efforts by Eastman to secure permission for Trotskii to visit the United States in 1933. Works by Trotskii include A Weakening of Stalin or a Weakening of the Soviet and later in 1937 from Mexico New Moscow Amalgan: Three Trials.

Following the death of Trotskii in 1940 are letters by Eastman and Alfred Rosmer offering personal judgement of the man. A note by Eastman in September 1957 relates his explanation of the loss and recovering of his translation of the Trotskii life of Lenin.

Printed materials related to Trotskii's death, his wife, his writings, and reviews of Eastman's translations and book about Trotskii complete the collection.

Acquisition information:
Purchase: 1971
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series: Correspondence, Writings, and Printed.

Physical location:
Lilly - Stacks

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

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TERMS OF ACCESS:

Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], Trotskii mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1200 East Seventh Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
(812) 855-2452
liblilly@indiana.edu