Document

Handwritten Letter from Voronsky to Ordzhonikidze, 3 March 1927, First Page

Description: Handwritten letter from Voronsky to Sergo Ordzhonikidze, 3 March 1927. Voronsky raises several issues concerning the fifth anniversary celebration of the journal which he edited, "Krasnaia nov'" [Red Virgin Soil].

English translation of the letter: pdf || Second page of the letter.

Comment: Voronsky clearly feels that the Red Virgin Soil anniversary gathering was being described in some party circles as a meeting of the Left Opposition. It is certainly true that some leading oppositionists attended the gathering, including Karl Radek and Khristian Rakovsky. In addition, a telegram was read aloud from Trotsky. Polonsky, who was at least sympathetic to the opposition, chaired the event. The only obvious speaker from the Stalin-Bukharin wing of the party was Yaroslavsky; Bukharin, coeditor with Voronsky of the journal "Prozhektor," did not attend.

From the initials at the top of the letter, it is probable that this copy of the letter to Ordzhonikidze was sent to and read by Trotsky [in his archives, there are many documents which he initialed in this way to indicate that he had read them]. How it later ended up in the Central Party Archives is unclear, but hardly surprising. Many of Trotsky's letters were intercepted or later seized by the OGPU, Stalin's secret police.