The Prometheus Research Library is a working research facility for a wide range of Marxist studies and also the central reference archives of the Spartacist League of the U.S., section of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist). Library holdings include substantial materials on the organizations inspired and led by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky, as well as works on related topics, sometimes remote.

The purpose of the PRL is to collect, preserve, and make available the historical record of the international workers movement and to assist Marxist scholarship. It is both a strength and weakness of the library that its documentary collection centers on the early American Communist and later Trotskyist movement. We seek to acquire documents from all sides of the internal debates so as to facilitate the study of the development of party struggles with objectivity, consistent with the tradition of our forebears. Citing Lenin, the masthead of the first issue of the American Trotskyist Militant proclaimed in 1928: “He who takes somebody’s word for it is a hopeless idiot.”

The Library’s collection, which does not circulate, grew out of the accumulated and organized holdings of James Robertson, both correspondence and printed materials. The collection now includes over 7,000 books, pamphlets, and periodical volumes, 270 reels of microfilmed documents and periodicals, and over 200 linear feet of archival documents and bulletins. Particular emphasis is on minutes of leading committees and internal discussion material. Approximately three-quarters of the holdings are in English. There are significant materials in Russian: over 300 titles covering much of the record of the Bolshevik Party in the form of stenographic records of Congresses and Conferences, public leaflets, internal party documents, early Cheka reports, memoirs, as well as publications and exile correspondence of the Left Opposition. Holdings in German, French, Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Greek, and other languages are also significant. Books and pamphlets are catalogued in a card file and research is facilitated by an extensively cross-referenced digital catalogue available on this website.

The Library also contains the published works of many non-Marxist authors who strike our interest. Since 1979, the PRL has circulated lists of recent acquisitions to interested libraries and individuals. These circulars are available upon request.

Key Archival Holdings

 

• Major published documents of the First through Fourth Inter­na­tionals.
• Protocols of Executive Committee meetings and World Con­gresses of the Communist International. Principal peri­od­i­cals, pamphlets, and leading body minutes of the early American Communist Party.
• Central body minutes, internal bulletins, and internal cor­re­spond­ence of the American Trotskyist movement, plus its public press, pamphlets, and theoretical organs. Materials cover the initial Trotskyist expulsion in 1928, the founding of the Communist League of America and the later Workers Party, the period of entry into the Socialist Party, and the Socialist Workers Party.
• Substantial collection of works by James P. Cannon, founding American Communist and Trotskyist leader, including writings and speeches from the 1920s and early 1930s.
• Extensive internal materials from the Workers Party/ Independent Socialist League (led by Max Shachtman) and its youth affiliates from the 1940s and 1950s.
• Minutes, documents, and bulletins of the International Sec­re­tar­iat of the Fourth International (mostly in French and English).
• Books on general subjects ranging from the history and struggle of colonial masses to various idiosyncratic interests of Marxists and others.

Collaborative Work

The Prometheus Research Library has evolved over 40 years and works under the auspices of the Central Committee of the Spartacist League/U.S. The PRL is a member of the American Library Association and has staff and individual associates in the United States and internationally. The PRL seeks to assist serious efforts to publish histories of Trotskyist sections around the world, both by providing documentation and where appropriate financial support, without regard for our particular agreement with the views of the authors. The Library strongly supports and participates in efforts to make available and exchange historical material with individuals and libraries of kindred purpose around the world. The PRL has collaborated with Bryan Palmer on his biography of James P. Cannon and history of the work of the American Trotskyists in the Minneapolis Teamsters strikes. The PRL also collaborated with Louis Sinclair, the noted bibliographer of Leon Trotsky’s work. George Breitman, editor of Trotsky’s Writings, advised the PRL in the early stages of the production of our first book, James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American Communism. The PRL deposits archives of the Spartacist League/ U.S., Spartacus Youth League, and ICL in the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University and the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.

To Collect And Preserve...

The Prometheus Research Library seeks to collect, preserve, and make available the documentary record of the international communist movement. The PRL’s publishing program makes available rare materials that are an indispensable part of the documentary history of the Trotskyist movement. We are very interested in obtaining originals, photocopies, or digital copies of relevant minutes, bulletins, or correspondence to ensure that such historically valuable documents are not lost. Persons who have such archival papers are encouraged to contact the PRL. The PRL shares relevant portions of its holdings with other archives and libraries to make the archives of the workers movement more complete and accessible.

PRL Books and Bulletins

Dog Days: James P. Cannon vs. Max Shachtman in the Communist League of America, 1931-1933
Documents and letters about an intense factional struggle which rent the American Trotskyist organization in the early 1930s. 118 documents including letters by Trotsky on international issues, some published here for the first time. 752 pages; smyth-sewn binding. (2002)

James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American
Communism: Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-1928
This volume of Cannon’s writings covers the period when he was one of the principal leaders of the American section of the Communist International. 624 pages; smyth-sewn binding. (1992) Both volumes include an extensive introduction, explanatory notes, photograph section, glossary, and index.

The Communist International After Lenin
First Russian-language edition. By Leon Trotsky. Includes Trotsky’s Critique of the 1928 draft program of the Communist International. 309 pages. Introduction by PRL. (1993)

Prometheus Research Series

No. 1: Guidelines on the Organizational Structure of Communist Parties, on the Methods and Content of Their Work
Complete and accurate English translation of the 1921 Comintern Resolution from the final German text. (August 1988)

No. 2: Documents on the “Proletarian Military Policy” Includes materials from the Trotskyist movement in the U.S. and Europe during World War II. (February 1989)

No. 3: In Memoriam, Richard S. Fraser: An Appreciation and Selection of His Work
A selection of the writings of comrade Richard S. Fraser (1913-1988), who developed the Trotskyist understanding of black oppression in the U.S. (August 1990)

No. 4: Yugoslavia, East Europe and the Fourth International: The Evolution of Pabloist Liquidationism By Jan Norden. Covers the internal discussion of the Fourth International over its flawed response to the Yugoslav Revolution and 1948 Tito-Stalin split. (March 1993)

No. 5: Marxist Politics or Unprincipled Combinationism? Internal Problems of the Workers Party
Max Shachtman’s document from the 1936 internal bulletin of the Workers Party of the U.S. Includes introduction and glossary by PRL and appendices. (September 2000)

No. 6: Selected Speeches and Writings in Honor of Three Women Leaders of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist): Martha Phillips, Susan Adams, Elizabeth King Robertson (March 2007)

Bound Volumes/Microfilm

The PRL also distributes the bound volumes and microfilm editions of ICL periodicals. At present, these include: Workers Vanguard, newspaper of the Spartacist League/U.S.; the press of its youth organization, Young Spartacus; Women and Revolution; and the ICL theoretical journal Spartacist in English, German, French, and Spanish. Each volume or microfilm roll contains a complete cross-referenced index. For price information and to order, please write to: Spartacist Publishing Co., Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116. For additional information visit the ICL at www.icl-fi.org.

Access and Facilities

The Prometheus Research Library is open to researchers needing our specialized collections. Since the Library operates on a limited schedule, researchers are required to send written requests about specific projects and for appointments. The PRL has a digital microfilm and microfiche scanner and printer. The Library is located in lower Manhattan.

Library Staff

Founder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  James Robertson (1928-2019)
Librarian/Archivist . . . . . . . . . Alison Dundy
Western Station Librarian. . . . Martha Braun
Western Station Archivist . . . . Emily P. Turnbull
Founding Librarian . . . . . . . . . Diana B. Kartsen (1948-2007)

Please address inquiries to:

Principal Facility                        Western Station
Prometheus Research Library       Prometheus Research Library
Box 185, Canal Street Sta.               Box 32463, Civic Center Sta.
New York, NY 10013                        Oakland, CA 94604
Tel:(212)966-1866         prometheuswest@comcast.net    prl.ny@verizon.net

 

Literature from the PRL

Digital versions available here. For price information and to order print editions write to:

Spartacist Publishing Co., Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116.

For additional information visit the ICL at www.icl-fi.org.

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Books

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Prometheus Research Series Bulletins

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Principal Facility:
Prometheus Research Library
Box 185, Canal St. Station
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 966-1866
prl.ny@verizon.net

Western Station:
Prometheus Research Library
Box 32463, Civic Center Station
Oakland, CA 94604
prometheuswest@comcast.net

Photo of Leon Trotsky in Prinkipo by Jean Weinberg
Prometheus graphic from a woodcut by Fritz Brosius