Russian Communist leader who, with Lenin, organized the Bolshevik seizure of power during the October Revolution of 1917. In 1929, after Lenin’s death, Stalin defeated Trotsky for control of the Communist party and banished him from Russia. Trotsky spent most of the remainder of his life in Mexico, where he was assassinated in 1940. Signed book: The Revolution Betrayed. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1937. Hardcover with dustjacket, 6 x 8.25, 308 pages. Signed and inscribed in fountain pen on the front free end page, “To Mr. John Finerty with best regards, Leon Trotsky, 13 Apr. 1937, Coyoacan [Mexico].” Finerty was the lawyer for Alexander Orlov, the KGB official who defected to the United States during the Spanish Civil War. Through his powerful connections, Orlov became aware of a possible KGB plot to assassinate Trotsky, who was then living in Mexico. Orlov attempted to telephone Trotsky to warn him of the plan, but, prevented by Trotsky’s secretary, was unable to pass on the information. Trotsky was finally assassinated with an ice axe by a Stalinist agent on August 20, 1940. Accompanied by several pages of published information related to Finerty and Orlov. In fine condition, with mild toning to interior, and light toning, rubbing, and edge wear with a few chips to jacket, and scattered staining to back panel. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
