Appeal in Support of the
International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum
Dear Friends,
We are writing to ask you to become a founding member of International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum in Coyoacán, Mexico. The committee was launched on Friday, August 20 and we would like to include your name as one of its founding members.
Support has been coming in from all over the world for International Friends. We have been very heartened by the widespread response to our appeal—from political activists of all tendencies and backgrounds, intellectuals, artists, elected officials, trade union leaders and activists, historians—and so many others.
Below are three letters from the United States that will give you a sense of the kind of support we are receiving. We urge you to endorse International Friends as soon as possible.
We also call upon you to make a donation to our fund drive, large or small, to help us with our urgently needed museum conservation/renovation project.
All contributions, which are tax-deductible, should be made out to Global Exchange (with Trotsky Museum listed on the lower-left memo line of your check) and sent to: International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum, P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140
We thank you all in advance for your attention and your support.
Sincerely, Olivia Gall, Director, Leon Trotsky Museum (IDA-CMLTAC)
Letter of support from author of The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
Dear International Friends,
Please find enclosed my check for $1,000 to help preserve the Trotsky Museum in Coyoacán. I feel enormous gratitude to all who have helped maintain the integrity of this museum over the years, because it was an invaluable resource to me during my research and writing of The Lacuna. Efforts like these to preserve political history are powerfully political in themselves, and help us to retain our sense of who we are, and where we have been.
I’m deeply touched that Trotsky’s grandson, Sieva, has read my novel. If you could facilitate this, I would like to send him a signed copy of The Lacuna with my personal dedication, as well as the Spanish translation, which is soon to be published.
However, I’m sorry to say, I won’t be able to attend the launch of the International Campaign on August 20. I wish you the greatest success. I always think of Lev Trotsky at that time of year—and many others.
Yours in solidarity, Barbara Kingsolver, Meadowview, Virginia, August 5, 2010
Letter of support from
Frank Fried, veteran socialist
Dear Comrades,
I enthusiastically join International Friends commemorating and celebrating in Mexico City the life and ideas of Leon Trotsky. Unfortunately, the ravages of age prevent me from joining you in person but, like tens-of-thousands of others throughout the world, I am with you in spirit and in solidarity.
Through the many twists and turns in my life of 83 years, one thing has remained consistent since I became a socialist at the age of 17. I have always said with a sense of pride when asked, and volunteered often even when not asked, that I came from the Trotskyist tradition. Though the forms of struggle changed for many of us over the decades, this truth stayed with me.
And these ideas remain relevant today. Every revolutionary movement that hopes to make an impact on the world cannot escape coming face to face with issues of class independence and socialist democracy except at their great peril.
Preserving the rich history of the struggle for these ideas, which is the basis of my optimistic hope for the future of humankind, is why I support your project and adopt it as my own.
On behalf of myself, you have my gratitude; on behalf of my nine grandchildren, you give them hope.
Frank Fried, Alameda, California, August 10, 2010
Letter of support from
Kirsten Moller, Executive Director, Global Exchange
Dear Olivia,
Thank you so much for inviting us to be at the founding event of the International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum. The ILTF is one of my favorite places to visit in the Distrito Federal.
Please give those gathered a message of solidarity from all of us at Global Exchange.
If we don’t preserve our history we won’t have a chance to learn from it!
With warm greetings,
Kirsten Moller, Executive Director, Global Exchange, San Francisco, California
—Instituto del Derecho de Asilo—Casa Museo Leon Trotsky, A.C. (IDA-CMLTAC), August 17, 2010