Letter to David Riazanov, May, 1928

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Letter to Ryazanov

Dear David Borisovich:

First allow me to give an account of the state, which is still quite modest, of my work for the Institute. From Herr Vogt I have translated roughly three Russian printer's sheets. They still need revision, particularly the places where there are quotations in many languages. They tell me that you are not insisting upon this translation. In any case, it would be a pity if the part already translated went unused. I intend to revise it, therefore, and depending upon your answer, to send it to you. I am not refusing, however, to do a complete translation of the whole book, only please do not insist upon an exact date.

As far as Hodgkin goes, in another month and a half I will finish it. He has quotations from Ricardo, McCulloch, and Mill. The translation of them does not present any problems, but as I

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Letter to Ryazanov 73

understand it, you are publishing or already have published Ricardo. Perhaps in the interests of maintaining a scholarly consistency for the publishing house, the wording of the quotations should follow the text of your edition. For this I would need to receive Ricardo.

Today I received volume one of the works of Marx and Engels. The edition creates, from only a surface glance so far, a genuinely magnificent impression. Today I will begin an attentive reading of the book. As I understand it, my task comes down to a purely literary polishing of the text, that is, to the replacing of unsuitable expressions with more suitable ones. Do I understand it correctly? Concerning those places where the very sense seems doubtful to me, not having the original at my disposal, I can only draw the attention of the editorial staff to them.

Those are all the questions I have connected with the work carried out for the Institute.

My son told me that you expressed interest in the question of my accounts and general relations with Gosizdat. On this account the matter stands as follows. Upon the initiative of Gosizdat, and after great insistence by Meshcheryakov and others, I agreed to the publication of a collection of my works. My secretariat was included in the agreement with Gosizdat on my behalf. According to the agreement Gosizdat was obliged to pay, under normal conditions, for the work of editors, authors of notes, typists, and others. Concerning myself, I refused any fee in order to try to keep down the price of the edition. This was stipulated in the agreement as a special point.

Gosizdat discontinued publication for political reasons, and not business ones. Long before the publication was discontinued, every measure was taken to ensure that subscription to the publication would be made quite difficult. Retail sales, it seems, were dropped entirely, etc., etc. In ceasing publication Gosizdat gave as its formal reason the fact that in the agreement, the overall size of the edition was to be 500 printer's sheets, while the edition had actually exceeded these limits. It is possible. But when the agreement was written, these 500 printer's sheets were in no sense limiting. It was simply necessary to project on paper an approximate number of volumes and the general cost of the edition. Work on the publication was constantly conducted in dependence upon the available material, and not on the approximate number of printer's sheets mentioned above. The best proof of this is that the most important volumes, to which both the editors of my works and the editorial board of Gosizdat attached

74 Challenge of the Left Opposition (1928-29)

more serious significance, remained unpublished to the end. More careful and detailed work was carried out on them. For example, the Comintern volume, in which it was necessary to place the numerous documents of the Comintern written by myself. The publication was suppressed under the false pretext cited above. Several volumes, which are totally prepared and supplied with notes, lie in my archive. Workers remained either unpaid or half paid. I am not able to give you an exact account, since Comrade Poznansky was in charge of this work. I recall that he said to me that representatives of Gosizdat privately cited their contradictory position. He said that the publication might bring Gosizdat a large profit, but that Gosizdat was compelled to follow a policy that would produce a deficit. However, a deficit is not financially advantageous to Gosizdat, etc., etc. However that may be, the role of Gosizdat in this matter, in regard both to myself and to my collaborators, has been, to say the least, unsavory.

In conclusion, allow me to thank you very, very much for the books sent by the Institute, and to express a modest hope for the continuation of this in the future. I am presenting the list of books received separately. The books arrived all right by registered book rate, although the first volume of Marx and Engels was somewhat battered on the way.

With best Marxist and Communist greetings,

L. Trotsky

P.S. Where would you like me to make my editorial comments on the Marx and Engels texts: in the margins of the book itself, or on a separate sheet with an indication of the page number? If you prefer the first way, then another copy of the works will be necessary, otherwise I will not have one of my own.