Description:

Diego Rivera TLS With 45+-Word Handwritten Inscription Bursting with Political Content, Dating from Just Before Rivera & Trotsky's Falling-out

A 2pp typed letter in English boldly signed by Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) as "Diego Rivera" on the second page. Rivera has also inserted a 45+-word handwritten inscription between the second and third paragraphs of the second page, as, "It is the first chief having give possession of land to the peasants in 1914 - 1914 now he has been the author of the question of railroads, Iaguna land (color) [?] and oil. He has backed me in asking right of asilum [sic] for Trotsky in full strenght [sic]." Written at Palmas y Altavista, Rivera's studio in Mexico City, on April 1, 1939. Light toning, expected paper folds, and minor closed tears found along some of these folds. Extensively annotated in graphite and red pencil on the reverse of the first page, presumably in the hand of Rivera's correspondent, Abraham Plotkin. Else very good to near fine. 8.5" x 11." Provenance: Ex-Noel Goldblatt (ca. 1926-2003) of the famous Goldblatt's Department Store, to a prominent Los Angeles, California collector.

The letter is significant in a variety of ways. First, it is bursting at the seams with political content, mentioning Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, and more than a dozen influential Mexican politicians, revolutionaries, and military commanders of the period. It illustrates the extent of Diego Rivera's political involvement, placed prominently at the forefront instead of the way it was usually conveyed, that is, indirectly through his socially conscious artwork. Second, the timing of the letter is extremely interesting, as it precedes by only days the spectacular falling-out between Rivera and Trotsky, and Trotsky's subsequent moving out of the Rivera-Kahlo home, Casa Azul, in Mexico City.

Rivera wrote this letter to Abraham Plotkin (1892-1988), the General Organizer of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Rivera, in addition to being one of the leading national artists of the Mexican Renaissance (the period referring to the flowering of Mexican art following the Mexican Revolution), was also a zealous on-and-off again Mexican Communist Party member. Plotkin had agitated and advocated for labor since emigrating to the United States around 1901. Thus, Rivera and Plotkin shared similar political views and spoke the same ideological language. Rivera refers to Plotkin as "Comrad" [sic]. As an interesting aside, the "Comrad Dubinsky" in the letter probably referred to David Dubinsky (1892-1982), the longtime president of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

Rivera wrote in part, with original spelling and punctuation:

"We are trying to build here a new workers' and Peasants' revolutionary party, taking advantage of the electoral situation in order to build something solid and permanent and hoping to help with the construction of an independent proletarian movement down here. Our platform is very modest, but clear and firm, fighting stolidly against reformism, against imperialism and against fascism. It stands for an independent proletarian movement freee [sic] of all subvention or intervention of the State. It stands of the full rights of strike, the legality and illegality of the movement not being subject to the labor courts.

In the international field: Against the degeneracy and reformism of the second and third internationals which we consider as having become the tools of capitalism. For the consolidation of a new and strong international association of the workers, the Fourth International. For the world's socialist revolution…"

Rivera had joined the Mexican Communist Party (MCP) in 1922, and helped co-found the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers. He resigned from the MCP in 1925, but was invited to rejoin the party the following year. In 1927, Rivera traveled to the Soviet Union as a MCP delegate. Two years later, Rivera was expelled from the MCP because of his Trotskyite sympathies and because his mistress was implicated in the assassination of a Cuban Communist. Rivera would spend the next 25 years trying to get reinstated in the MCP; he applied and was rejected four separate times before finally being accepted back in 1954, three years before his death.

In the 1930s, then, during Rivera's expulsion from the MCP, he joined the Fourth International, a splinter group established by exiled Soviet ideologue Leon Trotsky. The "second and third internationals" mentioned in Rivera's letter refer to the Communist International (aka Comintern), an organization committed to spreading Communism worldwide. Established in 1919 and disbanded in 1943, Comintern was officially endorsed by Joseph Stalin and the mainstream Soviet Communist Party, and rejected by Trotsky and Rivera.

Rivera mentions Leon Trotsky no fewer than five times in the letter. These references are either neutral or positive, suggesting that the split between Rivera and Trotsky had not yet happened (as also corroborated by the date of April 1, 1939.) Rivera and his wife, fellow artist Frida Kahlo, had offered Trotsky and his family political asylum in January 1937, and the Trotskys lived at the Rivera-Kahlo home, Casa Azul, until April 1939. During the 28 months that Trotsky lived there, he and Kahlo had an affair. This is just one of the reasons offered to explain why Trotsky left Casa Azul (others include political disagreements between Rivera or Trotsky, or hurt feelings over criticism of each other's work.) Trotsky moved to a house on Avenida Viena in Mexico City in early May 1939. He was assassinated there by a Soviet agent in August 1940.

On the second page of the letter, Rivera paints a detailed picture of Mexican politics, mentioning by name sixteen different individuals including then President of Mexico Lázaro Cárdenas (1895-1970). Other important political and military figures referred to by Rivera include:

- General Federico Montes (1884-1950)

- Joaquín Amaro (1889-1952)

- Manuel Pérez Trevino (1890-1945)

- Manuel Avila Camacho (1897-1955), who would serve as President of Mexico between 1940-1946.

- Vincente Lombardo Toledano (1894-1968), the important Mexican labor leader.

- Rafael Sanchez Tapia (1887-1945)

- Francisco Castillo Nájera (1886-1954), Mexican ambassador to the United States.

- Gildardo Magaña (1891-1939)

- Pedro Rodriguez Triana (1890-1960)

- Heriberto Jara Corona (1879-1968)

- Francisco José Mugica (1884-1954)

A bonus comes at the end of the letter, when Rivera mentions another Mexican artist, Mardonio Magaña (ca. 1865-1947), writing, "I shall ask her to take the sculpture of Magaña to the Border…" Magaña was a self-taught folk artist who sculpted, carved, and chiseled in wood, stone, and mud. Rivera had "discovered" Magaña, calling him "the greatest contemporary Mexican sculptor."

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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