Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MS Russ 13

Leon Trotsky Soviet papers

Overview

Papers of Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader Leon Trotsky including correspondence from his years in the Soviet Union and writings.

Dates

  • Creation: 1904-1959
  • Creation: 1904-1959

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in Russian, German, English, French, Spanish, Polish, and Czech.



Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

28.5 linear feet (94 boxes)
28.5 linear feet (94 boxes)

Soviet Union correspondence, 1917-1929, consists of original letters and some copies and transcripts written by Trotsky and other Soviet officials, with copies of telegrams exchanged between Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin from 1917 to 1921. Writings of Trotsky from the Soviet period include manuscripts, typed excerpts and clippings, pronouncements, and unpublished statements, in addition to documents written during the Left Opposition's fight against Joseph Stalin from 1923 to 1927.

Biographical / Historical

Trotsky was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Soviet correspondence
  2. II. Works
  3. III. Ephemera

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased with funds given by John W. Blodgett, Jr., and Katherine Winter; received: 1946.

Separated Materials

For the Exile papers of Leon Trotsky, see MS Russ 13.1.

For Trotsky's papers collected by his secretary John Van Heijenoort, see MS Russ 13.2.

For Trotsky's Stalin, published in English translation by Harper & Brothers, see MS Russ 13.3.

For the John Dewey Commission of Inquiry, see MS Russ 13.4.

USAGE & SYMBOLS

  1. Data added by Trotsky, his staff, or in certain cases by the Dewey Commission staff, is enclosed in square brackets [ ].
  2. Data added by the compilers of this list is enclosed in curves ( ). Doubtful information is followed by a query, ?, and in combination with curves indicates a guess by the compilers.
  3. Parentheses occurring in the original document are here indicated by slants / /.
  4. An asterisk, *, following an item-number indicates that the document bears some form of annotation by Trotsky.
  5. Double quotes, " ", enclose words reproduced in Russian.
  6. Single quotes, ' ', enclose headings or titles in other languages.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The following abbreviations are employed:

  1. s following a numeral: the number of separate sheets of paper in the document.
  2. and 1 following the number of sheets, indicates the presence of an additional sheet containing an annotation by Trotsky.
  3. and 1/ 2 following the number of sheets, indicates the presence of a small typed sheet with some documents of the Soviet period, recording the absence of certain material cited in the document.
  4. p following a numeral: the number of pages containing writing. Separate papers attached to one sheet or otherwise joined together are counted separately.
  5. i item: a document, or part of a document, with separate date, author, or recipient. Sub-units of a document are differentiated by a, b, c, etc. following the document number.
  6. A autograph: the document is in the handwriting of its author.
  7. Ms manuscript: the document is handwritten by someone other than its author.
  8. T: typed.
  9. Mi: mimeographed.
  10. P: printed.
  11. S signature: the document includes the author's signature.
  12. nd: no date.
  13. np: no place.
  14. date derived from postmark, or date of publication; given only when actual date of writing is not determined.
  15. Roman numerals are used to indicate a continuation of one document under several numbers, where as one unit it would be too bulky for cataloguing. They are also used in the Dewey Commission section as the sub-unit of exhibit numbers.

TERMS FREQUENTLY USED

  1. BOOK. This term includes pamphlets, unbound or in wrappers.
  2. CLASSIFICATION. Notations indicated by the author of the document; usually Secret, Top Secret, Confidential, Not for Publication.
  3. CLIPPING. Part of a printed periodical.
  4. CPSU. Communist Party of the Soviet Union: employed in catalogue and index for all Russian-language designations.
  5. CROSS-REFERENCES are employed (1) whenever a document contains items with different dates; (2) when an enclosure is listed separately from the document transmitting it; (3) for earlier and later versions of a single document; (4) when a document's dates cover more than one month or year. Cross-references appear after all substantive document listings for the same date.
  6. DATES. (1) Approximate dates established for undated documents are defined and located as follows: (a) year only - located at the beginning of the listings for that year. (b) seasonal listings: winter, before Jan. 1; spring, before Mar. 1; summer, before Jun. 1; fall, before Sep. 1.(c) parts of month: 1-10, listed before first of month; 11-20, before eleventh; 21-end, before twenty-first. (2) If a document is dated by year only, and covers more than one year, it is listed under the earliest year with cross-references under the others. (3) If a document contains more than one specific date, it is listed under the earliest date with cross-references under the others.
  7. DUPLICATES. Wherever possible, documents duplicated elsewhere in the collection are so noted. Readers are warned that not all duplicates may have been identified as such by the compilers.
  8. EXCERPT. A document or part of a document identified in the document as part of a previously made statement.
  9. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL. The term is applied to Trotsky's political activities and also to two kinds of political organizations: those affiliated with Trotsky, and others close to him during the entire exile period. When a document relates to an individual rather than an organization, the term "Trotskyist" is used.
  10. FRAGMENT. A document that appears to be incomplete.
  11. INCL. "Including"; when part of a document consists of material (or language) indicated.
  12. IN PERSON. This term means that the document was delivered to its recipient by the author or his agent ("via").
  13. INTERVIEWS. Interviews with Trotsky are included under WORKS if more than half of the text is explicitly described as being Trotsky's own words, or if it is in the same document with other material customarily separately listed. Other such interviews, including some known or believed to lack authenticity or veracity, are listed under EPHEMERA.
  14. LANGUAGE. In all cases the language is assumed to be Russian unless otherwise indicated.
  15. NAMES. When documents contain both position and name of individual, the list shows solely the name (e.g., Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars only under Lenin et al.); when both a list of names and the title of a body appear, only the latter is listed (e.g., Politbureau). First names, initials, and patronymics are not included in the list unless necessary to differentiate persons of the same name. Only the generally used last name of an individual is used, if known. Pseudonyms, etc., are not usually included.
  16. PERIODICAL. Includes both newspapers and magazines.
  17. PLACES. The location in which a document originated, if not formally identified by the document itself, is not added unless it is necessary to differentiate the place of origin of different parts of the document. For the Exile Period, all names are listed in their official native form, following Trotsky's usual (not consistent) practice. Whenever a specific location in Turkey could be established or surmised, it is listed instead of "Constantinople," which Trotsky frequently employed.
  18. TELEGRAM. Only documents on regular telegraph forms which had been transmitted are so listed. Drafts and copies of telegrams are not listed as such.
  19. TRANSLATIONS. Non-Russian mss. of Trotsky's works are listed individually in the catalogue by date, when possible, and are noted as translations of other documents.
  20. TROTSKYIST. The term is most often applied to pro-Trotsky members of the CPSU and the Young Communist League (Komsomol) who came to designate themselves as "Bolsheviks-Leninists" and most of whom were in 1928 banished within the USSR. See also FOURTH INTERNATIONAL.
  21. VERSION. The term is applied to documents that seem to be related to other documents in a specific order of revision or development. In doubtful cases a query follows the indication.
  22. VIA. The term indicates that the person or persons so noted were responsible for delivering or relaying the document to the recipient for the author.
Title
Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940. Leon Trotsky Soviet papers: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00302

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440