Starting in August 2018, the addition of Trotskyist material to the existing Archive collection was quite an undertaking. It was found that three separate donations made by two individuals had yet to be added to the existing collection; where one of the uncatalogued donations was received back in the 1970’s! Over 1000 individual documents later, taking two and a half months to complete, and adding another 13 boxes to the existing collection, it is hoped that the newly expanded collection will generate more research visits for a previously underused archive.
Nuffield College Library – the tower is the home to the lending collection as well as housing the Archive on the 9th floor! Image copyright – Nuffield College Library
Who was Trotsky and what is Trotskyism?
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a Russian politician and one of the founders of the Soviet Union who developed a new branch of Marxist theory known as Trotskyism. He became an enemy of Stalin after they disagreed on socialist principles, leading to Trotsky splitting from Stalin and his party. Stalin had him assassinated in 1940.
Trotskyism, in very simple terms, is the idea that worldwide revolution by the working classes is key to creating socialist societies on a global scale. Where Stalin’s and Trotsky’s ideology differed was that Stalin believed that singular state socialism in the Soviet Union was more achievable than Trotsky’s worldwide socialism. The ideas of Trotskyism can be seen as the opposition of Stalinism.
A brief explanation of Trotskyism can be found on Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Origins of the Trotskyist collection
Originally the collection was purchased from Dr Brenda Grant in 1964. It contained 18 boxes of material and a miscellaneous collection of European, non-European and British newspapers.
Original Trotskyist collection. Images copyright – Nuffield College Library
The collection of material dated mainly from 1937 to 1954 and consisted of internal bulletins, leaflets, conference papers and a little correspondence. The main parties covered in the material were the Socialist Workers’ Party (USA), Socialist Workers’ Group, Revolutionary Workers’ League: USA and the Revolutionary Communist Party. There was also material from various publications, including the ‘Socialist review’ and ‘Workers’ international news’.
The collection was ‘typed up’ and boxed in brown archival boxes soon after it was deposited and remained that way for over 40 years. Researchers would enquire by letter to the Librarian about the collection of Trotskyist material they had heard Nuffield College held, and the Librarian would write back detailing the collection briefly. This process could take up to a couple of months, from the first enquiry to visiting the archive. To aid researchers, a digital handlist was created for this collection in 2011, making it more widely accessible to potential researchers and students.
Front cover of the digital handlist of the Trotskyist collection at Nuffield College Library. Image copyright – Nuffield College Library
Further developments
Between 1976 and 2014, Nuffield College Library received multiple donations by Roger Rosewell. His addition was a collection of material dating mainly from 1967 to 1979 and consisted of a large amount of correspondence, promotional campaign material, internal bulletins, conference and committee papers, minutes and faction papers. The main party covered in the material was the International Socialists, with supplementary material from the opposition and internal factions. The collection also included a comprehensive run of the journal ‘International socialisism’ dating from 1960 to 1977.
Furthermore, in 1988, Nuffield College Library aquired a donation by Di Parkin. Her addition was a collection of material dating mainly from 1973 to 1981 and consisted of internal bulletins, conference papers, a little correspondence, committee minutes and socialist campaigns. The main parties covered in the material were the Workers Socialist League including the Leninist Faction and the Spartacist League. Also of interest was a small collection of material by the Workers Socialist League on women and families from 1975 to 1979.
It is these collections of materials which have been added to the original collection and is now freely available to researchers. These collections remained in their original delivery boxes until August 2018, when the Library finally got round to starting the task of adding them to the digital handlist and redepositing them into grey archival storage boxes.
This is the finished result!
All 31 boxes of the Trotskyist collection. Images copyright – Nuffield College Library
Sources:
Nuffield College Archive – Trotskyist Collection
BBC News – What is a Trotskyist?
Encyclopaedia Britannica – Trotskyism
Wikipedia(!) – Trotskyism
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