220. Trotsky, Leon. Typed document signed (“L Trotsky”) as People’s Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs of the Soviet Union, 1 page (8.5 x 6.5 in.; 216 x 165 mm.), [Petrograd], 7 May 1918, in Russian, being a pass for “Colonel Gurstel [though possibly Gerstel]”, a French military advisor in the service of the Red Army. A photograph of Gurstel has been affixed to the lower left, grease pencil cancellations do not greatly obscure text, light folds, minor mounting remnants on verso. Accompanied by a complete translation. 

Leon Trotsky issues a pass for a French military officer advising the Red Army in 1918

The document reads in full: The bearer hereof is, in fact, French service Colonel Gurstel, who is rendering services to Soviet authorities. All individuals and institutions are asked to lend assistance to Colonel Gurstel.

A highly unusual document authorizing a foreign officer through the lines during a particularly critical period for the fledgling Bolshevik regime. Little is known about the French colonel, though it is presumed he was a French communist sympathetic to the Bolsheviks. Members of the French Military Mission to Petrograd were known to have defected to the Bolsheviks and many French communists travelled to Russia following the 1917 OctoberRevolution. Gurstel could have also been part of the French expeditionary force sent to the southern Ukraine in early 1918 to support anti-Bolshevik forces. During that brief occupation, which resulted in a French withdrawal as the stronger Red Army approached, it is likely that some sympathetic officer and men defected. 

Although the Soviet Union had concluded a treaty with Imperial Germany in March 1918, anti-Bolshevik forces were gathering strength and threatening to dismember the country. Not only did the fledgling Soviet Union face threats from within the country, foreign forces (including The United States) directly intervened hoping to topple the communist regime. It would take nearly two years for the Red Army, led by Leon Trotsky, to overcome anti-Bolshevik forces and consolidate control over the entire country. Despite Trotsky’s efforts, he would find himself out of favor and in exile by 1929. Eleven years later, Stalin’s agents would assassinate him in Mexico City.
$2,000 - $3,000