TROTSKY LEON: (1879-1940) Bolshevik Revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, founder and first leader of the Red Army. A fine T.L.S., `L Trotsky´, in Cyrillic, in bold blue indelible pencil, one page, oblong 4to, Moscow, 31st May 1919, to Front Commander V. A. Antonov, in Cyrillic. The document shows to the upper left corner the printed heading "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic - Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic". Trotsky sends five specific orders, including the shooting of captured soldiers, of dissidents, saboteurs and agitators in Ukraine, stating `1- Groups of captured Hryhoriv soldiers are to be infiltrated; those found to have committed crimes are to be shot on the spot; those who have not stained themselves with blood are to be sentenced to hard labour or to join the ranks of the Red Army to atone for their offences. 2- The property of those executed shall be confiscated for the benefit of the State and the Working people. Compile lists to identify the places of residence of bandits and their families. 3- Establish accelerated supplies of ammunition from local manufacturers. Saboteurs shall be shot. 4- Intensify the campaign against Makhno through the press — newspapers, leaflets, agitators and public meetings. Clear Huliaipole of Makhno's accomplices. 5- Accelerate the confiscation of weapons from the Ukrainian population and the suppression of resistance. Compensate those who voluntarily surrender their weapons with food.´ Showing at the base an attractive purple ink stamp of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic. VG