A Letter to William F. Warde [1]¶
Core Argument¶
In this brief letter from Coyoacán, dated 16 January 1940, Leon Trotsky addresses William F. Warde, a comrade he identifies as one of the few within the movement seriously engaged with methodological questions. The core argument is a direct appeal for Warde to intervene in ongoing internal party discussions from the standpoint of dialectical materialism, which Trotsky reports is generating acute interest, particularly among the youth. He does not elaborate on the content of the discussions, but the implication is that they lack a rigorous theoretical foundation, and that Warde’s contribution could help orient the party’s intellectual development in a correct Marxist direction.
Trotsky’s key claim is that this rising interest in dialectical materialism is a positive but potentially misdirected force unless properly guided. He proposes the formation of a purely theoretical association, distinct from routine political or organisational work, to promote the doctrines of dialectical materialism within the party. He names Comrades Wright and Gerland as possible co-founders alongside Warde, suggesting Gerland is especially well-versed in the matter. The proposal is cautious: the association would operate under the control of the propaganda department of the National Committee, and Trotsky frames it as a vague suggestion from afar, to be discussed with responsible party institutions. This indicates his awareness of the sensitivity of creating semi-independent theoretical bodies within a disciplined Leninist party structure.
The historical context is the factional turmoil of the American Trotskyist movement in the late 1930s, which had recently seen the expulsion of the Cannon leadership and the formation of the Socialist Workers Party. Theoretical disputes over the nature of the Soviet Union, the class character of Stalinist Russia, and the strategy for the coming war were acute. Trotsky’s letter is a polemical intervention against the danger of empiricism or pragmatism within the party—a tendency to subordinate theory to immediate tactical manoeuvres. By insisting on the primacy of dialectical materialism as a method, he is implicitly arguing against those who would reduce Marxism to a set of economic formulas or a mechanical reflection of events. The letter is also a quiet rebuke to any who might dismiss theoretical work as secondary to organisational consolidation. Trotsky’s tone is collegial but urgent, treating the theoretical association as a necessary bulwark against ideological decay.