Papers on Trotskyism, 1937-1931

This is a collection of material dating from the 1930s to the early 1980s and consists of internal bulletins, conference and committee papers, campaign material and correspondence. The main parties covered in the material are the Socialist Workers' Party (USA), Socialist Workers' Group, Revolutionary Workers' League: USA, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the International Socialists and Workers Socialist League. There is also material from various publications, including the 'Socialist review', 'Workers' international news' and the journal 'International socialism'. At the end of the collection is a miscellaneous collection of European, non-European and British newspapers from the same time period.

The Trotskyist movement was formed by Marxist Leon Trotsky, and is a political ideology that advocates 'permanent revolution'. Nowadays it is a generic term used for extreme revolutionary political ideology whereby there is an opposition to communist political principles. (Source: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Trotskyism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Nov. 2015, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trotskyism.)

By sections as follows: Socialist Workers' Party USA; Socialist Workers' Group; Revolutionary Workers' League: USA; Revolutionary Communist Party; Socialist review & Rally; Miscellaneous material; Workers' international news; New International & Fourth International; International Socialists; International Socialism; Workers Socialist League, WSL Leninist Faction, Spartacist League & United Secretariat of the Fourth International; Socialist Campaigns in Oxford; European & British Newspapers.

By prior appointment only. Application in writing (letter or email) to the Assistant Librarian (Archives). See Nuffield College Archives location page for more details.

The handlist for the Trotskyist collection can be found [online] Link: https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/library/special-collection-and-archives/archive/

The Trotskyist collection came to the Library in three parts; boxes I-XIII were bought from Dr Brenda Grant in 1964, boxes XIV-XX were donated by Roger Rosewell between 1976 and 2014 and boxes XXI-XXIII were donated by Di Parkin in 1988.