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159 TROTSKY, Leon. The Revolution Betrayed; [together with:] The Case of Leon Trotsky. Report of hearings on the charges made against him in the Moscow Trials; [and:] Not Guilty. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the charges made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials. New York & London: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. & Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1937 & 1938 INSCRIBED BY TROTSKY TO A DEWEY COMMISSION MEMBER First US edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed from Trotsky to Benjamin Stolberg on the front free endpaper, “devotedly yours, Leon Trotsky, 21/11 1937, Coyoacan”. The American journalist and labour activist Benjamin Stolberg (1891–1951) was a member of the Dewey Commission and had strong association links to Trotsky. The Revolution Betrayed is Trotsky’s major critique of Stalinism, and marked the end of the American intelligentsia’s romance with Russian communism. It was completed in the spring of 1936 and sent to the publisher just before the first of the three Moscow show trials took place in August of the same year. To reference this, Trotsky appended a postscript to the introduction in which he referenced the recent “terrorist conspiracy trial”. After being sentenced to death in absentia for conspiracy to assassinate Stalin, Trotsky moved from Norway to the Coyoácan area of Mexico City in January 1937. A few months later an independent “Commission of Inquiry” into the charges made against him and others at the Moscow Trials was held in Coyoacán, with the American philosopher John Dewey as chairman. The Revolution Betrayed is accompanied by two Dewey Commission reports from Stolberg’s personal library, both dated and inscribed by Stolberg. The first, The Case of Leon Trotsky , was published in 1937 and is a transcript of the Commission’s 13-session deposition of Trotsky; it is inscribed, “do not remove! Benjamin Stolberg. New York – Sept 16, 1937”. The second, Not Guilty , was published in 1938 and is a summary of the Commission’s conclusions;
it is inscribed, “Please do not remove this copy. Benjamin Stolberg. June 29. 1938”. Two photographs, one of which is inscribed “Coyoacan April 1937” by Stolberg and shows Trotsky and two unidentified Commission members, are also included. A cohesive set of materials with significant and rare association history which fully illustrates Trotsky’s connections with the Dewey Commission and with Benjamin Stolberg in particular. 3 works, octavo. TRB : original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt and black on a red ground, top edge red, others uncut. Works 2 and 3: original black cloth, red paper labels printed in black, fore edges uncut. All with dust jackets and accompanied by 2 original black and white photographs. Housed in a black leather entry slipcase by the Chelsea Bindery. TRB : bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown; spine ends slightly bumped, spine a little rubbed, front inner hinge gently cracked but firm, some nicks and chips to dust jacket extremities and spine faded, an excellent copy. Works 2 and 3: front free endpapers inscribed by Stolberg, review stamp to front free endpaper of work 2, front endpapers browned, extremities of dust jackets a little rubbed and chipped, excellent copies. £15,000 [118029]
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Peter Harrington
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