David Cotterill (editor)

From: the dedication page of ‘The Serge-Trotsky Papers’

This book was originally devised in the late 1970s as part of a collaboration between Peter Sedgwick and Richard Greeman to get as many of Serge’s titles into print as possible. The Serge-Trotsky correspondence thus became part of Peter's contribution to this endeavour. Sadly, however, Peter died during his preparation for the work and the project then lay dormant for several years until revived by the Serge centenary, when I became its editor. Whilst, for obvious reasons, this book is substantially diflerent from any of Peter’s projected versions, it draws extensively on the work Peter did, using his translations of Serge's material whenever possible, especially in the notes to the correspondence, which have been included with very few changes and are a work of great scholarship.

To my great regret I neither met nor corresponded with Peter Sedgwick and therefore turned to his friend Dr David Widgery to write an appreciation of Peter’s contribution to intellectual fife, Serge studies and indeed to this volume. As many readers know, David himself died in late 1992 during the final preparations for this work and before he could complete his appreciation of Peter.

Mada Enzenberger, who translated for Peter the Russian language Serge-Trotsky letters included here, sadly also died before this volume could be published.

The achievements of Peter Sedgwick, David Widgery and Maria Enzenberger in their respective fields and in life need no further comment from me - they are there for all to see. This volume is therefore humbly dedicated to their memory.