Leslie Morris, curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Houghton Library, welcomed people and explained that Harvard University houses Leon Trotsky’s papers. In the late 1930s Trotsky had contacted Harvard about safeguarding his archives, and the university had agreed.

Christie McDonald, chairperson of the Harvard University Romance Language Department, organized the exhibition. In her remarks she explained how her parents, the artist Dorothy Eisner and John McDonald, traveled from New York to Mexico in 1937 to assist the Dewey Commission in its inquiry of the charges made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials organized by the regime of Joseph Stalin.

Pathfinder’s new edition of The Case of Leon Trotsky, the verbatim transcript of the hearings, is enhanced with a new cover using Eisner’s vibrant painting of the Dewey Commission sessions. The new edition, with larger type and text design, is displayed next to the 1937 first edition. The book also includes the artist’s preliminary sketch of the work. Christie McDonald had brought the painting to the attention of Pathfinder.

Mike Taber spoke about the republication of the book by Pathfinder. He said the publisher will soon bring back into print the book’s sister volume, Not Guilty. The latter outlines the Dewey Commission findings that Trotsky was not guilty of the charges against him and that the Moscow Trials were a frame-up.

“The commission’s work, and the campaign by the workers’ movement to widely publicize its conclusions at the time, exposed the Moscow Trials before world opinion. This was a historic achievement,” Taber said.

The reissuing of this book, and the perspective Trotsky defends in it—the continuation of the revolutionary course of the Bolsheviks under Lenin’s leadership, and against the Stalinist political counterrevolution—offers invaluable political lessons for workers and farmers engaged in class battles today, he said.

The exhibition includes a portrait of Trotsky by Eisner; her sketches, pictures, and correspondence with Trotsky from the trip; and Christie McDonald’s article, “Brushes with History,” which is published this year in issue 30 of Harvard Review. It recounts her parent’s experiences that led them to Mexico in the 1930s.

About 50 people attended the event, including students and faculty from Harvard, volunteers who had worked on preparing the new Pathfinder edition, and others from the Boston area.

The exhibit is open until July 31.

Dave Prince contributed to this article.  
 
 
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