Trotsky léon

1936 · 78255 — Paris: Grasset 1936. Fine. Grasset Paris 1936 11.50 x 18.50 cm relié First edition of the French translation by Victor Serge one of 26 numbered copies on deluxe paper the only large-paper issue. Half red morocco binding spine with five raised bands grey paper endpapers and boards original wrappers and spine preserved top edge gilt signed binding by Goy & Vilaine. Born in Belgium to anti-tsarist émigré parents Victor Serge became politically engaged from the age of fifteen militating within the ranks of the Young Socialist Guard. An antimilitarist and libertarian he took part in numerous anarchist demonstrations and was sentenced for having sheltered members of the Bonnot Gang. In 1919 he placed himself at the service of the revolution and became a member of the Russian Communist Party before strongly condemning the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet state. Expelled from the Party and stripped of his Soviet nationality he was ultimately banished from the U.S.S.R. in 1936 a few months before the first Moscow Trial. Close to Leon Trotsky he translated several of his works before distancing himself from him judging his ideology to be overly sectarian. A rare and very fine copy of this essay written by Trotsky during his exile in Norway which would not be published in the U.S.S.R. until 1991. Grasset hardcover