On Breton's return to France, he established the Federation, setting up branches in Paris, London and New York, as well as Mexico.
[6] Breton successfully solicited supported for the project from the likes of Benjamin Péret, Yves Tanguy, André Masson, Victor Serge, Marcel Martinet, Ignazio Silone, Herbert Read (who, in turn, won the support of George Orwell) and others.
[7] However, the Federation was beset with problems with the European branches receiving a lack of public interest due to the preoccupation with the threat of war.
[8] Only two editions of La Clé, the monthly bulletin of the Federation's French section,[3] were published before publication was ceased in February 1939 amid a deepening political crisis across Europe.
[9] In his last letter to Trotsky in June 1939, Breton wrote: "Perhaps I am not very talented as an organizer, but at the same time it seems to me that I have run up against enormous obstacles.