Dear Comrade Adolphe,

Acomrade ofour Club here, the Spartacus Club, has been working
in secrecy to bring out the first Afrikaans (i.e., South African
Dutch)
translation of "The Communist Manifesto". The translation
is now complete in manuscript, and is being typed by comrades in
readiness for the printers.

Only one thing is lacking to crown the work, and that is a little
Introduction from the hand of our great leader. Will Comrade Trotsky
honour this small offering to the revolutionary movement by sealing
it with his approval and recommendation? We shall indeed he grateful,
if he can find time to do this for our remote and backward country.33

South Africans, with the exception of a handful of scholars, do
not read the Dutch of the Netherlands, and revolutionary literature
is
not yet to be found in the Afrikaans language, which is the language
of more than half the white population and of a large proportion
of the people of mixed descent, so that this effort will open up
a whole new field ofpropaganda for Marxism and the Fourth International.

We earnestly hope that you will understand our eagerness for the
fulfilment of this task, and we ask you to be so kind as to forward
without delay our respectful petition to Comrade Trotsky. Now ihat
Ihe translalion is complete, the matter of the printing becomes
urgent, lest our secret should leak out before the booklets are
ready for
circulation.

Fraternal greetings,

C. R. Goodlatte, W.P.S.A. Cape Town
Paul Koston 34