International

Trotskyism
1 9 2 9 - 1 9 8 5

A D O C U M E N T E D

A N A L Y S I S O F

T H E M O V E M E N T

Robert J. Alexander

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

D urham and London 19 9 1

 To Francis Johns

© 1 991 Duke University Press

All rights reserved.
Set in Trump Medieval
Published in the United States of America on
acid-free paper ©
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
Alexander, Robert Jackson, 19 18 -
Intemational Trotskyism, 1929-1985 : a docu­
mented analysis of the
movement / by Robert J. Alexander.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
i s b n 0-8213-0975-0 [cloth). —

i s b n 0-8223-1066-X (pbk.)

1. Trotsky, Leon, 1879—1940—

Influence. 2. Communism—History.
3. Communism—International cooperation—
History. I. Title.
HX3r3-8.T76A7 1991
33 43 3
S ' —d c i o 90-38617 C1P
 Contents

Preface ix
Origins and Nature of International
Trotskyism i
Some General Characteristics of
International Trotskyism aa
Albanian Trotskyism 32
Trotskyism in Algeria 34
Argentine Trotskyism 37
The First Phase of Australian
Trotskyism S3
The Revival of Australian
Trotskyism 61
Austrian Trotskyism 80
Belgian Trotskyism Before World
War II 91
Belgian Trotskyism During and
After World War II 106
Trotskyism in Black Africa 1 14
Trotskyism in Bolivia 117
Trotskyism in Brazil 13 x
Bulgarian Trotskyism 140

Canadian Trotskyism 144

Trotskyism in Ceylon/Sri Lanka:
The Rise of the Lanka Sama
Samaja Party 159
Split and Decline of Ceylon/
Sri Lanka Trotskyism 176
Chilean Trotskyism 194
Trotskyism in China 201
Trotskyism in Colombia 224
Costa Rican Trotskyism 227

Contents v
 Cuban Trotskyism 228 German Trotskyism Before World
War II 406
Trotskyism in Cyprus 231
German Trotskyism During and
Trotskyism in Czechoslovakia 232
After World War II 425
Danish Trotskyism 23 7
Trotskyism in Great Britain:
Trotskyism in the Dominican The Early Years of British
Republic 247 Trotskyism 437
Ecuadorean Trotskyism 248 British Trotskyism: From
Revolutionary Socialist League to
Egyptian Trotskyism 249
Revolutionary Communist Party 452
Trotskyism in El Salvador 249
British Trotskyism Since
Finnish Trotskyism 250 World War II: The r c p and the
Healyites 465
Fomento Obrero Revolucionario 250
British Trotskyism since World
Fourth International: From
International Left Opposition to
Movement for the Fourth
,
War II: International Socialists,
i m g Militants, and Other Groups 481
International 251 Trotskyism in Greece 500
Fourth International: The Healyite International Committee 510
Establishment of the Fourth
International 268 Trotskyism in Honduras 5 11

The Fourth International: The Hungarian Trotskyism 512

Fourth International During Trotskyism in Iceland 5 *4
World War II 285
Trotskyism in India 516
The Fourth International: The
Immediate Post-World War II Indonesian Trotskyism 533
Period 304 International Committee of the
Fourth International: Split and Fourth International of the 1950s S3 S
Partial Reunion 321 International Committee of the
French Trotskyism Before World Fourth International of the 1960s 539
War II 339
International Revolutionary
French Trotskyism During World Marxist Tendency S44
War II 3s 6 International Secretariat of the
French Trotskyism: From pci to Fourth International of the 1950s 547
New p c i
International Socialist Tendency 551
French Trotskyism: The 1952 pci
international Spartacist tendency
Minority and Its Heirs> Lutte {sic) 552
Ouvriere and Other French
Trotskyist Groups 389 International Workers League
(Fourth International) 554
Trotskyism in the French
Antilles 404 Iranian Trotskyism 558

vi Contents
Trotskyism in Iraq 567 Trotskyism and Spain After the
Civil War 710
Trotskyism in Ireland 568
Swedish Trotskyism 724
Trotskyism in Israel 577
Trotskyism in Switzerland 726
Italian Trotskyism 586
Trotskyist International Liaison
Trotskyism in Jamaica 598 Committee 738
Japanese Trotskyism S99 Tunisian Trotskyism 738
Trotskyism in Korea 602 Trotskyism in Turkey 739
Trotskyism in Lebanon 602 United Secretariat of the Fourth
Lutte Ouvriere Tendency of International: Its Origins 740
International Trotskyism 60s The Trajectory of the United
Trotskyism in Luxemburg 606 Secretariat 745

Trotskyism in Mauritius 606 U.S. Trotskyism: From Cannonite

Faction to the Workers Party 76x
Trotskyism in Mexico 607
U.S. Trotskyism: The French
Moroccan Trotskyism 618 Turn in the United States 779
Netherlands Trotskyism 619 U.S. Trotskyism: The
Shachtmanite Split 793
Trotskyism in New Zealand 629
U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p During
Nicaraguan Trotskyism 632
and Immediately After World
Norwegian Trotskyism 633 War II 813

Organizing Committee for the U.S. Trotskyism: The sw p in the

Reconstruction of the Fourth Difficult 19 50s 834
International ( c o r q i ) 634 U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p , the
Trotskyism in Panama 636 y saand the New Left Movements
in the 1960s 850
Peruvian Trotskyism 637
U.S. Trotskyism: The Socialist
Polish Trotskyism 647 Workers Party in the 1970s and
Trotskyism in Portugal 653
Early 1980s 867

Posadista Fourth International 659 U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p Purge

of the Early 1980s and Its
Trotskyism in Puerto Rico 666 Aftermath 879
Trotskyism in Romania 66 7 U.S. Trotskyism: The
Shachtmanite Tradition After
South African Trotskyism 668
Shachtman 899
Spanish Trotskyism Until the
U.S. Trotskyism: The Workers
Formation of t h e p o u m 678
World Party, Spartacist League,
Spanish Trotskyism Just Before Workers League and Their
and During the Civil War 696 Offshoots 9 11

I Contents vii
I
U.S. Trotskyism: Other United Yugoslav Trotskyism 973
States Trotskyist and Ex-
Notes 975
Trotskyist Groups 933
Bibliography 1055
Uruguayan Trotskyism 953
Index of People 1073
Varga Fourth International 955
Index of Organizations 1089
Venezuelan Trotskyism 956 Index of Publications 11x5
Vietnamese Trotskyism 958 Miscellaneous Index 112 3

vtii Contents
 Preface have been, and hence the proliferation of
different kinds of parties and groups pledg­
ing their basic loyalty to the ideas and pro­
gram of Leon Trotsky.
This book deals with the world move­
ment which Leon Trotsky established after
When, fifteen or more years ago I was work­ his exile from the Soviet Union in 1929.
ing on my earlier study of Trotskyism in Except for some background material in the
Latin America, I discovered the fact that no first chapter about the origins and progress
one had ever written an overall study of In­ of the splits in the Communist Party of the
ternational Trotskyism. Further investiga­ Soviet Union in the 192,0s, I have deliber­
tion confirmed this observation. ately not dealt with the Trotskyist tendency
The late Pierre Frank wrote a small book in the USSR, which in any case was totally
on the history of the Fourth International. liquidated before and during the Great
There have been a number of studies, partic­ Purges. For those interested in that aspect of
ularly doctoral dissertations, on the Trots­ Trotskyism, the best source is undoubtedly
kyist movement in particular countries. the French periodical Cahieis Leon Tzotsky,
There has also been a good deal of historiog­ which devoted two complete issues, num­
raphy—as opposed to history—of the move­ bers 6 and 7/8 of 1980 and 1981 to this sub­
ment, particularly in the form of publication ject. It also dedicated issue number 18 of
and extensive annotation of the writings of June 1984 to Christian Rakovsky, the last of
Leon Trotsky, which is exceedingly useful. the important Soviet Trotskyist leaders to
The late George Breitman of the United surrender to Joseph Stalin, and who was ulti­
States, and Pierre Broud and Rodolphe mately murdered in the purges.
Prager of France were particularly produc­ One other omission should be noted. Ex­
tive in this field. cept for the case of the United States I have
After later working on a history of the not dealt in the pages that follow with the
International Right Opposition of the 1930s, international movement headed by Lyndon
my curiosity was further piqued about the Larouche. In making this decision I was to
history of Trotskyism. The Right Opposi­ some degree influenced by a comment of
tion did not survive World War II. Interna­ one of my correspondents to the effect that
tional Trotskyism, on the other hand, was to do so would be similar to including a
still alive and relatively healthy four de­ history of fascism as part of a history of
cades after the end of that conflict. The ques­ Italian Socialism—quite inappropriate.
tion naturally arose in my mind as to why However, I had another, and perhaps bet­
these two dissident factions of International ter, reason for this omission. It is clear that
Communism should experience such differ­ in the case of the National Caucus of Labor
ent fates. (Perhaps part of the answer will Committees (and its later incarnations] that
emerge from the present volume.) the n c l c did originate as a dissident Trots­
In view of the lack of a general survey of kyist group and therefore it is legitimate to
the movement I finally decided to undertake trace its subsequent evolution. The case is
to write one. Had I known when I began how not the same with the international organi­
complex a project it would turn out to be, I zation established under Larouche's aegis.
might well have hesitated to turn my hand The various national groups (outside of the
to it. In the beginning, I had no idea how United States} were established after La­
many countries had had Trotskyist move­ rouche and his followers had given up virtu­
ments at one time or another, or of how ally all pretenses of being Trotskyists, and
many different kinds of Trotskyists there therefore they are not, properly speaking, a

( Preface ix
 part of the history of International Trots­ quoted material in this work are as they
kyism. were in what is being quoted.
I decided to try to make this study for at One other comment. A few of those who
least two reasons. First, international Trots­ have been kind enough to help me in gather­
kyism has been a sufficiently significant ing material for this book have raised objec­
tendency in world politics over a suffi­ tions to my "research methods." One of
ciently long period—considerably more these people wrote, "I cannot agree with the
than half a century—to make it important method which consists in writing books
for its story to be told. In the second place, through interviews and newspapers, with­
I felt that I had both a sufficient interest out any interest in the archives. . . . " To
in the subject and enough background and some degree I must plead guilty to the "in ­
tangential contact with the movement to dictment" implied in this remark. I have not
qualify me to be its first overall historian. relied to a major degree on "the archives,"
Certainly, from the point of view of most whether those of Trotsky at Harvard, the
Trotskyists, I suspect that I have one major collections in Paris, Amsterdam, the Hoover
handicap as a historian of their movement: Institution at Stanford, or in the Socialist
I do not belong to it. Indeed, in 1937, as a Workers Party headquarters in New York
very unimportant young member of the so- City. However, given the nature of the work
called "Clarity Caucus" of the Socialist which I have been trying to produce, and the
Party of the United States (in fact, one of the segment of my life which I was willing and
most confused groups to appear in U.S. left- able to devote to this study, I think that my
wing politics) I was one of those who research approach has been an adequate and
strongly supported the expulsion of the useful one.
Trotskyites from th e s p u S A . By then, Bolshe­ First of all, I think that a perusal of the
vism, whether in its Leninist, Stalinist or its bibliography at the end of this work will
Trotskyist form, had completely lost what­ show that I have relied on a great deal more
ever passing attraction it might once have than "interviews and newspapers," al­
had for me. though these have been of considerable im ­
Hence, I write from a Democratic Social­ portance. Where they have been available I
ist or Social Democratic background. There­ have relied on secondary works dealing with
fore, I shall undoubtedly have interpreta­ segments of the subject under study. These
tions of the Trotskyist movement which were particularly useful for the period of the
members of all of its various factions will 19 30s, and included the annotated writings
consider mistaken. My only hope is that this of Leon Trotsky in both English and French,
present volume can qualify for the kind of and historical memoirs of such people as
assessment which the late Joseph Hansen James Cannon and Georges Vereeken of Bel­
gave in a two-part review of my earlier work gium. They have also included doctoral dis­
on Latin American Trotskyism, which can sertations from several countries as well as
be summed up as "for a Social Democrat, collections of documents of the Fourth In­
he's done a pretty good job." ternational in both English and French.
M y own political background is relevant For the period since the death of Trotsky
to one stylistic aspect of this book. As an such secondary material has frequently been
old socialist I was accustomed to referring to lacking. Indeed, the history of the Trotskyist
Leon Trotsky's followers as "Trotskyites." movement in most countries had not been
They prefer to be called "Trotskyists." written in any systematic way before I began
For reasons of literary diversity I shall use working on this book. So to try to gather the
both terms. Also, unless otherwise noted, material relevant to writing such studies I
any underscoring or italics which appear in have resorted in the first instance to corre­

x Preface
spondence with Trotskyists, ex-Trotskyists such a way as to present a valuable picture
and some observers of the movement. My of the movement throughout the world.
correspondents have quite literally been One further note relevant to my research
from all parts of the world. techniques may be in order. The reader will
In writing these people I requested a vari­ note that the termination dates of my dis­
ety of things from them. I asked for publica­ cussions of various organizations, and even
tions of the various Trotskyist organizations of the movement in various countries, differ
of their countries—including newspapers, from case to case. These dates have been
pamphlets and other such material. I also determined by the recentness of informa­
asked innumerable questions about the tion which I received by the time I had to
movement in their areas. bring the manuscript to a close. Two cases
I have been most fortunate in the replies in point are the withdrawal of the Australian
which I received to these queries. In some Socialist Workers Party from the United
cases, long exchanges of letters provided me Secretariat, and the violent split in the ranks
with "original" material not elsewhere of the British Healyites—both events oc­
available. In a few instances my correspon­ curred in the latter part of 1985 just as I was
dents have written very extensive memo­ completing the manuscript, and so could be
randa outlining the history of all or part of referred to. In many instances, however, the
the movement's history in their countries. latest information available to me on a par­
In the case of Australia I was sent three tapes ticular group considerably antedated 1985.
of lectures on the history of Trotskyism in Every author owes obligations to people
that country given at a "summer camp" of who have aided him in getting a book into
the Australian Socialist Workers Party. print. Because of the complexity of the sub­
In a few instances these materials have ject of the present volume, and the dispersed
been complemented and added to by inter­ nature of the material I needed to acquire in
views with people who have been involved order to write it, my obligations are particu­
in the Trotskyist movement in one part of larly heavy and extensive. I certainly owe
the world or another. Such discussions have something to the scores of people listed in
been particularly helpful in the cases of the bibliography who either allowed me to
Trotskyism in the United States, France, interview them or who corresponded more
Belgium and Great Britain. or less extensively with me on the subject.
A ll of this research has involved some­ However, a number of these deserve special
thing in the nature of fitting together a jig­ mention.
saw puzzle. There are presented in these First, I must note the late Max Shacht-
pages studies of Trotskyism in various parts man, who was a good friend, and who gave
of the world such as have never appeared in me many insights into the history of the
print before. Even in the case of the United movement (naturally from his own point of
States there has never been published an view of a founder and later heretic of Inter­
overall study of the movement. Nor, aside national Trotskyism). In somewhat the
from the thin volume of Pierre Frank, has same category was the late Joseph Hansen,
there ever appeared an overall treatment of who gave me much help on my early re­
the Fourth International and the various searches on Latin American Trotskyism and
competing groups into which it split after was, I think, a gentle critic of the results of
1953. Hopefully, through the alternative those researches.
methods which I have used to acquire my The late George Breitman was particu­
material, I have been able within the five larly helpful in putting me in touch with
years spent on this volume to piece together basic sources for the present volume, as well
the puzzle of international Trotskyism in as giving me the benefit of his observations

Preface xi
 of the movement over half a century. Also, helpful in providing material on several
of course, his annotated collection of the countries.
writings of Trotsky are a basic source of The late Professor Peter Sedgwick of the
information for any study of the Trotskyist University of Leeds first sent me extensive
movement. information about British Trotskyism, and
The same is true of the collection, and put me in contact with other students of the
even more extensive annotation of Trots­ movement. Sam Bomstein, A 1 Richardson,
ky's writings by Pierre Broue. M. Broue has Martin Upham, and John Archer were very
also been very helpful in answering ques­ helpful in providing information and crit­
tions, and in reading critically the first draft icizing the original version of my section on
of part of the section on Spain. Trotskyism in Great Britain.
The late Pierre Frank was also a very w ill­ Charles van Gelderen provided me con­
ing correspondent, and provided me with a siderable material on the British movement,
copy of his book on the Fourth International. and without him I would have been hard-
He also facilitated my contacts with other pressed to have known where to begin to
French members of the movement. recount the history of Trotskyism in South
During my first visit to Paris in search of Africa.
material for this book, in 1982., Rodolphe Professor James Jupp aided me in estab­
Prager was of inestimable help, not only lishing my first contacts with the Trotsky­
postponing his summer vacation to put me ists and ex-Trotskyists in Australia. Also
in contact with people of several factions of several leaders of the Socialist Workers
International Trotskyism but also providing Party of that country were very kind in pro­
me with some very important bibliographi­ viding me with documentary and taped ma­
cal material. He has also been a very willing terial on the movement there, as was Mick
answerer of many queries to him, both writ­ Armstrong of the Independent Socialists.
ten and oral. Jose Gutierrez Alvarez, a young Trotsky­
During that same 1982 visit to Europe ist scholar from Barcelona, was of key aid in
Miss Nadya De Beule, historian of the early helping me to piece together the history of
years of the Belgian Trotskyist movement, Spanish Trotskyism since the end of the
was exceedingly hospitable in putting me Franco period. He also arranged for me to
in contact with various people among the get important printed material.
Trotskyists and ex-Trotskyists of that coun­ Martin Siegel of the Pathfinder Press sim i­
try. She also was kind enough to give me a larly provided me with documentation from
copy of her own study and xerox copies of the material collected by the Socialist Work­
many early Belgian Trotskyist publications, ers Party of the United States.
as well as to criticize the first draft of the Needless to say, none of the people men­
chapter on Belgium. tioned here, nor any of those listed in the
Ernest Mandel, the best-known Trotsky­ bibliography for that matter, is responsible
ist economist and leader of both the largest for anything I say in this volume or for the
Belgian Trotskyist group and the United opinions expressed in it.
Secretariat of the Fourth International Other kinds of debts are owed to other
( u s e c ), has also been extremely helpful. He people. My former student, Joshua Landes,
answered numerous queries about a range first brought to my attention and allowed
of subjects, sent me important material, and me to borrow Joseph Nedava's book on
gave me a very helpful critique of the first Trotsky and the Jews. M y Rutgers colleague
draft of the section on Belgium, and of the Herbert Rowan was kind enough to trans­
first chapter. Similarly, Livio Maitan, col­ late some material from German.
league of Mandel in u s e c , has been very Finally, mention must be made of my

xii Preface
wife, Joan Alexander. She has borne with in discussing the Right Opposition in the
endless discussion of Trotskyism for more Netherlands, I mistakenly attributed the or­
than five years, even allowing to be diverted igins of the Revolutionary Socialist Labor
from sightseeing in Paris to "hunt down Party (r s a p ) in that country to a right-wing
Trotskyites/' as she elegantly put it. Also, schism in the Dutch Communist Party
she put up with endless typing of the various which had occurred in the early 1930s. My
versions of the manuscript, when often she researches on the present volume have re­
must have thought that my time might have sulted in my becoming more fully ac­
been better spent doing something else. Fi­ quainted with the early Trotskyist back­
nally, she made available her great talents in ground of Henk Sneevliet and the party he
helping to prepare the index of the volume. organized, which only very late in the day
Although this is undoubtedly a strange became aligned with the remnants of the
thing to do in the preface to one of one's International Right Opposition. This story
books, I feel it necessary to recognize here is recounted in the appropriate portion of
an error which I made in an earlier work, the present study.
The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites
and the International Right Opposition of Rutgers University
the 1950's, that on the International Right New Brunswick, N.J.
Opposition of the 1930s. In that volume, June rggo

Preface xiii
 Origins and Nature of group of enthusiasts, including, among oth­
ers, Second International Socialists who
International Trotskyism were attracted by the Comintern's apparent
intransigent attitude towards compromise
with capitalist regimes, pacifists who had
opposed their countries' participation in
World War I and rejoiced at the Comintern's
At the beginning of 1929 Leon Trotsky was seeming opposition to war, and anarchosyn-
exiled from the Soviet Union on the orders dicalists who misunderstood entirely the
of his mortal enemy, Joseph Stalin. From nature of the Russian Bolshevik regime
then until his murder by an agent of Stalin's which had given rise to the founding of the
g p u eleven and a half years later, Trotsky Communist International.
spent most of his time and energy trying to For their part, the Russian Bolshevik lead­
organize an international political move­ ers had a very clear view of the kind of inter­
ment in his own image and reflecting his national organization they wanted to create.
own evolving ideas. For nearly five decades It was to be an international party governed
since his death, Trotsky's followers have by the same principles of "democratic cen­
continued to attempt to set up such an orga­ tralism" which presumably held sway in the
nization. This more than half-century effort Communist (Bolshevik) Party of the Soviet
is the subject of the present book. Union. It would be committed to the forc­
ible seizure of power and the establishment
of the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat"
Roots of Trotskyism
(which increasingly became indistinguish­
International Trotskyism had its roots in able from the dictatorship of the Commu­
the Bolshevik Revolution of November nist Party).
19 17, in the first dozen years of the Soviet Hence much of the time and energy of
regime, and most particularly, in the Com­ the predominantly Russian leaders of the
intern (cx). In an amorphous form, it existed, Communist International during its first
therefore, even before Leon Trotsky began years was spent in separating the non-Bol­
his last exile. shevik sheep from the tough Bolshevik
Fifty-five years after Karl Marx estab­ goats. The Spanish anarchosyndicalists of
lished the First International (International the Confederaci<5n Nacional del Trabajo
Workingmen's Association) in London in were denied membership; the essentially
1864, and thirty years after Marx's disciples Social Democratic Norwegian Labor Party
organized the Second (Socialist) Interna­ was expelled after four years. Other indigest­
tional in Paris in 1889, Vladimir Ilyitch Le­ ible groups were regurgitated by the Comin­
nin and Leon Trotsky brought into existence tern in those first years. At the same time,
the Third International. This organization, the purging of those elements within the
formally known as the Communist Interna­ parties accepted in the Comintern who were
tional, was the first such group to have the not really compatible with Russian Bolshe­
ambitious objective of being the party of vism was also carried out extensively.
world revolution, an international party However, this task had not been com­
with national "sections." pleted when a grave problem arose within
In the years that immediately followed, the ranks of the Soviet Communist Party
the new Communist International had a tu­ itself, which had repercussions throughout
multuous existence. It was faced with the the International. With the onset in 1922 of
problem that the announcement of its estab­ the fatal illness of Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin,
lishment had attracted a heterogeneous who until then had been the virtually un­

Origins X
 questioned first among equals in the Bolshe­ Stalin and his murder in 1940 Trotsky never
vik leadership, a bitter and ultimately brought up his earlier analysis.
bloody struggle for succession began. The Rather, Trotsky sought to fight Stalin on
obvious choice to take Lenin's place was Stalin's (and Lenin's) own ground without
Leon Trotsky. He had been all but univer­ challenging the basis of the system. His con­
sally regarded as being second only to Lenin stant insistence on the Soviet Union's con­
in the early years of the Soviet state. He had tinuing to be a "workers' state"—however
organized and led the Red Army which had "degenerated"—must be seen at least partly
won the bloody civil war of 19 18 -2 1. He in this light. Having accepted the "Bolshe­
was a brilliant orator and a theorist of ge­ vik Leninist" ideas which he had once so
nius, both qualities which weighed very clearly denounced, he never felt that the
heavily in Communist politics in those political situation of the moment would per­
days. mit him to repudiate those ideas and return
However, Trotsky lacked the ability for to the arguments he had made before he
political maneuver and conspiracy of Josip became Lenin's partner. Most of his disci­
Djugashvili (party name, Joseph Stalin), who ples in the more than four decades since his
in 1922 had seemed to be one of the less death have not seen fit to do so either.
important of the top leaders of the revolu­
tion. Furthermore, Trotsky had a fatal weak­
The Struggle for Power
ness: he was a late-comer to the Bolshevik
ranks, having joined the party only a few During the last year and a half of his life,
months before he led its cohorts in the over­ Lenin shared with Trotsky a certain disquiet
throw of the government of Premier Alexan­ about the trend of affairs in the Soviet
der Kerensky on November 7, 19 17. In the Union, particularly concerning the growing
years before World War I he had been very "bureaucratization" of Soviet society and
critical of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Conse­ politics. However, Lenin's ill health pre­
quently, in' his later career, both in the con­ vented him from taking very energetic steps
test for power in the 1920s and during his to deal with the situation. In the last phase
lonely exile struggle against Stalin after of Lenin's illness, Joseph Stalin, who did not
1929, he felt compelled to demonstrate that share these worries, had maneuvered to
he was a better Bolshevik than those who make himself, as Secretary General of the
had been Vladimir Ilyitch's lieutenants in Party, virtually "Lenin's guardian," as
the years before he joined their ranks. Adam Ulam calls him.1 As a consequence,
Indeed, Trotsky had provided one of the Trotsky was alone in organizing what came
most insightful analyses and predictions of to be the Left Opposition. It had clearly
anyone of the nature and probable result of taken form late in 1923, several months be­
Lenin's twin theories of "democratic cen­ fore Lenin's death on January 30, 1924.
tralism" and "dictatorship of the proletar­ By the time of Lenin's death an alliance
iat." He had foreseen that they would, if already had been formed within the top lead­
successful, lead ultimately to the dictator­ ership of the Soviet Communist Party to
ship of the party over the proletariat, of the block the possibility of Trotsky's becoming
party's Central Committee over the party Lenin's successor. This was the so-called
itself, and ultimately of one man over the "First Troika," consisting of Stalin, the Sec­
Central Committee. This, of course, is ex­ retary General of the Communist Party of
actly what happened under Stalin (and, to the Soviet Union; Gregory Zinoviev, head
some degree at least, under Stalin's succes­ of the party in the Petrograd (shortly to be
sors). It is remarkable that in the years be- renamed Leningrad) region and head of the
tween the outbreak of his struggle against Communist International; and Lev Ka­

2 Origins
menev, leader of the party in the Moscow urged the continuation of the New Eco­
region. Within a year they had succeeded in nomic Policy ( n e p ), the partial reintroduc­
removing Trotsky from the powerful post of tion of the market mechanism in the Soviet
Commisar for War and consigning him to a economy which had been started in 19 21.
less dangerous position. Trotsky, on the other hand, urged a quick
However, as the First Troika became more end to the n e p and the substitution of a
and more successful in its attacks on planned economy for a market-oriented one.
Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev began to During this same period Stalin emphasized
worry about the growing power and the that the peasantry was the closest ally of the
ruthlessness of their colleague, Joseph Sta­ proletariat (and hence of the Communist
lin, and in the spring of 1926 they joined Party), whereas Trotsky stressed the poten­
with Trotsky to form the Second Troika, tial economic and political dangers to the
or so-called United Opposition. The United regime in the continued existence of an in­
Opposition found itself fighting a losing bat­ dependent small landholding peasantry and
tle. Already removed from all leadership urged collectivization of agriculture.
posts, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled Stalin sharply reversed himself on these
from the Communist Party in November issues of industrial and agrarian policy once
1927, and in the following month the same Trotsky had been defeated, thus making his
fate befell Kamenev. Subsequently, Trotsky clash with Bukharin inevitable. However,
was sent into "internal exile" in Alma Ata, on one issue he never repudiated the posi­
near the Chinese frontier, and finally in Jan­ tion he had taken during his fight with
uary 1929 was expelled from the Soviet Trotsky. This was his insistence on "Social­
Union. Zinoviev and Kamenev, meanwhile, ism in one country," that is, that it was
had capitulated to Stalin.2 possible for the Soviet Union to build social­
The final phase of the internal struggle ism even if the international revolution
took place in 1928-29, when Stalin turned were postponed indefinitely. To this idea
on his principal ally in the fight against the Trotsky opposed the theory of the Perma­
United Opposition, Nikolai Bukharin, the nent Revolution, which we shall look at
leader of the so-called Right within the shortly.
party. Bukharin had succeeded Zinoviev as Two major issues of foreign affairs were
head of the Comintern and had presided over also matters of contention in the Soviet
its Sixth Congress in August 1928. How­ power struggle of the 1920s. One was an
ever, he opposed abrupt changes in indus­ "alliance" that the Soviet trade unions had
trial and agrarian policy forced through by formed with the British Trade Union Con­
Stalin. He also opposed the exiling of gress (t u c ) in the mid-19 20s and which
Trotsky to Alma Ata and had even gone to Trotsky, in the face of Stalin's opposition,
the train to express his regrets to the depart­ insisted should be ended after the failure
ing Trotsky.3 By the end of 1929 Bukharin (due to alleged betrayal by the t u c leaders)
had been totally defeated and had surren­ of the r926 general strike. The other was the
dered to Stalin.4 continuation of an alliance of the Comin­
Issues as well as personalities were in­ tern and the Chinese Communist Party
volved in this more than five-year struggle (which had been worked out when Lenin
for power, particularly in the controversy was still alive) with the Chinese Nationalist
between Stalin and Trotsky. The issues cen­ Party (Kuomintang), even after it became
tered around both internal policies in the increasingly clear that Chiang Kai-shek, the
Soviet Union and questions involving the Kuomintang's principal leader, was strongly
Communist International. anticommunist. Trotsky urged an end to the
Until he had defeated Trotsky, Stalin Kuomintang-Communist alliance, Stalin

Origins 3
insisted on its continuance. In May 1927 Stalin as Secretary General of the c p s u .
Chiang turned on and came close to exter­ When Eastman published the document in
minating the Chinese Communist Party. the United States, Trotsky repudiated it, an
action for which Eastman never entirely for­
gave him.4
Reflections of Soviet Struggle in the
Another "premature" adherent of Trotsky
Communist International
was Boris Souvarine, a leader of the French
For the most part the leaders and members Communist Party. He was quite aware of
of most of the Communist parties outside the nature of the struggle in the c p s u and
of the Soviet Union were largely unaware of early declared his adherence to Trotsky's
the issues involved in the dispute within the cause in that struggle. This won him expul­
Soviet Communist Party while it was in sion from the French party, although he
progress. However, the Comintern and its never became part of the separate Trotskyist
member parties were inevitably affected by movement.
this conflict. There were also Trotsky supporters
Leon Trotsky had been one of the princi­ among the non-Soviet Communists who
pal founders of the Communist Interna­ were part of the apparatus of the Comintern
tional. During the early 1920s he was in or of organizations with their headquarters
charge of its relations with the "Latin" in Moscow which were subordinate to the
countries, that is, France, Spain and Portu­ ci, notably the Red International of Labor
gal, Italy, and tangentially, Latin America. Unions ( r i l u ). Among these were Alfred
In that capacity he got more or less person­ Rosmer, who founded the Trotskyist move­
ally involved in a number of the numerous ment in France, and Andres Nin, who be­
internal controversies which took place came the first major leader of Spanish Trots­
within these parties, most of which in that kyism.
period had. nothing to do with what was Gregory Zinoviev also had his personal
happening in the Soviet Union.5 supporters outside of the Soviet Union. As
Also, although most foreign Communist head of the Comintern he inaugurated a pro­
leaders were badly informed about and re­ cess of so-called "Bolshevization" of the ci
ally not much interested in the internecine parties during the period that he was part of
struggles in the c p s u until these quarrels the anti-Trotskyist First Troika. In addition
were quite advanced, there were a number to strengthening the control of Moscow over
of foreign Communist leaders who had par­ many parties, this process resulted in the
ticularly close personal and political ties expulsion of pro-Trotsky elements in sev­
with one or another of the faction leaders eral countries.
in the Soviet Party. As the Soviet struggle However, with the formation of the
intensified, the various c p s u factional lead­ United Opposition in the Soviet Union, and
ers sought to gain support in foreign parties. the consequent removal of Zinoviev as
Insofar as Leon Trotsky was concerned chairman of the Comintern, the turn came
there were some what one might call "pre­ for his supporters in various parties to be
mature" Trotskyists abroad. Thus Max expelled. At that point it seemed to many
Eastman, a sympathizer if not member of of the Zinovievists that their natural allies
the Communist Party of the United States were the followers of Trotsky. But many of
and also a good friend of Trotsky, obtained the Trotskyists were still strongly resentful
from Trotsky a copy of the so-called Politi­ of the role which Zinoviev and his foreign
cal Testament of Lenin, written during his friends had in expelling them from the Com ­
final illness, in which among other things he munist movement. This was one of the early
urged the Soviet party leadership to remove problems with which Leon Trotsky had to

4 Origins
deal after his expulsion from the Soviet 'subsumed' in support of the theory and
Union. practice of the Permanent Revolution: only
A few other non-Soviet Communists were the proletariat ('supported by the peas­
more or less accidentally recruited to antry')—and the proletariat only insofar as
Trotsky before his leaving the USSR. Such it is led by the Bolshevik revolutionary
was the case of James Cannon of the United party—can resolve all the problems of the
States and Maurice Spector of Canada, who democratic revolution in the course of es­
as delegates to the Sixth Congress of the tablishing the socialist dictatorship of the
Comintern in 1928 became acquainted with proletariat. . . ." 7
the documents Trotsky had submitted to However, it is clear that Trotskyism as an
that session appealing his expulsion from ideology or body of ideas became consider­
the c p s u and criticizing the Draft Program ably more complex and extensive than Max
for the Comintern which had been drawn Shachtman indicated. Certainly, the theory
up by Bukharin and was discussed at the of the permanent revolution remained fun­
session. They were converted to his point of damental. But the "theory of uneven and
view and returned home to establish Trots­ combined development" as an extension
kyist movements in the United States and and complement of the permanent revolu­
Canada before they had had any personal tion concept was also a basic element of
contact with Trotsky. Trotskyism. The notion of "transitional de­
mands" and the tactic of the united front
also became characteristic ideas of Trots­
What is Trotskyism?
kyism.
Once Leon Trotsky was thrown out of the More problematical was Trotsky's insis­
Soviet Union and began the task of trying to tence that the Soviet Union remained a
organize a "Left Opposition" to the Comin­ "workers' state." He extensively analyzed
tern, he tended to attract the widest range how the USSR had "degenerated," but con­
of Communist and ex-Communist oppo­ tinued to defend its bona fides, yet even
nents of the Stalinist regime. Therefore, one while he was alive an important group of his
of his major tasks was to try to define exactly followers challenged this position, and after
the body of ideas around which he was seek­ his death this remained a matter of contro­
ing to organize an international movement. versy among Trotskyists.
This Trotskyist ideology changed consider­ Another basic element of Trotskyism
ably in the decade and more in which after 1929 was acceptance of Leninism. This
Trotsky was expounding it, and most of his involved the concepts of the vanguard party,
followers have altered it but little in the democratic centralism, and the dictatorship
nearly five decades since his death. of the proletariat. As has already been indi­
Max Shachtman, one of the earliest Trots- cated, this involved a considerable break
kyites and cofounder of the Trotskyist with Trotsky's own past. Related to Trots­
movement in the United States, wrote long ky's acceptance of Leninism is the issue of
after abandoning Trotskyism that it "as where he and his followers have stood with
(Trotsky] defined it between 1928 and 1932, regard to political democracy. There is con­
particularly . . . was based entirely on three flicting evidence on this subject.
propositions: Opposition to socialism in one
country, to the policies of the Anglo-Rus-
The Theory of Permanent Revolution
sian Trade Union Unity Committee, and to
the policies of Stalin-Bukharin in the Chi­ Leon Trotsky expounded the idea of the Per­
nese Revolution ('bloc of four classes,' etc.]." manent Revolution on many occasions. In
He added that "all these were eventually 1930 he wrote that "the democratic objec­

Origins 5
 tives of the backward bourgeois nations lead of affairs, even though, as demonstrated by
directly in our epoch to the dictatorship of the experience of the Soviet Union, it may
the proletariat/' and that this became an be prolonged. In an isolated proletarian
"immediate part of socialist demands." dictatorship, the interior and exterior con­
Trotsky added that "while traditional tradictions inevitably increase with the suc­
opinion maintained that the road to the dic­ cesses. If it continues isolated, the proletar­
tatorship of the proletariat passed through a ian State sooner or later must fall victim of
prolonged period of democracy, the theory these contradictions. Its only way out is in
of the permanent revolution established the triumph of the proletariat of the most
that in backward countries, the path of de­ advanced countries. . .
mocracy passed through the dictatorship of Pierre Frank, one of the principal leaders
the proletariat. Thus, the democracy of vari­ of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­
ous decades ceased being a self-sufficient national, pointed out that the theory of per­
regime and was converted into the immedi­ manent revolution "is connected with our
ate prelude of the socialist revolution, conception that we live in the epoch of
united by a continuous connection. Be­ world socialist revolution—and not only in
tween democratic revolution and a socialist European revolution as had been thought in
transformation of society, there was there­ the 19th Century—and of the transition of
fore established a permanent state of revolu­ capitalism to socialism." He added that
tionary development." "This struggle passes through heights and
Trotsky went on to say that "the second depressions, victories and defeats."9
aspect of the theory deals with the socialist
revolution as such. During a period of in­
The Theory of Combined and
definite duration and of constant internal
Uneven Development
struggle, all social relations are transformed.
Society suffers a process of metamorphosis. Closely linked with the theory of permanent
And in this process of transformation each revolution was Leon Trotsky's other theo­
new stage is a direct consequence of the retical concept, the theory of combined and
previous one. . . . The revolution of the uneven development. This was originally
economy, technology, science, the family, conceived by him to explain the advent of
customs, develop in a complex reciprocal the first socialist revolution in backward
action which doesn't permit society to czarist Russia rather than in the advanced
achieve equilibrium. In this consists the per­ countries of Western and Central Europe, as
manent character of the socialist revolution Marx had predicted. It was generalized by
as such." Trotsky and his followers to explain social,
Finally, the theory of permanent revolu­ economic, and political.developments in all
tion had an international dimension. Con­ relatively backward countries. Particularly
cerning this Trotsky said that "internation­ after his death it was appealed to on various
alism is not an abstract principle but rather occasions by his followers as an explanation
a theoretical and political reflection of the or apologia for their policies and actions.
world character of the economy, of world In The Russian Revolution, among other
development of the productive forces and places, Trotsky put forward the theory of
the world scope of the class struggle. The combined and uneven •’development in his
socialist revolution begins within national history of the events of 19 17. There, he
frontiers, but it cannot be circumscribed by started his presentation of the theory by say­
them. The circumscription of the proletar­ ing "a backward country assimilates the ma­
ian revolution within a national territory terial and intellectual conquests of the ad­
can be nothing more than a transitory state vanced countries. But this does not mean

6 Origins
 that it follows them slavishly, reproduces Impressed by the lessons of 1904, the bour­
all stages of their past. The theory of the geoisie had become more conservative and
repetition of historic cycles . . . rests upon suspicious. The relative weight of the petty
an observation of the orbits of old pre-capi- and middle bourgeoisie, insignificant be­
talistic cultures, and in part upon the first fore, had fallen still lower. The democratic
experiments of capitalist development." intelligentsia generally speaking had no
However, capitalism has brought a funda­ firm social support whatever. It could have
mental change according to Trotsky. Ke a transitional political influence, but could
says that "capitalism . . . prepares and in a play no independent role. . . . In these cir­
certain sense realizes the universality and cumstances, only the youthful proletariat
permanence of man's development. By this could give the peasantry a program, a banner
a repetition of the forms of development by and leadership. The gigantic tasks thus pre­
different nations is ruled out. Although sented to the proletariat gave rise to an ur­
compelled to follow after the advanced gent necessity for a special revolutionary
countries, a backward country does not take organization capable of quickly getting hold
things in the same order. The privilege of of the popular masses and making them
historic backwardness—and such a privi­ ready for revolutionary action under the
lege exists—permits, or rather compels, the leadership of the workers. Thus the soviet
adoption of whatever is ready in advance of of 1905 developed gigantically in 19 17 ."
any specified date, skipping a whole series After this historical sketch, Trotsky ap­
of intermediate stages.. . . The possibility of plied the theory of uneven and combined
skipping over intermediate steps is of course development to it. He argued "that the sovi­
by no means absolute. Its degree is deter­ ets .. . are not a mere child of the historic
mined in the long run by the economic and backwardness of Russia, but a product of her
cultural capacities of the country." combined development, is indicated by the
But Trotsky argued that the idea of "un­ fact that the proletariat of the most indus­
even" development is not a sufficient expla­ trial country, Germany, at the time of its
nation by itself of the transformation of revolutionary high point— 19 18 to 19 19—
backward countries. He holds that "the laws could find no other form of organization."11
of history have nothing in common with a Trotsky concluded this argument by say­
pedantic schematism. Unevenness, the ing that "the revolution of 19 17 had as its
most general law of the historic process, re­ immediate task the overthrow of the bu­
veals itself most sharply and complexly in reaucratic monarchy, but in distinction
the destiny of the backward countries. Un­ from the older bourgeois revolutions, the
der the whip of external necessity their decisive force now was a new class formed
backward culture is compelled to make on the basis of a concentrated industry, and
leaps. From the universal law of unevenness armed with new organizations, new meth­
thus derives another law which, for the lack ods of struggle. The law of combined devel­
of a better name, we may call the law of opment here emerges in its extreme expres­
combined development—by which we sion: starting with the overthrow of a
mean a drawing together of the different decayed medieval structure, and revolution
stages of the journey, a combining of sepa­ in the course of a few months placed the
rate steps, an amalgam of archaic with more proletariat and the Communist Party in
contemporary forms."10 power."12
Trotsky applied this theoretical analysis Trotsky and his followers were to use this
to what happened in Russia between 190s theory of uneven and combined develop­
and 19 17. He observed that "the bourgeoisie ment as one of their principal theoretical
became economically more powerful. . . . weapons in attacking the Stalinists. Accord­

Origins 7
ing to them, Stalin and his acolytes believed mediate demands in their electoral and
in a "two-stage" process of revolutionary other programs. However, Trotsky sought
development in less developed countries, to differentiate "transitional demands"
that is, first the installation of a "bourgeois from the traditional "immediate demands."
democratic" regime, and only then, after a The Transitional Program declared that
longer or shorter period of bourgeois demo­ "the strategic task of the next period—a pre­
cratic rule, the ultimate passing over into a revolutionary period of agitation, propa­
socialist revolutionary phase. This argu­ ganda, and organization—consists in over­
ment undoubtedly underlay (together, ad­ coming the contradiction between the
mittedly, with analysis of actual events) the maturity of the objective revolutionary con­
insistence of Trotsky and his followers that ditions and the immaturity of the proletariat
the Stalinists were constantly trying to put and its vanguard.. . . It is necessary to help
a brake on revolutionary progress so that the masses in the process of the daily strug­
it could pass through its "natural" process gle to find the bridge between the present
from a precapitalist to a bourgeois demo­ demands and the socialist program of the
cratic and finally to a socialist phase. revolution. This bridge should include a sys­
This line of reasoning faced numerous tem of transitional demands, stemming
“ contradictions" after World War II when a from today's conditions and from today's
considerable number of self-professed "so­ consciousness of wide layers of the working
cialist" revolutions took place under the class and unalterably leading to one final
leadership of Stalinist or neo-Stalinist par­ conclusion: the conquest of power by the
ties. As we shall see, different groups of proletariat."13
Trotsky's followers reacted to this phenom­ The Transitional Program then made a
enon in different ways. differentiation between the Fourth Interna­
tional's transitional demands and the tradi­
tional immediate demands of the Social
The Theory of Transitional Demands
Democrats. It argued that "between the
Another theory or concept which has been minimum and the maximum program no
characteristic of Trotskyism has been that bridge existed. And indeed Social Democ­
of "transitional demands." They were ex­ racy has no need of such a bridge, since the
pounded upon in the program which word socialism is used only for holiday
Trotsky drew up for the Founding Congress speechifying."
of the Fourth International in September In contrast, the Transitional Program ar­
1938. Formally entitled "The Death Agony gued, "the strategical task of the Fourth In­
of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth ternational lies not in reforming capitalism
International," that document is more pop­ but in its overthrow. Its political aim is the
ularly referred to as The Transitional Pro­ conquest of power by the proletariat for the
gram. In it Trotsky elaborated his concept purpose of expropriating the bourgeoisie.
of transitional demands. However, the achievement of this strategic
It had long been traditional in the pre- task is unthinkable without the most con­
World War I Socialist movement for parties sidered attention to all, even small and par­
not only to present their long range ("maxi­ tial questions of tactics. . . . The present ep­
mum") revolutionary program, but also a och is distinguished not for the fact that it
more or less long list of "immediate de­ frees the revolutionary party from day-to-
mands" or "minimum program" for social day work but because it permits this work
and labor legislation. After the end of the to be carried on indissolubly with the actual
"Third Period" of the Comintern, even the tasks of the revolution."14
Communist parties tended to present im­ Hence, the Transitional Program pro­

8 Origins
claimed, "the Fourth International does not which they strongly favored, was a tactical
discard the program of the old 'minimal' alliance of working-class parties and trade
demands to the degree to which these have union groups—and thus could include Com­
preserved at least part of their vital forceful­ munists, opposition Communists, Social­
ness. . .. But it carries on this day-to-day ists, anarchosyndicalists and trade unions.
work within the framework of the correct, The Popular Front, which Trotsky and the
actual, that is, revolutionary perspective. In­ Trotskyists strongly opposed, was an alli­
sofar as the old, partial, 'minimal' demands ance between working-class parties and
of the masses clash with the destructive and middle-class or "bourgeois" parties.
degrading tendencies of decadent capitalism Opposition to the Popular Front became
. . . the Fourth International advances a sys­ as characteristic a position of Trotskyism as
tem of transitional demands, the essence of did support of the United Front. The theoret­
which is contained in the fact that evermore ical rationale for this contrasting attitude
openly and decisively they w ill be directed toward the two different kinds of alliances
against the very bases of the bourgeois re­ was that though it might at any given mo­
gime. The old 'minimal program' is super­ ment be justified for working-class organiza­
seded by the transitional program, the task tions to join forces against common foes,
of which lies in systematic mobilization of the working class should always maintain
the masses for the proletarian revolution. " ,s its own independence as a class. Therefore
it was absolutely wrong for working-class
parties to join forces with elements of the
Trotskyism and the United Front
"class enemy" to establish popular fronts.
Another characteristic idea put forward by Disputes over popular fronts not only re­
Leon Trotsky and the international move­ mained a matter of contention between
ment which he established has been belief Trotskyism and Stalinism, they also became
in the "united front." Trotsky first advo­ on various occasions a subject of factional
cated this in the early 1930s when he controversy within the ranks of Interna­
strongly argued the necessity of an alliance tional Trotskyism. At various times and in
among the German Social Democratic various places Trotskyist groups d id form
Party, the Communist Party, the opposition alliances with other political elements. Not
Communists, and the trade union move­ infrequently other Trotskyist groups inter­
ments controlled by the Socialists and Com­ preted these alliances (which the elements
munists, to confront the menace of Nazi- forming them regarded as united fronts) as
ism. Subsequently in Spain, France and var­ being popular fronts. Few charges were more
ious other countries, he similarly argued that condemnatory than that of a Trotskyist
the working-class-based parties and the group being a participant in a popular front.
trade union movements should join forces to
confront fascism and right-wing reaction. Of
Trotsky's Defence of the USSR as a
course, the idea of a united front had first
Workers State
been put forward within the ci when Leon
Trotsky was one of its principal leaders. Another theoretical argument which gener­
However, it was subsequently abandoned by ally characterized Trotsky's political posi­
the Comintern during the "Third Period," tion was his insistence that the Soviet
and became one of the principal tactical posi­ Union continued to be a "workers' state."
tions which characterized Trotskyism. However, during and after Trotsky's life
Leon Trotsky and his followers made a there was by no means unanimous agree­
very strong distinction between the United ment among his followers with this po­
Front and the Popular Front. The former, sition.

Origins 9
 One of the publications in which Trotsky view of the worker, this might not seem to
most extensively explored this issue was his be a "proletarian state." He noted:
book The Revolution Betrayed. There, after
The transfer of the factories to the state
recognizing the emergence in the USSR of
changed the situation of the worker only
a new "bureaucratic caste" under Stalin's
juridically. In reality, he is compelled to
leadership, Trotsky tended to deal with the
live in want and work a definite number
issue of the role of that bureaucracy in So­
of hours for a definite wage. Those hopes
viet society only in terms of distribution.
which the worker formerly had placed in
Trotsky clearly recognized the unequal
the party and the trade unions, he trans­
distribution of the social product in favor
ferred after the revolution to the state cre­
of the bureaucracy. He said that "from the
ated by him. But the useful functioning
point of view of property in the means of
of this implement turned out to be lim ­
production, the differences between a Mar­
ited by the level of technique and culture.
shal and a servant girl, the head of a trust
In order to raise this level, the new state
and a day laborer, the son of a people's com­
resorted to the old methods of pressure
missar and a homeless child, seem not to
upon the muscles and nerves of the
exist at all. Nevertheless, the former occupy
worker. There grew up a corps of slave
lordly apartments, enjoy several summer
drivers. The management of industry be­
homes in various parts of the country, have
came superbureaucratic. The workers
the best automobiles at their disposal, and
lost all influence whatever upon the man­
have long ago forgotten how to shine their
agement of the factory. With piecework
own shoes. The latter live in wooden bar­
payment, hard conditions of material ex­
racks often without partitions, lead a half-
istence, lack of free movement, with terri­
hungry existence, and do not shine their
ble police repression penetrating the life
own shoes only because they go barefoot.
of every factory, it is hard indeed for the
To the bureaucrat, this difference does not
worker to feel himself a "free workman,"
seem worthy of attention. To the day la­
In the bureaucracy he sees the manager,
borer, however, it seems, not without rea­
in the state, the employer. Free labor is
son, very essential."16
incompatible with the existence of a bu­
Trotsky did not carry the argument fur­
reaucratic state.18
ther, to the question of the rights of owner­
ship of formally "state" property. He says, However, Trotsky saw only two possible
in dealing with the question "Is the Bureau­ ways for the Soviet system to go: forward
cracy a Ruling Class?" that “ classes are to socialism and communism (which the
characterized by their position in the social Stalinist bureaucracy was hampering), or
system of the economy, and primarily by backward to a "capitalist restoration."
their relation to the means of production. Thus, "two opposite tendencies are growing
In civilized societies, property relations are up out of the depth of the Soviet regime. To
validated by laws. The nationalization of the extent that, in contrast to a decaying
the land, the means of industrial production, capitalism, it develops the productive
transport and exchange, together with the forces, it is preparing the economic basis of
monopoly of foreign trade, constitute the socialism. To the extent that, for the benefit
basis of the Soviet social structure. Through of an upper stratum, it .parries to more and
these relations, established by the proletar­ more extreme expression bourgeois norms
ian revolution, the nature of the Soviet of distribution, it is preparing a capitalist
Union as a proletarian state is for us basi­ restoration. This contrast between forms of
cally defined."17 property and norms of distribution cannot
Trotsky realized that from the point of grow indefinitely. Either the bourgeois

10 Origins
norm must in one form or another spread to not deny that it is something more than
the means of production, or the norms of a bureaucracy. It is in the full sense of the
distribution must be brought into corre­ word, the sole privileged and command­
spondence with the socialist property sys­ ing stratum in the Soviet society.22
tem. . . ." ‘9
Trotsky did not see the possibility of the Further,
rise of a new ruling class. He ruled out the The Soviet bureaucracy has expropriated
possibility of "state capitalism." He says the proletariat politically in order by
that "the term 'state capitalism' originally methods of its own to defend the social
arose to designate all the phenomena which conquests. But the very fact of its appro­
arise when a bourgeois state takes direct priation of political power in a country
charge of the means of transport or of indus­ where the principal means of production
trial enterprises. The very necessity of such are in the hands of the state, creates a new
measures is one of the signs that the produc­ and hitherto unknown relation between
tive forces have outgrown capitalism and the Bureaucracy and the riches of the na­
are bringing it to a partial self-negation in tion. The means of production belong to
practice. But the outworn system along with the state. But the state, so to speak, "be­
its elements of self-negation, continues to longs" to the bureaucracy. . . . If these as
exist as a capitalist system."10 He adds that yet wholly new relations should solidify,
"the first concentration of the means of pro­ become the norm and be legalized,
duction in the hands of the state to occur in whether with or without resistance from
history was achieved by the proletariat with the workers, they would, in the long run,
the methods of social revolution, and not by lead to a complete liquidation of the so­
capitalists with the method of state trust­ cial conquests of the proletarian revolu­
ification. Our brief analysis is sufficient to tion. But to speak of that now is at least
show how absurd are the attempts to iden­ premature.23
tify capitalist state-ism with the Soviet sys­
tem. The former is reactionary, the latter The only way Trotsky foresaw this "liqui­
progressive."2’ dation" happening was by members of the
He rejected the idea that the Soviet bu­ bureaucracy receiving individual titles of
reaucracy was a new "ruling class." ownership in the means of production and
distribution. He says that "the bureaucracy
In its intermediary and regulating func­ has neither stocks nor bonds. It is recruited,
tion, its concern to maintain social ranks, supplemented and renewed in the manner of
and its exploitation of the state apparatus an administrative hierarchy, independently
for personal goals, the Soviet bureaucracy of any special property relations of its own.
is similar to every other bureaucracy, es­ The individual bureaucrat cannot transit to
pecially the fascist. But it is also in a vast his heirs his rights in the exploitation of the
way different. In no other regime has a state apparatus. The bureaucracy enjoys its
bureaucracy ever achieved such a degree privileges under the form of an abuse of
of independence from the dominating power. Its appropriation of a vast share of
class. . . . The Soviet bureaucracy has the national income has the character of
risen above a class which is hardly emerg­ social parasitism. All this makes the posi­
ing from destitution and darkness and has tion of the commanding Soviet stratum in
no tradition of dominion or command . . . the highest degree contradictory, equivocal
the Soviet bureaucracy takes on bourgeois and undignified, notwithstanding the com­
customs without having beside it a na­ pleteness of its power and the smokescreen
tional bourgeoisie. In this sense, we can­ of flattery that conceals it."24

Origins 11
 Trotsky summed up his argument thus: pable of carrying out the mission which
"The October revolution has been betrayed events have placed upon it, we would
by the ruling stratum, but not yet over­ have no alternative but to recognize that
thrown. It has a great power of resistance, the socialist program, based on the inter­
coinciding with the established property re­ nal contradictions of capitalist society,
lations, with the living force of the proletar­ was a Utopia. There would be necessary,
iat, the consciousness of its best elements, naturally, a new "m inim um " program—
the impasse of world capitalism, and the for the defense of the interests of the
inevitability of world revolution."25 slaves of the totalitarian bureaucratic so­
One can only speculate as to whether ciety.26
Trotsky would have continued to maintain
the "workers' state" argument after World Perhaps some indication of how Leon
War II. An article he wrote soon after out­ Trotsky might have felt about the workers
break of the war offers at least some doubt state status of the USSR is given by the fact
that he would have done so. He starts his that his widow, Natalia Sedova, changed her
discussion of the impact of the war on the mind on the subject. In her letter of resigna­
Soviet Union by saying that "if this war tion from the Fourth International in 19 51
provokes, as we firmly believe, the proletar­ she said that "obsessed by old and used-up
ian revolution, it will inevitably lead to the formulas, you continue considering the Sta­
fall of the bureaucracy in the USSR, and linist state as a Workers State. I cannot and
don't wish to follow you in this. . . ."27
the regeneration of Soviet democracy, on an
economic and cultural basis much higher
than that of 1918. In this case, the question
International Trotskyism and the
of whether the Stalinist bureaucracy is a
Workers State Issue After Trotsky
'class' or an excresence in a Workers State,
will be resolved by itself. To all and to every After World War II, Leon Trotsky's more
one it will'be clear that in the course of the orthodox followers reaffirmed their loyalty
development of the international revolu­ to the idea that the Soviet Union was a
tion, the Soviet bureaucracy will not have workers' state. In addition they extended
been more than an episode." the concept to cover all other countries in
However, Trotsky admits that if his opti­ which Communist parties were in power.
mism concerning general world revolution Of course, Trotsky in the 1930s categorized
including the overthrow of the Stalinist bu­ the Stalinist regime as a "degenerated"
reaucracy being a consequence of the war workers' state. His more orthodox followers
proved unjustified, the issue of the nature of after his death continued to use this designa­
the Soviet Union would be quite different. tion, extending it to other Communist re­
gimes which had come to power without
The historical alternative is the follow­ having been put there by the Soviet Army.
ing: either the Stalinist regime is a repug­ For Stalinist regimes installed in Eastern Eu­
nant accident in the process of the trans­ ropean countries after conquest by the Red
formation of the capitalist society into a Army, most of the Trotskyists used the term
socialist society, or the Stalinist regime "deformed workers' states."
is the first stage of a new exploitative soci­ One of the major sources of controversy
ety. If the second prediction proves to be among more orthodox Trotskyists after
correct, the bureaucracy will be con­ 1959 was how to categorize the Castro re­
verted, naturally, into a new exploiting gime in Cuba. The Socialist Workers Party
class. Hard as this second perspective is, of the United States early reached the con­
if the world proletariat really proves inca­ clusion that it was a workers' state—with­

12 Origins
out any qualifying adjective. This descrip­ ized International Trotskyism since its in­
tion was ultimately accepted by the United ception in 1929 did not originate with
Secretariat faction of International Trotsky­ Trotsky. This was the body of ideas which
ism. Other more or less orthodox groups for fall within the definition of Leninism.
long refused to accept the Castro regime as Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin in his more than
a workers' state at all, and when they finally quarter of a century of political activity took
did so tended to regard it also as "deformed." many positions on many things. The ele­
Even before Trotsky's death there devel­ ments of Lenin's thinking which Trotsky
oped a faction within International Trots­ and his followers particularly emphasized
kyism which disagreed with Trotsky on his that they had accepted, however, were his
continued insistence on the Soviet Union's concepts of a vanguard party, democratic
being a workers state. The last great polemic centralism and the dictatorship of the prole­
in which Trotsky engaged was with the fac­ tariat. Lenin's ideas concerning the need for
tion of the Socialist Workers Party led by an elitist revolutionary party were first put
Max Shachtman, James Burnham and Mar­ forward, he originally emphasized, in re­
tin Abem, which denied that the USSR sponse to the oppressive conditions existing
could any longer be regarded as a workers in czarist Russia at the turn of the twentieth
state. Although the "Shachtmanite" split in century. He later converted them into a gen­
1940 in the s w p did not then result in the eral rule, and it became an inherent part
establishment of an organized tendency of the ideology which distinguished the
within International Trotskyism outside of Bolsheviks and later the Communist
the United States which rejected the work­ movement.
ers state designation for Communist Party It was in the pamphlet What Is To Be
regimes, such a development did take place Done! (1902) that Lenin first elaborated the
in the 1 960s. The International Socialist fac­ key features of his theory of a vanguard
tion within organizations in the United party. He argued that "without a revolution­
States, Great Britain, Portugal, and Austra­ ary theory there can be no revolutionary
lia, and individual supporters in various movement.. . . The role of vanguard fighter
other countries, took its place as a recog­ can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided
nized element within International Trots­ by the most advanced theory. . . ."M
kyism. However, although there was agree­ Further, "we have said that there could
ment among the International Socialist not yet be Social Democratic consciousness
group that Communist Party controlled re­ among the workers. It could only be brought
gimes could not be regarded as workers to them from without. The history of all
states, there was considerable disagreement countries shows that the working class, ex­
among them concerning exactly how to de­ clusively by its own effort, is able to develop
fine and categorize those societies. only trade union consciousness, i.e., the
conviction that it is necessary to combine
in unions, fight the employers and strive to
Trotskyism and Leninism
compel the government to pass necessary
The theory of permanent revolution, the labor legislation, etc. The theory of Social­
theory of combined and uneven develop­ ism, however, grew out of the philosophic,
ment, the concept of transitional demands, historical and economic theories that were
advocacy of the united front, and even the elaborated by the educated representatives
concept of the Soviet Union as a "degener­ of the propertied classes, the intellec­
ated workers state" were original ideas put tuals."29
forward by Leon Trotsky. One other ele­ From this analysis Lenin concluded that
ment in the ideology which has character­ "class political consciousness can be

i Origins 13
 brought to the workers only from without. Trotsky adds that "the system of political
. . . " He also argued as a result that "the orga­ substitution proceeds—consciously or un­
nizations of revolutionaries must consist, consciously—from a false 'sophisticated'
first, foremost and mainly of people who understanding of the relations between the
make revolutionary activity their profes­ objective interests of the proletariat and its
sion. . . . In view of this common feature of consciousness . . . " As a consequence, "in
the members of such an organization, all dis­ the internal politics of the party these meth­
tinctions as between workers and intellec­ ods lead . . . to this: the party is replaced by
tuals, and certainly distinctions of trade and the organization of the party, the organiza­
profession, must be utterly obliterated."30 tion by the Central Committee, and finally
Subsequently Lenin added the concept of the Central Committee by the dictator."32
"democratic centralism" to that of the van­ As a consequence of the development of
guard party. In 1 906 he wrote that" criticism this kind of party Trotsky argued that "the
within the limits of the foundations of the dictatorship of the proletariat" would be re­
party program must be completely free . . . placed by "the dictatorship over the prole­
not only at party meetings, but also at tariat." Trotsky added that "under Jacobin-
broader ones. To suppress such criticism or Bolshevik tactics, the whole international
such 'agitation' (for criticism cannot be sep­ proletarian movement would be accused of
arated from agitation) is impossible. The po­ moderatism before the revolutionary tribu­
litical action of the party must be united. nal, and the lion head of Marx would be the
N o 'appeals' are permissible which violate first to fall under the knife of the guil­
the unity of actions which have already been lotine."33
decided upon, neither at open meetings, nor However, on entering the Bolshevik Party
at party meetings, nor in the party press.. .. in August 19x7, Leon Trotsky accepted Le­
The principle of democratic centralism and nin's ideas about the nature of the revolu­
autonomy of local institutions means spe­ tionary party. After Trotsky's exile from the
cifically freedom of criticism, complete and Soviet Union he continued to protest loyalty
everywhere, as long as this does not disrupt to those Leninist notions, and both Trotsky
the unity of action already decided upon— and his followers continued to insist upon
and the intolerability of any criticism un­ their bona fides as Leninists. Indeed, one
dermining or obstructing the unity of action of the most frequently used titles for their
decided on by the party."31 parties and groups has been "Bolshevik-Le­
It was exactly Lenin's ideas about the na­ ninists." Generally they have tended to ar­
ture of a revolutionary party which Trotsky gue that they, and not the Stalinists, are the
had long opposed and vigorously criticized genuine heirs of Lenin.
in the years before he joined the Bolshevik The nature of “ democratic centralism"
Party. In his most famous critique of these has been a frequent subject of controversy
ideas, in Our Political Tasks {1904), he had during the innumerable factional struggles
written that "we wish that our comrades which have characterized International
would not overlook the difference of princi­ Trotskyism. Losing factions in such con­
ple between the two methods of work. . . . tests have almost always accused their op­
This difference, if we reduce it to its basis ponents of having "violated the principles
of principle, has decisive significance in de­ of democratic centralism."
termining the character of all the work of
our party. In the one case we have the con­
Trotskyism and Political Democracy
triving of ideas for the proletariat, the politi­
cal substitution for the proletariat; in the The last issue to note in defining Trotsky­
other, political education of the proletariat, ism as a distinctive ideology or tendency in
its political mobilization." international politics centers on the Trots­

14 Origins
kyists' position with regard to political de­ of factions within the Bolshevik Party as
mocracy. There is conflicting evidence on "temporary" aberrations made necessary by
this question. the Civil War and its aftermath. He wrote
Since the establishment of International that "democracy had been narrowed in pro­
Trotskyism as an identifiable movement, portion as difficulties increased. In the be­
members of that movement have never ginning, the party had wished and hoped to
come to power in any country. As a result, preserve freedom of political struggle within
there is no basis for judgment in terms of the framework of the Soviets. The civil war
their behavior as a ruling party as to their introduced stem amendments into this cal­
belief in and practice of democracy. There culation. The opposition parties were for­
is certain evidence from the period during bidden one after the other. This measure,
which Leon Trotsky himself was one of the obviously in conflict with the spirit of So­
principal leaders of the Soviet revolutionary viet democracy, the leaders of Bolshevism
government. There are also writings of regarded not as a principle, but as an episodic
Trotsky and his supporters on the subject. act of self-defense."
Finally, there is evidence concerning which Trotsky also presented an apologia for the
regimes the Trotskyists support more or less abolition of factions within the Communist
grudgingly. Party of the Soviet Union. "In March 19 2 1,"
Trotsky and Lenin shared the top leader­ he says, "in the days of the Kronstadt revolt,
ship of the Soviet regime from November which attracted into its ranks no small num­
19 17 until at least mid-1922. During that ber of Bolsheviks, the tenth congress of the
period not only was the constituent assem­ party thought it necessary to resort to a pro­
bly which had been elected three weeks after hibition of factions—that is, to transfer the
the Bolshevik seizure of power on Novem­ political regime prevailing in the state to the
ber 7, 19 17, dissolved by the Bolshevik re­ inner life of the ruling party. This forbidding
gime in January 1918, but all other parties of factions was again regarded as an excep­
except the Communist Party were officially tional measure to be abandoned at the first
suppressed, and the existence of factions serious improvement in the situation. At
within the Communist Party itself was out­ the same time, the Central Committee was
lawed. extremely cautious in applying the new law,
So long as Trotsky and his supporters re­ concerning itself most of all lest it lead to a
mained (in their own eyes at least) the "Left strangling of the inner life of the party."34
Opposition" to the Communist Interna­ By the time he wrote The Revolution Be­
tional, they did not question any of these trayed, however, Trotsky was advocating
actions and policies. Once Trotsky, after the the establishment of a rival to the Commu­
victory of the Nazis in Germany, called first nist Party of the Soviet Union. With regard
for a rival Communist Party of Germany, to this, he explained:
then for a dual Soviet Communist Party, and
finally for a Fourth International to compete It is not a question of substituting one
with the Comintern and its national "sec­ ruling clique for another, but of changing
tions," he and his followers began to ques­ the very methods of administering the
tion the monopoly of power in the Soviet economy and guiding the culture of the
Union by the Communist Party and the idea country. Bureaucratic autocracy must
of a single "vanguard" party in revolution­ give place to Soviet democracy. A restora­
ary regimes. tion of the right of criticism, and a genu­
Leon Trotsky dealt with this issue at some ine freedom of elections, are necessary
length in his book The Revolution Betrayed. conditions for the further development of
There he portrayed both the outlawing of the country. This assumes a revival of
opposition parties in the Soviet Union and freedom of Soviet parties, beginning with

Origins 15
 the party of Bolsheviks, and a resurrection "political revolutions" in some of them, vir­
of the trade unions. The bringing of de­ tually all Trotskyist parties or groups have
mocracy into industry means a radical re­ maintained Trotsky's traditional position of
vision of plans in the interests of the toil­ pledging "unqualified support" to those re­
ers. Free discussion of economic problems gimes against all non-Communist govern­
will decrease the overhead expense of bu­ ments or non-Trotskyist internal factions.
reaucratic mistakes and zigzags.35 Another question involved in any discus­
sion of the position of Trotsky and his fol­
In his discussion of the newly introduced lowers with regard to political democracy is
Stalinist constitution of the USSR, Trotsky the continued verbal commitment of virtu­
also discussed the issue of democracy. He ally all elements of the movement to the
argued that under the new constitution "the concept of the "dictatorship of the proletar­
Soviet people will have the right to choose iat." Isaac Deutscher, the biographer of and
their 'representatives' only from among can­ apologist for Trotsky, has summarized
didates whom the central and local leaders Trotsky's thinking on this subject, noting
present to them under the flag of the party. that Trotsky "was in favor of the proletarian
To be sure, during the first period of the dictatorship because he considered it axiom­
Soviet era the Bolshevik party also exercised atic that the landlords, capitalists and slave
a monopoly. But to identify these two phe­ owners would not generally give up their
nomena would be to take appearance for properties and their power without a savage
reality. The prohibition of opposition par­ struggle. Only a dictatorship could save the
ties was a temporary measure dictated by Russian Revolution. But what would be its
conditions of civil war, blockade, interven­ character?"
tion and famine. The ruling party, represent­ Deutscher goes on to answer this question
ing in that period a genuine organization of by saying that "in Trotsky's concept, the
the proletarian vanguard, was living a full- proletarian dictatorship was, or should have
blooded inner life. A struggle of groups and been, a proletarian democracy. This did not
factions to a certain degree replaced the constitute a paradox. One must not forget
struggle of parties. . . . The prohibition of that Trotsky, like other Marxists, was ac­
other parties, from being a temporary evil, customed to describing all bourgeois democ­
has been erected into a principle."36 racies . . . as 'bourgeois dictatorships.' He
After Trotsky's death his followers con­ knew, certainly, that in strictly political and
tinued to argue in favor of the. existence of constitutional terms, these regimes were
more than one party in the Communist Par- not dictatorial or even semi-dictatorial, and
ty-controlled states. However, there still re­ he was quite aware of the liberties the people
mained grounds to question to what degree enjoyed in parliamentary democracies.''''37
they favored a multiparty kind of regime Deutscher continues: "But Trotsky in­
with the full panoply of civil liberties—free sisted on describing the western parliamen­
press, free speech, competing political par­ tary system as a bourgeois dictatorship in
ties and the right of the citizens to petition the broadest sense, as a regime in which,
for the redress of grievances. since it was based on capitalist property,
One aspect of the question was the persis­ guaranteed to the possessing classes eco­
tence of the policy of the Trotskyist parties nomic and social supremacy, and thus polit­
and groups (of virtually all of the competing ical and cultural supremacy. . . . Similar to
factions) of giving ''critical support" to all the bourgeois 'dictatorship/ the proletarian
Communist Party-dominated regimes. A l­ one could be, from the political point of
though frequently criticizing such govern­ view, dictatorial, democratic, could take dif­
ments and even urging, as Trotsky had done, ferent constitutional forms. . . ."38

16 Origins
 Most of the contending factions of the given period of time. Such representation
international Trotskyist movement contin­ however doesn't exclude regional repre­
ued more or less to follow positions with sentation by assemblies of councils on a
regard to political democracy which he elab­ local, regional and national level. Insofar
orated in The Revolution Betrayed and as the possibility of coexistence between
thereafter. Perhaps the most complete state­ representation by councils and parlia­
ment of the movement's position was a long mentary representation, that has never
resolution, "Socialist Democracy and the been debated in our ranks. But many of
Dictatorship of the Proletariat," adopted in us consider that it will not necessarily
principle in 1979 by the Eleventh World always be incompatible, that it is a ques­
Congress of the United Secretariat of the tion which depends on the circum­
Fourth International ( u s e c ), the largest of stances, understanding of course that it
the organized tendencies within Interna­ will be a State in which the capitalist re­
tional Trotskyism. gime has been overthrown. . . . if we are
That document started by proclaiming: intransigent concerning the objective of
revolutionary struggles of our epoch, on
Revolutionary Marxists understand that the strategy and tactics to use, we are in
the working class can only exercise State contrast extremely flexible in terms of
power in state institutions of a different organization at all levels; we are not pris­
type from that of the bourgeois State, that oners of any rigid formula, and certainly
is, institutions founded on workers coun­ not tied to the measures taken in the So­
cils (soviets), sovereign and democrati­ viet Union during the first years of the
cally elected and centralized with their revolution or the imperious necessities of
fundamental characteristics being those the civil war which imposed draconian
that Lenin set forth in State and Revolu­ methods, which however, were never the
tion: election of all functionaries, judges, subject of theorizing by Lenin while he
directors of workers' (or workers' and lived.40
peasants') militia and of all delegates rep­
resenting workers in State institutions; Ernest Mandel, another leading figure in
regular rotation of those elected; limita­ u sec , has also explained the reason for the
tion of their incomes to those of a skilled continued Trotskyist commitment to the
worker; revocability of all those elected soviet form of organization of the post-revo-
at the wish of their electors; joint exercise lutionary state. He traces it to "our commit­
of legislative and executive powers by the ment (which continues that of Trotsky) to
institutions of the soviet type; radical re­ the idea of proletarian revolution, i.e. the
duction of the number of permanent func­ working class (more specifically the indus­
tionaries and growing transfer of adminis­ trial working class) seen as the only poten­
trative function or organs directly made tial social force capable of bringing about a
up of workers.39 classless socialist society, and this in func­
Pierre Frank, one of the principal leaders tion of its specific social (social-economic)
of u s e c , has expanded upon the Trotskyists' characteristics inside capitalist society.
concept of the soviets: This is in direct heritage from Marx and
Engels themselves, and parallel to similar
we are in favor of representation on the concepts developed by Rosa Luxemburg and
basis of "councils" (soviets etc.) because Gramsci. That's why Trotsky—who is the
we think that they are more representa­ author of that concept—stuck during his
tive of direct democracy than parliamen­ whole life to the idea of self-organization of
tary representation renewable only after a the working class, and the idea of workers

Origins 17
 councils ['soviet') power which derives demarcation between the 'bourgeois pro­
therefrom. The [Fourth International) has gram' and the 'reformist' ideology? Will the
remained faithful to the same idea, which is reformist parties also be banned? Will social
probably our most distinctive programmatic democracy be suppressed?"44
conquest."41 A bit later the document sums up the ar­
Recognizing that the socialization of all gument on a multiparty system: "This sig­
means of production and the substitution of nifies that freedom of political organization
planning for the market would constantly must be accorded all those, including pro­
involve decisions about resource allocation, bourgeois elements, who in fact respect the
the u s e c 1979 document states that for this Constitution of the Workers' State, that is,
purpose, "fundamentally, there are only two who are not engaged in violent actions to
mechanisms . . . either bureaucratic choices overturn the power of the workers and col­
imposed on the mass of workers/consumers lective property in the means of pro­
from on high . . . or choices made by the duction."45
mass of the producers themselves, through On the other hand, the u s e c resolution is
the mechanism of democratically central­ also committed to the iiiea of a vanguard
ized workers' power, that is to say, through party: "The lack of homogeneity in the
socialist democracy. These will constitute working class, the unequal development of
the principal subject of political debates and class consciousness in different groups, the
struggles of the socialist democracy, under discontinuity in social and political activity
the dictatorship of the proletariat."42 of many of its components, make indispens­
The United Secretariat document able the separate organization of the most
strongly advocated a multiparty system in conscious and continually active elements
the postrevolutionary period. It argued that of the working class in a vanguard revolu­
"without total liberty to organize political tionary party. That is true with regard to
groups, tendencies and parties, there will the requirements of the class struggle under
not exist the full and entire democratic capitalism. That also applies to the exigen­
rights and liberties of the laboring masses cies of the conquest of power and the prog­
under the dictatorship of the proletariat. By ress of the proletariat on the way to so­
their free vote, the workers and poor peas­ cialism ."46
ants will themselves indicate which parties But the power of the vanguard party is not
they desire to make part of the soviet unlimited. The 1979 document argues:
system."43
The document even argued that parties To avoid all abuse of power by the van­
with reformist and bourgeois ideologies guard party exercising the directing role
should be free to contest soviet elections. in the working class under the dictator­
It asks, "If one says that only parties and ship of the proletariat, the IV Interna­
organizations that are not of bourgeois (or tional will struggle for the following prin­
petty bourgeois?) program or ideology, or ciples: a) the widest internal democracy
those which are not 'engaged in antisocialist in the party itself, with full and entire
or antisoviet propaganda and/or agitation' right to organize tendencies and tolerance
may be legalized, where will the line of de­ of fractions and possibility of public de­
marcation be drawn? Will parties having a bates among them b&fore the congress of
majority of members from the working class the party; b) the widest links and inter­
but at the same time with a bourgeois ideol­ penetration between the party and the
ogy, be banned? How can one square such a working class itself. A revolutionary
position with the concept of free election of vanguard workers party can efficaciously
the councils of workers? What is the line of direct the working class under the dicta­

18 Origins
 torship of the proletariat only if simulta­ still the Bolshevik Tendency of the Secretar­
neously it enjoys the political confidence iat. It was published in November 1982 by
of the majority of the workers and gains the Internationalist Workers' Party (Fourth
the accession to its ranks of the great ma­ International), the Morenoist group in the
jority of the vanguard workers. United States.
Karim took issue with many things in the
The document went on with the list of u s e c resolution. His two most significant
limitations on the vanguard party: objections were to the draft resolution's en­
c) strict suppression of all material privi­ dorsement of "unfettered political free­
leges of the cadres and leaders of the party dom," and its endorsement of full freedom
. . . d) no political or ideological monopoly to organize political parties in the postrevo­
of the vanguard party over political or cul­ lutionary regime.
tural activities. Defense of the multiparty Concerning the issue of unfettered politi­
principle, e) complete separation of the cal freedom, Karim wrote that "it is our posi­
apparatus of the party from that of the tion that neither the systematic repression
state; f) integration of the party in a revo­ of all opposition by the Stalinist bureau­
lutionary international and acceptance of cracy nor the democratist 'unfettered politi­
fraternal international criticism from rev­ cal freedom' of the us majority are correct
olutionary organizations of other coun­ since 'we do not make a fetish of democratic
tries. No control of the International by forms. The protection of the dictatorship
the party or parties in control in one or overrides all other considerations' (Trotsky,
several Workers States.47 1929).. . .The proletariat by means of a revo­
lutionary mobilization and led by the Marx­
Pierre Frank summed up the Trotskyists' ist party, will use whatever means at its
"vanguard party" idea thus: "We are a revo­ disposal to smash the counterrevolution and
lutionary Marxist party, of the vanguard, deepen the revolution without committing
without reformists or centrists, based on itself to any prescribed norms. At any given
democratic centralism. That has nothing to moment it ought to be able to decide in
do with the caricature made of it by the the light of the prevailing conditions and
Stalinists, it is neither a barracks nor a hier­ necessities, which freedoms it is prepared to
archized Church. Its members do not all concede and which it will withdraw. In
have to be professional revolutionaries." other words, there will be 'limited political
Frank added that "we are for a world party, freedom' in accordance with the require­
a revolutionary International based on dem­ ments of the revolutionary dictatorship of
ocratic centralism. International demo­ the proletariat. . . . Only the revolutionary
cratic centralism is not exactly identical masses headed by the Trotskyist party can
with democratic centralism on the national determine the course of action to be taken
level, since the tasks are different for an in terms of the situation at the time, and
International and its national sections."48 there is no written norm or thesis which can
The position on political democracy prescribe action a priori. " 49
adopted by the United Secretariat in 1979 The Morenoist writer also objected to the
clearly did not represent the point of view of absolute endorsement of a pluri-party sys­
all those claiming allegiance to Trotskyism. tem after the revolution. "The multiparty
The more or less official critique of that soviet is a relative norm, not an absolute
position by the Morenoist tendency was put one. In certain cases, a multiparty soviet can
forward by Darioush Karim during the inter­ become a one-party soviet through a dialec­
nal discussion of the 1979 document within tical process. Revolutionary soviets will
u s e c , at a time when the Morenoists were have the right to determine which parties to

Origins 19
recognize, perhaps only one, two, or three this conflict was largely confined to the So­
at any given time. The criterion must be cialist Workers Party of the United States
whether the practice of these parties is revo­ and did not immediately result in a rival to
lutionary or counter-revolutionary. On prin­ the Fourth International, two decades later,
ciple, we are only obliged to recognize revo­ as we have already noted, a faction, the In­
lutionary, not counterrevolutionary parties. ternational Socialists, did develop around
This is the true Trotskyist concept."50 the ideas which the "Shachtmanite" dissi­
It is clear that the broad endorsement of dents of 1939-40 had advocated.
the elementary principles of political de­ Although it was hard to maintain contact
mocracy given by u s e c in 1979 does not among the member groups of the Fourth
have the support all tendencies within Inter­ International during World War II, an Inter­
national Trotskyism. national Conference took place in 1946, and
the Second Congress of the International
met two years later. A Third Congress met
The Splintering of
in 195 x, the last meeting of a united Fourth
International Trotskyism
International.
During the first four years of Trotsky's ef­ During 19 52-53 a major split took place
forts after 1929 to organize an international in the'Fourth International that was never
movement he and his followers regarded completely healed. It resulted in the emer­
themselves as an "opposition" faction of the gence of two groups, the International Secre­
Communist International which was for tariat (is), headed by Michel Pablo (Raptis),
reasons beyond its control temporarily out­ who had been Secretary of the International
side of the formal ranks of the ci. After the since 1946, and the International Commit­
collapse of the German Communist Party tee (ic), centering on the Socialist Workers
in the face of the Nazis in 1933, Trotsky and Party of the United States, and the largest
his supporters declared their objective to be factions of the French and British move­
the establishment of a Fourth International ments.
( f i ) . In September 1 9 3 8 at a conference held After extensive negotiations an attempt
outside of Paris, that Fourth International was made to reunite the International Secre­
was formally declared to exist. tariat and the International Committee. A
Even in the period before the formal estab­ "unity congress/' which was held in 1963,
lishment of the f i there was a great deal brought together most of the parties associ­
of factionalism within the various national ated with the is, and the Socialist Workers
groups adhering to Trotsky's movement. Party and a few other groups from the ic, and
Also, as a reflection of Trotsky's own fre­ resulted in the establishment of the United
quent involvement in these internal strug­ Secretariat of the Fourth International
gles, there developed what might be called ( u s e c ).
"anti-Trotsky" elements within the move­ Full unity was not restored to Interna­
ment. In the 1 930s there were two tiny inter­ tional Trotskyism, however. Most of the
national groups established to challenge his Latin American affiliates of the Interna­
leadership of the Left Opposition. Neither tional Secretariat withdrew from the is and
of these long survived World War II. established their own version of the Fourth
Most of these factional fights were over International under the leadership of the Ar­
tactics rather than basic theoretical con­ gentine, J. Posadas. Remnants of that schis­
cepts. However, in 1939-40 there took place matic group even survived Posadas' death in
the first major struggle over ideology—spe­ r 9 8 i.
cifically over the categorization of the So­ On the other side, the French and British
viet Union as a "workers state." Although sections of the International Committee

20 Origins
continued their own version of the ic, but of East European exiles, led by a Hungarian,
in 1966 an element of the ic broke away. Michel Varga, who had worked very closely
This was the Spartacist League of the United with the French oci. The Varga group had
States, which in the 1970s developed its own small affiliates in Spain, the United States
international faction, which took the some­ and a handful of other countries. It called
what idiosyncratic name international Spar­ itself simply the Fourth International.
tacist tendency (sic). There was one other current in Interna­
In 19 7 1-7 2 the rump International Com­ tional Trotskyism which had never been
mittee further split into two groups. The part of the Fourth International. This was a
British party, headed by Gerry Healy, con­ small group of parties centering on the Lutte
tinued its own version of the ic, while the Ouvriere of France. Lutte Ouvridre had orig­
ic's French Organisation Communiste In- inated as a split from the French Trotskyist
temationaliste, headed by Pierre Lambert, party in the late 1930s, which at that time
set up yet another international group, the opposed establishment of the Fourth Inter­
Organizing Committee for the Reconstruc­ national. Although it never joined the fi , it
tion of the Fourth International, widely considered itself part of the International
known by its French initials— c o r q i . Trotskyist movement, and was the center
This did not end the process of splintering of a group of parties which included organi­
of International Trotskyism. Both the zations in the French Antilles and the
United Secretariat and Healyites, as well as United States.
the c o r q i suffered splits. Although Michel Finally, there were some national organi­
Pablo and his immediate supporters had par­ zations which considered themselves Trots­
ticipated in establishing u s e c , they broke kyist but by the 1980s had no international
away two years later and established an­ affiliation. These included the Militant
other group, the International Revolution­ Group in Great Britain and the Lanka Sama
ary Marxist Tendency. Samaja Party of Sri Lanka.
Then in 1979 most of the Latin American
affiliates of u s e c again broke away from that
Alignment of the Various Tendencies
organization under the leadership of another
of International Trotskyism
Argentine, Nahuel Moreno. After a couple
years of negotiations aimed at the merger of All of the international groups which we
the Moreno group and c o r q i those efforts have mentioned had their origins in the
failed, and the Moreno faction established Fourth International or one of its parties.
their own International Workers League Some of them remained more or less "ortho­
(Fourth International). dox," adhering basically to the ideas which
The Healyite International Committee Trotsky had put forward. Others moved
also suffered a split in the mid-1970s. After more or less drastically away from Trotsky­
the British Workers Revolutionary Party ex­ ist principles as we have outlined them.
pelled its principal trade union leader, Alan The groups which can be regarded as more
Thomett, and his followers, the Thomett or less "orthodox" are the United Secretar­
faction joined with groups in several other iat, the International Workers League
countries to establish the Trotskyist Inter­ (Fourth International), the Thomett faction,
national Liaison Committee. Then in 1985 c o r q i , the Varga Fourth International and

the Healyites suffered still another division the Lutte Ouvriere faction. The other groups
when their central group, that of Britain, have more or less drastically drifted away
was tom into two different organizations. from orthodox Trotskyism.
Meanwhile, a small faction had also bro­ By the mid-1970s Michel Pablo and his
ken away from c o r q i . It centered on a g r o u p followers had ceased to call themselves

Origins 21
 Trotskyists although they still considered Some General
themselves revolutionary Marxists. In con­
trast, the International Socialist tendency Characteristics of
considered itself Trotskyist, although it ba­ International Trotskyism
sically disagreed with Trotsky's labelling of
the USSR as a workers state or the applica­
tion to other Communist Party regimes of
that definition.
Other groups moved much further from
Before undertaking a country-by-country
traditional Trotskyism. The International
and faction-by-faction analysis of Interna­
Committee, led by Gerry Healy, concen­
tional Trotskyism, a few general observa­
trated from the mid-1970s on violent at­
tions on the movement are in order. These
tacks on Socialist Workers Party (U.S.) lead­
involve its extent, nature and perspectives.
ers as having been agents of the g p u and
f b i and developed close relations with the

regime of Colonel Qaddafi, dictator of Libya. Extent of World Trotskyism

The international Spartacist tendency in
It is clear that International Trotskyism has
the early 1980s took a pro-Stalinist stand. It
been a recognizable current in world politics
supported the Soviet invasion of Afghani­
for more than sixty years. It has, or has had,
stan—the only element in International
organizations in about sixty different coun­
Trotskyism to do so—and violently at­
tries in America, Europe, Africa, Asia and
tacked the Solidarity movement in Poland,
Australasia. In some countries these parties
which other Trotskyist factions regarded as
or groups have existed for more than fifty
the kind of "political revolution" they had
years, in others they are of quite recent vin­
always advocated.
tage. In any case, the mere persistence of the
The Posadas version of the Fourth Interna­
movement qualifies it as a serious partici­
tional from its inception adopted the idio­
pant in world politics, and as such worthy
syncratic ideas put forth by its leader. These
of study.
included the belief that out of nuclear war,
•It is also certain that International Trots­
which Posadas argued was inevitable, would
kyism grew substantially in the quarter of a
come the world revolution; a tendency to
century after i960. Ernest Mandel, the prin­
baptize many different regimes in Africa and
cipal post-World War II leader of the Belgian
Asia as "workers states"; and an extremely
Trotskyists, major figure in the United Sec­
exaggerated belief in its own power, and in
retariat, and perhaps the best-known Marx­
the influence of Posadas' ideas in the Com­
ist economist since World War II, has elabo­
munist Party-controlled countries.
rated on this growth:
The fact is that, in spite of its splits (which
are real and regretful), Trotskyism has
constantly grown as an organized ten­
dency, with influence in the organized
labor movement and even in the electoral
field, for the last fifteen to twenty years,
whereas it had stagnated in the period
I 933-I963- This growth is an undeniable
fact, easily to be confirmed by many data.
Electorally, Trotskyist organizations get
between 2. and 3 million votes in the

22 G eaetal Chaiacteristics
 world; they lead large trade unions (or Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, Lutte
have representatives even in top leader­ Ouvriere, the French p c i (Lambertists), the
ships of trade union confederations) in a Militant Group, the Moreno p s t in Argen­
dozen countries. And around fifteen of tina, . . . and the Brazilian groups of Lambert
their organizations have obviously passed and Moreno."2
the stage of "sects" and are taken seri­
ously by workers' public opinion, and
Trotskyism and Contemporary
even the bourgeois press, as forces in the
Stalinism
political life of their countries. . . . Of
these fifteen, eleven are either affiliated Another indication that the Trotskyists are
with or sympathetic to the "official" bi a force of at least some significance in the
( u s e c led); the four others are the Moreno far Left of world politics is the fact that from
organization in Argentina, the Lambert time to time the heirs of Stalin have under­
p c i in France, the Militant group in Brit­ taken to denounce them. Thus in 1984 the
ain, and the Moreno/Lambert groups' af­ Novosti Press Agency of Moscow put out a
filiates in Brazil {where, however, the f i pamphlet by one Nikolai Vasetsky, entitled
section is the strongest). Together they Trotskyism Today: Whose Interests Does It
have a big influence in the PT, had many Servef This somewhat curious document,
mayors elected, and lead trade unions which succeeds in discussing at some length
counting several hundreds of thousands the struggle for power in the Soviet Commu­
of members. I leave out the British swp nist Party in the 1920s without once men­
and the Sri Lanka l s s p as having gone tioning the name of Stalin, starts out by
beyond the limits of "Trotskyism ." If you conceding that "the Fourth International ex­
want to include them, the above figure is ists and, what is more, it has broadened its
raised to 17. sphere of operations since the end of the
Of course, there are many small-sized Second World War, having set up national
Trotskyist organizations which are no­ branches in virtually every capitalist
where near that stage. But the fact that country."3
the growth described has occurred in prac­ Vasetsky argues that "today, as many de­
tically all continents (with the exception cades ago, the Trotskyites, with their 'ultra
of Africa, and even there it will occur revolutionary' talk (in this they can be said
soon) confirms that it is an objective so­ to be consistent), are hindering the emer­
cial phenomenon. Even if one regrets it, gence of true revolutionary consciousness
or says it is "bad," one has still to explain among the masses, whose anti-capitalist
it, especially as it coincides with the con­ protest can thus be channeled into the dead
tinuous decline of the (Communist par­ end of pseudo-revolutionism. Trotskyism
ties) in large parts of the world, and the should be discussed today because working
near-demise of the Maoist organizations. people, especially those who are young, who
I would estimate the growth to be tenfold have no experience of class struggle, should
between 1948-53 and today.1 have a realistic idea of the complexities in­
volved in a socialist revolution and of the
Elsewhere Mandel has listed the fifteen difficulties which are inevitably encoun­
Trotskyist parties which "at least in func­ tered by fights for social justice and so­
tion of their organizational strength and cialism ."4
place in the political (trade union) life of The Russian writer argues at some length
their respective countries have passed the against the theory of the permanent revolu­
status of sects." These are "the f i sections tion, contrasting it with the supposed ideas
of France, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, of Lenin, and develops the sixty-year-old

General Characteristics 23
 Stalinist theme that Trotsky had always In his book on the Right Opposition, the
stood in opposition to Lenin, even when author has suggested that a major explana­
serving with him in the leadership of the tion for the persistence of the Left Opposi­
Bolshevik government. It virtually denied tion of the 1930s, in contrast to the disap­
Trotsky any role in bringing about the Bol­ pearance of the Right Opposition of that
shevik coup of November 7, 19 17. same period, is to be found in the fact that
Also, in time-tested fashion, Mr. Vasetsky Leon Trotsky had eleven years outside the
pictures the Trotskyists as agents of the Soviet Union at the end of his life, whereas
"class enemy." "This makes one wonder," the man around whom the Right Opposition
he remarks, "whom Trotskyism serves to­ was organized, Nikolai Bukharin, did not.
day, why it is receiving support from the During his last period of exile, Leon
very quarters against which, if we are to Trotsky had an opportunity to develop and
believe its leaders, 'a most resolute struggle' publish a body of doctrine which became
must be waged. The answer, first of all, is the ideological platform of the Trotskyist
that the ruling elite in the West in its fight movement. He also had the chance to build
against the revolutionary movement led by up a corps of devoted followers, more or less
Communists does not rely on its own forces thoroughly imbued with his ideas, who were
alone. It is fully aware that today it is power­ able to carry on after his death.
less to influence the broad masses politi­ We have sketched the rudiments of Trots­
cally unless it appears to accept some ele­ ky's doctrine in the previous chapter. Until
ments {how far it should go in this depends the 1980s none of those who claimed to be
on circumstances) of petty-bourgeois ideol- Trotsky's followers seriously challenged
ogy, of petty-bourgeois revolutionism gener­ any element of this doctrine, with the nota­
ally, and of its Trotskyist variety in par­ ble exception of his interpretation of the
ticular."5 nature of the Soviet Union, from which first
Perhaps .one reason for such a renewed the Shachtmanites in the United States and
attack on International Trotskyism by the then the International Socialist Tendency
Soviet heirs of Stalin is the fact that younger dissented. Only in the early 1980s did the
generations of the inheritors of the tradition Socialist Workers parties of the United
of Stalin no longer universally repel the States and Australia begin to diverge from
Trotskyists. As we shall note in various seg­ the Theory of Permanent Revolution, per­
ments of this book, by the late 1970s and haps the most fundamental element of
1980s Stalinist parties in Spain, Peru, and a Trotsky's dogma. The Australian Party fi­
few other countries were actually engaging nally withdrew from the ranks of Interna­
in at least limited collaboration with local tional Trotskyism altogether.
Trotskyist organi2ations. However, loyal adherence to the ideas put
forward by Trotsky in the 1930s led to at
least two other characteristics of the move­
Leon Trotsky and International
ment. These were its failure for a consider­
Trotskyism
able time to develop new concepts about a
Certainly one explanation for the persis­ world which had drastically changed since
tence and growth of International Trots­ Trotsky put forth his interpretation of it,
kyism is the man who founded the move­ and a tendency towards ..endless exegesis.
ment and gave it its name. But Trotsky has Natalia Sedova Trotsky herself com­
also been responsible for some of the major mented on the first of these characteristics
weaknesses of International Trotskyism, of International Trotskyism. In her letter of
particularly for its tendency to split into resignation from the Fourth International,
many competing groups and tendencies. in 19 51, she accused the leaders of the fi

24 General Characteristics
with being "obsessed by old and outlived and so thoroughgoing that what was left
formulas."6 of it in the form of the Trotskyist move­
Like all dogmatic movements, the Trots­ ment simply amounted to the fact—pure
kyists have engaged interminably in exege­ and simple—that Trotsky was there alone
sis, that is, the appeal to authority. For the as the leader, and the others were in com­
Trotskyists, the ultimate appeal is to Leon parison—all of them—rank and filers,
Trotsky himself (and to a less degree, to Le­ with very little ability to find their way
nin). The voluminous writings of The Old independently in political and theoretical
Man seem to contain materials which can problems.7
be used to explain almost any turn of events
even half a century after his death. Particu­ Max Shachtman also commented on an­
larly in their interminable internal contro­ other aspect of Trotsky's leadership of his
versies, the various factions find in Trots­ movement, one which helps to explain the
ky's works documentation to prove the tendency toward factionalism which has
heretical and schismatic nature of their ad­ been such a marked characteristic of Inter­
national Trotskyism since its inception.
versaries.
During his lifetime, Trotsky's primacy in He had the habit or the manner—call it
his own movement was virtually absolute. what you will—that I find very wide­
Max Shachtman once commented: spread, especially among the Russian
Communists, of firmly supporting and
I don't think there was ever a movement defending a follower and a fellow-thinker
in which the authority of the leader—not against all criticisms and attacks up to
authority that was exacted from the the point where there was a break. As
membership or imposed on the member­ soon as a break occurred or a significant
ship—but which was voluntarily and en­ difference of opinion, and that difference
thusiastically accepted by the member­ of opinion could not be resolved very rap­
ship—was as great as that which Trotsky idly, it seemed to me that he had a ten­
had in the Trotskyist movement. Be­ dency not only to start denouncing the
tween Trotsky at the very top and the dissidents for what they considered the
most prominent of his followers, there wrongness of his position, but to go back
was an immense gap. Trotsky felt that he into their political biography for years and
was the last remaining representative of decades before to show that they always
Marxist internationalism, or Bolshevism, had the tendency to be on the wrong side;
as he called it, and due to the exhaustion that their mistake was not something
or destruction of all the other of his con­ new; it was not something isolated; their
temporaries, he was the only one, and in whole path had prepared them for this
a certain sense there's absolutely no ques­ mistake. And if the polemic would de­
tion about that. He was the link between velop further, it would reach the point of
yesterday and tomorrow, and there was the statement, "Well, he never was much
no one of sufficient calibre who could, so good in the first place."8
to speak, share the lineage with him more
or less equally. . . . We shall see this technique applied by
In the Trotskyist movement there was Trotsky in such cases as Van Overstraeten
Trotsky and no equals. I don't mean this and Vereeken in Belgium, Sneevliet in The
in the sense that he would not stand for Netherlands, Alfred Rosmer, Naville, and
anyone sharing his leadership. It was sim­ Raymond Molinier in France, and Max
ply a matter that the devastation of the Shachtman himself in the United States.
Communist movement was so extensive Long after Trotsky's death, his followers

General Characteristics 25
 were frequently to use the same approach his death. This attitude was clear in the pre­
toward one another in their internecine dictions of all-out socialist revolution in Eu­
quarrels. rope during and immediately after World
Albert Glotzer has elaborated on another War II. They were certainly a fundamental
aspect of Trotsky's role in the movement. element in the Pabloite orientation of the
Commenting on his own first visit to see 1950s. They led the Trotskyists for long to
Trotsky late in 19 31, Glotzer observes, "It deny the reality of the postwar economic
did occur to me then that Trotsky . . . was prosperity, and then when it began to fade to
not merely the ideological founder and bring them to predict immediate worldwide
leader of our movement, whose political catastrophe for the capitalist system.
conceptions, and the programs emanating
from them, but he was also a vast world
Sectarianism and Schism
center to whom came great amounts of liter­
ature, papers, magazines, and correspon­ As we have noted, Ernest Mandel has
dence from all the organizations, small pointed out that a few of the national Trots­
groups, all factions in the international orga­ kyist groups existing in the 1980s became
nizations, and hundreds of individuals. The large enough to begin to be a factor of some
pressure on him from all sides, intellectual, appreciable significance in the left-wing pol­
political, organizational and personal is hard itics of their respective nations. In the past,
to measure, the pressures of it being visible the Chilean Izquierda Comunista and the
to an observer. He responded to all of it, Vietnamese Trotskyists of the 1930s, the
participated in the problems of all the orga­ Bolivian Partido Obrero Revolucionario for
nizations, far more than was required or a short period in the 1950s, and the Lanka
than he should have, even in the trivia of Sama Samaja for at least twenty years after
factional conflict. At the same time, he World War II were in a similar situation.
wrote voluminously, most of it at a high For the most part, however, the Trotskyist
intellectual and theoretical level."9 In this parties and groups have remained very small
volume, we shall have occasion to note nu­ and have been what is probably best charac­
merous cases in which one might judge that terized as "political sects." Although sup­
The Old Man got involved "more than he posedly political parties whose goal was po­
should have" in the internecine quarrels litical power, they have more often than not
among his followers in various countries. been much more concerned with being "cor­
The overwhelming domination of Trots­ rect" than with developing a political base
ky's ideas over the movement that bears his which might bring them political power.
name continued for half a century after his The one party which actually obtained posi­
death. The "sacred texts" of the movement tions in a cabinet, the Lanka Sama Samaja
were still Trotsky's major writings, particu­ Party of Ceylon, was read out of the Interna­
larly the 1938 "Transitional Program" and tional Trotskyist movement for doing so.
the resolutions of the first four congresses The sectarianism of the Trotskyists had
of the Communist International which he undoubtedly been intensified by the
himself had proclaimed to be the ideological smallness of their organizations. With little
basis of the movement—and which in fact ability in the foreseeable future of coming
were to a large degree written by him. to power, or even of gaming an audible voice
Both the resolutions of the early con­ in national politics or influence in the orga­
gresses of the Comintern and Trotsky's own nized labor movement, they have been
writings of the 1930s reflected a kind of "ca- forced back upon themselves, with satisfac­
tastrophism" and imminence of world up­ tion coming from the purity and "correct­
heaval which remained a part of the intellec­ ness" of their doctrine rather than from the
tual baggage of his followers for long after possibility of more material rewards. This

26 General Characteristics
attitude is illustrated by the constant reiter­ doctrinal differences which separated the
ation by both national and international majority of the United Secretariat, the Lam-
Trotskyist groups of the notion that Trots­ bertist c o r q i a n d the Moreno version of the
kyism had the "only correct program" for Fourth International were minute compared
world revolution in spite of the fact that to their agreement on the broad outlines of
nowhere had the Trotskyists succeeded in the nature of International Trotskyism.
leading any specific revolution. When I broached this subject to some of the
These same factors have tended to inten­ people of the three groups, I was assured that
sify personalism among Trotskyists. With "historical differences" made their reunifi­
at most a few hundred members in the great cation in the foreseeable future highly un­
majority of cases, the influence upon them likely.
of more or less charismatic and strong-
willed individuals has inevitably been more
The Question of "Entrism"
intense (and sometimes more devastating)
than would be the case in larger and less Some of the sources of dissidence within the
sectarian kinds of organizations. ranks of the various Trotskyist groups and
In many cases groups of intensely loyal within the international movement as a
followers formed around leaders of particu­ whole have been disagreements over strat­
lar Trotskyist groups. This was certainly the egy and tactics. Most fertile of all as a source
case with George Vereeken in Belgium and of discord has been the question of "en­
with both James Cannon and Max Shacht­ trism."
man in the United States (although when Undoubtedly, the aspiration of all Trots­
the Shachtmanites entered the Socialist kyist groups has been to become "m ass"
Party in the late 1950s I was surprised to parties, able to lead the working class and
discover that their ranks contained both its allies to revolutionary victory. With the
strongly pro-Shachtman Shachtmanites and reality that most of them remained small if
intensely anti-Shachtman Shachtmanites). not tiny organizations, however, they have
Intense loyalty also was true of Origlass in almost all been faced at one time or another
Australia, Michel Pablo (in France and with the "short-run" tactic of trying to work
Greece), and Posadas and his followers in within either the Socialist or Communist
various countries. party of their respective countries. Of
In some instances a veritable "cult of per­ course, Trotsky himself recommended this
sonality" was developed around particular tactic in the mid-1930s, and it was carried
leaders who would be followed by groups of out with varying success in France, Belgium,
devoutly loyal supporters no matter what Great Britain, the United States, India, and
vagaries of doctrine or action they might Australia, among other countries. But the
undertake. This was notoriously the case issue did not die with Trotsky. The Interna­
with Gerry Healy in Great Britain and J. tional Secretariat insisted on its British af­
Posadas in Argentina and other Latin Ameri­ filiate entering the Labor Party right after
can countries. World War II, and the Fourth International
All of these factors— smallness of num­ expelled the majority of its French affiliate
bers, preoccupation with doctrinal purity, when that group did not wholeheartedly ac­
and intense personal rivalries—help explain cept the entrist tactic in 195a. Subsequently
International Trotskyism's tendency to­ the entrist tactic was used in a variety of
ward schism. other nations. These include Ireland, Spain,
To an outsider the reason for a continua­ Denmark, Iceland, Italy, West Germany and
tion of long-standing divisions is by no several other countries, where the Trotsky­
means always clear. In the early 1980s, for ist groups entered Socialist parties or dissi­
instance, it seemed to the author that the dent Communist groups.

General Characteristics 27
 In at least two instances the entrist tactic Trotskyists was that of the Bolshevik Revo­
was converted into a strategy. This has cer­ lution of November 19x7, of which their
tainly been the case with the Militant Ten­ leader had been the principal organizer. We
dency in Great Britain, which adopted the shall note the tendency of Trotsky himself
position that long-term "deep entry" into to judge the Spanish events before and dur­
the Labor Party was the only feasible way to ing the Civil War through that prism. For
build up a mass following. On an interna­ two decades after his death his followers
tional scale entrism was converted from a continued to have the same angle of vision.
tactic into a strategy when Michel Pablo, This viewpoint was quite understandable
the Secretary of the Fourth International, in the case of Leon Trotsky himself, given
put forth in 19 5 1-5 2 the notion of "entry the major role he had played in the events
sui generis" for all affiliates of the Interna­ of 19 17. It made a good deal less sense with
tional, with each group entering either the regard to his followers after his death, who
Socialist or Communist Party depending on not infrequently had to make quite far­
which had the wider working-class support. fetched analogies between events transpir­
Pablo saw this as a long range operation ing in their own countries and those that
made necessary by an impending Third had taken place under very different circum'
World War and the lack of time needed to stances in Petrograd and Moscow many
convert the Trotskyist propaganda groups years earlier.
into real mass parties. He even suggested However, starting in the 1960s various
that this entrism might be a matter of centu­ elements in International Trotskyism began
ry-long duration. to conceive of other models of successful
Of course entrism (as well as reversing the revolution. In this evolution of their think­
process) was seldom carried forward with­ ing, the Castro experience in Cuba was of
out violent discussion and often a split in particularly great importance. The Castro
the Trotskyist ranks. In the 1930s Hugo Revolution was very hard to square with the
Oehler led a split from the Workers Party of teachings and experience of Lenin and Trots­
the United States against the decision to ky in 19 17 and thereafter. The Cuban Revo­
enter the Socialist Party; Georges Vereeken lution became Marxist-Leninist consider­
in Belgium and Pierre Naville in France (for ably after it had achieved success by taking
a while) headed schisms over the same issue power. Furthermore, the working class had
in those national Trotskyite groups. played at best a very minor role. Also the
In the early 1950s a division of the whole revolutionary party came into existence sev­
Fourth International was provoked by Pab­ eral years after the revolution. All of these
lo's insistence on "entrism sui generis" for facts were in plain contradiction with the
virtually all of the h ' s affiliates. That split teachings of both Lenin and Trotsky.
was never totally repaired, efforts to reunify Different factions of International Trots­
the International resulting rather in further kyism reacted differently to the Cuban phe­
schisms in both of the factions. nomenon. The Socialist Workers Party of
The entrism issue continued to be a live the United States was the first to issue cre­
one in a number of the national Trotskyist dentials of a full-fledged "workers state" to
groups fifty years or more after Leon Trotsky the Castro regime, even before that regime
had first proposed the tactic to his followers. had organized a revolutionary party. As we
shall see, after most of the major figures of
the first and second generation leadership of
International Trotskyism's
the s w p passed from power it was virtually
Revolutionary Models
converted from a Trotskyist into a Fidelista
During Trotsky's lifetime and for twenty party.
years thereafter the model of virtually all After establishment of the United Secre­

28 General Characteristics
tariat, that body more or less reluctantly trial capitalist countries, the"political" rev­
went along with the s w p ' s baptism of the olution in the various "workers states," and
Castro regime as a workers' state. Other fac­ the "colonial and semi-colonial" revolution
tions of the movement showed much hesita­ in the so-called Third World, priority being
tion in doing so, and even by the 1980s the given to the last of these.
Healyites were still denying this categoriza­
tion to the Cuban regime.
The Russian Question
The Castro model influenced the United
Secretariat in still another way. It largely One of the most persistent issues of debate
inspired the turn of u s e c in the 1970s to­ among those considering themselves to a
wards full endorsement of guerrilla war, at greater or less degree to be Trotskyists has
least in the developing countries, as virtu­ been that of "the nature of the Soviet
ally the only path to revolution there. Inter­ Union." In the 1930s Leon Trotsky charac­
estingly enough, the s w p resisted this, the terized the USSR as being a "degenerated
official u s e c position, for a decade. workers state," so degenerated because of
Events of the later 1960s pushed much its domination by a bureaucracy and its total
of International Trotskyism—particularly lack of internal democracy, but nonetheless
u s e c —far from the orthodox path of revolu­ a "workers' state" because of its mainte­
tion taught by Leon Trotsky. The Vietnam nance of government ownership of the
War and the "insurrection" of 1968 (particu­ means of production, the state monopoly of
larly in France) were the two most impor­ foreign trade, and substitution of the Plan
tant factors which led to these "deviations." for the market. He called for "unconditional
As a result of them, u s e c Trotskyites devel­ support" for the Soviet Union against all
oped for a time quite different notions con­ outside enemies and against any internal
cerning the pivotal Tole of the working class attempts to restore capitalism, although
in the revolution in the highly industrial­ after 1933 calling also for a "political revolu­
ized states, and on a world scale the central tion" against the Stalinist bureaucracy.
position of those highly industrialized na­ Subsequent to World War II the Trotsky­
tions as the principal center of world revo­ ists faced new complications on this issue
lution. with the appearance of Communist regimes
With regard to the internal situation in in Eastern Europe, the Titoite dissidence,
the highly industrialized countries both the and the advent of the Chinese Communist
majority of u s e c and its minority led by the regime. After first denying that anything
swp of the United States professed to see the fundamental had transpired in Eastern Eu­
emergence of new revolutionary elements, rope, the Fourth International finally pro­
including the student youth, militant femi­ claimed those countries to be "deformed
nists and racial minorities, which were go­ workers states," using the same arguments
ing to spearhead the overthrow of capital­ that Trotsky had first used about the USSR.
ism. There is an almost total disappearance It was over this issue (and the continued
of any emphasis on the revolutionary role of labeling of the USSR a "degenerated workers
the proletariat in the Socialist Workers state") that Natalia Sedova Trotsky broke
Party program of the early 1970s. Only sev­ with the Fourth International.
eral years later did u s e c adopt the "turn The maintenance of this position by the
towards industry," reemphasizing the role great majority of International Trotskyists
of the urban working class. has involved the movement in certain logi­
On a world scale u s e c also adopted a dif­ cal difficulties. On the one hand, it meant
ferent position during the 1960s and 1970s. that they had to ignore completely Trotsky's
World revolution was seen as breaking down argument at the outset of the Second World
into three elements: that in the old indus­ War that if the Stalinist regime was not over-

1
1 General Characteristics 29
 thrown as a consequence of that conflict, he international revolution. The origins of this
and his followers would have to face the fact position go back to Trotsky's disagreement
that "the alternative is the following: either with Stalin over the latter's notion of "build­
the Stalinist regime is a repugnant accident ing socialism in one country," and Trotsky's
in the process of the transformation of the insistence on the necessity for continued
capitalist society into a socialist society, or revolutionary activity outside of the USSR.
the Stalinist regime is the first stage of a new In the 1930s Trotsky argued that Stalin's
exploitative society. If the second prediction regime had converted the Communist Inter­
proves to be correct, the bureaucracy will be national into a tool of Soviet national for­
converted, naturally, into a new exploiting eign policy rather than keeping it an in­
class."10 strument of international revolution. The
But the Trotskyists' continued classifica­ Comintern's function, according to Trots­
tion of the Stalinist-dominated regimes as ky, had been that of defending the continued
"workers states," however "degenerated" control over the USSR by the Stalinist bu­
and "deformed," forced them into an almost reaucracy, and where that objective came
"suicidal" position. They found themselves into conflict with revolutionary possibili­
giving "unconditional support" (at least in ties outside of the borders of the Soviet
struggles or possible struggles against out­ Union those possibilities would be sacri­
side opponents) to regimes which quite liter­ ficed. Hence the stance of Stalin and his
ally killed all Trotskyists. This was the case followers was essentially reactionary ac­
with the Soviet Union itself, as well as with cording to Trotsky.
the countries of Eastern Europe, China and Trotsky's followers had no problem with
Vietnam. A partial exception is the regime applying this argument during the latter part
of Fidel Castro, which merely jailed all iden­ of World War II when, in Western Europe at
tifiable Cuban Trotskyists. least, Stalin's influence over the Commu­
Different elements of International Trots­ nist parties of the area was clearly exercised
kyism have disagreed on the "workers to thwart any possible revolution rather
state" issue, at least insofar as different na­ than to encourage it. However, belief in the
tional regimes were concerned. We have inherently reactionary nature of Stalinism
noted the hesitance of some groups to anoint impeded the Trotskyists' assessment of
the Castro regime, and others have had simi­ what transpired in Eastern Europe after the
lar reticence about the Sandinista govern­ war. Most of them resisted for several years
ment of Nicaragua. At the opposite extreme acceptance of the idea that the Stalinists had
J. Posadas during the 1960s and 1970s gave in fact brought about revolutions in those
the "workers state" categorization to a wide countries and had established "workers
variety of regimes, particularly in Africa and states" {according to Leon Trotsky's classi­
the Middle East, which were not regarded cal formulation), however "deformed."
by other elements of International Trots­ Conflict over this problem was one of the
kyism to be entitled to it. factors contributing to the split in the
Fourth International in the early 1950s. M i­
chel Pablo's argument that in spite of their
Trotskyism and the Revolutionary
previous historical role and in spite even of
Role of Stalinism
their own wishes, the Stalinists would in
Related to their problems of continuing to the future be forced by "pressure of the
define Stalinist regimes as "workers states" masses" to assume a revolutionary role, was
has been the traditional position of Leon rejected by substantial parts of the f i . In
Trotsky that the Stalinist movement was subsequent decades International Trotsky­
seeking to hamper the development of the ism continued to be haunted by the fact that

30 General Characteristics
 in spite of their supposedly "reactionary" The Morenoists and the Lambertist ten­
role parties in the Stalinist tradition did es­ dency stuck most closely to the original po­
tablish regimes which most elements in In­ sitions of Trotsky. They accepted the fact
ternational Trotskyism sooner or later came that bona fide revolutions had taken place in
around to recognizing as "workers states." the countries controlled by Stalinist parties
Furthermore, in other instances revolutions but continued to insist strongly on the "de­
which did not begin as Stalinist ended up generated" or "deformed" nature of those
by aligning themselves with the USSR and "workers' states" and the need for political
proclaiming themselves to be "socialist." revolutions to remove the "bureaucracies"
At least in the case of the Castro regime which had perverted those revolutions.
most groups accepted that it was a "workers' The majority of u s e c , particularly its Eu­
state/' although they did not generally do ropean leaders, went furthest in delineating
so in the case of Ethiopia. Meanwhile, no the deficiencies of the Stalinist-controlled
revolution anywhere aligned itself with any states and in outlining the nature of the "po­
faction of International Trotskyism. litical revolution" which was required in
Different elements in the international them. Of all the elements of International
Trotskyist movement handled this quan­ Trotskyism it was by the early 1980s the
dary in different ways. At one extreme, in group most clearly on record in support of
the early 1980s the Socialist Workers parties political democracy, with a multi-party sys­
of the United States and Australia, together tem and the full panopoly of civil liberties
with small u s e c groups in other countries as being the real objective which, after the
associated with one or the other of them, revolutionary transformation of the econ­
went the whole distance in ideological omy and society, the Trotskyist movement
terms and repudiated the basic theoretical was seeking.
positions of Trotskyism. The Australians Finally, the International Socialist Ten­
were most explicit in reassessing their posi­ dency went furthest from the original ideo­
tion with regard to the Marxist-Leninist logical position of Trotsky with regard to
bona fides of Stalinist revolutionary re­ the "workers state" definition of the USSR
gimes, particularly in the Indochina area, at by repudiating the idea that the Stalinist-
the same time arguing that u s e c put "too controlled regimes were in any sense of the
much emphasis" on the need for a political term "workers states." Although not agree­
revolution in the Stalinist-controlled coun­ ing among themselves whether those re­
tries. Logical consistency led the Australian gimes were "state capitalist" or "bureau­
s w p , once it had fully accepted the revolu­ cratic collectivist," they agreed that they
tionary nature of the Stalinist regimes, to had nothing in common with the kind of
abandon International Trotskyism alto­ revolution and regimes for which Interna­
gether. tional Trotskyism had always fought.
The international Spartacist tendency
(sic) did not go as far as the two s w p ' s in
Present State and Prospects of
formally changing its ideology, it went even
Trotskyism
further in its endorsement of virtually ev­
erything the Soviet regime did. This attitude The Trotskyist movement has expanded
was reflected in its enthusiastic endorse­ steadily since the early 1960s, During Trots­
ment of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, ky's life it had affiliated parties or groups
and its violent campaign against Polish Soli­ principally in North America and Europe,
darity and its strong endorsement of the sup­ except for a handful in Latin America, and
pression of that independent labor group by those in China and Vietnam. By the mid-
the Polish Stalinist regime. 1980s it had affiliates in most American and

General Characteristics 31
European countries not controlled by Stalin­ Albanian Trotskyism
ist parties, as well as in several African and
Asian nations and in Australasia.
As of the end of the 1980s the Trotskyists
have never come to power in any country.
Although International Trotskyism does
not enjoy the support of a well established Albania before World War II was—and today
regime, as did the heirs of Stalinism, the still is—the most backward country of Eu­
persistence of the movement in a wide vari­ rope, economically, socially and culturally.
ety of countries together with the instability Until 1938 it was run by King Zog, "as
of the political life of most of the world's anachronistic as an emperor of China/'1 and
nations means that the possibility that a in that year was overrun and annexed by
Trotskyist party might come to power in the Mussolini's Italy.
foreseeable future can not be totally ruled In spite of its backwardness Albania con­
out. tained three small groups of Communists at
the outbreak of World War II. One of these,
centered in the town of Koritza, had actually
been founded under the leadership of Lazar
Fundo in Moscow in 1928 under the name
Albanian Communist Group. Its later most
famous member was Enver Hoxha. A second
group was based in Scutari. A third was the
Youth Group, which had broken away from
the Koritza group and had local nuclei in
Tirana, Argirocastro, and particularly Va-
lona. Each of these groups had perhaps three
hundred members.2
In addition to these Stalinist elements
there also existed a small Trotskyist faction,
with perhaps ten members, headed by Aris­
tide Quendra. Rene Dazy has said of it that
"it disappeared in the torment of the war
and the occupation without anyone ever
knowing what had become of it, and appar­
ently it played no role."3
The only Communist element which
seems to have had any degree of Marxist
education and sophistication was the Youth
Group. They reportedly had translated the
principal works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and
those of Trotsky as well.4
Soon after the entry of the Soviet Union
into the war in 1941 the Scutari and Youth
groups sought to bring about the establish­
ment of a national Communist Party, which
had not existed until that time. In the face
of the reticence of the Koritza group to take
such a step the other two appealed for help

32 Albania
to the Yugoslav Communists. Miladin Po- las, and had brought many of the guerrilla
povic and Duzane Mongocha were deputed leaders there into the party in the first place.
for that purpose and succeeded in bringing However, before the year 1943 was over the
about a conference in Tirana in November national leadership of the party had suc­
1941. The Yugoslavs were apparently un­ ceeded by ruse and force in depriving the
happy about the aggressiveness of the Youth Youth group of their control over the guerril­
representatives at that meeting. As a conse­ las in the Valona region.8As a consequence,
quence when the Albanians agreed to allow Djepi, the principal surviving leader of the
Popovic and Mongocha to name the leader­ Youth element, fled to the West, first to
ship of the new Albanian Communist Party Italy and then to France, where—since those
the Yugoslavs chose the principal figures of parties knew little or nothing about the in­
the Koritza and Scutari groups, but only two ternal feuds in the Albanian party—he was
rank and filers from among the Youth. They helped by local Communists. He finally
also named Enver Hoxha "provisional" ended up with a job in a factory in the Paris
General Secretary—a post he kept until his region. There he got to know two Trotskyist
death more than forty years later.5 workers who gave him La Verite to read.
The Youth element continued to be a cen­ Djepi discovered that La VeritA had the
ter of dissidence within the Albanian Com­ same kind of criticisms of Stalinist leader­
munist Party. Instead of agreeing with the ship that he himself had developed while in
"national unity" line which the party Albania and subsequently. So, as he said, "I
adopted in its growing struggle against the made contact with the Trotskyists. I talked
Italian occupation they urged that the party at length with one of them, Pierre Frank,
foster the formation of workers and peasants and I discovered that I had really been a
soviets. They also protested against the "au­ Trotskyist as the Stalinists had claimed in
thoritarianism" of the party's leadership.6 Albania."9
The showdown between the Youth lead­ This was in 19 5 r . The Albanian Stalinists,
ers and the heads of the party came in 1943. who by then controlled their country and
Early in that year the two principal figures its Embassy in Paris, had not finished with
in the Youth faction, Anastase Loula and Djepi. In that same year several attempts
Sadik Premtaj (more generally known as were organized by the Embassy to assassi­
Djepi), were called from the guerrilla front nate him in Paris. None of these succeeded,
of Valona to Tirana to present a "self-criti­ and as Ren6 Dazy has commented, "for
cism" to the Political Bureau of the party. whatever reason, it seems that they re­
The apparent result was their expulsion nounced the idea of liquidating him ," and
from the party, although they were invited in 19 81 Djepi was still alive.10
to continue to cooperate with it in the un­ There is no indication that Djepi or any­
derground and guerrilla activities.7 Unbe­ one else formed any kind of organization
knownst to them, the death of Loula, Djepi of Trotskyist exiles in France or that the
and other Youth leaders had been ordered movement was revived in any way within
by the Political Bureau. They were soon de­ the country after World War II.
nounced as "traitors" and Trotskyites al­
though they were certainly neither at that
time.
The order of execution against Loula was
soon carried out, but the Politburo found
the murder of Djepi more difficult. He was
operating in the Valona area where he was
very popular among the Communist guerril­

Albania 33
 Trotskyism in Algeria of International Trotskyism led by J. Po­
sadas.
At the time that the f l n held its first na­
tional convention in April 1964 the Posadas
group, known as the Groupe Quatre Interna­
tionale, Section Argelien de la Quatrieme
During the Algerian war for independence, Internationale, issued two statements on
the International Secretariat of the Fourth the meeting. One reported the details of the
International, then headed by Michel Pablo convention, the other dealt with the various
(Raptis), carried out extensive propaganda tendencies represented within the new gov­
activities on behalf of the Algerians. The ernment party. At one point the second doc­
Trotskyists maintained that it was largely ument commented that "the present State
as a result of this activity that Raptis was apparatus is a capitalist apparatus and the
arrested by the Dutch police in i960 and government, the political power, is not in
was sentenced to two years in prison. the hands of the workers and peasants, as
When Pablo was released he went first to certain ex-members of the Fourth Interna­
Great Britain. There, through the interven­ tional who have been cast aside because of
tion of the Algerians, he was provided with their opportunism, have insisted."
a Moroccan passport. He worked in Morocco The Posadista document argued neverthe­
with the exiled leaders of the Algerian N a­ less that the appearance of a left-wing ten­
tional Liberation Front ( f l n ), and when dency in the f l n convention indicated that
peace finally came in July 1962 Pablo went the ground was ripe for the appearance of a
to Algiers where he had a long conversation "true Revolutionary Marxist Party." It then
with Ahmed Ben Bella, the new leader of sketched "the fundamental tasks" for a
Algeria, who ended up asking Pablo to be­ founding congress of such a party. These
come his own political adviser.1 included: "Creation of Communal Coun­
In that capacity Pablo played a significant cils, formed in their majority of workers,
role in the Ben Bella government. He was, peasants, soldiers, unemployed.. . . It is nec­
for instance, a member of a four-man com­ essary also to dissolve all the special delega­
mittee appointed to draw up a decree con­ tions imposed from above; Dissolution of
cerning property, particularly rural property the present National Assembly which repre­
which had been seized by Algerians when sents nothing but itself. . . . Dissolution of
French colonials fled the country in the the apparatus of repression {police} created
wake of independence.2 by the provisional Executive to protect the
Pablo held his post until Ben Bella was capitalist State and creation of revolution­
overthrown in 1965. Although other princi­ ary vigilance committees. . . . Acceptance
pal figures in the International Secretariat of the right of the u g t a jthe trade union
privately told Pablo that they thought it un­ movement) to participate in all organisms
wise for him to be so closely associated with of the State, and the democratic rights for
a non-Trotskyist chief of state, none of them all revolutionary tendencies, on the basis of
had publicly opposed his working with Ben unconditional defense of the revolution."4
Bella.3 The Posadas Trotskyist group in Algeria
There is no indication that Pablo sought was publishing in 1964 a periodical, Revolu­
to use his association with the Algerian rev­ tion Socialiste, which was apparently ap­
olutionary government to organize a Trots­ pearing legally.5 This periodical was still re­
kyist party in the country. Such a group was ported as being published in mid-1967.6
established at about the time Algeria re­ Much more important than the Posadas
ceived its independence, but by the faction group in Algeria was that associated with

34 Algeria
the Lambertist tendency in International what it interpreted as the government's
Trotskyism. It emerged in the mid-1970s as campaign for compulsory abortion, criticiz­
a consequence of agitation and organization ing the regime for not dealing with the real
by the French Organisation Communiste In- causes of the rapid increases in Algeria's
teraationaliste (oci) among Africans resi­ population.8
dent in France, particularly among students. A later issue of Tribune Ouvriere, that of
When some of these students returned to May 1982, carried the same kind of material.
Algeria they established the Committee for It had a statement of o s t in favor of calling
Liaison of Algerian Trotskyists ( c l t a ). They a constitutional assembly, an attack on the
decided to publish a periodical, Tribune government's proposed "Personnel Statute"
Ouvriere, "based on the Constituent As­ which the Trotskyists claimed was aimed
sembly and on all the democratic and work­ to assure the second-rank status of women.
ers demands leading to a worker and peasant It also dealt with the "agrarian question"
government." They also decided to publish and proclaimed that "the program of nation­
a theoretical journal, L ’Etincelle. The c l t a alization of the land and of collectivization
continued to be particularly concentrated of agriculture must be carried out to exclude
among students. A 1980 statement of the radically the idea of expropriation of the
group noted "their intervention, particu­ small peasants or of their forced. collec­
larly among students, among educational tivization. . . ."9 The periodical also dealt
workers . . . " with problems in such diverse countries as
By 1980 the members of the c l t a decided Morocco, Sudan, Turkey, Ethiopia, Chad,
formally to establish their organization as and El Salvador.
a political party. They adopted the name Although the o s t operated more or less
Organisation Socialiste des Travailleurs, freely, and Tribune Ouvriere was able for
and proclaimed it to be the "Algerian Sec­ many years to circulate without censorship,
tion of the Committee of Organization for early in 1984 the government of President
the Reconstruction of the IVth Interna­ Chadli suddenly cracked down on the Lam­
tional."7 bertist Trotskyists. Eleven of their leaders
The Organisation Socialiste des Tra­ were arrested because of their membership
vailleurs d'Algerie, ( o s t ) continued to pub­ in the o s t . They were subsequently accused
lish a monthly mimeographed periodical in of "an attempt against the security of the
French, Tribune Ouvriere. This dealt with State."10
internal Algerian issues, events in other The Lambertists mounted a substantial
parts of the world, and the activities of their propaganda campaign on behalf of their ar­
tendency in International Trotskyism. rested Algerian comrades. These efforts
The December 1980 issue of Tribune Ou­ were successful and in May 1984 the o s t
vriere, for example, carried a lead editorial leaders and other political prisoners were
on a recent meeting of the Parity Committee finally released. Some of the o s t prisoners
established by the Lambertist and More­ proclaimed that they had been let go as "the
noist factions of International Trotskyism. fruit of a long struggle mounted by numer­
It also carried articles dealing with the strug­ ous and large democratic forces." Others ar­
gle for independence of the Algerian trade rested at the same time as those of the o s t
union movement, the u g t a , as well as the included friends of Ben Bella and members
struggles of the university students. That of the feminist movement.11
issue of the periodical also had an attack on Soon after the arrest of their comrades on
the past of Ben Bella, the former Algerian charges of belonging to the o s t , the Trotsky­
president who had recently been released ists put out a pamphlet entitled Qu'est-ce
from imprisonment, as well as denouncing que 1’OST? It traced the organization's sup­

Algeria 35
port of trade union and peasant struggles, sary of Algerian independence, in December
the fight of the Berbers for use of their own 1982, g c r a issued a statement in which it
language, and the struggle for women's proclaimed that "this unusual form of eco­
rights. It proclaimed the loyalty of the group nomic organization of bourgeois society,
to Trotskyism, and its support of the con­ State capitalism, doesn't at all modify the
cept of permanent revolution, citing a reso­ class nature of this society." It added that
lution of its founding congress to the effect the political regime was Bonapartist, which
that "the Algerian bourgeoisie cannot re­ was "the political expression, State capital­
solve any of the national and democratic ism the economic expression, of the substi­
questions. The working class, because it is tution of this social bloc for a structurally
the only revolutionary class . . . is obliged to very weak bourgeoisie." The system permit­
undertake to resolve all the unsettled ques­ ted the Algerian bourgeoisie. "to quickly
tions, all the revolutionary democratic confront imperialism, not to put in question
program."12 its domination over the world market, but
Upon the occasion of the release of these to negotiate the redefinition of the terms of
prisoners, the o s t issued a statement reas­ unequal exchange."16
serting its support for the summoning of a In November 1982 Et Taliaa devoted
constitutional assembly, a demand which much of its space to a discussion of the rise
they had been making virtually from their of the influence of fundamentalist Moslem
inception. "The Algerian Trotskyists strug­ groups in Algeria. It explained this phenom­
gle unconditionally for defense of demo­ enon in terms of the growing economic dif­
cratic rights and above all for the right of the ficulties of the workers and other social
Algerian people to decide their sovereignty groups, and resulting disillusionment in
expressed in the demand for a sovereign con­ those who had ruled the country since inde­
stituent assem bly... ." They went on, "For pendence. Although attacking the govern­
the o s t , this government, to carry out the ment's attempts to suppress the fundamen­
urgent and vital tasks demanded by the in­ talists, the Algerian Trotskyists expressed
terests of the working people, must be a strong opposition to the fundamentalists'
government excluding representatives of demands for an end to women's rights, and
the exploiters submitted to imperialism, a urged separation of church and state.17
government formed by representatives of
workers and peasants. . . ," 13
By 1978 the United Secretariat also had
an organization in Algeria. This was the
Groupe Communiste R6volutionnaire d'Al­
gerie ( g c r a ), a "sympathizing" member of
u s e c . The first issue of its periodical, Et

Taliaa, was issued in 1978.14 By the early

1980s the g c r a claimed some marginal in­
fluence in the organized labor movement.
In 1981 it issued a call for united action
with the Communists, whose influence was
strong in u c t a (the Union Generale des Tra­
vailleurs Algeriens), against the govern­
ment's efforts to force all officials of u g t a
and its affiliates to belong to the official
party, the Front de Liberation Nationale.15
On the occasion of the twentieth anniver­

36 Algeria
 Argentine Trotskyism rate them in the group ultimately failed.
Instead, Raurich and Gallo established their
own Liga Comunista Intemacionalista,
which began to put out a periodical, Nueva
Etapa (N ew Phase).
The third Trotskyist group was led by "Pe­
Argentina was the first country in Latin dro M ilesi" (who also used the pseudonyms
America in which Trotskyism emerged as P. Maciel and Eduardo Islas, and whose real
an organized movement. Its founders were name may have been Pietro Boscaglia).2
three workers, Roberto Guinney, Camilo Milesi was expelled from the Communist
Lopez and M. Guinney. They were second- Party late in 1932 and soon after that pro­
rank leaders of the Partido Comunista de claimed his adherence to Trotskyism. Nego­
la Republica Argentina, a group which had tiations for the Milesi group to join forces
split from the Communist Party of Argen­ with the i c a finally resulted in a conference
tina in 192,7.1 By 1928 these three were sup­ early in 1933. By that time Camilo L6pez
porting the position of the Left Opposition had become seriously ill and Robert Guin­
in the Soviet Union, and in 1929 they estab­ ney had died, with the consequence that the
lished their own Comit6 Comunista de "unity conference" was dominated by the
Oposici6n (Communist Committee of Op­ Milesi group. Soon afterward the i c a , which
position-—cco). In March 1930 the c c o pub­ had changed its name to Liga Comunista
licized the first issue of a periodical, La Vex- Intemacional, Seccion Argentina, expelled
dad, which stated the position of the new the last of the three founders of Argentine
group, as well as publishing Lenin's "politi­ Trotskyism, M. Guinney, from its ranks,
cal testament." along with Guinney's wife. The Guinney
The c c o entered into contact with the group published one issue of a periodical late
United States Trotskyists, who proudly pub­ in 1933 and then ceased further political
licized the c c o 's existence. The cco 's name activity.
was soon changed to Izquierda Comunista During much of 1933 and 1934 the Liga
Argentina (Argentine Communist Left— Comunista Intemacionalista of Raurich and
ica). For a short while some Yiddish-speak­ Gallo and the Liga Comunista Intemacio­
ing recruits to the ic a were able to publish nal, Secci6n Argentina, of Pedro Milesi, car­
a Yiddish periodical, Communist Tribune. ried on energetic polemics with one another,
In spite of its tiny size Argentine Trots­ through their respective periodicals, Nueva
kyism was soon riven by factionalism. This Etapa and Tribuna Leninista. They particu­
arose as a consequence of the appearance larly disagreed concerning the proper posi­
of two new groups claiming allegiance to tion to take with regard to the Radical Party,
Trotskyism. One of these was led by two the country's largest political group, and the
young men, R. Raurich and Antonio Gallo principal opponent of the semi-dictatorial
(Ontiveros), who, while students in Spain, regime of General Agustin P. Justo.
had contact with the Spanish Trotskyists, Late in 1934 Pedro Milesi was expelled
particularly with Andrfis Nin. Notified by from the organization which he led, for rea­
the Spanish Trotskyists of the return of sons which remain obscure. Thereafter it
these youths in 1932, the i c a was able to proved possible for the two rival Trotskyist
contact them, but negotiations to incorpo- factions to merge as the Liga Comunista
Intemacionalista (Seccion Argentina). The
Unless otherwise noted, material dealing with Ar­
gentine Trotskyism before 1969 is adapted from Rob­
first issue of the periodical of the new group,
ert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin America, Hoo­ IV International, appeared in April 1935.
ver Institution Press, Stanford, 1973. The Liga Comunista Intemacionalista

1
t Argentina 37
 (Secci6n Argentina) lasted for about two and Alienated by Stalinist persecution of their
a half years. It established small groups in opponents in the Spanish Civil War, Liborio
La Plata, -C6rdoba and Santa Fe in addition Justo broke dramatically with them in No­
to its principal affiliate in Buenos Aires. vember 1936, announcing that he was be­
Among the leaders of the group were the coming a Trotskyist. He then began publica­
Bolivian exile Gustavo Navarro (generally tion of a Boletin de Information, of
known by his pseudonym Tristan Marof), Trotskyist inspiration.
who published a review in C6rdoba, Justo immediately sought to bring to­
America Libre-, a disciple of Raurich, G. Lia- gether the divided Trotskyist ranks, calling
cho, who issued another periodical, Tran- a meeting to that end in November 1937.
sicidn; and a young student at La Plata, gen­ Although elements from both the entrist
erally known as Jorge Abelardo Ramos. and anti-entrist groups, including Pedro
During 1937 there was a long controversy Milesi, attended the session, it did not have
within the l c i concerning whether or not the effect of bringing about unification of
the Argentine Trotskyists should follow the Argentine Trotskyism.
"entrist" policy which Trotsky had recom­ Rather, a new alignment appeared. One
mended several years earlier to his French faction, in which Justo, Antonio Gallo,
followers. At the end of the year there was D. A. Siburu of Rosario, and A. Garmendfa
a split resulting from this controversy with of Cordoba participated, soon took the name
one group, headed by C. Liacho and Jorge Grupo Obrero Revolucionario ( g o r ) and in
Abelardo Ramos, undertaking an entrist pol­ April 1939 began publishing a new periodi­
icy in the Partido Socialista Obrero ( p s o ), a cal, La International. Quebracho (Justo) also
group which had shortly before broken away published in this period several highly po­
from the Socialist Party. Antonio Gallo led lemical pamphlets, in which he not only
the faction which was opposed to entrism. propagated his version of Trotskyist ideas
In any case the last issue of the Bulletin of but anathematized his enemies within the
the Liga appeared in 1937. movement.
Within the Partido Socialista Obrero the A rival group, centering on Pedro Milesi,
Trotskyists issued a mimeographed periodi­ published a magazine, Initial. Those who
cal between August and December 1937 had been expelled from the p s o joined either
entitled Frente Proletario, and with a subti­ the g o r or the Inicial group. There also ex­
tle Boletin del Marxism Revolucionario. isted a small remnant of the old Liga Co-
Early in 1938 they held a national confer­ munista Intemacionalista, who used the
ence in Cordoba over which C. Liacho pre­ name of their old periodical, Nueva Etapa.
sided. About a year later virtually all of the Thus, at the time of Trotsky's death in
Trotskyists were either expelled from the the summer of 1940 his Argentine followers
p s o or withdrew from it voluntarily. were badly split into at least three rival and
Meanwhile, a new figure, who for some conflicting groups. Neither Trotsky nor the
years was to be one of its principal leaders, Fourth International had by that time been
had been attracted to the ranks of Argentine able to intervene to try to bring peace among
Trotskyism. This was Liborio Justo (who the warring factions, or to determine either
also used the names Quebracho and Bemal], the nature of their controversies or which
the son of the president of Argentina, Gen­ group was most in line.with the ideas of the
eral Agustin P. Justo. Apparently until 1935 Fourth International.
he had not been associated with any branch There is indication that the Fourth Inter­
of the radical movement, but upon returning national was not very precisely informed
home from a trip to the United States Justo about the situation of the Argentine Trots­
became a Communist Party fellow traveler. kyists. At the Founding Conference of the

38 Argentina
 International, Pierre Naville, in listing the can only view with hatred. Let us assume,
groups which were "regularly affiliated/' however, that on the morrow England enters
noted the Argentine organization as the into a military conflict with Brazil. I ask
"Bolshevik-Leninist Group."3 No organiza­ you on whose side of the conflict will the
tion with that name then existed in Argen­ working class be? I will answer for myself
tina. Also, Naville gave no estimate of the personally—in this case, I will be on the side
membership of the Argentine affiliate of the of 'fascist' Brazil against 'democratic' Great
International.4 Britain. Why? Because in the conflict be­
The Emergency Conference of the Fourth tween them it will not be a question of de­
International in May 1940 received a report mocracy or fascism."6
on the f i ' s Latin American affiliates which
noted the continued existence of three
Argentine Trotskyism in the 1940s,
groups in Argentina claiming adherence to
1950s and 1960s
International Trotskyism: g o r , a new Liga
Socialista Revolucionaria, which had re­ After the death of Trotsky, the achievement
cently been formed by a merger of the Inicial of unity remained a matter of major signifi­
and Nueva Etapa groups; and the Liga Marx- cance in the Argentine Trotskyist move­
ista of Cordoba, which had ten members. ment. For the first time the Fourth Interna­
The report concluded that it had decided to tional took a hand in the situation. Then
hold in abeyance the recognition of any of from 1943 on a new problem, and new
these factions as the official f i affiliate in source of controversy appeared—the atti­
Argentina in the hope that they might be tude the Trotskyists should assume toward
unified.5 the political movement organized by Juan
On at least one occasion Trotsky had per­ Domingo Per6n.
sonal contact with his Argentine followers. In September 1940, a month after Trots­
In September 1938 Mateo Fossa, one of the ky's death, a new effort was made to bring
few trade unionists then participating in the about unification of Argentine Trotskyists.
Argentine Trotskyist movement and at the This proved to be fruitless, but elements led
time associated with the Liborio Justo by Pedro Milesi and Antonio Gallo (who had
group, was in Mexico in connection with been associated with Liborio Justo's Liga
the founding congress of the Confederacion Obrera Revolucionaria) joined forces to es­
de Trabajadores de America Latina ( c t a l ). tablish a new organization, the Liga Obrera
He took advantage of his presence in Mexico Socialista ( l o s ). It continued publication of
to interview Trotsky. Some parts of that in­ Inicial, which had originally been the peri­
terview were subsequently published. odical of the Milesi faction. The l o s sought
Trotsky talked to Fossa principally about recognition from the Fourth International,
the coming world war. He predicted that by then located in New York, as the Argen­
the war would result in "an international tine section of the International.
revolution against the rule of the rapacious It was perhaps this request which
capitalist cliques over humanity." Trotsky prompted the International to dispatch a
warned his visitor against seeing the war in representative to Buenos Aires to look at
terms of "democracy versus fascism" and Argentine Trotskyism and try to bring about
urged the necessity of continuing the Latin its unification. This delegate was the U.S.
American struggle against imperialism. journalist Terence Phelan, who in Trotsky­
In elaborating on the anti-imperialist ist circles was known as Sherry Mangan. He
theme, Trotsky made a comment that was was a foreign correspondent of Time-Life-
often quoted: "In Brazil there now reigns a Fortune, and with the approval of the Inter­
semifascist regime that every revolutionary national Secretariat and the Socialist Work­

Argentina 39
 ers Party, to which he belonged, he accepted and the government's support behind those
a South American assignment. This permit­ trade unions willing to work with him. By
ted him to double as an official representa­ 1945 he had rallied the great majority of a
tive of the International Secretariat of the substantially enlarged organized labor
Fourth International. movement behind him. Those who had been
As a first step Phelan succeeded in bring­ Trotskyists were divided about how to react
ing about formation of a Unification Com­ to the Peron phenomenon. The positions
mittee, with representatives of all of the they assumed were determined to a consid­
groups claiming adherence to the Fourth In­ erable degree by their attitude toward the
ternational. However, Liborio Justo, head of question of "national liberation," an issue
l o r , became increasingly critical of both the which had first been raised within Argen­
Committee and Phelan. Justo finally with­ tine Trotskyism in the late 1930s by Liborio
drew from the Unification Committee. Justo.
Giving up further hope of involving l o r In an earlier work, the present author
in a newly unified Trotskyist group, Phelan summed up this controversy thus:
went ahead with a unity conference involv­
At the risk of greatly oversimplifying the
ing all the other factions, held at the end of
issues involved in this long debate, one
1 941. It established the Partido Obrero de la
may say that it centered on the question
Revolucion Socialista ( p o r s —Labor Party of
of what group constituted the "principal
the Socialist Revolution}. Among those be­
enemy of the working class." One ele­
longing to the new party were Carvajal (A.
ment argued that in the "semi-colonial"
Narvaja), its secretary general, Jorge Abe­
countries such as Argentina . . . as in the
lardo Ramos, Esteban Rey, J. Posadas, and
highly industrialized nations, the major
Nahuel Moreno. Phelan estimated its mem­
struggle of the workers, and their van­
bership at seventy-five. The p o r s was offi­
guard party, must be against the native
cially recognized as the Argentine section of
bourgeoisie. It denied that the national
the Fourth International. It began to publish
bourgeoisie had any significant revolu­
a new periodical, Frente Obrero, in Decem­
tionary potential.
ber 1 941. Liborio Justo maintained the Liga
Those holding the opposing point of
Obrera Revolucionaria in existence for
view argued that given the "semi-colo­
about two more years. Then, as he himself
nial" nature of such a country as Argen­
wrote, "the l o r ended by disintegrating
tina, the major enemy was "imperial­
forever."
ism." Since the interests of the national
The p o r s did not last much longer than
bourgeoisie were for a certain time in con­
Liborio Justo's group. It reportedly made the
flict with those of imperialism, there ex­
decision to dissolve, and to stop publication
isted a basis of alliance for a certain period
of Frente Obrero as early as June x943. How­
between the revolutionary workers
ever, the newspaper continued to appear fit­
movement and its vanguard party on the
fully for some years thereafter, and it was
one hand, and the national bourgeoisie on
not until March 1948 that the p o r s defi­
the other. . . .7
nitely ceased to exist.
A major factor in the demoralization of Clearly, the opponents of the "national
Argentine Trotskyism in the 1940s was the liberation" argument, were on sounder
rise of the Peronista movement. After the ground in terms of Trotskyist doctrine.
military coup of June 4, 1943, Colonel Juan They were the ones who, in the last in­
D. Per6n, operating from the post of Secre­ stance, remained loyal to Trotskyism. The
tary of Labor, enacted by decree a great deal others became Peronistas.
of labor and social legislation and threw his The more orthodox Trotskyists founded

40 Argentina
in July 1944 the Grupo Obrero Marxista oping within the Fourth International. At
( g o m ), made up principally of young people. the Third Congress of the f i in 1953 they
For some time it supported a new periodical, sided with the majority of the French Sec­
£/ Militante, which began to appear in No­ tion, who strongly opposed the orientation
vember 1946 under the editorship of the old towards "entrism sui generis" put forward
Trotskyist trade union militant Mateo by Michel Pablo and supported by a majority
Fossa. By 1948, when it claimed a member­ of the delegates to that meeting including
ship of about one hundred, the g o m was the delegates from the U.S. Socialist Work­
transformed into the Partido Obrero Revo- ers Party. Perhaps as a consequence of this
lucionario ( p o r ), with Nahuel Moreno as its the Grupo Cuarta Intemacional of J. Posa­
principal political figure.8 das, rather than the p o r , was granted recog­
The p o r had representation at the Second nition at the Third Congress as the Argen­
Congress of the Fourth International in tine section.11
1948. There, it supported the positions of When in the following year the majority
the Revolutionary Communist Party of of the French Section was expelled from the
Great Britain against the "catastrophism" of International by Pablo and the majority of
the f i leadership, particularly Michel Pablo the International Executive Committee, the
and the Socialist Workers Party of the U.S.9 Argentine p o r expressed its support for the
In 1954 the p o r undertook an "entrist" French comrades.12 When, in November
experience, dissolving their group into the 1953, the Socialist Workers Party issued a
new Partido Socialista de la Revoluci6n call for the formation of the International
Nacional ( p s r n ), a pro-Peronista splinter of Committee, the Argentine p o r immediately
the very anti-Peronista Partido Socialista. expressed its support and joined the new
They soon came to control the Buenos Aires group.13
Provincial Federation of the p s r n , and in Subsequently, the P O R - P a l a b r a Obrera
I 954- 55 Put out La Verdad as the organ of group took the lead in uniting the few other
that federation, a paper with the same name Latin American groups which sided with
as the first Trotskyist periodical to be pub­ the International Committee—in the face
lished in Argentina. With the overthrow of of the fact that most Latin American groups
Peron, the p s r n was outlawed and La Ver­ affiliated with the Fourth International had
dad ceased publication. sided with the International Secretariat, and
The Moreno-Fossa group soon began to formed part of its Latin American Secretar­
publish another periodical, Unidad Obrera, iat, organized by J. Posadas. The p o r action
When elections were held in the trade led to the formation first of the Comite La­
unions late in 1956, they joined with some tino Americano in 1954, which became
Peronistas to establish the Movimiento de Trotskismo Ortodoxo Latinoamericano,
Agrupaciones Obreras ( m a o ), which soon and then of the Secretariado Latino Ameri­
began to publish still another newspaper, cano del Trotskismo Ortodoxo in 1957. N a­
Palabra Obrera. huel Moreno was the leader of the group
For some time, the influence of the Trots­ through a l l of its name changes.14
kyists' Peronista associates was reflected in In January 1965 the Palabra Obrera faction
the periodical. It carried the subtitle, "organ united with another small group, the Frente
of revolutionary worker Peronismo" and ad­ Revolucionario Indoamericanista Popular,
vertised that it was "under the discipline of to establish the Partido Revolucionario de
General Peron and the Peronista Superior los Trabaj adores ( p r t —Revolutionary Party
Council."10 of Workers). La Verdad was revived as the
Meanwhile, the p o r - Palabra Obrera group official organ of the p r t .
had become involved in the quarrels devel­ In 1968 there occurred a split in the p r t

Argentina 41
 over the issue of whether the group should ing the ideas of the movement in various
attempt to undertake guerrilla activities. A l­ parts of Latin America. He rallied around his
though earlier in the decade he had sup­ own leadership most of the organizations
ported this idea, at the Fourth Congress of which were affiliated in those years with
the p r t Nahuel Moreno strongly opposed the International Secretariat. When the so-
adopting guerrilla war as the party's basic called unification congress of the Fourth In­
strategy. As a consequence the majority at ternational was being planned, Posadas led
the congress, which did endorse the guerrilla a movement against this within the Interna­
war line, expelled Moreno and his followers. tional Secretariat, with the end result of es­
Thereafter, there were two organizations tablishing a new and separate version of the
claiming to be the p r t , which were differen­ Fourth International under the aegis of the
tiated by the names of their two periodicals: Latin American Bureau.
p r t La Verdad, the Moreno group; and p r t Posadas remained head of the p o ( t ), as
Combatiente, the pro-guerrilla war group.ls well as of the Latin American Bureau and
In the following year the Ninth Congress then of his own version of the Fourth Inter­
of the United Secretariat decided to accept national. After the fall of Per6n, the party
the p r t Combatiente as the Argentine sec­ put forward the unusual suggestion that
tion and to give the p r t La Verdad the status when general elections were called, the cen­
of a sympathizing organization. The ostensi­ tral labor organization, the Confederaci6n
ble reason for this was that the p r t Comba­ General del Trabajo ( c g t ), should offer its
tiente represented the majority of the former own candidates as a first step toward estab­
united party.16 Of course there was the addi­ lishing a new party based on the unions.
tional fact that the majority at the u s e c The c g t did not respond to this sugges­
Congress itself favored the adoption of a tion, so the p o (t ) offered its own candidates
pro-guerrilla war strategy for all Latin in a number of elections. They claimed to
America—and the issue was to pause con­ have gotten 11,000 votes in the 1958 general
troversy within the organization for almost election, and 5 2,000 in provincial elections
a decade. in the following year. In 1962 they received
Meanwhile, another element of the anti­ 11,000 votes in Buenos Aires Province for
n ation al liberation" faction among the Ar­ their candidates for congress.
gentine Trotskyists had established the The Posadas faction had virtually no in­
Grupo Cuarta Intemacional, subsequently fluence in the labor movement. They
renamed-the Partido Obrero (TrotskistaJ, worked as a group in the Movimiento de
sometime in the late 1940s. It was led by Unidad y Coordinacion Sindical ( m u c s }, the
Homero Cristali, a one-time professional element in organized labor controlled by the
soccer player, who was generally known in Communist Party.
the Trotskyist movement as J. Posadas. From time to time, the p o (t ) held "ampli-
The p o { t ) was accepted at the Second Con­ ados" and other national meetings. In June
gress of the Fourth International in 1948 as 1967 it was reported that representatives
a "sympathizing organization," and in 19s 1 from nineteen regional party groups at­
was given the status of a regular section by tended an Enlarged Meeting of the party's
the Third Congress. At the time of the split Central Committee.
in the International in 1952-53, the Posadas A third element aligned with the antina­
party remained with the Pabloite Interna­ tional liberation position was the Movi­
tional Secretariat. miento Politica Obrera, which published a
Under the International Secretariat Posa­ periodical, Politico Obrera, beginning in
das organized a Latin American Bureau and 1966. During the late 1960s, the Politica
for some years was very active in propagat­ Obrera group was not associated with any

42 Argentina
of the international Trotskyist tendencies. of which were associated with the United
It was reported that during the 1969 "Cordo- Secretariat. However, during the late 1970s
bazo" uprising it took an "abstentionist" the guerrilla-oriented element of the p r t
position towards that insurrectional move­ was virtually wiped out and what remained
ment on the grounds that it had been orga­ dissociated itself from Trotskyism. New
nized by the Peronista trade union "bureau­ factions developed, and throughout the pe­
cracy."17 After that uprising it called for a riod there continued to exist smaller organi­
national general strike, and for the creation zations affiliated with different tendencies
of "a workers and popular government."18 of International Trotskyism.
Its periodical, which came out fortnightly,
carried principally news about the trade
The PRT-ERP
union movement and various strikes and
other activities of organized labor.15 During the two years following the 1968
Finally, the "national liberation" faction split in the Partido Revolucionario de los
of Argentine Trotskyists evolved in a Pe­ Trabajadores, the p r t Combatiente group
ronista direction. Jorge Abelardo Ramos, the evolved in the direction of a general guerrilla
principal leader of that element, published strategy both in an ideological and a practi­
in 1945 and 1946 a periodical called Octubre cal sense. A statement of the group soon
{October), which gave "critical" support to after the "Cordobazo" uprising of May 1969
the Peronistas. In the years that followed, proclaimed that "obviously, even if the May
they put out other periodicals, Izquierda explosion had had a conscious insurrec­
and Politico, and ran a publishing house tional character and resulted in a conscious
which brought out Spanish editions of sev­ attempt to seize power, its real possibilities
eral of Trotsky's works, as well as a few would have inevitably been limited by the
books about Trotsky. However, they began lack of a party—a leadership, organization
to refer to themselves not as Trotskyists, and program. Its possibilities would have
but as the Izquierda Nacional (National been limited by the lack also of a revolution­
Left). ary army capable of m ilitarily defeating the
In 196a the Ramos group organized the capitalist army. . . . It is such a revolution­
Partido Socialista de la Izquierda Nacional, ary army that will make possible a seizure
which published a periodical Izquierda Na­ of power. . . . We must not wait to build
cional. The party persisted throughout the this army, as the promoters of spontaneism
rest of the 1960s, although apparently not claim, until the masses go into the street
running candidates in any of the elections in an upsurge producing new insurrectional
of the period and having little or no trade explosions. This army must be constructed
union influence. on a steady day-to-day basis, even during
periods when the class struggle is quiet."20
A statement of the party published in Jan­
Evolution of Argentine Trotskyism in
uary 1971 traced the evolution of the p r t
1970s and Early 1980s
between 1968 and 1970. It said that "during
Argentine Trotskyists remained split into these two years, the party advanced, confus­
several contending factions in the decade edly but firmly—incorporating the experi­
and a half following the "Cordobazo" of ence of the continental revolution in the
1969. During the first part of this period decade of the seventies, incorporating and
the two most important factions were the discussing the principles of 'Maoism,' and
groups into which the Partido Revoluciona­ the propositions of 'Marighelism' and of the
rio de los Trabajadores ( p r t — Revolutionary 'Tupamaros,' thereby indicating its perma­
Workers Party) had divided after 1968, both nent radicalization."

Argentina 43
 However, at the same time, "on the ter­ the nucleus and political leadership, but
rain of practice and despite the internal dif­ who do not always hold the military lead­
ficulties, actions of all kinds were carried ership."22
out . . . [expropriations, accumulation of During the next few years, the e r p carried
arms, etc.], which sharpened the contradic­ out a large number of "operations." It was
tions within the organization.. . . Moreover, reported in June 19 71 that it had already
the party's intentions of defending its m ili­ carried off 150 of these. They included kid­
tants who fell into the hands of the enemy napping of prominent figures and holding
was shown by actions designed to win the them for ransom, holding up banks, and tak­
release of prisoners." ing over television studios to broadcast their
The denouement of this evolutionary pro­ revolutionary message.23
cess was the Fifth Congress of the p r t , Early in 1972 the e r p carried out several
which met in July 1970. There "the firm of its most spectacular "operations." On
decision was reached to clear the internal January 2,9 it seized the equivalent of
contradictions out of the way in order to $418,000 from the National Bank of Devel­
reach a new level of struggle . . . it was de­ opment branch in Cordoba.24 In late March
cided to organize the Ejercito Revoluciona­ an e r p group kidnapped the representative
rio del Pueblo, which is to be a proletarian in Argentina of the Fiat Co., Oberdan Sallus-
army in its social composition, revolution­ tro, and later murdered him when the gov­
ary in its practice, and which, because it ernment refused the e r p ' s price for his re­
must operate within the framework of a peo­ lease. Early in May they announced that a
ple's civil war, will assume the form of a "death sentence" had been passed on Felix
mass organization."21 Ian Devale, a Belgian representative of the
This same statement set forth the basic Coca Cola Co.25 On April 10, in a combined
orientation of the p r t - e r p . It said that "the operation with the Fuerzas Armadas Revo-
strategic principle guiding us is to extend lucionarias, a Peronista guerrilla group, the
the war, which in our opinion has already e r p murdered General Juan Carlos Sanchez,

begun. We want to make completely clear commander of the Second Arm y Corps, in
that we are not trying to win this war at the Rosario.26
moment but to extend it through our role of Another spectacular "operation" of the
armed detachment of the vanguard (because e r p and Peronista guerrilla groups was the

we do not claim to be the vanguard, which escape from the Rawson military prison in
in our country does not exist as a constituted the South on August 15 ,19 7 2 of six guerrilla
organization). We carry forward this exten­ prisoners, including Mario Roberto Santu-
sion of the people's civil war through politi­ cho, the principal leader of the p r t - e r p . But
cal action and military action/' only a week later fifteen out of nineteen
The statement also explained the rela­ others who had not been able to escape in
tionship between the political party, the the Rawson breakout were killed under very
p r t , and the military group, the e r p . It said suspicious circumstances at the Trelow na­
that "the e r p is struggling for a revolution­ val base, not far from Rawson. Among those
ary people's government while the p r t is a killed was Santucho's wife.27
Marxist-Leninist organization, linked to the The "redemocratization" of the country
Fourth International, which is struggling for under President Alejandro Lanusse, which
a socialist government. The only require­ led ultimately to elections which brought
ment to join the e r p is a will to fight and the Peronistas back to power for the first
hatred of the dictatorship and of imperial­ time in eighteen years, did not influence the
ism. In all of the armed groups of the e r p p r t - e r p to diminish their guerrilla activi­

there are p r t 'political commissars' who are ties. In fact, in the period before and just

44 Argentina
after the March 1973 elections they intensi­ true leader of the counterrevolution, the
fied those activities. In December 1972 they true leader of the present counterrevolution­
assassinated Admiral Rodolfo Berisso.28 ary autocoup and the true leader of the re­
Late in March they seized temporary control pressive policy, which is the new govern­
of the Atucha atomic reactor plant northeast ment's most probable immediate policy, is
of Buenos A ires/9on April 2. they kidnapped precisely General Juan Domingo Per6n."34
Admiral Francisco Aleman. On April 30 The open showdown between the p r t - e r p
they assassinated Admiral Hermes Jose Qui- and the government came late in September,
jada. These were only a few of their "opera­ right before the inauguration of Per6n, when
tions" during this period.30 the secretary general of the Confederation
When President-elect Hector Campora is­ General del Trabajo, the veteran Peronista
sued an appeal to all of the guerrilla groups labor leader Jos£ Rucci, was assassinated.
for a "truce/' official spokesmen for the p r t - Local Buenos Aires radio stations received
e r p replied that "we believe that the Cam­ anonymous calls from people purporting to
pora government represents the popular speak for the e r p claiming that it had "exe­
will. Out of respect for this will, our organi­ cuted" Rucci.35 As early as June 1972 it had
zation will not attack the new government been reported that the e r p had sentenced
as long as it does not attack the people or Rucci to death.36 However, Mario Roberto
the guerrilla movement. Our organization Santucho, then in Paris, denied that the e r p
will continue to struggle militarily against had assassinated the labor leader.37
the large exploitative companies, imperial­ Whatever the facts, President Peron and
ist ones for the most part, and the counter­ his Justicialista Movement placed the blame
revolutionary armed forces. But it w ill not for Rucci's murder on the e r p . Peron himself
direct its attacks against government insti­ denounced "the Marxists/' and Julian Licas-
tutions or against any member of the gov­ tro, one of the heads of Per6n's Justicialista
ernment of President Campora. . . . As for Movement, announced that "We are at war
the police. . . the e r p w ill suspend its attack with the e r p . " 38
against it as long as it does not cooperate Throughout the rest of the second Pe­
with the army in hunting down the guerrilla ronista regime, first under General Peron
movement and in repressing popular dem­ and then after his death in June 1974 under
onstrations."31 his wife and successor, Isabel Per6n, the p r t -
This position was reiterated by Mario Ro­ e r p continued their guerrilla campaign. In

berto Santucho in a televised news confer­ February 1974 it was announced that a revo­
ence he gave late in June. When asked lutionary alliance had been signed among
whether the e r p would cease kidnapping for­ the e r p , the Chilean Movimiento de Iz­
eign businessmen, he replied, "As long as quierda Revolucionaria, the Bolivian Ejer-
imperialist companies continue exploiting cito de Liberacion Nacional, and the Tupa-
the people we will take measures."32 maros of Uruguay. Their announcement of
After the resignation of President Cam­ this pact proclaimed, "We are united by our
pora, paving the way for the reelection of understanding that the only viable strategy
President Juan Per6n, the p r t - e r p issued a in Latin America is one of revolutionary
statement to the effect that "The resigna­ war. This revolutionary wax is a complex
tion of Campora . . . fits into the framework process of both armed and unarmed, peace­
of the offensive by the counterrevolutionary ful and violent, mass struggle in which all
forces. Let us not repeat the defeats of 19 s 5 forms develop harmoniously, converging
and 19 66.,/33 Two weeks later, Santucho around the axis of armed struggle."39
published an article in which he said that However, in 19 7S -76 the p r t - e r p was vir­
"from the facts disclosed it is clear that the tually destroyed by the Argentine military.

Argentina 45
 The e r p made the mistake early in 1975 of olutionists. . . . We confirm our adherence
shifting their center of operations from the to the Fourth International while at the
cities to the rural sections of the province of same time we are conscious of the fact that
Tucuman. Several hundred members of the we must have no illusions that it can be­
group sought to set up there a "liberated come the world revolutionary leadership
zone." In "a war in which there are appar­ that we consider necessary. This should nei­
ently no prisoners and in which the military ther hinder nor facilitate the closest rela­
make little distinction between guerrillas tionships with non-Trotskyist revolution­
carrying weapons and collaborators serving ary currents throughout the entire world,
as couriers or supplying the men in the especially with the organizations engaged
hills/' as N ew York Times correspondent in struggle in Latin America, together with
Juan de Onis reported, the p r t - e r p rural whom we will succeed, by significantly de­
guerrillas were virtually wiped out.40 veloping our war, in gaining a hearing from
A few months after the overthrow of the the Communist parties of the revolutionary
regime of President Isabel Per6n, the p r t - workers' states."44
e r p mobilized most of its remaining people Three years later, Mario Roberto Santu­
to attack a military garrison in Avellaneda, cho, in an interview with Clarin, a Buenos
near the city of Buenos Aires. They rushed Aires daily, said that "The e r p is not Trots­
the barracks, got in, and immediately were kyist. It has an anti-imperialist and socialist
faced with lights from all sides, and were program, and it includes Marxists, Peron-
slaughtered by the military. A few of the ists, and Christians. Of its members, 38
people who had attacked the barracks got percent are workers.. . . The Partido Revolu­
away, but were cornered in a slum not far cionario de los Trabaj adores exercises lead­
away and were virtually all killed.41 Mario ership and defines itself as Marxist-Leninist.
Roberto Santucho and some of the other top It was linked to the 'Fourth International,'
leaders succeeded in getting back to Buenos but we have moved away. "4S
Aires. There, betrayed to the military by one The p r t had broken with Trotskyism by
of their own number, two groups of p r t - the time of the xoth Congress of the United
e r p leaders were attacked in two different Secretariat in 1974. That meeting adopted
apartment houses by Army people. Among an extensive resolution on "The Political
those killed were Mario Roberto Santucho Crisis and the Revolutionary Perspectives
and Enrique Gorriaran Merlo, by then re­ in Argentina," which contained much "crit­
puted to be the second in command of what icism and self-criticism" concerning the
remained of the p r t - e r p .42 subject. This resolution proclaimed that
Most of the few remaining members of "the attitude of the IV International toward
the group were apparently in jail. It was re­ the p r t must be politically classified as op­
ported in July 1980 that four p r t - e r p prison­ portunist. The lack of necessary debate with
ers in a federal penitentiary near Buenos Ai­ the Argentine comrades is still more grave
res had "committed suicide."43 if it is considered that in addition to the
By the time it virtually disappeared from positions of the Congress of the p r t , already
the Argentine political scene, the p r t - e r p known at the World Congress, there were
had abandoned Trotskyism. As early as the other things which should again have
p r t 1970 congress the party declared in a alerted us about the gangers of the orienta­
resolution that "the Trotskyist movement, tion of the p r t . . . , " 46"
it must be explained, involves heteroge­ The resolution also concluded that "the
neous sectors: from counterrevolutionary point of view of the centrist direction of the
adventurers who use its banner while at the p r t , its rupture with the IV International is

same time prostituting it, to consistent rev­ at the same time a consequence and a step

46 Argentina
necessary for an increasingly rightist evolu­ merged with a faction of the Socialist Party.
tion. The pressures of the Cuban leadership Since the late 1950s the Socialist Party had
had an important role in this evolution and been divided between the Partido Socialista
in the rupture with the International."47 Democratico, a very strongly anti-Peronista
At least partly because of the break of the and anti-Castroite group headed by Am£rico
p r t -e r p leadership with Trotskyism the Ghioldi and a group which sought to work
group suffered a number of splits. As early with elements among the Peronistas and
as the spring of 1970 a faction calling itself had some sympathy for the Castro regime,
the Tendencia Obrera broke away. Subse­ the Partido Socialista Argentino ( p s a ). The
quently the Grupo Obrero Revolucionario p s a underwent several splits, one of these

withdrew in 19 71, and the Leninist Ten­ occurring early in 19 71, when there emerged
dency in the summer of 1972.48 Of these the Partido Socialista Popular, headed by A li­
early breakaway groups from the p r t - e r p , cia Moreau de Justo, and the Partido Soci­
only the Grupo Obrero Revolucionario ap­ alista Argentino, led by Juan Carlos Corral.
pears ultimately to have been accepted as a It was with the Corral group that the p r t
sympathizing member of the United Secre­ La Verdad merged, under the name of the
tariat.49 Partido Socialista Argentino. The new p s a
Then in 1973 the p r t - e r p suffered two began publishing Avanzada Socialista,
other divisions. One group, which took the which took the place of the p r t periodical
name Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo La Verdad.
Agosto 22, took a position during the 1973 Unity of the p s a and p r t was on the basis
elections of supporting the Peronista coali­ of a declaration of principles which was
tion Frejuli.50 Whereas this break of the Au­ unanimously agreed to by the executive
gust 22 group might be regarded as a split committees of the two groups, and con­
to the "Right," the p r t - e r p also suffered a tained relatively little traditional Trotskyist
schism to the Left, the so-called "Fraccion phraseology. It proclaimed "that the party,
Roja" of the p r t . One of its criticisms of the through a front of the workers and the ex­
Santucho majority in the organization was ploited masses, must tirelessly struggle to
the break of the Santucho leadership with bring about a workers' and people's govern­
Trotskyism. It accused the Santucho leader­ ment that will assure national liberation
ship of being too friendly to the Peronistas and the revolutionary construction of so­
in i973.sl It subsequently took the name cialism. Both committees stress the fact
Liga Comunista Revolucionaria, which also that although it may proclaim itself to be
became a sympathizing organization of the socialist, no state is truly socialist unless
United Secretariat.52 the working class exercises direct control
over the entire state apparatus—the armed
forces, the executive administration, the
The PRT La Verdad-PST
courts, and the legislative power."
The faction of the original Partido Revoluci­ The document denounced all of the coali­
onario de los Trabajadores which in 1968 tions of parties which were then functioning
opposed the adoption of the guerrilla warfare and were negotiating with the government
strategy underwent a very different evolu­ and with Juan Peron with a view to holding
tion from that of the p r t Combatiente. It elections to put an end to the military regime
aimed toward developing a "mass party" which had been in power since mid-1966. It
and by the early 1 980s was one of the largest argued that "the only combination in which
Trotskyist organizations in the world. the proletariat and its party can participate
The p r t La Verdad continued to exist as is one that moves toward the conquest of
such until late in 19 71. At that time, it state power by the working class, that is,

t Argentina 47
socialist and working-class combinations. One of the early activities of the party was
. . . " It also denounced "the sinister union running a tour for Linda Jenness, the 197a
bureaucracy" of the Peronistas. candidate for president of the Socialist
In the international sphere the p s a - p k t Workers Party of the United States. Pecu­
unity document argued that "there must be liarly, the culminating meeting of this tour,
stronger ties with and total support for all in Buenos Aires, was cosponsored by the
peoples struggling for their liberation, for p s a , the Partido Socialista Popular, and the

all the forces and all the systems that are Partido Socialista Democratico.S4
heroically struggling to build socialism, and The party was quickly thrown into prepa­
especially for the revolutionary movements ration for the general election which was
of Latin America, for socialist Cuba, and for finally held in March 1973. The first con­
the present vanguard of the world revolu­ gress of the party (labelled the Fifty-First
tion—the heroic Vietnamese guerrillas." Convention of the Socialist Party), held in
Perhaps more orthodox Trotskyist June 1972 pledged it to work for a socialist
thought was the passage which said that and labor ticket. It urged militant trade un­
"without failing to defend the so-called so­ ionists "as well as all the class-struggle ten­
cialist states from any imperialist attack, we dencies and activists involved in the new
w ill support any struggles by the working day-to-day struggles to use the recognized
class of those countries for socialist democ­ legal status of the Partido Socialista to con­
racy, since socialism is the highest expres­ stitute a force that can unify the new revolu­
sion of democracy for the workers and toil­ tionary worker and student vanguard on a
ing masses—which means complete national scale. . . ,"ss
freedom of expression and criticism for the In December 197a the party held another
workers and their organizations, parties and congress. By that time it had obtained legal
unions." recognition for electoral purposes as the Par­
The final passage dealing with interna­ tido Socialista de los Trabajadores ( p s t ), and
tional matters was somewhat equivocal in had been able to get together a group of trade
Trotskyist terms. It said that "while recog­ unionists in a Frente Obrero (Workers
nizing the need for an International, neither Front). The p s t congress offered to give 75
of the executive committees, nor the party, percent of the positions on its electoral lists
will yield their inalienable right to deter­ to trade unionists from the Frente Obrero.
mine strategy and tactics to any leadership It also offered to name Jos6 Francisco Paez,
or tendency that is not rooted in the prole­ a militant metallurgical union leader from
tariat and the Argentine people." Cordoba, and Leandro Fote, secretary of a
The unity document ended with a long sugar workers' union in Tucuman, as its
series of "demands for immediate struggle." presidential and vice presidential nominees.
These included demands for full restoration When Paez and Fote turned down the honor
of political democracy, complete reorgani­ the p s t congress named Juan Carlos Corral
zation and democratization of the labor and Nora Sciaponi, two p s t leaders, as its
movement, and a wide variety of economic, nominees.
social, educational and other reforms. It The December 1972 congress was at­
ended by pledging to "struggle resolutely for tended by 195 delegates from the city of
the only solution for the country and the Buenos Aires and twelve provinces. At the
workers—a workers and people's govern­ same time a congress of the Juventud Social­
ment; for the convocation of a free and sov­ ista de Avanzada (jsa —Vanguard Socialist
ereign constituent assembly on the basis of Youth) met, attended by 700 people, and
a genuinely democratic ballot; and to lay the claimed total membership of 2,ooo.56
basis for building a Socialist Argentina."53 One of the most important incidents dur­

48 Argentina
ing this pre-election period was the tempo­ This time Juan Domingo Peron and his wife,
rary return of Juan Peron to Argentina in Isabel, were the victorious Peronista nom­
November 1972. He met with leaders of vir­ inees.
tually all of the country's parties, but the Before this second election, the p s t held
p s t was one of the very few groups which an emergency convention which "went on
refused to meet with the ex-president.57 under portraits of Marx, Lenin, and
In eleven provinces and the Federal Capi­ Trotsky," and decided once again to name
tal, the p s t ran some 2 , 2 0 0 candidates in its own candidates. Juan Carlos Corral and
the 1973 election. Many of these were not Jos6 Paez were nominated for the presidency
members of the party, and a considerable and vice presidency.150
number were more or less well-known left- In December 1973, after the reelection of
wing trade union leaders. In C6rdoba the Peron, the p s t held still another national
metal workers leader, Jose Paez, who had congress. It was attended by 571 delegates,
turned down the presidential nomination, each of whom was said to represent ten
ran as candidate for governor. In Buenos A i­ members. There were fraternal delegates
res Province a bank workers leader, Jorge from organizations in Uruguay, Bolivia, Bra­
Mera, was the gubernatorial candidate. In zil, and the s w p of the United States, and
the Federal Capital the p s t and Partido So­ greetings from parties and groups in several
cialista Popular ran joint candidates, and in other countries. Juan Carlos Corral declared
some of the provinces members of the p s p in his report to the congress that the return
ran as p s t nominees.58 of the Peronistas to power created an "op­
When the votes were finally cast the p s t portunity to train and prepare our cadres for
ticket came eighth among nine lists of can­ the next large-scale upsurge of the working
didates offered by various parties and coali­ class, which the p s t must get into a position
tions, with approximately 76,000 votes, or to lead."61
0.62 percent of the total. However, Arturo When Juan Peron returned to Argentina,
G6mez, organizational secretary of the and to the presidency, he came offering an
party, when asked what the party had gotten olive branch to his traditional opponents,
out of the election, said, "First, we came out the parties and groups which had opposed
of it with a national party that is now well him during his first period in power and
known. . . . Second, we tightened our ties subsequently. To this end he met with a
with the workers through our campaign ac­ number of those opposition groups on vari­
tivities. . . . Third, we were able to increase ous occasions.
the circulation of our paper, Avanzada So- One such encounter was on March 22,
cialista, from 8,000 at the start of the cam­ 1974, when a group of opposition parties,
paign to as,000 on the eve of the elections. one of which was the Partido Socialista de
Fourth, we began the campaign last year los Trabajadores, met with the president at
with ten local headquarters. Now we have their request. At that meeting a statement
seventy. Fifth, of those who applied for was issued by the groups participating,
membership in the p s t during the campaign, which started by saying that "the partici­
we have accepted 1,500 as probationary pants have confirmed their fundamental
members.'"55’ commitment to spare no effort to maintain
Hector Campora, the candidate of the Pe­ and consolidate the process of institutional­
ronistas, was elected president in the March ization in our country within the context
1973 election. Within a few weeks of taking of the democratic system and through the
office he and his vice president resigned, practice of coexistence and constructive dia­
necessitating new presidential elections logue. . . . "
which were held on September 23, 1973. The supposed signing of this document by

Argentina 49
the p s t aroused a scandal within the United ously designed to appeal to a wide au­
Secretariat. Rouge, the organ of the French dience. ”67
affiliate of u s e c , which was aligned with the Drastic mismanagement of the Argentine
so-called International Majority Tendency economy undermined the military regime,
which supported the guerrilla war line in which had three successive presidents, Gen­
Latin America and the p r t - e r p in Argentina, erals Jorge Videla, Roberto Viola and Leo-
denounced the p s t ' s signing as "class collab­ poldo Galtieri. Then, when the Galtieri gov­
oration." However, the p s t subsequently an­ ernment's invasion of the Islas Malvinas
nounced that it had not in fact signed the (Falkland Islands) was decisively defeated by
"incriminating" statement.62 the British in 1982 the fate of the armed
President Juan Peron died at the end of forces regime was sealed. Galtieri's succes­
June 1974 and was succeeded by his vice sor, General Reynaldo Bignone, finally or­
president and wife, Isabel Peron. The politi­ dered general elections in October 1983,
cal situation deteriorated drastically under which were won by the Radical Party's nom­
President Isabel Peron, who was finally inee, Raul Alfonsm.
overthrown by the military in March 1976, At the time of the invasion of the Malvi­
beginning a period of almost eight years of nas the p s t strongly supported the Argentine
rule by the armed forces. government action. Juan Carlos Pereira
During both the second Peronista period wrote in the p s t periodical Pelabra So*
and the military regime, right-wing gangs cialista:
and death squads committed large numbers i
In any confrontation between an imperi­
of atrocities against not only left-wing
alist country—in this case England—and
groups but {after the military seized power),
a semi-colonial one—such as Argen­
virtually all civilian political groups. The
tina—we socialists are always on the side
p s t suffered extensively from this perse­
of the semi-colonial country against the
cution.
imperialist on e.. . . That is to say, we are
Juan Carlos Corral was jailed for a short
against England, despite the fact that it
while in March 1974.63 Eight p s t members
has a bourgeois-democratic government,
were kidnapped and murdered in September
and on the side of Argentina, despite the
1975.64 In 1977 Enrique Broquen, principal
malignant dictatorship that governs it. If
legal adviser of the p s t , was kidnapped.65 In
there is a war, we socialists will be for
October 1978 it was said that there were at
the victory of the Argentine army, even
least forty p s t members being held by the
though Galtieri commands it at the out­
repressive forces.66
set, and for the defeat of the British one.
In 1977 Nahuel Moreno and some of the
To sum up, the only way to safeguard
other leaders of the p s t went into exile, set­
our national sovereignty against all the
tling in Bogota, Colombia, where they began
imperialist countries is a workers and
to publish a new periodical, Revista de
people's government that would break
America. That magazine was described by
the colonial pacts that subordinate Argen­
one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers
tina to imperialism (the Rio Treaty, the
Party of the United States as having "well-
Inter American Defense Treaty, etc.);
illustrated articles" which "cover a wide
break with the. International Monetary
range of countries.. . . Such subjects as ecol­
Fund; nationalize without compensation
ogy and international youth employment
all the foreign capitalist enterprises; and
are also dealt with." However, Gerry Foley
repudiate the foreign debt."6®
complained that the publication was
"marked by narrow factional concerns that By 1982 the p s t claimed to have 14,000
contrast with its format which was obvi­ members and to be the largest party any­

50 Argentina
 where in the world claiming adherence to los Trabajadores, the p s t continued to be a
International Trotskyism 69 However, lead­ "sympathizing organization" of the United
ers of other tendencies in the movement Secretariat. The u s e c roth Congress resolu­
doubt that they had more than 1,000 mem­ tion on Argentina, cited earlier, declared
bers, particularly in view of the persecution that "the majority are students and workers
to which they had been submitted by the who wish sincerely to struggle for socialism
military dictatorship.70 and sympathize with Trotskyism. In conse­
As the military dictatorship disintegrated quence, the World Congress is favorable to
and the 1983 electoral campaign got under­ maintaining fraternal relations between the
way, the p s t was reorganized as the Movi- IV International and the p s t as a sympathiz­
miento A 1 Socialismo ( m a s ), which was of­ ing organization. What cannot be tolerated
ficially established in September 1982. It is to give official endorsement to a political
began publishing a new periodical, Solidari- line and a practice which are too far from
dad Socialista {Socialist Solidarity). A year the principles and the traditions of our
later, the circulation of that periodical was movement."75
said to be 46,000 copies, and the party Nahuel Moreno and the Partido Socialista
claimed to have 4,000 party headquarters in de los Trabajadores of Argentine took the
more than fifty cities. It was also claimed lead in the breakaway of the so-called Bol­
tliat m a s members were active in more than shevik Faction from the u s e c late in 1979.
a thousand work centers throughout the After a short but unsuccessful attempt at
country.71 unity between the Bolshevik Faction and
The m a s named as its candidate for presi­ the Lambertist Committee of Reorganiza­
dent Luis Zamora, a human rights lawyer tion of the Fourth International, the Bolshe­
who had been active in defending political vik Faction established the International
prisoners during the military dictatorship. Workers League (Fourth International) as a
For the vice presidency they named Mora separate tendency in International Trots­
Ciapponi, a one-time textile worker who kyism.
had also been the vice presidential nominee The Movimiento A 1 Socialismo held its
of the p s t in 1973, and who in 1979 had second congress in Buenos Aires in March
participated in the Sim6n Bolivar Brigade in 1985. Some 336 delegates and i,soo observ­
the last phases of the struggle against the ers were reported as having been present.
Somoza regime in Nicaragua.72 They re­ Among the invited visitors was Liborio
ceived about 43,000 votes.73 Justo. Of the delegates 5 5 percent were said
With the victory of Raul Alfonsm of the to be "workers from construction, meat
Radical Party most other parties announced packing, auto, machinists, railroad, food
at least their tentative support for the new processing, bottling, sanitation and public
civilian government. The m a s , however, works unions. Many were also members of
proclaimed that "the socialists of m a s de­ elected factory committees or rank and file
mand that no confidence or political support delegates for their union." In addition, 30
be given to Dr. Alfonsm and his govern­ percent of the delegates were white-collar
ment. We call for breaking this bear's em­ workers, and 13 percent students.
brace that is national unity with the oligar­ It was reported to the convention that m a s
chy and imperialism, to fight frankly against members were active in "over 1,000 facto­
them. . . ." 74 ries and workplaces and have 140 public
In spite of the somewhat equivocal posi­ headquarters throughout the country" and
tion taken in the unity resolution of the p r t were carrying on an active campaign against
La Verdad and the p s a , which led to the the "Peronist union bureaucrats" who had
establishment of the Partido Socialista de long dominated the organized labor move­

Aigentina 51
ment. The convention called for the forma­ that same source claimed that by the early
tion of a'United Left Electoral Front with the 1980s Politica Obrera had only about one
Communist Party and the Workers Party for hundred members.80
the 1985 congressional elections.76 As the right-wing terror evolved during
the second Peronista regime and afterwards,
Politica Obrera was one of its victims. In
Other Argentine Trotskyist Groups
March 1975 a leader of their youth group
At least three other groups which were or was quoted as saying, "We think that only
had been part of International Trotskyism a real mobilization, one that arouses the
existed in Argentina in the 1970s and early democratic impulses of the broadest masses,
1980s. These were the Posadas Partido can put the brakes on right-wing terrorism,
Obrero (Trotskista), the Politica Obrera while dealing a stiff blow to the state that
group, and the "national revolution" upholds it and thereby opening the road to
faction. a government of the workers organiza­
The Partido Obrero (Trotskista) was the tions."81
oldest Trotskyist group with continuous ex­ In mid-1977 Pablo Riesnik, editor of Poli­
istence in Argentina. In the early 1970s it tica Obrera, was picked up by right-wing
was pushing the general Posadas line in fa­ terrorists but was subsequently released. At
vor of the establishment of a "labor party the time of Riesnik's release, three other
based on the unions."77 It also strongly at­ Politica Obrera leaders who had been kid­
tacked the guerrilla efforts of the p r t - e r p , napped were still missing.82
claiming that kidnapping of the head of the Politica Obrera had virtually no influence
Fiat firm in Argentina by the p r t - e r p "is in the organized labor movement. There is
another action of the c i a . " 78 In 1975 a leader no indication that the group participated in
of its youth group was quoted as saying that elections in its own right, although in one
"the foquistas present their actions as repri­ of the elections of 1973 it called upon its
sals against the right-wing terrorist offen­ members and followers to vote for the p s t
sive, but the effect of such actions is to pre­ or to cast a blank ballot.83
vent a mass response by the working class With the establishment of the Committee
and to keep the proletariat out of the politi­ of Organization for the Reconstruction of
cal arena. . . . Its violence is in no way revo­ the Fourth International ( c o r q i ) by the
lutionary, even assuming that it does not Lambertist tendency, in 1972, Politica
directly serve the interests of the enemy and Obrera, which had not until then had any
the counterrevolution."79 international affiliation, joined that group.
As was true with most of the Posadista It remained associated with c o r q i for al­
groups by the 1970s, the p o (t ) was spending most seven years.
most of its energies and financial resources In January 1979 the Eighth Session of the
on publishing its periodical, Voz Proletaria. International Bureau of c o r q i decided to ex­
There is no material available to indicate pel Politica Obrera from its ranks. The group
how regularly they were able to put out this was accused of trying to organize a schism
publication after the advent of the military among the Latin American affiliates of
dictatorship in March 1976, or whether the c o r q i , and of following policies which were

p o ( t ) survived the death of J. Posadas in not consistent with Trotskyism. During the
1982. period of the second Per6n regime it was
The Politica Obrera group is reported {by accused of following policies friendly to that
an unfriendly source) to have had about 2 so regime. Then it was alleged that after the
members at the beginning of the 1 970s. Dur­ coup against President Isabel Per6n; at its
ing the decade it suffered several splits, and Second Congress in March 1977, Politica

52 Argentina
Obrera had adopted a policy of supporting The First Phase of
supposedly more "liberal" elements in the
generally "semi-Bonapartist" regime of Australian Trotskyism
General Jorge Videla.84
Subsequent to its expulsion from the
c o r q i , Politica Obrera joined a small faction

known as the Fourth Internationalist Ten­

dency. With the 1983 election which ended The history of Trotskyism in Australia di­
the military dictatorship, Politica Obrera vides into two clearly separate periods. The
changed its name to Partido Obrero. It is­ movement first appeared in the early 1930s
sued a call to the Intransigent Party, the and lasted for about two decades, after
Communists, a left-wing Peronista group, which it very nearly disappeared. It then
and m a s to run joint slates in the election. revived in the latter part of the 1960s as
When this brought no response, they named a consequence of the youth revolt of that
their own candidate for president and vice period, and although undergoing a series of
president: Gregorio Flores, an auto workers splits remained thereafter a significant ele­
leader from Cordoba, and Catalina Rai- ment in the far Left of national politics. In
mundo de Guagnini, a teacher and leader of the present chapter we shall deal with the
the National Secretariat of Relatives of the first phase of the history of the Australian
Detained and Disappeared.85 The Partido movement. Then we shall trace its evolu­
Obrero mobilized 70,000 supporters to get a tion in the second period.
place on the ballot. However, in the face
of the polarization of the vote between the
The Origins of Australian Trotskyism
Peronistas and the Radical Party the Partido
Obrero nominees received only 13,000 Australian Trotskyism had its origins
votes.86 among members of the Communist Party of
The final Argentine group with Trotskyist Australia {cpa) who were disillusioned with
antecedents was that headed by Jorge Abe­ the growing Stalinization of the c p a after
lardo Ramos. By the early 1970s the Partido the Comintern's Sixth Congress. It was per­
Socialista de la Izquierda Nacional had haps inevitable that sooner or later they
merged with some other small groups to should turn toward the ideas and personality
form the Frente de Izquierda Popular { f i p ). It of Stalin's most brilliant and acerbic critic,
named Ramos as its candidate for president Leon Trotsky. It was specifically through
in the first election in 1973, which brought the Trotskyist movement of the United
the Peronista candidate Hdctor Campora to States that Trotsky's ideas were first intro­
power. They presented "sixty revolutionary duced into Australia. There thus began a
measures" which they promised to adopt close association between Australian Trots­
immediately upon the victory of their kyism and that of the United States which
party.87 In the second r973 election the f i p lasted for half a century. Dave Deutschman
supported the candidacy of Juan Peron. They has observed that "the first real contact with
announced at that time that they had orga­ the International Trotskyist movement was
nized groups in 2r of the 24 electoral dis­ in 1930, when American seamen presented
tricts {provinces, territories and Federal a copy of the United States Militant, the
Capital) into which the country was di­ Trotskyist Left Opposition paper in the
vided.88By the early 1970s the Ramos group United States, to the secretary of the New
no longer considered themselves to be South Wales Seamen's Union, who subse­
Trotskyists.89 quently placed it in the library of the Trades
and Labor Council of New South Wales, and

t
t Australia: First Phase 53
 showed it to some who had expressed inter­ Deutschman has noted that "it was
est in the ideas of Trotsky."1 through activity in the unemployed workers
By 1932 a Trotskyist group began to take movement that the Left Oppositionists first
shape. Between 1932 and 1934 a number of began to come together in 19 3 1-3 2 ." A
people who were to be leading figures in group of them were active in the Glebe Un­
Australian Trotskyism were expelled from employment Committee, one of the largest
the c p a . One of these was Jack Sylvester, unemployed workers' groups in the Sydney
who organized an opposition group within area. Joey Boxhall was its most outstanding
the Communist Party and was expelled in figure. Laurie Short and N ick Origlass were
1932. Another, Joey Boxhall, also known as also active in the organization.
Joey Boxhom, had also been a dissident The principal political opposition to Box­
within the c p a and was to be the first na­ hall and his group in the Glebe unemployed
tional secretary of the first Trotskyist group, workers' organization were the Stalinists of
the Workers Party (Left Opposition). the c p a . When they were unable to gain
A third figure was Ted Tripp, who had control of the Glebe paper, The Bottom Dog,
been a Communist Party member since they began a rival paper, The Glebe Leader.
1925 and had been the c p a ' s first student at They even organized a physical attack on
the Lenin School in Moscow. Upon re­ the unemployed workers' movement's of­
turning, he became national secretary of the fice. However, it took more than eighteen
Friends of the Soviet Union and a member months before the Communists were able
of the Politburo of the c p a . However, he to gain control of the Glebe unemployed
became increasingly critical of the Comin­ organization, and by that time, the unem­
tern—particularly its policies in Germany ployed workers' movement was generally in
before the Nazi takeover—and established decline.6
contacts with the Trotskyists at least as
early as 1933. He was finally expelled from
The Workers Party (Left Opposition)
the c p a in 1934.2
A fourth figure was Nick Origlass, who The first organization established by the
had been bom in Queensland and was of Australian Trotskyists was the Workers
Italian extraction. John Tully has described Party (Left Opposition). Laurie Short has
him as "a singularly dogged fighter, deter­ written that ''the first Trotskyist group in
mined to bring the Marxist doctrine of the Australia was formed in May 1933, at a
class struggle and socialism to his fellow meeting of about 30 recently expelled mem­
workers."3 bers of the Communist Party of Australia,
Finally, there was Laurence (Laurie) Short. plus a few supporters of the Communist
The son of a sheepherder in Queensland, he Party, who had never been members of it."7
left school at fifteen and moved to Sydney In its early years, the Workers Party was
where he joined the Young Communist largely confined to Sydney and the sur­
League.4As a result of participating in a y c l rounding area. It was principally a propa­
demonstration he spent fourteen days in jail. ganda group concentrating much of its effort
Then in 1932 he was thrown out of the y c l on publication of a monthly newspaper, The
for supporting Emie Thornton, a c p leader Militant, and issuing a series of pamphlets.
who had just been expelled. Ironically, Its first headquarters* ;was the home of the
Thornton was later reinstated and became first editor of The Militant, Jack Sylvester,
the Communist leader and national secre­ in Balmain.
tary of the Federated Ironworkers Associa­ Understandably the Workers Party pub­
tion, a post from which Short was to oust lished many of Trotsky's writings. Dave
him many years later, in 19 51, after a long Deutschman has commented that "Trotsky
court fight over a disputed election.5 provided the core of the publications of the

54 Australia: First Phase

Workers Party, explaining the burning class commented that the Communist Party
issues of the day." They also published writ­ “ seemed to be alarmed at the existence of
ings of other international Trotskyist lead­ even a few Trotskyists."10 Deutschman has
ers as well as some locally written material noted that among the epithets addressed to
dealing with specifically Australian issues. them by the Stalinists were "white guardist
Among the pamphlets published in those pygmies," "insects," "fifth columnists,"
years were Behind the Shooting of Zinoviev, "saboteurs," "social fascists," and "fas­
What is Happening in the Communist Party cists."11
of A u s t r a lia T h e Fallacy of the Theory of
Social Fascism, Trotsky on the Stalinist Zig
T h e Leninist League
Zag of the United Front, Max Shachtman's
The Price of Recognition, and Trotsky's I The Workers Party succeeded in establish­
Stake M y Life. The Australian Trotskyists ing a small group in Melbourne in 1 934, and
also distributed publications of their U.S. The Militant began to be circulated there.
counterparts. However, there existed another group in
Dave Deutschman has summed up the that city which had little or no connection
nature of the Workers party activity in its with the Workers Party but also had Trots­
first years: "They were unable to influence kyist inclinations. This second group was
events but they could influence minds. The the Leninist League, which was established
outstanding activities, therefore, were what in 1935 and lasted for about two years. Its
were known at the time as the three S's, principal figure was Dinny Lovegrove, state
speaking studying and selling."8 secretary of the Communist Party in Victo­
The publishing activities of the Trotsky­ ria when h e was expelled from the c p a in
ists led them to seek to obtain their own 1933. Subsequent to his Trotskyist activity
printing machine. Ted Tripp, who by then he became a leader—at one time, state secre­
was editor of The Militant, located a used tary—of the Australian Labor Party in Vic­
machine priced at fifty pounds, and the toria.
Workers Party began a campaign to raise The Leninist League began publication in
that sum. Apparently Tripp himself contrib­ August 1935 of a monthly periodical, The
uted much of the money. He donated his Spark, which carried material which many
winnings from a wager, and he also gave ten years later Dave Deutschman claimed to be
pounds which he had been given by what "sectarian and at times ultraleft." It also had
he concluded was the Special Branch of the some activity and influence in the unem­
New South Wales police in an unsuccessful ployed workers' organizations in Mel­
effort to get him to provide information on bourne.
activities of the Communists. Historians of Australian Trotskyism af­
Shortly after this coup with the police the filiated with the Socialist Workers Party
Trotskyists got their antiquated machine. have raised questions about whether the Le­
Perhaps in revenge the police soon afterward ninist League had in fact been a Trotskyist
seized it, charging that the Workers Party group at all. It was certainly anti-Stalinist,
was printing material without including the but there was some evidence that it had not
name of the printer as required by law. How­ supported the concept of democratic cen­
ever, a judge ordered that it be returned to tralism. Dinny Lovegrove himself refused
the Workers Party, arguing that the Trotsky­ "to either deny or agree with my suggestion
ists should only have been warned by the that he was a Trotskyist," according to Dave
police.9 Deutschman.12 In any case, the Leninist
Although the Trotskyists remained a tiny League was the most important group in
group, they were very much the butt of at­ Melbourne during the 1930s which was
tacks by the Stalinists. Laurie Short has more or less associated with Trotskyism.

Australia: First Phase 55

 Schisms Among Australian broke with the Workers Party during the
Trotskyists April 1937 conference. They organized a
new group, the League of Revolutionary De­
The Workers Party was not quite four years mocracy, which soon changed its name to
old when it experienced its first schism. The the Independent Communist League, and
background for this was described by Nick published the periodical Permanent Revolu­
Origlass. "After an initial period of enthusi­ tion. In 1938 Tripp moved to Melbourne
asm, the Workers Party disintegrated as a where he was active for a short while in
result of a lack of theoretical clarity and the Workers Party group there, but in 1940
disappointment of the members when big abandoned all avowedly Trotskyist activity.
results were not rapidly achieved."13 The The Independent Communist League,
occasion for the first split was a conference meanwhile, sought reunification with the
of the Workers Party in April 1937, when Workers Party. This was achieved in May
two separate groups broke away. Eleven 1938 "on the basis of a six point anti-capital-
months later a third element also separated ist program." However, on the insistence of
from the Workers Party. Tripp's followers it was agreed to postpone
One dissident group was led by John An­ formal affiliation with the International
derson, a professor of philosophy at Sydney Secretariat of the Movement for the Fourth
University. He had migrated to Australia International.
from Scotland in 1927 and had soon become A third dissident element was a group led
the "theoretical adviser" of the Communist by John Wishart, also known as John Roy-
Party of Australia. In 1932 he had been at­ son. They broke away from the Workers
tracted to Trotskyism by Joey Boxhall. Lau­ Party in March 1938 but sought and received
rie Short has credited him with being one readmission three months later. This time
of the two "principal figures" in Australian the Wishart group remained in the organiza­
Trotskyism between 1933 and 19 3s.14 Dave tion only until its January 1939 conference
Deutschman noted that Anderson "was re­ when they broke away once again in protest
garded as the most prestigious figure in the of the decision to affiliate formally with the
Australian Trotskyist movement and as a newly established Fourth International. The
public speaker was able to attract very, very Wishart group formed a separate organiza­
large crowds. And, it shouldn't go without tion which used the names of both Revolu­
saying, that he was also able to donate some tionary Workers Party and Revolutionary
much needed funds to the early Australian Workers League. They decided to go under­
Trotskyist movement." ground with the outbreak of World War II
According to Deutschman, Professor An­ and then were readmitted to the main Trots­
derson's break with Australian Trotskyism kyist ranks in April 1940. This time they
was similar to that of Professor James Burn­ stayed until a conference in November
ham with its United States counterpart. "If 1941, when the Wishart group finally left
there was somebody who put forward the the ranks of the official Australian Trotsky­
politics, the anti-Marxist politics of Burn­ ist movement for good.16
ham, perhaps before Burnham himself, it Finally out of the Workers Party (by then
was Professor Anderson in 1937 in his rejec­ the Communist League), the followers of
tion of Marxism, his rejection of dialectical Wishart organized a» the Revolutionary
materialism, in a document entitled 'In De­ Workers Party ( r w p ). For several years the
fence of Revisionism.' " 1S r w p maintained that it was the only real

Organizationally more important than Trotskyist group in Australia, and after the
the defection of Anderson was that of Ted Communist League entered the Australian
Tripp, the second editor of The Militant. Labor Party and ended publication of The
Like Anderson, Tripp and his followers Militant Wishart and his followers began

56 Australia: First Phase

issuing their own version of that paper as hated national registry card on the Sydney
well as a theoretical journal entitled The Domain. . . . True to the Trotskyist tradi­
Fourth International, which was edited by tion, the Communist League proved to be
Jack Kavanaugh.17 There is no indication the only organization that stood firmly and
that the Revolutionary Workers Party was consistently against the imperialist war.
ever recognized by the Fourth International Not only in its press and public meetings,
as its Australian affiliate. but on the New South Wales Labor Council,
Meanwhile, one other small split in Aus­ through one of its members, the League
tralian Trotskyism took place in June 1940. fought against all the forces of reaction that
This was when a handful of members left in were promoting the imperialist war."
sympathy with the Shachtmanites in the Perhaps inevitably, their antiwar attitude
United States.18 brought the illegalization of the Communist
League. In June 1940 the Communist Party
was declared illegal by Attorney General
The Communist League of Australia
Hughes. Soon thereafter, John Wishart, ad­
At the June 1938 conference of the Workers dressing one of the League's rallies on the
Party (Left Opposition), the organization's Sydney Domain, "off his own bat .. . chal­
name was changed to Communist League of lenged, in front of a very large crowd . . .
Australia. Meanwhile, the group had begun the then Attorney General Billy Hughes to
to hold public meetings on the Sydney Do­ declare the Trotskyists illegal, and within
main, a large public park, in March 1938, days, Billy Hughes obliged." Their head­
which it continued to run regularly until it quarters were raided, and at least two mem­
was outlawed in June 1940. bers of the group, Wishart and G il Roper,
The Communist League officially-affili­ were sentenced to short periods in prison.22
ated with the international Trotskyist During its short existence, the Commu­
movement. The December 3, 1938, issue of nist League apparently had small groups in
The Militant (which continued to be the Melbourne and Brisbane as well as in Syd­
League's official organ) published the major ney. The League was far from being a demo­
decisions of the Founding Conference of the cratic centralist Bolshevik organization,
Fourth International which had been held however. Gil Roper reported on the state of
in September. At its January 1939 confer­ the organization to the International Secre­
ence the League decided to affiliate with the tariat of the Fourth International in January
Fourth International.19 1939 and, according to Dave Deutschman,
At the January 1939 Conference Nick Ori- in that letter Roper said that "the Brisbane,
glass was chosen as president of the Com­ Sydney and Melbourne branches largely
munist League of Australia. Its new secre­ functioned independently of each other,
tary was G il Roper, a longtime Communist with a working unity only possible on the
Party leader who had joined the Trotskyists basis of a broad program with local auton­
in 19 3 6 20 Laurie Short has said that the omy. While the Sydney branch took respon­
three "principal figures" in Australian sibility for publishing The Militant, there
Trotskyism between 1938 and 1948 were was no real effort made by the Melbourne
Origlass, Roper, and Short himself.21 and Brisbane branches to sell, and on one
As the threat of war approached, the Aus­ occasion the Melbourne members refused
tralian Trotskyists strongly opposed the to sell the paper at all because they objected
coming conflict. Dave Deutschman has to the attitude of an article in The Militant
noted that "in June 1939 the Communist on a big coal strike."23
League of Australia speakers exposed the Perhaps it was this very looseness of orga­
ruling class conspiracy to conscript workers nization which made the Communist
for the coming war, and publicly burned a League willing to accept within its ranks

Australia: First Phase 57

new defectors from the Communist Party gle against the Australian Labor Party and
who did not by any means entirely embrace Stalinist reformism in every field, and above
the ideas of Trotskyism. A number of such all, in the trade unions. We must unmask
figures entered the ranks of the League be­ their pseudo-leftism, their passive resis­
tween 1939 and 1941. The most important tance strike policy, their class collaboration,
of these was Jack Kavanaugh, a founder of counterposing the method of Leninism of
the Canadian Communist Party who had the revolutionary class struggle."
moved to Australia in 1925 and had been However, in spite of this denunciation the
immediately coopted into the Central Com­ Workers Party manifesto said that "w e urge
mittee of the Australian party. He was secre­ all genuine militants who recognize the fu­
tary general in 19 31 when he was first ex­ tility of parliamentary reformism to join
pelled from the c p a . After being readmitted, with us in staying with the workers to the
he was definitively expelled from the c p a in extent of voting Labor at this election. Such
1934. However, he did not join the Trotsky­ a vote by a worker who sees the truth of our
ist ranks until 1940. Subsequently other contentions in this manifesto is in no way
Trotskyist leaders insisted on referring to an endorsement of the a l p policy, but is a
him as an "ex-Stalinist," and by the 1950s tactic by which sincere revolutionists can
he was a strong supporter of Nikita Khrush­ insure a bigger possibility for getting a hear­
chev, although apparently never again re­ ing from the workers. . . .'/25
turning to the c p a .24 In the face of the outlawing of the Com­
munist League in 1940, the members of
that group finally decided to carry out the
Entrism in Australia
"French Turn" in Australia. This decision
A s was the case with their counterparts in was taken at the League's November 1941
Great Britain, the Australian Trotskyists conference. Once inside the Labor Party, the
were confronted not only with the Commu­ Trotskyists formed the Labor Socialist
nist Party, from which most of their early Group and published for several years a
recruits came, but also with the Labor Party. newspaper entitled The Socialist.26
The Australian Labor Party, like that of Brit­ Dave Deutschman has commented on
ain, was an organization to which trade what happened to the Trotskyists within
unions were directly affiliated and was more the Australian Labor Party: "The Trotsky­
or less wide open to anyone who cared to ists, operating as Labor Socialist Group, oc­
join it. cupied themselves for the next five years in
There was apparently no effort during the the Labor Party and the trade union move­
1 930s by the Australian Trotskyists to fol­ ments, making gains in both. A number of
low Trotsky's "French Turn"—entrism— Trotskyists in this period became promi­
by joining the Labor Party. It was essential, nent Socialists in the a l p , and as it turned
however, that they define their attitude to­ out later on, so submerged were they, lack­
ward the a l p . For electoral purposes, at least, ing a public Trotskyist party, that they dis­
their attitude was one of "critical support." appeared into the a l p altogether." Although
Thus, at the time of the October 1937 gen­ after the war the Labor Socialist Group made
eral election the Workers Party issued an promises to the U.S. Trotskyists to reestab­
election manifesto which argued that "the lish an open Trotskyist party, Deutschman
struggle to expose the fallacy and treachery had noted that "they never again took on a
of the a l p policy must begin again. . . . The public face."27
task of revolutionists is to point out and Although getting "lost" in the Australian
drive home the lessons of this experience. Labor Party, John Tulley has noted that The
This consists in an uncompromising strug­ Socialist "attacked conscription and lam­

58 Australia: First Phase

basted the war for what it was: an imperial­ the spur of the difficulties of the crisis there
ist wax." It did not have any more use for was an upsurge of militancy among the iron
pacifism than for patriotism. An editorial in workers which was led by members of the
the paper declared that "mere opposition to Communist Party of Australia. As a conse­
the bosses' conscription plans is not enough. quence Ernest Thornton emerged as na­
This is an era of universal war and fascism. tional secretary of the f i a in 1936.29
Pacifism in this era merely delivers the John Tulley has observed that "under the
workers into the hands of their enemies. leadership of the c . p . a . and the dynamic,
All important questions of the day will be although already completely Stalinized
solved by the workers, arms in hand. That Thornton, the Ironworkers Union was
is why the workers must step bodily into changed from a rather loose, federated body,
the political arena with their own pro­ with something of a tradition of local de­
gramme."28 mocracy, into a strongly centralized body in
which the national leadership was able to
dictate to the local leaders, and the rank
The Trotskyists in the Balmain
and file. Independent shop floor activity was
Trade Unions
anathema to the Stalinists, and according
Although aspiring to be the vanguard of the to witnesses of that time, they consciously
Australian working class the Trotskyists of modelled the organizational structure of the
the 1930s and 1940s only achieved some unions under their control on the distorted
degree of influence in the trade union move­ version of 'democratic centralism' that oper­
ment in one local area. This was in the Bal­ ated inside the c . p . a . . . .',3Q
main branch of the Federated Ironworkers Only the Balmain local of the f i a was not
Association ( f i a ). thoroughly controlled by the c p a —there
Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, was long a there was a strong current of discontent
center of the shipbuilding and repair indus­ with the Stalinists. John Tulley has noted
try in Australia. One of the first installa­ that the "Trotskyists were to provide the
tions, Mott's Dock, was set up in 1854. It leadership for an extraordinary rank-and-file
continued to be a major drydock until it was revolt of ironworkers, backed up by most
finally closed in the mid-1960s. Another other waterfront unionists, against the Sta­
major one was the Cockatoo Dock of the linist f . i .a . officials. The Trotskyists were
Vickers Company. The industry was very the catalyst needed to cause an explosive
depressed during the 1930s. Only with the reaction that flowed from the bitterness felt
outbreak of World War II did the Balmain by shipyard workers. . . ."3t
facilities become exceedingly busy, working Not entirely by coincidence several lead­
overtime in repairing vessels damaged as a ing Trotskyists were working in Balmain by
consequence of hostilities. the early 1940s. Nick Origlass and Laurie
The shipbuilding workers had tradition­ Short were ironworkers at Mort's Dock and
ally been very militant. The first local of the Cockatoo Dockyard, respectively, Jack Mur­
Federated Ironworkers Association—by the phy and Jack Sponberg were members of the
1940s one of the country's largest unions— Boilermakers Society, and Izzy Wyner was
was established in Balmain at the beginning a ship painter and docker.32 The Trotskyists
of the century. Similarly, one of the first strongly opposed the "class collaboration­
locals of the Australian Labor Party was lo­ ist" position adopted by the Stalinist leaders
cated in the town. of the f i a after the German attack on the
At the advent of the Great Depression the Soviet Union. They put out local sheets at­
Balmain union and the f i a in general were tacking Communist sabotage of local
under very conservative leadership. Under strikes.33 In 1944 they led the successful op­

t
Australia: First Phase 59
position to giving up the traditional paid held the legitimacy of the branch led by Ori­
holiday on Anniversary Day.34 glass and his friends. When the National
Nick Origlass and Laurie Short estab­ Council of the f i a "suspended" the Balmain
lished the Balmain Workers Social Club, branch executive, the maneuver failed be­
which published The Rising Tide. This peri­ cause the New South Wales Labor Council
odical "contained articles analysing the war accepted the branch delegates' credentials.40
from a socialist point of view, industrial However, in 1947 there were negotiations
news and social news."35 In November 1944 between the f i a national leadership and the
the union unit at Mort's Dock at a mass Balmain local, in which the president of the
meeting adopted a motion introduced by Australian Council of Trade Unions, Albert
Nick Origlass which called for unpegging of Monk, participated. It was finally agreed to
wages by the government, tying basic wages merge the Balmain branch into the sub­
to the cost of living and immediate estab­ branch of Sydney waterfront workers. In
lishment of the forty-hour week.3* elections in the new unit the Balmain group
The struggle of the Trotskyists against the won by a 3-a vote.41 In spite of this final
Stalinist control of the Balmain local of the victory the influence of the Trotskyists in
f i a came to a head in the last months of the the trade union movement of Balmain soon
war. In February 1945 the Stalinists refused disappeared.
to allow union payment of lost wages for Laurie Short quit the Trotskyist move­
Origlass for a day he spent on union busi­ ment in 1948. Many years later, Short ob­
ness, as was the custom.37 Shortly afterward, served that "I remained a Trotskyist for
Origlass and other members of the Mort's some years, slowly getting disillusioned by
Dock boilershop committee were sus­ them until the age of about 32 when I broke
pended because of holding a meeting during finally and irrevocably with Marxism. I
working hours, but were restored by a quick gradually came to the conclusion that our
strike. Westem-style pluralist, parliamentary de­
In March Origlass and seven other Mort's mocracy with all its faults is preferable to
Dock ironworkers were brought up on totalitarian societies like the Soviet Union.
charges in the union, with Origlass being Ours is much less awful than all the
suspended as steward in the boiler shop. A l­ others."41
though the workers there refused to elect Although quitting Trotskyism, Short did
a replacement, the Stalinist union leaders not cease his union activities. As an Austra­
announced three new delegates from Mort's lian Labor Party leader, he finally wrested
Dock. This provoked a general strike on control of the Federated Ironworkers Associ­
Mort's Dock on April 16. Two weeks later ation from the Communists in 19 51, when
this became a general strike of all ironwork­ a federal court declared that elections had
ers in Balmain 38 been rigged by the Thornton administration,
Finally, a meeting of the full Balmain and Laurie Short was declared to be national
branch of the f i a on May 22 , 1945, voted to secretary of the f i a . He continued to hold
depose the pro-Stalinist executive commit­ that position until his retirement on De­
tee and elect a new one, on which Nick cember 31, 1982, at which time a Sydney
Origlass was assistant secretary. As a conse­ newspaper called him "one of the most pow­
quence of this change in leadership the strik­ erful people in Australia."43
ers voted to go back to work, which they did
on May 25.39 The Stalinists did not accept End of First Phase of Australian
this fait accompli, and organized their own Trotskyism
branch in Balmain. On August 29, 1945, By the late 1940s the Australian Trotskyists
Judge O'Meara of the Arbitration Court up­ lost most of whatever ground they had

60 Australia: First Phase

gained during the previous fifteen years. and its suppression. A number of members
Certainly the reasons for this included the of the Communist Party of Australia, partic­
emergence of a general postwar prosperity ularly younger people, left in disgust, some
which made it possible for large numbers of of them joining the Trotskyist ranks/* How­
Australian workers to improve their stan­ ever, their number was not sufficient to in­
dard of living, and the onset of the Cold War, crease the size or influence of the Trotskyist
which generated widely held suspicions of movement.
any groups which seemed—even to the de­ The Trotskyists also made some gains as
gree that was true of the Trotskyists—to be a result of the beginning of the radicalization
apologists for the Soviet Union. There was of university youth in the early 1960s. John
a marked drift to the right in Australian Percy has noted that these gains were partic­
politics in the postwar period. ularly evident at Sydney University. He ob­
Dave Deutschman has reflected on some served that "these people had been active
of the other reasons for the decline of Trots­ around the Campaign for Nuclear Disarma­
kyism after World War n. "They were a ment which had been set up in Sydney Uni­
small group of talented mass workers and versity where the campus milieu hadn't
class struggle militants, many of them quite quite yet emerged from the Dark Days of
exceptionally dogged and honest people. the Cold War, and others were active in the
Without a party with which to stand up to a l p Club on Campus. . . ."47
the great historical buffetings, many of them The Australian Trotskyists became part
drifted away. As a result, at the end of the of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­
'40s, the Australian Trotskyist movement national when it was formed in 1963. Two
was smaller and more isolated than ever. It years later, when Michel Pablo broke away
was cut off from the main stream of work- from u s e c to form his own international
ingclass life, left high and dry where the group, the Australian Trotskyists split. At a
waves of the class struggle had reached it conference early in 1967 the majority of the
before receding."44 group decided to leave u s e c along with
The Australian Section of the Fourth In­ Pablo. According to John Percy, the vote was
ternational did not entirely disappear. Nick very close, something like 1 3 - 1 2 . Percy also
Origlass remained its most prestigious noted that it was generally the older people
leader. It published a periodical, Interna­ who sided with Nick Origlass in quitting
tional. In 1954 Origlass wrote to the Social­ the United Secretariat.48
ist Workers Party of the United States to
inform them that after carefully studying
The Origlass Group
James Cannon's Open Letter to the World
Trotskyist Movement and other material is­ The Origlass group continued to exist after
sued by the International Committee, the the split, but it is clear that they did not
Australian Section had decided to continue seriously try to establish a Trotskyist party.
its backing of the International Secretariat, They were to a large degree an ingrown
led by Michel Pablo. However, in 1956-57 group. Percy has claimed that "often the
a small group did break away to support the activity consisted of soirees every month
International Committee, and it published at N ick's place, where people listened to a
its own version of The Socialist. It reunited several hour monologue by Nick Ori­
with the Origlass group in i96o.4S glass. " 4?
The Australian Trotskyists obtained Yet the activities of the group were cer­
some recruits as a consequence of the events tainly more extensive than that. It contin­
of 1956—Khrushchev's speech to the Twen­ ued to publish International, which in­
tieth Congress and the Hungarian uprising cluded many translations of articles by

1 Australia: First Phase 61

i
 Pablo. The group also worked within the The Revival of Australian
Australian Labor Party, with Origlass being
particularly active in the party in the Bal­ Trotskyism
main area. He was even elected mayor of the
suburban town of Lechhardt and gained a
certain notoriety when, clad in his robes of
office, he led a demonstration against the
building of a freeway.50 Australian Trotskyism had reached its nadir
In the late 1960s Nick Origlass came into by the mid-1960s. In the years that followed
conflict with right-wing Labor Party ele­ it was to revive but, in its new phase, to
ments in the Balmain area. This brought his be split into several competing groups. The
expulsion from the Labor Party, whereupon largest of these would gain a distinctive
he ran a campaign as an Independent Labor place for itself in the history of International
candidate and came close to defeating the Trotskyism in the middle 1980s by repudiat­
official a l p nominee. ing the ideas of Trotsky and withdrawing
Some of the old-time Trotskyist trade un­ from the ranks of the movement.
ionists remained with Nick Origlass in the
1965 split, but as time went on most of them
Trotskyism in the 1960s Antiwar
abandoned their Trotskyist allegiance. John
Movement
Percy has noted that some after being "ac­
tive as Trotskyists in the trade unions, [be­ The revival of Australian Trotskyism came
came! less and less Trotskyists and more as a consequence of the youth revolt of the
and more just trade unionists." Others be­ 1960s, particularly the movement against
came Communists or Communist sympa­ the Vietnam War. Although there were
thizers. Percy added that "the great majority some connections between this new Trots­
of those who supported Nick dropped out of kyist movement and the older one, it con­
politics altogether."51 sisted mainly of young people who had no
George Novack, the United States Trots­ previous contact with radical politics.
kyist leader who met and talked extensively At the time of the 1965 split, the minority
with Nick Origlass during a visit to Austra­ of older Trotskyists, who continued to sup­
lia in the late 1970s, came to the conclusion port the United Secretariat, wrote to the In­
that the Origlass group had been reduced ternational explaining the origins of the
largely to a few personal friends of Ori­ schism in Australian Trotskyism. They re­
glass.52 ceived a reply from Pierre Frank, and among
other advice he suggested they should con­
tinue to function as a group and bring out a
publication. They were not able to do either
of these things, and there was no further
contact between the Australian Trotskyists
and the United Secretariat for about four
years.1.
Two members of the 1965 minority did
continue to be active in left-wing politics—
Ian McDougal and Bob Gould. They had
both been leaders of the Campaign for Nu­
clear Disarmament in Sydney in the early
1960s and were largely responsible for con­
verting this in 196 5 into the Vietnam Action

62 Australia: Revival
Campaign, which Percy has said "was the and subsequently the three old-time Trots­
first real organization here to get going to kyists printed a number of publications
mobilize people against the Vietnam War."2 which the young people began to put out.s
About the same time as the split among The emerging group of young Trotskyists
the Trotskyists there was an influx of mem­ generally joined the Australian Labor Party,
bers into the radical groups at Sydney Uni­ but "there was so much happening outside
versity. These groups were the Labor Club, the Labor Party and in the antiwar move­
at the time controlled by the Stalinists, the ment, we didn't go all that much into the
Australian Labor Party Club (a l p ), and the Labor Party at that time," according to
Fabian Society, made up of right-wing Labor Percy.6 Among other things they attempted
supporters. By 1964 the a l p Club was al­ to penetrate the Unity Youth League, the
ready controlled by Origlass Trotskyists, in­ youth organization of the Communist
cluding N. MacDougal, Sylvia Hale, Paul Party, which was then in a state of ferment.
Greenland, and Peter Templeton.3 For a while the Trotskyists had a faction
Most of the youngsters who entered these within the u y l which they oriented. They
clubs had little or no political background, failed to gain control of the u y l , and so set
although some of them were children of about organizing a separate group under
Communist Party members. The Stalinists their own leadership.7
dominated the Labor Club largely because Meanwhile, the young Trotskyists had es­
of the political innocence of most of the tablished their own informal organization.
rank-and-file members of the group. It started to publish a periodical, Perspec­
It was at the Australian Student Labor tives, which put out "reprints of overseas
Federation Conference of May 1965 that Trotskyist articles, analysis of what was
there began to emerge a Trotskyist group at happening in the Labor Party, the c p and so
Sydney University. That meeting in Can­ on. . . ."8
berra was marked by an antiwar demonstra­ The broader organization established by
tion, as a result of which a number of the the Trotskyists was designed to be a "radical
participants were jailed overnight. Those in­ youth organization." They got a headquar­
carcerated included Bob Gould who, al­ ters for the group in the center of Sydney
though no longer a student, made it "a habit and adopted a name, Screw. Percy has said
of going along to the a s l f conference each that "there were two interpretations of what
year as did a few other perennial student this meant. . . . The first interpretation was
activists. . . ."4 Subsequently Gould led the that it was Society for the Cultivation of
anti-Stalinist group in the conference and Rebellion Everywhere. If you were a little
won the support of some of the Sydney Uni­ more political, it was the Sydney Commit­
versity students there, most notably Percy. tee for Revolution and Emancipation of the
Early in 1966 the students who had been Working class."9
influenced by Gould took control of the La­ At its inception Screw undoubtedly re­
bor Club and changed its name to the Social­ flected the "youth culture" characteristic of
ist Club. Percy became its secretary and edi­ the time. Drugs as well as radical politics
tor of its magazine, The Forum. He and other were popular among its members although
students who had joined forces with him the ideological leaders would apparently
also entered into contact with three ex­ have nothing to do personally with the drug
members of the Origlass Trotskyist group: culture.
Roger Barnes, Sylvia Hale, and Tony Kelly. In November 1967 the name of the group
These three had started a magazine, Com- was changed to Resistance. John Percy has
men t, and set up a printing business. The stu­ noted that "we had to fight a rearguard ac­
dents helped them publish their periodical, tion with anarchists in the organization who

Australia: Revival 63
thought that Screw was just right for their France, the Socialist Workers Party in Amer­
conception of the organization. We won the ica, and the International Marxist Group in
day at a Screw meeting and changed the Britain. It would also be able to encompass
name to Resistance, and pressed it a little comrades who might have some theoretical
more in the politica] direction."10 differences." The last statement was added,
Five months later, in April 1966, Resis­ according to Percy, on the insistence of Bob
tance became a membership organization, Gould, who had doubts about establishing a
"one further step on the road to structuring frankly Trotskyist organization.13
ourselves," as Percy observed. It published The first meeting also decided to under­
regular newsletters and put out mailings of take responsibility for continuing the publi­
the Vietnam Action Campaign, which cation of Socialist Perspectives and to estab­
mounted to 11,000 copies at one point. The lish a similar group in Canberra, where Ian
group issued a number of pamphlets and McDougal had recently moved. It also
produced about twenty-five different post­ elected Percy as convenor of the organiza­
ers. They held weekend seminars on Marx­ tion, and Megan Sharpe as international cor­
ism, Che Guevara, and radical youth move­ respondence secretary.14
ments. Percy noted that "we participated A week later the second meeting of the
as a group in many anti-Vietnam and anti­ organization took place. There "w e adopted
conscription demonstrations. We helped a draft program which was fairly rudimen­
picket, collect money and produce posters tary, just ten or eleven points, short para­
for the strike of junior postal workers."11 graphs. . . . " They also adopted the name
One pamphlet issued by Resistance, International Marxist League, copying it
"How Not to Join the Army," brought about from the International Marxist Group,
a police raid on their headquarters. They had u s e c ' s British affiliate, to which Megan

received advance notice of the raid and so Sharpe and her husband had belonged before
had mobilized newspaper journalists and TV their recent return from Great Britain,15
cameramen to witness the event. The result
was that "it gave the bookshop a real boost.
Factional Struggle Within the IML
The Third World Bookshop, where you can
get this seditious literature. It was thou­ Virtually from the inception of the i m l a
sands and thousands of dollars worth of free factional struggle broke out within its ranks.
publicity. . . ." 12 On one side was Bob Gould, who had come
out of the older Trotskyist movement and
was cautious about launching a new affiliate
The International Marxist League
of the United Secretariat, favoring instead a
broader kind of organization through which
Establishment
the convinced Trotskyists could "educate"
In May 1969 the Trotskyist core within the other members, looking toward the ulti­
Resistance leadership organized the Interna­ mate (but not proximate) establishment of
tional Marxist League (i m l ). Thirty people a full-fledged Trotskyist party. On the other
were present at its founding meeting, which side were a number of the new recruits from
decided to issue a statement which read in the antiwar movement, led particularly by
part: "Dear Comrade, A meeting of revolu­ John and James Percy.VThey favored estab­
tionary Socialists was held la s t. . . May 17, lishment as soon as possible of a declared
and those present resolved to constitute Trotskyist organization which, although in­
themselves as a political faction. The view­ evitably small, would become the avowed
point would be generally Trotskyist and affiliate of International Trotskyism in Aus­
sympathetic to the Fourth International, tralia.
formed b y such organizations as the j c r in Soon after the establishment of the i m l

64 Australia: Revival
Barry Shephard, the U.S. representative at The proposals put forward by Percy and
u s e c headquarters in Paris, made a visit to supported by his group within the i m l and
Australia on the way home from the Ninth Resistance included tightening up the orga­
World Congress of the United Secretariat. nizational structure of Resistance with the
Both Gould and his opponents presented election of an executive committee, the pay­
their points of view to Shephard, and al­ ment of regular dues by members, and the
though he did not overtly take sides at that establishment of an educational program
time Shephard's visit did establish contacts among members. He also proposed commit­
between the i m l and the headquarters of the ting it ideologically to Trotskyist positions,
international movement, and in doing so which Percy himself many years later
tended to strengthen the hand of the anti- summed up thus: "for socialism and work­
Gould faction.16 ers' control, immediate withdrawal of
One immediate result of the Shephard troops and so on, support for the Vietnamese
visit was the decision of the i m l to elect a n revolution and all national liberation strug­
executive committee in place of the mere gles and so on, against the bureaucracies in
convenor and international secretary. Gould the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and
favored a large committee and the freedom China, and support for the struggle for so­
of any member who cared to do so to partici­ cialist democracy in those countries."19
pate in its meetings; the Percy group favored These suggestions aroused strong opposi­
a smaller working executive, and they car­ tion from Gould and his supporters. They
ried the day. However, when elections for urged a much looser form of organization
the committee were held, Gould obtained a and opposed committing Resistance ideo­
majority.17 logically.10 The upshot was the formation
During the latter months of 1969 the anti­ of two factions within the organization in
war struggle took up most of the Trotsky­ preparation for a meeting on February 14,
ists' time and the faction fight languished. 1970, to reach a decision on the issue. That
It was rekindled as the result of an invitation session lasted seven and a half hours, and
from the Young Socialist Alliance, the the Percy forces finally carried the day with
youth organization of the Socialist Workers a vote of about 2—1 on the various motions.
Party of the United States, to pay the ex­ That group also received a substantial ma­
penses of a fraternal delegate from the Aus­ jority on the new executive committee of
tralian Trotskyists to the upcoming y s a con­ Resistance.21
vention. Gould proposed that one Hardin Meanwhile, the struggle also continued
Thompson, of his faction, be named, while within the i m l . Although neither the League
his opponents suggested that John Percy nor its executive committee had met for
should be the delegate. Percy was selected. three months, a meeting of the executive
He later wrote to Barry Shephard that upon was called by the Gould forces and it passed
his return to Australia, "I was perhaps, yes, a motion censuring the activities of John
a raving Y S A e r , very impressed with things, and James Percy within Resistance. This ac­
very impressed with the Socialist Workers tion provoked the issuance of a leaflet by
Party and I learned an awful lot."18 the Percy brothers stating their position in
John Percy returned from the United favor of converting the i m l into a "pro­
States with certain ideas for reorganizing per" Trotskyist organization and denying
Resistance and in effect converting it into a Gould's charge that they were trying to con­
Trotskyist youth group. As a consequence, vert Resistance into a "proto-party."22
the struggle within the i m l spilled over into After their defeat in Resistance the Gould
Resistance, where both factions sought to forces called a full meeting of the i m l . That
line up people who were not members of session confirmed the vote of censure
IM L . against the Percy brothers. Bob Gould then

t
t Australia: Revival 65
introduced a motion to the effect that "the "gotten in touch with a few individuals, it
i m l recognizes the existence of two factions wasn't organized properly as a group." In
and proposes to split the group fot the time Adelaide a somewhat more substantial
period of six months into two separate branch had been established by Carl M ay­
groups. There w ill be no i m l meetings dur­ nard, Bill Claven, and Ben Austin, who had
ing this period, but a parity committee of the been coleaders with the Percy brothers of
two factions will be set up for the purpose of the anti-Gould forces in Sydney. In Canberra
calling a reunification conference at the end Ian McDougal, one of the younger veterans
of this time." This motion was passed by a of the older Trotskyist movement, was the
very small majority.23 principal organizer of the Socialist Review
For all practical purposes, this meant the Group.26 Efforts to involve Roger Barnes,
end of the International Marxist League. Sylvia Hale, and Tony Kelly, also former
The Gould group maintained their identity members of the earlier Trotskyist move­
for a time. They published a newspaper, ment, did not flourish; after first being asso­
Keep Left. However, by the late 1970s the ciated with the Socialist Review Group they
organization had apparently lapsed, al­ withdrew because of the Group's opposition
though some members of the group were to "deep entry" into the Australian Labor
still active in the Australian Labor Party and Party.27
the unions of the New South Wales area.24 On August 28-19, 1970, Resistance held
a national conference. That meeting con­
firmed the break with the Gouldites and
From Socialist Review Group to
converted the organization into the Socialist
Socialist Workers Party
Youth Alliance. John Percy later noted that
The Percy group also continued to function, the meeting "adopted a number of docu­
now as a separate organization. In May 1970 ments, a political program, elected a na­
they launched a periodical, Socialist Re­ tional leadership, and set about the task of
view, and from this journal they took the building a proper Socialist youth organiza­
name Socialist Review Group. In the first tion." It also decided to begin publication of
issue an iiitroductory editorial recounted a new periodical, Direct Action.28
something of the history of Trotskyism in John Percy summed up the further evolu­
Australia, including the 1965 split in its tion of the Socialist Review Group: "If you
ranks. It commented that "the remaining ask when the Socialist Workers Party was
supporters of the Fourth International con­ founded, well the party was founded at the
tinued to work in small groups or as individ­ beginning of 1976 when we changed our
uals, explaining and developing their views, name from Socialist Workers League to So­
winning others to their position, and playing cialist Workers Party. The Socialist Workers
a part in all the mass activities of the Left. League was founded at the beginning of
During the last three months there has been 1972. But really, the Socialist Review Group
a major regroupment of the supporters of the was the direct precursor of the Socialist
Fourth International, with a large branch in Workers League. . . . The first conference of
Sydney, and small groups in Adelaide, Mel­ the Socialist Review Group was the found­
bourne and Canberra. This group now has a ing conference of the Socialist Workers
larger membership than all of the supporters League. . . ."a> -
of International, other small bodies and
noisy individuals claiming to be Trots­
USEC Factionalism in Australia
kyists. "2S
in the 1970s
In fact, the principal strength of the So­
cialist Review Group was still in the Sydney During the 1970s the Trots­
u s E C -o r ie n te d
region. In Melbourne, although they had kyists of Australia s u ffe re d the conse­

66 Australia: Revival
 quences of the bitter controversy then under the drift of the Australian party away from
way within the United Secretariat. There Trotskyism.
existed groups associated with both the In­
ternational Majority Tendency, led by the
Demociatic Centralist Nature
Europeans Ernest Mandel, Livio Maitan, and
of the SWP
Pierre Frank, and the Leninist Trotskyist
Faction (l t f ), associated with the Socialist By 1977 the Australian Socialist Workers
Workers Party of the United States. Party had become an orthodox Trotskyist
The Socialist Workers League (and subse­ "democratic centralist" organization. At its
quently Socialist Workers Party) was Fifth National Conference in January 1977
aligned with the Leninist Trotskyist Fac­ it adopted a resolution on "Organizational
tion. At least as early as 1 970 another organi­ Principles of the swp," in many ways like a
zation, the Labor Action Group ( l a g ), cen­ similar document adopted by the swp of the
tering principally in Brisbane, was United States a dozen years before. It, to­
established by people sympathizing with gether with the party's constitution, defined
the International Majority Tendency. By the nature of the organization.
19 71 both it and the Socialist Review Group The 1977 resolution provided that "the
(soon to be the Socialist Workers League) revolutionary combat party has the right to
had been recognized as sympathizing orga­ regulate all its affairs, either by means of
nizations of U S E C . majority vote or by delegating decisions to
Early in 1972 the first effort was made to the elected leaderships." It further provided
unite the two u s e c groups, l a g went out of that "centralism is united action, the princi­
existence and its members joined the Social­ ple that all the political activity of party
ist Workers League, into the leadership of members is carried out under the overall
which some l a g people were co-opted. direction of the party. There are no excep­
However, this fusion lasted only about eight tions to this rule apart from those which the
months and in August 1972 a new split took party itself may explicitly decide upon." In
place resulting in the formation of the Com­ elaborating on this theme the resolution
munist League.30 spelled out that "all political collaboration
The two organizations continued their with nonmembers of the party shall be un­
separate existence until early 1976. It was der the direction and control of the govern­
not until the beginning of reconciliation be­ ing bodies of the party. "31
tween the j m f and l t f within u s e c that seri­ The "democratic centralist" nature of the
ous steps were taken to reunite the two Aus­ s w p was also elaborated upon with regard to

tralian groups associated with the United discussions of party policies and positions.
Secretariat. In 1976 a minority of the Com­ Article IV, Section 7 of its constitution pro­
munist League broke away from that organi­ vided that "questions decided by the Na­
zation and joined the Socialist Workers tional Conference may be the subject of new
Party (which the s w l had become). In the discussions only when such discussion is
following year, lengthy negotiations and formally authorized by the national govern­
considerable cooperation in issuing a Joint ing bodies of the party or in the established
Discussion Bulletin and holding Joint Cen­ preconference discussion period." This
tral Committee meetings resulted in agree­ point was elaborated on by the 1977 resolu­
ment to hold a unity conference in January tion's insistence that "the party is therefore
1978.31 The unity achieved at that time con­ entitled to regulate the time, form and lim ­
tinued for half a decade, until entirely new its of its internal discussions. The party is
grounds for splitting arose from a quarrel not a debating society, but a revolutionary
between the Socialist Workers parties of combat party, which discusses in order to
Australia and the United States and from act with the united force of all its members."

Australia: Revival 67
To avoid abuse of this rule by the "governing attending were members of the s w p or its
bodies/' however, the party constitution youth group, Resistance. They included
provided that a special conference could be members of forty-two different trade
called on the demand of "one third of the unions.
membership in a vote on motions presented The report on this conference commented
to branch meetings within a two months that "the s w p and Resistance made the most
period."33 of their opportunities in 1983." It added that
The party's rules did provide for the orga­ "during the year a group of Turks in M el­
nization of tendencies and even factions bourne, members of the organization Revo­
during discussion periods. The 1977 docu­ lutionary Path, fused with the s w p / ' and
ment said that "a faction which is publicly "that a similar group in Sydney had also
declared to the party as a whole, which at­ decided to join the party."37
tempts to persuade the party rather than No reliable figures are available concern­
manipulate it behind the backs of the mem­ ing the total membership of the Socialist
bership, which conducts its efforts com­ Workers Party. However, one unfriendly
pletely within the framework prescribed by source claimed in the summer of 1983 that
the national conference and authorized the Melbourne branch, with 65 members,
party bodies, and which gives the party the had "one third of the entire membership."36
same degree of loyalty that is expected from It seems likely that the actual membership
every party member, is thoroughly in keep­ was substantially higher than that indicated
ing with the norms of a democratic cen­ by this source. Mick Armstrong of the rival
tralist organization."34 International Socialists estimated in M ay
1983 that the s w p had between 250 and 300
members.39
The membership engaged in a wide vari­
Evolution and Activities of the SWP
ety of different activities. The party fol­
The Socialist Workers Party grew consider­ lowed the so-called "industrial turn" pre­
ably in the years following its formal estab­ scribed by the 1979 World Conference of the
lishment, both in terms of numbers and of United Secretariat, that is, having the party
the geographical distribution of its member­ members get jobs, particularly in industry,
ship. By 1984 it had party organizations and and become active in the appropriate
headquarters in Adelaide, Brisbane, Bumie, unions. By raid-19 82 the leadership of the
Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, s w p concluded that the "turn to industry"

Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong 35 had been completed, with 81 percent of the
In November 1983 the party leadership membership either employed in industry or
announced that "for three years the party looking for industrial jobs. Critics of the
had experienced steady growth—an overall leadership argued that a substantial part of
increase of 70 percent from February 1981 the party membership was, in fact, em­
to September 1983." The report added that ployed in white-collar jobs and other nonin­
"w e have maintained a cadre school in dustrial occupations.40
which dozens of comrades have had the About the time of a completion of the
benefit of sixteen weeks of full-time industrial turn, the s w p leadership made a
study."36 decision to participate, in union elections
At the time of the January 1984 Socialist with their own slates, or tickets worked out
Education Conference organized by the with other far left organizations. A party
party it was announced that 420 people were resolution proclaimed that "now is the time
in attendance, an increase of 3 5 percent over for the party to step up its efforts at linking
the previous year. Some 51 percent of those up with and bringing together the initial

68 Australia: Revival
nuclei of the class-struggle left wing, those Party is the only real alternative for workers
militant sections of the working class that in Australia today. . . ," 43
are looking for solutions to the present crisis By late 1984 the s w p ' s attitude toward the
on the basis of class-struggle unionism and Australian Labor Party had altered drasti­
a fight against the bureaucracy of both 'left' cally, in part reflecting the s w p ' s drift away
and right varieties." from its traditional Trotskyist orientation.
In the following period s w p slates were In October 1984 the National Committee
organized in a number of union elections. adopted as its own a report made to it by
These included locals in the auto and steel Jim Percy, which set forth the party's new
industries.41 The Socialist Workers Party electoral posture. Percy argued that over the
also participated in general elections. The years the s w p had been wrong in urging a
high point of this activity was in the election vote for Australian Labor Party candidates
of March 1983, which brought the Austra­ in places where it did not run its own. It had
lian Labor Party back to power after a con­ been led into doing this by its putting too
siderable period. In that campaign the s w p much emphasis on the fact that the a l p was
"fielded a total of thirty-eight candidates, based on the trade unions even though it
produced more than half a million national had a bourgeois program. Since the a l p in
campaign leaflets, and printed 80,000 post­ fact represented the strongest block to a so­
ers." The party paper, Direct Action, of cialist revolution in Australia it had to be
March 15 ,19 8 3 , reported that the s w p candi­ destroyed, and the s w p had been wrong to
dates had received 41,803 votes, which rep­ contribute to illusions about what could be
resented 0.5 percent of the total; but in those accomplished by victory of the Labor Party.
districts in which it had candidates it re­ Insofar as the 1984 election itself was con­
ceived an average of 1,100 votes, amounting cerned, Percy professed to see the emergence
to 1.5 percent. of the new Nuclear Disarmament Party
In that campaign the s w p called for first ( n d p ) as a possible beginning of the breakup
preference votes for its nominees but for of the Australian Labor Party. Both because
second preference votes—under the coun­ of that, and because the swp strongly sup­
try's proportional representation electoral ported the "one-issue" around which the
system—for nominees of the Australian La­ n d p was organized, the s w p should support

bor Party 41 n d p candidates—mainly running for the

The attitude of the swp toward the Labor Senate. In addition, in some constituencies
Party in the 1983 election was put forth in the s w p should have its own candidates; and
an article "Fraser Must Go!" appearing in in the State of South Australia should partic­
the periodical of the party's youth organiza­ ipate along with the Stalinist Socialist Party
tion some months before the poll. It said of Australia and several smaller left groups
that "a Labor government with socialist pol­ in a coalition campaign.44
icies would be capable of ruling in the inter­ The n d p in fact received between seven
ests of the majority and implementing these and eight percent of the total vote. The s w p ' s
demands. The present Labor party leaders nine candidates received between one and
and trade union officials have been pushed five percent in the constituencies in which
to take action over workers' demands in re­ they ran 4S The united front ticket in South
cent months. . . . However, these labor Australia got fewer votes than the individ­
movement leaders have also shown that ual participating parties had received
they aren't really capable of mounting a sus­ before.46
tained campaign to defend workers' levels At a postelection conference of the n d p
or of organizing resistance to the war drive." its elected senator, Jo Vallentine, and several
But the paper concluded that "the Labor other top leaders of the group walked out.

Australia: Revival 69
In doing so, they denounced the Socialist and particularly of the aboriginal popula­
Workers Party's alleged efforts to "take tion. For instance, the May 16, 1984, issue
over" the new party.47 of Direct Action carried articles denouncing
Another center of party activity was the alleged anti-Asian bigotry of the Liberal
issuance and distribution of its publications. Party.50 The issue of February 15, 1984, car­
It was reported in May 1984 that 6,133 coP' ried articles protesting widespread unem­
ies of the party's weekly, Direct Action, ployment among the aborigines, inadequate
were being distributed. By far the largest educational facilities for the aborigines, as
numbers were being placed in Sydney and well as one on the Turkish migrants struggle
Melbourne.48 The s w p maintained a book for child care.51 The February 22, 1984, issue
and pamphlet publishing enterprise, Path­ carried an analysis of a Hawke government
finder Press, which in 1982 was distributing bill on aborigines' land rights and a story on
among other things works by Engels and aboriginal occupation of land which they
Trotsky, and publications on Cuba, sexism, argued belonged rightly to them.S2
and atomic energy problems.49 Virtually every issue of Direct Action car­
ried more or less extensive news about trade
union struggles in various parts of the coun­
Positions and Alliances of the
try. However, there was very little indica­
Socialist Workers Party
tion of direct s w p participation in these
In general, the Australian s w p in the late struggles.
1 970s and early 1 980s took positions similar On international issues the s w p paid ex­
to those being enunciated by the United Sec­ tensive attention to the conflicts going on
retariat of the Fourth International. How­ in Central America, strongly supporting the
ever, there were some issues on which this guerrilla war in El Salvador and the Sandini-
was clearly not the case. sta government in Nicaragua. It also contin­
In internal Australian politics, the s w p ued to support the Iranian Revolution al­
was highly critical of the Australian Labor though critical of the Khomeini regime's
Party government which came to power suppression of its opponents. An official
early in 1983. It was particularly opposed to statement of the position of the Socialist
the so-called "social compact" worked out Workers Party on Iran in m id -19 84 observed
between the Labor government of Prime that "the revolutionary overthrow of the i r p
Minister Bob Hawke and the Australian regime is not a real possibility right now,"
Council of Trade Unions (a c t u ). Its attitude and criticized the Mujahedeen for "ultraleft
was put forward in a slogan which took up adventure" in having attempted such an
most of the front page of the May 2, 1984 overthrow. It added that "the tack is to pre­
issue of Direct Action: "Hawke's Accord is pare for this by driving forward the anti­
a Dead End!" Similarly, an editorial in the imperialist struggle" and listed a number of
May 16, 1984, issue dealt with "Labor's Job "main axes of this struggle." These included
Failure." broadening democratic rights, "developing
The swp was also critical of the foreign the self-organization of the working class,"
policy of the Hawke government. A lead land reform, rights of minorities, rights for
editorial in the April 11, 1984, issue of D i­ women, and "arming the masses of workers
rect Action denounced "Hawke's Cold War" and peasants to defend their revolution."
and attacked a leaked official document, The document cited an earlier s w p state­
"the Strategic Basis of Australian Defense ment of 1981 to the effect that "the masses
Policy," which called for a "forward de­ of workers and peasants are still undefeated,
fence" of the country. and how much further they are able to go
The party strongly supported in its publi­ will in some part depend on the extent of
cations the rights of the immigrant workers the support and solidarity they receive from

70 Australia: Revival
the working people around the world. . . . gust 1983 issue of Direct Action carried a
The Iranian people still need our soli­ four-page supplement on "the Croatian na­
darity."53 tional struggle."
On some matters the Australian swp took Opponents of the s w p claimed that the
a more pro-Soviet position than did the h d p had its origins in the Ustashi movement

United Secretariat as a whole. Early in 1984 which had dominated Croatia during the
its periodical carried a two-piece article, Nazi occupation period of World War II. The
"Behind the Steady Growth of the Soviet s w p ' s association with the h d p brought pro­

Economy," which was highly laudatory of tests from some people in the Australian
the achievements of the Soviet planners.54 Labor Party and other groups with which
The s w p also presented a more friendly the Socialist Workers Party had until then
attitude toward the Soviet occupation of Af­ had friendly relations.57
ghanistan than was customary in u s e c pub­ The alignment with the h d p brought a
lications. In an article on the subject early reaction from Ernest Mandel of the United
in 1982 Direct Action said: Secretariat. Although no details of the docu­
ment were published, a letter which had
Soviet withdrawal now would in all like­
some circulation within the s w p was sent
lihood lead to a quick victory of the coun­
by Mandel to the Australian swp leadership
ter-revolutions. . . . The aim of all sup­
complaining to some degree about the s w p -
porters of the Afghan revolution and all
h d p relationship.58 Late in 1984 a segment
supporters of Afghanistan's right of self-
of the h d p broke away to form the Socialist
determination should be to help create
Party of Croatia. That group received con­
the conditions in which Soviet troops will
siderable favorable publicity from the s w p .59
no longer be needed to defend the gains
Another alliance developed by the Social­
and lives of the Afghan workers and peas­
ist Workers Party in the early 1980s was that
ants. In the first place and above all, this
with the Socialist Party of Australia ( s p a ),
means campaigning against imperialist
the pro-Moscow faction of the Australian
arming and financing of the counter-revo­
Communist movement. An article in Direct
lution, against the Pakistani dictator­
Action explained the purposes of coopera­
ship's providing of sanctuary for the guer­
tion between the s w p and the s p a : "The
rillas, and against the US military build­
a l p - a c t u prices and income accord is a
up in the region. .. ,55
mechanism for attacking workers' wages
One issue which caused concern on the and conditions in the interest of the capital­
part of the United Secretariat was the Aus­ ist class. . . . That is why the s w p —along
tralian s w p ' s alignment with a group of Cro­ with the s p a — is giving its full support to
atian immigrants, the Croatian Movement the campaign around the Manifesto of Social
for Statehood (h d p ). An article by a member Rights. . .
of the h d p group which appeared in Direct This article by Dave Holmes went on to
Action said that h d p "was formed in 1981 say that "the other central area of agreement
around the ideas of Bruno Busic one of the between swp and the s p a is over the need to
central leaders of the Croatian Spring who combat the imperialist war drive spear­
was executed in 1978 because of his political headed by Washington. A key task in this
beliefs. The h d p seeks an independent Croa­ fight is to defend the Soviet Union against
tia in which all national minorities have imperialist attacks and to refute the anti­
equal rights and opportunities. More than communist, and anti-Soviet hysteria
ever before we are aware that we can achieve whipped up by the capitalist media. . . ,'/<0
our goal through the continued struggle of a By early 1985 the s w p was exploring the
united people and, as Marx put it, we have idea of a broader regroupment of the far left,
nothing to lose but our chains."56 The Au­ including various factions and schismatic

Australia: Revival 71
groupings not only of the s p a but also of will turn to his writings to seek guidelines
the Maoist, C P A -M a rx is t Leninist, and the on many questions. . . . The new genera­
"Eurocommunist" Communist Party of tions of revolutionaries w ill know how to
Australia. Looking toward some possible ul­ get rid of the Kremlin's demonology of
timate merger with a number of these Trotskyism, as well as getting rid of the
groups, the s w p was putting particularly cultism of the Trotskyites. What about
strong emphasis on any new group being Trotsky's mistakes—his vacillations be­
totally independent from and outside of the fore 19 17, or the other errors he made
Australian Labor Party.61 afterwards? What of them? We say: So
what? If you treat Trotsky as a cult figure,
if you consider the Trotsky movement as
The Australian SWP’s Move A w ay a cult, then you are going to take Trots­
From Trotskyism ky's mistakes as your own and you are
going to hang on to them. So that is a
Although unwilling to repudiate its origins
problem for many people who call them­
as part of the international movement
selves Trotskyists today. . .
founded by Leon Trotsky, the Australian So­
cialist Workers Party did move away in the
early 1980s from publicly identifying itself Split in Australian SWP Leadership
as Trotskyist, s w p National Secretary Jim
During the first decade and a half of the
Percy explained this position at a talk at the
evolution of the Socialist Workers Party
Educational Conference of the party and its
those who formed the party constituted a
youth group in January 1984.
relatively compact and united group. But in
We haven't been calling ourselves Trots­ 1983 there was a serious split in that group,
kyists for quite some while. The term it­ and on November 9, 1983, the National Ex­
self was invented not by Trotsky but by ecutive of the party expelled Dave Deutsch­
his opponents, by Stalin. Trotsky himself man, Nita Keig, Kay McVey, Ron Poulsen,
didn't like it, and today it is too narrow a and Deb Shookal.63 Deutschman, Shookal,
term to describe us, although it is part Keig, and Poulsen had all been members of
of where we have come from. There are the National Committee of the party until
many on the left who insist that they are its January 1983 National Conference, and
the "real" Trotskyists, and you will find Keig and Poulsen continued to belong to
that they are usually the ones who have that body for several months.64
gone most off the rails, the furthest from Although there had developed more or
Lenin's views. So they can have the "real" less serious disagreements between those
Trotsky, if that is what they want. . . . who were expelled and the majority of the
It's not a useful term in the processes party leadership on a number of issues, in­
which we want to become involved in, cluding the s w p ' s trade union policy, its rela­
and that we see opening up on the left. tions with the a l p , its association with the
It's an obstacle to that process. . . . Now Croatian h d p , its electoral activities and
we have largely dropped the term from other questions, a more serious problem lay
our own press, but it is going to remain behind the expulsion move. It was con­
a part of us for one reason that is very nected with the growing controversy be­
important. That is because of Trotsky's tween the Socialist Workers Party of the
contribution to Marxism. We are not go­ United States and the majority of the parties
ing to deny or forget what a great revolu­ in the United Secretariat.
tionist he was. . . . Traditionally, the s w p ' s of the United
The new generation of revolutionaries States and Australia had had a particularly

72 Australia: Revival
close relationship. To a very considerable permanent revolution that "such an ap­
degree the U.S. organization had been the proach, of course, is not a rational one. It
model for its Australian counterpart. By stems from an irrational desire to assert,
1983, however, the majority of the leaders of against all the evidence of the living class
the Australian s w p had become convinced, struggle in the backward countries, the
rightly or wrongly, that in pursuance of its myth that Trotsky's theory of permanent
general activities within u s e c the American revolution is right. The fact that Comrades
organization was trying to split the Austra­ Hood and Andrews continue to cling to the
lian group. They were further convinced dogma of permanent revolution, no matter
that the five people who were expelled were what the evidence to the contrary is, show
the nucleus of the leadership for such a split, they are still trapped in the cult of Trotsky,
and were working with the U.S. s w p to bring and have not decisively broken with the sect
it about.65 The depth of the split between outlook of Trotskyism."64
the two swp's was underscored by the Aus­
tralian group's publication in 1984 of a pam­
phlet entitled The Making of a Sect; The Ideological Evolution of SWP
Evolution of the U.S. Socialist Workers
Party. In turning away from Trotskyism the s w p
The bitter relations between the two looked particularly for inspiration and ori­
s w p ' s was shown at the Australian group's entation to Cuba and Vietnam. Thus a draft
January 1985 convention. Mel Mason, the resolution submitted by the party to the
American s w p ' s 1984 candidate for presi­ 1985 World Congress of the United Secretar­
dent, who was in Australia at the time, was iat argued that "the Marxists of the 'Castro-
refused permission to present "fraternal" ist' current have proved in three different
greetings from his organization. At the same countries and are proving today in a fourth
time a leading speaker was John Trinkl of and a fifth that they are consciously leading
the U.S. independent leftist weekly Guard­ the workers and poor peasants to the cre­
ian, who explained why "most of the U.S. ation of socialist states. If it is to remain
left had 'urged a vote for Mondale with no true to its historic tasks, the Fourth Interna­
illusions. ' 1,66 tional must seek the closest possible politi­
The estrangement between the two s w p ' s cal collaboration with these Marxists in the
was the stranger, at least for an outside ob­ struggle to build the mass Leninist interna­
server, because they both were moving tional and its sections in every country."69
strongly away from traditional Trotskyism. Similarly, the s w p National Committee in
The only major issue on which it would October 1984 adopted a long resolution ex­
appear that they had strong disagreement plaining why it had been wrong to label the
was over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Vietnamese Communist Party "Stalinist."70
which the Australian group supported, and Another draft resolution submitted by the
the U.S. s w p criticized.67 Australian s w p to the 1 9 8 5 u s e c World Con­
The movement of the Australian swp gress clearly indicated the party's new orien­
away from Trotskyism resulted in further tation. After an extensive critique of the
divisions within the party. Late in 1984 two Fourth International including the allega­
of the s w p ' s leaders, Sean Flood and Dave tion that it had "an overestimation of the
Andrews, warned of a "tendency" within place, within the tasks confronting the
the party and denounced the repudiation by workers states and with the world revolu­
it of the theory of permanent revolution. tion, occupied by political revolution
The majority leadership responded, saying against the ruling castes in the bureaucra­
with regard to the Flood-Andrews defense of tized socialist states,"71 the resolution set

Australia: Revival 73
forth its idea of the nature of the interna­ view they presented was the final factor in
tional which should be built. the Australian swp's decision to quit the
ranks of International Trotskyism.
. . . the construction of an international Doug Lorimer, one of the four delegates
revolutionary leadership is an urgent task to the u s e c Congress, summed up the rea­
for the proletariat and its allies. The con­ sons for abandoning the Fourth Interna­
ditions for building such a leadership are tional movement. "The comrades refuse to
today increasingly favorable. The revolu­ see that by continuing to keep their sights
tionary Marxist leaderships in Cuba, N ic­ on building an international organization on
aragua and El Salvador, like the Vietnam­ a program that is different from those of the
ese Communists, display a profound people who have made revolutions they are
understanding of the Leninist strategy of blocking any real possibility of participating
revolution. For all of them, the depen­ fully in the process.of building of new parties
dence of their own revolutions on their in Latin America. These parties will not be
extension internationally is obvious. . . . built through identification with the Fourth
A pressing task of our movement is there­ International and its program. They will be
fore to seek active and growing collabora­ built only by identifying fully with the mass
tion with these leaderships and to encour­ revolutionary parties in Nicaragua and
age other revolutionary forces to do Cuba, by assimilating the lessons, the poli­
likewise. By making this task an insepara­ cies, the program, that enabled those parties
ble part of party-building in each country, to. make revolutions."75
we will speed the construction of both Lorimer further developed his argument:
national and international revolutionary "This gets to the heart of the problem with
leaderships.72 the perspective of building the Fourth Inter­
national: Its very existence is an obstacle to
the revolutionaries who are in it participat­
The SWP's Final Break With
ing fully in the process of building a new
Trotskyism
international revolutionary movement, one
The Australian swp completed its evolution with mass influence. This is because it is
away from Trotskyism by deciding to with­ counter-posed to the mass international rev­
draw from the international Trotskyist olutionary movement that already does ex­
movement. This decision was taken by the ist and that is extending itself, particularly
s w p ' s National Committee on August 1 7 , in Latin America."76
1985. An official statement about this deci­ From this statement Lorimer posed the
sion noted that "The swp's decision to end logical question and the Australian s w p
its affiliation to the Fourth International leadership's answer to that question: "Well,
culminated a process of rethinking within if we think that the Fourth International
the s w p about many of the ideas it had is an obstacle to fully participating in the
shared in common with other Trotskyist process of building new revolutionary par­
parties."73 ties and a new, mass, international revolu­
The Australians had participated with a tionary movement, the question is obvi­
four-person delegation in the 12th World ously posed, should our party remain in it?
Congress of u s e c in January-February 1986. It is the view of the National Executive that
They had presented counterresolutions to we shouldn't."77
both those offered by the majority faction of
the u s e c leadership and by the U.S. Socialist The International Socialists
Workers Party.74 Apparently the scant sup­ In addition to the u s e c affiliate several other
port they received there for the points of groups came into existence in Australia in

74 Australia: Revival
 the 1970s which professed support of one or the identification "Volume x. Number 1,"
another of the tendencies within Interna­ said that "we published the Battler in the
tional Trotskyism. One of these was the In­ context of the 1972 Federal elections which
ternational Socialists. we saw as a crucial turning point in the
The International Socialists of Australia fortunes of the working class in the postwar
had their origins in Melbourne in what was period. We argued that the election was be­
known as the Tocsin group. Mick Arm­ ing conducted in a period in which the post­
strong has observed that the Tocsin group war stability of capitalism was ending. . . .
was "in some sense formed in opposition to But it soon became obvious that we had
the s w p {or the s y a as they were then) who neither the theoretical unity or sufficient
were seen as too conservative.. . . A number experience of real struggle to maintain a reg­
of people in the Tocsin group were around ular publication. So we began a process of
the Victorian Labor College which was run two years discussion, debate and study."81
by an old Trotskyist called Ted Tripp. The In December 1975 as a consequence of
Labor College . . . ran courses for shop stew­ the ideological evolution of its members the
ard and union activists on Marxist econom­ Socialist Workers Action Group was trans­
ics, public speaking, etc. It was a center formed into International Socialists.82A col­
which in the late 60s the small anti-Stalinist umn run regularly in its newspaper, entitled
left loosely cohered around." "What We Stand For/' proclaimed that "the
Some of the associates of the Tocsin group International Socialists are a revolutionary
subsequently made careers for themselves socialist organization, open to all who ac­
in the trade union movement and the Aus­ cept our basic principles and are willing to
tralian Labor Party. A few others were work to achieve them." What the organiza­
among the founders of the Healyite wing of tion stood for was spelled out under seven
Australian Trotskyism. Those remaining in headings: "Workers' Power," "Revolution,
the left wing of the group reorganized as the not Reformism," "Smashing the Capitalist
Marxist Workers Group (m w g ) .7S Armstrong State," "Internationalism," "Full Equality
has described the m w g as " a loose discus­ and Liberation for Women, blacks, migrants
sion group."79 and all oppressed groups," "Revolutionary
Some of the m w g members evolved in Party," and "Rank and File Organization."83
an anarchist direction, but Mick Armstrong The is did not claim to be a party. A re­
has reported that "eventually, under the in­ cruiting pamphlet published in 1977, The
fluence of two comrades from the [U.S. In­ Fight for Workers’ Power: International So­
ternational Socialists] Tom O'Lincoln and cialists, explained that "This is is not a
Janey Stone (who was an Australian who party—just a small group. But it's the best
joined the U.S. is ) , who had joined the m w g , available substitute for a party. It can grow
a Leninist faction was formed. The group into a party. And joining the is is certainly
contracted as most of the anarcho types the best way to build a party that can lead
dropped out and the group gradually started the working class to power."84
to harden up around U.S. is type politics."80 That same pamphlet indicated that the
In November 1972 the group, which by organization did not aspire to be a party of
then had taken the name Socialist Workers "professional revolutionaries." It defined
Action Group (s w a g ), issued what was in­ the duties of is members as including paying
tended to be the first issue of a regularly dues regularly, selling the group's newspa­
appearing newspaper, The Battler. It was al­ per, and being active: "We don't have 'pa­
most two years later before a second issue per members.' We encourage reasonable
came out, however. An explanatory state­ amounts of activity. An active member is
ment in that second number, which carried an informed member, and that's one way of

i
Australia: Revival 75
ensuring democracy in the is." It added that Brisbane with smaller branches in Canberra
"many workers have heavy commitments and Adelaide and individual members in
at home, and we're all tired after work. No Perth and in north Queensland." Armstrong
one is asked to do more than they feel capa­ added that "given the massive decline of
ble of. Here, too, it's basically up to you."85 most of the rest of the left, e.g. the Maoists
Considerable resources and energy were and the c p , our limited numbers give us
devoted by is to publishing. They put out more influence than you would otherwise
The Battler, which started as a monthly but expect."
by the early 1980s was being published on an As to the activities of is, Armstrong wrote
alternating bi-weekly, tri-weekly schedule, that "the areas of work we are involved in
and they also published a theoretical jour­ tend to vary a bit from branch to branch. At
nal. This was first called Front Line and then the moment our main area of work tends to
became in 1980 International Socialist. A be around unemployment___ In Melbourne
typical issue of Front Line carried more or and to a lesser extent Sydney {as the move­
less extensive articles on "The Postwar ment is smaller there) we have been heavily
Boom, whence it came—where it went," on involved over the past year in the disarma­
"Perspectives for Women's Liberation," on ment movement. We do regular student
"Eurocommunism—Old Garbage in New work, though things on campus are now
Pails," on "Consumptive Theory—the the* rather quiet and we do not have all that
ory of underconsumptionists," and a cri­ many student members."
tique of "The Peoples Economic Program" Some is members were active in the labor
then being pushed by the Stalinist and Euro- movement. Armstrong explained that "our
communist parties of Australia.86 main union work has been in the govern­
International Socialist featured a some­ ment white collar sector, particularly
what glossier format than its predecessor among Federal government clerks where we
but like the earlier periodical it also con­ have about twenty members. Other than
tained longer and more analytical articles there, and to a much lesser extent among
than did the organization's newspaper 8? teachers and state government public ser­
is also published a variety of pamphlets. vants, we have no other concentrations of
These tended to reflect the current issues members in industry. Though we have a
with which the organization was concerned. number of shop stewards in the post office,
One of these, Victory at Philip Morris, dealt the car industry, the metal trades, dock­
with a strike in which some members of the yards, hospitals, etc., they tend to be lone
group had been involved. Others discussed individuals."88
Perspectives for Women’s Liberation: Radi­
cal Feminism, Reform or Revolution7.,
Ideological Evolution of the
Leave It in the Ground: The Fight Against
International Socialists
Uranium Mining, The Boat People: They're
Welcome Here! (which particularly con­ From their inception the International So­
demned opposition by other left groups to cialists differed from orthodox Trotskyism
admitting refugees from Indochina. Another in refusing to recognize the Soviet Union
pamphlet, You Can Say That Again! con­ and other Communist Party-controlled re­
sisted of "a collection of popular educational gimes as "workers' states." However, over
articles which appeared in the pages of The the years they modified their analysis.
Battler." Mick Armstrong noted that "The m w g /
By the end of 1982 it was reported by Mick sw a g gradually evolved from orthodox
Armstrong that is had "roughly 100 mem­ Trotskyism towards a Shachtmanite posi­
bers primarily in Melbourne, Sydney, and tion (i.e., the politics of the American is),

76 Australia: Revival
partly under the influence of two former and did not support national self-determina­
members of the American is. However, dur- tion for Israelis."
ing 1975-76 the is moved increasingly to­ The other issue concerned the "turn to­
ward the general political line of the British ward industry." Mick Armstrong explained
is, i.e., that Russia was state capitalist (not that "The American is in the early 70s, along
as the American is considered it: bureau­ with much of the rest of the U.S. far left,
cratic collectivist). . . ,"89 adopted a policy of sending their ex-student/
Armstrong explained the reasons for and middle class/white-collar worker members
nature of this shift. "There are a number of into heavy industry. This was argued for on
factors: the British is were much bigger and the basis of the need to change the social
thus had more prestige, Australians have composition of the groups and break into
more contact with Britain than the U.S. and the industrial working class. It was also ar­
British politics with a Labor Party etc. are gued in a perspective of deepening class
more like Australian politics,. there was struggle and economic crisis and a move of
more interchange of membership with the a section of the blue-collar working class
British etc. It was also viewed by the cadres towards revolutionary ideas."
as a more sophisticated analysis. But those But, commented Mick Armstrong, "this
are all only minor factors." idea everywhere has been a failure. . . . The
Armstrong explained that from the begin­ British is vigorously opposed this strategy
ning of the organization there were some from the outset, arguing that it was a totally
of its members who favored the British is artificial way to try to transform the class
interpretation of the nature of the Soviet composition of revolutionary organizations.
Union and similar states. In addition, he The Australian is briefly (late '75-early '76)
noted that "there was a certain worry about adopted this strategy but it quickly was
what happened to Shachtman, his Stalino- abandoned in the face of the development of
phobia etc., also the fact that the U.S. is did internal opposition, some British interven­
not initially support the n lp " in Vietnam. tion and our limited ability to carry it out."90
At the time s w a g became International In 1982-83 the International Socialists
Socialists they "adopted a vague position gave up, at least for the time being, the idea
that Russia etc., was a class society and im ­ that they were primarily an "activist"
perialist but did not choose between the two group. Adopting the position of being a "pro­
theories. This was a step towards the British paganda" group, they concentrated on win­
position." Subsequently a Tasmanian group ning converts a few at a time on the basis
which joined the organization favored the of their ideas rather than because of their
British is position and, as Mick Armstrong militancy in strikes and other public events.
noted, "within a couple of years we formally A report of the National Executive to the
adopted a state cap position." 1984 conference of is described the group's
There were two other issues on which the new line of activities. It said that "The
Australians were more closely aligned with branches have adjusted to the period and
the British is than with its U.S. counterpart. have a regular pattern of routine work (most
One of those was the problem of the Middle importantly on campus) along with regular
East, where the International Socialists of talks and more educational activity and at­
the United States maintained that the Israeli tempting to relate these to any struggles that
Jews had a national identity and had the do occur. To this end, the branches have
right to national self-determination, intervened with leaflets, The Battler sales,
whereas "the British is (like most of the Trot speakers, bookstalls etc. in a wide range of
groups) supported the Arab states (uncondi­ demos and rallies called by broader
tionally but critically) in wars with Israel groupings."91

t
i Australia: Revival 77
 One aspect of this shift in activities was other cities in December 19 71 to establish
a change in the name of the is periodical. In the Socialist Labor League ( s l l ).95
a note explaining this change, the last issue The Melbourne branch of the s l l emerged
of The Battler said that "many of us became from the Tocsin group associated with the
dissatisfied with the name of our paper. It Victorian Labor College. When that group
related to the Anglo-Australian working broke up, what has been described by an
class culture of the 1940s. It meant nothing unfriendly source as "a considerable propor­
to people from a migrant background and tion of the left wing" established the Mel­
very little to young people. . . The name bourne s l l branch.96
was changed to International Socialist?% In Sydney some members of Resistance
Another feature of the change in orienta­ broke away late in 1969 to establish a study
tion of is was its publication of some pam­ group known as Workers' Action, which
phlets putting forth its interpretation of var­ "devoted itself to coming to grips with
ious issues. One of these, for instance, was Marxist theory." When the s l l was formed
entitled The Crisis . . . and the Socialist A l­ in late 19 71 it became the Sydney branch of
ternative to Labor, which in fairly simple the League.97
English put forth the notion that the world In the beginning the Socialist Labor
economic crisis after 1974 was the fulfill­ League had a substantial membership for
ment of Marx's old prediction of the inevita­ an Australian Trotskyist organization. One
ble collapse of the capitalist system.93 unfriendly observer, Mick Armstrong, has
The change in orientation of is did not estimated that the s l l may have had as
take place without a split. The Adelaide many as 300 members in its early years.
branch withdrew in 1983. However, the Armstrong adds that "they grew quite rap­
membership by early in the following year idly initially and had an appeal as (a) they
was still a little more than one-hundred peo­ emphasized building the party—the first
ple, in branches in Sydney, Brisbane, M el­ Trotskyist group here to really do so; (b) they
bourne, and Canberra.94 had on the surface a more working class
orientation." The principal leaders of the
s l l were Jim Mulgrew and Nick Beame.98

The Australian Healyites Ken Marcell has noted concerning the s l l

in its early period that "the Socialist Labor
The Australian organization aligned with League held to three articles of faith: the
the International Committee of the Fourth capitalist crisis, an orientation to the work­
International emerged in 19 71. This was the ing class, and the need to build a revolution­
Socialist Labor League ( s l l ). It originally de­ ary party. . . . This marked a step forward
veloped from groups in Brisbane, Mel­ for the Australian left, awakening others to
bourne, and Sydney. Following the French those forgotten truths."99
events of 1968 a group known as the Revolu­ However, as time passed, s l l conformed
tionary Socialist Alliance ( r s a ), which con­ very closely to its British model, the Social­
tained a heterogeneous mixture of far-left ist Labor League (subsequently Workers
tendencies, formed in Brisbane. In 1970 the Revolutionary Party). Thus, it became a
r s a split, one faction forming the Revolu­ strong defender of the Qaddafi regime in
tionary Socialist Party, which still did not Libya.100 Its opponents accused it of being
have any very clear orientation. In 19 71 the subsidized by that regime.101
Revolutionary Socialist Party itself divided, The Australian s l l joined the campaign
one element becoming the Brisbane branch of Gerry Healy denouncing Joseph Hansen,
of the Socialist Workers League, the other George Novack, and other leaders of the U.S.
(minority) element joining with groups in s w p for allegedly having been g p u and f b i

78 Australia: Revival
agents—thus an issue of the Asian Marxist newspaper, a monthly, had been appearing
Review, published in Australia by the s l l since the middle 1970s.
and its Sri Lanka counterpart, ran a five-
page article entitled "How the Investigation
Socialist Fight
Unfolded—Security and the Fourth Interna­
tional," on this subject.102 One other tendency within Australian
By the early 1980s the s l l apparently had Trotskyism has been that of Socialist Fight,
local groups at least in Sydney, Perth, New­ which apparently was established in 1980.
castle, Melbourne, and Brisbane.103 It was The May 1981 issue of its periodical of the
publishing a newspaper twice a week, and same name proclaimed: "We want to make
early in 1982 was conducting a campaign to Socialist Fight a real campaigning paper that
raise $200,000 to launch a daily newspa­ can organize the L e ft.. . . We want to estab­
per.104 Mick Armstrong estimated at that lish Supporters Groups in each capital city,
time that the s l l probably had about 150 to build a real base for the paper."109 The
members.10s group had its headquarters in Melbourne
and was aligned with the Socialist Organizer
tendency in Great Britain.110
The Australian Spartacists
The evolution of the Socialist Fight group
The Spartacist tendency also developed an was described by Mick Armstrong: "after
Australian group during the 1970s. Early in getting members as a small group joined
the decade a New Zealander, Bill Logan, got (and amazingly enough were permitted to
in touch with the Spartacist League of the do so) the s w p as a tendency. They left the
United States indicating his agreement with s w p early this year, having picked up a few

their positions. He built up a small group people. They appealed to some swp mem­
in New Zealand, then moved to Australia, bers who still saw themselves as Trotsky­
where he continued to proselytize Spartacist ists. They opposed the s w p going into the
ideas and organized the Spartacist League of Nuclear Disarmament Party. Instead, they
Australasia. By the early 1980s the organiza­ were for burying themselves in the a l p .
tion existed only in Australia. It reportedly Also, they opposed the growth of a large
drew its recruits largely from the ranks of paper membership in the s w p . They are still
the Socialist Workers Party.106 sympathetic to Socialist Organizer. They
Subsequently Bill Logan was asked by the have nOt put out a paper."111
international Spartacist tendency to transfer
his activities to Great Britain. He was re­
portedly expelled from the organization
while in the United Kingdom.107 The Sparta-
cist League continued to exist in Australia,
however.
The Australian Spartacists expressed the
same positions and points of view as the rest
of their international tendency. For exam­
ple, an early 1982 issue of their newspaper,
Australasian Spartacist, had a front-page ar­
ticle supporting "the Polish government's
preventive coup" against Solidarity. The
same issue of the newspaper denounced the
Australian Socialist Workers Party's sup­
port of the Polish trade union group.108 The

1 Australia: Revival 79
 Austrian Trotskyism liamentary republic. In August 19 19 he re­
signed his official posts and organized a
"working group of revolutionary social dem­
ocrats," and when in the October 1920 legis­
lative elections he urged workers to vote for
Communists instead of right-wing Social
Austrian Trotskyism has during most of its Democrats Frey was expelled from the Social
history been a very tiny minority within a Democratic Party, joining the Communist
tiny minority in working-class and left-wing Party in January 19 2 1.1
politics. Both in the period between World Fritz Keller notes:
War I and the triumph of the Dollfuss dicta­
torship in February 1934, and since World At this period the overwhelming ten­
War II, the Social Democrats have been over­ dency of the Austrian Communist Party
whelmingly dominant in the Austrian left. was ultraleft (no parliamentary work, no
Bolshevism of any kind has never (except work in the trade unions, a policy of
immediately after the Social Democrats' de­ phrases from the soviets connected with
feat in 1934) had the support of more than a adventurous attempts to come to power
relative handful of Austrian workers, and without support of the majority of the
the Trotskyist version of Bolshevism has working class). This sort of policy was
represented only an infinitesimal fraction of represented by Bettelheira, who declared
Marxism-Leninism as a whole. himself to be an "em issary" of the Com­
However, the Austrian Left Opposition munist International (in reality he was an
out of which the Trotskyist movement de­ "emissary" of the Hungarian Commu­
veloped was one of the first such move­ nists with the order to establish a Soviet
ments to appear in any country. At its incep­ government by whatever methods) and
tion it was led by two men of considerable Franz Koritschoner. The leader of the
significance, Joseph Frey and Kurt Landau, right wing was Joseph Strasser, a follower
but they were unable to capitalize on their of the German (Paul] Levi in Austria. Karl
own personal prestige to make the Left Op­ Tomann was a "centrist," an oscillating
position and Trotskyism anything more element between the wings. He at first
than a fringe movement. cooperated with Koritschoner against the
"newcomer" Frey. . . ,2
In the face of still another element headed
Early Years of the Left Opposition
by Johann Koplenig and supported by the
Joseph Frey had been one of the founders of growing Stalinist elements in the Comin­
the Social Democratic Students Organiza­ tern, Frey and Tomann joined forces at the
tion and an editor of the party newspaper, party's Eighth Congress in September 192s-3
Arbeiter Zeitung, before World War I. In No­ By this time Frey was reportedly supporting
vember 19 r 8, on the fall of the monarchy, he the international positions expounded by
was named head of the Red Guards formed by Trotsky.4 When Tomann found that he
the Social Democratic revolutionaries and could not win, he returned to the Socialist
was elected president of the executive com­ Party. (The later trajectory of two of the
mittee of the Soldiers Council of Vienna in early Austrian Communist leaders is wor­
the following month. He soon fell out with thy of note. Franz Koritschoner ultimately
the leaders of the party, particularly Friedrich took refuge in the Soviet Union, where he
Adler and Otto Bauer because of his advocacy was arrested by the g p u during the Great
of the establishment of a government of Purges, and was handed over to the Nazis
workers' and soldiers' soviets instead of a par­ as a "German citizen" after the Stalin-Nazi

80 Austria
Pact. Karl Tomann ended up a member of left for Berlin in September 1929 and with
the Nazi Party and was killed by the Red his departure he ended his direct personal
Army in April 194s-)5 involvement in the Austrian Left Opposi­
Kurt Landau undertook to weld the ex­ tion ranks.10
isting oppositionist groups into a single bloc Meanwhile, the Austrian Communist
within the Communist Party.6Landau, a Vi­ Party (Opposition) under Joseph Frey's lead­
ennese Jewish intellectual, had joined the ership had become involved in the general
Communist Party in 19 21 and soon became elections of 1927. The year before, the Social
head of the Agit-Prop Department and cul­ Democratic Party had adopted a relatively
tural editor of Rote Fahne, the party's news­ left-wing platform which called for the sei­
paper. Virtually from the beginning Landau zure of power by force if the bourgeoisie
was a spokesman for the left wing, opposing sought to prevent the establishment of a
the Comintern Fourth Congress (1922) reso­ democratically elected Socialist govern­
lution calling for formation of joint Social­ ment. This stance won the party broad sup­
ist-Communist governments and support­ port in the still militant Austrian working
ing Trotsky's positions on cultural issues class, and the Social Democrats won the
after the beginning of the struggle within 1927 election as a consequence.
the c p s u . 7 The Communist Party (k p o ) had first pro­
The Left Opposition leaders were expelled posed an electoral alliance with the Social
from the Communist Party in late 1926 and Democrats in the 1927 election, a sugges­
early 1927. They then formed the Austrian tion rejected by the Social Democrats as a
Communist Party (Opposition) and began consequence of which the k p o offered its
to publish a periodical, Aibeiterstim me own slate of nominees. Joseph Frey and the
[Workers Voice), of which 134 issues were Opposition Communists had endorsed the
to appear between January 1927 and August united front in the election, and even after
I 933 -8 the Communists decided to run their own
Factional conflicts soon erupted within candidates the Oppositionists campaigned
the new group. Kurt Landau at first argued on behalf of the Social Democrats.
in favor of its considering itself a second This decision of the Oppositionists was
Communist Party, not just an "opposition" perhaps a tactical (and even strategic) mis­
group, but soon gave up this line of argu­ take. Franz Modlik, then an Opposition
ment. In April 1928 Landau and his follow­ member, has said that "that was a grave
ers were expelled from the Austrian Com­ error and was thus judged subsequently by
munist Party (Opposition) and formed a Trotsky, because we lost through it practi­
separate group around a new periodical, Der cally all contact with the working class base
neue Mahnruf. It was particularly centered of the k p o . " 11
in Graz, the second largest city of Austria, After his exile from the Soviet Union Leon
where it had more members than the Com­ Trotsky hoped that his followers in Austria
munist Party.9 might develop into an influential element
With Trotsky's exile from the Soviet in the country's politics. In an article which
Union the various Austrian opposition first appeared in the Bulletin of the Russian
groups entered into contact with him. Opposition and was subsequently printed
Trotsky invited Kurt Landau to come to in the U.S. Militant, Trotsky first strongly
Prinkipo to act as one of his secretaries, an denounced what he saw as the concessions
invitation Landau rejected. Trotsky then of the Social Democrats in the face of grow­
asked Landau to go to Germany to try to ing Fascist pressure and attacks. Although
bring together the various pro-Trotsky Left he regarded the Social Democrats and Fas­
Opposition groups in that country. Landau cists as both being tools of the Austrian

Austria 81
bourgeoisie he denounced the Comintern's the international leadership, as well as
equating the two in accordance with the Trotsky, were of the opinion that we should
theory of "social fascism" and called for a seek unification on the basis of parity, as
change in that policy. rapidly as possible with the other opposition
Trotsky wrote that "the first step toward groups, which Frey rejected categorically.
reviving the party should be readmission of This question brought. . . the rupture of our
the Left Opposition. But in Austria as else­ group with the i l o . " 14 Another factor in the
where it is clear that a few supplementary Trotsky-Frey break was the Austrian lead­
lessons of history are needed before commu­ er's "violent criticisms . . . of the interior
nism finds the right road. It is the task of regime of the i l o . " 15
the Opposition to prepare the way for this Subsequently, Trotsky polemicized
change. No matter how weak the Left Oppo­ against Joseph Frey on various occasions.
sition may be numerically by comparison Typical was his comment in a memorandum
with the Communist Party, its functions are to the International Communist League
still the same: to do propaganda work, and dated June 5 ,19 3 1: "Take Frey, for example.
to patiently explain. There remains only the For several years he carried out his national
hope that the Austrian Communist Opposi­ opposition in a single country, displaying a
tion will succeed in the coming period in colossal indifference to everything that
establishing a regular publication—a went on beyond its borders, including in the
weekly paper, if possible—that can carry on USSR. He entered the Left Opposition only
propaganda work keeping pace with in order to have the cover of international
events."12 'authority' for his national affairs and his
only condition was to be recognized as a
leader and then be left in peace. When this
Trotsky and the Austrian
condition was not met, he left the ranks of
Left Opposition
the Left Opposition on the pretext that its
In spite of the optimism he at first expressed organizational methods were bad."16
about the possibilities of the Austrian Left But less than a year after those observa­
Opposition, Leon Trotsky was not willing tions Trotsky indicated some possibility of
to accept any of the factions which devel­ reconciliation with Frey and his group. In a
oped in the 1927-29 period as the official document entitled "Who Should Attend the
Austrian Trotskyist organization. None of International Conference," dated May 22,
them became part of the International Left 1932, he wrote "the Austrian Opposition
Opposition ( i l o ) when it was founded early [Frey group) left the ranks of the Interna­
in 1930. tional Opposition about a year and a half ago
At that time there were three groups in under the pretext of the incorrect organiza­
Austria claiming loyalty to Trotsky's ideas: tional methods of the International Left. In
the Austrian Communist Party (Opposition) reality, the Frey group would not tolerate
of Joseph Frey; the organization established critical attitudes towards its own often erro­
by Kurt Landau and his followers, usually neous methods. After a rather prolonged ex­
known as the Mahnruf Group, from the istence outside of the International Opposi­
name of its periodical; and the third, a group tion, the Frey group has applied to the
headed by Ya. Graef, known as the Internal Secretariat for readmission. Does this mean
Group of the Party.13 that the Austrian Opposition has renounced
Joseph Frey broke with Trotsky early in its erroneous methods? Let's hope that this
1930. Franz Modlik has noted that "the rup­ is so. In any case, we have no right to refuse
ture came . . . on the question of unification the attempt of renewed collaboration with
with the other opposition Communist the Austrian Opposition, with the earnest
groups. Leon Sedov, the other comrades of intention of achieving complete unity."17

82 Austria
 Trotsky commented again on the Frey prescient, since Graef did soon return to Sta­
group in a very hostile tone in a memoran­ linist ranks.11 Indeed, Pierre Brou6 has com­
dum prepared for the International Pre-Con­ mented that Graef was "undoubtedly work­
ference of February 1933: "The Austrian ing on behalf of the g p u . " 22
Frey group first joined our international or­ On January 1 1 ,1 9 3 1 , a "unity conference"
ganization, then left it, again attempted to of Austrian Trotskyists took place. How­
enter, but refused to supply information ever, only the Mahnruf group and that of
about its internal condition, and then took Frank-Graef participated, and the resulting
the initiative in breaking off negotiations. group did not receive official recognition
Through its actions it has shown that the from the international Trotskyist move­
tasks and aims of the Left Opposition are ment.
completely alien to it, and that it needs the Then in 1932 the German Trotskyists
international banner of the Bolshevik-Le- took the initiative to try to form a viable
ninists only as a cover for its hopeless stag­ Austrian group. They sent a former member
nation. The pre-conference openly states of one of the Austrian factions, Polzer, to
that the International Left Opposition bears work to this end. On December 19, 1932, a
neither direct nor indirect responsibility for meeting of people who had been expelled
the Frey group."18 from the Frey group (notably Berthold Grad
Trotsky had no more use for the Mahnruf and Franz Modlik) and from the Neue Mahn­
Group than for Frey and his friends. In an ruf faction (including Karl Mayer and Hans
article on "Problems of the German Sec­ Thoma) was held. It established a new orga­
tion," of January 31, 19 3 1, he wrote (refer­ nization which called itself Linke Opposi­
ring to Kurt Landau): "Comrade Landau tion der k p o (Left Opposition of the c p a ).
bears a twofold responsibility for the Mahn­ The international Trotskyist "Pre-confer­
ruf group. He not only ignored all warnings ence" which met in February 1933 decided
in regard to the group but allowed himself on a definitive break with Frey's party and
also to make unwarranted attacks on Com­ decided to wait six months before accepting
rades M ill and Molinier, who had given a affiliation of the new group.13
fully objective evaluation of the Mahnruf By that time there had developed a new
group. The last turn of this group punished left opposition in the Social Democratic
Comrade Landau severely, showing that or­ Party. Leon Trotsky had some hope to re­
ganizational combinations and personal re- cruit from this group. He wrote a correspon­
lations do not replace political education on dent at the time that "in the present politi­
the basis of a definite program." Later in cal situation, they are of great significance
this document, he charged that the Mahnruf as symptoms. It is through them that is re­
group "has undergone all vacillations possi­ fracted in an attenuated fashion the anguish
ble. . . ." ‘9 of the best Austrian workers." Trotsky
Perhaps Trotsky's most biting comments added that "serious revolutionaries will at­
were reserved for the third group, headed by tract the young workers and, with them,
Graef. Graef, he said, "has, in conformity will found a real proletarian organization
with the customs of Austro-oppositionism, which will be capable to use its forces . . .
revised his ideological baggage radically and work in a systematic fashion. There is
within a brief time and elaborated a platform no other formula."24
in which everything is comprehensible, ex­
cept for one thing: why and to what purpose
The Frey Faction in the 19 30s
does Graef include himself in the Left Oppo­
sition? G raef s platform is the platform of Joseph Frey and his followers soon changed
the camp followers of the Stalinist bureau­ the name of their group from Austrian Com­
cracy. . . ."10 In this indictment Trotsky was munist Party (Opposition) to Union for

Austria 83
Combat for the Liberation of the Working control of the Schutzbund organization in
Class (Kampfbund zur Befreiung der Arbeit - the Mariahilf section of Vienna. But the Sta­
erklasses). It published a number of pam­ linists, who by this time had gotten control
phlets and between 1934 and August 1941 of what remained of the central Schutzbund
put out a periodical Arbeitermacht {Work­ organization, strongly condemned the
ers Power).M Trotskyists and called for "purging the labor
The Kampfbund remained the largest of movement of the poison of Trotskyism."
the groups professing more or less loyalty to They denounced all references to the Fourth
Trotskyism during the early 1930s. It con­ International as attacks on the "indepen­
sisted principally of workers, and at the time dence" of the Schutzbund, although they
Trotsky urged the French Turn, Joseph Frey did not see their own references to the Com­
and his followers opposed this tactic.26 intern in that light. Finally, the Mariahilf
In February 1934 there occurred the short branch of the Schutzbund disbanded by
civil war, in which Chancellor Dollfuss merging with the Kampfbund.29
crushed the Socialists and established the In May 1938 a split developed within the
"Austro-Fascist" regime. The Trotskyists Kampfbund over a position on war put for­
had already been driven underground.27 ward by Joseph Frey in the December 1937
The Kampfbund remained a propaganda issue of Arbeitermacht, Frey's position was
group, dedicated to developing a leadership that, in view of the perspective of war of
cadre for the future. Weekly meetings ex­ Nazi Germany with the antifascist powers,
haustively studied a series of documents on "the proletariat should in case of war fight
such issues as dialectical materialism, strat­ at the front against Hitlerite Germany in the
egy and tactics, the creation of the party, bourgeois armies for the annihilation of the
etc. Also, the Political Bureau issued each principal enemy, fascism, while internally,
week a report on current political develop­ the struggle against the bourgeoisie must be
ments for discussion by the local groups. It limited, if that was in the interest of the
also put out at least two pamphlets, on the Soviet Union."30
issue of war and on the ideas of the Socialist The split of May 1938 took with it only a
leader Otto Bauer. minority of the Kampfbund. Fritz Keller has
The Kampfbund supported efforts of the noted that "after the Hitler-Stalin pact
Social Democrats and Stalinists to work to­ nearly the whole leadership left the Kampf­
gether in the underground. However, Fritz bund with a declaration that it was a mis­
Keller has noted that "all these questions take to have given up the defeatist position
were subordinated to the question of revolu­ in 1 9 3 7 ... He added that "A small group
tionary conquest of power. Consequently, without any activity from this point on held
the Kampfbund linked all support for the the name 'Kampfbund.' "31
Social Democrats and Communists to pro­
paganda, on the one hand for destruction of
The Bolshevik-Leninists
the bourgeois State, and on the other hand
for expropriation without indemnisation of It was 1933 before there was an officially
the property of the Church and of the large recognized affiliate of International Trots­
capitalists, and finally for power of the Sovi­ kyism in Austria. This was the Bolshevik-
ets on a national and international basis."28 Leninists, a group'which had broken away
The Kampfbund worked particularly in from the Social Democrats.
that period among members of the Schutz- Apparently, before the establishment of
bund, the paramilitary organization estab­ this group, Leon Trotsky had an exchange
lished in the 1920s by the Social Democrats of correspondence with elements of the Left
which had bome the brunt of the fighting Opposition of the Social Democratic Party.
in the February 1934 civil war. They won He urged them to denounce the "betrayal"

84 Austria
 of the workers by the official leadership of the Communist Party Youth, provoked by
the party and urged them to openly put for­ the Comintern (and Austrian cp) adoption
ward a program for the establishment of a of the popular front policy. Via exile groups
dictatorship of the proletariat.32 At least in Paris this element, the Revolutionare
some of the Left Opposition apparently ac­ Kommunisten ( r k ), established contacts
cepted his advice, and formed a Trotskyist with the Bolshevik-Leninists. They origi­
organization. nally proposed that the r k become the youth
The Bolshevik-Leninists continued to organization of the Bolshevik-Leninists, but
work principally within the Social Demo­ negotiations to this end were unsuccessful.
cratic ranks, where its criticisms of the ap­ In 1937 and 1938 there was edited in Prague
parently passive position of the Social Dem­ a new Der Einzige Weg as a joint organ of
ocratic leaders in the face of the advance of the Austrian r k , the Swiss Trotskyist group
fascism won some support.33 Action Marxiste, and the Communist Inter­
Driven underground after the February nationalists of Czechoslovakia.37
1934 civil war, the Bolshevik-Leninists con­ Fritz Keller has written about the Revolu­
tinued to publish a periodical, Der Einzige tionare Kommunisten that they "had an ul­
Weg (The Only Way}. Soon after the civil traleft tradition—the central point of con­
war, the Bolshevik-Leninists had about fifty flicts with other groups was the tactic in the
members, organized in cells. They contin­ coming world war, where the Revolutionare
ued to work within the Social Democrats, Kommunisten held a very strong defeatist
who after February 1934 used the name Rev­ position (the enemy is always in one's own
olutionary Socialists ( r s ). The Trotskyists country, you have to fight for the defeat of
won over the leader of r s in the Josefstadt your own country, there's no tactical differ­
section of Vienna, Ernst Fedem, who began ence to be made between countries which
to distribute Unser Wort, the periodical of are allied with the Soviet Union and those
the German Trotskyists, along with the countries which are not)."38
publications issued by the Revolutionary The r k made substantial gains, princi­
Socialists.34 pally at the expense of the Communist
The Bolshevik-Leninists conducted par­ Youth. The Young Communist organiza­
ticularly energetic propaganda around the tions in the Margarethen and Leopoldstate
issue of the Spanish Civil War, which broke districts of Vienna went over entirely to the
out in July 1936. They urged united action Revolutionare Kommunisten. Various other
by themselves, the Socialists and the Com­ Communist Youth groups invited represen­
munists to recruit volunteers to fight in the tatives of the r k to address them. All of this,
Loyalist army, raising the slogan, "A ll quali­ of course, provoked violent denunciations
fied comrades to the front!"35 from the leaders of the Communist Party
With considerable help from the Stalin­ and its youth group. During this period, the
ists, who publicized the real names of the r k published a periodical, Bolshevik, with

Trotskyist militants and leaders, the police the slogan at its masthead "The enemy is in
conducted two roundups of members of the our own country!"3*
Bolshevik-Leninists in March and July 1936. However the r k , like the other two Trots­
They were tried and given prison terms rang­ kyist groups, remained a relatively tiny or­
ing from a few months to five years for "high ganization. Fritz Keller has noted that "the
treason."36 three Trotskyist organizations were able un­
til the Nazi invasion to make small incur­
sions into the camp of the traditional work­
T h e Revolutionare Kommunisten
ers parties, but they were not able to break
Still another Trotskyist group appeared in their domination. As throughout Western
Austria in this period. It was a split-off from Europe, Social Democracy and Stalinism did

Austria 85
not have the power to win, but their specific tain its organization. Joseph Frey fled to
gravity was sufficient to tie to their organi­ Switzerland, but from there he was able to
zations the great mass of the working write and have smuggled into his comrades
class."40 in Austria several publications. These in­
cluded a critique of a book by Otto Bauer
and a resume (in May 1940) of the struggle
Austrian Trotskyism Under the Nazis
within the Kampfbund over his position in
During the period of "Austro-Fascism" (Feb­ favor of supporting those powers allied to
ruary 1934-M arch 1938) not only the left- the USSR and fighting against the Nazi
wing parties but also the Nazis were under­ regime.
ground. During this period the Nazis It was this struggle within the organiza­
adopted a very "social" line of propaganda, tion, rather than Nazi persecution, which
and there were frequent contacts between finally destroyed the Kampfbund. By 1940
them and members of the various left-wing virtually all of its important figures had left
groups. This fact greatly facilitated the work the organization. Many of them did not
of the Gestapo once the Nazi armies moved cease political activity but transferred their
into Austria in March 1938. attention to new Trotskyist organizations
A special situation existed during the which began to appear in 1939—40.43
month before the Nazi invasion. The gov­ The first new Trotskyist group to appear
ernment of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, in in the Austrian underground was the Prolet-
an effort to rally all Austrians behind resis­ arische Revolutionare. It was established in
tance to the Germans, released the left-wing 1939 by former members of the Bolshevik-
political prisoners and entered into contact Leninists and the Revolutionare Kommuni­
with the left-wing parties. The Trotskyists sten, as well as elements who had split from
benefitted from these moves along with the the Kampfbund in disagreement with Joseph
Socialists and Communists. They carried on Frey on the war issue. It began to publish a
active and more or less open propaganda not newspaper, Iskra, named after the periodi­
only for a full amnesty but also for reestab­ cal which Lenin had edited early in the
lishment of the right to strike and full free­ century.44
dom of political activity. In addition, "the Soon afterward a second group appeared,
immediate armament of the workers was the Gegen den Strom (Against the Current),
the central issue in our agitation and our which issued a periodical of the same name.
propaganda. There was then great combati- It took a "neutral" position on the Soviet-
vity among the workers and this line was Finnish War of 1939-40, and rejected the
generally viewed very positively. "41 orthodox Trotskyist definition of the Soviet
But as the Trotskyists profited from the Union as a "degenerated workers state,"
month's "reprieve" in February 1938, so claiming that it was, rather, a "petty bour­
they suffered from the Nazi invasion. Fritz geois state."
Keller has written that "after the entry of In April 1943 the major leader of the
Hitler in Austria (March 1938), the Bolshe­ Gegen den Strom group, Joseph Jakobovits,
vik-Leninists and Revolutionare Kommuni­ was arrested by the Gestapo and soon after­
sten were dissolved by emigration, deporta­ ward a number of other leaders of the group
tion into the concentration camps."n were also picked up. In a subsequent trial
The Bolshevik-Leninists' organization Jakobovits, as well as two other leaders of
was completely destroyed by the Nazis. The the group, Franz and Leopold Kascha, were
Revolutionare Kommunisten were able to sentenced to death and were killed soon af­
maintain some degree of organization until terward. Four other members of the group
the outbreak of the war. The Kampfbund received long jail sentences.45
was the Trotskyist group best able to main­ The third underground Trotskyist faction

86 Austria
 to appear was the Proletarische Intematio- served as the rallying point for the unifi­
(p i )
nalisten. In March 1939 they began to pub­ cation of most of the Austrian Trotskyists.
lish a review, Der Vorkote (The Precursor). As early as 1940 one schismatic faction of
In May 1940 the periodical's name was the Kampfbund joined the p i , and at the be­
changed to Der Vorposten (Vanguard Poet). ginning of 1942 another group which had
Apparently it was made up principally of broken from the Frey organization did like­
former members of Joseph Frey's group.4* wise. After long discussions the p i fused
Fritz Keller has noted that "the Proletar­ with the remains of the Proletarische Revo-
ische Intemationalisten made concessions lutionare, and the name of the united group
on the national question, declaring that the was changed to Karl-Liebknecht-Bund (In­
Austrians are no longer a part of the German ternationale Kommunisten}. They began in
nation."47 January X945 to publish Der Spartakist as
After the Gestapo raids of 1943, the Trots­ the central organ of the united Trotskyist
kyists went deeper underground, virtually group.
cutting off all efforts to maintain contacts Fritz Keller has maintained that "one
outside of the country. Fritz Keller has noted must consider the Trotskyists after the pro­
that "this isolation was both a protection cess of unification as the only organization
and an obstacle: a protection, because it re­ of the illegal workers movement of the pe­
duced to a strict minimum the possibilities riod having a coherent and firm political
of the Gestapo tracing and infiltrating the structure. . . . In 1944, even the c p a , inspite
groups (the Nazi police ceased trying in fact of its incomparably greater financial re­
after several vain efforts); . . . an obstacle, sources and techniques, no longer had a
for the existence as a circle engendered a functioning central organization in the inte­
spirit of narrow sufficiency among some rior—its members worked individually in
members which lasted for years."'18 the non-partisan resistance circles."50
Some Austrian Trotskyists spent long pe­
riods in Nazi concentration camps. There
The Austrian Trotskyists in Exile
some of them were as much victims of the
Stalinists as of the Nazis. Two, Karl Fischer Various of the Austrian Trotskyists who had
and Emst Fedem, were signers of the Decla­ left the country after the Nazi invasion con­
ration of Buchenwald, the statement of tinued their political activities in exile. Kel­
Trotskyist concentration camp prisoners ler has written that "the emigrated mem­
which got wide publicity. bers of the Osterreichische Bolschewiki
Emst Fedem, who was not only a Trotsky­ Leninisten formed in exile a separate sector
ist but also a Jew, spent the period from 1938 of the International Kommunisten Deutsch-
to 1945 in Nazi concentration camps. In un­ lands, which existed until 1939 or 1940—
published memoirs he wrote concerning his until the end of the i k d ; after that year no
Stalinist fellow prisoners that "the profes­ activity of this group as Austrian Trotsky­
sional labor leaders and Communists in Bu­ ists is known to m e."51
chenwald were not necessarily erudite but The Revolutionare Kommunisten exiles
they were skilled organizers and accus­ continued their activity until the end of the
tomed to power and the use of politics. Polit­ war. Two of them, George Scheuer and Karl
ical infighting came to them as easily as Fischer, participated in the founding con­
breathing. Step by step: first with small in­ gress of the Fourth International in Septem­
trigues and then with sweeping strokes, ber 1938, where they voted against the mo­
they eliminated their political enemies. tion to establish the International.51
Sometimes they used ss, who were pawns Fritz Keller has said of the r k exiles that
in their game."49 "the Revolutionare Kommunisten Oster-
The Ptoletarisch Intemationalisten group reichs at first changed their name in exile to

Austria 87
Revolutionare Kommunisten Deutschlands form left wings which could be the core of
and then to Revolutionare Kommunisten. a new revolutionary party which would be
They worked in the French underground all the Austrian section of the Fourth Interna­
the time until the liberation in 1945. Their tional. It promised support for any measures
political positions were strongly in opposi­ of the Socialists and Communists "truly in
tion to all Trotskyist groups, they came un­ the interests of the workers."
der the influence of 'ultraleftism/ some of Fritz Keller has noted that "it is striking
them became Bordiguists. . . .'/S3 that these theses are programmatically in
The r k exiles became part of an interna­ accord with the declarations of the European
tional tendency also having Belgian, Ger­ Conference of the Fourth International, in
man, and French members, which in 1939 spite of the fact that the Austrian Trotsky­
published a periodical Bulletin Opposi- ists had not at that moment established any
tionnel. During the war the tendency issued foreign contacts."55
various other periodicals, including Der Relations with the Fourth International
Marxist, Vierte Internationale, Spaitakur, were soon reestablished through the good
and Fraternization Proletarienne. Most of offices of a United States war correspondent
the Austrian group were, until July 1941, in Vienna who belonged to the Socialist
located in Montauban in unoccupied Workers Party. The International Secretar­
France, operating more or less openly. At iat brought pressure to bear for the unifica­
that time they went underground. tion of all the existing groups in Austria
In November 1940 and December 1943 claiming loyalty to Trotskyism. This was
the rk exiles organized clandestine confer­ soon achieved, when the surviving elements
ences in southern France. However, the Ge­ of the Kampfbund and Gegen den Strom fac­
stapo and Vichy police "made horrible rav­ tions joined the Karl-Liebknecht-Bund,
ages among their Militants/' according to which thereupon took the name Internatio­
Fritz Keller. He added that "the divergence nale Kommunisten Osterreichs (i k o ). It con­
with Trotskyism became more profound in tinued to publish Der Spartakist, until then
the resistance, the Revolutionary Commu­ the organ of the Bund56 Keller has noted
nists defending more and more ultraleft po­ that "the work of unification of the section
sitions; they thus violently criticized, retro­ in 1945 was done without any ideological
spectively, the Left Opposition position agreement on central positions; the unifi­
until 1933 of reforming the ci, entrism, the cation was the product of the pressure of the
proclamation of the Fourth International in International, and of the hope for a revolu­
1938, and the revolutionary defeatism of the tionary wave, which would make the Inter­
Trotskyist groups. . . . They considered the nationale Kommunisten Osterreichs the
USSR as a capitalist state which should no vanguard of the Austrian proletariat."57
longer be defended by the workers. . . ."s* Fritz Keller has also noted that "at this
moment, 194s, the organization counted
with 194 militants [73 members, 54 candi­
Austrian Trotskyism After
dates, 25 sympathizing persons), 14 mem­
World War II
bers of the organization were shop stewards;
After the capture of Vienna by the Russian most of the members were workers or for­
troops in April 1945, the Karl-Liebknecht- mer workers."58 n.
Bund published a document entitled "The­ The Soviet occupation authorities were
sis of April 10, 1945." This laid down the quite hostile to the reemergence of a Trots­
line of policy to be followed by the organiza­ kyist movement in Austria. Raimund Loew
tion. It called for the Bund as such to remain has observed that "in spite of the reestab­
underground but to work within both the lishment of the democratic rights of the
revived Socialist and Communist parties to workers, the organization did not dare for

88 Austria
reasons of security (the g p u i n the territories As a consequence, Joseph Frey's followers
under Soviet occupation) appear in the light soon broke away once again. They launched
of day and carry on mass work."59 their own newspaper, Arbeitermacht,
Fritz Keller has given a notorious example which continued to be published into the
of the degree of hostility of the Soviet au­ 1950s. As an effective political organization,
thorities. "They caught (1947) Comrade that faction of Austrian Trotskyism ceased
Karl Fischer coming from the concentration to exist with the disappearance of its news­
camp Buchenwald . . . at the check point paper.63 As late as the 1970s, however, there
between the Russian and American sector were still a few followers of Frey who main­
in Linz (there was a bridge over the Danube), tained a small organization.
accused him of being an agent of the French, There was further dissidence in the i k o
American . . . secret service and deported after the departure of Frey's followers. Some
him to Siberia. He came back after the state people who had been associated with the
contract between Austria and Russia in Gegen den Strom group attacked the Soviet
1 g 5 5 He added that "that means: the work Union as being "capitalistic" and soon left
in Austria under Russian control was the i k o . They withdrew in 1948, to found a
strictly illegal."60 new group which they called the Proletar­
During the late 1940s the Trotskyists ische Vereinigung Osterreichs, and began to
were able to acquire a modicum of influence publish a newspaper, Arbeiterblatt. That
in a few union organizations and within the group endorsed the statement of Natalia
left wing of the Socialist Party, led by Erwin Trotsky breaking off all relations with the
Scharf. They were active in a number of Fourth International.
strikes which took place in these years in In 1949 a new controversy broke out over
Vienna and other Austrian cities. There the issue of entrism. Although the majority
were Trotskyists among the delegates to a of the i k o favored maintaining an indepen­
Conference of Enterprise Councils held dur­ dent organization, a minority supported en­
ing a strike wave in 1950. However, the try into the Social Democratic Party ( s p o )
Trotskyists were unable to get the Socialist and apparently broke away to do so after
dissidents under Scharf to form a new revo­ publishing for a time an internal bulletin,
lutionary party. Instead, the left-wing Social Mittellungsblatt d e r Opposition in d e r i k o .
Democrats joined the Communist Party.61 In 1954 unity was restored among the Trots­
kyists when the majority group of the i k o
also went into the s p o .
Further Splits in Austrian Trotskyism
During all of the period after the war the
Unity in the Austrian Trotskyist ranks, es­ Internationale Kommunisten Osterreichs
tablished in 1945, did not last for long. It published an illegal periodical, Der Spartak-
was achieved without any discussion of the ist. However, after the signature of the State
causes of past differences, and these soon Treaty and the withdrawal of Soviet (and
began to appear once again. Fritz Keller has Western) troops from Austria in 1955 they
noted that the first controversy was about began to put out a legal paper, Die Interna­
the character of the postwar East European tionale, which declared itself on its mast­
countries under Communist control. He head to be the organ of the International
added, "Frey in Switzerland supported his Secretariat of the Fourth International.
followers in Austria in putting forward posi­ After a few years of relative internal tran­
tions characterizing these states as 'degener­ quility, the Austrian Trotskyists again split
ated capitalist states.' This discussion was during the early 1 960s. This time the schism
followed by another: the old question of war involved their international relationships.
tactics and Frey's position on these was At the time of the division of the Fourth
brought up to date. . . ,"62 International in 19 5 3, the Austrian Trotsky -

i
t Austria 89
ists had sided overwhelmingly with Michel tria to try to reorganize the activities of its
Pablo and the International Secretariat. followers there. As a consequence the
Even after Pablo began to have differences, Gruppe Revolutionare Marxisten was estab­
first with the International Secretariat and lished in August 197a, following a split in a
subsequently with the United Secretariat, Marxist group, the Marxistisch-Lenin-
the i k o majority remained loyal to him. istische Studenten, and it became the Aus­
Since the group's periodical, Die Interna­ trian Section of the United Secretariat. It
tionale, was controlled by people who were published a newspaper, Rotfront, which in
anti-Pablo the i k o withdrew its support 1980 changed its name to L in k e d
from that newspaper in 1962. In the follow­ The factional struggle in the United Secre­
ing year they launched another newspaper, tariat during the 1970s between the "Euro­
A rbei terk ampf. peans" headed by Ernest Mandel, Pierre
After the 196s World Congress of the Frank and Livio Maitan on the one hand,
United Secretariat the groups in the i k o and the Socialist Workers Party of the U.S.
broke into rival organizations. The Pabloite and its allies on the other, had its impact in
tendency continued to put out Arbeiter- Austria. In 1974-75 a group broke away
kampf, while the supporters of the Mandel- from the- Gruppe Revolutionare Marxisten
Frank-Maitan faction began issuing, to­ declaring its opposition to the decisions of
gether with their German counterparts, In­ the Ninth and Tenth World congresses of
ternationale Perspektiven, the predecessor u s e c . According to Fritz Keller, "they were

of Inprekorr. excluded and unified with comrades coming

The Pabloite group sought to gain influ­ from the Frey group of the fifties in the Inter­
ence within the Union of Socialist nationale Kommunistische Liga (i k l ) . " The
Highschoolers, one of the principal centers i k l began publication of a periodical, Perma-

of the Austrian New Left in the 1960s. They nente Revolution.

had little success in this regard and by the However, the i k l suffered another schism
1980s the group had reportedly been reduced in 1978, with a group breaking away to form
to a small core of "superannuated vet­ Commune, named after the periodical it be­
erans."64 gan to publish. The Commune people de­
Those Austrian Trotskyists loyal to the clared themselves a part of the United Secre­
United Secretariat also sought to gain sup­ tariat even if they had been excluded from
port among elements of the New Left. They it, and sought "to build up an international
succeeded as a result in establishing in May faction together with the German Spartacus
1968 a new Austrian section, the Trots- group and a group split from the Italian sec­
kistische Organisation Osterreichs, which tion of the u s e c . " After trying several times
put out a publication called Revolts. This to get readmitted to the Gruppe Revolu­
group lasted only a few months and thereaf­ tionare Marxisten, the Commune tendency
ter for several years the principal activity of dissolved in 1982.
those still loyal to the United Secretariat The i k l suffered still further division in
was in the maintenance of discussion groups 1980, with a dissident faction putting out
to talk about articles published in the West a theoretical newspaper, Der Marxist. Fritz
German Trotskyist periodical Inprekorr. Keller has noted that "the group around Der
Marxist said that it was necessary to start
a process of open discussion to rethink all
Austrian Trotskyism in the 1970s
problems of the history of the workingclass,
and 1980s
particularly in the last ten years." In 1982
At the beginning of the 1970s the United they applied for readmission to the u s e c af­
Secretariat sent a Swiss Trotskyist to Aus­ filiate, the GRM. The i k l , in the meantime,

90 Austria
had stopped putting out Permanente Revo­ Belgian Trotskyism Before
lution.
Conflicts within the United Secretariat World War II
had in the meantime provoked the forma­
tion of still another small group, at the time
of the 1979 split of the "Morenoists" from
u s e c . It began publication of a newspaper,

Manifest. Although they participated in the

Parity Commission organized by the More­
noists and the Lambertists in 1980-81, they Belgian Trotskyism is of consequence in the
did not join with either of those elements history of the world movement for a number
when the Parity Commission broke up. of reasons. These include the importance of
Rather, they joined with a German group the Left Opposition within the Communist
around the newspaper Internationales Sozi- Party before their break with the Comin­
alistisches Forum to form a Leninist-Trots­ tern; the original high regard and continuing
kyist Tendency of the Fourth International, interest of Leon Trotsky himself in the
declaring that they "wanted a process of dis­ group; the working class base of Belgian
cussion and practical work together with Trotskyism before World War II; and the
the internationalists of all countries, to sup­ renown of its best known figure after the
port unification of the Trotskyists on the Second World War, Emest Mandel, who has
basis of principled agreement."66 been widely regarded as one of the world's
One other international faction of Trots­ leading Marxist economists and theoreti­
kyism also had an affiliate in Austria for cians as well as being one of the half-dozen
a time. This was the international Spar­ principal figures in the leadership of the
tacist tendency, to which was affiliated largest faction of International Trotskyism.
the Bolscheveiken-Leninisten Osterreichs,
which had originated from a split in the
The Opposition Fight Within the
Trotskistische Organisation Osterreichs.
Belgian Communist Party
When the Spartacists decided to concentrate
their German-speaking militants in West Nadya De Beule, the historian of prewar Bel­
Germany and Berlin, the Austrian group gian Trotskyism, has noted that "N o other
(concentrated largely in Vienna until then) (Communist) Party was so involved in what
was dissolved. they called the Russian question as the Bel­
Finally, there existed in 1982 a group gian one. It was the only party in Western
which Fritz Keller has categorized as advo­ Europe where the Russian question was
cating "national Trotskyism," called Inter­ daily discussed in the Communist press."
nationale Kommunisten Osterreichs. Keller The strength of the Left Opposition
added that there are also "two Bordiguists. within Communist Party ranks in the 1920s
That's all."67 has its origin in the way in which the Belgian
Communist Party was established. It
emerged from two groups, one led by War
Van Overstraeten and "composed of anti­
militarists, Luxembourgists, anarchists,
revolutionary syndicalists."1 Van Over­
straeten had joined the Socialist Young
Guards (Jeunes Gardes Socialist—j g s ) be­
fore World War 1. He led the j g s of Brussels
out of the Belgian Labor Party— p o b (Bel­

Belgium: Before World Wai U 91

 gium's Second International affiliate)—and Although the Belgian Central Committee
after merging with several groups in Wal- asked the Soviet party for documentation
lonia (French-speaking Belgium) he formed on the issue of Trotsky they received no
the Belgian Communist Party (p c b ) in No­ response. Only in November 1927 after
vember 1 920. It was recognized by the Com­ Trotsky had been expelled from the Soviet
intern a month later in spite of its rather party, did the Belgian Central Committee
heterogeneous and extreme leftist ad­ move again. It once more passed a motion—
herents. again fifteen to three—asking the Soviet
The second element in the early Belgian party to reverse its decision, and asked for a
Communist Party was headed by Joseph Jac- Comintern conference to deal with the issue
quemotte. Called Les Amis de L'Exploite, it and repeated its request for documentation
was made up of left-wing elements who had on the question. As before, Jacquemotte and
left the Belgian Labor Party. Under pressure two others voted against this motion.4
from the Communist International, the p c b There followed a period of internal party
and the Jacquemotte group merged in Sep­ discussion of the "Russian question." Stalin
tember 19 21. Although the Les Amis de and other Soviet party leaders used their in­
l'Exp!oit6 group were more numerous than fluence to obtain a decision in their favor.
the original p c b , War Van Overstraeten be­ They began a strong attack on Van Over­
came secretary general of the new Belgian straeten as a "sectarian, a counter-revolu­
Communist Party resulting from the tionary, of being ambitious, etc." They also
merger.1 But as Miss De Beule has com­ invited a number of Belgian Communist
mented, "the fusion became rather an intel­ leaders to the USSR, and two of these,
lectual marriage than a marriage of love."3 P. Coenen and H. De Boeck, the leader of the
The two elements which had joined to Communist Youth, became strongly anti-
form the p c b continued to be antagonistic. Trotsky.
Nadya De Beule has noted that "the con­ In January 1928 two reports on the Rus­
frontation between these two tendencies ap­ sian question—one sympathetic to the So­
peared after 192s and consisted of three viet Left Opposition submitted by Van
points: the internal organization, the posi­ Overstraeten, the other supporting the Sta­
tion toward the trade-unions and the Rus­ linists introduced by Coenen—were dis­
sian question." She added that "Jacque­ cussed by the Central Committee. The vote
motte swallowed all the directives of the Cl. on them was a tie thirteen-to-thirteen as a
W. Van Overstraeten, on the other hand, result of the fact that the Youth and repre­
dared to criticize them, but always in a very sentatives of immigrant Communists resid­
careful way. For example, the question of ing in Belgium were given the right to vote,
. . . Bolshevization: Van Overstraeten and on Comintern insistence, and they sup­
his followers didn't react against it, but ported the pro-Stalinist position.5
didn't execute the order either. . . . " A representative (unidentified) of the Ex­
As the struggle within the Communist ecutive Committee of the Communist In­
Party of the Soviet Union developed, the ternational ( e c c i ) attended this Belgian c p
leadership of the Belgian party took a stand Central Committee meeting. In a speech
on the issue. In March 1925 the Central after the vote on the resolutions on the Rus­
Committee voted for a motion introduced sian question he accused the Van Over­
by Van Overstraeten protesting the Soviet straeten leadership of the Belgian party of
party leadership's denunciation of Trotsky leading the Belgian c p into "stagnation,"
as "anti-Leninist, deviationist, etc." The and quoted a resolution of the e c c i to the
vote was fifteen to three, Jacquemotte and effect that the e c c i "feels that the shock
two friends being the only opponents. to its morale which the discussion of the

92 Belgium: Before World War II

Russian question has brought to the ranks representative. However, the document at
of the Belgian Communist Party must serve the beginning stated that "the p c b recog­
to force an examination by all members of nizes in particular that e c c i was right in
the party of the vital problems of their own seeking the causes which have created in
activity in order to find, together with and the p c b a relatively fertile field for work of
with the aid of the ci, a way out of the impasse the Trotskyist opposition.. . . " In its penul­
in which it has been for too long a tim e.. . . " timate paragraph the proposed resolution
The e c c i representative then made it very said that "leftist sectarianism allied with
clear that he held the fault to be with the social democratic practice are the character­
Belgian party leadership, particularly Van istics of International Trotskyism. The
Overstraeten. He accused the leadership of same characteristics of each of our leaders
"sectarianism allied with opportunism/' aligns them exactly with International
and with having been wrong in its trade Trotskyism ."7
union work, its handling of the question of In March 1928 all party members were
Flemish nationalism, and in its antimilita­ called upon to vote on the two motions
rist campaign—the principal activities of which the Central Committee had debated
the party in recent years. He also attacked two months earlier. In the interim the party
its "organization, methods of work" appar­ membership grew from 700 to 1,000 as the
ently alluding to the resistance of the Van result of intense recruiting by pro-Stalinist
Overstraeten leadership to "bolsheviza- elements. The final vote was in favor of the
tion" of the p c b * Stalinists by about two tO one.6
On February 8, 1 928 the controversy con­ The final decision about the fate of the
tinued at a meeting of the Executive Bureau Left Opposition within the Belgian Commu­
of the p c b . Van Overstraeten, A. Hennaut, nist Party was taken at a national conference
M. Lootens and L. Lesoil presented a pro­ of the party on March 11 - 1 2 ,19 2 8 , in which
posed "response" to a letter dated January the pro-Stalinist elements had a substantial
18, which the e c c i representative had pre­ majority. A Manifesto of the Opposition of
sented to the January 29 meeting. Jacque- the p c b , issued after the conference, noted
motte introduced, with the endorsement of that "the Opposition struggled to have an
F. Coenen, H. De Boeck and F. Morriens, a armistice accepted until the VI Congress of
proposed resolution responding to the same the ci, maintained its demand for the reinte­
e c c i letter. gration of the Russian opposition and its
The document of Van Overstraeten and representation at this congress." However,
his supporters put much if not most of the "the majority wanted right there the expul­
blame for the alleged failures of the p c b lead­ sion from the Party" of the opposition.
ership on the Jacquemotte faction, and par­ On the first day of the conference the ma­
ticularly on Jacquemotte himself. It ob­ jority sought to pass a motion suspending
jected to the e c c i ' s attacks on an alleged from all leadership positions for six months
"sectarian nucleus" in the p c b leadership, Van Overstraeten, Hennaut, Lesoil, Loo­
saying that "it is certain that the present tens, Cloosterman, Dewaet and Polk, and
invention of the so-called sectarian nucleus the cancellation of Van Overstraeten's
has as its only cause the position which we membership in the Chamber of Deputies. It
have taken on the question of the opposi­ also appointed a commission to present a
tion. Our comrades reject this foolishness series of questions to all the members of the
and this deceit. . . ." opposition present at the conference. Those
The proposed resolution of Jacquemotte members refused to appear before the com­
and his friends largely repeated the argu­ mission. As a consequence, "the majority of
ments which had been made by the e c c i this conference virtually declared the expul­

Belgium: Before World War II 93

sion of the opposition from the p c b . " The ful meetings in various parts of the
opposition thereupon established a "provi­ country.15
sional committee/' composed of Bourgeois, There were Opposition centers of strength
Hennaut, Lootens, Mathieu, Plisnier, van in both the Walloon (French) and Flemish
den Heuvel and Van Overstraeten.9 parts of the country. Nadya De Beule has
noted that "between 1928 and 1940 there
were always two places where Trotskyism
Establishment of the Left Opposition had a fairly great influence: Antwerp for the
Flemish-speaking part, and Charleroi for the
After this conference all further discussion French-speaking part of Belgium. The Ant­
of "the Russian question" was forbidden werp group, under the leadership of Louis
within the Belgian Communist Party. As a Polk, was active in the port. Polk himself
consequence the principal leaders of the Left always had close contact with Henk Sneev-
Opposition and many of their followers liet from the Netherlands." Polk dropped
were expelled from or left the Communist out of the leadership of the Antwerp group
Party. Miss De Beule has noted that "the before the beginning of World War II.16
group was composed of the founders of the De Beule has noted that "the group of
Communist Party and the majority of the Charleroi, led by Leon Lesoil, had some in­
leaders of the federations. . . . Only the paid fluence among the miners. They always
leaders such as De Boeck and Coenen re­ chose the side of Trotsky, whatever hap­
mained in the c p . Only with the daily help pened. They did not even hesitate to change
of the C.I., the party could continue its activ­ their point of view with different interpreta­
ities. It was only during the parliamentary tions of Trotsky's ideas. In this way, they
elections and the' big mine strike in 1932 always remained in contact with the group
that members were regained."10 in France that Trotsky supported."17 Ernest
Upon leaving the Communist Party ranks Mandel has noted that "Both Polk and Lesoil
the Left Oppositionists had very few con­ had been members of the c . p . ' s Central
tacts outside of the Communist Interna­ Committee since its foundation. Polk died
tional. There had existed a small group of in. a German concentration camp during
left-wing syndicalists, Unit6, with which World War II."18
the Left Oppositionists had had contact, and
it had close association with the French peri­
Early Activities of Belgian Trotskyists
odical Revolution Pzoletarienne, with
which Alfred Rosmer, Trotsky's first major The Belgian Oppositionists engaged in a va­
French supporter, was associated.11 Unite no riety of activities once they were outside the
longer existed in 1928, however.12 Communist Party. For one thing they issued
At the time of the split in the Communist a number of throwaways and pamphlets, ad­
Party the party claimed 1,000 members. Of dressed to various elements of the working
these, 3 so voted for the minority.13 Once class. One of these, for the unemployed, ex­
outside the p c b , the Left Opposition first plained the Marxist concept that the "stand­
formed the p c b : Opposition, and War Van ing army of the unemployed" was an inte­
Overstraeten was its secretary general.14 It gral part of the capitalist system. It argued
soon became the Groupe d'Opposition du the community of interest of those workers
Parti Communiste, and ultimately changed who were unemployed and those who still
its name once again to Opposition Com­ kept their jobs and urged a series of de-
muniste. The group soon began to publish mands, including a 3 5-franc per day pay­
two periodicals, Le Communiste in French ment to the unemployed and a seven-hour
and De Kommunist in Flemish. For a few day for those still employed.19
months the Opposition held many success­ Another publication of the Opposition

94 Belgium: Before World War II

 Group of the p c b was a denunciation of a ation in Russia, lies about the acts of revolu­
meeting of the Socialist International held tionary Communists who combat the trai­
in Brussels. It accused the Socialist leaders torous leaders of the Russian Revolution. It
of Belgium and elsewhere of being "social lies about the opinions and acts of revolu­
patriots" and ended with a series of exhorta­ tionaries whom it has excluded from its own
tions to the workers, including "Against the ranks. It wears constantly before the work­
military projects of the bourgeoisie!" "For ers a mask of deceit and lying."
the unity of all workers!" and "Support the The peroration of this proclamation de­
left wing of the Communist movement!"10 clared that "a revolutionary party impreg­
The Belgian Trotskyists, because of their nated with the faith of the proletariat in its
working-class base and the influence which own victory is necessary. . . . Prepare with
they had in the trade union movement— us the future of this party. Come to the Op­
particularly in the independent Knights of position Communists to work against the
Labor (Chevaliers du Travail) among the bourgeoisie, social-democratic corruption,
miners of the Charleroi area—were pre­ against false Communism."22
sented more quickly than most national The results of participating in the 1929
Trotskyist groups with the question of elections were disappointing for the Com­
whether they were a "faction" of the Belgian munist Opposition. Even in Charleroi
Communist Party 01 an entirely separate where the Communists didn't even have
party. Leon Trotsky, in spite of his general members and the Left Opposition had a
attitude at the time that the International strong group, the Stalinists received more
Left Opposition was a "faction" of the Com­ votes than the Trotskyists and the local
intern, made an exception in the Belgian Trotskyist leader, Leon Lesoil, concluded
case. that this was "because the workers hadn't
Writing his Belgian followers in Septem­ understood what the split had been about,
ber 1929 Trotsky said that "at a time when and because the c.P. had more money at its
in Germany as in France or in Czechoslova­ disposal to make more propaganda. Last but
kia the Left Opposition can and must be not least, the workers didn't like to waste
only a faction, the Belgian Opposition can their vote on a divided group."23
become an independent party in direct oppo­ Trotsky soon came to the conclusion that
sition to the Belgian social democracy. It is he had made a mistake in authorizing his
the direct duty of the international Opposi­ Belgian supporters to function as a separate
tion to help the Belgian Opposition occupy party. On June 21, 1930, he wrote that "I
the place which rightly belongs to it, and, made a wrong prognosis because of insuffi­
above all, to help it publish its weekly cient information."24
paper. "21 The Belgian Opposition Communists
As a consequence of this position the Bel­ were also active in the affairs of the interna­
gian Oppositionists participated on their tional Trotskyist movement in those early
own in the May 1929 parliamentary elec­ years. Thus, Leon Lesoil and Adh6mar Hen-
tions. For this purpose they issued an elec­ naut represented the Belgian Trotskyists at
tion manifesto addressed "to the Workers of the first international meeting of the Left
the Country." This explained why all of the Opposition in Paris in April 1930.25
other parties did not reflect or represent the
interests of the workers. A relatively long
Split of Van Overstraeten and
passage dealing with "the so-called Com­
Hennaut
munist Party" concentrated mainly on the
struggle of the Opposition in the USSR, but Within a year and a half of the establishment
ended: "In Belgium, as elsewhere, the so- of the Opposition Communists it became
called Communist Party lies about the situ­ sharply divided, and shortly afterward Bel­

Belgiura: Before World War II 95

gian Trotskyism suffered its first important with Van Overstraeten, to try to get him to
split. The issue which began this internal change his mind. In an article which was
controversy was that of the Chinese Eastern first published in the Russian language Bul­
Railway. letin of the Opposition but which certainly
The Chinese Eastern had been built by the must have gotten to Van Overstraeten him­
Czarist government as the consequence of self, Trotsky started out by indicating why
one of the "unequal treaties" imposed by it he thought it necessary to present a "special
on the Chinese Empire during the nine­ answer" to the position Van Overstraeten
teenth century. The Bolshevik regime had had taken: "a. the question itself is of deci­
in due time inherited the Russian govern­ sive importance for defining the Opposi­
ment's interest in the railway and in 1925 a tion's road; b. the Belgian Opposition occu­
joint commission, presided over by Trotsky pies a high place in our international ranks;
himself, had modified the relations between c. Comrade Van Overstraeten rightly occu­
the Soviet and Chinese governments insofar pies a leading place in the Belgian Oppo­
as the Chinese Eastern Railway was con­ sition."28
cerned.24 Trotsky sought to prove to Van Over­
In late 1929 the Chiang Kai-shek govern­ straeten that the USSR could not be "impe­
ment, having more or less consolidated its rialist" in this situation, since "imperial­
hold on China proper and having worked ism " was a function of capitalism and the
out a modus vivendi with the warlord of capitalist regime had disappeared in the So­
Manchuria, Chang Tso-lin, demanded that viet Union. He also argued that the presence
the Soviet government give up control of of Soviet control over the Chinese Eastern
the Chinese Eastern Railway. Leon Trotsky, Railway was an aid to the future recovery
perhaps understandably—both in view of of the revolutionary movement in China,
his general position of unequivocal defense which had been so badly defeated in 19 26 -
of the Soviet regime against all others and 27 by Stalin's mistaken policies 29
of his previous personal involvement in the Van Overstraeten and his supporters re­
issue— strongly supported the Stalin re­ mained unconvinced. The split with the in­
gime's refusal to cede to the Chiang Kai- ternational Trotskyist movement became
shek government its interest in the railroad. final. They changed their name to Ligue des
However, War Van Overstraeten and a Communistes Intemationalistes (jlci) and
majority of the Central Committee of the began to publish their own Bulletin de la
Belgian Opposition Communists disagreed Ligue des Communistes Intemationalistes
with Trotsky's position and urged that the in Brussels.
Soviet regime give up control over the rail­ Van Overstraeten soon abandoned poli­
road so as to avoid the appearance of being tics altogether, and the leadership of the
"imperialist." According to Nadya De Beule Ligue was assumed by Adhemar Hennaut.
only the three members of the Committee It seems to have reverted to the more or
from Charleroi supported Trotsky's posi­ less "ultra left" position which many of its
tion. They launched an extensive criticism members held before the founding of the
of Van Overstraeten's leadership of the Communist Party in 1920. This is reflected
group, and on October 6,1930, the Charleroi in a document published in the Bulletin
federation of the Opposition Communists early in 1934 which argues, "That struggle
withdrew from the national organization. and its lessons demonstrate how outmoded
They soon began to publish a periodical of and even dangerous are the tendencies to­
their own, La Voix Communists. They had ward parliamentary political actions, as well
thirty-five members by that tim e27 as the old bureaucratic structure of the
Leon Trotsky at first sought to reason unions. . . . The function of the old union

96 Belgium: Before World War II

 cannot be identified with the organ of the munist Opposition." The front-page edito­
Workers Council any more than the reform­ rial introducing the new newspaper began:
ist parliamentary parties can be confused "In publishing this journal, the Opposi­
with organizations of struggle for the social tionist Communist Federation of Charleroi
revolution."30 and some comrades of other regions of the
The Ligue did not break all relationships country who are in accord with it, and with
with the more "orthodox" Trotskyists. For the International Left Communist Opposi­
a short while it worked with them in trying tion directed by Comrade Trotsky, perse­
to form a united "trade union opposition," veres in the work of preparation of the Work­
but these efforts proved fruitless. In July ers for the revolutionary struggle against the
1932 the two groups had a joint public de­ bourgeoisie."
bate to delineate their different points of The same editorial proclaimed:
view. Nor did the l c i abandon interest in
Against the former leadership (Van Over­
the Left Opposition outside of Belgium. It
straeten-Hennaut) of the Belgian opposi­
maintained contacts at least as late as 1932
tion group, which claims that it is neces­
with the group around Alfred Rosmer in
sary to create a new Communist Party,
France, and exchanged publications with
against that leadership which has disorga­
them.31
nized the forces of the Belgian opposition,
Nadya De Beule has described the evolu­
thus favoring the unhealthy work of the
tion of the Van Overstraeten-Hennaut
Stalinist appointees, falsifiers of Commu­
group. She has said that after Hennaut took
nism, La Voix Communiste must strug­
over the leadership "he established contacts
gle. For the good combat, against the bour­
with the Bordiguists and anarchists. There
geoisie and its social democratic and
hardly were contacts with the Flemish
Christian supporters; to stop the Stalinist
group. In 1934 the federation of Antwerp left
falsifiers of the leadership of the Commu­
the l c i to join the federation of Charleroi.
nist Party from discrediting it and Com­
. . . In 1938 the l c i split again with a group
munism before the masses. To develop
influenced by the Bordiguists leaving. In
true Communist action among the
1950 there were only three members left:
masses of the Belgian workers, politically
Hennaut, Leon Smots, and Michel Lootens
undefended and without revolutionary
(all three founders of the cr.)"32
guidance. . . .33
In Brussels a significant group under the
The Opposition Communiste
leadership of Georges Vereeken broke away
de Gauche
from the old leadership in 19 31 and joined
By the end of 1930 the only Belgian group forces with the Charleroi federation. Ve­
still associated with the Paris center of the reeken brought with him a group of young
International Left Opposition was the Oppo­ people, mainly unemployed, and control of
sitionist Communist Federation of Char­ a local taxi drivers' union.34
leroi. It soon undertook the task of reor­ In November 193a the Opposition Com­
ganizing the Trotskyist movement on a muniste de Gauche had a national confer­
national basis. ence. According to La Voix Communiste it
On January 1 1 , 19 31, the Charleroi group was attended by more than sixty delegates
began to publish a new periodical, La Voix from several parts of the country. Among
Communiste, which carried on its mast­ other things the conference dealt with the
head the designation "Organ of the Belgian Trotskyists' electoral position and their ac­
Group of the Left Communist Opposition, tivities in the trade union movement.35
affiliated with the International Left Com­ By x934 the new Opposition Communiste

Belgium: Before World War H 97

de Gauche ( o c g } had local groups in many break away from Van Overstraeten and Hen­
parts of the country.36 The base of the naut. He sent word (through M. Mill, then
strength of the Charleroi group was its in­ associated with the International Secretar­
fluence in the independent Knights of Labor iat) to Georges Vereeken, calling upon him
among the miners of the district. It played to break with Van Overstraeten and align
an important role in a spontaneous strike himself with the Charleroi group. He was
of the miners in July-August 1932. As a reported to have commented at the time
consequence of this walkout the member­ that"the comrade chauffeur. . . is preferable
ship of the Charleroi Trotskyist group rose to all the Van Overstraetens."41
from thirty-five to about one hundred. At the end of December 1932 when La
In Brussels a group of Trotskyist youth Voix Communiste was converted into a
with some twenty-four members estab­ weekly, Trotsky wrote his followers a letter
lished a separate youth organization in 1933. of encouragement which they published:
In the following year they took the lead in
Recently you have transformed your pub­
forming the Commission Centrale Interna­
lication into a weekly. Now, you increase
tionale de la Jeunesse with German and
its format. Excellent successes. It must
French young Trotskyists.
even more be a cause for our rejoicing
In August 1934 this Trotskyist youth
that your periodical is not supported by
group in Brussels signed an "action pact"
occasional contributions but exclusively
with the Socialist and Communist youth.
by a proletarian organization. On that
Its purpose was "the realization of unity of
matter, the Belgian section can and must
the workers," and "revolutionary action."
become an example for many others.
This marked the first common agreement
Your organization is closely tied to the
between the Belgian Trotskyists and Stalin­
working masses. . .. You verify the ideas
ists since the 1928 split. It even included
and methods of the Opposition by the ex­
a demand for asylum for Leon Trotsky.37
perience of the class struggle so that they
Nadya De Beule has pointed out the unique­
penetrate deeply into the consciousness
ness of this agreement. She has noted that
of the workers. This is in general a neces­
"Belgium was the only place in Europe
sary condition for the vitality of a revolu­
where Trotskyists, Communists, and So­
tionary tendency and for its systematic
cialists signed a pact."38
growth.41
The Comintern "punished" the Belgian
Stalinist youth for signing this agreement.39 The official Belgian Trotskyists remained
As a consequence the agreement had few loyal to Trotsky's strategic and tactical posi­
practical results beyond the holding of a few tions. So long as he maintained that his fol­
joint meetings in various parts of the lowers were an "opposition" of the Commu­
country.'10 nist Party and International they adhered to
that position. For instance, an article in La
Voix Communiste celebrating the second
Contacts With Trotsky and the
anniversary of the newspaper proclaimed
International
that "undoubtedly world events confirm the
Leon Trotsky continued to take an active correctness of the point of view of the Inter­
interest in the fate of his Belgian followers. national Left Commiuni$t Opposition. All
After trying unsuccessfully to win over Van our efforts must be directed towards: the
Overstraeten to his point of view on the reintegration within the ci; for internal de­
Chinese Eastern Railway question he en­ mocracy in the party, for unification of
couraged those in the Belgian Left Opposi­ Communist forces; for defense of the Rus­
tion who agreed with him on the issue to sian Revolution by reentry en bloc of all the

98 Belgium: Before World War II

best excluded revolutionaries. That is the they did not accept that interpretation of his
heavy task that La Voix Commaniste prom­ conversation with Trotsky 47
ises to defend."43 The first move toward entrism in Belgium
When Trotsky abandoned the "opposi­ was the suggestion in the summer of 1934
tionist" position, his Belgian supporters fol­ that the Trotskyist Youth join the Jeunes
lowed this change of strategy. This was re­ Gardes Socialistes, the youth movement of
flected in their changing their name the p o b . There followed a discussion of that
Opposition Communiste de Gauche to and the general entrist issue in La Voix Com­
Ligue Communiste Intemationaliste (Bol- muniste. This discussion included the state­
chevik-Leniniste).44 ment of the French Trotskyists on entering
the French Socialist Party; a statement of
Georges Vereeken opposing entrism on prin­
The French Turn in Belgium
ciple; an article by Davister and De Waet,
Although the majority of the Belgian Trots­ principal lieutenants of Leon Lesoil in Char­
kyists also followed Trotsky's advocacy of leroi, opposing Vereeken's argument; and an
"entrism" or the "French turn," they did article of the Lifege group against entrism.
not do so without provoking a significant A referendum on the entrism issue in the
split within their ranks. At the time of the Charleroi group in November went against
adoption of entrism in France there existed the idea by a vote of 5 5-44, with five absten­
an active Left within the Belgian Labor Party tions. Trotsky's strong support finally
( f o b ]. It was headed by Paul Henri Spaak. turned the tide in favor of entrism, however,
He had visited Trotsky and conversed exten­ and adoption of a resolution at an assembly
sively with him soon after Trotsky arrived of the group early in December supporting
in France in I933-45 He clearly never ceased the entry of the Trotskyists into the p o b
being a Social Democrat, and certainly was even without their receiving (as their French
never a Trotskyist. However, at that mo­ counterparts had) the right to organize
ment it served Spaak's purposes to have the within the Labor Party as a faction of their
Trotskyists join the ranks of the p o b to own. 48
strengthen the p o b Left46 A formal announcement of the entry of
Nevertheless, the virtually unanimous the Trotskyites into the p o b was finally
first reaction of the Belgian Trotskyists, made in La Voix Communiste on April 28,
hearing of the decision of the majority of 1935. It published a "Political Declaration
their French colleagues to enter the Socialist of the Ligue Communiste (Trotskyiste),"
Party there, was negative. The leadership of which started out by arguing in favor, in
the group decided to send Georges Vereeken general, of the united front. It then stated
to Paris to confer with the International Sec­ that "in Belgium, where the p o b and the
retariat on the subject. There, Leon Sedov Commission Syndicate have the preponder­
urged that Vereeken talk with his father, ant influence in the working class, the best
Leon Trotsky, and arranged an appointment. way of realizing practically the united front
Vereeken thought that he and Trotsky had is to enter the large central union and the
reached an agreement that the Belgian p o b , to defend there an active policy of strug­

Trotskyists would do nothing to hamper the gle for the immediate and general interests
entrist tactic in France but that that tactic of the working class and a policy of effective
would not become a general policy for the defense against reaction."
movement, and would not be extended to The declaration added that "entry into the
Belgium. However, when he later returned p o b implies the disappearance of La Voix

to Paris and talked with the people of the Communiste, but it does not imply any ab­
International Secretariat again he found that dication of our principles, any renunciation

Belgium: Before World War II 99

 of our ideas. It is determined only by the is not only wrong but criminal in its total
gravity of the circumstances which create a lack of balance and sense of proportion! Not
duty for every conscious element of the la­ one worker who really believes Vereeken's
bor movement—if it wishes to carry out an article will join the Fourth International,
active and revolutionary role in the develop­ and since Vereeken's group is condemned
ment of events—to take immediately and to vegetate ineffectually outside the Fourth
without hesitation a place of combat in the International, his article can only sap its
ranks of the organized working class." This own foundations. That is the fate of sectari­
declaration was signed by La Ligue Com­ anism in general."53
muniste (Bolchevik-Leniniste).49 Those who entered the Belgian Labor
The group led by Georges Vereeken which Party encountered a situation of some con­
opposed the French turn published its own fusion. At almost the same time, in March
version of La Voix Communiste when the 1935 / Paul-Henri Spaak, leader of the p o b
entrist element suspended that publication. left wing, accepted a ministry in a "national
Vereeken soon changed the name of the peri­ unity" government headed by Prime Minis­
odical to Spartacus and subtitled it "Organe ter Paul Van Zeeland of the Christian Social
de la Ligue Communiste Internationale Party. This sudden shift by Spaak led to a
(Trotskiste) en Belgique."50 Although the split within the ranks of the p o b Left, Action
Vereeken group was clearly a minority ele­ Socialiste. Some followed Spaak. The rest
ment it continued its independent activities were divided between pro-Stalinist ele­
in Brussels and elsewhere in the country for ments, and those who aligned themselves
more than a year. Its principal centers were with the entrist Trotskyists and rechris­
in Brussels and Lifege, where its major leader tened their group Action Socialiste R6volu-
was Lucien Renery.sl tionnaire (a s r ).S4
The Vereeken group clearly continued to The Vereeken group followed this strag­
regard itself as Trotskyist. Thus, when the gle within the a s r with great interest. When
International Communist League issued an the Trotskyists within the a s r succeeded in
"open letter" calling for the establishment ousting the pro-Stalinist Albert Marteaux
of a Fourth International on the basis of the from the editorship of Action Socialiste, the
"Declaration of the Four," Spartacus pub­ organ of the a s r , the Vereeken periodical
lished an open letter in reply from the Ligue Spartacus published an article on that move,
Communiste Intemationaliste (Trotsky- commenting that "every proletarian will re­
iste). This document contained objections joice that the healthy tendency was able to
to the entrism tactic but proclaimed that remove Marteaux and his closest associates
"our adhesion to your struggle for the cre­ from the editorship."ss
ation of the IV International is a Communist The Trotskyist element within the a s r
adhesion. We will struggle alongside you to was particularly successful in winning sup­
elaborate the indispensable arm for the over­ port from the Socialists in the areas of Char­
throw of the domination of the bourgeois leroi and the Borinage. In the latter region
class in the entire world and the establish­ they recruited the principal a s r leader, Wal­
ment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, ter Dauge, who for a few years became a
the means historically necessary to safe­ major figure in the Belgian Trotskyist
guard humanity from barbarism. . . movement.54 ■*.
Trotsky strongly criticized Georges Ver­
eeken and his group. In commenting on the Establishment of the
Vereeken group's announcement of support Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire
for forming the Fourth International The a s r operated principally in the French-
Trotsky wrote: "Vereeken's August article speaking parts of Belgium. Its principal

100 Belgium: Before World War II

counterpart in the Flemish area was the An­ Georges Vereeken maintained later that
tiwar League, and the Flemish entrist Trots­ Dauge had expected to win.62
kyists became part of it. However, Louis Virtually as soon as the a s r was expelled
Polk, the major Trotskyist figure in Ant­ from the Belgian Labor Party the Ligue Com­
werp, was expelled from the League before muniste Internationaliste (Trotskyiste)
the end of 1935.57 The League ultimately made overtures looking toward reunifica­
patched up its differences with the p o b lead­ tion of the two Trotskyist groups. The im­
ership at least to the extent of not getting mediate reaction of the a s r was to say that
expelled from the party. any negotiations were premature until after
The relationship of the a s r Trotskyist- the May 24 elections.63 However, by the end
oriented leadership with the p o b grew in­ of May the first preliminary discussions had
creasingly strained, however. In December begun. Leaders of the two groups signed a
1935 the a s r officially came out in favor of joint statement, beginning: "The cause of
formation of a new revolutionary party and the debacle of the labor movement, and of
a new international. This provoked the lead­ the defeats of the world proletariat has been
ers of the p o b to threaten to expell the a s r and remains the total incapacity of the pres­
from the Labor Party. The final showdown ent working class leaderships—in our coun­
between the a s r and the p o b leadership try Parti Ouvrier Beige and Communist
came in March-April 1936 over issues Party—to direct the proletariat." Further on,
raised by the May general election. As a can­ the statement said, "In the face of this situa­
didate for deputy on the p o b ticket Walter tion, it is the duty of every conscious worker
Dauge refused publicly to endorse the par­ to do all that is humanly possible to create
ty's campaign program. When in addition a new revolutionary leadership of the prole­
he wrote an article denouncing the way in tariat." To that end, the statement said, the
which the p o b Congress on March 29 was a s r and League were undertaking discus­

organized and conducted, the p o b leadership sions.64

took action against Dauge and the a s r .58 On July 1 1 - 1 2 , 1936, a further planning
The local federation of the p o b removed conference was held by representatives of
Walter Dauge from its list of candidates for the a s r and Vereeken groups. Among other
deputy. It followed this up by expelling him things this meeting called for efforts to bring
and all those who expressed opposition to together in a new party all of the far-Left
this treatment of Dauge. As a consequence groups in Belgium, including the Hennaut
the a s r named its own list of candidates in faction and the Anti-War League, and de­
the Borinage and Charleroi areas.55 These fined a policy for dealing with the situation
candidates, which included Walter Dauge at in the trade unions. After the expulsion of
the head of List 7 in the Borinage and Leon the a s r from the Labor Party a number of
Lesoil at the head of List 8 in Charleroi, were unions controlled by the a s r were thrown
endorsed by Vereeken's Ligue Communiste out of the Socialist-controlled trade union
Internationaliste (Trotskyiste). In areas central. The July meeting decided on a pol­
where there were no a s r nominees the Ligue icy of trying to bring together the expelled
announced that "it is necessary to vote for unions in a single group, for an effort to
those of the p o b . " 40 obtain readmissiori to the Socialist central
The a s r lists did not do as well as the labor group (in the name of trade union
Trotskyites hoped they would. They re­ unity), and opposition to trying to get any
ceived a total of slightly more than 7,000 other unions to withdraw from the Socialist
votes in the Borinage region, equivalent to federation to join the group established by
8.45 percent of the total votes cast in the the expelled unions.65
area.61 Dauge was not elected, although Subsequently the Flemish affiliates of

Belgium: Before World War II 101

 both groups were united and at a conference Lievin de Pauw), Louvain, Venders, Luik,
on September 25-2.7 the youth groups of the and Antwerp (where Leon de Lee and a Ger­
two were merged.66 Finally, on October 11, man known only as Max were the principal
1936, the Action Socialiste Revolutionnaire figures). There was also a group in Moes-
and Ligue Communiste Internationaliste kroen led by Maria Van Cauwenburghe.
(Trotskyiste) were joined to form the new Walter Dauge became the first "political
Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire ( p s r ). secretary" of the organization and was suc­
The founding conference of the p s r issued ceeded in 1937 by Georges Vereeken, who
a "Manifesto of the Parti Socialiste Revolu­ had at first been "administrative secretary."
tionnaire to the Proletariat, to All of the The political secretary post was apparently
Working Classes." It announced that "The equivalent to that of a secretary general.
two of the vanguard, the Groupes d'Action Other members of the party executive in­
Socialiste Revolutionnaire and Ligue Com­ cluded Camille Loots, Lucien Renery, Leon
muniste Internationaliste (Trotskyiste), Lesoil, Jules Vos, and Georges Fux.69
each excluded respectively from the ranks The new party also had a youth counter­
of the 'socialist' and 'communist' parties be­ part, the Jeunesse Socialistes Revolution-
cause of their loyalty to the revolutionary naires. It held its second national congress
cause, have fused to create the army which in November 1937, at which fifty delegates
the proletariat of the country lacks. From from federations in Charleroi, Brussels,
the constitution of the party, it adheres to Lifege, and the Borinage area were present. It
the Center for the Fourth International." was reported that delegates from the Flan­
The manifesto ended with a short state­ ders region were unable to attend because of
ment of the program of the new party. This financial reasons. The organization claimed
included "direct action through strikes" for to be in the lead in carrying out antimilita­
defending the workers' living standards, rist propaganda among the nation's youth.
"preparation for armed struggles against fas­ The convention, although expressing sym­
cism," preparation to convert international pathy with the Spanish p o u m then being
war into civil war, and "preparation for the persecuted by Stalinist secret police,
proletarian revolution, struggle for destruc­ branded the p o u m "a centrist party" and
tion of the capitalist state, expropriation of called on the true Spanish Trotskyists to
the possessing classes, instalation of a work­ establish "the real revolutionary Party, the
ers and peasants government and dictator­ vanguard conscious of its tasks. . . ."70
ship of the proletariat." As did their confreres in other countries,
The p s r launched a new periodical La the Belgian Trotskyists spent much time
Lutte Ouvriere. In its first issue it an­ and energy on the question of the Moscow
nounced that L'Action Socialiste Revolu­ Trials. On March 24, 1938, they organized
tionnaire and Spartacus had been merged an open air meeting in Antwerp on the issue,
into the new newspaper. La Lutte Ouvriere at which Georges Vereeken spoke in Flem­
carried a subheading "Organ of the Parti So­ ish and Walter Dauge in French.71
cialiste Revolutionnaire adhering to the
Center for the IV International."67
The formation of the new party repre­ Controversies Within the psr
sented a considerable numerical increase in
Belgian Trotskyism. In the Borinage region During the less than four years in which the
alone, the p s r had some 770 members at its Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire existed, it
inception.68 The p s r ' s second largest group was marked by almost continuous contro­
was in Charleroi, and there were other party versy and it experienced one significant
units of some importance in Ghent (led by split. The Paris headquarters of the Center

10Z Belgium: Before World War II

for the Fourth International was very much cipally within the Socialist-controlled labor
involved in most of these disputes. movement. But Socialist trade union lead­
One of the earliest conflicts to break out ers, particularly in the Borinage area, began
within the party concerned a special parlia­ to expell leading Trotskyists from their
mentary election in Brussels on April n , unions. As a consequence, the p s r was faced
1937. There were two candidates, Leon De- with a quandary. On the one hand, the
grelle, head of the country's fascist party, Trotskyites believed, at least in theory, in
the Rexists, and the prime minister, Paul the unity of the trade union movement. On
Van Zeeland, supported by the Christian So­ the other hand, it was increasingly difficult,
cial Party {to which he belonged) as well as especially in the Borinage area, for the Trots­
by the Liberals, the p o b , and the Commu­ kyists to continue to work within the So­
nists. cialist unions—which belonged to the Parti
For the Trotskyites the question was Ouvrier Beige, an organization like the Brit­
whether or not the Parti Socialiste Revolu- ish Labor party in which unions were di­
tiomiaire should offer its own candidate rectly affiliated with the party. One suspects
against both Degrelle and Van Zeeland. that the conflict was particularly bitter in
After bitter controversy at various levels the Borinage area because the Trotskyists
within the party, a national conference of there were predominantly people who had
the p s r on March 21 decided that the party recently left the Socialist ranks.
did not have enough strength in the Brussels At the March 21, 1937, national confer­
area to launch its own nominee, and so ence of the p s r two trade union resolutions
urged its followers to vote for Prime Minis­ were presented. One, submitted by the Bori­
ter Van Zeeland. However, the statement of nage federation of the party, called for for­
that conference stressed that although De­ mation of a new central labor organization
grelle was the workers' number one enemy there, and for it to recruit disillusioned
and had to be defeated, Van Zeeland was members of the Socialist and other union
their number two enemy and should not be movements (the Christian Socials, Liberals
regarded as a defender of democracy.72 and even Rexists each had their own trade
This action of the p s r provoked a strong union groups}. The other motion, supported
letter of condemnation from the Bureau for by delegates from all of the other party feder­
the Fourth International in Paris. Its open ations, called for the regrouping in an organi­
letter to the Belgian Trotskyists commented zation of those expelled from the Socialist
that "against the Rexists, the p s r proposed union ranks, but for the purpose of regaining
organization of workers militias and an of­ admittance to the p o b unions, not for estab­
fensive for the socialist program. How is it lishing a new federation of unions. The for­
possible to pass from this position to the one mer resolution was carried by ninety-four
of support for Van Zeeland?" It accused the votes (all those of the Borinage delegates
p s r of leaning toward a Popular Front policy, except one], against sixty-nine, with the del­
unanimously condemned by the Trotskyist egates from Mouscron abstaining. Clearly,
movement. It also professed to see a relation the Borinage delegates constituted a major­
between the position on the Brussels elec­ ity at that p s r national conference.74
tion and the p s r positions on trade union That vote did not end the issue. Walter
policy and relations with the Spanish Dauge, the principal figure among the Bori­
P O U M .” nage Trotskyists, was finally won over to
The party's trade union policy was an­ the point of view that the establishment of a
other subject of bitter controversy within separate Trotskyist-dominated trade union
the Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire. Until federation was a mistake. As a consequence,
early 1937 the Trotskyists had worked prin­ there was a further extensive discussion of

Belgium: Before World War II 103

 the issue in a plenary session of the Borinage the Civil War, had joined the regional gov­
federation of the p s r .75 Finally the issue was ernment of Catalonia, with Nin as minister
debated once again at the Second National of justice. Later, they had been persecuted
Congress of the party. There the position by the Stalinists, who brought about their
originally advocated by the Borinage federa­ expulsion from the Catalan government in
tion was narrowly reaffirmed by a vote of December, and after the spontaneous upris­
iS - 13 with one abstention/6 ing in Barcelona early in May 1937 in which
Another domestic matter which was the POUM -ists and anarchists participated
much debated within the p s r was whether had brought about the outlawing of the
or not to participate in the local as well as party.81
the parliamentary elections of 1938. The The debate in the Belgian p s r and in the
Second Congress decided in favor of doing Center for the Fourth International con­
so, but with the proviso that where the party cerned whether or not the Spanish Trotsky­
could not offer candidates it would urge its ists should work within the p o u m or try to
supporters to vote for those of the p o b . 77 form a "real" revolutionary party outside
The party actually won a majority in the its ranks. The p s r , after some hesitation,
municipal elections in Walter Dauge's followed Trotsky and the Paris Center in
home town, a small miners' village.78 condemning the p o u m and advocating the
The party did not split over any of these establishment of a new Trotskyist party in
domestic issues. Although Georges Veree­ Spain. Georges Vereeken strongly opposed
ken, the p s r secretary general and head of its that stand; many years later, in retrospect,
organization in Brussels, strongly supported he felt that the new Spanish Trotskyist
the idea of the party's having its own candi­ group organized during the Civil War had in
date in the Degrelle-Van Zeeland contest all likelihood been heavily infiltrated by the
and opposed supporting Van Zeeland,79 he g p u , and that Trotsky himself had been

and Leon Lesoil, principal figure in the greatly influenced in his attitude toward the
Charleroi area, joined forces in opposing the p o u m and toward Andrds Nin by Mark Zbor-

establishment of a separate Trotskyist-cOn- owski, who was unmasked twenty years

trolled trade union federation, and the party later as having been a g p u agent while work­
did not split over either issue.80 ing as Leon Sedov's closest associate in the
The question which finally brought about Center for the Fourth International 81 There
a new division in the ranks of the p s r was seems little basis for Vereeken's suspicions
that of its relations with the International, concerning the Spanish Trotskyists.
and the International's attitude toward Op­ The second international question which
position groups in at least two other coun­ determined Vereeken's ultimate break with
tries. On these questions Georges Vereeken the p s r centered on relations with the Neth­
and the majority of the p s r leadership were erlands' Revolutionary Socialist Workers
opposed. Party (r s a p ), headed by Hendrick Sneevliet.
One question at issue was the attitude That party had been one of the four signers
to be assumed toward the Spanish Partido of the original call for the establishment of
Obrero de Unification Marxista ( p o u m ). a Fourth International. Sneevliet had since
Most Spanish Trotskyists, having broken had various disagreements with Trotsky,
with Trotsky under the leadership of Andres and his party finally withdrew from the Cen­
Nin, had joined with another group to form ter for the Fourth International. In spite of
the p o u m late in 1935. The p o u m had for a this, Vereeken as secretary general of the
short while joined the Spanish Popular Front p s r continued to maintain relations with

but had withdrawn from it, and in Septem­ Sneevliet, and the Central Committee of the
ber 1936, two months after the outbreak of p s r at first opposed attempts by German

104 Belgium: Before World War II

Trotskyites living in Antwerp (and belong­ sum total is that our Congress affirmed, in
ing to the p s r ) to establish an anti-Sneevliet opposition to the sterile attempts of Ver­
faction within the r s a p . Nevertheless, the eeken, its firm decision to continue in the
majority of the p s r leadership finally con­ vanguard, with and under the banner of the
formed {over Vereeken's protests) to the de­ IV International."86
mand of the Center for the Fourth Interna­ Once outside the Parti Socialiste Revolu­
tional and of Trotsky himself that they tionnaire Vereeken began to publish his own
break off all relationship with Sneevliet and periodical, Contrele Courant. The group he
his party.83 gathered around him amounted to about
The final issue which brought about the thirty people.
split in the p s r w a s Georges Vereeken's op­
position to the immediate formal establish­
ment of the Fourth International, planned
for September 1938. Vereeken thought that
it was premature, since the Trotskyists did
not have sufficient strength to justify such
a dramatic gesture. The majority of the lead­
ership of the Parti Socialiste Revolution­
naire supported the move, and in the light
of suggestions by some of the Belgian Trots­
kyist leaders and most particularly by Leon
Trotsky himself that anyone who did not
support the proclamation of the Interna­
tional had no place in the movement, Veree­
ken decided to resign.84
Leon Trotsky had intervened personally
and directly in the controversy within the
p s r . On June 1 1, 1938, he wrote a letter to

Leon Lesoil: "I consider the situation of the

Belgian section as very delicate. I find that
the policy of Comrade Vereeken develops
more and more in an anti-Marxist direction.
There is no important question since 1933
in which we have not seen Vereeken sup­
porting a false position, sometimes sectar­
ian, sometimes opportunist. . . . It is neces­
sary to take him energetically by the arm,
help him amicably to understand that one
does not conduct politics with caprice, im­
provisation and small personal combina­
tions."85
Vereeken resigned three weeks before the
July 1938 Second National Congress of the
p s r . He quit both as secretary general and as

a member. At that meeting he was permit­

ted to present his point of view, but he was
unable to influence the delegates. As La
Lutte Ouvriere reported afterward, "the

, Belgium: Before World War II 105

I
j
i
 Belgian Trotskyism what activity it could. It called itself Groupe
Communiste Trotskiste pour la IVeme In­
During and After World ternationale. Immediately after the out­
War II break of the war Georges Vereeken, along
with Rodolphe Prager {of the Molinier group
in France) and a representative of a dissident
British Trotskyist group, signed a proclama­
tion "in the name of the Fourth Interna­
tional" denouncing the conflict. Of course,
none of the signatories in fact were at that
The split in Belgian Trotskyist ranks which point members in good standing of the
had begun in 1938 persisted throughout Fourth International.4
World War II. With the outbreak of war both Vereeken believed that it was necessary
groups began to suffer very considerable per­ to be as cautious as possible in conducting
secution at the hands of the authorities. underground activity, particularly after the
Once the Nazis conquered Belgium all Nazi conquest of the country. As a conse­
Trotskyists there had to work very much in quence, he rejected an invitation of the p c r
the underground. early in 1941 to try to organize public pro­
The Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire tests against the Communist party's anti-
largely disintegrated. Walter Dauge was ar­ British (and by implication pro-German)
rested soon after the war began, and Georges propaganda. Vereeken wrote later that "we
Vereeken believed that he talked too exten­ refused, because we had come to the conclu­
sively to the police. In any case, Dauge sion that the very relative freedom permit­
dropped out of political activity in 1940, and ted by the Nazis had for its objective to make
with his retirement, the Borinage federation it possible to arrest as many Communists
of the p s r largely disappeared.1 and others as possible the moment Hitler
In the winter of 1940-41 the p s r was re­ . .. launched the German armies against the
vived under the name Parti Communiste USSR."5
Revolutionnaire (Trotskyists). The princi­ The Vereeken group also had an under­
pal figure in reviving the party was Abraham ground paper, Le Pouvoii aux Travailleurs,
Wajnsztok, known more widely as Abraham which carried at its banner, "They will not
Leon. At the time in his early twenties, Leon triumph: Neither Hitler, nor Churchill, nor
became the Secretary of the p c r and subse­ Stalin. Under the Marxist flag of Lenin, Lux­
quently a member of the European Secretar­ emburg and Liebknecht, the victory of the
iat of the Fourth International.2 world proletariat is assured."6
The p c r published La Voie de Lenine, an From time to time the Groupe Communi­
underground periodical, throughout most of ste Trotskyste pour la IVeme Internationale
the war. Soon after the liberation of Brussels published "Ideas and Documents" in addi­
from the Germans a front-page editorial in tion to their paper. Number six in that series
the first open issue of the periodical said was one of the last documents of Trotsky,
that "during almost four years, La Voie de "Again and Once More on the Nature of the
Lenine has appeared clandestinely. Whether USSR," defending the thesis of the Soviet
printed, mimeographed, through a thousand Union still being a wsrkers' state. This
difficulties, in spite of all the dangers, it did mimeographed publication carried the same
not cease, alone of all the labor press, to slogan as the newspaper.7
make understood the voice of revolutionary The two groups maintained what interna­
internationalism, the voice of Leninism."3 tional contact they could. The p c r joined
The Vereeken faction also continued with the French Parti Ouvrier Internationa-

106 Belgium: World War II and After

 liste in establishing the European Secretar­ cumstances right after the war did not favor
iat of the Fourth International, which was the Trotskyists. Georges Vereeken has
ultimately reorganized by the f i . For its part noted that "The 'liberation/ the departure
the Vereeken group entered into contact late of the Gestapo and the return of white bread,
in 1941 with the Sneevliet party in the Neth­ coffee and chocolate provoked a wave of
erlands, and even before the outbreak of the chauvinist enthusiasm among the popular
war had established contacts with the Moli- masses. It is in these circumstances, and
nier group in France. because the comrades of our tendency felt
Like their French colleagues, the Belgian that reunification might permit us to sur­
Trotskyists did not play very much of a role mount the enormous difficulties provoked
in the more or less official Resistance. They by this wave of chauvinism, that unity was
tended to regard it as "bourgeois," or "petty achieved between our two factions." This
bourgeois/' an analysis which some of them occurred in 1946.10
recognized in retrospect to have been Unification of the two groups did not end
faulty.8 the decline of the postwar Belgian Trotsky­
The Belgian Trotskyists lost many leaders ist movement. The Parti Revolutionnaire
to the Nazi terror. A particularly large des Travailleurs, the unified group, contin­
roundup of Trotskyists took place on June ued to dwindle.11 Emile Van Ceulen, one
22, 1941, the day after the Nazi attack on of the principal postwar Trotskyist leaders,
the Soviet Union. Subsequently, many more estimated that by 1950 the group did not
were arrested and killed. Among the victims have more than twenty members.12
during the war were Leon Lesoil, Abraham In 1950 the remaining Trotskyists decided
Leon, Leon De Lee (a leading Antwerp Trots­ that their only chance to reconstruct their
kyist), and Lucien Renery of Lifege, the right- movement was through a new entrist at­
hand man of Georges Vereeken. Others were tempt in the Parti Socialiste Beige (p s b ), the
jailed and sent to concentration camps but Second International's post World War II af­
survived. These included Georges Vereeken, filiate. Led by their two most important
who was finally caught in February 1944, figures of the time, Ernest Mandel and Pierre
Camille Loots, sent to Mauthausen concen­ Le Grfeve, they proceeded to enter the p s b . 13
tration camp, and Ernest Mandel, then a At the time of this new entrist experiment
very young leader of the movement.9 the Trotskyists' intention was to maintain a
The Belgian Trotskyist movement was small "open" group outside of the p s b which
very sadly depleted by World War II. Its more hopefully would have its own clearly Trots­
or less mass organizations in the Borinage kyist publication. In practice they had so
and Charleroi areas were largely destroyed few people that this proved impossible.14 It
and its leadership was decimated by the was not until 1962 that they decided to try
Nazi repression. The movement was never to reestablish an open Trotskyist group, at
to recover the strength which it had between the same time attempting to recruit Georges
1928 and 1938. Vereeken {who had quit at the beginning of
the new entrist period) for this under­
taking. 15
Entrism Once Again
No difficulty was presented by the Social­
The postwar situation did not prove favor­ ists to the Trotskyists entry into the p s b . The
able for the Belgian Trotskyists. Not having party was more or less open to anyone who
participated to any great extent in the war­ wanted to join and be active. Before long the
time Resistance, they emerged from the war Trotskyists had considerably expanded their
much weaker than they had been in 1939. following and had acquired positions of lead­
Furthermore, the psycho-political cir­ ership in some parts of the p s b .

I Belgium: World War II and After 107

i
i
i
 This was particularly the case in the Jeune Socialism has sounded; far from being near
Garde Socialiste (fGs), the p s b ' s youth orga­ stagnation, it must carry out the fundamen­
nization. There; under the leadership of tal structural reforms which will permit it
Emile Van Ceulen, the Trotskyists had to open larger and larger breeches in the
largely won control of the organization by capitalist edifice and to hasten its crum­
1954. In that year Van Ceulen was elected bling."18
to the National Committee of the p s b , repre­ The Trotskyists strongly supported a
senting the j g s (although he was a "youth" move to the Left by the p s b in 1958 and
of thirty-eight at the time). He remained on 1959. The party congresses of those years
the p s b National Committee until i960.16 adopted a new program calling for extensive
Van Ceulen delivered the principal politi­ nationalization measures and other ele­
cal report at the j g s national congress of ments of an advanced program, and prom­
October 9-10, 1954. After surveying the ised that the party would never again enter
economic situation at the moment, and re­ the Belgian government except under cir­
viewing the Chinese and colonial revolu­ cumstances which would make it possible
tions, the report opposed German rearma­ to take energetic steps towards carrying out
ment. It argued that "the socialist this program. In 1961, however, it decided
movement must propose to the world of la­ to enter a coalition government once again,
bor its solutions. . . . The historic objective without any commitment by that govern­
of socialism is the destruction of capitalism ment to carry out the p s b program. As Ernest
(based on profit) and its replacement with Mandel said three and a half years later, the
an economy basejl on human needs." Trotskyists "supported and provided our
The only part of this report which was modest contribution to the popularization
clearly Trotskyist rather than left-wing So­ of anticapitalist structural reforms after as
cialist was the large segment dealing with well as before April 19 6 1."19
the USSR and Eastern Europe. It argued that The Trotskyists also became strong sup­
"the USSR was bom of a proletarian revolu­ porters of federalism. After World War II the
tion, " but that the backwardness and isola­ division of the country between the Flem­
tion of the country had allowed a "bureau­ ish-speaking north and the French-speaking
cratic caste" to seize control. The policies region of Wallonia in the south, with bilin­
of the USSR were a function of that caste's gual Brussels in the center, provoked grow­
efforts to remain in control. Van Ceulen ing controversy between the Flemings and
claimed that the development of the Soviet the Walloons. From about i960 on national
economy was "in contradiction with the politics were marked by the growing influ­
maintenance of a bureaucratic caste in ence of regionalist parties stressing the
power. In this sense, a new period opens in rights of the two groups. In the face of this
the USSR." problem the Trotskyists advocated ending
Van Ceulen called for "democratization the centralized form of government which
of the soviets and the unions, free election Belgium had traditionally had, and urged the
of managers of enterprises, and legalization establishment of a three-part federation of
of the WORKERS PARTIES." He called for Flanders, Brussels, and Wallonia.20
"the regeneration of socialism in the Although operating after 1951 within the
USSR."17 Parti Socialiste Beige, the Trotskyists main­
The Trotskyists' line within the p s b was tained their Political Bureau and Central
reflected in a speech by Ernest Mandel be­ Committee, and even held annual con­
fore the j g s of Liege. He was reported to have gresses. These activities were, of course,
argued that Socialism in Belgium had not quite "illegal" from the point of view of the
reached a "plateau." Rather, "the hour of p s b leadership, but they were conducted

108 Belgium: World War II and Alter

more or less in secret and only once was one leaders began to make some moves against
of their congresses "exposed" by an un­ the Trotskyists as early as i960. But it was
friendly journalist.21 The Trotskyists pub­ not until a demonstration against the p s b
lished a French-language weekly, La leadership during a parade on the occasion
Gauche, from early 1956, and a Flemish- of the Congress of the Socialist International
language periodical, Links (Left). held in Brussels to celebrate the centenary
The principal centers of influence of the of the founding congress of the First Interna­
Trotskyists within the p s b were i n the tional in September 1964 that the p s b leader­
French-speaking or Walloon area. Most of ship moved to get the Trotskyists out of the
the time they had no organizations in Flan­ party.25
ders. In 1961 Ernest Mandel, Wim. Bossier, I witnessed the parade as a delegate from
and Guy Desolre went to Antwerp where the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Feder­
they were able to recruit two local people, ation of the United States to the Socialist
and these five constituted the Antwerp orga­ International meeting. At the time I wrote
nization of the movement for some time. about the parade that "the only jarring note
Then in 1963 a cell within the Jeune Garde was a fanatic group of alleged Young Social­
Socialiste in Ghent developed.22 ists who broke into the parade at one point,
The high point of Trotskyist influence shouting insults at the assembled dignitar­
within the p s b and the unions associated ies {including me) on the reviewing stand,
with it was probably reached during the gen­ and carrying posters urging that the Yankees
eral strike of December 1960-January 1961. leave the Congo, there be a Socialist Spain,
Ernest Mandel has noted that 30,000 copies and that Fidel Castro have a long life."26
of some of the issues of La Gauche were In fact, the p s b leaders had already begun
published during this period, that "its call organizing their own Socialist Youth group
for elected strike committees had success in and had forbidden the j g s people to partici­
several regions," and that the Trotskyists pate in the parade. Obviously the incursion
had "trade union influence among teachers of the demonstrators was a defiance of that
throughout the country, Li&ge metal work­ prohibition.27
ers, Charleroi glass workers .. . textile The definitive showdown between the p s b
workers and Flemish railroad workers."23 leadership and the Trotskyist group came
at the p s b congress on December 12, 1964,
when the party leaders pushed through a
The End of Entrism
resolution to the effect that association with
Relations of the Trotskyists with the p s b either La Gauche or Links was incompatible
leadership became increasingly troubled. with membership in the Parti Socialiste Be­
Although it is clear that the Trotskyists did ige. Emest Mandel defended the position of
not publicly push a frankly Trotskyist pro­ the Trotskyists and their continued mem­
gram within the party, they nonetheless bership in the p s b , 28 but the measure was
functioned as an organized faction. Also, the passed nonetheless, one-third of the Con­
activities of Emest Mandel within the gress delegates voting against it.29
Fourth International could not be hidden in Once out of the p s b , the Trotskyists and
spite of his frequent use of the pseudonym their allies organized a meeting at Liege on
Emest Germain. Another Belgian, Guy De­ December 27,1964, to decide on their future
solre, became a member of the United Secre­ course. Presiding over the session was Fer­
tariat of the Fourth International when it nand Dassart, a Socialist deputy from Na­
was organized in 1963.14 The p s b leaders cer­ mur. Other important figures at the meeting
tainly were not unaware of any of this. were Emest Glinne, Socialist deputy from
According to Emile Van Ceulen, the p s b Charleroi; Francois Perm, professor at Lifege

Belgium: World War II and After 109

 University and "theoretician" of the Wal­ Union, and Mandel gave the principal re­
loon Popular Movement; Ernest Mandel, ed­ ports to the meeting.37
itor of La Gauche; and Jacques Yema, secre­ The Parti Wallon des Travailleurs ( p w t )
tary of the Lifege Trade Union Federation; as was founded at a congress in Charleroi held
well as the leaders of the j g s and the Social­ on February 21, 196s.38 Local units (federa­
ist Student Federation.30This conference de­ tions] of the new party were established in
cided to set up three separate groups: Links most of the French-speaking cities and
(maintaining the periodical of the same towns. By the middle of March 1965 the
name) in the Flemish area; the Union de la federation in Charleroi claimed to have 500
Gauche Socialiste in Brussels; and the Parti members 39
Wallon des Travailleurs in the Walloon The new Trotskyist groups were barely
area.31 This was done, apparently, largely on organized when they were faced with the
the insistence of Francois Piren.32 question of participating in parliamentary
All of those who participated in the Li£ge elections on May 23,1965. In Li£ge and Ver-
meeting did not agree with the decision to viers the p w t put up its own lists of candi­
form separate organizations outside of the dates. On the other hand, in Brussels and in
p s b . Many years later Ernest Glinne wrote the Walloon regions of Hainaut, Brabant,
that "although I participated in a meeting Namuroia, and Huy-Waremm the Trotsky­
in Lifege where the creation of a new party ists formed coalition slates with the Com­
was discussed, for my part I never envisaged munist Party.40 The Trotskyist candidates,
associating with this movement.. . . It was Pierre Le Greve in Brussels and Francois
not I, who had never been a Trotskyist but Perm in Liege, were elected to the Chamber
rather a Left Socialist militant, who quit of Deputies.41
the movement, but rather those who had By the latter part of 1965 the Trotskyists
infiltrated our left movement calling them­ had finally succeeded in establishing an or­
selves Socialists, but in reality being Trots­ ganization in the Flemish part of the coun­
kyites/' Glinne remained in the Socialist try, the Socialistische Beweging Vlaandere
Party, and by the 1980s was a Belgian Social­ ( s b v —Socialist Movement of Flanders).
ist member of the European Parliament.33 They had also established an umbrella
The Trotskyists also ran into immediate group, the Confederation Socialiste des Tra-
problems in the Flemish region. All but two vailleurs, bringing together the u g s of Brus­
of those involved in putting out Links capit­ sels, the p w t , and the s b v .42
ulated to the p s b resolution.34 Links contin­ In spite of what seemed a hopeful start the
ued to appear as the spokesman of the more independent Trotskyist movement declined
leftist elements in the Flemish branch of the drastically during the next few years. One
Socialist Party, but with no further associa­ severe blow was the defection of Francois
tion with Trotskyism.35 The two people Perin who, according to Ernest Mandel,
who remained loyal to the Trotskyists, Joey "quit the p s b as a left socialist; he collected
Kruithof and Guy Desolre, began to publish votes as a petty bourgeois nationalist. To­
another periodical, Socialistische Stem, morrow he will become a strikebreaker
which in 1969 was renamed Rood, a name when a strike threatens the 'union of all
it still had by the early 1980s.36 the Walloons.' "43 He ultimately became a
Meanwhile, the Union de la Gauche Soci­ conservative party leader.44
aliste of Brussels was founded at a congress The parliamentary elections of 1968 were
of 150 people, representing a dozen local a setback. The Trotskyists elected no mem­
units, on February 7, 1965. Van Ceulen was bers of parliament and got a total of only
one of the chairmen of the meeting: Pierre 9,000 votes throughout the country.4SThese
Le Gr£ve, regional president of the Teachers included 2,693 votes in Brussels, which

110 Belgium: World War II and After

compared with an estimated total of more ning that the g m i would soon become the
than 5,000 in 1965.46 leading Trotskyist group in the country and
would gain recognition from the United Sec­
retariat.49 However, by 1976 they had aban­
The Revolutionary Workers League
doned all pretense that they had any associa­
With the formation of the Revolutionary tion with the United Secretariat, and had
Workers League in May 1971, the Belgian changed the subtitle of La Briche to "Revue
Trotskyists finally abandoned the "left- Marxiste Revolutionnaire."50 By 1980 the
wing Socialists disguise" which they had g m i had decided to go out of business.51

maintained from the time they began their The r w l continued to participate in elec­
second entrist experience in 19 51. The move tions. In the April 17, 1977, poll the League
to establish this new organization began ran candidates in nineteen constituencies—
with a congress of the Jeune Garde Socialiste nine in Flanders, nine in the Walloon area,
in May 1970 which called for unification of and one in Brussels. They received a total of
the j g s , the Parti Wallon des Travailleurs, about 15,000 votes. The Flemish organ of
and the Union de la Gauche Socialiste. By the r w l , Rood, editorialized that “ these
that time the Trotskyists apparently had no were very conscious votes. In order to vote
group in the Flemish region. for us, a person had to know our organiza­
The r w l took the names Ligue R6volu- tion . . . had to understand our political
tionnaire des Travailleurs and Revolu- point of view and agree with it, had to
tionaire Arbeiders Liga in French and Flem­ choose us out of four workers parties and
ish. Its founding meeting was reportedly "a had to reject all the arguments about 'mak­
congress of activists (sympathizers were in­ ing our vote count.' " 52
vited only for the first day), a well-organized, After the establishment of the r w l there
smooth-running congress." It was addressed was apparently a shift of the center of Trots­
by Livio Maitan of the United Secretariat as kyist strength from the Walloon to the
well as by representatives of u s e c affiliates Flemish area. They lost strength in the Wal­
in France, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, loon cities of Charleroi and Lifege, but gained
Italy, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. The modestly in Flemish centers.53 A throw­
r w l decided to affiliate with the United Sec­ away advertising Rood put out in the sum­
retariat.47 mer of 1982 noted the existence of r w l
A few months after the establishment of groups in Antwerp, Ostend, St. Niklaas,
the r w l it suffered a split. The leader of the Louvain, Ghent, Hasselt in the Flemish
dissident group was Guy Desolre, a member area, as well as a Flemish-language group in
of the Secretariat of the United Secretariat Brussels.54 An issue of the French language
since its establishment in 1963. He had periodical La Gauche at about the same
growing differences with both the United time indicated that there was also a party
Secretariat and the Belgian Trotskyist lead­ organization in Bruges, as well as units in
ership, and in 1972 broke away with a hand­ the French-speaking cities of Charleroi, La
ful of his followers to form the International Louviere, Lifege, the Borinage area, and Ver-
Marxist Group (Groupe Marxiste Intema- viers.55
tionaliste— g m i ). They began to publish a The Belgian Trotskyists continued to
periodical, La Bieche, which for several maintain their opposition to participation
years carried the subtitle "Journal du by the p s b in coalition governments with
Groupe Marxiste Intemationaliste—Qua- the "bourgeois" parties, and their support of
trieme Internationale."48 federalism. With regard to the latter issue
Guy Desolre himself admitted later that La Gauche on April 2,1982 commented that
he and his supporters felt sure at the begin­ "the federation that the workers of Flanders

Belgium: World War II and After 111

and Wallonia want can only result from the which met in February 1984, decided to
resolute 'anticapitalist activity of the Wal­ change the name of the organization to So­
loon, Flemish and Brussels workers."56 cialist Labor Party ( p o s - s a p ). A report on this
The r w l remained very active in the orga­ meeting said that "the congress which de­
nized labor movement. Some of its members cided to form the p o s - s a p broke with a cer­
played important roles in the general strike tain tradition of having a political resolution
of public service employees between Sep­ based on a detailed analysis of the objective
tember 15-23, 1983, against the austerity situation, in which the tasks of building the
program of the Christian Social-Liberal gov­ party were relegated to a small section at
ernment then in power. During the walkout the end, with a few ritualistic formulas in
the r w l insisted on the establishment of the body of the text. This time the task of
local "intersectoral" strike committees in building the party was placed centrally in
the various cities, and were able to help the resolution."
bring those into existence in Antwerp, The specific immediate objective of the
Aalst, Malines, Brussels and Louvain. They party, according to the political resolution,
were particularly influential in the leader­ would be "to recruit and organize within
ship of the strike in the Antwerp region. and around the party several dozen vanguard
The Trotskyists urged unsuccessfully workers from the working class and modify
that the strike be extended from the state- the party's organizational system from top
owned public services to the private sectors to bottom to form these workers, often im ­
of the economy, and be converted into a portant trade union militants, into party
general walkout. However, they did insist cadres."
that for such a walkout to be effective it It was reported that the party had grown
would have to be organized by the principal by twenty percent since the last congress.
central labor organizations.57 Also, 82 percent of the members were said
The r w l was very critical of the failure to be "employees, and 22 percent. . . elected
of the two major trade union groups, the union representatives, some of whom have
Confederation Sindical Chr6tienne and the been elected to their regional executive
Socialists' Federation General des Tra­ committees."60
vailleurs de Belgique, and the Socialist Party
to turn the walkout into a political strike.
Dissident Trotskyist Groups
They called for "a government imposed by
the general strike, supported by the com­ In addition to the r w l , affiliated with the
mon trade union front. A government which United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
pledges itself to satisfy all of the demands of tional, several other Trotskyist organiza­
the workers." The September 1983 strike tions existed in Belgium dating from the
was finally settled by compromise.SR 1960s. They were associated with other fac­
The youth organization of the r w l contin­ tions of International Trotskyism.
ued to be the Jeune Garde Socialiste. At the A Lambertist group, Groupe Trotskyiste
time of what was called the "third national de Belgique pour la Reconstruction de la
congress" of that group in March 1983 it IVeme Internationale, was established in
was reported that its membership had risen August 1968. It began issuing a mimeo­
by 40 percent during the previous year and graphed periodical,' R&voltes. The paper's
the number of its branches had doubled. It name was subsequently changed to Tribune
was claimed that "a majority is now made Marxiste, and then in 1972 to La Voix de
up of high school and technical students, Lenine, which it still had a decade later. For
young workers, and unemployed youth."59 a short while they also issued a periodical
The seventh national congress of the r w l , for students, Informations Etudiants.

112 Belgium: World War II and After

 During the short period in which the Lam­ newspaper, LePouvoir aux Travailleurs, the
bertist international group and that headed same name the Vereeken faction had used
by Nahuel Moreno were united, there ex­ during the war. In fact, the periodical carried
isted in Belgium the Organization Socialiste the note on its banner, "First Appeared 23-
Intemationaliste, Section Beige de la IV In­ 3 -i 942 ."6S
ternationale. When the two international Vereeken joined the campaign of the Hea-
groups split once again, most of the Belgians lyites against Joseph Hansen and George
stayed with the Lambertist international Novack of the American s w p , accusing
and kept the name Organization Socialiste them of having been g p u agents. This atti­
Intemationaliste. The supporters of Moreno tude was the culmination of his conviction
established the Groupe du Ligue Intematio­ that his own problems with Leon Trotsky
naliste des Travailleurs. Guy Desolre esti­ had largely been caused by known g p u
mated in mid-1982 that the Lambertists had agents, particularly Mark Zborowski, who
between ten and twenty members.61 They turned Trotsky against him in the hope of
issued a fortnightly photo-offset paper, A c­ weakening the Fourth International.*6
tion Ouvriere.62 Vereeken's publication had a wider read­
The Posadas faction of the Fourth Interna­ ership among Socialists, Communists, and
tional also had a small group in Belgium for trade unionists than the small number of
many years. Upon the death of Posadas in his following might have indicated. It was
1981, the group published a book about him. first written by Vereeken, and then edited
It seems likely, however, that the Posadas by his principal assistant, who corrected
group, which was composed of people of both its French and Flemish editions. The
quite advanced age, went out of existence periodical appeared from 1966 until Veree­
soon after his death. ken's death in 1978, after which the group
There was also a small group associated dissolved.67
internationally with the Socialist Workers
Party of Great Britain. It engaged in "deep
entry" in the Socialist Party and published Conclusions on Belgian Trotskyism
a paper, Vonk (Spark), in Ostend.“ Belgian Trotskyism was a branch of the in­
Finally, Georges Vereeken once again ternational movement which at its incep­
formed his own organization when he broke tion took a major portion of the Communist
for the last time with the principal Trotsky­ Party into the Left Opposition. It was one of
ist group. In his last decade Vereeken was the few national Trotskyist groups to have
aligned with Michel Pablo's Tendance members of the national legislature on at
Marxiste Revolutionnaire, and his group least two occasions. During the 1930s it was
was called Tendance Marxist Revolu- a largely labor-based movement and for
tionaire—Section Beige. For a short while it some time had appreciable influence in the
established, together with the youth group trade unions.
of the Lambertists, the Jeunesses Revolu- Emest Mandel has summed up what he
tionnaires, a revolutionary Marxist center, has seen as the historical significance of the
to have theoretical discussions. The Veree­ Belgian Trotskyist movement:
ken people thought the two groups might
ultimately merge as a result of working to­ It played a key role in the Charleroi min­
gether. However, on orders from the Paris ers' strike of 1932; it played a bigger role
headquarters of the Lambertist interna­ (because on a national scale) in the general
tional group the Belgian youth affiliate strike of 1960-61. It played an even more
broke off relations with Vereeken's group.64 important role in the public employees
The Vereeken group published a monthly general strike of 1963. Of course, politi­

f1 Belgium: World War II and After 113

!
 cally [electorally] our influence is less. Trotskyism in
But even if you estimate our electoral po­
tential at 20,000 votes, this represents the Black Africa
equivalent of 500,000 votes in the USA
proportional to the population. And it can
fluctuate wildly, down and up, given the
class struggle circumstances. In the main
cities of the country, with the possible Trotskyism first appeared in Black Africa
exception of Lifege, we draw much larger immediately after World War II. It appar­
crowds to our public meetings than the ently was first established in Senegal and
c p , sometimes even than the social-dem- subsequently developed at least some orga­
ocratic party.68 nization in several other countries of the
area.

Senegal

Right after the Second World War the French

authorities took to Paris a substantial num­
ber of students to train to run the adminis­
tration of what were then still French Afri­
can colonies. Among these there were four
Senegalese: Abdoulaye Ly, Assome Seek,
Proctor M'Bow, and one other, who became
associated in France with the Parti Com­
muniste Internationaliste. When they re­
turned to Senegal they established the first
Trotskyist group there. They had to work
within the party which then largely monop­
olized political activity in Senegal, the Parti
de Rassemblement Africaine. They increas­
ingly abandoned their Trotskyist ideas and
loyalties and ultimately joined the party of
President Leopold Senghor, became minis­
ters in his government and were lost to
Trotskyism.
It was not until 1970 that a new Trotsky­
ist movement appeared in Senegal. Perhaps
as a reflection of that year's events in France,
groups had broken away in 1968 from Sene­
gal's Communist Party, the African Inde­
pendence Party, which dominated the Sene­
galese labor movement at that time. Some
of the dissidents were,Maoist, but others
were Trotskyist-inclined; and these estab­
lished the Avant Garde Ouvrier (a g o ) in
1970. However, within months the a g o had
broken into two groups in a controversy over
how to adapt Trotskyist ideas to local reali-

114 Black Africa

 ties. Those expelled from the a g o formed tained that because of the 19 17 Revolution
the Groupe Ouvrifere Revolutionnaire ( g o r ), the USSR and the Communists still re­
which was soon the country's only Trotsky­ mained progressive, and the Trotskyists still
ist organization. should continue to appeal to the model of
In 1976 the g o r split over interpretation the Soviet Union.
of the situation of Senegal's economy and The g o r became the Organisation Social­
society and how the Trotskyists should deal iste des Travailleurs ( o s t ) and was accepted
with that situation. One element argued as the Senegalese affiliate of the United Sec­
that although there existed in Senegal a retariat.1 It received legal recognition as a
modem sector dominated by French compa­ political party in 1982. Thereafter, it was a
nies with modem machinery and methods, frequent participant in protest move­
and a sector which was sometimes referred ments—some of which it organized, in oth­
to as "feudal," these were really part of the ers collaborating with other opposition par­
same socioeconomic system, since Senegal ties—against the austerity policies of the
had been integrated into the world capitalist government of President Abdou Diouf as
system. Although it was true, this group well as against Senegalese collaboration
argued, that there was a Senegalese capital­ with government forces in the civil war in
ist sector of small industrialists and mer­ neighboring Chad. In 1983 the o s t sup­
chants, it was subordinate to the big French ported Majhemout Diop, candidate of the
companies even in agriculture, where what African Independence Party (the principal
was produced and how much was grown was pro-Moscow Communist group) in presi­
largely determined by the big French compa­ dential elections. Its periodical was named
nies which bought agricultural products. Combat Ouvrier and was reported to appear
Therefore, this faction of the g o r felt, em­ "several times a year" and to have a circula­
phasis should be placed on the class struggle tion of three to four thousand copies an
of the workers against the capitalists, both issue.2
French and Senegalese. In an interview early in ^ 8 5 one of the
The other element of the g o r argued that leaders of the o s t , identified only as Belo,
both Senegalese workers and capitalists commented that "in 1979, most of the orga­
were exploited by the large foreign firms. nization's forces were in the student move­
Therefore, they maintained, there should be ment. But since then we have established a
an alliance of Senegalese workers with Sene­ presence in all the trade unions, in leader­
galese capitalists against the French imperi­ ship positions. We held the post of general
alist firms. secretary in the u t i s union federation. Last
The first of these factions broke away week, a member of our Political Bureau was
from the g o r in 1976 to form the Ligue elected deputy general secretary of the Uni­
Communiste des Travailleurs ( l c t ). Al­ versity Teachers Union. We have intermedi­
though there was an attempt in 1977 to re­ ate leadership positions among the airport
unite the two groups it foundered on another staff, in the Democratic Union of Techni­
issue, the attitude toward the Communists cians of Senegal (s d t s ). In addition we have
and the Soviet Union. The l c t argued that leadership responsibilities among the ranks;
the Communists were not progressive and some members are union delegates."
that the Soviet Union, dominated as it was The o t s spokesman also indicated certain
by a bureaucracy, should not be held up as modifications of the party's strategic ap­
a model; that, on the contrary, the Trotsky­ proach: "The discussion that we are con­
ists should oppose both capitalist imperial­ ducting on the role of the party involves a
ism and the Communists and the Soviet reexamination and a rejection of a certain
Union. The g o r , on the other hand, main­ scholastic understanding of Marxism or of a

1 Black Africa 115

Trotskyism centered primarily on the prole­ of the sugar industry (providing 75 percent
tariat. . . ." of the island's exports and 25 percent of its
The o t s leader went on to explain that employment) as well as of the banks and
"the fundamental class in Senegal is the pro­ insurance companies, all of which should be
letariat. But the dominant class, on the placed "under the control of the workers."
physical and social level, remains the petty The o m t also organized a kind of front
bourgeoisie, both rural and urban. It is im­ group from what had been the National
possible in these conditions to build a party Anti-Unemployment Front, the f n a s . Its
with popular social roots while skirting the task was described as being that of "a school
question of bourgeois participation... . The of socialism for all those who belong to it,"
party that we want to build, in certain social and "to permit its members to have an ap­
strata will be largely of a petty-bourgeois prenticeship in political struggle, and an ap­
peasant origin. But it will be proletarian in prenticeship in true workers democracy."5
its program and strategic aims."3
The Ligue Communiste des Travailleurs
Nigeria .
became the Senegal affiliate of the Commit­
tee of Organization for the Reconstruction There was apparently some effort to estab­
of the Fourth International ( c o r q i ), the lish a Trotskyist movement in Nigeria in
Lambertistes. It claimed in 1982 to be the the 1960s. The Resolution on Africa adopted
larger of the two Trotskyist groups. It had by the Second Congress After Reunification
one member of the leadership of the national of the United Secretariat in December 1965
labor confederation as well as leaders of the reported "the creation of the first Trotskyist
railroaders and food workers, and controlled nucleus integrated in the mass movement
the organization of high school students. and trying to influence it in a revolutionary
direction" in Nigeria.*
About the same time there were indica­
Mauritius
tions of some Trotskyist activity in Nigeria
In addition to its Senegalese party, the Lam- on the part of what was then the joint Heal-
bertist tendency claimed affiliates in Ivory yite-Lambertist International Committee of
Coast, Mauretania, Upper Volta, Benin, and the Fourth International. A report by the
Burundi.4 The principal French-language Socialist Labor League of Great Britain in
publication of the United Secretariat indi­ May 1967 on what had happened since the
cated early in 1984 the formation of a party Third Congress of the ic a year earlier noted
of its orientation in Mauritius, the island that "a Nigerian comrade visited Britain
republic in the Indian Ocean. This was the after the International Conference of 1966,
Organisation Militante des Travailleurs and travelled to Europe. He reported the
( o r t ) . It was established in January 1984 by work of the Nigerian group to a meeting
dissidents from the Mouvement Militant of the re. The British section undertook to
Mauricien (m m m ), theretofore the country's provide regular financial assistance to the
principal left-wing party. Led by Serge Raya- section at £50 a month."7 We have no fur­
poule, a former member of the Central Com­ ther information available on these Nige­
mittee of the m m m , its first congress de­ rian groups.
clared its intention to form "a true
revolutionary party" and said that "our
Miscellaneous Groups
struggle is then a struggle for socialism, that
is to say, to make the island of Mauritius a Finally, mention should be made of the Afri­
democratic Republic of the working peo­ can Union of Communist International
ple." The congress proposed nationalization Workers, a group associated with the Lutte

116 Black Africa

Ouvriere tendency in France. This organiza­ Trotskyism in Bolivia
tion was made up of African workers resi­
dent in France, and there is no evidence that
it had by the mid-1980s been able to estab­
lish any counterparts in the Black African
nations. In an undated "Manifesto of the
For a few years in the 1950s Bolivian Trots­
African Union of Communist International
kyism was the most powerful Latin Ameri­
Workers to the Workers, to the Poor Peas­
can section of the movement. Together with
ants, to the Unemployed, to all the Ex­
the Lanka Sama Samaja of Ceylon, it was
ploited and Oppressed of Africa," probably
one of the two national Trotskyist groups
issued in 1982, the group indicated its politi­
anywhere to become a major actor in its
cal line. It said that "revolutionary workers
country's national politics. It subsequently
say to all those who wish to fight against the
splintered into a variety of factions and
dictator, the landlords, imperialism, even if
ceded its position as the most powerful ele­
only for the moment or only partially, that
ment on the Bolivian far left to the Stalinists.
they are ready to fight side by side with
anyone, by any means necessary. But the
revolutionary workers will in no case give The Beginnings of
up the leadership of the fight. Only the Bolivian Trotskyism
workers have at the same time the interest
and the possibility of pushing the fight The founder of Bolivian Trotskyism was
against the old world of exploitation and Gustavo Navarro, better known as Tristan
oppression all the way to the end. . . ,"8 Marof. He was a one-time Bolivian diplomat
who had abandoned diplomacy to return to
Bolivia in 1926 to found a Partido Socialista,
which was generally aligned with, but not
formally affiliated to, the Communist Inter­
national. It fell victim to the Chaco War
between Bolivia and Paraguay between 1932
and 1936, and Marof and most of his associ­
ates went into exile.
In Argentina, Marof first organized the
Grupo Tupac Amaru, which had contacts
with the Argentine Socialists, Communists,
and Trotskyists. In December 1936 the
Grupo Tupac Amaru coalesced with two
other exile groups, the Izquierda Boliviana
in Chile and the Exilados en el Peru in that
country, at a congress in C6rdoba, Argen­
tina. That congress launched the Partido
Obrero Revolucionario (p o r —Revolution­
ary Labor Party), whose principal leaders in
the beginning were Marof, Jose Aguirre
Gainsborg, Alipio Valencia, Tomas Swar-

Unless otherwise noted material on Bolivian Trots­

kyism before 1969 is adapted from Robert J. Alexan­
der: Trotskyism in Latin America, Hoover Institu­
tion Press, Stanford, 1973.

Bolivia 117
 key, Lucio Mendi'vil, and Emesto Ayala The p s o b faction used its influence in the
Mercado. Busch regime to gain entrance into the labor
At its inception, the p o r w a s not com­ movement. With the government's ap­
pletely Trotskyist. The principal advocate proval, they organized in August 1939 the
of Trotskyism at its founding congress was first Miners Federation, with p s o b member
Jos6 Aguirre Gainsborg, who was mainly re­ Heman Sanchez Fernandez as its secretary
sponsible for the congress' decision to align general. However, this federation was de­
the new party with the International Left stroyed by the government which succeeded
Opposition. the suicide of President Busch, which oc­
Shortly after the end of the Chaco War, curred only a few weeks after the miners'
power was seized by Colonel David Toro, organization had been established.
who established what he called a "Socialist The p o r , meanwhile, had become the Bo­
Republic" and organized the Partido Sociali­ livian section of the Fourth International. It
sta del Estado as its only legal party. Some of is clear, however, that contact between the
the Trotskyites, notably Aguirre Gainsborg Bolivian Trotskyites and the International
and Arze Loureiro, returned home after was at best tenuous—since Pierre Naville,
Toro's coup and participated, along with in his report to the Founding Congress re­
Jose Antonio Arze and Ricardo Anaya (who ferred to the Bolivian affiliate as the Bolshe­
were later to become the country's major vik-Leninist Group, although “no organiza­
Stalinist leaders), in organizing the Bloque tion of that name existed at the time in
de Izquierda Boliviana. The Bloque entered Bolivia.1 Naville offered no estimate con­
the government party, and Arze Loureiro cerning the number of members in the Bo­
became an important secondary figure in livian section.2
the regime. However, Aguirre Gainsborg Only two months after the congress at
soon fell afoul of the Toro government and which Tristan Marof was ousted, the Third
again went into exile, this time in Chile. Congress of the p o r was held. It adopted a
When, early in 1938, Colonel German party program and statutes. The program
Busch overthrew Toro, virtually all of the endorsed the orthodox Trotskyist position
p o r exiles returned home. Tristan Marof that in a country like Bolivia the tasks of the
soon became an important figure in the democratic revolution could only be carried
Busch regime, a fact which led to a split in out by a dictatorship of the proletariat,
the ranks of the p o r . which at the same time would take the first
At the second congress of the p o r in Octo­ steps toward building socialism. It also en­
ber 1938 there was a struggle between ele­ dorsed the theory of permanent revolution
ments led by Jos6 Aguirre Gainsborg, who on an international scale, emphasizing that
sought to have the party become a more the revolution in Bolivia could and would
or less orthodox Trotskyist group of tightly only be part of the worldwide revolution. In
organized, well-indoctrinated revolutionar­ terms of organization, the statutes of the
ies; and Marof who, on the contrary, sought p o r provided for democratic centralism, the

to convert the p o r into a mass party, gener­ establishment of "cells" based on members'
ally socialist, but without any official asso­ places of work rather than residence, and
ciation with Trotskyism. When Marof was provision for the setting up of p o r "frac­
defeated in the congress he was expelled tions" in the trade unions.
from the p o r , and two years later he estab­ The p o r suffered a major setback only a
lished his own Partido Socialista Obrero de few weeks after the Third Congress when
Bolivia { p s o b ), which succeeded in electing Jos£ Aguirre Gainsborg was killed in an auto
four members of the Chamber of Deputies, accident. It was to be several years before a
including Marof, in 1940. new leadership emerged which was able to

118 Bolivia
make the p o r a significant force in the labor tors, as well as four Movimientistas and
movement and in general Bolivian politics. three members of the p o r to the Chamber
of Deputies. One of these p o r members was
Guillermo Lora.
The Rise and Decline of
Meanwhile, the Miners Federation had
Bolivian Trotskyism
held an extraordinary congress in the town
During the early 1940s the Partido Obrero of Pulacayo in November 1946. That con­
Revolucionario first began to gain some in­ gress adopted a thoroughly Trotskyist state­
fluence among the tin miners, the country's ment of principles for the Miners Federa­
principal proletarian group. This was due tion, which came to be known as the
largely to the leadership and work of Guil­ Pulacayo Thesis. It proclaimed the inexora­
lermo Lora, a young man who had been won ble nature of the class struggle and specifi­
to Trotskyism while still a university stu­ cally endorsed the concept of permanent
dent and who emerged in the years following revolution in which the dictatorship of the
the death of Jos6 Aguirre Gainsborg as the proletariat, supported by the peasants and
principal leader of the p o r . lower middle class, would simultaneously
With the coming to power, in a December carry out the bourgeois-democratic and so­
1943 coup, of the government of Major Gu- cialist revolutions.
alberto Villarroel, the p o r was presented The Trotskyist nature of the Pulacayo
with new opportunities. The Miners Federa­ Thesis in no way meant that the Miners
tion was revived with the encouragement Federation had come under the control of
of the new regime. The principal political the p o r . The m n r continued after the con­
groups represented in the leadership of the gress, as before it, to have a majority on the
revived Federation were the Movimiento Executive Committee of the organization,
Nacionalista Revolucionario (m n r ) and the with Juan Lechin continuing as its executive
p o r . The m n r had been a partner with a secretary. What occurred was that Juan
group of young military officers in the coup Lechin, never a man particularly interested
of December 1943 and it was represented in or versed in revolutionary theory, turned
the government during most of the Vil­ over the elaboration of this essentially phil­
larroel regime. osophical and political document to his p o r
The executive secretary of the Mining allies—an action which in later years he
Federation during most of this period was came to regret, because it gave rise to recur­
Juan Lechin Oquendo, a member of the m n r . ring but unfounded charges that he himself
(He was to remain the Miners' executive was a Trotskyist.
secretary for more than forty years.) Al­ In the m n r - p o r alliance which continued
though the p o r fought bitterly against the during the so-called "Sexenio," that is, the
m n r within the Miners Federation during nearly six years between the overthrow of
the Villarroel period, it usually exempted Villarroel and the Bolivian National Revolu­
Lechin from its attack on his party and a tion of April 1 9 s 2 , the p o r remained the
rather special relationship developed be­ junior partner. Aside from organizational
tween the p o r and the miners' chief. weaknesses of the Trotskyists, which they
With the overthrow of the Villarroel re­ themselves subsequently admitted, there
gime i n July 1946, relations b e t w e e n the p o r were three principal reasons for the m n r
and the m n r became closer. In elections in emerging from the Sexenio as the over­
January 1947 a Miners Bloc was formed whelmingly largest party of the country
which included elements of these two par­ (whereas the p o r , although to some degree
ties, and it succeeded in electing Juan Lechin also becoming a "mass party," remained
and a Trotskyist, Lucio Mendxvil, as sena­ much smaller and less influential). First, the

Bolivia 119
very severe persecution of the m n r by suc­ thirty-five years earlier had taken power
cessive governments between 1946 and from Kerensky and his Menshevik and So­
1952 created an aura of martyrdom around cial Revolutionary supporters. But Bolivia
it and a reputation among the masses of its in 1952 was not Russia of 19 17.
being their major advocate and supporter. During the six months of the p o r ' s great­
Second, the m n r , as a frankly multi-class est influence its apparent power was the re­
party seeking to represent not only urban sult of the position which it enjoyed in the
workers and miners but also the peasants organized labor movement. Right after the
and urban petty bourgeoisie—in a country revolution, virtually all organized workers
80 percent of whose population were peas­ were brought together in a new body, the
ants—had a much wider attraction than the Central Obrera Boliviana ( c o b ), of which
very "proletarian-oriented" p o r . Juan Lechin became executive secretary.
Finally, the almost total collapse of the During this eariy period of the c o b , its af­
pro-Stalinist Partido de Izquierda Revoluci­ fairs were handled in a peculiar way. At least
onaria ( p i r ) during this period played into one evening a week an "Ampliado" of the
the hands of the m n r , not the p o r . The p i r , Central Obrera met to debate issues and
which although not avowedly Stalinist con­ make proclamations on behalf of the organi­
tained within it all of those people who zation. Ostensibly, all affiliates of the orga­
were, had bitterly opposed the Villarroel nization, those of the provinces as well as La
government, supported its overthrow, and Paz, were represented. However, the system
participated in most of the governments be­ provided for organizations of the interior,
tween 1946 and 1952. As a consequence, who could not actually send someone to
the p i r lost virtually all of its working-class each meeting, to name as a more or less
constituency, particularly among the rail­ permanent delegate someone who was resi­
road workers and urban factory and artisan dent in La Paz.
workers. These people were well innocu- Through this system of "permanent dele­
lated ideologically against Trotskyism, and gates" the Trotskyists were able to obtain
when they abandoned the p i r their natural much more apparent influence than they
choice of a new party was the m n r . actually possessed with the rank and file.
With the triumph of t h e M N R -le d Bolivian They succeeded in getting a considerable
National Revolution in April 1952 the Par­ number of organizations to name Trotsky­
tido Obrero Revolucionario reached the ists as their permanent representatives in
high point of its membership and influence. the c o b . For their part, Juan Lechin and
Yet the power of the p o r between April and other leading m n r trade unionists were very
October 1952 was more apparent than real. much taken up with running the new gov­
That power virtually disappeared overnight ernment—Lechin himself was minister of
t h e first time t h e p o r seriously sought to Mines and Petroleum—and so were content,
challenge the position of the m n r gov­ so long as the p o r delegates to the c o b am-
ernment. pliados did not challenge the m n r or the
In retrospect, it is clear that the p o r lead­ government, to let this system persist.
ers saw the Bolivian situation of 1952 In October 1952 this house of cards fell in
through the prism of the Russian Revolu­ on the p o r . It used its control of an ampliado
tion of 19 17. They saw Victor Paz Estens- of the c o b to draw ups an Open Letter to
soro, the m n r chief whom the revolution President Victor Paz Estenssoro opposing
made president, as the Bolivian Kerensky; the section of the government's draft decree
and they saw themselves as the Bolsheviks nationalizing the Big Three tin mining com­
who soon would wrest power from Paz Es- panies which provided for ultimate compen­
tenssoro and the m n r as Lenin and Trotsky sation for the expropriated companies.

120 Bolivia
 The m n r reacted immediately. They was such that Guillermo Lora began pub­
called a new ampliado, seeing to it this time lishing a newspaper, Masas, in competition
that enough of the p o r "delegates" from the with Lucha Obrera, which had been the of­
interior had been displaced by loyal Movi- ficial organ of the p o r and was by then con­
mientistas to give the m n r an overwhelm­ trolled by the Gonzalez Moscoso group. Ul­
ing majority. That meeting reversed the de­ timately the two groups broke into two
cision of th6 previous one. distinct parties, both using the name Partido
From then on, the m n r , not the p o r , com­ Obrero Revolucionario. The Gonzalez Mos-
pletely controlled the Central Obrera Bolivi- c6so group was accepted by the Interna­
ana. A few months later this author attended tional Secretariat as its Bolivian section.
an ampliado which discussed the govern­ The Guillermo Lora p o r , although sympa­
ment's forthcoming agrarian reform decree, thizing with the International Committee
and the control of the meeting—with the {with which the Socialist Workers Party of
three labor ministers of the Paz Estenssoro the United States was associated) apparently
government (Juan Lechin, German Button, did not join that group.
and Nuflo Chavez) on the dais—was over­ Certainly one issue of dispute between
whelming. Furthermore, the disdain of the the two p o r factions was the attitude to be
three m n r ministers for the positions of both assumed toward the m n r . The Lora group
the p o r representatives and those of the generally took the position of trying to coop­
newly established Communist Party was erate with the left wing of the m n r , headed
clear for all to see. by Juan Lechin,- the Gonzalez Moscoso
This defeat of the p o r in the Central group wanted nothing at all to do with any
Obrera Boliviana led the Trotskyists to reas­ element in the m n r .
sess their position. It also led shortly to a Meanwhile, an even more important split
splintering of the Partido Obrero Revolucio­ had taken place in the p o r . A group of its
nario. The struggle within the Fourth Inter­ leading trade unionists, headed by Edwin
national between Michel Pablo and his an­ Moller, quit the Trotskyist ranks altogether
tagonists,- as well as the domestic situation in 1954 and joined the Movimiento Nacio-
in Bolivia, contributed to the split. nalista Revolucionario. There they worked
At the p o r ' s Tenth Conference in La Paz closely with Juan Lechin and the left wing
in June 1953 a political thesis was adopted of the m n r . When in 1963 Lechin broke with
which admitted that the immediate objec­ the m n r upon being denied its presidential
tive of the party was not the seizure of nomination, the ex-Trotskyist trade union­
power; rather, the party's task was to win ists became part of Lechin's new Partido
over the majority of the workers and peas­ Revolucionario de la Izquierda Nacio-
ants to its positions. nalista.
This position of the p o r soon drew the The weakness to which the Trotskyists
fire of the Latin American Bureau of the had been reduced was shown in the 1956
Fourth International, associated with the general election. Hugo Gonzalez Mosc6so,
Pabloite International Secretariat. It also led who apparently had the backing of both fac­
to the formation of two tendencies within tions of the p o r , received only 2,239 votes
the p o r . The Leninist Workers Faction, led for president. This compared with 786,729
by Guillermo Lora, supported the June 1953 received by the victorious m n r nominee,
position of the party. The Internationalist Heman Siles, and with 12,273 which the
Proletarian Faction, led by Hugo Gonzalez Stalinist candidate received.
Moscoso, attacked it, aligning itself with A further split took place in the Bolivian
the Latin American Bureau. Trotskyist ranks in the early 1960s. The
By November 1954 the factional situation Gonzalez Moscoso faction went along with

1 Bolivia 121
i
 the merger of international Trotskyist both tactics and strategy to deal with the
forces which produced the United Secretar­ confused state of the nation's affairs. Presi­
iat in 1963. However, a dissident element dent Rene Barrientos died in an airplane ac­
broke away under the leadership of Amadeo cident early in 1969, and was succeeded by
Vargas to establish the Partido Obrero Revo­ his vice president, Luis Adolfo Siles (half-
lucionario (Trotskista), which became asso­ brother of ex-President Heman Siles). A few
ciated with the version of the Fourth Inter­ months later, President Siles was over­
national headed by the Argentine, J. thrown by a military coup led by General
Posadas. It remained the smallest of the Alfredo Ovando, who assumed a strong na­
three groups claiming loyalty to Interna­ tionalist and "socialist" stance. Ovando, in
tional Trotskyism. turn, was ousted by another military coup
During the 1960s new sources of contro­ in October 1970, which brought to the presi­
versy arose between the Lora and Gonzalez dency General juan Jos6 Torres. During the
Mosc6so p o r s . Guillermo Lora's group Torres regime, which lasted about ten
strongly opposed resorting to guerrilla war­ months, there came into existence a "Popu­
fare in Bolivia and denounced the guerrilla lar Assembly" (Asamblea Popular) com­
operation of Che Guevara in the country in posed of labor and peasant organizations and
1966-67. In contrast, the Gonzalez Moscoso most of the radical left parties, at least some
p o r openly endorsed the Guevara effort, al­ of which regarded the Assembly as a kind of
though there is no indication that they had "soviet."
any part in it. Subsequently, they undertook The Torres regime was overthrown in Au­
guerrilla operations of their own during the gust 1971 by still another coup, headed by
brief General Alfredo Ovando administra­ Colonel Hugo Banzer and supported at its
tion (1969-70). inception by the Nationalist Revolutionary
By the end of the 1960s, all three of the Movement and its bitter enemy, the Falange
p o r s were more or less marginal in Bolivian Socialista Boliviana. Banzer's regime lasted
politics. Both the Lora and Gonzalez Mos­ until mid-197 8, although by then it was a
coso groups continued to have some linger­ conservative military dictatorship. Elec­
ing influence among the miners, but in no tions were held in July 1978 and Banzer's
sense were any of the three groups any candidate, Colonel Juan Pereda, was de­
longer a mass party. clared elected, but this was challenged by
the opposition. Pereda resolved the problem
by seizing power but was himself over­
Bolivian Politics in the 1970 s and
thrown three months later by "constitution­
Early 1980s
alist" officers headed by General David Pad­
At the end of the 1960s Bolivian Trotskyism illa, who presided over new elections in July
continued to be divided into three factions: 1979 -
the Posadista Partido Obrero Revoluciona­ Neither major candidate in those elec­
rio (Trotskista), the Partido Obrero Revoluc­ tions—former President Victor Paz Estens-
ionario ( p o r ) led by Guillermo Lora, and the soro and former President Heman Siles—
p o r headed by Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso and had the constitutionally required majority,
affiliated with the United Secretariat. Dur­ and Congress elected ex - m n r leader Walter
ing the following decade and a half several Guevara Arce as provisional president. He
new factions made their appearance. was overthrown three months later by a new
Bolivian politics was particularly turbu­ military coup led by General Alberto Na-
lent during this period, and the Trotskyist tusch Busch, which met very strong popular
parties as well as all other Bolivian political resistance. Finally, Congress elected ex-
groups were faced with many problems of Trotskyist Lidia Geiler to the presidency,

122 Bolivia
and she presided over still further elections regularly scheduled. Victor Paz Estenssoro
in June 1980. and Hugo Banzer were the two major candi­
The 1980 elections were still indecisive dates. Although Banzer obtained a narrow
although this time the supporters of Paz Es- plurality in the popular vote, Congress had
tenssoro were willing to vote for Heman to decide, since no candidate got a majority,
Siles when the election was thrown into and it elected Paz Estenssoro, who took of­
Congress. However, Congress never got a fice in August. He immediately adopted a
chance to decide, since power was seized very stringent economic program which
by General Luis Garcia Meza, who presided brought protests from the c o b and the left in
over what was popularly known as the "drug general, but the president refused to concede
smugglers' regime" because of the extensive on these issues as his predecessor had regu­
role of some of its leading figures in the larly done.
narcotics traffic. In August 1981 Garcia It was against this background that the
Meza was ousted by General Celso Torrelio, Trotskyist parties functioned from 1969 un­
who was replaced by General Guido Vildoso til the mid-1980s.
in July 1982. President Vildoso finally de­
cided in October 198a to summon the Con­
The Posadas Trotskyists in Bolivia
gress which had been elected in 1980 back
into session to choose a constitutional chief The small Partido Obrero Revolucionario
executive. It elected Heman Siles as presi­ (Trotskista) affiliated with the Posadas ver­
dent and his running mate Jaime Paz Za­ sion of the Fourth International gave what
mora as vice president. might be called "critical" support to the gov­
The restoration of a democratic constitu­ ernment of General Ovando in 19 69. Its peri­
tional regime did not stabilize Bolivian poli­ odical proclaimed:
tics. In the face of the catastrophic state of
The movement in Bolivia is a nationalist
the economy, President Siles submitted to
anti-imperialist movement, not yet struc­
the demand of the International Monetary
tured, without a conscious leadership,
Fund (i m f ) for an "austerity" program,
full of contradictions .. . but which be­
which quickly brought him into conflict
cause of the historic, political, revolution­
with the labor movement, the organized
ary conditions of Bolivia, in a short period,
peasantry, and the left parties (except the
very short, will take gigantic steps, and
pro-Moscow Stalinists, who were in his gov­
internal struggles will permit us, the IV
ernment). In April 1983 the Miners Federa­
International, to head great mobiliza­
tion seized control of the state mining firm,
tions, even with all the limitations which
c o m i b o l , and in mid-1984, under pressure
this nationalist movement has. . . .
from organized labor, Siles suspended pay­
But now the struggle is not yet for work­
ments on the foreign debt and suspended the
ers power. Now is the immediate step of
i m f austerity program.
trade union and political reorganization
In March 1985 the c o b again launched
of the masses . . . the immediate task is to
a general strike against the government's
organize the functioning of all the miners'
economic policies. It lasted for twenty days,
centers . .. and of organizing, writing and
and the workers, particularly the miners,
applying the class and revolutionary pro­
occupied the capital city, La Paz. The walk­
gram, and the worker-peasant alliance.
out was finally settled by a sizable wage
concession by President Siles. This same issue of the p o r (t ) ' s mimeo­
Two months after the March 1985 general graphed periodical carried a telegram which
strike there were elections, called by Presi­ had been sent by the organization to the
dent Siles a year ahead of when they were Soviet ambassador in La Paz. It read: "We

Bolivia 123
salute the Soviet masses. Hail the success Torres finally turned down that demand,
of Soyuz and Intercosmos One. Forms indis­ and c o b was not represented in his gov­
soluble answer of USSR and other workers ernment.7
states to preparation counter revolutionary According to Lora, it was his party which
atomic war Yankee imperialism."3 originally proposed to the Comando Politico
The p o r (t ) played no significant role in the establishment of the Popular Assembly,
the events of the Ovando and Torres regimes although the official document approved by
of 1969-71. Undoubtedly, the party, to­ the Comando Politico was jointly sponsored
gether with all of the other far left groups, by p o r and members of the pro-Russian
was driven far underground after the seizure Communist Party.8 p o r also successfully
of power by Colonel Banzer. The Posadista pushed the idea that the Asamblea Popular
Fourth International still reported as late as consist principally of class organizations—
December 1976 that Voz Obrera was being workers, peasants and middle class—with a
published by the Bolivian p o r (t }.4 However, large preponderance of worker delegates,
by 1980 Amadeo Vargas, who had earlier and that the number of official representa­
been the principal figure in the p o r ( t ), was tives of political parties be quite small. De­
reported as belonging to the faction of the fending this idea Guillermo Lora explained
p o r which was affiliated to the United Sec­ that "the intention was to prevent the petty-
retariat.5 bourgeois parties from artificially increasing
their influence, and it was thought that the
popular parties would be represented in the
The Guillermo Lora Faction
Assembly through their militants in the
of the p o r
unions and mass organizations."9
In contrast to the p o r (t ), the Bolivian Trots­ It was finally decided that there would be
kyist faction headed by Guillermo Lora 218 members of the Popular Assembly, of
played a major role during the regime of whom sixty percent would be trade union­
General Torres (1970-71). During the sev­ ists, twenty-five percent representatives of
eral days of confusion which preceded the middle class organizations, ten percent dele­
assumption of the presidency by General gates of peasant groups, and five percent rep­
Torres, the Central Obrera Boliviana (c o b ), resentatives of parties. The p o r of Lora was
the country's central labor organization, had one of the six parties which was allowed to
established a Political Command (Comando have official representatives in the Assem­
Politico} to direct the political activities of bly, in its case having two posts.10
organized labor.6The p o r of Lora had mem­ The document establishing the Popular
bers in the Comando Politico. Assembly proclaimed that "the Asamblea
According to Lora they were the element Popular (supreme authority for the workers
in the Political Command which steadfastly and their leaders) and the popular commit­
opposed General Torres's offer to have the tees, will act as a unifying force of the peo­
c o b represented in his cabinet. The p o r led ple. The cited organizations are character­
opposition to his original suggestion of one- ized by taking decisions about fundamental
third of the ministries, which the Comando aspects of the life of the masses, at the same
Politico turned down. It also fought against time putting into execution these decisions.
Torres's second offer of half of the ministries . . . The Asamblea Popular, conceived of as
for c o b , but p o r was only successful in get­ an organ of popular power must be reen­
ting c o b to insist, as the price of its partici­ forced in Revolutionary Committees in­
pation, that it (rather than General Torres) stalled in work centers and neighbor­
choose the 40 percent of the cabinet who hoods."11
were to be from organized labor. President The delegates to the Asamblea Popular

124 Bolivia
were supposed to carry out instructions of Obrero Revolucionario in the Asamblea
the groups which elected them. They could Popular subsequently became a matter of
also be removed at any time by their bitter dispute within International Trotsky­
electors.12 ism. The Lora p o r was particularly attacked
Guillermo Lora and his party regarded the by the Socialist Labor League of Great Brit­
Asamblea Popular as an embryonic soviet. ain, led by Gerry Healy, and this controversy
He wrote later that it "began by defining was one of the major reasons for the breakup
itself as a soviet-type ("sovietista"] organi­ of the International Committee of the
zation, that is to say, an organ of the power Fourth International in 19 71-7 2. This con­
of the proletariat and of the masses."13 He troversy is discussed in the chapter on the
claimed that "as the mobilization and radi- International Committee of the 1960s.
calization of the masses accentuates, the In the process of the polemic in the Inter­
force and authority of the soviet increases, national Committee the issue was raised as
and thus creates friction with the central to whether or not the Lora p o r was an affili­
government (dual power}. The exploited ate of that group. Thus the British s l l and its
come to their organization in hope of solving allies within the International Committee
their daily problems and to this degree turn claimed that when Lora "appeared in Europe
their backs on the official government. In in 1970, the Socialist Labor League made it
the hallways of the place in which the quite plain it would not favor his admission
Asamblea Popular met, one could see people into the ic unless a full discussion was held
who had come from all comers of the coun­ on his whole history and an understanding
try to present their needs, complain of the reached on this basis."16
excesses of the authorities, solicit construc­ However the French affiliate of the ic, the
tion of schools, etc. Organisation Communiste Intemationali-
Although the Asamblea Popular existed ste, in a statement of November 24, 1971
only from April to August 19 71, it engaged claimed that "as for the p o r in Bolivia, the
in several heated debates. In retrospect Guil­ issues are clear: an old Trotskyist organiza­
lermo Lora felt that two of these were of tion, section of the Fourth International be­
particular importance: that over the Popular fore the split of 19 5 1- 1 9 s 2, the p o r rejoined
Assembly's demand that the Miners Federa­ the ic in 1970 on the basis of its experience
tion be given majority control over the state and its fight against Pabloism in Bolivia it­
mining industry, and that over the establish­ self. It joined after a meeting of the ic which
ment of a single national university, also Comrade Lora personally attended. More­
under majority control of trade union repre­ over this was officially announced in La Ve-
sentatives. The first of these issues, Lora rite . . . and was not denied by anybody. . . .
felt, went to the heart of the issue of power The legitimate status of the p o r was not
in Bolivia, since workers' control of the challenged in the slightest by the s l l who
country's principal export industry would wrote in No. 545 of its daily paper . . . that
give them control over foreign exchange, 'the p o r is the Bolivian section of the Inter­
and, indirectly at least, over the whole econ­ national Committee.' " 17
omy. The second issue was important, he With the split in the International Com­
thought, because workers control of the uni­ mittee the p o r led by Guillermo Lora be­
versities would prevent them from being came part of the Organizing Committee for
used against a workers government, and par­ the Reconstruction of the Fourth Interna­
ticularly from coming under control of "foco tional ( c o r q i ). It remained in that group un­
theory" guerrilla advocates who were then til early in 1979, when it was reported that
very influential among the students.15 although Lora and the p o r supported
The role of Guillermo Lora's Partido c o r q i ' s expulsion at that time of the Argen-

1 Bolivia 125
I
 tine Politica Obreia group, they nonetheless for the establishment of a workers and peas­
were withdrawing from c o r q i . 18Thereafter, ants government in Bolivia." The same
the Lora p o r was not part of any of the fac­ source cited a report of the French Lam­
tions of International Trotskyism although bertist periodical Informations Ouvrieres to
still considering itself a Trotskyist group. the effect that "the renewal of the executive
After the overthrow of the Torres regime commission of the f s t m b was marked by
many of the principal leaders of the Lora another victory of the fraction of the p o r . In
p o r , as well as those of other Bolivian far left the preparation of the congress, the p o r had
groups, went into exile. In Santiago, Chile presented the need to get rid of the old bu­
there was formed the Frente Revolucionario reaucracy and proceed to the election of new
Anti-imperialista ( f r a — Anti-imperialist leaders. In the congress, the old leadership
Revolutionary Front}, "as a projection of the was accused of betrayal and complicity with
anti-imperialist and revolutionary line of the government of Banzer by the majority
the Asamblea Popular" according to Guil­ of the delegates." It added that "the worst
lermo Lora.19Those groups which originally bureaucrats left the executive commission
founded it included the Revolutionary and various activists of the p o r (Lora) won
Armed Forces (a group of army officers posts in the new one."23
around General Torres), the pro-Moscow There is no information available con­
Communist Party, Juan Lechin's Partido Re­ cerning the attitude of the Lora p o r during
volucionario de Izquierda Nacionalista, the the elections of 1978, 1979 and 1980. How­
Lora p o r , the Gonzalez Mosc6so p o r , the ever, in the face of the crisis facing the re­
Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, gime of Heman Siles after it took power
the pro-Chinese Communist Party of Bo­ in October 198a the Lora p o r called for a
livia (Marxist-Leninist), and the guerrilla "proletarian revolution and dictatorship"
group Ejercito de Liberation National.10 and for the "Bolivianization of the armed
The Lora p o r ' s participation in the f r a forces" and "an army at the service of the
provoked a controversy within c o r q i . The working class."14 The Lora p o r had some
French o c i was particularly critical of p o r ' s representation at the Sixth Congress of c o b
participation in that coalition.11 However at in September 1984 and was part of the coali­
that point this controversy did not result tion behind Juan Lechin which defeated the
in the p o r ' s breaking with the Lambertist Stalinists at that meeting.15
international group. At the time of the twenty day general
The Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary Front strike of c o b in March 1985 the Lora p o r
soon disintegrated. Guillermo Lora reported was reported to have raised the demand for
that it was defended "only by the Trotsky­ a "sliding wage scale."16
ists" by early 1973. At that point, it was The Lora p o r held its Twenty-eighth Con­
dissolved.11 gress a few weeks after the March 198s gen­
The Lora p o r continued to be active in eral strike. There Guillermo Lora declared
the underground, particularly in the labor that "the working class, and therefore the
movement. When a clandestine congress of p o r , was not defeated in the last general

the Miners Federation (f s t m b ) was held in strike. . . . This is our hour." The political
May 1976 there was a struggle between thesis adopted by the p o r Congress declared
them and both the pro-Moscow and pro-Chi­ that "the revolutionary ^situation is deep­
nese Communists. Intercontinental Press ening."
reported that the Lora p o r "carried on a vic­ The Lora p o r ran candidates in all constit­
torious struggle to reaffirm the Pulacayo uencies in the June 1985 general election.
Thesis, a programmatic document of the However, they received only 0.79 percent of
miners federation and the c o b which calls the total vote.27

126 Bolivia
 The POR-Combate Hansen commented that "needless to say,
such a formation never came into exis­
The faction of the p o r which was affiliated tence."30
with the United Secretariat headed by Hugo Nor did the p o r of Gonzalez Mosc6so par­
Gonzalez Mosc6so was often referred to by ticipate in the beginning in the Popular As­
the name of its periodical as the P O R - C o m - sembly. Joseph Hansen cites the report of
bate. Its policies during the 1970s and early two British Trotskyists who visited Bolivia
1980s were markedly different from those at the time to the effect that "at first they
of the Lora p o r . tended to have an attitude of watching the
During the Ovando government {1969- Assembly to see how it turned out, rather
70), the POR-Combate was primarily in­ than actually participating in it."31
volved in "preparing technically for rural The POR-Combate was not one of the par­
guerrilla warfare." Hugo Gonzalez Mosc6so ties which was given representation as a
wrote that "under the Ovando government party in the Popular Assembly.32 It probably
the party operated in completely clandes­ had at least a handful of party members who
tine conditions and was totally absorbed in were elected by unions or other organiza­
armed work. .. ."2S Joseph Hansen com­ tions.
mented that as a result of POR-Combate's Even when the poR-Combate decided to
concentration on guerrilla activities "our become active in the Popular Assembly it
comrades were not present in the united by no means heartily endorsed the organiza­
front that led the mass mobilizations and tion. Gonzalez Mosc6so reported to the Pari­
that created the Political Command" of sian Trotskyist paper Rouge that "the left
COB. wing, to which the p o r belongs, has devel­
Right after the installation of the govern­ oped the idea that the People's Assembly
ment of General Torres the POR-Combate should be a body that would discuss national
issued a call to the masses for three things: problems and solutions for them but would
"Organizing a Revolutionary Command, in­ leave the power in the hands of the mass
cluding all political tendencies that favor a organizations (unions and popular militia or
socialist solution to the country's present people's army). . . . "
situation and support the armed struggle for Joseph Hansen noted later that "the list is
power. . . . Creating a Revolutionary Work­ an odd one; neither a popular militia nor a
ers' and People's Army. .. . Developing a people's army existed. They had yet to be
body representative of the masses, through created. So, for the moment, that left only
which they can express all their revolution­ the unions, that is, the c o b . But the c o b
ary power, initiative, worries, and determi­ provided the mass base of the Popular As­
nation to transform society."19 sembly. And it was precisely the Popular
The Gonzalez Moscoso p o r at first made Assembly that constituted a united-front
little effort to participate in the potentially formation through which the workers could
revolutionary organizations which were be­ draw the peasantry and the urban masses
ing mounted by other far left political groups together in a struggle for a concrete form of
and c o b . Thus they argued that "The Politi­ a workers' and peasants' government."33
cal Command of the c o b demonstrated its Finally, the poR-Combate admitted the
lack of understanding of the process.. . . Be­ "soviet" potential of the Popular Assembly.
cause of this, it is now necessary to form, But even in doing so it continued to push
either from within it or from outside of it, a for the organization of a guerrilla army. In
Revolutionary Political Command, which the May 1- 15 , 1971 issue of Combate an
in light of the previous experience can lead article said that "the Asamblea Popular can
the masses to power and socialism." Joseph have no role except as an organ of dual

Bolivia 127
power. That is, it must not simply debate Oruro. But he added that "despite the at­
and watch over government functions; it tacks it has suffered, the party is still func­
must—as the expression of the power of the tioning. .. . There is a military and political
great masses of our people—decide the basic leadership united in the Executive Commit­
questions facing the country and the work­ tee, which directs all activity on a national
ers. The Asamblea Popular must become a scale. We lost some stocks of arms, but dur­
workers' and peasants' government, and we ing the struggle we captured some modem
must fight both inside and outside of it to weapons."37
achieve this. In this process a political-mili­ The Bolivian u s e c affiliate collaborated in
tary instrument will grow up alongside the establishment of the Frente Anti-imperial-
assembly which can serve as the power it ista Revolucionario organized by various ex­
still lacks to enforce its decisions."3-4 ile groups in Santiago after the overthrow of
Of course in its attitude towards the the Torres regime. At the time the f r a was
events of 19 70-71, the poR-Combate was established the poR-Combate issued a state­
following the line advocated by the predom­ ment which said: "For quite some time the
inantly European faction which was then organizations of the Bolivian left have felt
the majority in the United Secretariat. The the necessity of uniting in a front in order
year before this faction had persuaded u s e c to put an end to sectarianism and to bring all
to adopt a general policy of fomenting guer­ of the revolutionary forces together behind a
rilla war in Latin America. The Bolivian common program." Then, after noting the
events became a major element in the po­ different points of view of various compo­
lemic then in progress between the u s e c nents of the f r a , the poR-Combate state­
majority and the Socialist Workers Party of ment said that "it is necessary to make clear
the United States and other groups within once and for all that revolutionary action
the United Secretariat which were aligned has to be both political and military at the
with it. same time. . .. Political action without a
During the Torres period, the POR-Com- military instrument has no perspective for
bate had several internal party meetings of taking power."38
some significance. One was a plenum of its The affiliation of the poR-Combate with
Central Committee held over Easter week­ the f r a brought a negative reaction from the
end 19 71. This meeting made several deci­ United Secretariat. It issued a statement in
sions including one "to intensify political which it said that "the United Secretariat
work aimed at the masses in order to win cannot agree with the p o r ' s signing such a
them away from reformist influence and text, which is directly contradictory to the
promote the emergence of truly revolution­ long-standing program of the p o r . . . . The
ary leaderships," and another "to intensify United Secretariat will discuss this and
at the same time the party's military work other questions with the p o r leadership in
and strengthen its military apparatus for the a comprehensive way in the coming period.
future actions that will be intimately linked
with the revolutionary masses."35 They also During most of the Banzer dictatorship
held two cadre training sessions in March the poR-Combate, like all the rest of the far
and April attended by sixty students drawn Left, had to carry on its work more or less
from the party's regional committees.3* clandestinely. Early in 1973 four p o r leaders
The poR-Combate suffered severely at the were jailed and tortured, and the police dy­
time of the overthrow of the Torres govern­ namited the door of Hugo Gonzalez
ment. Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso reported Mosc6so's house—although he was not
that twenty party members were killed in there at the time.40
Santa Cruz and three were taken prisoner in With the victory of a hunger strike,

128 Bolivia
mainly by women and with the backing of itself among the masses, and winning new
the Catholic Church, in January 1978 re­ members in order to compete more effec­
sulting in an amnesty for the political oppo­ tively with its allies in the front."42
sition and the calling of new elections for In October 1980, shortly before the coup
later in the year, the p o r issued a statement by Colonel Natusch Busch, the P O R - C o m -
on the event. It started out, "the Partido bate held a national congress. It was report­
Obrero Revolucionario (Combate) hails the edly attended by about iso "delegates and
victory of the hunger strike." The statement guests," and the attendance "confirmed that
called for participation in the forthcoming a great majority of the p o r is made up of
elections, and urged the c o b to take the ini­ workers and peasants, and that the p o r has
tiative to "decide on a united intervention also been successful in implanting itself in
with lists of workers and peoples candi­ the student movement to a greater extent
dates." than in the past. Among those present at the
Finally, this statement indicated a shift congress were trade union cadres from the
away from the guerrilla war line which p o r - main unions, miners, peasants from the La
Combate had supported in the past. It said Paz region. . . and a comrade who is a mem­
that "because of continual insinuations and ber of the national leadership of the c o b . " 43
attacks by the repressive bodies about past During the 1980 election the P O R :C o m -
forms of struggle, which are used to justify bate at first formed part of a front backing
new arrests, the p o r believes it is necessary the presidential candidacy of miners and
to make the following very clear: . .. the c o b leader Juan Lechin. When Lechin with­

p o r reaffirms that today it is not in any way drew from the contest the p o r denounced
calling for any form of armed struggle, and his action. It also announced that it had
that above all it does not participate in acts urged three measures upon c o b to thwart
of terrorism."41 This statement was in con­ a further military coup which was feared
formity with the shift of the u s e c majority would follow or precede the election: "m ili­
away from insistence on guerrilla war as the tary organization of the workers and peas­
correct strategy for its Latin American affil­ ants; establishment of a program of struggle
iates. including broad nationalizations and work­
In the 1978 elections the POR-Combate ers control of the economy; and creation of
participated in one of the coalitions orga­ a political alternative organized around the
nized for the campaign, the Frente Revoluci­ c o b and the left parties."44

onario de Izquierda ( f r i ). This included also At the time of the coup by General Luis
the pro-Chinese Communist Party, theVan- Garcia Meza in August 1980 the P O R - C o m -
guardia Comunista del p o r , and the Partido bate issued a statement which called for "a
Revolucionario de los Trabajadores, the united front of the left and workers organiza­
party organized by those who had partici­ tions. . . ." The statement said, "We are
pated a decade before in Ernesto "Che" against the launching of isolated armed ac­
Guevara's guerrilla campaign. However, the tions against the dictatorship in this period.
p o r was subsequently very critical of negoti­ We think that the priority task of the work­
ations by the f r i with the Paz Estenssoro ers and their parties at the moment is the
faction of the Movimiento Nacionalista Re­ organization of the mass resistance. . . ."4S
volucionario, the Authentic Revolutionary In July 1983 the poR-Combate merged
Party of Walter Guevara Arce, and the Chris­ with another Trotskyist faction, the Van-
tian Democratic Party. The p o r argued that guardia Comunista del p o r , to form a new
its own role was to "generate . . . a new dy­ group, the POR-Unificado (Unified p o r ).
namic in the f r i while at the same time There were present 150 delegates at the
building up its own organization, rooting unity congress, including "miners, workers,

Bolivia 129
peasants, teachers, and students" f r o m nine The Morenoist tendency of International
different parts o f the country. The p o r - Trotskyism also developed a Bolivian affili­
Unificado was to publish a new periodical, ate. Unlike virtually all of the other Bolivian
Bandeza Socialista.4S Trotskyist factions this group did not derive
The p o r - u joined forces with several other from the original Partido Obrero Revolucio­
left and far-left groups, including Juan nario. Rather, it originated within the Par­
Lechin's Revolutionary Party of the Nation­ tido Socialista headed by Marcelo Quiroga,
alist Left ( p r i n ), to form the United Revolu­ who had been a minister in the Ovando gov­
tionary Leadership (d r u ) in March 1984. A ernment of 1969-70. During his subsequent
few months later d r u "dealt a stinging de­ exile in Argentina Quiroga had contact with
feat to the p c b (the pro-Moscow Communist Trotskyists there and developed some sym­
Party} at the c o b convention." However, the pathy for Trotskyism. He permitted several
Gonzalez Moscoso p o r people themselves other young people of avowed Trotskyist
admitted early in 198s that " t h e D R u h a s n o t inclinations to work within his party upon
yet been able to play the role of a national their return to Bolivia with the end of the
political alternative."47 Banzer dictatorship.52
There was first established, as a result, the
OrganizaciGn Socialista de los Trabajadores
Other Bolivian Trotskyist Groups
( o s t ), which was officially legalized as a po­
During the 1970s there was further splinter­ litical party in 1980.53 In 1982 this party was
ing of the Trotskyist ranks in Bolivia. There reported as publishing a newspaper called El
emerged, among other groups, the so-called Chasque.Si
Workers Vanguard (Vanguardia Obrera) and In January 1983, soon after the inaugura­
the Communist Vanguard of the p o r (Van­ tion of President Heman Siles, the o s t pub­
guardia Comunista del p o r ). These two lished a series of "theses" on the then cur­
groups were described by a u s e c source in rent situation in Bolivia. It called for
1980 as being "two organizations which workers control of industries, for a "worker-
claim adherence to Trotskyism and sent ob­ peasant alliance" and "a government of
servers to the recently concluded World worker and peasant organizations which
Congress" of the United Secretariat.48 will guarantee democracy for the Bolivian
As the Banzer dictatorship began to fall people. It must be democratically controlled
apart in early 1978 the Central Committee by the people and must also implement this
of the Communist Vanguard of the p o r put program." Insofar as Siles' new government
an advertisement in La Paz papers which was concerned, the theses said that "as long
called "on all Bolivians to form a revolution­ as the possibility of a coup does not appear
ary front capable of consistently carrying on on the horizon, Siles will continue to be
the anti-imperialist struggle, thereby the worst enemy of the Bolivian workers,
allowing the working class to carry out its peasants and exploited urban masses. When
leadership role in the Bolivian revolution."49 the danger of a coup becomes a reality,
During the elections of 1978 the v c p o r Trotskyists should call for broad unity in
was a member of the Frente Revolucionario action, above all with Siles."55
de Izquierda, to which the poR-Combate, In September 1984 the Morenoist Trots­
the Maoist Communists and the ex-guerril­ kyist group, then known as the Partido So­
las of the Partido Revolucionario de los Tra­ cialista de los Trabajadores, had several dele­
bajadores also belonged.50 In the 1980 elec­ gates at the Sixth Congress of c o b . These
tion both the Vanguardia Obrero and the included representatives from the Teachers
v c p o r were among the fifty-two parties Union of Oruro and the Factory Workers
which were legally registered.51 Federation of La Paz.56

130 Bolivia
 The p s t held a congress with 380 delegates Trotskyism in Brazil
present early in 1985. At the time of the c o b
twenty-day general strike in March 198s,
the p s t was reportedly the only group in the
country which raised the slogan "A ll power
to the c o b . " It was subsequently subjected
to some harassment by the police and secu­ Trotskyism was early established in Brazil.
rity forces.57 Following the 1930 Revolution which first
Marcelo Quiroga was murdered at the brought Getulio Vargas to power it had ap­
time of the seizure of power by General preciable influence in organized labor, par­
Garcia Meza in August 1980. Thereafter his ticularly in Sao Paulo. Although oppressive
party split into three competing organiza­ regimes twice almost drove Brazilian Trots­
tions. One of these, the Partido Socialista kyism out of existence—the fascist-like
(Bases), was Trotskyist in orientation and "New State" (Estado Novo) of Vargas be­
was also aligned with the Morenoist Inter­ tween 1937 and 194s, and the military dicta­
national Workers League (Fourth Interna­ torship of the 1960s and 1970s—it recovered
tional!. It was announced in mid-1984 that both times. In its latest resurgence, since
"the main objective of this new group is to the late 1970s, it has perhaps had more in­
build a revolutionary Marxist organization fluence than ever before, and several of the
that will fight to give leadership to the Boliv­ international Trotskyist tendencies have
been represented in its ranks.
ian revolution in order to make the masses
conscious of this process so that they can
go on to establish the dictatorship of the Early Trotskyism in Brazil
proletariat." It proclaimed that "the c o b is
currently the only institution that repre­ The first Brazilian Trotskyist leader was
sents the interests and the aspirations of the Mario Pedrosa. An important figure in the
Bolivian working class. Revolutionaries Young Communists, he went to Berlin to
who are fighting for the c o b to seize power study economics in 1929. It was there that
are those who want to finish the Workers he first became acquainted with the details
Revolution that began in 1952 and which is of the Stalin-Trotsky struggle in the Soviet
still not completed." The p s (b ) was seeking Union and decided to align himself with
to form a Trotskyist United Front with the Trotsky. So instead of going on to Moscow
p o r of Guillermo Lora.58
to study at the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute
as originally planned, Pedrosa went to Paris
where he became associated with the local
Trotskyist group there. He also wrote a
number of his Young Communist friends in
Brazil, winning over several of them, includ­
ing Livio Xavier, Aristides Lobo, and Hilcar
Leite, to the Trotskyist side.
Another early Trotskyist recruit was Ro­
dolfo Coutinho, a member of the Brazilian
delegation to the Sixth Comintern Congress
in 1928, who returned from that meeting

Unless otherwise noted, material on Brazilian Trots­

kyism before 1969 is adapted from RobertJ. Alexan­
der: Trotskyism in Latin America, Hoover Institu­
tion Press, Stanford, 1973.

Brazil 131
sympathetic to Trotsky. He and Pedrosa's only the newspaper A Luta de Classe, which
friends finally established the first Trotsky­ had been appearing since April 1930 as the
ist organization in Brazil, the Grupo Com­ group's national organ, but also O Comun-
unista Lenin ( g c l ), which on January 21, ista, put out by the Rio de Janeiro regional
1931 changed its name to Liga Comunista organization, and O Proletario, of the Sao
do Brasil and officially affiliated with the Paulo branch. In addition they published a
International Left Opposition.1 bulletin of international information, Pela
One of the first efforts of the g c l was to Quarta International.
try to win over to the Trotskyist ranks Luiz In this period the Sao Paulo Trotskyists
Carlos Prestes, the exiled leader of the "Te- succeeded in organizing an Anti-Fascist
nentes," the group of young military officers United Front to confront the rapidly grow­
who had carried on a two-and-a-half year ing fascist party, Acao Integralista. This
guerrilla war in the interior of Brazil, at­ struggle culminated in a bloody encounter
tempting to arouse the peasants to rebellion, in the main square of Sao Paulo on October
in the late 1920s. Although Aristides Lobo 7, 1934. That incident also provoked a split
spent some months with Prestes in Buenos in the l c i with the expulsion, among others,
Aires during 1929-30, Prestes ended up join­ of Aristides Lobo, Victor de Azevedo Pin-
ing the Stalinists instead of the Trotskyists. heiro, and Joao Matheus, who had opposed
Soon after the October 1930 Revolution armed conflicts with the Integralistas. The
the Trotskyists made substantial gains in dissident group continued to use the name
the key industrial state of Sao Paulo. The of the organization, although it reportedly
principal figure there was Plinio Melo, a for­ broke with the international Trotskyist
mer Communist Party leader in Rio Grande movement. It published several issues of its
do Sul who, after attending a meeting of the own journal, A Luta de Classes?
South American Secretariat of the Comin­ In conformity with the opposition of Inter­
tern early in 1930, shifted his base of opera­ national Trotskyism to the idea of the "pop­
tions to Sao Paulo. ular front," the Brazilian Trotskyists at first
Melo and other leaders of the Sao Paulo opposed the Aliantja Nacional Libertadora
party were expelled from the Partido Com­ ( a n l —National Liberation Alliance], which
unista do Brasil as a result of efforts to obtain under the leadership of the p c d o B brought to­
legal recognition from the first appointed gether most elements of the Brazilian Left
governor ("interventor") of the state named early in 1935. However, they subsequently
by Getulio Vargas. They obtained that rec­ joined the a n l . Ironically, they were blamed
ognition, and for several years shared with by the Stalinists both for provoking and
the anarchists the leadership of the labor bringing about the failure of an armed upris­
movement of the state. Soon after their ex­ ing of the a n l in November 1935. The fact
pulsion from the pcdoB, they joined the was that the insurrection was actually orga­
Trotskyists. nized and directed by the pcd o B .
During the first years of the Vargas regime The insurrection of November 1935 gave
the Trotskyists had very substantial influ­ the Vargas regime a chance to strike out
ence in the labor movement both in Sao violently against all left-wing parties, in­
Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro. In that period cluding the Trotskyists. The l c i , already
they used the name Liga Comunista Inter- greatly weakened by the previous year's
nacionalista. split was largely confined to Rio de Janeiro,
In August 1933 the Brazilian Trotskyites changed its name to Grupo Bolchevique-Le-
again changed their name, to Liga Comun­ ninista and continued to publish A Luta de
ista Intemacionalista {Bolcheviques-Lenin- Classe. In March 1937 it merged with a
istas). At that time they were publishing not group of Communist Party dissidents led by

132 Brazil
Febus Gikevate and Barreto Leite Filho who the party officially endorsed Jose Americo.
had opposed the November 1935 uprising. But the election was never held, President
Together they formed Partido Operario Le- Vargas carrying out his Estado Novo coup
ninista (p o l ). p o l continued to publish A d'etat in November 1937 largely to avoid
Luta de Classe and Pela Quarto Internatio­ having the election and thus being forced to
nal,, the latter renamed Boletim de In- give up power.
formacoes Internationals . 3 During the 1937 However, the issue had by then split the
election campaign p o l put up the symbolic Communist Party. Those opposed to the
candidacy of Luiz Carlos Prestes.4 Jose Americo candidacy controlled the Sao
p o l was represented at the Founding Con­ Paulo organization of the pcd oB and refused
gress of the Fourth International in Septem­ to go along with the Comintern's orders.
ber 1938 by Mario Pedrosa. He was known They were finally expelled from the party in
at that meeting by his party name, Lebrun, 1937 and reorganized as the Partido Social­
and took an active part in the discussions.5 ista Revolucionario (p s r ). They quickly
Pierre Naville, in his report on "regularly moved toward Trotskyism.8
affiliated organizations" of the new Interna­ In August 1939 the p s r took the lead in
tional, listed the Partido Operario Leninista summoning what was labeled the First N a­
in that category* He estimated its member­ tional Conference of Brazilian Fourth Inter­
ship at that time at 50/ nationalists. Those participating included
In 1939 p o l suffered a split over the ques­ not only the p s r but also the Partido Op­
tion of whether or not the Soviet Union re­ erario Leninista and some independent trade
mained a "workers state/' a majority con­ unionists. The meeting decided to unite
tinuing to hold that it was and the minority "around the program of the Fourth Interna­
apparently withdrawing from the party. Ma­ tional," had a long debate on "the interna­
rio Pedrosa, who had been elected to the tional situation" and sent greetings to
International Executive Committee of the Trotsky.
Fourth International at the Founding Con­ Of course, under the conditions of the Es­
gress, was one of the few non-United States tado Novo dictatorship it was exceedingly
members of that body who voted with the difficult for the Brazilian Trotskyists to
Shachtmanites at the time of their split with function. However, from time to time it was
the Socialist Workers Party of the United possible for them to publish, either in print
States over that same issue. or in mimeographed form, two periodicals,
Meanwhile, a new split in the Commu­ A Luta de Classe and Sob Nova Bandeita
nist Party of Brazil had provided additional (Under a N ew Flag).
recruits to Brazilian Trotskyism. This split
came in 1936-37 over the issue of the posi­
Brazilian Trotskyism After
tion the party should take in the presidential
the Estado Novo
election which was supposed to be held at
the end of 1937. A majority of the party Brazilian Trotskyism emerged from the Es­
leadership suggested that it put up the sym­ tado Novo in 1945 a great deal weaker than
bolic candidacy of Luiz Carlos Piestes, then it had been a few years before. This was not
in jail for his leadership of the November only the result of persecution during the
1935 a n l insurrection. The minority fa­ Vargas dictatorship, but was also due to the
vored endorsement of ]os€ Americo, a well- defection of most of the original Trotskyist
known novelist, who was the "official" gov­ leaders. The political atmosphere in the
ernment candidate. years after the end of the Vargas dictatorship
At that point the Comintern intervened, was not very conducive to the growth of
supporting the position of the minority, and Trotskyism.

Brazil 133
 Mario Pedrosa, who sided with the cheta, who disagreed with the position of
Shachtmanites when they broke with the majority, headed a dissident group
Trotsky and the Socialist Workers Party of which took the name Liga Socialista Inde-
the United States in 1940, spent most of pendente.l0By 1959 the majority faction had
World War II in the United States. There he taken the name Partido Operario Revolucio­
broke more or less completely with Trots­ nario (Trotskista). When the Latin Ameri­
kyism, aligning himself with the Socialist can Bureau of the International Secretariat,
Party headed by Norman Thomas. Upon his under the leadership of J. Posadas, pulled
return to Brazil at the end of the Estado away to form its own version of the Fourth
Novo, Pedrosa rallied around himself most International, the p o r (t ) became part of that
of the old-time leaders of Brazilian Trots­ group.
kyism, including Aristides Lobo, Hilcar During the administration of President
Leite, and Plinio Melo. They began to pub­ Joao Goulart (1961-64) the p o r ( t ) was able
lish a paper, Vanguaxda Socialista, which to establish a small base among agricultural
was clearly of Second International Socialist workers in the state of Pernambuco. Al­
rather than Trotskyist inclination. though the party's headquarters was in Sao
The Partido Socialista Revolucionario Paulo, in the south, the party had dispatched
( p s r ), the Trotskyist group which had been Paulo Pinto (party name, Jeremias), a young
organized in the late 1930s, did survive. As trade unionist and Central Committee
the Estado Novo regime began to relax its member, to the northeast to work among
hold in the latter part of 1944, the p s r called the agricultural workers who were being un­
for the election of a constitutional assembly ionized there for the first time. He suc­
and the end of the Vargas dictatorship. When ceeded in organizing a peasant union in the
elections were finally held in October 1945, municipality of Tambe and also organized
however, the p s r did not support the nomi­ what was called the First Peasant Congress
nee of the anti-Vargas opposition, Brigadier there in September 1963.
Eduardo Gomes. There is no indication that These Trotskyists shared the "prerevolu­
they offered any candidates of their own in tionary" euphoria which virtually all leftist
that election. groups in Brazil experienced in the months
Although the p s r sought to penetrate the preceding the overthrow of Goulart on April
trade union movement once a more or less 1, 1964. The j>o r (t ) and its newspaper,
democratic political atmosphere had been Fiente Operand, issued calls for peasant in­
restored, it found that very difficult. Trade vasion of landholdings and for the establish­
union politics, and Brazilian left-wing poli­ ment of soviets, among other things.
tics in general in that period, tended to be Perhaps because of the extremity of their
dominated by the Communist Party and the positions, the p o r (t ) experienced not only
pro-Vargas Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, resistance from landowners and other con­
and at least until the 1960s the Trotskyists servative elements but active persecution
were not able to make much of a dent in by the Goulart regime and the state adminis­
either field. tration of left-wing Governor Miguel Araes
The p s r ran some Candidates in the 1947 in Pernambuco. Pinto (Jeremias) was assas­
municipal elections and were reported to sinated while leading a strike demonstra­
have received a few hundred votes. By 1953 tion in Tambe, the Ministry of Labor can­
one ex-Trotskyist observer claimed that the celed the legal recognition of the Tamb6
party had "virtually ceased to exist."9 union, and the Araes government jailed
This was not entirely the case. The party three of the p o r (t ) leaders.
had split in 1952 at the time of the division With the overthrow of the Goulart gov­
in the Fourth International. Herminio Sac- ernment, the p o r (t ) was driven under­

134 Brazil
 ground, as were all far-left organizations. A l­ with the United Secretariat but did not for­
though J. Posadas called on his Brazilian mally affiliate with it.
followers to organize a general strike against
the new military regime, neither they nor
anyone else was in a position to do so. The Reemergence of
Sometime after the overthrow of Goulart, Brazilian Trotskyism
the p o r ( t ) joined with the prq-Moscow and
pro-Chinese Communist parties to form a The government of the third military ruler
Frente Popular de Liberta$ao, in a pact of Brazil after the armed forces coup of 1964,
signed in Montevideo. In spite of this pact, General Garrastazu Medici {1969-74), drove
the p o r (t ) continued to be very critical of the Trotskyist movement deeply under­
the two Stalinist groups. ground and all but destroyed it. It was not
Meanwhile, a split had occurred in Trots­ until the last years of the administration of
kyist ranks. In 1961 the Organiza$ao Revo- Medici's successor, General Emesto Geisel
lucionaria Marxista Politica Operaria was 11974-79), that the movement was able to
established. This was aligned first with the revive to some degree. When it did, at least
International Committee and then with the four different groups claiming allegiance to
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ Trotskyism made their appearance.
tional. It published a periodical, Politica Op­ For some time the principal organization
eraria, and was active during the Goulart within which the Brazilian Trotskyists
regime to work among the peasants, particu­ worked was the Partido Operario Comun-
larly in the state of Sao Paulo. ista (poc), which had been formed in 1968
Politica Operaria took a strong stand by a merger of the Politica Operaria group
against collaboration with the government with a dissident "Leninist Opposition" fac­
of Joao Goulart. Unlike most of the rest of tion of the pro-Moscow Brazilian Commu­
the Left, it did not support the successful nist Party. In the beginning one of the princi­
effort of President Goulart to get the presi­ pal Trotskyist-oriented leaders of the p o c
dential system of government (instead of the was Luis Eduardo Merlino, also known as
parliamentary form which he had been "Nicolau." A young revolutionist, he tried
forced to accept as the price of being recog­ to extend the organization from its student
nized as president by the military] restored base to the working class in the Sao Paulo
in a plebiscite. The Politica Operaria group area. Merlino was said to have "joined the
argued that the issue was of no real interest Fourth International," that is, the United
to the workers. Secretariat, and to have attended the 1971
With the overthrow of Goulart, the Poli­ congress of the French affiliate of the u s e c .
tica Operaria group was forced underground, He was murdered by the police in July
where it sought to bring about unity of all 19 71.u The murder of Merlino was only one
professed Marxist organizations against the example of the severe persecution which the
military regime. From 1965 on it was able Brazilian Trotskyists suffered under Medici.
to publish a weekly periodical which was Although some u s E C - o r i e n t e d Trotskyists
said to be distributed in at least six states. worked within the poc, that party was not
In April 1968 the Politica Operaria group a full-fledged Trotskyist group. The United
merged with a faction known as Oposisao Secretariat was quite critical of the group's
Leninista, which had broken away from the "failure to formulate a tactical course," and
pro-Moscow Partido Comunista Brasileiro. to "constitute the practical alternative to
The new party formed by this fusion was the 'armed left' that it hoped to be." Inter­
the Partido Operario Comunista. This new continental Press reported in July 1971 that
party also maintained friendly relations "there is no organization in Brazil belonging

Brazil 135
to the Fourth International or maintaining newspaper, Convergencia Socialista.19 It
any special relationship with it."12 was around that publication that the first
During the early 1970s there were other effort to revive a political party was made
small groups in Brazil which had at least by the Brazilian Trotskyists.
some contact with u s e c . One of these w a s In January 1978 a meeting of 300 people
called Ponto de Partida (Starting Point} and was held in Sao Paulo that established the
was described by Intercontinental Press as political group Socialist Convergence. A
being "a group of Brazilian revolutionists." second meeting of the group on March 19,
It carried on a polemic with those elements 1978, attended by a thousand people, was
in the Brazilian far left who were followers said to have been "attended by representa­
of the Che Guevara-Regis Debray "foco" tives of opposition groups in the govern­
theory of armed revolution.13 ment-controlled trade unions, including
Other elements were the Organiza<jao metalworkers and chemical workers, stu­
Comunista 1 de Mayo and the Trotskyist dent political groups such as Novo Rumo
Bolshevik Faction, which were described as (New Course) and Ponto de Partida (Starting
"working to build a revolutionary workers Point), artists, journalists, and members of
party" in 1972.14 The Trotskyist Bolshevik the Brazilian Democratic Movement ( m d b ),
Faction had been established in 1968 by a the only legal bourgeois opposition party."
group in Rio Grande do Sul which broke The meeting adopted a twelve-point pro­
away from the Posadas Partido Operario Re­ gram including a call for a constituent as­
volucionario (Trotskista). During a particu­ sembly, total amnesty, freedom of press, and
larly widespread sweep of the Medici secu­ the right to organize.19
rity forces against the far left in 1970, The Socialist Convergence group received
virtually the entire leadership of that group direct personal support from Hugo Bressano
was arrested.15 (Nahuel Moreno}, head of the Partido Social­
With the beginning of the relaxation of ista de los Trabajadores of Argentina and
the military dictatorship during the admin­ leader of the Bolshevik Tendency within the
istration of President Ernesto Geisel, new United Secretariat. He was among twenty-
Trotskyist groups began to appear centering two people arrested by the Brazilian political
on a number of new publications. One of the police in Sao Paulo on August 22,1978. Also
first of these was Independencia Operaria arrested was another Argentine, Rita Stras-
(Working Class Independence), an under­ berg, and a Portuguese Trotskyist, Antonio
ground monthly publication established in Sa Leal.10 Sa Leal was released and deported
1974. In spite of its name, this group appar­ to Portugal on September 6, after the Portu­
ently had its strength among university stu­ guese National Assembly had condemned
dents.16 his imprisonment.21 Moreno and Strasberg
Independencia Operaria, in analyzing the were also released later that month after an
results of the 1976 election, stated the international campaign on their behalf and
group's immediate objectives. According to were allowed to go to Colombia, where they
Intercontinental Press, it "calls on class­ had been living in exile.21 Most of the Brazil­
conscious workers to take the next logical ian Trotskyists who had been arrested were
step beyond rejecting the bourgeois parties released on December 7, 1978.23
in the elections: 'We must unite to defend The splits within thenntemational Trots­
our interests . .. building our trade union kyist movement were reflected in the re­
and political organizations' independent of vived Trotskyist movement in Brazil in the
the bourgeois parties."17 late 1970s and early 1980s. There emerged
By 1978 this Trotskyist group was able to at least four different groups, affiliated with
publish a legal monthly periodical, Versus, the Morenoist, Lambertist, United Secretar­
and had begun to issue a supplement to that iat, and Posadista factions of International

136 Brazil
Trotskyism. Each of these centered on a par­ with the question of what their relations
ticular periodical. should be with a new phenomenon which
Convergencia Socialista was associated appeared on the political left. This was the
first with the Bolshevik Tendency of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (p t —Workers
United Secretariat, then when that group Party).
broke with the u s e c became the Brazilian The p t arose as a consequence of a new
affiliate of the International Workers' development in the country's trade union
League (Fourth International), the Moreno- movement during the late 1970s. As a conse­
led version of the f i . It continued to publish quence of several strikes, particularly in the
Convergencia Socialista. It was credited by automobile industry of the state of Sao
its u s e c opponents with having had 500 Paulo, there emerged a new trade union
members in 1978,24 and in 1983 claimed a leadership which sought independence from
membership of about 2,, 200.25 In 1983 So­ the corporative state kind of government
cialist Convergence established a youth control over organized labor which had ex­
group called Alicerce (Foundations).26 isted ever since the days of the Estado Novo
The organization associated with c o r q i , of Getulio Vargas.30
led by Pierre Lambert, was the Organiza<jao Although the Geisel government finally
Socialista Intemacionalista (osi). A u s e c stepped in and removed a number of the prin­
source recognized that "it already repre­ cipal leaders of that movement from their
sented in 1977 the principal combative lead­ posts, most notably Luis Inacio da Silva
ership of the student movement in Sao ("Lula"), the militancy of the Sao Paulo auto
Paulo" and noted that "it had as its central workers continued and to somedegree spread
orientation the construction of an 'indepen­ to other workers throughout the country.
dent labor party.' " It first had as its publica­ Those associated with this new militancy
tion O Trabalho [Labor], but after a split in then sought to do two things: establish a na­
1979 in which a number of its people joined tional central labor organization, for which
forces with the Brazilian u s e c group, the there was no provision then in Brazilian la­
name of the osi periodical was changed to bor law, and establish a workers' party.
O Trabalhador (The Worker).17 At least three other elements in addition
The United Secretariat's group in Brazil to the militant trade unionists played a role
did not take any name other than that of in the emergence of the Partido dos Trabal­
the periodical with which it was associated. hadores. There were the "basic religious
That was Em Tempo, which was established communities" which the Catholic Church
late in 1977. On the occasion of its fifth had begun to organize in the late 1960s, and
anniversary issue in 1982 it included greet­ which for about a decade had been doing
ings from George Novack of the Socialist grassroots organizing and mobilizing of peo­
Workers Party of the United States and Er­ ple in their neighborhoods and elsewhere
nest Mandel of the United Secretariat.28 to pressure the government to meet local
Finally, there remained a tiny group of needs. Another was the veterans of the stu­
adherents of the Posadas version of Interna­ dent struggles of the 1960s, many of whom
tional Trotskyism. Even after the death of had been jailed, exiled and otherwise perse­
Posadas that group continued to publish cuted by the military regime, particularly
Frente Operaria as the "spokesman for Po- by the Medici administration, and who by
sadista thought in Brazil."29 the late 1970s were seeking some other kind
of political activism than the guerrilla war­
Brazilian Trotskyists and the Partido fare which they had unsuccessfully tried
dos Trabalhadores earlier. Finally, there were various older left-
With the revival of Brazilian Trotskyism in wing intellectuals who were attracted to the
the late 1970s all groups were soon faced new political movement.31

Brazil 137
 The Partido dos Trabalhadores was estab­ dos Trabalhadores appeared, therefore, the
lished in 1979 and obtained legal recogni­ Convergencia Socialista people hesitated
tion in the next year. Lula was transformed before deciding upon an "entrism" policy in
from a trade union leader into an important the new organization. However, in the latter
political figure, as head of the p t . Although part of 1980 the cs did launch an entrist
the party did not do as well as it had hoped policy and for some time closely aligned it­
in the first election in which it was able to self with the positions taken by Lula.
participate, the congressional and state poll By 1982, however, the cshad become very
of 1982, it nonetheless represented a very critical of Luis Inacio da Silva and were at­
significant development both in the labor tacking the supposed "Lulist bureaucracy"
movement and in Brazilian left-wing pol­ within the p t . It was explained that this
itics. meant "a privileged caste which originates
The three principal Trotskyist groups— in the working class. . . but which no longer
Convergencia Socialista, Organiza?ao So­ belongs to the working class. It works as a
cialista Intemacionalista, and Em Tempo— sector united with the national and imperi­
each reacted somewhat differently to the alist bourgeoisie to restrain the process of
emergence of the Partido dos Trabalhadores. permanent mobilization of the masses, of a
The Posadista group appeared to have been sector which considers Trotskyism as its
so isolated as to be little affected by the fundamental enemy and which Trotskyists
advent of the p t . consider as their own enemy in the working
The Partido dos Trabalhadores followed class,"'33
a policy of allowing groups with different Although some leaders of the p t claimed
points of view to function within its ranks. that by 1984. the Convergencia Socialista
At least at the beginning it welcomed the group was no longer working at all within
entry of any elements of the far left which the Partido dos Trabalhadores,34 it was con­
would be willing to work to help build the tinuing to work within the unions associ­
party. The three principal Communist par­ ated with the p t and the central labor organi­
ties—the pro-Moscow Partido Comunista zation they established in 1984, the Central
Brasileiro, the pro-Albanian Partido Com­ Unica dos Trabalhadores (c u t ). One More­
unista do Brasil, and the more or less Fidel- noist source reported in mid—198s that "in
ista Movimento Revolucionario 8-Octo- the 1984 Congress of the c u t , the Socialist
bre—all decided to have nothing to do with Convergence was represented by five per­
the p t and to orient their activities toward cent of the delegates, and received 15 per­
the largest of the opposition parties, the Par- cent of the votes on some programmatic
tido Movimento Democratico Brasileiro questions. In addition, the Brazilian social­
( p m d b ). m ists recently won the election of the coun­
Each of the three principal Trotskyist try's fourth largest and most important
groups, none of which had any significant metalworkers union in Contagem/Belo Ho­
base in the organized labor movement, tried rizonte, Minas Gerais."35
to work within the Partido dos Trabalha­ The Organizagao Socialista Intemacional­
dores, at least for a time. The approach of ista, associated with the Lambertist c o r q i
each of these groups was different. Before on an international level, followed several
the appearance of the p t those who orga­ different policies in the, years following the
nized the Convergencia Socialista hoped establishment of the Partido do Trabalha­
that it could become a mass party, drawing dores. Its first reaction was one of strong
both from the militant workers and from hostility toward the new party. A statement
some left-wing elements in the official op­ in September 1979 said that "bom in a cor­
position party, the p m d b . When the Partido porative union, grouping together the old

J38 Brazil
 and younger yellow bureaucrats, the p t the national and international point of view,
shows with each strike its true role: to main­ the most 'P T i s t / for the construction of the
tain the corporative trade union structure, revolutionary party is today inseparable
to break the strike movement. . . . It is a from the progress in the construction of a
bourgeois structure which plays, alongside mass workers party with its 400,000 mem­
the Partido Comunista Brasileiro a role of bers, its millions of voters, and in defense of
supporting the dictatorship." its initial definition as party without bosses,
However, by 1981 the o s t had changed its socialist, and animated by wide internal de­
position; it had adopted a policy of entrism mocracy."34 Thus, the u s e c group would
in the p t . A document prepared for its Fifth seem committed to the "deepest entrism"
Congress explained that "our objective, of all the Trotskyist groups.
with entrism, is to construct the revolution­ By 1984 one non-Trotskyist leader of the
ary party; entrism is a tactic applied for a p t professed to believe that, with the Con-

limited period, and the precise moment to vergencia Socialista group out of the p t , the
put an end to it will be determined in the other two Trotskyist factions were so deeply
process of constructing the revolutionary imbedded within the Partido dos Trabalha­
party; the construction of the p t as an inde­ dores that their disappearance as identifi­
pendent labor party is not contradictory to able Trotskyist elements was only a matter
the construction of the revolutionary of time.39
party."
A resolution of the osi Fifth Congress in
March 1983 explained further the group's
position with regard to the p t . It said that
"we Trotskyist militants struggle loyally
within the p t for its construction and rein­
forcement as an independent labor party."
The attitude of the osi by 1982 was de­
scribed a s "deep entrism." Its u s e c oppo­
nents alleged that it was by then closely
allied with the more right-wing elements
within the p t .36
The depth of the entry of the o s t into
the Partido dos Trabalhadores was perhaps
reflected in the fact that the international
organ of the c o r q i edited in Paris was by
1984 publishing statements by the p t and
interviews with its leadership without any
reference to the c o r q i ' s Brazilian affiliate.3'
The u s e c group in Brazil, centered on the
periodical Em Tempo, described its attitude
toward the Partido dos Trabalhadores as be­
ing one of "neither entrism nor Scission." It
explained that "A coherent struggle of revo­
lutionary Marxists in the p t can only de­
velop with the conception of them as the
most resolute builders, the most militant,
the clearest politically, the most defined
from the programmatic point of view, from

Brazil 139
 Bulgarian Trotskyism However, during the late 1920s and early
1930s Bulgaria was governed by a relatively
democratic regime. During that period the
Communists were able to function more or
less openly through a front party. This situa­
tion was ended on May 19, 1934, by a coup
Bulgarian Trotskyism lasted only about half which "established an authoritarian regime
a decade in the 1930s. It disappeared as an which proscribed all existing parties and po­
organized movement considerably before litical activity. The following year it was
World War II and was not revived success­ displaced by King Boris, who . . . instituted
fully after the war; Stalinist domination of a royal dictatorship that eventually aligned
the country made that impossible. No Bulgaria with Germany."1
Trotskyist movement was organized among
the Bulgarian exiles.
Origins and Evolution of
Bulgaria was one of the few countries
Bulgarian Trotskyism
where a pre-World War I Socialist Party
joined the Comintern when it was first es­ Following the failure of the September 1923
tablished. The pre-1914 Social Democrats coup attempt by the Communists their
had been divided into two rival organiza­ party was characterized by extensive fac­
tions, the Broad and Narrow Socialist par­ tionalism which continued for at least twen­
ties. The former, which was the larger of ty-five years, until some time after they had
the two, became the Communist Party of won control of the country. To a consider­
Bulgaria and several Trotskyist leaders able degree the schisms centered on the rela­
started their political careers as Broad So­ tions between those party leaders who had
cialists. sought refuge in Moscow and those who
In the early 1920s the two principal "pop­ stayed in the country. However, there were
ular" parties in Bulgaria were the Commu­ also other issues in the Bulgarian Commu­
nists and the Agrarian Party, which drew its nists' internal quarrels.
principal support from the peasantry who One of these was the struggle within the
made up the majority of the population. In Communist Party of the Soviet Union and
1922-23 a radical Peasant Party leader, the resulting conflict within the Comintern.
Stambulisky, served as head of government. A minority of the Bulgarian party's leaders
However, early in 1923 Stambulisky was took the side of Trotsky in that struggle.
overthrown and assassinated by a right-wing Others ended up merging their struggles in
coup during which the Communists main­ the Bulgarian party with those of Trotsky in
tained "neutrality."1 the USSR.
Although not taking sides at the time of The first Trotskyist group to be estab­
the overthrow of the Agrarian Party govern­ lished was set up under the leadership of
ment, the Bulgarian Communists at­ Samnaliev, who established a cell in the
tempted their own revolutionary uprising in town of Sliven in 1928. Samnaliev had been
September 1923. When it was defeated the expelled from the Communist Party, appar­
leadership of the party was dispersed, some ently for opposing the attempted uprising in
going to Moscow, others being jailed and September 1923. >
even killed. The Communists were perse­ Meanwhile, other expellees from the
cuted even more severely in 1925 after a party were moving in a Trotskyist direction.
bomb exploded in the Sofia cathedral, an act The two most important were Stefan Manov
attributed rightly or wrongly to the Com­ and Sider Todorov. Both of these men had
munist Party's "military organization." belonged to the pre-World War I Broad So-

140 Bulgaria
cialist Party and had been expelled from the strike violence. The slogan of 'dominate the
c p for denouncing the September 1923 in­ streets' was denounced as an imbecility, and
surrection. In February 1927 Manov estab­ the policy of political strikes as an invitation
lished a short-lived Independent Socialist to the police to destroy the trade unions."
Party which began publishing a periodical, He added that "here the Trotskyists' evalua­
Nov Pat [New Road). Most of the leaders and tion was less unrealistic than that of the
members of that party joined the Bulgarian Communist leadership at that time, but
Social Democratic Party, but Manov and To- their belief that a 'pure' proletarian policy
dorovdid not, and in 1 9 3 1 they took the lead would be more fruitful was utopian or mean­
in organizing the Left Marxist Opposition ingless."6
as the Bulgarian section of the international The Trotskyists worked with a Commu­
Trotskyist movement. nist Party front group variously translated
Other leading figures in the Trotskyist as Labor Party and Workers Party. This had
movement included Edorov, Spas Zdgorski, been established in 1927 as a result of a
who in 1920 had been a leader of an ultraleft rightward turn of the party after the failure
Communist Workers Party formed in pro­ of the 1923 insurrection.7 Until 1934 it was
test against a rightward lurch in Communist able to function openly without serious in­
Party policy but had subsequently been re­ terruption by the government authorities.
admitted to the official c p , and Dimitar Concerning the operations of the Trotsky­
Gatchev.3 ists in the Labor Party, Joseph Rothschild
Gatchev's first political affiliation had has noted that since they were "a small mi­
been with the German Communist Party, nority," they consequently "naturally de­
at the age of twenty-one, while studying in manded greater freedom to criticize the
that country in 1921. Returning to Bulgaria leadership of both the Labor Party and the
in 1923, he had been named head of the Independent Trade Union Federation." Cit­
"military organization" of the Bulgarian ing Lenin, they called for "liberation of the
Communist Party. He was arrested and rank and file Communist and trade union
"savagely tortured" in 1925, after which he militants from the 'political illiterates,' 'bu­
was sentenced to death. His sentence was reaucratic mandarins' and 'Stalinist cretins'
commuted, and he remained in jail until who allegedly controlled the Communist
1932. He had meanwhile been expelled from Party." Rothschild adds that "had the Trots­
the Communist Party because of his support kyists been in a majority, they would as
of the Russian Left Opposition and joined easily have found a contrary, yet equally
the Left Marxist Opposition when he got authoritative passage in Lenin's writings."
out of prison if not earlier.4 Rothschild noted that the regime's police
Early in 1931 the Bulgarian Trotskyists did not make nice distinctions between Sta­
began to publish a periodical, Osvobozhde- linist and Trotskyist Communists. They
nie (Liberation). They claimed to have a cir­ were "herded indiscriminately into the
culation of one thousand for this publica­ same prison compounds. . . . " In prison
tion, but an historian of the Bulgarian there were riots between Stalinists and
Communist movement writes that the ir­ Trotskyists, and the latter "being fewer, got
regularity of the appearance of Osvobozhde- the worst of these clashes." Each side ac­
nie "suggests that the Trotskyist group was cused the other of being betrayers and spies.8
small and poor."s
Joseph Rothschild has noted that "the
Trotsky and His Bulgarian Followers
Trotskyists condemned as futile, irresponsi­
ble and dangerous the tactics—so beloved On various occasions during its short his­
by the left sectarians—of street riots and tory the Bulgarian Trotskyist movement

Bulgaria 141
was in direct contact with Leon Trotsky. On Trotsky, as a consequence of this situa­
October 4,1930, Trotsky wrote an extensive tion, wrote his followers a letter of encour­
letter to his Bulgarian followers expounding agement.
his view of the Soviet Union as a "workers
The temporary difficulties of Osvobozh-
state."51 Less than two months later he sent
denie are no grounds for pessimism. In
them a critique of a manifesto which they
the special conditions of political devel­
had issued, apparently the first official docu­
opment in Bulgaria over the last eight-
ment of the new Left Marxist Opposition.
nine years, the appearance of the Left Op­
He expressed "several doubts as well as a
position coincided with a wave of sympa­
few objections" to this document,10 He par­
thy and votes for the official party. That
ticularly objected to the way they had inter­
wave has a generally radical, partly oppo­
preted the Russian Marxists' condemnation
sitional, partly revolutionary character,
of terrorism by the Social Revolutionaries,
unconscious, unthought-out, undifferen­
and the apparent condemnation by the Bul­
tiated. In such conditions the working
garian Trotskyists of the continued illegal
masses feel temporary satisfaction in the
status of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
mere fact of their awakening and in the
He also objected to the apparently even-
mere possibility of expressing their feel­
handed condemnation by his followers of
ings by voting for workers' deputies. Tak­
the attempts of the Socialists and Commu­
ing power in the Sofia city council gives
nists to dominate the labor movement, and
new satisfaction to the workers. Osvo-
their apparent confusion on the need for the
bozhdenie's criticism "dampens" these
Trotskyists to be "an independent faction
moods and appears unnecessary, unintel­
which sets itself the task of taking a part
ligible, even hostile. This stage is com­
in the life of the party and of the working
pletely unavoidable.
class."11
Much of what has already been said by
About a year later, on October 17, 1931,
Osvobozhdenie has sunk into people's
Trotsky gave his Bulgarian followers some
minds, and under the influence of the de­
political advice on how to proceed. "It is
mands of the class struggle they will take
essential," he wrote, "for the Left Opposi­
on new life and acquire more strength and
tion in Bulgaria to approach the official party
that will lead to a renewal of Osvobozh­
as closely as possible, and to penetrate it
denie.13
as deeply as possible." He added that "the
growth of the official party presents the Op­ The Bulgarian Trotskyists were repre­
position with great tasks. But only on the sented at the "preconference" of the Interna­
basis of great tasks will the Bolshevik Lenin­ tional Left Opposition held in Paris in Febru­
ists be able, step by step, to prove the cor­ ary 1933, along with ten other national
rectness of their principled position to the Trotskyist groups. There is no indication of
best elements of the party. " n the name (or names) of the Bulgarian repre­
Late in 1932 the Bulgarian Trotskyists sentative^).1'*
were having great difficulties. In the elec­
tions of 1932 the Communist-controlled
Disappearance of
Workers Party had made an impressive
Bulgarian Trotskyism
showing. Among other achievements it had %
won a plurality in the city council of Sofia, The liquidation of the Bulgarian Trotskyist
the national capital, which entitled it to se­ movement largely resulted from the estab­
lect the mayor of the city. All of this had lishment of an authoritarian regime in 1934
made the Trotskyist criticisms of the offi­ and the subsequent inability of the move­
cial party's positions and behavior to appear ment to revive was determined by the ad­
carping. vent of a Stalinist regime a decade later.

142 Bulgaria
 Nissan Oren has said of the post-1934 re­ disappear entirely from politics. In June
gime that "the true nature of Bulgarian poli­ 1942 Stefan Manov, one of the most impor­
tics in the second half of the thirties is not tant Trotskyist leaders, served as a lawyer
easily definable. Bulgaria did not become a for a group of Communist leaders who were
totalitarian state, nor did it turn fascist in put on trial by the pro-Nazi government of
the true meaning of the term. Although King Boris. His efforts and those of other
banned, political parties continued to lead attorneys were not sufficient to save the
a shadowy existence. In this sense, party prisoners from conviction and the execution
politics remained significant, although of eighteen of them.
strictly limited in scope and depth." Oren After the war Manov "took a leading part
added that "it was only natural that those in the People's Courts set up to try Bulgaria's
political groups best suited to perform under wartime leaders." However, as Nissan Oren
illegal conditions would find their relative has observed, "his good deeds for the Com­
weight in the political arena enhanced."15 munist cause did not save him. He was ar­
As a consequence of the May 1934 coup, rested in the late forties as an ex-Trotskyite,
the Communists first decided to liquidate tried in March 1950, and given a life sen­
the Workers Party, within which the Trots­ tence. He died or was killed in prison."10
kyists had worked politically. But as a result After World War n the Bulgarian Trptsky-
of instructions from Georgi Dimitrov, then ists were apparently able for a short while
living in Moscow, this decision was re­ to reestablish their organization, known
versed. Nevertheless, the Workers Party, then as the Internationalist Communist
like the Communist Party itself, had to Party (Fourth International). One of the
function underground,16 which did not facil­ members of the party's Central Committee
itate the Trotskyists' work. was Dimitar Gatchev, who also helped to
In any case, as Joseph Rothschild has establish in March 1946 a Bulgarian section
noted, "it was a foregone conclusion that of the League for the Rights of Man and of
the Trotskyists would lose out against the the Citizen.
Communist leadership. They were few and As one Trotskyist source has noted, “ The
poor. Trotsky's encouragement was no sub­ correspondence that the p c i carried on at the
stitute for the Comintern's organizational time with the Fourth International shows
and financial resources. The policies advo­ that the 'Patriotic front' regime led by the
cated by the Trotskyists were not suffi­ Stalinists did not permit the p c i to carry
ciently daring, original, or realistic to galva­ on any legal activities." By the end of 1946
nize the workers to rally to them."17 virtually all of the leaders of the group had
Furthermore, as so frequently happened been jailed. At least some of them, including
among Trotskyist groups, the Bulgarian Left Dimitar Gatchev, were not released until
Marxist Opposition was soon wracked by the early 1960s.21
factionalism. Its two most outstanding fig­
ures, Manov and Todorov, formed separate
groups, each of which published its own ver­
sion of Osvobozhdenie.
By 1938 the Bulgarian Trotskyist move­
ment had largely disappeared. It was not
listed at the time of the Founding Confer­
ence of the Fourth International as one of
the groups associated with the new organi­
zation.19
All of the individuals who had been asso­
ciated with Bulgarian Trotskyism did not

Bulgaria 143
 Canadian Trotskyism nization, the Workers Party; Maurice Spec­
tor became its chairman and in that capacity
attended the Fourth World Congress of the
Comintern in that same year. He visited
Moscow again in 1924 when he began to
become aware of the struggle under way
The Canadian Trotskyist movement was within the leadership of the Soviet Commu­
one of the first national segments of Interna­ nist Party.4
tional Trotskyism to be established, being When the c p s u conflict began to be re­
led in the beginning by several people who flected in the Comintern, Spector led those
had been among the founders of the Cana­ in the leadership of the Canadian party who
dian Communist Party. During its more at first refused to have the party go on record
than half century of existence, it has been in blanket condemnation of Trotsky.* How­
particularly plagued with the problem of ever, at the Seventh Plenum of the Comin­
"entrism/' and in general with its relations tern, Tim Buck, the Canadian delegate, of­
with first the Cooperative Commonwealth ficially put the Canadian party on record
Federation ( c c f ) and then the New Demo­ against, the Left Opposition. As a conse­
cratic Party (n d p ). It was one of the national quence, Spector offered his resignation as
sections most affected by the factional fight chairman of the party and editor of its paper,
within the United Secretariat during the The Worker. He was urged by the party's
1970s. national secretary, Jack MacDonald, to
withdraw his resignation, which he did.4
Early in 1928 Spector came to the United
The Origins of Canadian Trotskyism
States in search of allies in the struggle then
The first Canadian Trotskyist was Maurice going on within the International. Among
Spector. Bom in Russia in 1898, Spector had those with whom he talked at length was
migrated to Canada when a small child. In James Cannon, who until then had not been
1914 he joined a Socialist Youth organiza­ much concerned with the problem; Cannon
tion which existed in Toronto at that time. expressed an interest in the situation but
By 19 18 he was on the executive committee made no definite commitment.7
of the Ontario Social Democratic Party.1 In Spector and Jack MacDonald were the two
1920 he helped establish the Plebs League Canadian delegates to the Sixth Congress
of Ontario with other sympathizers with the of the Comintern in the summer of 1928.
Bolshevik Revolution. With the encourage­ There, Spector was elected to the Executive
ment of the Communist International, Committee. As a member, along with James
Spector joined with Jack MacDonald, head P. Cannon, of the Program Commission of
of the Toronto Workers Educational Col­ the Congress, he received a copy of Trots­
lege, and some Ukrainian and Finnish lan­ ky's "Criticism of the Draft Program of the
guage organizations to establish the Cana­ Communist International." Both were con­
dian Communist Party in 19 2 1/ The vinced by this document, and decided to
founding meeting took place on an isolated defend Trotsky's position within their own
farm near Guelph, Ontario.3 parties.8
Spector was elected to the executive com­ Upon his return home, Spector was very
mittee of the new party and to its three-man quickly expelled from the Canadian Com­
press committee. He was the first editor of munist Party in November 1928 as a conse­
the Communist Party's underground news­ quence of his profession of support for
paper, The Communist. Then in 1912, when Trotsky/ Early in 192,9, with a handful of
the Communists established a "legal" orga­ followers, he established the Canadian Left

144 Canada
 Opposition as a branch of the Communist decided to establish the Workers Party of
League of America (Opposition) of the Canada. At the same time a youth group,
United States. It was not until 1934 that the the Spartacus Youth League, was also set
Canadian Trotskyists were recognized as a up.16 With these actions the Canadian
separate section of International Trots­ movement for the first time had its own
kyism.10 organizational structure separate from that
Another leading figure of the Canadian of the U.S. Trotskyists.
Communist Party had joined the Trotskyist Relations with the movement in the
ranks. This was Jack MacDonald, who had United States remained close, however. Jack
been secretary of the party since its incep­ MacDonald attended the founding meeting
tion. A Scot who had emigrated to Canada of the U.S. Workers Party, formed when the
in 19 1 a, MacDonald was a metalworker and Communist League of America merged
a leader of the Independent Labor Party of with the "Musteites" in December 1934.
Ontario until he joined the Communist He reported at that time that the Canadian
ranks in 19 2 1.11 MacDonald at first sympa­ English-language Trotskyist periodical Van­
thized with the Right Opposition and as na­ guard had a circulation of t , 2 o o copies an
tional secretary protected those who were issue, and the Trotskyist Ukrainian-lan-
expressing support for it. In March 1930 he guage paper five hundred copies. The Ukrai­
was removed as national secretary, and was nians, he said, had published "a number of
"suspended" from the party as a Rightist.12 pamphlets, among them several by
He was definitively expelled soon thereaf­ Trotsky." MacDonald claimed that "The
ter. In late 1932 he joined the Trotskyist W.P. has already established firm connec­
ranks.13 tions in most of the organized trades, includ­
Ross Dowson has written about the activ­ ing the building, clothing, shoe and metal
ities of the Canadian Trotskyites in the early workers unions. A few of the members are
19 30s. "For 4 or 5 years this handful of revo­ in leading positions in these unions."17
lutionaries, despite violent persecution By the middle of 193 5 the Canadian Trots­
from the Stalinists and the bosses, carried kyists had converted their English-language
on a pioneer work. They conducted study periodical from a monthly to a bi-weekly.
classesyforums and circulated the American Their U.S. colleagues noted that Vanguard
Militant. . . . By 1934 the group had grown had begun to carry a regular column,
considerably and began to extend its influ­ "United States Labor News Letter," written
ence into the trade union field and the un­ by Blake Lear of the U.S. group.14
employed movement. It began to publish The only contact that the Canadian Trots­
irregularly a press of its own. Mass meetings kyists seem to have had personally with
were held that attracted hundreds of work­ Leon Trotsky during this period took place
ers and contact was made with elements in in 1936. In February of that year Maurice
Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal and else­ Spector and George Lyman Paine (White)
where."14 visited Trotsky in Norway. Spector had
One of the first people to establish a Trots­ moved to New York, where he was strongly
kyist nucleus outside the Toronto area was opposed to the prospective entry of the U.S.
Earle Bimey, who was from Vancouver and Workers Party into the Socialist Party, and
was introduced to Maurice Spector in To­ he went to Norway primarily to urge
ronto, where he was studying, in 1932. Upon Trotsky against that move. In the process
his return shortly afterward to British Co­ of the discussion, Spector commented that
lumbia, Bimey established the first Trotsky­ "this question has consequences for the Ca­
ist group in western Canada.15 nadian situation, which I'm not authorized
In August 1934 the Canadian Trotskyists to discuss officially." However, he was au-

1 Canada 145
1
thorized by the tendency in the U.S. party merger of a number of provincial labor and
which was opposed to entrism to find out socialist parties and farmers' groups. Among
from Trotsky exactly why he favored the the labor parties were the British Columbian
move. Socialist Party of Canada, the Alberta Do­
Their conversation ranged beyond the en­ minion Labor Party, Independent Labor par­
trism issue, and Trotsky apparently gave ties in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and
Spector and his colleague some observations Manitoba and the Labor Conference of On­
and suggestions with regard to the Canadian tario. The United Farmers of Alberta, Sas­
movement. He particularly stressed the katchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario also
need to approach the country's fanners, po­ joined the c c f .22 Kornberg and Clarke have
litically, only after having established a noted that "as a vehicle of political protest
solid base among the urban workers, and he the party quickly claimed the support of
urged the importance of work among many of the groups (principally farmers and
women and youth.20 workers) who had been attracted to the Pro­
gressive Party in the 1920s." They added
that "although not able to effect dramatic
The First Entrist Experiment
electoral breakthroughs in national politics,
As Maurice Spector rightly judged, the entry the party established itself as a preeminent
of the U.S. Trotskyists into the Socialist feature on the political landscape."23
Party did have serious implications for their In pursuit of the general policy of the in­
comrades north of the border. However, ternational Trotskyist movement, the
there were apparently factors within the Ca­ Workers Party was liquidated into the c c f .
nadian Trotskyist movement which were The British Columbia group entered the c c f
impelling it to follow the advice that in 1936, and in the following year the local
Trotsky had given to his French and U.S. branches in Ontario and other provinces
followers. went into the c c f . The Trotskyist Youth
Many years later, Ross Dowson noted that also entered their c c f counterpart in 1936.24
"the growth of the organization was based The initiation of entrism immediately
not on experienced revolutionists who had caused havoc in the ranks of Canadian
come through years of struggle in the Stalin- Trotskyists. The move had only been ap­
ized c p but on new recruits to Marxism. The proved by an extremely narrow majority and
difference in ideological maturity between some of the minority refused for more than
the leading two or three comrades and the a year to enter the c c f . Probably more disas­
membership was vast and great responsibili­ trous, MacDonald, who had supported en­
ties were thrown on the leadership. . . . try, and some of the other original leaders,
Without material resources it retained a soon dropped out of the movement.25
paid functionary only at occasional periods. The Trotskyites within the c c f organized
Its press, The Vanguard, appeared irregu­ the Socialist Policy Group ( s p g ), which put
larly. No national tour was made by any out a mimeographed publication, Socialist
leading comrade to consolidate the contacts Action. Many years later, that periodical
gained across Canada. A national conven­ was reported to have "addressed the major
tion was never held."11 questions confronting the Canadian work­
By the latter half of the 1 9 30s there existed ing class—including she question of the
in Canada a party in which the Trotskyists coming imperialist war—from a principled
might carry out the entrist tactic. This was Trotskyist programmatic standpoint. . . .
the Cooperative Commonwealth Federa­ The October 1938 issue of Socialist Action
tion ( c c f ), which was established in 1932 in contained an 'Action Program for the c c f '
a convention at Calgary as the result of a which called for 'Not a Cent, Not a Man, for

146 Canada
 Imperialist War,' 'Towards a United States many years later, "the war hysteria had seri­
of Socialist America/ 'Expropriate the 50 ous repercussions on our movement. .. .
Big Shots,' and 'Towards a Workers National During the war a handful of comrades in
Guard/ along with many other class-strug­ Toronto managed to maintain connections
gle demands."26 and publish 3 or 4 issues of an illegal mimeo­
The Founding Congress of the Fourth In­ graphed paper. In 1 94a an organizational trip
ternational passed a special "Resolution on was made across Canada and connections
the Work of the Canadian Section," which were renewed with a few scattered contacts
had previously been adopted by the All- and the old centres of Montreal and Van­
American and Pacific Preconference. The couver."29
document stated that it "endorses the action It was later argued that "The Socialist
taken by the Canadian comrades in forming Workers League. . . virtually ceased to exist
an open Socialist Policy Group in the c c f and what remained turned once again to the
on the basis of a declaration on the war ques­ c c f , this time for shelter against repres­

tion." It went on to argue that "while our sion."30 In at least some cases Trotskyists
general line is oriented toward an early es­ organized factory clubs of the c c f .31
tablishment of an independent Canadian In November 1944 a national conference
section of the Fourth International, this does of Canadian Trotskyists was held in Mon­
not preclude the possibility of continued treal, attended by delegates from Prince Ru­
work in the c c f , in provinces where the pert, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Mon­
objective conditions are more favorable than treal, and the International Secretariat. A
in Ontario." resolution was adopted "to realize in short­
The Fourth International instructed its est possible time the formation of the Cana­
Canadian members "to create a thorough dian section of the Fourth International."
line of demarcation between the reformists, The meeting decided that "the building of
centrists, and themselves on every impor­ the revolutionary party at this period re­
tant national and international problem." It quires the open and independent existence
also warned that they might "prematurely" of the Canadian section of the Fourth Inter­
be expelled from the c c f and ought to pre­ national." However, it also recognized that
pare for further operation as an independent it did not "shut its eyes to the varying oppor­
organization. It urged "preparatory steps for tunities that present themselves in different
the new activity of this group should be sections of the c c f . " 32
taken even now/' and that particular atten­ On June 1, 1945, the first issue of a new
tion ought to be paid to working among Trotskyist periodical, Labor Challenge, ap­
members of the Stalinist party.27 peared. It was identified as the official organ
Soon after publication of "An Action Pro­ of the Socialist Workers League.33
gram for the c c f " the Trotskyists in Ontario
were expelled from the Cooperative Com­
The Revolutionary Workers Party
monwealth Federation. However, the Brit­
ish Columbia Trotskyites were not expelled The principal figure to emerge in the leader­
and continued to work within the c c f . The ship of Canadian Trotskyism during and just
Trotskyists who had been thrown out of the after World War II was Ross Dowson. Dow­
c c f established a new group, the Socialist son was a strong advocate of the Trotskyists
Workers League, in January I939.28 operating independently, outside the c c f .
Of course, World War II began only seven He wrote in July 1946 that "conditions were
months after formation of the Socialist never so favorable as they are today for the
Workers League. The league suffered consid­ unfurling of the banner of Trotskyism. Our
erably from the war. As Ross Dowson wrote past year's activities curbed and hemmed in

Canada 147
as they were, give us a foretaste of what achieving its greatest federal electoral suc­
lies ahead for us as an independent political cess in 1945 (capturing twenty-eight seats),
party. Released from the restrictions im­ the c c f ' s dream of establishing a socialist
posed by a c c f orientation, our movement commonwealth through the mechanism of
will sink its influence deep into the unions parliamentary democracy slowly faded.
and rally around its banner the most mili­ Postwar prosperity, the cold war, and con­
tant and advanced elements of the Canadian tinuing frustration at the ballot box led the
working class."3* party to moderate its ideological pronounce­
There was some opposition to indepen­ ments and electoral platforms. . . ."37
dent action within the Trotskyist ranks, par­ Undoubtedly the factors curbing the
ticularly in British Columbia. However, in expansion of the reformist c c f were having
1 946 the Revolutionary Workers Party (r w p ) an even more drastic impact on the possibil­
was established; it existed for about half a ities of growth of the revolutionary r w p . As
decade. early as 1950 the r w p was discussing the
This new Trotskyist party was estab­ possibility of concentrating its efforts on
lished right at the height of the wave of working within the c c f , where at least there
postwar strike activity. With relatively were a number of politically active workers.
modest results the Trotskyists tried to take The r w p received encouragement from
advantage of that labor militancy to estab­ the International Secretariat (is) of the
lish a base in the organized labor movement. Fourth International for a new entrist ex­
They also took part on a limited scale in periment. On March 1, 1950, the is sent a
electoral activity. In 1948 they ran Dowson letter to the Revolutionary Workers Party
as candidate for mayor of Toronto, and he suggesting that this time entrism should
was endorsed by two locals of the United be "something of a long duration, starting
Automobile Workers and received twenty from the present level of political conscious­
percent of the total vote. The slogan of the ness in the c c f , which is most likely very
campaign was "Vote Dowson, Vote for a lo w ... ."3S
Labor Mayor, Vote for the TROTSKYIST The Revolutionary Workers Party con­
Candidate."35 vention of 1951 adopted a document enti­
In spite of their considerable activity the tled "The c c f —Our Tasks and Perspec­
Revolutionary Workers Party remained a tives/' which presaged the new entrist
very small organization. Its principal cen­ tactic. It argued that "the c c f under the next
ters continued to be Toronto and its envi­ upsurge will embrace the class. The class
rons and Vancouver in British Columbia. At will go there and nowhere else; there it will
best, it had only scattered members else­ undergo the experience of reformism—and
where. It continued to publish Labor Chal­ there, given the perspective of world and
lenge as its official organ.36 Canadian capitalism, will move forward to
the revolutionary solution of its problems."
In 1952 the r w p was officially dissolved,
The Second Entrist Experiment
with its members being instructed to enter
By the beginning of the 1950s the Canadian the Cooperative Commonwealth Feder­
Trotskyists were again thinking in terms of ation39
trying to work principally within the ranks About the same time that the Canadian
of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federa­ Trotskyites were reentering the c c f , the
tion. This was not because of either expan­ split was developing in the Fourth Interna­
sion of the c c f or the growth of a leftist tional between its secretary, Michel Pablo
trend in that party. Quite the contrary. As (Raptis), and his supporters who backed an
Komberg and Clarke have noted, "after "entrism sui generis" on a world scale, on

148 Canada
the one hand, and opponents of that policy, and another member, Stanton, for one of the
on the other. Although the strategy being two vacancies in the city's board of control.
followed by the Canadians might have been The two Trotskyist candidates were
supposed to have generated sympathy strongly attacked by Ford Brand, acting
among them for the Pablo position, they mayor, a c c f candidate for reelection to the
were apparently under pressure from the So­ board of control. For this purpose he particu­
cialist Workers Party in the United States larly used an address before the Ontario Fed­
to line up against Pablo and in support of eration of Labor. The c c f publicly dissoci­
the new International Committee faction. ated itself from the Dowson-Stanton
Some s w p leaders, including George No- candidacies. The Trotskyist mayoral nomi­
vack, conferred with Ross Dowson at the nee received 2,374 votes and Stanton 3,863.
time/0 This compared with the 23,645 votes Dow­
The Canadians did line up with the Inter­ son had received in 1949 when he ran for
national Committee, which provoked a split mayor on the r w p ticket.
in their ranks, the principal pro-Pablo lead­ Some 40,000 copies of the first issue of
ers being Fitzgerald and McAlpine. Their Workers Vanguard were distributed during
faction soon disappeared.41 the campaign. Afterward it was reported in
In spite of alignment of the Canadian The Militant of New York that "the Social­
Trotskyists with the anti-Pablo faction of ist Educational League, armed with the
the f i , some of their U.S. counterparts seem Workers Vanguard, is preparing to capital­
to have continued doubts about the Canadi­ ize on the excellent work done in the elec­
ans' position. U.S. Trotskyist leader Murry tion campaign."44
Weiss wrote Farrell Dobbs, national secre­
tary of the s w p on February 18,1954, that "I
The Trotskyists and the New
am convinced that Pabloism, that is real
Democratic Patty
Pabloism, has taken a deep hold in the whole
organization up there. They don't fully real­ However, events within both the trade
ize it. They think they are all united in the union movement and the c c f were prepar­
work in the c c f . And they are, but on a ing the way for still another entrist effort by
Pabloite line I'm afraid. They have become the Canadian Trotskyists. In the wake of the
infected with the terrible disease of thinking merger of the American Federation of Labor
that everything can be solved with fancy and the Congress of Industrial Organiza­
endless maneuvers in the c c f , with 'deep' tions in December 1955, their two Canadian
entry conceptions."42 affiliates, the Trades and Labor Congress
Meanwhile, the reception of the Trotsky­ and the Canadian Congress of Labor, joined
ists by the c c f leadership was anything but forces in 1956 to form the Canadian Labor
friendly. As a consequence, in the spring of Congress (c l c ). The old cio group had en­
19 s5 the Trotskyists in the Toronto area dorsed the Cooperative Commonwealth
were thrown out of the c c f once again. Federation as "labor's political arm" for
Those in the Vancouver region, however, many years. In the reunited labor movement
were able to stay within the Cooperative it pushed for the same kind of endorsement,
Commonwealth Federation until 1959.43 although on a somewhat different basis. At
The Toronto Trotskyists, upon being ex­ the 1958 convention of the new c l c a Na­
pelled from the c c f , reorganized as the So­ tional Committee for the New Party was set
cialist Educational League (s e l ) and began up jointly with the c c f . Out of it was to
to publish a new periodical, Workers Van­ emerge in 1961 the New Democratic Party
guard. In December the new s e i ran Ross (n d p ).
Dowson as candidate for mayor of Toronto, The Trotskyists expressed their strong

Canada 149
support for the launching of the new party. porters also in a number of other provinces.
Ross Dowson wrote in August i960 that For a short while it gained control of the
"we support the new labor party uncondi­ party organization in the province of New
tionally." To "participate" in the process of Brunswick. At the height of its influence the
establishing it the Trotskyists set up a new Waffle was able to get 37 percent of the vote
organization of their own. At that point in a leadership fight in which its candidate,
there existed the Socialist Educational Jim Laxer, ran against David Lewis for the
League in the Toronto region and the Social­ head of the n d p .48
ist Information Center in the Vancouver The most spectacular coup of the Trotsky­
area. They were merged to form the League ists within the Waffle took place in New
for Socialist Action |l s a ).4S Brunswick in 1971. There their members,
As had been the case in the c c f , the Trots­ particularly those of the Trotskyist youth
kyists found it difficult to function within group Young Socialists, succeeded in getting
the New Democratic Party. In 1963 most of control of the Waffle faction for a short
those identified with the League for Social­ while (in fact, winning and losing control
ist Action were thrown out of the n d p . Two twice within a few weeks), and the Waffle
years later, in 1965, the Trotskyists suc­ won control of the provincial n d p , commit­
ceeded in establishing a new group within ting it to support the nationalization of in­
the n d p , the Socialist Caucus. In 1967 dustry without compensation.
twelve of the leaders of the Socialist Caucus However, the national leadership of l s a
were expelled from the n d p by its Ontario reacted negatively to all of this. They ac­
provincial committee.4* cused the y s and l s a people of New Bruns­
The Trotskyists had their greatest—if wick of trying to split the New Democratic
fleeting—success within the New Demo­ Party there and suspended them from mem­
cratic Party during their association with bership in the l s a . Subsequently, the anti-
the much broader left wing, known as the Waffle elements won back control of the
Waffle, between 1969 and 1973. Komberg n d p in the province.49

and Clarke have commented concerning the Undoubtedly the national leadership of
Waffle that "the n d p ' s ideological stance has the l s a had mixed motives in taking its ac­
been subjected to vigorous criticism from tion. On the one hand, they must have
within by a number of academics and intel­ feared the impact of the New Brunswick
lectuals [dubbed the 'Waffle Movement'). events on their relationship both with the
The Waffle gained strength quickly during Waffle elsewhere and with the n d p in gen­
the late 1960s and early 1970s, articulating eral. On the other, the New Brunswick y s
a platform which called for a return to basic leaders tended to be very critical of the na­
socialist principles and greatly expanded tional leadership, and to side internationally
emphasis on Canadian nationalism. It was with the International Majority Tendency
the latter that seemed to have particular res­ in the United Secretariat, to which the na­
onance. Essentially, the Waffle contended tional l s a leadership was opposed.
that nationalism, expressed through such In Ontario a split developed within the
traditional socialist programs as the nation­ Waffle group in 1972. A more radical minor­
alization of industry as well as by a vastly ity sought to have the group challenge more
expanded Canadian content in the mass me­ strongly the leadership of the n d p in the
dia and other vehicles of popular culture, province, particularly that of Stephen Lewis,
was the precondition for building an inde­ son of the national n d p leader David Lewis.
pendent socialist Canada."47 In that situation the l s a people tended to
The Waffle movement was particularly side with the more moderate group and to
strong in the Ontario region but had sup­ counsel caution, even though some of the

150 Canada
more left-wing Waffle elements apparently 'Waffle' caucus in the New Democratic
had expressed considerable interest in and Party___ "54
friendliness toward Trotskyist ideas.S0 The eleventh convention of the l s a , meet­
The more radical group of Waffle with­ ing in Toronto in December 1975, was at­
drew from the n d p in 1972 to form the tended by 187 delegates and observers.
Movement for an Independent Socialist Among the latter were groups from the So­
Canada.51 Komberg and Clarke have noted cialist Workers Party of the United States,
that the rest of the Waffle forces in Ontario as well as from two other Trotskyist organi­
were expelled in 1973/ and that "although zations in Canada. The major discussion of
disbanded as an organizational element this convention centered on the growing cri­
within the party, ex-Waffle workers and sis of the Canadian economy and the issue
sympathizers have continued to argue that of Quebec nationalism. There were also re­
neither the n d p nor Canada will achieve its ports delivered and adopted on the Portu­
potential until the present course of ideolog­ guese revolution and on the growth of the
ical moderation is abandoned."54 United Secretariat.55
One serious casualty for the Trotskyists Another kind of national meeting orga­
from this association with the Waffle was nized by the l s a was a Socialist Educational
the loss of Ross Dowson from the move­ Conference. One was held in August 1971
ment. He left in 1973 to establish his own at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and
Socialist League, basically because he did was attended by nearly 45 o people. Kate Ald-
not think that the Trotskyists recognized erdice wrote in the l s a periodical Labor
sufficiently the need for stressing Canadian Challenge about this meeting that "the 427
nationalism.53 ...... registered participants spent a total of some
seventy-one hours listening to lectures and
classes, participating in panels and work­
Other Activities of the lsa
shop discussions! Besides that, of course,
The Canadian Trotskyists in the League for there were many hours of informal discus­
Socialist Action engaged in more activities sions. For five days, the University of Water­
than just work within the n d p : they held loo became a real center of learning."
periodic national meetings and carried out Among those giving lectures were Ross
campaigns on a number of issues and among Dowson, executive secretary of the l s a ,
different elements of the populace. George Novack and Evelyn Reed of the s w p
Of considerable importance were their of the United States, and Sean Kenny, "a
regular national conventions, preceded by leader of the Irish republican movement."56
considerable preliminary discussion among Another kind of "educational" activity of
the l s a ' s local groups of the issues to be the l s a was the occasional scheduling of
debated. The 1970 convention, held in To­ speaking tours for well-known foreign
ronto, was reported to have been " the largest Trotskyists. Late in 1970 Emest Mandel
assembly ever held by Canadian Trotsky­ toured Canada, speaking in Vancouver, Sas­
ists." Delegates were present from thirteen katoon, Winnipeg, Brandon, Toronto, Ham­
branches, eight more than had been present ilton, Montreal, and Peterborough. He spoke
at the 1968 national meeting, since when both on college and university campuses
the membership had reportedly increased by and at meetings organized by the l s a and
thirty-five percent. It was reported that its youth group, Young Socialists/Ligue des
"there were three other major areas of dis­ Jeunes Socialisi.es.57 In January 1972 Tariq
cussion: the growth of separatist sentiment, Ali, the Pakistani leader of the British u s e c
the women's liberation movement, and the affiliate, also toured, speaking particularly
development of a left wing known as the on the Bangladesh problem.58

Canada 151
i

As was true with their counterparts else­ nationalist movement and as a consequence
where the Canadian Trotskyists were very for the first time built a substantial branch
active in the radical student movement of in that province. In Quebec the l s a used the
the late 1960s and early 1970s. When a stu­ name Ligue Socialiste Ouvriere ( l s o ) and
dent strike closed twenty-two of the twenty- soon after its establishment in 1964 the l s o
five Quebec colleges and universities in Oc­ began publishing a periodical La Lutte Ou­
tober 1968, it was reported that "another vriere, which in late 1969 became a monthly
important development has been the dra­ newspaper.62
matic growth of the influence and prestige Although supporting the movement for
of the Ligue des Jeunes Socialistes___Mem­ separation of Quebec from Canada, the l s a
bers of the l j s played an effective role in did not support the Parti Qu£b£cois, the
certain key colleges and schools. Its bulletin principal party which emerged in support
Jeune Guarde was the only publication ad­ of that idea and which won control of the
vancing the demand for a generalized occu­ provincial government in 1976. The posi­
pation strike across the province to support tion of the l s o was put forward at the time
the students' demands for a second French of the 1970 provincial elections, when it ran
university, free education, and an adequate one candidate, 2 3-year old Manon Lfeger, for
living wage for students." Right after this the assembly.
strike, the ljs ran its principal leader, Michel Phil Coumeyeur wrote at the time that
Mill, in a byelection in Montreal against the "the l s o program—for a free and French and
provincial minister of education.59 socialist Quebec—pointed to the necessity
Early in 1973 when there were sizable cut­ of independent political action through the
backs threatened in university budgets in formation of a mass labor party as the road
both Quebec and Ontario, the Young Social- to Quebec's national and social liberation.
ists/Ljs was very active in student protests. The l s o ' s call for a labor party put its cam­
It was reported that the University of Sher­ paign in sharp conflict with every other ten­
brooke students won a strike, l js playing dency on the left—most importantly the la­
an important role in the leadership of the bor leadership, who were capitulating to the
struggle. In the case of Trent University in ground swell of support for the Parti Qu6-
Ontario, the student council was led by the b£cois, a 'bourgeois nationalist p arty.'"
Young Socialists and it led demonstrations Courmeyer added that "the l s o demanded
against the cutbacks.60 the right of self-determination for the
Although principally operating in n d p Quebecois, using the campaign to infuse a
electoral politics, the League for Socialist socialist perspective into the national
Action sometimes ran its own nominees in struggle."63
general elections. One instance was the race Early in 1972 in "An Open Letter to Left
for mayor and council in Toronto in Decem­ Wing of Parti Quebecois," Alain Boinor, one
ber 1969. With the n d p not running a candi­ of the principal l s o leaders, wrote of the
date for mayor or nominees for all of the Parti Qu6bdcois that "the goal of its 'sover­
council posts, the l s a put up John Riddell, eignty' and procapitalist program, far from
its Toronto organizer for mayor, and Joan leading forward the struggle for national
Newbigging, Richard Fidler (editor of their emancipation, is only to reinforce and ex­
periodical Workers Vanguard), Harry Stone, tend the privileges of local exploiters with­
a printer, and Marlie Ritchie, "an antiwar out, for all that, challenging the dominant
activist" for council. Workers Vanguard position of foreign, Anglo-Canadian, and
proclaimed that "this is by far the biggest American imperialism. The p q ' s plan will
election effort ever launched by the l s a or be carried out with the support of imperial­
y s in Canada."61 ism, not behind its back; hence the need to
The l s a strongly supported the Quebec appear 'traditional,' 'respectable,' and above

152 Canada
all capable of maintaining capitalist 'law verts to French-Canadian Quebec national­
and order.' Trying to turn the p q into an ism than the l s a / l s o as a whole. This con­
instrument for liberation is like trying to troversy was said to have begun as early as
turn a boss into a worker. .. ."64 196s-67
When the Parti QuebScois won the 1976 By August 197 r it became clear that there
provincial election Art Young wrote in the also existed the beginning of an opposi­
l s a periodical Labor Challenge that "The tionist movement in the English-speaking
Parti Qu6b6cois is committed to defend big part of the l s a , particularly in the Maritime
business rule, to oppose the rights of the Provinces and most especially in New
Labor movement, and to oppose the key de­ Brunswick. These came to a head in a ple­
mands of the Quebecois for national rights. num of the Young Socialists, where the na­
Whatever concessions the p q government tional leadership criticized the activities of
may be forced to grant, the masses of Que­ the l s a / y s New Brunswick branch in han­
becois will have to face the reality of the dling relations with the Waffle Caucus and
Parti Quebecois—a party firmly opposed to the n d p generally in the province; and the
their rights and their demands."65 New Brunswick y s representatives pre­
When the p q government introduced a bill sented some criticisms of l s a national pol­
to limit instruction in English in the provin­ icy, particularly with regard to student and
cial schools only to children from families feminist activities.
whose native language was English, the l s o The upshot of this situation was the "sus­
submitted a much more radical proposal to pension" of the l s a / y s units in the Mari-
the provincial parliament in which they ar­ times. A few months later, early in 1972,
gued that "as the only suitable solution to these groups joined with Michel Mill and
this dilemma, the l s o calls for establishing his Quebec following to form the United
a single public school system, secular and Minority Tendency.6®
French, for everyone. .. ,"6<s At that point the International Majority
Tendency of the United Secretariat began
to become involved directly in the growing
Split and Reunification of the lsa / lso
factional fight in Canada. During a tour of
In the 19 70s the Canadian Trotskyists un­ Canada in January 1972 by Tariq Ali, a
derwent an important split, followed after strong supporter of the i m t in the British
about five years by a partial reunification of section, he "succeeded in hardening up the
its forces. Although there were some indige­ Maritime group and sowing the seeds of op­
nous reasons for it, this division was position to the l s a majority elsewhere." As
strongly influenced by the factional dispute a consequence, an open factional struggle
then underway in the United Secretariat of began at the May 1972 plenum of the Young
the Fourth International between the Euro­ Socialists. The Unified Minority Tendency
pean-dominated International Majority by then had representatives at the plenum
Tendency (i m t ), and the largely swp-led Le­ from Montreal, Halifax, Toronto, and St.
ninist Trotskyist Faction ( l t f ). The majority Catharines. This same plenum went on rec­
of the Canadian movement was aligned ord, with the approval of the l s a , stressing
with the s w p and l t f , those who broke away strong support for expressions of Anglo-Ca-
with the i m t . nadian nationalism vis-a-vis the United
The earliest evidence of dissidences States. This aroused the opposition of the y s
within the l s a / l s o has been traced to dis­ Executive Council members from Win­
agreements of some of the Quebecois with nipeg.69
the positions and policies of the organiza­ The Winnipeg contingent wrote Tariq Ali
tion. Elements led by Michel Mill were asking for advice, particularly about what
much earlier and more enthusiastic con­ relations they should have with the Unified

Canada 153
 Minority Tendency. Ali replied, "I have of the programs and policies of the League
been mainly in touch with the Halifax and for Socialist Action. Notably, it claimed that
Toronto minority comrades and a number in their general espousal of feminism the
of them attended our last convention so we l s a leadership had adopted "anti-Bolshe­

discussed in detail with them . . . we are vik" positions through failure to stress the
convinced that they represent a real hope class nature of the discrimination and ex­
for a breakthrough for the Fourth Interna­ ploitation faced by women.72
tional in North America. We have no funda­ The r c t also came out strongly against
mental disagreements with them and would l s a policy toward the New Democratic

recommend very strongly that you com­ Party. It condemned failure of the l s a leader­
rades make arrangements to meet and dis­ ship to talk about the "social democratic"
cuss with them." nature of the n d p , the l s a ' s declarations of
Perhaps as a consequence of this advice "unconditional support" for the n d p , and i t s
the Unified Minority Tendency and the failure "to explain to the working class that
Winnipeg Communist Tendency merged in this party is their enemy, and that a new one
August 1972 to form the Revolutionary must be built."73
Communist Tendency ( r c t ). By this time The factional struggle reached crisis pro­
the Quebec contingent led by Mill had with­ portions in the middle months of 1973. Soon
drawn from the l s a / l s o to establish the sep­ after the l s a convention the r c t faction was
arate Groupe Marxiste Revolutionnaire. expelled. In October it joined with two other
Subsequently, the r c t won control of the groups to establish the Revolutionary Marx­
Peterborough local of the Young Socialists ist Group ( r m g ) . The r c t ' s partners in estab­
and the support of a number of the l s a ' s lishing the r m g were the Old Mole Group,
activities in the New Democratic Party in which was New Left in origin, and the Red
the Toronto area.70 Circle Group, organized by a group of left-
The influence of the u s e c International wing n d p activists.74
Majority Tendency's position that "a new The Revolutionary Marxist Group be­
mass vanguard" had emerged in the indus­ came associated with the International Ma­
trialized capitalist countries since the late jority Tendency of the United Secretariat.
1960s was probably reflected in a document After the 1974 Congress of the u s e c , it was
submitted by the r c t to the April 1973 con­ accepted as a "sympathizing" group of the
vention of the l s a . It argued that "The tactic United Secretariat.
for the construction of the revolutionary or­ During this split in the Canadian forces
ganization in English Canada at the present of the United Secretariat the groups contin­
time is 'from the periphery to the center.' ued to publish English and French periodi­
That is, the revolutionary organization will cals. Labor Challenge, put out in Toronto by
find the widest audience for its politics and the l s a , 75 had its counterpart in Old Mole,
its actions in milieux external to the orga­ English organ of the Revolutionary Marxist
nized workers' movement. It must seek to Group, also issued in Toronto.76In Montreal
utilize this advantage to recruit to itself and the l s a / l s o published the French-language
mobilize these social forces for its own au­ Liberation, and the Groupe Marxiste Rdvo-
tonomous interventions, seeking to alter lutionnaire issued Combat Socialiste.77
the relationship of forces between itself and This split lasted about four years. By early
the labor bureaucracy, becoming a pole of 1977 it was reported that "all three groups
attraction for radicalizing workers, and, of Fourth Internationalists have been dis­
wherever possible, intervening directly in cussing the possibility of reunifying revolu­
the struggles of the proletariat."71 tionary Marxist forces in both. Canada and
The r c t had criticisms of several aspects Quebec. . . . On the basis of these discus­

154 Canada
sions, the Central Committee of the r m g , r w l 's new industrial union fractions."
which met from December 29 to January 2, Some sixty people participated, including
unanimously agreed that a principled basis members of the steel, auto, machinist, and
existed for reunifying Trotskyist forces."78 woodworkers' unions. It was reported at this
In preparation for this unification a na­ meeting that 28 percent of the r w l members
tionwide joint tour across Canada was orga­ had industrial jobs, while 8 percent of others
nized for Suzanne Chabot of the l s a / l s o and were "actively looking for jobs in industry."
Jean Paul Pelletier of the Groupe Marxiste The meeting focused on the role of the in­
Rdvolutionnaire. They talked particularly dustrial unions in the New Democratic
about "the struggle for self-determination Party and the chances that successful pene­
in Quebec," but undoubtedly also discussed tration in those unions would give the
the impending unification of the u s e c forces Trotskyists a chance to augment their own
in Canada with the secondary leaders and influence in the n d p .84
rank and file members of the three groups At least some of the r w l people continued
involved/9 to work principally within the New Demo­
cratic Party. This was reflected in the fact
that the group's French-language publica­
The Revolutionary Workers League
tion, Lutte Ouvriere, published in June 1984
In August 1977 the unification was an article on the change in leadership of the
achieved.80 As a consequence the Revolu­ British Columbia branch of n d p by Fred Nel­
tionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvriere son, who was identified as a "member of the
Revolutionnaire (r w l / l o r ) was established. n d p in Vancouver-East and of the Local r -

Two new periodicals appeared as organs of 354 of the International Woodworkers of

the r w l / l o r , the English-language Socialist America."85
Voice and Lutte Ouvriere in Montreal.81 The r w l engaged in electoral activity as
A bit more than a year after its establish­ its predecessors had done. For instance, in
ment the r w l resolved to follow the general the October 1977 provincial election in
policy then being pushed by the United Sec­ Manitoba it generally gave critical support
retariat of "turning towards industry." This to the New Democratic Party (which was
decision was taken at a Central Committee then in power in the province), but also ran
meeting in January 1979 and was confirmed one candidate of its own in a Winnipeg dis­
by the League's convention in April.82 trict.86In the second federal general election
Jim Upton, writing in Socialist Voice, ex­ of 1979 it also generally supported the n d p
plained this policy, saying that "in shifting in English Canada, and in Quebec tried to
its attention to industrial workers, the r w l get the labor movement to name its own
will not be turning its back on the struggles candidates. However, the r w l also ran four
of women, Quebecois, lesbians and gays, of its own nominees, one each in Vancouver
and other oppressed layers of society. These and Toronto, and two in Quebec.87
struggles, along with the need for solidarity In his political report to the December
with public sector workers, will be taken 1983 convention of the r w l / l o r , which was
into the industrial unions in order to bring unanimously approved by the meeting,
the decisive weight of industrial workers Steve Penner commented on the positions
behind them. This will strengthen the r w l ' s the party would take in the election sched­
ability to provide leadership in struggles uled for 1984. He said that "our federal elec­
outside of the industrial working class as tion campaign will put forward a socialist
well as within it."83 alternative, a strategy to unite workers in
In July the Revolutionary Workers League English Canada and Quebec in a common
held "the first cross-country gathering of the political struggle for government. Over the

Canada 155
next few months we will discuss in more The rw l/ lor and the swp of the
detail our overall perspective for this cam­ United States
paign, including the question of running
r w l candidates in English Canada and Que­ As we have noted in another chapter, the
bec. . . . Our goal in this campaign is not leadership of the Canadian section of the
to put forward the r w l as a governmental United Secretariat was accused by some of
alternative today. Rather, it will contribute those who were purged from the Socialist
to the much-needed discussion in the work­ Workers Party of the United States between
ing class on how its mass organizations can 1982 and 1984 of having "marched lock-step
wage this struggle for power/'88 with Bames along the road to revision­
When the 1984 election actually took ism ."93 Although this may be rhetorical ex­
place the r w l ran five candidates of its own aggeration, it is clear that the.leadership of
in Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. the r w p / l o r sided with the leadership of
Elsewhere it urged its supporters to vote for the s w p both in its quarrel with dissidents
nominees of the New Democratic Party. In within the s w p ranks and in the s w p ' s grow­
Quebec it stressed the need for a new labor ing dissidence with the United Secretariat.
party based on the independent Quebec- Such coincidence of positions was cer­
based unions, but urged that pending the tainly reflected in the fact that the s w p and
formation of such a party the workers the r w l / l o r undertook in 1983 to begin
should vote for the n d p .8* joint publication of a "theoretical" periodi­
The Revolutionary Workers League con­ cal, New International, which reflected the
tinued to support the cause of Quebec's sep­ thinking of the Jack Bames leadership of the
aration from Canada. It greeted with great Socialist Workers Party.94 It was also re­
enthusiasm the call of the Central Council flected in the positions on specific issues of
of the Confederation of National Trade the Canadian group.
Unions, the Quebec trade union group, for Like the s w p , the r w l / l o r put central em­
"an independent and socialist Quebec. u9° It phasis on the importance of the role of the
also denounced the plans of the Parti Que­ revolutionary movements of the Caribbean
becois government to call a referendum on and Central America. Thus, the June n ,
the issue of separation.91 1984, issue of Lutte Ouvriere devoted a page
The general orientation of the r w l / l o r and a half of its eight pages to a speech by
was put forth in Steve Penner's political re­ Fidel Castro. Another half-page was devoted
port to the organization's December 1983 to developments in Nicaragua. Similarly,
convention. He said that "we will center our the April 23, 1984, issue devoted a quarter
propaganda on the most fundamental issues of its space to Nicaragua.
facing our class: our programmatic alterna­ For its part, the Socialist Workers Party
tive to unemployment, concessions, and gave very extensive attention to the rela­
protectionism, including those immediate tively small Canadian u s e c affiliate i n its
demands that can best promote labor's own publications. Thus, Intercontinental
fightback. The need for workers in English Press published virtually in full, over three
Canada to defend Quebec's national rights issues, the political report to the r w l / l o r 's
and to forge a fighting alliance against the December 1983 convention.95
federal government. The importance of a There were elements-ayithin the Canadian
fight for working-class policies inside the u s e c affiliate who were not in sympathy

n d p in English Canada and for the construc­ with its new orientation, and were more or
tion of a labor party in Quebec. The urgency less in accord with the majority orientation
for labor to mobilize against imperialism's of the United Secretariat. One of these was
war in Central America. The fight for wom­ Gauche Socialiste, established in Quebec in
en's rights."91 1983. It published a periodical of that name,

156 Canada
which proclaimed that "Gauche Socialiste delegates would be part of .the Alliance.100
struggles for the independence of Quebec, The Toronto convention adopted docu­
for socialism and for the liberation of ments on "a Statement of Principles, Basis
women. The socialism which we defend is of Unity, Political Resolution, Norms and
a democratic socialism and that will be real Organization . . . Tasks and Perspectives,
only when it shows that the oppression of and a Constitution." It also elected a Na­
women belongs to the past."96 tional Committee and resolved to give par­
Gauche Socialiste held its first regular ticular preeminence to campaigns in favor
congress in October 1984. The principal doc­ of legalized abortion and against U.S. policy
uments for discussion were, "Contributions in Central America. It resolved to seek the
on the Fourth International/' "The Political earliest possible unity with Gauche Social­
Situation, Our Program of Action and Our iste of Quebec, and it was reported that
Task," "Women's Struggles and the Struggle Gauche Socialiste also favored unity. The
for Socialism," and "Which Internation­ convention decided to publish a regular peri­
alism, Which International?"97 odical, Socialist Challenge—for Socialist
Other dissident groups developed in En­ and Feminist Action.101
glish-speaking Canada as well. Representa­
tives of these groups came together in No­
Other Trotskyist Groups
vember 1984 at a conference in Winnipeg to
establish the Alliance for Socialist Action. In addition to the United Secretariat's affil­
It was reported that there were "participants iates in Canada other elements of Interna­
from eleven cities, spanning six provinces tional Trotskyism have also had groups
and the Northwest Territories" at the meet­ there. Most of these were offshoots of u s e c ' s
ing. Also in attendance were observers from factional struggle of the 1970s.
the Gauche Socialiste of Quebec and frater­ The oldest Canadian Trotskyist group
nal delegations from Socialist Action and outside of the United Secretariat was the
the Fourth Internationalist Tendency of the Workers League, which was established
United States. A temporary National Steer­ sometime before 1968. It was the affiliate
ing Committee "composed equally of of the Healyite International Committee of
women and men from each of the cities and the Fourth International. Unlike most other
regions represented" was elected. Plans Trotskyist groups in Canada it opposed Que­
were adopted for publication of a regular bec nationalism. It was reported in 1969 that
bulletin and for the ultimate holding of a "the Workers League has been the only orga­
national convention to establish a perma­ nization to oppose separatism and call upon
nent organization.98 the unity of the working class against all
At the Twelfth World Congress of the sections of capitalism."101 It was also re­
United Secretariat early in 1985 both ported that "the Workers League has always
Gauche Socialiste and the Alliance for So­ insisted that this Quebec nationalism could
cialist Action were apparently represented. only end up by splitting the working class
It w a s reported that u s e c at this meeting into English and French speaking; that the
established "formal relations" with both of primary task was and remains even more so
these groups.99 today, to unite the labor movement for the
The new Alliance for Socialist Action final task of overthrowing capitalism in
held its first regular convention in Toronto Canada."103 In 1977 it was said that the
in November 1985. Delegates were present Workers League "confines its activities to
from groups in Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmon­ Montreal."104At that time it was publishing
ton and Vancouver and it was reported that a monthly periodical, Labor Press, in En­
others in Hamilton, Saskatoon, Calgary and glish and French, which was printed in the
Moose Jaw which had not been able to send United States.105

1
t Canada 157
 The Canadian Workers League was also The Canadian Spartacists suffered a small
opposed to the Canadian nationalism of the split in 1982 when a group broke away to
Anglophone part of the country. This was form the External Tendency of the Trotsky­
made clear at the time of the decision of the ist League. This group, whose exact position
Canadian locals of the United Auto Workers on specific issues remains somewhat ob­
late in 1 984 to break away to form a separate scure at least to one from outside the Sparta­
Canadian Auto Workers Union. At that cist ranks, had counterparts in the United
time the Canadian and United States Work­ States and Germany.114
ers Leagues issued a joint statement: "We The International Socialist tendency in
oppose any concession to the poison of chau­ International Trotskyism was established in
vinism, whether American or Canadian. We Canada by a group of left Waffle members
are uncompromising revolutionary, interna­ from the New Democratic Party. The Inde­
tionalists. In the struggle against the danger pendent Socialists were organized in Febru­
of fratricidal struggle between Canadian and ary 1975 and at the time of the establish­
U.S. auto workers, the decisive task ahead ment of the group it was said to be "a
is the building of factions of the Workers revolutionary response to the breakdown of
League inside the u a w . We urge all auto 'left nationalist' politics in Canada." This
workers, in Canada and the United States, statement added that "only a political strat­
to fight the planned split in the u a w , and to egy based on working class revolution and
join the Workers League and build this new international socialism could hope to chal­
revolutionary leadership."106 lenge American imperialism at its roots.. . .
The affiliate of the Lambertist faction of This situation offers the Independent Social­
International Trotskyism was the Groupe ists the possibility to participate in building
Socialiste des Travailleurs of Quebec ( g s t q ). a rank and file opposition movement in the
It was established in 1973 soon after the trade unions.. . . This .. . will lay the basis
split between Healyites and Lambertists in for the construction of a revolutionary
the International Committee.107 It held its workers' party in Canada."115
third congress in October 1977 in Montreal. By the early 1980s the International So­
Among those represented there were dele­ cialists {as they were called by then} were
gates of its youth group, the Rally of Youth publishing a periodical, Workers Action.116
for Socialism. At that point, the g s t q and The Canadian group was represented at a
l o r were cooperating on several levels in world meeting of the International Socialist
the labor movement and student activi­ Tendency in Great Britain in September
ties.108 In the second national election in 1984.117
197 9 the two groups endorsed each others
candidates.109
Conclusion
A group representing the international
Spartacist tendency also emerged out of the Canadian Trotskyism presents a classic ex­
factional struggle in the u s e c affiliate. That ample of one of the major problems which
tendency made its first converts shortly has faced the international movement, that
after the split in the League for Socialist of entrism. Almost from their beginning the
Action in 1973.110 In August 1974, a Bolshe- Canadian Trotskyists sought to win influ­
vik-Leninist Tendency was formed within ence within the country'^ not exceptionally
the Revolutionary Marxist Group and a few powerful Socialist Party, the c c f and subse­
months later it was expelled from the quently the n d p . Although usually seeking
r m g . " 1 Those expelled joined with an ex­ to build up the nucleus of the prescribed
isting Spartacus League group to form the "revolutionary vanguard" within these par­
Trotskyist League.112 Its monthly periodical ties, the Canadian Trotskyists never had
was Spartacist Canada.113 more than limited success in this endeavor.

158 Canada
 At least from the 1960s on, Canadian Trotskyism in Ceylon/
Trotskyism also faithfully reflected the ten­
dency of the international movement to Sri Lanka: The Rise of the
split into several different quarreling groups. Lanka Santa Samaja Party
More often than not this factionalism re­
flected or was even provoked by the schisms
taking place on an international scale. Un­
doubtedly, this penchant for quarreling
among themselves contributed to the fact
that by the middle 1980s Canadian Trots* Ceylon, which since 1972 has officially been
kyism was only a very minor factor even in called Sri Lanka, is one of the two countries
left-wing politics. in the world (Bolivia being the other) in
which Trotskyism was for a certain period
of time a significant factor in national poli­
tics. For more than forty years it had mem­
bers in the national parliament, during most
of this period it was the single most impor­
tant political element in the labor move­
ment, and on two occasions the Trotskyists
had members in the national government.
Sri Lanka is not a country which Marxist
theory would indicate as likely to be a major
center of strength of a movement such as
Trotskyism, advocating a proletarian revo­
lution. An island of 25,332 square miles lo­
cated to the south of the Indian subconti­
nent, it had a population in 1980 of
approximately fifteen million people, only
a relatively small minority of whom could
be classified as proletarians. The economy
of the country remained overwhelmingly
agricultural, the majority of the gainfully
employed people still being landholding or
sharecropping peasants.
Until 1948 Ceylon was a British colony.
However, for almost two decades before the
date of independence the British had con­
ducted an "experiment" in the island. In the
so-called Donoughmore Constitution, en­
acted in 19 31, Ceylon had been granted wide
internal self-government with the British
continuing to control only defense and for­
eign affairs, and reserving certain "extraor­
dinary" powers for emergency use. The Brit­
ish moved the island towards independence
at approximately the same time they took
that step with regard to India.
The British had been only the last of many
alien conquerors of Ceylon. The "indige­

Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 159

 nous" people of the island, the Sinhalese, munal, linguistic and religious diversity—
believe themselves to be descended from that the Trotskyist movement of Ceylon
people from north India who arrived twenty- grew and declined. These factors play major
five hundred years ago. Today, they make roles in determining the history of Trots­
up about 70 percent of the population. The kyism in the island.
second largest element, constituting some­ However, the ideas and leadership of Cey­
thing over 20 percent of the people, are the lonese and International Trotskyism also
Tamils, descended from invaders and immi­ contributed to the rise and decline of the
grants from Dravidian southern India. They movement. Because it did become a signifi­
are about equally divided between "Ceylon cant element in national politics it was al­
Tamils," whose ancestors arrived many cen­ most inevitably faced with the problems of
turies ago, and "Indian Tamils," who were revolution versus reform. This-found partic­
brought into Ceylon during the last century ular expression in controversies over the
to work on plantations and who in 1948 Trotskyists' participation in parliament,
were deprived of Ceylonese citizenship. and even more bitter disputes over the deci­
The rest of the inhabitants are descended sion first taken in 1964 to form part of a
in whole or in part from subsequent con­ government coalition in which they were
querors of the island. The Portuguese occu­ junior partners.
pied the coastal areas in 1505, were driven
out by the Dutch in 1656, and the British
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party
finally took control in 1796. Numerous Sin­
halese today have Portuguese names and
Antecedents of the LSSP
they and others are Roman Catholics, also
reflecting the Portuguese colonial past. The The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (l s s p ), which
"Burghers," Christian and with Dutch for a quarter of a century was the Ceylonese
names, are a tiny but still quite influential affiliate of the Fourth International and was
part of the population. There are few Anglo- by the mid-1980s still the largest of those
Ceylonese today, reflecting the fact that the groups in Sri Lanka claiming to be Trotsky­
British unlike their Portuguese and Dutch ist, is the oldest surviving party in the is­
predecessors generally brought their Euro­ land. It was not the first party to be estab­
pean wives and families with them and took lished in Ceylon nor the first party oriented
them back to Britain when they returned, toward the organized labor movement.
and so did not establish Ceylonese families. During the 1920s, A. E. Goonesinghe took
They did leave the Ceylonese upper classes the lead in establishing the Ceylon Labor
literate in English, the official language of Union, the country's pioneering union
colonial days and a major political issue group. He had contacts with the British la­
after independence. bor movement and participated in the Impe­
The successive conquests of Ceylon rial Labor Conference in London in 1928
largely determined the religious composi­ after which, with some aid from his British
tion of the population. Most of the Sinhalese colleagues, he established the Ceylon Trade
are Buddhists and most Tamils are Hindus. Union Congress, with twenty-two affiliated
These two religious groups are divided organizations. Goonesinghe was also the
among themselves, however, and in addi­ principal organizer of the Labor Party, proba­
tion to them there are Moslem and Chris­ bly the first political organization in Ceylon
tian minorities which cut across racial to call itself a "party."
("communal") lines.1 Goonesinghe was a Sinhalese and a rather
It was against this background of colonial militant one. As a consequence the union
history—a "developing" economy and com­ movement which also began to develop in

160 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

the late 1920s among the largely Tamil plan­ Robert Gunawardena were among the mem­
tation workers was alienated from his orga­ bers of the original group."4
nizations and established its own separate The young radicals (all from the Sinhalese
groups.2 upper classes) undertook to become in­
The trade union and political movement volved in the labor movement. They suc­
of Goonesinghe was not the breeding ground ceeded in 1932 in organizing a union at the
of the Marxist-Leninist movement in Cey­ Wellawatte Mills, with Dr. Colvin R. de
lon. On the contrary, once the young people Silva as president and Vemon Gunasekera
who were to establish the l s s p had begun as secretary. In the following year it won a
their work one of the first things they under­ long strike.5 This success provoked the first
took to accomplish was to organize a trade conflict with the established labor move­
union movement to rival that led by Goone­ ment of A. E. Goonesinghe, and Leslie
singhe and the Labor Party. Goonewardene has noted that "excepting
Trotskyism and Marxism-Leninism in the Wellawatte Mills, in this clash Mr.
general had their origins in Ceylon in a Goonesinghe was generally the victor. The
group of young men who returned home young enthusiasts learned in the hard way
after studying abroad, principally in Great that the working class does not lightly aban­
Britain, in the late 1920s and early 1930s. don its traditional leadership."6
George Lerski says of these people that But it was not their labor activities which
"they learned their socialism mainly in the first won the young Marxists widespread
classrooms of the London School of Eco­ support, but rather a symbolic anticolonia­
nomics and Social Sciences, dominated in list campaign which they undertook in
the interwar period by the fascinating per­ 1933. This was a protest organized against
sonality of Harold J. Laski. But America also the sale of "veterans' poppies" on Armistice
can claim to have influenced at least one of Day, with the proceeds from the sales going
the founding fathers of Ceylonese Trots­ to British veterans' organizations. The pro­
kyism, namely D. R. R. Gunawardena. . . . testors organized the rival sale of Suriya
He was introduced to so-called scientific so­ flowers, with the money from these sales
cialism during his studies in the late twen­ going to help Ceylonese World War I veter­
ties at the University of Wisconsin, where, ans rather than those of Britain. This Suriya
together with his Indian counterpart, Jaya- Mai Movement "was launched on the initia­
prakash Narayan, he 'received his training tive of the leftist-controlled South Colombo
in Marxism from Scott N earing.'"3 Youth League." George Lerski has noted
The returning students found their coun­ that this group was "manipulated from be­
try after 1929 suffering severely from the hind the scenes by a nucleus of convinced
Great Depression. This intensified the Socialists (Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. A. S. Wick-
growing disenchantment with British colo­ remasinghe, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie
nial control of the country which had found Goonewardene, Vemon Gunasekera, and
earlier expression in the Ceylon National the two Gunawardena brothers, Philip and
Congress, established during World War I, Robert. .. ."7
and in the growth of the early trade union Another campaign of the young Marxists
movement and the Labor Party. which gained wide attention and was to
Leslie Goonewardene has noted that "the have long-run political results for them was
group at the commencement numbered a provoked by a widespread malaria epidemic
bare half dozen. . . . But it gradually ex­ which broke out in the Kegalla and Kurune-
panded. It might be of interest today to recall gala districts in West-Central Ceylon in Oc­
that N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie tober 1934. Even official reports said that
Goonewardene, Philip Gunawardena and the very high number of fatalities from this

Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 161

epidemic was due to the widespread malnu­ these 'founding fathers' of the l s s p (most of
trition in the areas involved. them being between twenty-five and thirty
The young Marxists did not confine them­ years old) did not want an English name for
selves to denouncing government policies the organization: Sinhalese being the lan­
in this situation. They decided to go out in guage of the overwhelming majority, it was
the beleaguered region themselves and carry the Sinhalese designation that was of ut­
out relief activities. George Lerski has writ­ most importance. Thus the very name, the
ten that "Dr. A. S. Wickremasinghe, as the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, was an inno­
medical expert, took command in the coun­ vation."10
tryside while the young barrister Dr. Colvin Leslie Goonewardene has noted that "as a
R. de Silva, the political scientist Dr. N. M. matter of fact, when the Lanka Sama Samaja
Perera, and the fiery revolutionist D. R. R. Party was formed there were. no accepted
Gunawardena served as dispensary orderlies words in Sinhalese to describe the words
and distributors of necessities." Lerski 'Socialist' or 'Communist.' That is how the
added that "from these activities they word 'Samasamajaya' coined by Mr. Dally
gained long-lasting popularity as dedicated Hayawardena . . . to describe the word 'So­
social workers . . . it was later to secure cialist' came to be chosen. The new term
them parliamentary seats in the post-World had the added advantage of not being associ­
War II elections, not so much on the basis of ated with the ideas of reformism that are
their party program as on their own personal attached to the English word 'Socialist.' " Il
appeal."8 The founding convention of the l s s p
Finally, the returned radical students be­ adopted a "Manifesto," which Lerski has
gan to engage in overt political and electoral commented "resembles more the sober Fa­
activity. In 19 3 1 in the first election under bian approach than the revolutionary phi­
the new Donoughmore Constitution and losophy of full-blooded Marxists."12 Among
the first conducted under universal adult its general statements of principle was its
suffrage, one of them, Dr. A. S. Wickrema­ proclamation that the party was committed
singhe, was elected to the new State Coun­ to "the achievement of complete national
cil. Although there were a handful of other independence, the nationalization of the
opposition members of the Council Wick­ means of production, distribution and ex­
remasinghe was the only Marxist in the change, and the abolition of inequalities
body, and he gained a reputation as a bitter arising from differences of race, caste, creed
critic of the government and became "the or sex."13
target of concentrated attack by members This document also listed some twenty-
who represented the vested interests of the two "demands," which Lerski has described
Ceylonese Establishment."5' as "humanitarian cum economic." These
included such labor issues as a minimum
wage, unemployment insurance, an eight-
Establishment of the LSSP
hour day, the ending of compulsory registra­
The young Marxists decided to organize a tion of trade unions, "factory legislation to
political party in late 1936. George Lerski ensure decent working conditions," and a
has suggested that the reason for their deci­ social security system including "sick bene­
sion was the approach of elections for the fits, old-age benefits, maternity benefits." It
Second State Council. He recounted that also included issues relevant to the peas­
"On December 1 8 ,193s, some twenty deter­ antry, including free pasture lands, supply
mined intellectuals, workers, and students of seed paddy without interest, end of irriga­
formed the Ceylon Socialist (or Equality} tion payments, and "abolition of Forest
party. Oriented toward the working masses, Laws relating to removal of brushwood and

162 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 transport of timber." Finally, there were or even demagogic of the two, with N. M.
such general demands as a more progressive Perera being "a more skillful dialectician."19
income tax, reestablishment of inheritance During their first four years as parliamen­
taxes, and an end to indirect taxes.14 tarians, Gunawardena and Perera partici­
A few months after the establishment of pated in a wide variety of debates. They
the party Philip Gunawardena insisted in served on the Executive Committee of La­
the State Council that "our party is not a bor, Industry and Commerce of the Council,
Communist Party. . . . It is a party which is and there carried on agitation for unemploy­
much less militant and less demanding than ment insurance, old age pensions, an eight-
the section of the Communist or Third In­ hour day, and the end of "assisted immigra­
ternational." Lerski has said that "though tion" from India. They also worked for a
most Samasamajists refused to be identified more equitable tax system, fighting particu­
with the Stalinist Comintern, neither could larly for the progressive inheritance tax, and
■they at that time be considered to be com­ also sought unsuccessfully to get enactment
mitted followers of Trotsky's apocalyptic of an income tax and a reduction of indirect
doctrine of the permanent revolution."15 imposts.
The founding convention of the l s s p The l s s p deputies, although both had been
elected the party's new leaders. Colvin R. educated largely in British schools in Ceylon
de Silva was chosen as its president, and and in overseas universities, were particu­
Vemon Gunasekera, "another able lawyer larly concerned with the development of in­
well versed in Marxism-Leninism" was digenous schools which taught in the local
named the national secretary of the party. languages. They helped to bring about
Both of these young men were well-to-do expansion of the primary and secondary
Sinhalese.16 school systems and fought for the organiza­
tion of a full-fledged university.20
Leslie Goonewardene claimed that "a
The LSSP in the State Council
number of reforms and measures of social
One decision of the founding congress of the amelioration are directly attributable to the
lssp was that the new party should run four agitation" of the l s s p in this period. Among
candidates in the forthcoming elections for these were measures establishing a school
the State Council, the national parliament. lunch program, modifying the traditional
One was A. S. Wickremasinghe, the sitting "headman" system, and abolition of irriga­
member, elected as an independent in 19 31. tion taxes.21
The others were Philip Gunawardena, de­ Gunawardena and Perera were loyal to
scribed by George Lerski as "a popular trib­ their Marxist beliefs in opposing commu-
une"; N. M. Perera, "the party's shrewd po­ nalism, whether on the part of the Sinhalese
litical scientist"; and "the quiet but or the Tamils. They particularly denounced
effective Marxist organizer, Leslie Goone­ the efforts of the militant Sinhala Maha
wardene."17 Two of these nominees, Perera Sabha Movement, which sought a preferen­
and Gunawardena, were elected.18 tial position for the Sinhalese, and was
The two Samasamajista members of the headed by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the
State Council served for four years until minister of local affairs. George Lerski has
their removal in mid-1940 for their opposi­ commented that they "were definitely in
tion to World War II. They were both among the forefront of the opposition to chauvinis­
the most active and vocal members of the tic bigotry, which was to divide the Cey­
Island's parliament, although their tech­ lonese people so tragically two decades later.
niques were somewhat different. Philip Gu­ In particular they stood firmly against any
nawardena tended to be the more explosive discrimination toward the permanently do­

Ccylon: Rise of the LSSP 163

miciled plantation workers."22 Although most attention, in connection with the so-
opposing any further importation of Indian called "Brassgirdle incident." Mark An­
laborers for the plantations, they defended thony Lester Brassgirdle was a young Aus­
the rights of the Tamil workers who were tralian who went to work for a tea plantation
already in the island. They particularly op­ but was dismissed for siding with the work­
posed attempts to disenfranchise the so- ers in a strike. He thereupon joined the l s s p
called "Indian Tam ils/' those who had ar­ and was coopted into its executive commit­
rived in Ceylon during the twentieth tee. Soon afterwards the governor ordered
century. him deported. He went into hiding and the
The Samasamajists reiterated on every ap­ l s s p was able to protect him until he ap­

propriate occasion their party's demand for peared at a mass meeting on May 5, 1937,
the independence of Ceylon. At the same which the Comintern publication Inprecor
time they supported moves increasing Cey­ claimed was attended by 50,600 people.24
lonese control of the country's affairs. They Meanwhile, the State Council had over­
were particularly active in arguing the use whelmingly voted to condemn the govern­
of the indigenous languages—Sinhalese and ment's deportation order. Arrested at l s s p
Tamil—in the courts, local government and headquarters after the May 5 meeting, Brass­
even in the State Council itself. girdle was brought to court, where the Cey­
Gunawardena and Perera took an active lon Supreme Court vacated the order that
part in discussions of a possible new consti­ he be deported.
tution for the island. They opposed the adop­ The Brassgirdle case helped to underscore
tion of a British type parliamentary regime, the l s s p as a defender of the underdog and
favoring some modification of the State of Ceylonese national rights. George Lerski
Council system under which committees of has noted that "defeated in the State Coun­
the Council were closely involved in the cil and quashed by the Supreme Court ver­
conduct of the various cabinet ministries. dict, the Governor's hasty order of deporta­
tion turned into a smashing political victory
of the LSSP."25
The Samasamaja Labor Movement
Among the plantation workers the l s s p ' s
Given its Marxist, if not Marxist-Leninist, principal competitor was the trade union
orientation, the l s s p attempted in its early organization of the Ceylon Indian Congress,
years to establish influence in the organized a Tamil political poup. However, the l s s p
labor movement. Since they were allied to succeeded in organizing an All-Ceylon Es­
some degree in the State Council with A. E. tate Workers Union under its own leader­
Goonesinghe, they also sought for a while ship during the upsurge of plantation work­
in 1 93 6-3 7 to work with him and his follow­ ers unionization in 1939-40.16
ers in the trade unions. By the middle of In most of the unions established under
1937 this proved impossible. l s s p auspices the leading posts were held by

The Samasamajists succeeded in organiz­ the middle and upper class Samasamajist
ing a number of unions under their own leaders themselves, but there were some no­
control. These included organizations table exceptions. One of the most important
among the railroaders, and in some of the rank and file leaders to rise to prominence
country's limited number of manufacturing both in the unions and the party was G. P.
firms. They even made a beginning in estab­ Perera {no relative of N. M. Perera). Robert
lishing organizations among the plantation Kearney has said of him that
workers.13
It w a s t h e l s s p e f f o r t s a m o n g t h e e s t a t e As a worker in a cigarette factory during
o r p l a n t a t i o n w o r k e r s t h a t g a in e d t h e p a r ty the late 1930s, Perera participated in for­

164 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 mulating workers' demands and became members who were inactive were dropped
involved in collective bargaining and the from the committee. Its members were very
labor movement. At about the same time active in speaking at meetings which were
his concern with trade unionism was de­ organized in various parts of the country.
veloped, he was attracted by nationalist Among the leading speakers were Colvin R.
agitation. Through his involvement in de Silva, the party president, Leslie Goone­
the labor movement, Perera came into wardene, Philip Gunawardena, and N. M.
contact with N. M. Perera and other early Perera.19
Samasamajists. As the newly formed l s s p During the 1936-1939 period the l s s p was
was deeply concerned with the problems by no means a Trotskyist party. Its principal
of o rg a n ize d labor and also was an unin­ foreign contacts appear to have been with
hibited critic of colonial rule, G. P. Perera the Congress Socialist Party of India, with
found himself drawn toward the party, which it had "fraternal relations." An l s s p
which he soon joined. He continued his delegation attended by invitation the Indian
labor activity in the Lssp-led trade unions, National Congress session in Faizpur in
organizing and leading one notable three- 1936, and in April 1937 Kamaladevi Chat-
month strike in 1942. Later, he became a tepadyaya, a Congress Socialist Party leader,
vice president of the c f l and an officer visited Ceylon and spoke at meetings orga­
of several affiliated unions, as well as a nized in various parts of the island by the
member of the l s s p central committee.27

Party Organization Trotskyists vs. Stalinists

Meanwhile, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party During its first four and a half years the
extended its organizational activities. It Lanka Sama Samaja Party was avowedly
held its first regular national conference in Marxist but it had not clearly indicated to
December 1936 and its second one a year which branch of Marxism it adhered. As a
later. It began to issue several publications. matter of fact, it had within it a wide variety
Its official organ in Sinhalese was started in of people ranging, as one of its founders said,
July 1936 with a circulation reported at "from pale pink to various kinds of red."31
2.000 which was said to have grown to The most important of the elements repre­
20.000 by May 1937 28 sented were supporters of Leon Trotsky and
After the Brassgirdle incident the party Stalinists.
undertook a major organizational campaign Speaking of the resolutions passed at the
under the direction of Edmund Saraa- l s s p second congress, George Lerski has

rakkody. It concentrated first on Colombo commented that "no part of this anti-impe-
and the areas around it, and by the time rialist and socially radical platform indi­
of its second national conference the party cates that two years after the official launch­
membership had risen from its original 80 ing of the social movement the party
to 800. There were twenty-one branch orga­ theoreticians considered themselves al­
nizations of the party by that time. How­ ready to be the open followers of the exiled
ever, the l s s p leaders soon decided to limit Leon Trotsky." Lerski added that "it may
membership growth, fearful that too rapid have been ominous however, that there is
accretion of support might dilute the ideo­ no mention of the Soviet Union and its so­
logical purity of the organization. cialist achievements in the four resolutions
The leadership of the party consisted of dealing with international affairs."32
an eighteen-member executive committee Nevertheless, it seems clear that there
which met regularly each month. A few were well defined pro-Stalin and pro-

1 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 165

!
Trotsky elements in the leadership of the secretary of the party), K. Ramanathan, edi­
party. C. E. L. Wickremasinghe has told the tor of its Tamil language paper, W. Arlya-
writer that there was in those early years a ratne, and A. Gunasekera. At the first 1940
Stalinist group which was well recognized meeting of the executive committee they
as such.33 On the other hand, George Lerski were expelled from the party. Their demand
has said that "It is quite possible that a se­ that a new party conference be called to con­
cret 'T' (Trotsky) cell was already in control sider the issue was ignored by the majority
of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and that of the leadership.37
the very lack of any expressed approval for In November the pro-Stalinists estab­
Stalin could thus be attributed to the lished the United Socialist Party, with Dr.
'Totschweigen' tactics on the part of the S. A. Wickremasinghe as chairman and
conscientious Trotskyite leadership." He Pieter Keuneman as secretary general.38
added that "Vemon Gunasekera related in They were to remain for more than thirty
private conversation that a secret inner years joint leaders of what in 1943 became
group existed within the wider 'T' conspir­ the Communist Party. From 1940 on, the
acy circle, and that he along with five other Lanka Sama Samaja Party was clearly and
convinced Trotskyites (Dr. Colvin R. de professedly a Trotskyist organization.
Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, the two Gu­
nawardena brothers, Philip and Robert, and
Legal Suppression of the LSSP
Dr. N. M. Perera) actually prepared the po­
litical decisions for the 'T ' mainstream of The anticolonialist attitude of the Lanka
the party, almost from its beginning."34 Sama Samaja Party was certain sooner or
C. E. L. Wickremasinghe attributed the later to bring it into direct conflict with the
Trotskyist inclination of the majority of the government and the British authorities once
l s s p leadership to the influence of Philip the British Empire was engaged in war. This
Gunawardena, who from the time of his re­ was particularly the case after the defeats of
turn from studying abroad had been a strong the Allies during April and May 1940.
anti-Stalinist and saw Trotsky as the only From its inception the party had opposed
viable alternative to Stalin. The majority of Ceylonese financial contributions to the
the other leaders, Wickremasinghe said, Ceylon Defense Force and their representa­
tended to go along with Gunawardena.35 tives in the State Council argued and voted
The conflict between the two elements in against these. Basically they argued that
the party leadership came to a head during these were forces designed to maintain colo­
the first months of World War II. The anti- nial rule rather than to defend the island
Stalinist elements in the l s s p were alienated from outside attack. Once the Second World
by the Comintern's slavish endorsement of War had begun the l s s p strongly opposed
the gyrations of the u s s r just before and after Ceylonese contributions to financing new
the putbreak of the war. As a result, in De­ military installations, particularly those of
cember 1939 the l s s p executive committee, the Royal Air Force. George Lerski has com­
by 29-5, adopted a resolution to the effect mented that "Dr. Perera continued his at­
that "since the Third International has not tack on the proposed Supplementary Esti­
acted in the interests of the international mate for the Defence of Ceylon in a way that
revolutionary working-class movement, could be hardly distinguished from ordinary
while expressing its solidarity with the So­ sedition."39
viet Union, the first workers' state, the Philip Gunawardena clearly stated the
Lanka Sama Samaja Party declared that it ideological basis of the l s s p position in this
has no faith in the Third International."36 period. In the State Council on September
The five opponents of this motion were 5, 1939 he said that "this war too is for the
S. A. Wickremasinghe, M. G. Mendis (joint division and redivision of the colonies and

166 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 semi-colonies. We refuse to be a Party to any Leslie Goonewardene, was able to bring out
Imperialist War. . . . The class struggle has some publications in spite of the ban. In
refused to stop because a country is at war. April 1941 the l s s p was able to hold an un­
Therefore, Sir, on behalf of my Party, I state derground conference attended by forty-two
that we refuse to consider that the people delegates and helped to organize a wave of
of this country are at war with any people strikes in the following month. At the April
anywhere else in the world, and therefore 1941 meeting the party adopted a clearly
we refuse to participate in any Imperialist Trotskyist statement of principles.46
war."40 While incarcerated the l s s p leaders used
The l s s p position did not waver in the face their enforced "leisure" to work out in some
of the success of the German blitzkrieg in detail programs for basic changes in a num­
April and May 1940. On May 17, in arguing ber of areas, including education and agri­
against appropriation of funds for an r a f culture, which they hoped to carry out once
base, N. M. Perera asked in the State Coun­ they were able to come to power.
cil, "Might I first ask the question, whether On April 5,1942 Colvin R. de Silva, Philip
the Honorable the Chief Secretary is very Gunawardena, N. M. Perera and Edmund
serious, because the latest information is Samarakkody escaped from prison in com­
that they have practically capitulated? I do pany of one of their guards during the only
not know whether this is necessary. By the air raid that the Japanese ever made on Co­
time they get ready, the war will be over and lombo. After being hidden by the under­
there is nothing to provide for. Secondly, ground party organization for some time,
might I know whether the Royal Air Force the first three escaped to India, where they
is now retreating to the Hast because they passed the rest of the war. Samarakkody de­
make it their practice or their habit to re­ cided to remain behind to work in the l s s p
treat according to plan?"41 underground.47
The l s s p strongly opposed legislation de­
signed to give the government special pow­
The Bolshevik-Leninists
ers to limit civil liberties in case of an emer­
gency. A speech in opposition to such a Most of the principal leaders of the l s s p
measure marked the last appearance of spent the greater part of World War II in
N. M. Perera in the Council, on May 30, India. They did not give up political activity
1940.42 as a result. In April 1942 they joined with a
On June 18, 1940, the two l s s p members group of Indian colleagues to organize the
of the State Council, N. M. Perera and Philip Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India. The state­
Gunawardena were arrested along with the ment of principles of that group stated,
party's president, Colvin R. de Silva. On the "Recognizing the unity of the revolutionary
following day Edmund Samarakkody was struggle in India and Ceylon, and the need
also arrested. Leslie S. Goonewardene suc­ to build a single revolutionary party on a
ceeded in avoiding arrest.43 continental scale, the l s s p entered the Bol­
The jailing of some of its principal leaders shevik-Leninist Party of India as a constit­
did not end all activity by the l s s p . In prepa­ uent unit at the inauguration of the latter in
ration for possible illegalization the party 1942. By this act the l s s p ceased to exist
had established an underground apparatus as an independent party and its members
headed by Reggie Senanayake and Doric de adopted as their own program of action that
Souza.44 One of its first acts was to organize of the new Party. . . ,"48
a mass demonstration against the arrest of The last statement in this explanation
the party leaders, which was broken up by was to cause some trouble after the Cey­
the police.45 Although its press was sup­ lonese leaders returned home. It was par­
pressed the underground apparatus, led by tially responsible for a division in the party's

Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 167

ranks. In addition the membership of the intellectuals who were obstructing the
Ceylonese Trotskyists in an Indian organi­ expansion of the party among the working
zation proved to be a handicap with the Sin­ class." N. M. Perera and Philip and Robert
halese, who made up the majority of the Gunawardena were among the leaders of the
population of Ceylon and were more or less Bolshevik-Leninist faction; while Doric de
hostile to the Tamil population, with its Souza, Edmund Samarakkody, Bernard
origins in India.49 Soysa, and William Silva were principal
The connection between the Indian and figures in the Workers Opposition.
Ceylonese Trotskyist groups continued for The Bolshevik Leninist Party of India
some time, however. Leslie Goonewardene (b l p i ) sided with the Workers Opposition
has written that "this organizational con­ group and in a letter signed by Colvin R.
nection was to continue for some years till de Silva and Leslie Goonewatdene the bx.p i
after the transfer of power in India in 1 947 announced on October 8,1945 the expulsion
and in Ceylon in 1948, such an organiza­ of N. M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena.53
tional connection ceased to have any mean­ At first both groups ^continued to call
ing. The Ceylon party then became a di­ themselves the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.
rectly affiliated section of the Fourth After failure of an effort to reunite the two
International."50 groups, the faction recognized by the b l p i ,
Among the early Ceylonese refugees who "realizing the confusion arising from two
worked towards establishing the Bolshevik- parties using the same name, and recogniz­
Leninist Party of India [which affiliated with ing that the other and larger party was con­
the Fourth International) were Bernard sidered in fact by the masses to be the
Soysa, V. Kalasingham, Doric de Souza, and Lanka Sama Samaja Party, decided to
Leslie Goonewardene. Sometime later Col­ change its name to Bolshevik Samasamaja
vin de Silva, N. M. Perera, and Philip Gu­ Party."54
nawardena arrived in India after escaping This division in the Trotskyist ranks in
from prison. Other Ceylonese Trotskyists Ceylon continued until 1950. Both the
in India after 1942 included S. C. C. Anthon- Lanka Sama Samaja and the Bolshevik Sa­
ipillai, V. Karalasingham, Allan Mendis, Li­ masamaja groups participated in the 1947
onel Cooray, Reggie Senanayake, and Robert election for the fourth State Council, and
Gunawardena.51 supported each other's nominees. The l s s p
A number of the Ceylonese Trotskyists elected the second largest number of depu­
were picked up by the Indian police from ties of any party, ten, and received 204,020
time to time. When this occurred they were votes. On the other hand, the Bolshevik-
sent back to Ceylon, where they were Leninist Party elected five deputies and re­
jailed.52 ceived 113 ,19 3 votes. This showing of the
During the latter part of the war a split Trotskyist groups compared with the
developed among the Ceylonese Trotsky­ 7 S 1,432 votes and forty-two members of the
ists. Leslie Goonewardene has written about State Council won by the victorious group,
this that "There were no differences in re­ the United National Party.55
gard to program or policy. The differences In the debates in the State Council preced­
centered mainly around organizational ing the granting of independence to Ceylon
questions. One faction called itself the Bol- by the British, the t%p Trotskyist groups
shevik-Leninist faction and declared that took different positions. Although they both
the other faction was attempting to dilute argued that the British maintained too much
the party and convert it into a loose organi­ influence for themselves in independent
zation. The other faction, calling itself the Ceylon, the l s s p voted for the final motion
Workers Opposition, declared that the party accepting independence while the Bolshe-
machine had been captured by a group of vik-Samasamajists voted in the negative.56

168 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 “His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition" pare for a one-day general strike and to form
united action committees in all places of
As a result of their showing in the 1947 work for carrying this into effect.' " The har­
election the Lanka Sama Samaja members tal succeeded in its objective of preventing
of parliament became the first official Oppo­ elimination of the rice ration.
sition in newly independent Ceylon. The Emest Mandel has stressed the role of the
leader of the l s s p delegation, N. M. Perera, l s s p in this 1953 popular demonstration. He

was officially chosen leader of the Opposi­ wrote, "The l s s p leadership appeared as a
tion, the first person to hold that title.57 Rob­ really revolutionary team at the head of in­
ert Kearney has noted that "at indepen­ surgent masses, fighting in the streets si­
dence, it was the largest single party in multaneously for immediate material gains
opposition to the governing u n p , and the for the impoverished masses and for the so­
Samasamajists harbored expectations of cialist overthrow of the capitalist regime."61
eventually replacing the u n p in power."58
However, Trotskyist activities were by no
Unity and Division
means confined to the electoral and parlia­
mentary spheres. They resumed their work In the early 1950s the Ceylonese Trotskyist
in the organized labor movement, which movement at first achieved greater unity,
now began to grow rapidly. As James Jupp then suffered new division. In June 1950 the
has noted, in 1946 "the Samasamajists were l s s p and the Bolshevik Samasamajist Party

able to establish control of the Ceylon Feder­ were finally reunited after almost five years
ation of Labor and the Government Work­ of separation.61 This movg to unify the
ers' Trade Union Federation."59 Trotskyist ranks was opposed by Philip Gu­
During the decade after World War II the nawardena, who refused to go along with it
ranks of Ceylonese organized labor swelled and pulled out to launch his own Viplava-
to an estimated 300,000 members "and were kari (Revolutionary) Lanka Samasamaja
mainly in Marxist unions and the Ceylon Party.63
Workers Congress." They engaged not only One explanation for Gunawardena's ob­
in limited economic strikes and collective jections to reunification with the more in-
bargaining but also in several nationwide transigently Trotskyist elements of the Bol­
movements. These included two general shevik Samasamaja Party was that he had
strikes in 1946 and 1947 and the so-called already begun to have doubts about adher­
"hartal" of 1953.60 ence to the idea of the "vanguard" role of
A "hartal" is something more than a gen­ the "proletariat" in an overwhelmingly ru­
eral strike; it involves the voluntary closing ral country such as Ceylon.64Another possi­
of schools and places of business in addition ble reason judging from his subsequent be­
to workers' staying away from their jobs. havior was that Gunawardena had already
That of August 12, 1953, was organized as a been touched by Sinhalese "patriotism" or
protest against the government's decision to "chauvinism," and objected to the belief in
end a weekly rice ration which had been appealing equally to Sinhalese and Tamil
established during World War II. It was workers which particularly marked the Bol­
called "the most significant direct mass ac­ shevik Samasamajists at that point. In any
tion this country has seen. . . ." James Jupp case this split in the Trotskyist ranks proved
recorded that "a joint statement of the Cey­ irreconcilable. It gave rise to what James
lon Federation of Labor (l s s p ), the Ceylon Jupp has called "the unending feud between
Federation of Trade Unions ( c p ), the Ceylon Philip Gunawardena and N. M. Perera."65
Workers Congress and the Ceylon Mercan­ An even more serious split occurred in the
tile Union (l s s p ), called upon 'the trade l s s p ranks in 1953. This centered on the

unions and all unorganized workers to pre- question which was to plague the party for

i
1 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 169
I
j
1
 the next quarter of a century—its relation­ pal opposition. This fact was to have a major
ship to other, non-Trotskyist parties. Robert impact on the future history of Trotskyism
Kearney has recorded that "disagreement in Ceylon.
with the leadership on the question of l s s p A year before that election a principal
cooperation with other parties appeared at a figure in the dominant United National
conference in 1952. A resolution presented Party, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, withdrew
by the dissidents was defeated but the battle from government ranks to form his own
continued to rage within the party for an party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (s l f p ).
entire year. The dissident faction was al­ This new group pictured itself at one and the
lowed to argue its case in the party's Internal same time as being a non-Leninist Socialist
Bulletin and to send speakers to address lo­ Party and an advocate of the rights and spe­
cal party units. A conference in 1953 re­ cial position of the Sinhalese Buddhist com­
jected the dissidents' resolution in favor of munity, which made up almost two thirds
one backed by the Politbureau on a vote of the total population of the island. It par­
of 259 to 125. Following their defeat the ticularly sought the establishment of Sin­
minority group left the party."44 halese as the official language and conver­
Leslie Goonewardene has claimed that sion of Ceylon into a republic. It also pledged
the 1952-53 controversy was due to the fact to reduce if not abolish the British and In­
that "the political ideas of Stalinism com­ dian control over the country's economy.
menced once again to gain ground within With the election of 1952 the s l f p over­
the party." He cited passages in the opposi­ took the l s s p as the second largest party. It
tion resolution at the 1953 conference crit­ received fifteen and a half percent of the vote
icizing the fact that in the 1952 election compared to a little over thirteen percent
campaign the l s s p had not put forward the for the l s s p . Although both parties elected
slogan of a "Democratic Government," nine members of the House of Representa­
which the resolution described as "at its tives, and the l s s p had actually increased its
lowest level a Bandaranaike Government" percentage of the vote over that in 1947,ss>
and "at its highest level a Government by a S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike became leader of
Sama Samaja majority." The same resolu­ the Opposition and from then on a major
tion had said that the l s s p should "enter issue in the Trotskyists' political strategy
into the closest possible agreement and co­ inevitably became that of its relations with
operation with the c p and Philip Group in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
the trade union and political fields."67 The s l f p presented the Trotskyists with
Unlike the split with Philip Gunawar­ two kinds of problems. On the one hand it
dena, that of 1953 did not result in the for­ competed strongly for the loyalty of the kind
mation of a rival party. Robert Keamey has of people whom the l s s p was trying to at­
noted of the 1953 dissidents that "a number tract. On the other it soon presented the
of them joined the c p or the v l s s p , some Trotskyists with the question of whether
returned to the l s s p , and others eventually they should compete or cooperate with the
entered the non-Marxist Sri Lanka Freedom s l f p on the electoral front.

Party."68 With the rise of the Sri Lanka Freedom

Party, which after the 1952 election quickly
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party pulled ahead of t h e L S S R in terms of size and
popular following, the l s s p was no longer
The Rise of the Sri Lanka the largest party in the country professing
Freedom Party adherence to "socialism." The s l f p was
With the election of 1952 the Lanka Sama soon accepted as a member of the Socialist
Samaja Party lost its position as the princi­ International,70 and proclaimed itself to be

170 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

"democratic Socialist." Although the Marx- Sama Samaja Party was the only party with
ist-Leninist-Trotskyist l s s p could deny as a base among the Sinhalese that stood firmly
much as it wanted the Socialist bona fides right to the end by its policy of both Sinhala
of the s l f p , to many people of Ceylon to and Tamil as official languages. Even the
whom the l s s p might otherwise have ap­ Communist Party latterly changed its posi­
pealed it appeared to be an ideological rival tion on this question. Both friend and foe
of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. have expressed their admiration of the par­
But in addition to being "Socialist," the ty's devotion to principle. But there is no
s l f p was also Sinhalese and Buddhist. It gainsaying that the party has paid a heavy
sought its support almost exclusively from price for its stand. It lost heavily among the
the Sinhalese two thirds of the country, and Sinhalese masses. And although it has won
at most was willing to strike compromises the sympathy of wide sections of the minori­
with the Tamil part of the population. Ban- ties this has far from compensated for the
daranaike was one of the country's leading losses."
lay Buddhists and although the Trotskyists The l s s p also continued to oppose the dep­
and Stalinists were willing to work with and rivation of the "Indian Tam ils" of citizen­
even have as members Buddhist monks,71 ship rights. Goonewardene has commented
they could hardly compete in this field with that "as a revolutionary socialist party, the
Bandaranaike and the s l f p . Lanka Sama Samaja Party could not have
The Sinhalese-orientation of the s l f p pre­ acted otherwise. For, as distinct from oppor­
sented the Trotskyists with another funda­ tunist politicians to whom power is an end
mental quandary. Since their inception they in itself, to the l s s p power is only a means
had insisted on the mutuality of interests of to an end. That end is socialism. And it
the workers of Ceylon, regardless of whether knows that socialism cannot be built except
they were Sinhalese or Tamil. This had par­ on the basis of the unity and willing coopera­
ticularly been the case with those elements tion of the masses of all the communities
which for five years had maintained the Bol­ that inhabit Ceylon."71
shevik Samasamaja Party. However, in the Finally, with the rise of a left-wing party
face of the rising tide of Sinhalese commu­ which surpassed it substantially in size and
nal feeling, particularly centering on the is­ influence the l s s p was faced with the ques­
sue of making Sinhalese the exclusive na­ tion of what attitude to assume in the elec­
tional language of the country, the l s s p was toral and parliamentary fields. They defi­
faced with an issue on which they could not nitely didn't accept the s l f p as a "socialist"
win. If they did not support "Sinhalese only" party, regarding it as "capitalist" or "petty
they would imperil their support among the bourgeois." However, they did agree with
Sinhalese workers and middle class in the s l f p on the need for defeating the United
southwestern Ceylon among whom their National Party, which all elements of the
major strength lay. On the other hand, if Ceylonese Left in the 1950s regarded as
they supported "Sinhalese only" they would more or less a continuation of the colonialist
lose all the influence they had built up regime. Hence, as the 1966 election ap­
among the Tamil plantation workers, and proached the l s s p was faced—as were the
would in addition be betraying what had other parties of the far Left—with the ques­
been until then a fundamental principle, op­ tion of whether they should run candidates
position to communalism. against those of the s l f p or cooperate with
Leslie Goonewardene has described the it.
l s s p ' s position on the language issue during Robert Kearney has summed up the im­
this period, and the price which the party pact of the rise of the Sri Lanka Freedom
paid for making its choices: "The Lanka Party on the l s s p : "The emergence of the

Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 171

 s l f p as the principal alternative to the u n p only eight. The l s s p also gained from its "no
in the early 1950s .. . robbed the l s s p of its contest" agreement with the s l f p . Although
hopes and led to a stagnation of the party's its vote fell to 274,204 from the 305,133 it
strength and influence."73 had received in 1952, it succeeded in elect­
But in spite of the rise of the s l f p , the l s s p ing fourteen members of parliament as
continued to make some electoral progress. against the nine it had placed four years ear­
Leslie Goonewardene has noted that in the lier. The Federal Party, representing the
1954 municipal elections "the party for the Tamils, won ten seats,78 N. M. Perera was
first time participated in a large way, and chosen leader of the Opposition.79
was able to assume the administration in With the ascension to power of the s l f p
seven Village Committees, three Urban government, the l s s p first announced that
Councils and the Colombo Municipal it would follow a policy of "responsive coop­
Council." In fact, in August 1954 N. M. Per- eration" with the new regime. This stance
era was elected mayor of Colombo.74 soon aroused opposition within the l s s p
Before and after these municipal elections leadership. At the 1957 conference of the
the l s s p press gave considerable attention to party a group consisting of W. Dharmasena,
the activities of the l s s p local governments. Robert Gunawardena, Edmund Sama-
For instance, its English language paper Sa- rakkody and Chandra Gunasekera intro­
m a s a m a j i s t featured the action of the l s s p duced an amendment to the basic political
administration in the town of Kalutara in resolution submitted b y the Central Com­
enforcing honest weights and measures in mittee which argued that "this offer of coop­
the local meat market.75 While the munici­ eration to the capitalist government was
pal campaign was still in progress the news­ wrong. The party could have and should
paper carried an article on "What the Sama­ have offered support to the progressive mea­
samajists Did for Moratuwa," the first town sures of the government while stating cate­
to have had an l s s p administration. The ac­ gorically that the s f l p government was a
complishments listed included extension of capitalist government."80
the paved roads in the community from Once in power Prime Minister Bandara-
three miles to ten miles, building a public naike quickly moved to carry out his party
bus stand, increasing the number of mid­ program. A law was passed declaring Sin­
wives from eight to twelve, opening a free halese "the one official language of Ceylon."
clinic and an ambulance service, and digging This measure and other steps of the govern­
four public wells.76 ment provoked extensive rioting in July
1957 and May 1958 between Sinhalese and
Tamils, and on the latter occasion provoked
The First SLFP Government, 1956-60
declaration of a state of emergency and the
With the 1956 election the l s s p had to make outlawing of the Federal Party and an ex­
its first decision concerning its electoral tac­ tremist Sinhalese party. The emergency
tics toward the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. It continued until March 1959.
chose to collaborate with, rather than op­ The Bandaranaike government also un­
pose, the s l f p . As a result, "the s l f p , l s s p dertook several economic and social reform
and c p joined in a 'no-contest' electoral measures. It nationalized the bus companies
agreement intended to avoid contesting the and Colombo harbor, and set up state corpo­
same constituencies and splitting the anti- rations in the chemical and textile fields. It
u n p vote."77 also enacted a Paddy Lands Act, sponsored
The s l f p and parties allied with it won by dissident Trotskyist Philip Gunawar­
fifty-one seats out of ninety-five in the April dena, a member of the cabinet, which pro­
1956 election, the United National Party tected the rights of rice-growing tenants.

172 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 The various measures of the Bandaranaike parliamentary system."85 However, "in the
government aroused considerable unrest chaos after the assassination of Bandara­
and opposition even among right-wing naike, the l s s p returned temporarily to the
members of the prime minister's own party. belief that it could recapture the dominant
The latter organized a plot against the prime position on the Left lost to the s l f p in 1956.
minister, which resulted in his assassina­ In March i960 it put forward one hundred
tion on September 25, 1959-ei candidates, claiming that it could form a
The murder of Bandaranaike brought on a government."86
major crisis. It soon became evident that Nevertheless, in the second i960 election
most of those involved in the act had been the l s s p reached another "no-contest"
leaders and members of the s l f p . Although agreement with the s l f p and the Commu­
the party unanimously chose Wijayananda nists.87This agreement was undoubtedly re­
Dahanayake (who had been expelled from sponsible for the ability of the s l f p to obtain
the l s s p in 1952} as Bandaranaike's succes­ close to a majority and for substantial in­
sor, it did not unite behind his government. creases in representation of both the Trots­
James Jupp has noted that "Dahanayake's kyists and Stalinists in the second i960 leg­
government only saved itself from total de­ islature over that in the first parliament
feat by calling an election, having lost all elected that year.
semblance of parliamentary support." Da­ Once Mrs. Bandaranaike took office the
hanayake quit the s l f p . 82 l s s p immediately faced the question of what

The election resulted in a small plurality their attitude should be toward her govern­
for the u n p and its leader Dudley Senanay- ment. According to Emest Mandel, "A pro­
ake formed a new government. But, as Jupp posal made by N. M. Perera to enter into a
notes, it "rested on such a weak basis . . . coalition with the s l f p was rejected by only
that the new prime minister had to resign a narrow majority." However, the l s s p did
when the Speech from the Throne was de­ extend the Bandaranaike government parlia­
feated." Governor General Sir Oliver mentary support by voting for the Speech
Goonetilleke, a one-time u n p leader, called from the Throne and for Mrs. Bandara­
a further election. naike's first budget.88Leslie Goonewardena,
At that point "all the classic ingredients the party's secretary, stated that "the Lanka
for a collapse of government and a revolu­ Sama Samaja Party, while functioning as an
tionary or military takeover seemed to exist. independent group bound neither to the
However, the armed forces did not move, Government Party nor the Opposition
the elections were not suspended, the par­ Party, today adopts a position of general sup­
ties did not collapse, and the Marxists did port of the Government, holding itself free
not revolt."83 The s l f p , although getting less to criticize the Government as well as vote
total votes than the u n p , elected seventy- against it where it disagrees.89
five of the 15 1 members of the new parlia­ The new Bandaranaike regime soon faced
ment.84 Under the leadership of Mrs. Siri- considerable difficulties. Its moves to na­
mavo Bandaranaike, widow of the murdered tionalize all Catholic parochial schools and
s l f p leader, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was to enforce the Sinhalese official language
able to form a government. policy provoked strong resistance, particu­
larly from the Tamils in the northern part
of the country. By the end of February 1961
The SLFP Government, 1960-64
a state of emergency had been declared in
In the face of the confusion and crisis of the north and east, and press and radio cen­
1959-60, "N. M. Perera and his supporters sorship was imposed while fourteen depu­
in the l s s p were resolute in defending the ties were placed under arrest.90

1 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 173

 At the same time labor conflicts in­ were to work together and a coordinating
creased. There were a number of strikes, and committee had already been set up to plan
finally a Joint Committee of Trade Unions municipal election contests." There was op­
was established under l s s p leadership which position within the l s s p leadership to the
was said to include almost a million party's joining the United Left Front. A mo­
workers. tion to do so only passed the l s s p Central
As a result of these events the l s s p turned Committee by a vote of twenty-seven to
strongly against the Bandaranaike govern­ eleven.93
ment. At its July 1962 conference it passed Edmund Samarakkody has noted that
a resolution which stated that "the struggles "the minority in the Central Committee. . .
to come will not be waged only against this that had for some time been moving in a
or that measure of the s l f p government, but revolutionary orientation, were categori­
against the whole policy of the s l f p govern­ cally opposed to the so-called United Left
ment, especially in the field of wages and Front. The minority . . . was quick to see
taxation. "The resolution predicted that this the reformist nature of this u l f which it
opposition "will in its development rapidly correctly characterised as popular front-
reach the point where the need to replace ism ."94 „
the s l f p government itself by a government The program of the u l f demanded "full
which corresponded to the demands of the political rights for local government and
masses. . . . " Finally, the resolution ob­ public corporation employees, full imple­
served that "in preparing the masses for di­ mentation of the Paddy Lands Act," among
rect struggle, the Party cannot advance slo­ other things. Its longer range demands were
gans which envisage a solution of the for "a republic, a new constitution, regional
government problem mainly through the councils . . . the legal protection of basic
parliamentary process. . . ."9! rights and nationalization of all banking and
Its growing opposition to the government insurance."
pushed the l s s p closer to the other left-wing lssp Secretary Leslie Goonewardena
groups—the Communist Party and Philip claimed that "the Left parties would never
Gunawardena's party, now called the Maha- again extend their cooperation to the s l f p
jana Eksath Peramuna (People's United government." Also, after the u l f won a by-
Front—m e p ). On May Day 1963 the unions election in January 1964 the l s s p victor, Vi­
controlled by the three groups held their vienne Goonewardena, claimed that "only
first united demonstration since indepen­ the u l f and the u n p were effective political
dence. At that meeting they announced the forces. "9S
formation of a United Left Front by the three
parties. N. M. Perera said that "if the three
Trouble With the
Left parties march together in the manner
Fourth International
they had done for the rally it would be possi­
ble to overthrow the Government and estab­ Problems in connection with l s s p relations
lish a socialist state."92 with the s l f p government intensified al­
James Jupp described the launching of the ready existing difficulties in the relations of
United Left Front ( u l f ): "Despite objections the Ceylonese Trotskyists with the Fourth
within the l s s p from Edmund Samarakkody, International. Some of the details of these
M.P., and the beginnings of the Sino-Soviet difficulties were disclosed after the break
split in the Communist Party, the u l f agree­ between the United Secretariat and the l s s p
ment was signed on Hartal Day (at the astro- in 1964.
logically auspicious hour of 7.42) by N. M. Ever since becoming a Trotskyist party
Perera, S. A. Wickremasinghe and Philip the l s s p had always made clear its alignment
Gunawardena. The twenty-one left M.P.s with International Trotskyism. It carried on

174 Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP

 continuous polemics with the Ceylonese the plantation workers, the lack of party
Communists in its periodicals; from time to educational work, etc., etc." He noted that
time it published statements of the Fourth on some of these issues "such criticisms led
International;96 its press carried articles by to favorable results." Also, Mandel said that
Trotsky.97 "On many occasions the International had
However, according to Emest Mandel, a reason to be proud of the l s s p and its leader­
leading figure in the United Secretariat of ship. . . . " According to the United Secretar­
the Fourth International, "Before i960, the iat leader, "the decision of the l s s p after the
international leadership was concerned i960 elections to support Mrs. Bandara-
about erroneous attitudes on various ques­ naike's government meant the abrupt end
tions, but it limited its communications to of this stage of relations between the leader­
the Political Bureau and Central Commit­ ship of the l s s p and the Fourth Interna­
tee, occasionally to party conferences."98 tional." The next "stage" in these relations
Some of these "erroneous attitudes" dealt was marked by open criticism of the l s s p
with international problems such as "lack leadership by the International Secretariat
of integration of the l s s p leadership into the of the Fourth International, the body to
International, its failure to make financial which the l s s p was then affiliated. In Sep­
contributions in proportion to organiza­ tember i960 the Secretariat issued a state­
tional strength, its failure to maintain close ment which said:
relations with the Indian section. . .
The is has not failed to express to the
Edmund Samarakkody has described the
l s s p its disagreement in regard to both
reactions of the l s s p to the 1 9 5 3 split in the
its recent electoral policy and its policy
Fourth International: "On the first news of
towards the s l f p after the March and July
the split, the l s s p leadership leaned on the
elections. The is particularly believes that
side of the minority and appeared to be w ill­
the no-contest agreement, extended up to
ing to take up the struggle against Pabloist
a mutual-support agreement, involves the
revisionism and liquidationism. But in the
danger of creating illusions about the na­
state of ideological confusion that reigned
ture of the s l f p among the great masses.
in the l s s p and its leadership, and in the
. . . In the specific case of the Speech from
context of the theoretical weakness of the
the Throne, the is thinks that the very
International Committee (ic), the leaders of
moderate character of the government
the l s s p wavered and jumped on the band­
programme and its attitude against na­
wagon of the majority led by the Mandels,
tionalization of the plantations—a funda­
Pierre Franks and the Livios."100
mental question for a country like Cey­
However, for the first time since 1948 the
lon—is such as to involve a negative vote
l s s p was not represented at the 1961 Con­
by the l s s p MPs.
gress of the International (the Pablo
group).101 Although there was a Ceylonese The Sixth World Congress of the Interna­
delegate present at the so-called Reunifica­ tional Secretariat adopted in 1961 a resolu­
tion Congress which established the United tion very critical of the l s s p . It said that "the
Secretariat in 1963, Pierre Frank has com­ Congress condemns more especially the
mented that "we learned that the section vote of parliamentary support expressed on
was in bad shape and that its delegate repre­ the occasion of the Speech from the Throne,
sented only a minority in the leadership."102 and the adoption of the budget by the party
Other shortcomings of the l s s p in the MPs." The resolution went on to say that
view of the International, according to Er­ "the World Congress appeals to the l s s p for
nest Mandel, were "its lack of a Leninist- a radical change in its political course in the
style organizational structure, its lack of direction indicated by the document of the
systematic recruitment especially among leadership of the International."103

Ceylon: Rise of the LSSP 175

 These exchanges foreshadowed the much Trotskyism in Ceylon/
graver controversies which ensued when the
l s s p finally decided to join the government
Sri Lanka: Split and
of Mrs. Bandaranaike. Decline of Ceylon/Sri
Lanka Trotskyism
Joining the Government
Not long after the United Left Front won a
byelection in January 1964 Mrs. Bandara­
naike decided to try to recruit the Front's
support for her government. Undoubtedly The entry of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party
her reasons for seeking this were several. On into the government of Mrs, Bandaranaike
the one hand there had been a number of opened a new phase in the history of Cey­
desertions of s l f p parliamentarians, endan­ lonese Trotskyism. It generated very exten­
gering her government's tenure in office. A sive opposition within the party and led to
second reason was undoubtedly the labor an almost immediate split. Subsequently,
unrest which was being channeled by the the movement splintered further. There also
parties which made up the United Left developed a separation of the largest avow­
Front. Finally, as James Jupp has noted, "the edly Trotskyist party of the country from
ruling group in the s l f p was not outstanding the international Trotskyist movement, al­
and Mrs. Bandaranaike had difficulty in though various schismatic groups were sub­
finding a Minister of Finance who could sur­ sequently affiliated with various tendencies
vive one budget. This became increasingly of International Trotskyism.
acute as the economic situation continued
to get worse."104
Internal and International Splits
Mrs. Bandaranaike named an intermedi­
ary to seek an accord with the parties of On June 7, 1964, a national conference of
the United Left Front, but the negotiations the Lanka Sama Samaja Party met to pass
became stalled "largely because of the con­ judgment on the decision to join the Bandar­
ditions imposed by the m e p / ' 105 according to anaike government. Pierre Frank attended
Robert Keamey, and as a consequence "of this meeting in representation of the United
contorted maneuvers and plots, designed Secretariat.1
mainly to exclude Philip and the Commu­ The conference was split into three groups
nists from the government," according to of delegates, whom James Jupp has called
James Jupp.106 "the pragmatic (led by N. M. Perera), the
The deadlock in the negotiations between dogmatic (Leslie Goonewardene and Colvin
the government and the United Left Front de Silva) and the intractable {Bala Tampoe,
was ended when "the l s s p abruptly agreed V. Karalasingham, and Meryl Fernando)."
to enter the coalition without its United The group led by Perera fully backed entry
Left Front partners. Although excluded from into coalition with the s l f p , and it received
the coalition, the c p nonetheless offered its 507 votes at the l s s p conference. The Goo-
support to the s l f p - l s s p Government."107 newardene-de Silva group backed mainte­
As a result of the l s s p ' s change of stance, nance of the United-Left Front, and they
N. M. Perera, Anil Moonesinghe, and Chol- had seventy-five delegates. The third group
mondley Goonewardena became the l s s p "who were opposed to parliamentary tactics
members of the Bandaranaike gov­ in any case" according to Jupp, had 159 dele­
ernment.108 gates. The l s s p deputies were divided, seven
with Perera, five with Goonewardene and

176 Ceylon: Split and Decline

de Silva, and two with the extreme group. United Secretariat had already sent a mes­
A new Central Committee was elected to sage to the l s s p ( r s ) saying that it agreed "To
lead the party under the new circum­ recognize this Emergency Conference as of­
stances.2 ficially constituting the continuing body of
The Goonewardene-de Silva group re­ the Trotskyist movement in Ceylon and to
mained in the party in spite of their original empower it to speak for and conduct any
opposition to the new coalition policy. matters pertaining to the section of the
However, what Jupp calls the "intractable" Fourth International in Ceylon." In its turn,
group withdrew to form a new party, the the Emergency Conference of the l s s p ( r s )
l s s p {Revolutionary Section). Edmund Sa­ resolved to accept "the recognition granted,
marakkody was named secretary of the Pro­ and will hereafter function as the Ceylon
visional Committee of the new party. Unit of the Fourth International." Fifty-four
On the day o f the l s s p conference, June 7, delegates voted for this resolution, nine
Edmund Samarakkody issued a statement against it, and eight abstained.4
in the name of the new dissident party. It Thus ended the association of the Lanka
proclaimed: Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon with the inter­
national Trotskyist movement. Although it
The decision of the reformist majority of
was to continue to call and consider itself
the l s s p to enter into a coalition with the
Trotskyist, henceforward no international
capitalist s l f p . . . government and
segment of the movement concurred in that
thereby to become an instrument of the
assessment.
capitalist class in Ceylon, constitutes a
complete violation of the basic principles
of Trotskyism on which the revolution­ The United Front
ary program of the party is based. This
degeneration is the logical outcome of the The Coalition and the United Fzont
parliamentary reformist line which the
The entry of the l s s p into the government
majority of the leadership of the party has
of Mrs. Bandaranaike together with the tacit
followed for several years and the substi­
support of that government by the Commu­
tution of parliamentary and reformist
nist Party began a period of more than a
struggle in place of class struggle and rev­
decade in which the coalition of the s l f p ,
olutionary perspectives, and the system­
l s s p , and Communist Party constituted one
atic recruitment of nonrevolutionary ele­
of the two major political forces in national
ments into the party on that basis.
politics. Shortly after the overthrow of Mrs.
The revolutionaries of the l s s p have, i n
Bandaranaike's first government in 1965 the
this situation, decided to organize them­
alliance of the three parties was formalized
selves on the basis of the party program.
under the name of the United Front.
They therefore withdraw from the confer­
The entry of the l s s p in the Bandaranaike
ence and will hereafter function as a sepa­
government only temporarily prevented
rate organization under the name of the
that government from being overthrown in
Lanka Sama Samaja Party {Revolutionary
parliament. The new alliance of the s l f p
Section).3
with the Left generated considerable opposi­
The l s s p { r s ] held an Emergency Confer­ tion from right-wing elements within Mrs.
ence on July 18 -19 . Before it met, the Provi­ Bandaranaike's party as well as from Bud­
sional Committee of the new group had dhist religious leaders strongly opposed to
written the United Secretariat of the Fourth Marxism in all its forms. These forces coa­
International ( u s e c ) asking that it be recog­ lesced on December 3, 1964, when, on a vote
nized by u s e c as its Ceylonese affiliate. The of confidence, thirteen s l f p deputies led by

Ceylon: Split and Decline 177

Minister of Lands C. P. de Silva (not to be power, was confirmed. The United Front
confused'with l s s p leader Colvin R. de Silva} gained an overwhelming victory, winning a
voted with the opposition. The government two-thirds majority in the parliament.7
thus lost by one vote. The l s s p won the largest number of votes
Mrs. Bandaranaike immediately dissolved in its history, 433,244, and placed more
parliament and called new elections, which members in parliament, nineteen, than ever
took place in March 1965. These elections in the past. The s l f p , through the vagaries
"saw the leaders of the Buddhist clergy of the electoral system and the operation of
clearly aligned against the Coalition be­ the coalition, won ninety of the 15 1 seats in
cause of its Marxist elements: so wide was the House, compared to only seventeen for
the u n p 's range of support that it extended the United National Party, which actually
from the Sinhala communalists to the Cey­ received over 60,000 votes more than the Sri
lon Workers Congress. And the result was a Lanka Freedom Party.8
'National Government' with a majority of The l s s p was clearly the second party in
over forty and support from six parties, some the new United Front government and it
of which were normally bitter enemies. "s held key positions, particularly in the eco­
For nearly five years following this defeat nomic sphere. N. M. Perera again became
the United Front constituted the Opposi­ minister of Finance, which meant that "the
tion. The alliance among the three parties main planning powers were under l s s p dom­
was strengthened and the idea of coalition ination." Colvin R. de Silva was made min­
with the s l f p came to be generally accepted ister of Plantations and also minister for
by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. Further­ Constitutional Affairs, and consequently
more, the l s s p made at least one fundamen­ "controlled the largest sector of the econ­
tal ideological change during this period. omy and the processes by which 'Sri Lanka'
This was on the communalist issue. was to emerge from 'Ceylon.' " Leslie Goo­
In i960 the l s s p had finally accepted the newardene became minister of Transport.9
idea that Sinhalese should be the only offi­ The l s s p also occupied key positions in
cial language of Ceylon. It still advocated, the public administration just below the
at least in theory, the use of Tamil in those ministerial level. Doric de Souza became
parts of the country in which the Tamils Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
made up the majority of the population. Plantations while Anil Moonesinghe, who
Nevertheless, when the United National had been an l s s p minister in 1964, was
Party government in January 1966 issued named Chairman of the Ceylon Transport
regulations providing for "the reasonable Board. Furthermore, the Ministry of Plan­
use of Tamil," the United Front parties orga­ ning, "although nominally controlled by
nized massive demonstrations against these Mrs. Bandaranaike, was actually much
regulations. James Jupp has noted that closer to the l s s p controlled Ministry of Fi­
"large sections of previous support both in nance."10
the Lanka Estate Workers Union and During the next five years Mrs. Bandara­
amongst Ceylon Tamils were abandoned" naike's second government did bring about
by the l s s p as a result of participating in substantial changes in the country. The new
these demonstrations.6 parliament assumed powers of a constitu­
tional assembly and wrrote a new constitu­
tion which changed the name of the country
The LSSP and Bandaranaike's
from Ceylon to Sri Lanka, established a sin­
Second Government
gle house legislature, made the legislature
In May 1970 what by then had become a sovereign (on the British model) by remov­
Ceylonese tradition, that each election re­ ing the constitutional review power of the
sulted in the ouster of the government in courts. At the same time the new constitu­

178 Ceylon: Split and Decline

tion enshrined the preferential position of whom the almost stagnant economy could
Buddhism and the prevalence of Sinhalese not provide employment.
as the only official language. It was these educated and semi-educated
Other major steps were also taken. The young people for whom the economy had
country's foreign policy was oriented no place who arose in violent revolutionary
strongly in a Third World direction, with revolt in April 1971. The l s s p like virtually
particular reliance on friendly relations with all the rest of the Ceylonese "Old Left" was
China and general opposition to the West. apparently caught completely unawares by
Foreign firms handling most of the country's this uprising. It strongly opposed the
principal exports, as well as a large part of movement.
the plantations providing those exports, The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( j v p )
were taken over by the government. The was apparently first established as a secret
largest newspaper chain in the country, the faction within the pro-Maoist Communist
Associated Newspapers of Ceylon, was Party in 1965.12 Most of the rvp members
forced to sell most of its stock to the govern­ and leaders who had previous political
ment, which promised to resell it to small involvement had apparently been members
investors.11 of either the pro-Peking or pro-Moscow
Communist parties. James Jupp has noted
that the pro-Soviet party was "severely af­
LSSP and the 19 7 1 Insurrection
fected by j v p . . . and the Communists faced
The Bandaranaike government of the 1970s the prospect of permanently losing their
was not able to change many fundamental younger supporters if they were too closely
facts about Sri Lankan life and politics. A identified with the government." He added
Sinhalese aristocracy remained dominant in that "The l s s p , in contrast, had no such
much of the country's economy, its profes­ problems, having lost most of its revolution­
sions, and its politics. In spite of "Sinhalese ary members in 1964."13 However, in the jvp
only" as the official language the older gen­ "most of the leaders and the great bulk of
eration of politicians continued to be made the rank and file . . . had few links, if any,
up in large part of people trained in exclusive with the established Marxist movement."14
English-language schools in Ceylon and in The j v p was popularly referred to by the
British or American universities. The econ­ Ceylonese press as "Guevarists," and they
omy of the country remained overwhelm­ apparently did consider themselves Marx-
ingly rural, and dependent on three or four ist-Leninists. However, unlike the teach­
major exports produced on the plantations. ings of Ernesto Che Guevara, advocate of
The plantation laborers, predominantly a long-drawn-out guerrilla conflict, the j v p
Tamils, continued to be the most exploited rebels attempted a coordinated mass upris­
part of the population. The economy grew ing marked particularly by attacks on police
very little, if at all, under United Front rule, stations and other public buildings, all on
and unemployment, which had been a grow- the same day. Once this movement had
ingproblem since the early 1950s, was much clearly failed, it remained only a matter of
intensified. time until the uprising was suppressed.
Even the progress made since indepen­ However, in some parts of the country this
dence created unforeseen problems. The na­ "time" was a matter of "a few weeks of
tional educational system, principally in the sharp fighting and several months of mop-
Sinhalese language, had greatly expanded up operations. . . , " 15 In combatting the jvp
during the 1960s, particularly in the rural uprising the government resorted to sub­
areas. As a consequence by 1970 there ex­ stantial restrictions on civil liberties for an
isted a large number of youths with at least extended period of time. About 15,000
a high school education in Sinhalese for young people were arrested and held with­

1 Ceylon: Split and Dccline 179

out charges, and a year passed before some Minister Bandaranaike in August 1975. Un­
of these were finally brought to trial.16 doubtedly both strains between the l s s p and
The l s s p strongly opposed the j v p upris­ its senior partner in the coalition, the s l f p ,
ing. Years later, N. M. Perera called it "an and pressures within the l s s p itself contrib­
incredible maniacal design to overthrow a uted to the party's fall from office.
progressive government in the interest of The continued militancy of the trade
capitalist reactionaries by pretenders to rev­ unions under l s s p control had provoked a
olutionary socialism. . . " u crisis in late 1974. A demonstration which
The l s s p mobilized the trade union move­ was being planned by the L ssp -d o m in a te d
ment against the rebels. N. M. Perera sug­ Ceylon Federation of Labor was banned by
gested to Mrs. Bandaranaike that the trade the government, and the prime minister
unionists be armed to fight the rebels, ar­ threatened to use troops to thwart it when
guing that the army was very weak and the the Federation leaders said that they would
police were totally demoralized, and the un­ hold the demonstration anyway. They fi­
ionists were the only ones upon whom the nally called off the meeting. Two months
government could depend. Mrs. Bandara­ later, in January 1975, the Joint Committee
naike refused this suggestion, fearing that it of Trade Union Organizations, in which l s s p
would result in effect in passing power over influence was also preponderant, threatened
to the l s s p , which still dominated much of a general strike in support of a series of polit­
the labor movement.18 But James Jupp has ical demands. The strike was called off when
noted that "the Coalition unions formed the the government agreed to some of the de­
backbone of the volunteer vigilante squads mands including nationalization of estates
formed to combat the jvp during the insur­ which had until then remained in private
rection."15’ hands.22
In spite of its general opposition to the j v p This further nationalization of planta­
insurrection, the l s s p suffered considerably tions provoked another dispute within the
because of it. Robert Kearney has noted that government. The l s s p expected that the es­
"The agony of the l s s p is suggested by the tates involved would be placed under Colvin
fact that one member of the party's parlia­ R. de Silva's Ministry of Plantation Industry
mentary group was the only M.P. arrested as most of those which had been taken over
in connection with the insurrection, and an­ by the government in 1972 had been. The
other was gravely wounded by rebel bullets prime minister thought differently, how­
while participating in a military expedition ever, and the newly expropriated estates
against the insurgents."20 were placed instead under the S L F P - c o n -
Apparently the j v p uprising also h a d some trolled Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.
impact on the internal politics of the l s s p . This move thwarted the hopes of the l s s p to
Jupp has noted that "there was . . . a marked recruit plantation workers into their unions
increase in support for the party's Left, rep­ on a large scale in the estates involved.23
resented by V. Karalasingham and V. May- Meanwhile, there were growing expres­
akkara, in elections to its Central Commit­ sions of discontent within the l s s p at the
tee" following the j v p insurrection.21 lack of progress being made (from the l s s p
point of view) by the United Front govern­
ment. As early as the party conference of
Expulsion from the United
1972 the l s s p ministers had to thwart pas­
Front Government
sage of a resolution "proposed by a group of
After more than five years in the United younger central committee members out­
Front government the Lanka Sama Samaja side the inner circle of party leaders," which
Party was suddenly ousted from it by Prime "voiced dissatisfaction with the progress

180 Ceylon: Split and Decline

made through the u f and called on the party negotiations among the parties which par­
to push more aggressively for radical mea­ ticipated in it. Prime Minister Bandaranaike
sures," by threatening to resign from the thereupon asked the president of Sri Lanka
government. This resolution was with­ to dismiss the three l s s p ministers, which
drawn, but its supporters won almost half he promptly did.27
of the positions in the new central commit­
tee of the party.
Shortly afterward there appeared a Vama The Decline of the lssp
Samasamaja (Left Samasamaja) group
within the party. It called for an open break The expulsion of the Lanka Sama Samaja
with the s l f p and withdrawal from the gov­ Party from the government proved to be very
ernment. Although the leaders of this group damaging to the l s s p . Outside of the United
were soon expelled it apparently had consid­ Front the party, along with all other Marxist
erable backing, particularly among younger groups, suffered from the fact that the coun­
members of the party.24 try had been tending for some time toward a
These controversies did not necessarily two-party system. The l s s p and Communist
foretell a break in the United Front or the Party had been largely "quarantined" from
exit of the l s s p from the government at least this trend in the elections from 1956 to 1970
insofar as the l s s p was concerned. Initiative because of electoral arrangements and then
for that development came, rather, from the alliance with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
prime minister herself. Early in August 1975 As James Jupp has commented, "by remov­
she published a letter she had written to ing the Marxists from the Coalition in 1975
N. M. Perera which criticized a speech he and 1977 Mrs. Bandaranaike consigned
had made to an l s s p meeting, accusing him them to electoral oblivion." But he added
of attacking the s l f p and endangering the that "by splitting the vote which had been
coalition. Perera responded "in a concilia­ united in 1970 she made it impossible to
tory tone," saying that "despite our differ­ salvage much for her own party either. "2S
ences the common grounds on which we The July 21, 1977 general election was
stand in the Front is ample to enable us to a massive victory for the United National
continue to function in unity."25 Party, which received 51.5 percent of the
Subsequently Mrs. Bandaranaike is said vote and seated 139 members of parliament.
to have claimed that the reason for her thus The s l f p , in contrast, received only 30 per­
picking a quarrel with the l s s p was the fact cent of the vote and eight members of the
that they had approached her with the idea National Assembly. The Tamil United Lib­
that she give up the prime ministership and eration Front, the major Tamil group, re­
become president of Sri Lanka. The presi­ ceived an appreciable parliamentary repre­
dency was at that time a relatively power­ sentation— 17 members. It did so, however,
less position, and the l s s p is said to have while getting only a little more than six
proposed that N. M. Perera take over the percent of the vote.29
prime ministership.16 In the 1977 election the l s s p formed a
Whether or not this was Mrs. Bandaranai- coalition with the pro-Moscow Communist
ke's motivation, she soon informed the l s s p Party and a new group, the People's Demo­
leaders that she intended to reorganize the cratic Party, which was a splinter from the
cabinet, and in this reorganization offered s l f p . This United Left Front issued an elec­

them posts of considerable less importance tion manifesto which promised "to elimi­
than those they had hitherto held. They re­ nate foreign capitalist monopolies," as well
jected this move, saying that any reorganiza­ as "to abolish completely feudal relations
tion of the cabinet had to be the result of . . . to limit and progressively reduce the role

1 Ceylon: Split and Decline 181

I
 of the private sector," and "to democratize In August 1979, the veteran president of
the state system."30 the l s s p , N. M. Perera, died. As a conse­
The election was an utter disaster for the quence, Athanda Seneviratne was elected as
l s s p . Its vote fell from 433,244 in 1970 to his successor.36
230,281 seven years later. It failed for the When the Jayawardena government called
first time in forty-one years to elect anyone elections for "district development coun­
to parliament. Perhaps the only consolation cils" in June 1981 the l s s p called for their
was that the party still continued to get al­ followers to boycott the poll as did the s f l p
most twice as many votes as the Commu­ and the Communists. The u n p thus won
nists, who also failed for the first time in control of three quarters of these local
their history to elect any legislators.31 bodies.37
This electoral defeat was only the begin­ In May 1983 there were eighteen parlia­
ning of the decline of the Lanka Sama Sa­ mentary byelections. Although there were
maja Party. In the years that followed it lost negotiations for a common slate of opposi­
a large part of its base in the trade union tion parties these failed. The l s s p as a result
movement. The victorious United National ran its own candidates, but was unable to
Party, which under its new leader J. R. Jaya- elect anyone. Later in the year, following
wardena, one of the few pre-independence the most serious communal riots on record
politicians to survive the 1977 election, had between Sinhalese and Tamils, the l s s p re­
proclaimed itself to be "democratic Social­ fused to participate in a "multiparty meet­
ist," won control of a substantial part of the ing on the Tamil issue."38
labor movement. In part this reflected the In 1977, perhaps partly in consequence of
tendency of workers in government enter­ the electoral defeat of that year, the l s s p
prises to join unions controlled by the party suffered a .split. A group broke away to form
in power. However, it also represented a ma­ the Nava Sama Samaja party ( n s s p ), which
jor long-term defeat for the l s s p , which for aligned internationally with the Militant
forty years had dominated organized labor.32 Tendency in Great Britain. Then, in 1982,
Prime Minister Jayawardena in 1978 the n s s p itself suffered a split when a group
brought about the enactment of a new con­ sympathetic with the United Secretariat
stitution, establishing a presidential system broke away to form Socialist Worker.3*
in place of the parliamentary one which had It was not clear by the mid-1980s whether
existed since before Ceylon achieved inde­ the l s s p would be able to recover even some
pendence. N. M. Perera issued at that time of the ground which it had lost in the late
an extensive criticism of the new consti­ 1970s. Nor could it be predicted whether the
tution33 left alliance which strengthened the l s s p ' s
In elections for president held under the political position from 1964 to 1975 could
new constitution in October 1982 the l s s p be reestablished. By early 1982 the s l f p , the
ran Colvin R. de Silva against President J. R. core of this alliance, was itself sorely split
Jayawardena. He was reported as receiving between two rival factions.
less than 1 percent of the vote "as former
l s s p voters cast their ballots directly for the
Historical Overview of the Lanka
SL FP _____" 3“
Sama Samaja Party
After establishment of the new u n p re­
gime the first conference of the l s s p in
The Nature of the LSSP Leadership
March 1978 conducted a "reappraisal of
and Backing
what it called a 'critical phase' in the leftist
movement. While admitting some tactical The Lanka Sama Samaja Party had remained
error, the party decided that parliament for more than four decades the most influ­
should remain the primary force. . . ."3S ential professedly Trotskyist party any­

182 Ceylon: Split and Decline

where in the world. It was one of only about very small and highly selective." The deci­
half a dozen such parties which had gained sion to keep it so was taken after the split
members of its national parliament, and the of the Stalinists in 1940. As a result, "by the
only one to participate in the national gov­ early 1960s, after a quarter of a century of
ernment. Therefore, before going on to look existence, the l s s p included under 2,000
at the fate of other Trotskyist groups in Cey­ members." The result of this was that "the
lon/Sri Lanka it is important to look at a small, active, ideologically committed
number of the characteristics of the l s s p . membership has made possible the vigorous
The people who established the l s s p in rank-and-file involvement in party affairs
the mid-1950s and continued to be its lead­ and has given the l s s p an organizational co­
ers for the next four decades were highly herence, discipline, and apparent sense of
educated men of upper class Sinhalese ori­ purpose and direction superior to those of
gin. Almost all of them had been educated in most other Ceylonese parties."42
private English-language schools in Ceylon Other observers have commented on the
and had received university training in quality of the l s s p ' s organization. James
Great Britain or the United States. Robert Jupp noted that "m y visits to party head­
Keamey, writing about all of the country's quarters in x969 suggested that the u n p had
Marxist parties, has said that "the educa­ the largest, the l s s p the most efficient, the
tional level of the Marxist legislators is con­ Communists the most modem and the s l f p
sistently well above the average of the the most ramshackle."43
chamber. Nine of fourteen, or 64 percent, of The l s s p paid a price for its deliberate lim­
the Marxists elected to Parliament in 1965 itation of its membership. Robert Keamey
were graduates of the universities or profes­ has noted that "the party's elitist character
sional schools, compared with 35 percent . . . restricted the establishment of the mul­
(47 of 136) of all other M.P.s."40 tiple, widespread links with the general pub­
At least some of the l s s p leaders were lic which seem necessary for the effective
outstanding members of the professional or mobilization of mass electoral support." He
business community. Colvin R. de Silva was illustrated this point by noting that "it was
widely recognized as one of the country's not unusual for parliamentary constituen­
most brilliant—and best-paid—lawyers. cies contested by Samasamajist candidates,
N. M. Perera was a successful businessman even in the principal areas of l s s p strength,
and at one point was asked by the other to contain no more than ten or twenty party
party leaders to sell his interest in a vegeta­ members."44
ble oil mill in which a Communist-con­ The l s s p maintained wider popular con­
trolled union had organized a strike. After tacts through a so-called "Youth League"
the break with the Fourth International the similar to those of most of the other parties.
United Secretariat complained bitterly that These were organizations of sympathizers.
the party's principal leaders had refused to James Jupp has noted that the Youth
become full-time politicians.41 Leagues "are normally larger than the party
The nature of the leadership of the party proper, and in the 'Leninist' l s s p are eight
did not change fundamentally for four de­ to ten times larger. "4S Robert Keamey has
cades. Although a handful of rank-and-file commented that "the l s s p Youth League,
trade unionists rose to top levels of the l s s p and to some extent the party's trade unions,
most of the Politburo and Central Commit­ partially filled the need for broad mass orga­
tee members continued to come from the nizations able to mobilize participants for
same general social origins as the party's demonstrations and rallies, canvass elec­
founders. toral support, and help to project the influ­
The rank-and-file membership of the l s s p , ence of the party through the general
Robert Keamey has pointed out "has been public."4*

Ceylon: Split and Decline 183

 The restrictive membership policy of the who in some degree saw the l s s p as an oppo­
lssp was changed to some degree after 1964. nent of political domination by the domi­
The number of members had doubled to nant Goyigama caste. In the interior region
about 4,000 by 1970, and after the election the population is Goyigama, and Keamey
triumph of that year "applications for mem­ argued that "Samasamajist strength there
bership soared." seems most readily attributable to intense
The members recruited after the l s s p be­ organizational and agitational activities
came a member of the United Front were over nearly four decades."49
somewhat different, apparently, from those
who had traditionally belonged to the party.
Robert Keamey noted that "the post-19 64
recruits reportedly do not possess the same LSSP Internal Democracy
commitment to the longstanding l s s p per­
spectives, conventions, and leaders, and One British observer has commented that
tend to be more concerned with immediate "The l s s p leaders, brought up on Trotsky7s
problems and objectives than the party vet­ denunciation of Stalinist bureaucracy, were
erans." They were more inclined to support intellectually committed to free discussion
the party's membership in the United Front and the permission of more factionalism
than were the older party members.47 How­ than was normal in Leninist parties after
ever, by the mid-1970s, as we have noted, 19x7. "so Robert Keamey has confirmed this,
many of the younger members of the l s s p saying that "the democratic internal func­
were growing uphappy with the allegedly tioning of the l s s p through vigorous discus­
slow progress which the United Front gov­ sion of alternative policies, open competi­
ernment was making in carrying out the tion for party posts, and adherence to
party's objectives. majority decisions is a source of great pride
The electorate of the l s s p was confined for Samasamajists." He added that "the l s s p
largely to a relatively limited area in the leadership appears to adhere meticulously
southwestern part of the island. Robert to the rules and norms of the party in elec­
Keamey has defined this region as "three tions and policy making, and to follow the
adjacent areas, a narrow coastal belt ex­ decisions reached by the party conference or
tending south from Colombo and stabbing Central Committee."51
into the western edge of the Southern Prov­ Elections for the Central Committee of
ince, an inland pocket in the Western Prov­ the l s s p were often sharply contested. As
ince to the southeast of Colombo, and a many as seventy or eighty candidates would
nearby group of constituencies in neigh­ run for fifty positions. The Politburo was
boring Sabaragamuwa Province east of Co­ elected annually by the Central Committee
lombo." He added that "Few l s s p victories by secret ballot. In addition "the Trotskyist
have been scored outside of a triangle run­ outlook of the l s s p has produced strong em­
ning from Colombo eastward less than fifty phasis on the evils of dictatorial control by
miles to the Kanyan foothills in Sabaraga­ a party bureaucracy, and the right of mem­
muwa Province and from Colombo south bers to form factions and work within the
along the coast nearly to Galle in the South­ party for the acceptance of their viewpoints
ern Province."48 is granted by the party eqnstitution and sup­
This area of l s s p strength divided into a ported by the ethos of the party."54
region right along the coast and another fur­ The internal democracy of the l s s p was in
ther into the interior. According to Keamey, strong contrast to the situation within the
the party had particular appeal along the Communist Party, which followed tradi­
coast to minority Sinhalese caste groups tional Stalinist procedures.53

184 Ceylon: Split and Decline

 The LSSP and the Labor Movement (fcxuo). It drew up a list of demands on the
government. However, "when the l s s p en­
After World War II a major factor in the tered the government the following year,
strength of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party the rcxuo was asked to suspend agitation
was its influence in the organized labor on a series of labor demands . . . the ensuing
movement. Robert Kearney has noted that battle demolished the t c t u o , ending the
"the l s s p requires of its members regular Ceylonese labor movement's most serious
services for the party and active participa­ attempt at unity."58 Subsequently, j c t u o
tion in party affairs, and the holding of a was reformed by the unions associated with
trade union office or other union duties is the l s s p , s l f p , and the Communist Party.
one type of activity accepted as fulfilling We have already noted its pressures on the
this party requirement." In addition, Kear­ United Front government in 1974.
ney notes that "although a division of func­ Most of the l s s p ' s unions were in the vi­
tion between party and trade union duties is cinity of Colombo—the capital, major port
recognized in day-to-day activities, a major and principal industrial center. For some
strike, even though without discernible po­ years it also controlled a major plantation
litical objectives, is likely to receive the as­ workers' organization, the Lanka Estate
sistance of party members. .. ."54 Workers Union, but it lost control of that
In 1946 the l s s p gained control over the group when it adopted a strongly anti-Tamil
Ceylon Federation of Labor, which had origi­ position early in 1966.
nally been established by "a minor political A substantial number of the l s s p unions
group."55 Subsequently, it also became dom­ consisted of government employees and
inant in the Government Workers Trade workers in government enterprises. Because
Union Federation which then "functioned of the expansion of the spoils system after
in close and scarcely disguised association independence this kind of worker presented
with the l s s p . . . despite the prohibitions special problems to the unions regardless of
against partisan attachments by public ser­ which party controlled them. Many workers
vants' organizations. . . The l s s p also tended to belong to more than one union,
dominated the Government Clerical Service sometimes to all of those existing in their
Union. Until the split in the party in 1964 particular place of employment. This made
it also dominated the small but powerful it possible for a worker to claim "support"
Ceylon Mercantile Union headed by Bala of whatever party was in power or was likely
Tampoe.56 to come to power.ss>
Robert Keamey notes that in the early
1970s with regard to the Ceylon Federation
The LSSP, Trotskyism, and Reform
of Labor "a large majority of the c f l ' s offi­
cers and executive committee members During more than four decades after its
have always been members of the l s s p . The foundation the l s s p was faced with the
party is said not directly to control and regu­ quandary of Trotskyist revolutionary ideol­
late c f l affairs, but the federation is in agree­ ogy versus reformism. Although the world
ment with the party and consistently fol­ Trotskyist movement believed that the
lows the party's lead, particularly on party had made a definitive decision in favor
political questions."57 of reformism in 1964 the l s s p leaders did
In 1963 all of the unions controlled by not believe or admit this.60Pressures in both
the l s s p , Communist Party, and the m e p of directions continued as long as the l s s p con­
Philip Gunawardena, together with some tinued to be a significant factor in national
independent unions, joined to form the Joint politics.
Committee of Trade Union Organizations The l s s p was not Trotskyist at its incep­

Ceylon: Split and Decline 185

tion although some of its founders did sym­ main electoral vehicle of the poor masses, it
pathize with Trotsky at that time. There is provided the main leadership of the trade
some question concerning when Leon unions." Mandel also argued that "the party
Trotsky himself first became aware of the leadership itself was not homogeneous. It
existence of a group of his followers in Cey­ was composed in reality of two wings, one
lon. George Lerski believed that Trotsky ad­ led by N. M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena
dressed only one communication directly to which displayed petty-bourgeois nationalist
the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, in December inclinations and was opportunist from the
1939, in reply to a letter from Selina Perera, start, the other, genuinely Trotskyist, led by
the wife of the l s s p leader N. M. Perera and a group of comrades around Colvin R. de
herself a person of some distinction in the Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, Bernard Soysa,
party.61 Lerski thought that this communi­ Edmund Samarakkody, Doric.de Souza and
cation from Trotsky "might have some ef­ Bala Tampoe."65
fect on the l s s p majority's historical deci­ The two groups mentioned by Mandel
sion to expel the Stalinists over the crucial split clearly into two parties in the late
issue of adherence to the Comintern."62 1940s, and when they were reunited in 1950
After the expulsion of the Stalinists the Philip Gunawardena refused to remain in
Lanka Sama Samaja Party was clearly a the unified group. Moreover, formal unity of
Trotskyist organization. The Bolshevik-Le- the l s s p and Bolshevik Samasamajist parties
ninist Party which they joined in India in did not end the problem presented by the
1942 was officially the "Indian Section of fact that the Trotskyists were making mod­
the Fourth International."63 Subsequently, est but appreciable headway through "re­
the l s s p was to be the Ceylonese .Section of formist" action regardless of how "revolu­
the International. tionary" their rhetoric remained.
However, the Ceylonese Trotskyists had On a programmatic level the l s s p contin­
a markedly different experience from that of ued to be committed to revolutionary
any of their colleagues in the Fourth Interna­ change in Ceylonese society. In its 1950 pro­
tional. Starting in 1947 they did exceedingly gram it proclaimed its "fundamental aims"
well in parliamentary elections. The l s s p to be "the overthrow of the Capitalist state,"
and Bolshevik Samasamajist parties to­ and "seizure of political power by the work­
gether received almost 17 percent of the to­ ing class at the head of the toiling masses."66
tal vote in the first postwar election. Subse­ It also declared that the party's "fundamen­
quently, they continued to get more than 10 tal aims cannot be realized through bour­
percent of the vote until the second election geois parliaments. The inevitable resistance
of i960, and even after that they remained of the bourgeoisie to their achievement nec­
a significant element in parliament and in essarily calls for mass revolutionary action
the country's general political life until the as the only means of realizing the w ill of the
disaster of 1977.64 majority."67
This electoral success and the extensive However, as Robert Keamey observes,
influence of the l s s p in the labor movement "over the next two decades, the party ap­
inevitably raised ideological and strategic peared to devote its principal efforts to elec­
questions within the party. Writing after the tion contests and the activities of Parlia­
1964 split, Fourth International leader Er­ ment and local government bodies. The
nest Mandel said that "in fact, while being election of 1956, which saw the rout of the
formally a Trotskyist party, the l s s p func­ u n p , identified by the Samasamajists as the

tioned in several areas comparably to a left party of the capitalist class, unquestionably
Social Democratic party in a relatively 'pros­ sharpened awareness of the possibilities of
perous' semicolonial country; i.e., it was the election contests and led to reconsideration

186 Ceylon: Split and Dccline

 of the most suitable path to the party's sphere." He added that the people of the
goals." Fourth International had never been able to
Kearney has noted that "the 1964 decision build up a party of any significance any­
to enter the coalition Government with the where.70
s l f p represented the triumph of the view The fundamental conflict between revo­
that through elections and control of Parlia­ lution and reformism remained with the
ment substantial and worthwhile gains party during its 1970s government experi­
could be achieved. The party schism which ence and certainly contributed to its ulti­
accompanied the decision removed the doc­ mate ouster from Mrs. Bandaranaike's gov­
trinaire Trotskyist wing of the party and ernment. This was clear from statements of
significantly reduced the doctrinal inhibi­ various party leaders during that period.
tions on acceptance of the electoral and par­ In 1974 Colvin R. de Silva, whom ten
liamentary path to the party's goals." An years before Emest Mandel had character­
unofficial statement of the l s s p periodical ized as "the party's most able theoretician
commented in 1970 on "many instances in and one of the most powerful orators in all
recent history of crucial mass issues arising A sia,"71 gave a lecture to party cadres in
in the. parliamentary context," and added which he discussed the point. He noted that
that "where parliamentary democracy ex­ "because of the numerical weakness of the
ists and political parties are permitted to industrial working class and the existence
represent class and mass interests, it is fool­ of a large petit bourgeoisie . . . the class
ish for any revolutionary to refuse to plunge struggle in contemporary Sri Lanka necessi­
himself into parliamentary battles."68 tated a series of maneuvers and alliances to
The l s s p did not give up all allegiance to draw sections of other classes toward the
revolutionary action. Even after the party working class in 'a common revolutionary
entered the government in 1964 N. M. Per­ struggle.' " He admitted that the United
era observed that "there may be those who Front government had not changed the bour­
will say that we have not at one fell stroke geois nature of the state but claimed that it
taken over all foreign and local capitalist had been "penetrated by a different class
property lock, stock and barrel, forgetful of consciousness" and had been converted into
the mass upsurge that must accompany it. "an arena of the class struggle."71
Such a mass upsurge must be generated by Leslie Goonewardene said in the next year
the heightened class consciousness of the that "an ordered development to socialism
toilers, bom of the social inequalities and through a parliamentary system cannot be
wrongs of the capitalist system."69 excluded," but "to say that such a develop­
Even as late as their participation in the ment is not excluded is not . . . the same
Bandaranaike government of the 1 970s the thing as to say that it is likely. It would be
l s s p leaders still considered themselves dangerous to come to the facile conclusion
Trotskyists. N. M. Perera told this writer in that, because the road to socialism com­
1971 that they were Trotskyists but that mences and proceeds a fair distance within
Trotskyism was not "a narrow, sectarian the peaceful framework of parliamentary in­
and dogmatic philosophy." The Samasama­ stitutions, this process will be completed in
jists felt the Trotskyism "must grow and be the same manner. It would be particularly
applied to the circumstances of each indi­ irresponsible to come to such a conclusion
vidual country." He argued that it was the after the recent example of Chile."73
leaders of the "so-called Fourth Interna­ Shortly before the expulsion of the l s s p
tional" who had "wandered away from the from the government N. M. Perera, in his
original ideas and orientation of Trots­ last budget speech to parliament, made a
kyism" and "lived in a very rarified atmo­ somewhat similar point. He argued that "so­

1
Ceylon: Split and Dcclinc 187
cialism cannot be achieved by standing still Harbor and Dock Workers Union, and it re­
and prating about consolidation. The path to mained for many years his principal labor
socialism is not dotted with halting places. group. In 1957 it became the major affiliate
The march forward has to be pushed ahead of a new Central Council of Trade Unions
with determination." 74 established under v l s s p sponsorship and
Thus, forty years after its establishment, control. By that time, due to the presence of
the Lanka Sama Samaja party still pro­ Philip Gunawardena in the government of
claimed itself to be a Trotskyist party al­ Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike,
though none of the rest of the world Trots­ the v l s s p had succeeded in establishing a
kyist movement recognized it as such. At number of other unions.
the same time, because over a long period it Although the unions controlled by the
had had modest electoral success it was the Gunawardena party never constituted the
only avowedly Trotskyist party which had largest element in the labor movement they
been faced in a very practical way with the were for many years a significant one. They
quandary of deciding between continued apparently reached the peak of their mem­
commitment to revolution and the practical bership in 1965, with some 36,841 mem­
benefits of functioning along reformist bers. In the following year the number fell
lines. By the time of its dramatic and drastic to 23,941.”
electoral defeat in 1977 it had not resolved The v l s s p had had varying political for­
this contradiction. tunes. In 195 2 it formed an electoral alliance
with the Communist Party. This coalition
won four seats in parliament, of whom three
Schisms in the lssp
were Communists. The victorious v l s s p
nominee was Kusumasiri Gunawardena,
The Philip Gunawardena Party
the wife of Philip, who himself had shortly
Throughout its history the Trotskyist before been disqualified from running "for
movement of Ceylon/Sri Lanka gave rise to offences connected with a strike."76
a number of schismatic groups. The two In preparation for the 1956 election the
most long-run were the party established by v l s s p joined the Manajana Eksath Peramuna

Philip Gunawardena in the early 1950s and (People's United Front—m e p ) coalition. The
the dissident group organized with the bless­ m e p was centered on the Sri Lanka Freedom

ing of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Party of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and in­
International in 1964. cluded in addition to the v l s s p the Basna
Philip Gunawardena was among the Peramuna headed by another ex-member of
founders of the l s s p . He and N. M. Perera the l s s p , W. Dananayake, and a group of
were thrown out of the Bolshevik-Leninist independent politicians.77 Five of the fifty-
Party of India in 1945, and were from then one successful m e p candidates were mem­
on joint leaders of the rump l s s p . When the bers of the v l s s p . 78
two groups again united Gunawardena re­ Two members of the v l s s p joined the cabi­
fused to go along and withdrew his support­ net of Prime Minister Bandaranaike, Philip
ers to form the Revolutionary Lanka Sama Gunawardena as minister of agriculture,
Samaja Party (Viplavakari Lanka Sama Sa­ and P. J. William de Silva as minister of in­
maja Party— v l s s p ). dustries. Among other,measures, Minister
Like all of the Ceylonese parties which of Agriculture Gunawardena undertook a
were originally of Marxist origin the v l s s p land distribution campaign which threat­
had a certain amount of trade-union back­ ened holdings of some of the Buddhist reli­
ing. Gunawardena had taken the lead many gious institutions. He soon engendered con­
years before in organizing the All-Ceylon siderable opposition from the Buddhist

188 Ceylon: Split and Decline

clergy. As a consequence of this and of the about three thousand, although it was only
continued militancy of VLSSP-led unions the half of that of the s l f p and a bit more than
right wing of the prime minister's coalition a third what the United National Party re­
mobilized against Gunawardena's presence ceived.83
in the government. In spite of this success the m e p suffered a
James Jupp has noted that "the Left was disaster in the next election, in July i960.
finally defeated by the so-called 'Cabinet This was because of "its refusal to cooperate
strike' in which ten Cabinet Ministers ad­ with the s l f p , l s s p , and c p against the u n p
vised Bandaranaike that they would not in that short-lived Parliament." The effect
function in their offices until Philip had was "its isolation and . . . a split in its
been got rid of." These ministers "charged ranks."84 In July i960 the m e p elected only
that he was generally incompetent, had ex­ three of its members and got only 102,833
ercised massive patronage in the Co-opera­ votes, less than a third of what it had gotten
tive Wholesale Establishment, was irre­ four months earlier.*s
sponsibly supporting the portworkers' The m e p declined radically after this July
strikes, had offended by his attacks on pri­ i960 electoral defeat. However, for some
vate enterprise." As a result of this on­ time it continued to have some considerable
slaught, Gunawardena and the v l s s p were trade union influence and to be considered
forced out of the government in November part of the Left in Ceylonese politics. It par­
I958 -79 ticipated in the United Left Front in 19 63-
In 1959 the v l s s p adopted the name of 64, together with the l s s p and Communist
the former coalition, the m e p . James Jupp Party. When that bloc broke up with the
commented that it "rapidly became com- entry of the l s s p in Mrs. Bandaranaike's first
munalist."80 As early as 1954 the v l s s p had government, the m e p did not join the Com­
adopted the position of favoring Sinhalese munist Party in supporting the Bandara­
as the only official language of Ceylon, in­ naike administration. Rather, it gravitated
stead of Sinhalese and Tamil, a position rapidly toward alliance with the United N a­
which the l s s p did not adopt until the mid­ tional Party. Philip Gunawardena's brother
dle 1960s.8' Robert broke away to form a very short-lived
The e x -V L S S P , now the m e p , contested the United Left Front Party.86
March i960 election very energetically, but However, the m e p apparently still re­
basically on a Sinhalese Buddhist basis. One mained optimistic about its possibilities. In
of the m e p candidates' election manifestos the 1965 election it fielded sixty-one candi­
was banned from the mails because "from dates. But this election turned out to be a
beginning to end it breathes anti-Catholic disaster. Although the party received
venom," and Gunawardena himself threat­ slightly more votes than in July i960 fifty-
ened to distribute all of the lands of the five of the m e p nominees did so badly that
Catholic Church if his party won, and to they lost their deposits. Philip Gunawar­
"expel all foreign fascist Catholics." The dena was the only candidate of the party
m e p professed to have high hopes of winning to be elected.87 Five years later "the m e p
and at one campaign meeting a poster pro­ seemed moribund. It failed to secure a single
claimed that it "had full confidence in Mr. seat in Parliament and its proportion of the
Philip Gunawardena as the next Prime Min­ popular vote fell below one percent."88
ister."82 Although both Philip and Robert Guna­
The Gunawardena group had its greatest wardena died in 1972, the m e p apparently
electoral success in that March i960 elec­ remained alive, but it no longer had any
tion. It won ten seats in parliament and its significant role in national politics. It was
vote of 325,832 surpassed that of the l s s p by reported that at the time of the jvp uprising

1
1 Ceylon: Split and Decline 1S9
in April 1971 the only politicians of any note the campaign, and in a manifesto accused
who supported the j v p were the ex-Maoist the l s s p and c p of misleading the masses to
S. D. Bandaranaike and Philip Gunawar­ the belief that the establishment of a coali­
dena, "and they climbed on so many band­ tion government would be a victory for the
wagons that no one was surprised/'89 masses."92 Their failure to offer candidates
On May Day 1977 the m e p participated in in the 1970 general election did not mean
a United Red May Day rally which it co­ that the party repudiated the idea of elec­
sponsored with the Ceylon Mercantile toral participation. It once again put up
Union (still controlled by the l s s p (Revolu­ nominees in the election following the fall
tionary), and a group known as the Sri Lanka of Mrs. Bandaranaike's government in 1977.
Vimukthi Balagevaya. Dinesh Gunawar­ Ernest Harsch wrote in the United Secre­
dena spoke for the m e p and Bala Tainpoe for tariat's Intercontinental Pres.s about the
the Ceylon Mercantile Union. There was 1977 campaign of the u s e c ' s Sri'Lanka affil­
also a speaker representing the j v p although iate that "in conjunction with the Ceylon
it held its own May Day rally in another part Mercantile Union ( c m u ), the Revolutionary
of Colombo.90 Marxist Party (r m p ) is conducting an elec­
tion campaign based on a revolutionary so­
cialist platform. The r m p is running T. N.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Perera and Upali Cooray in the Kesbewa and
(Revolutionary)
Dehiwela constituencies, while the c m u is
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolution­ fielding Deputy General Secretary Vemon
ary), which in the 1970s changed its name Wijesinghe in Colombo North and M. A.
to Revolutionary Marxist Party, remained Seneviratne in Kelaniya."
after 1964 the Ceylonese affiliate of the The r m p reemphasized its Trotskyist or­
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ thodoxy in this campaign. It called for an
tional. It suffered from little of the internal "Anti-Capitalist United Front," the purpose
tension between revolutionary purity and of which would be to "struggle for full free­
relatively successful reformism of the l s s p , dom for the masses and complete equality
although this did not save it entirely from for all sections of the population," and to
splits. oppose "the present or any other capitalist
The l s s p ( r ) participated in the election of government established by the s l f p or the
196 s, but did very badly. Robert Keamey has u n p , separately or in combination with any

noted that the party won no members of other parties, be they so-called Left parties
parliament, and that "two l s s p (r ) candidates or otherwise." Instead, the r m p called for
were veteran M.P.'s contesting the same "the perspective of the overthrow of capital­
constituencies they had won as l s s p candi­ ist rule and the establishment of a Workers'
dates five years earlier. Both lost their depos­ and Peasants' Government by the masses,"
its. One received about 1,000 votes while which would have the objective to "set Cey­
the regular l s s p candidate, in losing the con­ lon on the path to Socialism."93
test, secured 16,000 votes. The second ob­ The l s s p ( r ) also returned to Trotskyist or­
tained only 275 votes while the victorious thodoxy in its communal attitudes. The In­
l s s p candidate received 14,000 votes."91 tercontinental Press noted in 1970 that
Five years later, the l s s p ( r ) did not offer "The l s s p ( r ) has vigorously defended the
candidates in the election which resulted in rights of the persecuted Tamil popula­
the triumph of the United Front. A year tion."94 In an Open Letter which the l s s p (r )
later, Bala Tampoe said that "m y party, the sent to the Lanka Sama Samaja party in 1969
Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) it wrote that "many of you will remember
. . . did not put forward any candidates in the days when the l s s p was the fearless

190 Ceylon: Split and Decline

champion of the working class and all the of the l s s p (r ), defended several of their mem­
oppressed sections of the Ceylonese people, bers in the courts as a public defence of their
irrespective of their race or religion or caste, democratic rights to publicize their political
it9 9
or whether they were voters or not. "9S (This v ie w s .
last is a reference to the "Indian Tamils" When the government of Mrs. Bandara­
who were deprived of Ceylonese citizenship naike declared a state of emergency in
in 1948). In November 1976 the RM P-con- March 1971 the Ceylon Mercantile Union
trolled Ceylon Mercantile Union was able sent a letter to the prime minister over the
to get the most important Tamil trade union signature of Tampoe. It protested strongly
group, the Ceylon Workers Congress, con­ against the measure and denied the threat
sisting of plantation workers, to join with it of an armed uprising which was the justifi­
and several other groups to form the Trade cation of the state of emergency, as well as
Union Coordinating Committee (t u c c ). protesting various abuses which had oc­
The t u c c played a significant role in the curred under it.100
strikes which preceded the end of the Ban­ Alter the uprising, the l s s p ( r ) regularly
daranaike government in 1977.96 protested the continued incarceration of
The l s s p ( r ) / r m p group continued to con­ several thousand people. It also, understand­
trol the Ceylon Mercantile Union and Bala ably, protested against the arrest and jailing
Tampoe remained head of the union as well for four months of Prins Rajasooriya, assis­
as secretary of the party until 1981. In their tant secretary of the l s s p (r ) .101 International
public statements at least, the two organiza­ Trotskyist periodicals in various countries
tions seemed almost interchangeable. The also gave the jvp leaders space to present
Trotskyists claimed that the c m u had ex­ their point of view.
panded its influence in organized labor. In­ The l s s p (r ) and r m p kept in constant con­
tercontinental Piess described the union in tact with the United Secretariat of the
1977 as being "originally a white-collar Fourth International. In 1970 a representa­
union which has since gained a base among tive of the Socialist Workers Party of the
other sectors of workers."97 United States, Andrew Pulley, then making
The l s s p (r )/r m p was one of the few ele­ a speaking tour in Asia and Australia, visited
ments in the "Old Left" which showed any Ceylon. The l s s p ( r ) sponsored a meeting for
sympathy for the young "New Left" rebels him attended by five hundred people.102
of the j v p . However, Bala Tampoe made it In 1971, Bala Tampoe attended a national
clear that when the movement first ap­ antiwar conference in Sydney, Australia. He
peared in the late 1960s the Trotskyists had was interviewed there by the organ of the
little contact with it. In an interview he gave Australian affiliate of the United Secretar­
in Australia a few months before the jv p iat. That interview was reprinted in Inter­
uprising Tampoe said that before August continental Press,103 which from time to
1970 "the l s s p (r ) had no clear idea of what time during the 1970s carried news about
the jvp was, but when they held their meet­ the activities and pronouncements of the
ing on August io, it was quite clear that it United Secretariat's Sri Lanka affiliate.
was entirely a genuine mass movement of In spite of its lingering trade union influ­
Sinhala youth."98 ence, the l s s p ( r ) remained a minor factor in
When the police began to arrest a number the far left of Sri Lanka politics. James Jupp
of j v p leaders in the weeks before the April has suggested some of the reasons for this.
1971 uprising the l s s p (r ) came to the j v p ' s Speaking of both the dissident Samasama­
defense. Tampoe explained that "this police jists and the Maoist Communists he said
action is illegal, and I myself, since 1 happen that "the Leftwing critics who had broken
to be a criminal lawyer, have, on a decision away from the l s s p and Communist Party in

Ceylon: Split and Decline 191

 1964 over the Coalition tactic had remained the Workers League, the ic's United States
ineffectual precisely because they were so affiliate, when that group launched in 1969
firmly rooted in the traditions and social a weekly edition of its periodical The Bulle­
character of the groups which they had left. tin. At that time the Ceylonese Revolution­
Bala Tampoe, Shanmugathasan, Meryl Fer­ ary Communist League was publishing two
nando, Edmund Samarakkody and Karalas- periodicals, one in Sinhalese, Virodhaya,
ingham differed in their political views from and one in Tamil, Ethiippu.107 In the elec­
the Coalitionists. They were equally from tion of 1970 the group, one of whose princi­
the generation of the 1940s, from the En­ pal leaders was Wilfred Perera, supported
glish-speaking professional classes, from the the campaign of the l s s p / s l f p / c p coalition
scholastic tradition of Marxist exegesis. although within a year they were expressing
Their polemics were conducted in English strong opposition to the second government
and their following was among the univer­ of Mrs. Bandaranaike.108 The Revolutionary
sity students and clerical workers. Attempts Communist League was by the early 1980s
by Revolutionary Samasamajists and Mao­ still affiliated with the Healyite Interna­
ists to enter parliament showed their com­ tional Committee.109
plete isolation from the rural masses.. . ." 104 The Revolutionary Workers Party ( r w p )
In 1984 the Revolutionary Marxist Party was formed under the leadership of Edmund
merged with a group that broke away from Samarakkody and Meryl Fernando when
the Sri Lanka group which was aligned with they broke away from the l s s p (r ) in 1968. It
the Militant Tendency of Great Britain. The was first called the Revolutionary Samasa­
resulting organization was called the Social­ majist Party, but soon changed its name.110
ist Workers party and continued to be asso­ In 19 71 the r w p established "fraternal re­
ciated with the United Secretariat of the lations" with the international Spartacist
Fourth International.105 tendency (sic). In 1974, after a visit of an r w p
delegation to the United States, relations
between the party and the ist cooled consid­
Split-Offs from the LSSP(R)
erably. Nonetheless, in mid-1979 a delega­
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolution­ tion of the ist visited Sri Lanka and signed a
ary) suffered several splits. Undoubtedly in­ "Unification Agreement" with the Revolu­
ternal pressures contributed to these divi­ tionary Workers Party. Shortly afterward Sa­
sions—the two principal original l s s p {r ) marakkody and others attended the First
leaders, Bala Tampoe and Edmund Samarak­ Delegated International Conference of the
kody, soon parted ways—but these splits Spartacists; the Sri Lanka delegation walked
were also influenced by international divi­ out before the meeting was over.
sions in the ranks of Trotskyism. There still continued to be some support
The first group to break away was a fac­ for the Spartacists in the r w p and three
tion headed by V. A. Karalasingham, called members of its Political Committee formed
the "Sakthi group" after a paper it began to an opposition faction. However, when the
publish. They soon left the l s s p [r ) to return issue came to a head the principal figure in
to the l s s p . 104 that faction, Laksiri Fernando, abandoned it.
Subsequently, dissident elements of the Finally, the entire pro-Spartacist Bolshevik
l s s p |r ) broke away to form the Revolution­ Faction was expelled from the r w p in March
ary Workers Party and the Revolutionary 1981. Those expelled then established the
Communist League. The latter became af­ Spartacist League of Sri Lanka.111 In January
filiated with the International Committee 1983 Upali Cooray (admittedly not a
of the Fourth International, headed by Gerry friendly observer) claimed that there were
Healy, having sent a message of greetings to left in it only four founding members of the

192 Ceylon: Split and Decline

Sri Lanka Spartacist group.112 In any case it also attacked the militarist policies of the
is clear that the Spartacists were one of the government and called for the withdrawal
smaller groups in the country claiming ad­ of troops from the North and East.
herence to Trotskyism. The Healyite group as well as the small
In mid-198 3 it was reported that the Sri Spartacists.. , have also adopted a similar
Lanka Spartacists were publishing two peri­ position. Bala Tampoe has opposed the
odicals, Lanka Spartacist in Sinhalese, and government policy and called for regional
Illangai Spaztacist in Tamil. The format of autonomy. The n s s p calls for the right of
those papers was copied from that of the self determination and the only difference
publications of the Spartacist League of the they have with us is that they called the
United States.113 armed Tamil groups "terrorists" while we
In 1981 there was a further split in the object to that term. We consider them
Revolutionary Marxist Party when its prin­ as liberation fighters. Even the l s s p have
cipal trade union figure, Bala Tampoe of the fared better since they were voted out of
Ceylon Mercantile Union, broke away. He Parliament. Although they oppose a sepa­
did so because of criticism which the party rate Tamil state and criticize Tamil "ter­
leadership had levelled at him and his union rorists" they put the main emphasis on
for not having participated in a general attacking the government policies.
strike in 1980.114 Although Tampoe contin­
The writer commented also on the general
ued to regard himself as a Trotskyist, he was
situation in which the Trotskyists found
no longer associated with any of the factions
themselves as a result of the communal
of International Trotskyism.
strife.
There is closer cooperation among the
The Trotskyists and the Communal Trotskyist groups and others who have a
Strife of the Mid-1980s clear position of defending the Tamils.
We are now being harassed by the govern­
After the savage outburst of communal
ment because of our opposition to the
strife in August 1983 the Sinhalese-Tamil
anti-Tamil and militarist policy of the
struggle degenerated into a virtual civil war.
govt. Our group as well as the Healyites,
In the face of the u n p government's increas­
Spartacists and n s s p have been under con­
ingly harsh attitude toward the Tamil mi­
stant surveillance and harassment. It is
nority virtually all of the parties and groups
clear that we are fast approaching a situa­
professing allegiance to Trotskyism reacted
tion of neo-fascism and clamp down on
more or less in conformity with their Trots­
opposition. We could see a Latin Ameri­
kyist heritage.
can type situation soon. And then all
A leader of the United Secretariat's Sri
democratic opposition will become im­
Lanka affiliate, writing early in 1985, de­
possible.115
scribed the attitudes of the Trotskyists at
that time:
Conclusions on Ceylonese/
In general all the Trotskyist factions and
Sri Lankan Trotskyism
groups have adopted a fairly good position
on the National question compared to The Trotskyist movement in Ceylon/Sri
various Stalinist and Maoist groups. The Lanka is unique. The country is one of the
orthodox groups such as ours .. . has (sic) few in which avowed Trotskyists had sub­
taken a hard line Leninist position and stantial membership in the national legisla­
defended the struggle for self-determina­ ture and the only one in which the Trotsky­
tion of TAMIL speaking people. We have ist party was the official opposition. It was

1 Ceylon: Split and Decline 193

t
 also the only nation in which Trotskyists Chilean Trotskyism
controlled a number of municipalities. The
Ceylonese/Sri Lanka Trotskyists were the
only ones who largely dominated the na­
tional trade union movement for several de­
cades.
Chile was one of the few countries in which
As a consequence of all of these factors
Trotskyism became an appreciable force in
Ceylon/Sri Lanka is the only nation in
national politics in the 1930s. However, this
which Trotskyism has been faced with the
serious problem of the conflict between rev­ situation was short-lived. Thereafter Chil­
olutionary ethos and reformism. The rest of ean Trotskyism suffered from the problem
of "entrism," underwent the process of
International Trotskyism regards the Lanka
Sama Samaja Party as having decided this splitting, reunification and further splinter­
dilemma in favor of reformism and therefore ing which was characteristic of the move­
has read the l s s p out of the movement. ment throughout the world, and was re­
duced to a splinter faction even in the
However, like most of the rest of Interna­
country's left-wing politics.
tional Trotskyism, in Ceylon/Sri Lanka the
movement has been cursed with a great deal
of factionalism, particularly after 1964. Al­ Chilean Trotskyism in the 1930s
though by the early 1 980s there were at least
eight different factions, Upali Cooray is the The Trotskyist movement in Chile had its
authority for the judgment that only the origins in a split which developed within
original l s s p , the n s s p which broke away the Communist Party of Chile during the
in 1977, the u s e c ' s Revolutionary Marxist dictatorship of General Carlos Ibanez be­
Party, and the Socialist Worker Group were tween 1927 and 19 31. The founder of the
"of any significance."116 Chilean Communist Party, Luis Emilio Re-
cabarren, had died late in 1924. During the
period between his death and the advent of
the Ibanez regime in May 1927 Recabarren's
dual role as head of the Communist Party
and leader of the largest trade union organi­
zation, the Federation Obrera de Chile
( F o c h ) , had been divided, with Senator Man­
uel Hidalgo being the major public leader
of the party and Elias Lafferte succeeding
Recabarren as head of Foch.
During the Ibanez period serious differ­
ences developed between the element cen­
tering on Lafferte, of which the principal
political leader was Carlos Contreras La-
barca, and the group led by Manuel Hidalgo,
seconded by Humberto Mendoza (also
known by his party pseudonym as Jorge
Lavin). The strength of the former group

Material in this chapter dealing with the period be­

fore 1969 unless otherwise noted is adapted from
Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin America,
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1973.

194 Chile
 tended to be centered in the nitrate and cop­ separated the two Communist groups. The
per mining areas of the north and the coal Hidalgo faction strongly opposed the at­
mining region near Concepcion, while that tempted revolt.
of the Hidalgo faction centered particularly The two parties also had strongly con­
in the Santiago area, where Hidalgo had been trasting attitudes toward the so-called "So­
the principal founder and organizer of the cialist Republic" which was established by
party. a coup on June 4, 1932. That regime was
Although the controversy originally had headed at first by Colonel Marmaduque
had no ideological basis it began to acquire Grove, the founder of the Air Force, and was
one when the South American Secretariat supported by a group of small socialist par­
of the Communist International, located in ties as well as by leaders of the legal unions,
Montevideo, started to intervene. After the Masons, and by some people who had
some hesitation, the Comintern threw the been associated with the Ibanez regime.
weight of its authority and finances behind The Lafferte party was loyal to the current
the Lafferte-Contreras Labarca group. Comintern line in unequivocally opposing
As a consequence of this quarrel the Com­ the Marmaduque Grove Socialist Republic.
munist Party emerged after the fall of Ibanez The Hidalgo group, on the other hand, gave
in August 19 31 as two rival groups, both critical support to the regime and presented
calling themselves Partido Comunista (Sec- it with a seven point program which called
ci6n Chilena de la Intemacional Comun­ upon it to arm the workers and disarm right-
ista}. In the first election after the ouster of wing elements, to socialize the means of
the dictatorship the two parties ran Lafferte production, turn over control of the munici­
and Hidalgo as rival candidates for the presi­ palities to the workers, and called for "for­
dency. Although the Hidalgo faction had mation of committees of workers and peas­
some hope at the beginning of the campaign ants . .. and recognition of control of
that their nominee might stage an upset vic­ production and distribution by these."1
tory, the entry of ex-President Arturo Ales- When opponents of Grove removed him
sandri into the campaign as the principal from the leadership of the Socialist Republic
nominee of the left ended these hopes. and exiled him to Easter Island the Hidal-
The two Communist factions took goites called a general strike of protest
strongly contrasting positions on several is­ which was widely supported by the workers
sues. The Lafferte faction, following the and lasted for three days. They also joined
Comintern's then current line in favor of with some of the small socialist groups to
Communist "dual unionism," hastened to form the Alianza Socialista Revolucionaria.
revive poch, again with Lafferte as its secre­ In elections held in November 1932, fol­
tary general, while refusing to have anything lowing the overthrow of the Socialist Re­
to do with "legal" unions which had been public, the Hidalgoites supported a broad
established between 192,4 and 19 31 in con­ coalition of socialist parties which ran Mar­
formity with legislation passed in Septem­ maduque Grove for president. They ran
ber 1924. The Hidalgo faction on the other their own list of candidates for congress,
hand called for unification of the trade union electing Manuel Hidalgo to the Senate and
movement, favored working both in the le­ Emilio Zapata to the Chamber of Deputies.
gal unions, and the "unlegal" ones, and had Early in 1933 the Hidalgo party held its
some strength in both of those labor groups. first congress and established itself defini­
The attempt by the Lafferte party to fo­ tively as a party separate from the Lafferte-
ment a military insurrection in December Contreras Labarca one. By that time the Hi­
1931 (in conformity with the extremism dalgo group had also clearly evolved into a
which then marked Comintern policy) also Trotskyist organization. This development

Chile 195
was due not only to the consistent support cipal rivals in organized labor and left poli­
that the Stalinist-controlled Comintern had tics generally, the Communists and the new
given the Lafferte group but also to the fact Socialist Party (psch), which had been estab­
that the Hidalgoites had come to agree with lished early in 1933 almost simultaneously
the positions taken by the International Left with the reorganization of the Trotskyists
Opposition, including its opposition to "So­ as Izquierda Comunista. The p s c was the
cialism in one country," to the theory of result of the merger of several small Social­
"social fascism/' and to the Stalinists' en­ ist parties which had appeared after the fall
dorsement of a "government of workers and of Ibanez and which had supported the
peasants" instead of "the dictatorship of the Grove Socialist Republic in June 1932 and
proletariat." Grove's presidential candidacy later in that
As a consequence, the 1933 congress of year. Most of the leaders of the legal unions
the Hidalgo party made two important deci­ also were among the founders of the psch.
sions. It changed its name to Izquierda Com­ At the inception of the Partido Socialista
unista (ic—Communist Left) and decided to relations between it and the Izquierda Co­
join the International Left Opposition. munista were markedly hostile. As the for­
During the next few years, the Izquierda mation of the Left Bloc indicates, this situa­
Comunista was more important than the tion soon began to change. Particularly after
Communist Party, both in the trade union the formation of the Popular Front in 1936
movement and in the country's general poli­ the i c leaders became increasingly con­
tics. Within the labor movement they con­ vinced that there was no "political room"
tinued to be active in both the legally recog­ for a third major working-class party. Also,
nized unions and those which did not have they became growingly disillusioned in the
legal authorization. In 1934 they aided in International Left Opposition, no longer
forming the Confederaci6n Nacional de Sin- feeling that it had much future as a viable
dicatos Legales as the central organization world revolutionary party. For their part the
of the legal unions. The ic largely dominated Socialists, fearing to be outmaneuvered in
the Comitg Unico de la Construcci6n, to the Popular Front by an alliance of the Sta­
which were affiliated most of the country's linist Party and the Radicals, became in­
construction workers' unions, the prepon­ creasingly receptive to the idea of a merger
derance of which were unrecognized organi­ with the Izquierda Comunista.
zations. The upshot of this development was the
The ic continued to have some represen­ entry of a majority of the leaders and mem­
tation in Congress and other legislative bod­ bers of the ic into the Socialist Party in 19 3 7.
ies. In 1935 the Trotskyist organization— It is clear that this was in no sense the kind
in apparent violation of the international of "entrist" maneuver which Trotsky had
movement's opposition to popular fron- recommended to his followers in France and
tism—joined with the Socialist Party, the elsewhere. There is no indication that the
Partido DemoCratico, and the Radical So­ ex-ic people who entered the psch contin­
cialist Party, to form the Bloc de Izquierda ued to function as an organized faction
(Bloc of the Left), which worked together in within their new party. Nor was any rela­
parliament and in the electoral field. Alli­ tionship maintained between these (ex?J-
ance with the Socialists and the Partido De- Trotskyists who went into the Socialist
mocratico might have been in conformity Party and their comrades who remained out­
with the Trotskyist support for a United side. In subsequent years the ex-Trotskyists
Front, but cooperation with the middle-class became leading figures in the Socialist Party
Radical Socialists certainly was not. as well as in several splinter groups of the
During the 19 33-19 37 period the Iz­ psch.
quierda Comunista was faced with two prin­ A minority of Chilean Trotskyists refused

196 Chile
to enter the Socialist Party. Late in 1935 in time of Trotsky's death, was finally
the face of growing cooperation between the achieved in June 1941. The Fourth Interna­
ic and the psch, the Santiago Regional Com­ tional played a major role in this. Terence
mittee of the Izquierda Comunista broke Phelan (Sherry Mangan) of the U.S. Socialist
away to form the Grupo Bolchevique-Lenin- Workers Party attended the unity congress
ista, which announced its continued loyalty as a delegate from the Fourth International.
to the International Left Opposition. In 1937 The new united Trotskyist group was
it changed its name to Partido Obrero Re­ called the Partido Obrero Revolucionario.
volucionario ( p o r —Revolutionary Labor Diego Henriquez, secretary general of the
Party). old p o r , was named the first secretary gen­
At the Founding Congress of the Fourth eral of the new party.
International the p o r was the Chilean sec­ Although the new p o r never became a
tion represented at that session.2 Pierre Na- major factor in the country's trade union
ville, in his report to the Congress, esti­ movement they were active in several
mated the membership of the p o r at 1 0 0 . 3 unions. These included the organizations of
However, the p o r was not the only Chil­ municipal, construction, textile, leather,
ean group claiming loyalty to International printing and railroad workers.
Trotskyism. In 1938 a dissident element The p o r also engaged in electoral politics.
broke away from the Juventud Socialista, In the 1942 presidential election they ran
the youth section of the Socialist Party. It their then secretary general, Humberto Va­
took the name Grupo Internacionalista lenzuela but he received very few votes. In
Obrero, and then in 1940 assumed the name the congressional elections of 1945 the p o r
Partido Obrero Internacionalista ( p o i ). Ef­ nominees received about 1,000 votes, but
forts to bring these two groups together were none of them was elected.
unavailing during the period before Trots­ Meanwhile, the Chilean Trotskyists suf­
ky's death. They engaged in extensive po­ fered two new splits. In 1942 a group includ­
lemics with one another. Also, in the elec­ ing a number of the traditional leaders of the
tion of 1938 the p o r named Marmaduque p o r broke with the party to establish the

Grove as its presidential nominee while the Liga Obrera Leninista. In August 1946 the
p o i supported the victorious Popular Front Liga people were reincorporated in the p o r
candidate, the Radical, Pedro Aguirre Cerda in what was called the First Extraordinary
(whom Grove also supported). Conference of the Partido Obrero Revoluci­
The report on Latin America to the Emer­ onario.
gency Conference of the Fourth Interna­ A further split in Chilean Trotskyism
tional in May 1940 noted that the p o i had took place in the early 1950s. A dissident
recently merged with two other splinters element of Trotskyists within the Munici­
from the Socialist Party, the Partido Social­ pal Workers Union opposed the leadership
ista Revolucionaria and the Izquierda Revo- of the p o r . It was the only Trotskyist ele­
lucionaria Socialista. It also observed that ment which at that point had any influence
negotiations for merger of the p o i and p o r in organized labor.
were continuing.4 With the formation of the new central
labor organization ( c u t —Central Unica de
Trabajadores) in 1953, the Trotskyists had
Reunion and New Schisms in
some secondary influence in the organiza­
Chilean Trotskyism
tion. Humberto Valenzuela, Trotskyist
Unity between the Partido Obrero Revoluci­ leader among the municipal workers, was
onario and the Partido Obrero Intemacional- elected to the Santiago regional executive of
ista, the two Chilean groups declaring their c u t in 1957 and to its national committee

allegiance to the Fourth International at the in the following year.5

1
t Chile 197
 There is no information available about Salvador Allende at the beginning of the pe­
the denouement of the split of the 1950s. riod, and all suffered immensely from the
During the 1960s the Chilean Trotskyist persecution of the military dictatorship of
movement was still divided into two rival General Augusto Pinochet after September
groups. One was the Partido Obrero Revo­ 1973 -
lucionario, which during the 1950s had be­ From 1964 until 1969 those Chileans as­
come associated with the anti-Pablo Inter­ sociated with the United Secretariat had
national Committee of the Fourth worked within the Movimiento de Izquierda
International. Revolucionaria (mir). One of the major
The p o r joined forces in r 96 4 with dissi­ Trotskyist leaders, Humberto Valenzuela,
dent elements from the Socialist and Com­ was a member of the National Secretariat of
munist parties to establish the Movimiento the mir between 1965 and 1967. In 1969, the
de Izquierda Revolucionaria ( m i r ). In the be­ Trotskyists were expelled from the m i r for
ginning one of the principal leaders of the opposing the "foquista" guerrilla war tactics
m i r was Luis Vitale, who by then was the supported by the majority of the mir leader­
major Trotskyist leader of Chile. This Trots­ ship. They then formed the Frente Revolu­
kyist faction continued to work within the cionario. In December 1972 that organiza­
m i r during the rest of the 1960s. tion merged with another group, the
The other Chilean Trotskyist group was Tendencia Revolucionaria Octubre (aligned
the Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trots­ with the Socialist Workers Party of the
kista). It was associated with the Interna­ United States in u s e c ), to establish the Par­
tional Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ tido Socialista Revolucionario, which was
tional during the split in the 1950s and with soon recognized as the Chilean section of
its Latin American Bureau. Then when the the United Secretariat.
Latin American Bureau under the leadership In describing the activity of Humberto
of J. Posadas broke away to form its own Valenzuela during the Popular Unity gov­
version of the Fourth International, the ernment period, Luis Vitale, another u s e c
p o r ( t ) became part of that tendency. The follower in Chile, defined the attitude of the
p o r ( t ) had some very tangential influence . Chilean u s e c Trotskyist faction during that
in the labor movement. Ten of its members period. He wrote that "without sectarian­
were said to have been delegates to the Third ism, he worked alongside the pro-Allende
Congress of the Central Unica de Trabaja­ workers in building the coidones industria-
dores de Chile in September 1962. However, les, the comandos comunales, and other or­
most of the time and energy of the p o r ( t ) gans of popular power, at the same time
was taken up with publication of its periodi­ criticizing the reformists. In this task,
cal, Lucha Obrera. Humberto made a united front with the m i r ,
and was elected national leader of the Frente
de Trabajadores Revolucionarios. . . . He
Chilean Trotskyism After 1969
was a candidate in the last c u t elections."6
During the 1970s and early 1980s at least The Partido Socialista Revolucionario
five of the tendencies of International Trots­ published a periodical, Revolucidn Perma-
kyism maintained some kind of organiza­ nente. Its February 1973 issue had articles
tion in Chile (or after 1973, among Chilean which defined the u s e c Trotskyists' posi­
exiles). These were the United Secretariat, tion toward the Allende regime. One of
the Lambertist c o r q i , the Morenoists, the these said that" . . . the workers' movement
Spartacists, and the Posadas faction. Each of suffers from one weakness: It lacks a revolu­
the groups had to develop an approach to the tionary leadership. The up has demon­
Unidad Popular government of President strated its reformist character, its revolu­

198 Chile
 tionary verbalism, its scorn for action by the of the m i r must not at all stand in the way
exploited, its weak and conciliatory attitude of recognizing the important role the m i r is
toward the bourgeoisie and its inconsistenc­ playing as a catalyzer at the moment, or of
ies." The article urged the Trotskyists to appreciating the programmatic rectifica­
take part in all rank and file organizations tions or advances it makes. . . ."8
"to form organs of proletarian power, to help With the overthrow of the Allende regime
form a true revolutionary leadership in the and installation of the military dictatorship
heat of the struggle; to defeat and destroy of General Pinochet, the Trotskyists, along
the bourgeois regime, and to unflinchingly with all the rest of the Chilean Left, were
advance toward socialism." severely persecuted. Luis Vitale and Hum­
Another article in the same issue of Revo- berto Valenzuela, among others, were ar­
lucidn Permanente argued that "The gov­ rested and ultimately deported from Chile.9
ernment and the u p insist on sticking to Early in 1976 six members of the Liga Com­
their peaceful road to socialism. But the pro­ unista, "a Chilean sympathizing group
letariat is becoming aware of the fact that of the Fourth International" ( u s e c ), were
this is not its road. . . The article then tried under the State Internal Security
presented a nine-point program of "immedi­ Act of the dictatorship for holding "regular
ate goals" which included "the formation of meetings of a subversive character."-0 The
People's Militia focusing on key mass Liga Comunista was a group which had
fronts/' nationalization of all land "and that broken away from the m i r in August 1973
it be turned over to the peasants for use and published an underground periodical,
through the Consejos Comunales Campe- Combate.11
sinos (Peasant Community Councils)," and The Partido Socialista Revolucionario ap­
"formation of a Revolutionary United Front parently survived the persecution of the Pi­
as a step toward the unification of the revo­ nochet regime. An article in the u s e c period­
lutionary left, reaching agreement in every ical Inprecoz in September 1982 noted that
workers' front on specific points of agree­ "in certain zones or localities, mass work
ment between the various organizations."7 can perhaps be combined with an organiza­
There is some indication that the majority tion of the revolutionary currents, such as
leadership in the United Secretariat was at the m i r , sectors arising from the crisis in the
the time somewhat lukewarm towards the s p , Trotskyist militants. That is the way

u s e c ' s Chilean affiliate. Thus, in December opened to revolutionary Marxist interven­

1971 u s e c issued a statement which began tion. . . . It is towards this perspective that
by the call to "Organize Democratic Coun­ the activity of the comrades of the Partido
cils of the Workers, Peasants, Slum Dwell­ Socialista Revolucionario, Chilean section
ers and Students! struggle for the Arming of the IVth International, is directed."12 In
of the Proletariat and the Formation of a May 1984 the u s e c Trotskyists in Chile be­
Popular Militia! Build a Revolutionary gan publication of a mimeographed journal,
party!" This statement made no mention Ofensiva Socialista, the first number of
of the Chilean Trotskyists but centered its which called for preparation for a general
praise instead on the Fidelista m i r . It noted strike against the regime.13
that "the forces organized or influenced by During at least part of the period under
the m i r will unquestionably play an impor­ review, the Lambertist c o r q i faction of In­
tant role in building the revolutionary party ternational Trotskyism was represented by
that is the condition sina qua non for the two organizations in Chile. The original af­
victory of the Chilean workers and peasants. filiate was the Organizaci6n Marxista Revo-
. . It also noted that "the necessary criti­ lucionaria |o m r ). However, at some point
cism of the contradictions and weaknesses during the Allende regime a group with its

Chile 199
principal center in the Concepci6n area Pinochet but for the immediate election of
broke away from the o m r to form the Par­ a constituent assembly. It was urging a gen­
tido Obrera Marxista Revolucionario eral strike to get rid of the dictatorship.18
(p o m r ).14 One of these organizations was Even the international Spartacist ten­
closely aligned with the Politica Obrera dency developed a fraternal organization
group in Argentina. among the Chileans, at least for a period in
The attitude of the c o r q i affiliates toward the late 1970s. This group appears to have
the Allende regime is reflected in the ex- had its following particularly among Chil­
post-facto denunciation of that regime in eans who had gone into exile after seizure
November 1973 by the International Bureau of power by the military. Those establishing
of the Lambertist group. That statement the Organization Trotskyista Revoluciona­
said that the Allende government had been ria (o t r —Revolutionary Trot,skyist Organi­
a "popular front" and denounced claims that zation) late in 1972 were members of the
it had been "partially progressive because it pro-U.S. Socialist Workers Party faction, the
was anti-imperialist."15 Tendencia Revolucionaria Octubre, who re­
The attitude of the faction associated with fused to go along with the merger of that
Politica Obrera played a role in the split group with the Frente Revolucionaria Trots­
which developed between that Argentine kista to form the Partido Socialista Revoluc­
group and the Lambertist international. The ionario.
International Bureau of c o r q i denounced a Once in exile the o t r members entered
statement of the Chileans that "the present into contact with the various tendencies of
unions in Chile are workers unions. . . ." 16 International Trotskyism. In May 1975
There is no information available as to there was finally published a "Declaration
whether any affiliate of the c o r q i survived of Fraternal Relations" between the o t r and
the persecutions of the Pinochet dictator­ the international Spartacist tendency.19
ship. One unfriendly source claimed in 1982 This organization still existed almost two
that no Lambertist group existed at that years later, when it issued a proclamation
time in Chile.17 denouncing a plebiscite which had been or­
The Morenoist current in International ganized by the Pinochet regime.20
Trotskyism obtained a Chilean affiliate Finally, the Posadas version of the Fourth
sometime after the overthrow of the Allende International also continued to have a Chil­
regime. It was reported in m id-19 84 that ean affiliate at least until the end of the
"among the militants of Izquierda Socialista Allende regime. Of all the Trotskyist ten­
are former members of the m i r who broke dencies in Chile the Posadas group was prob­
with this organization because it capitu­ ably the most sympathetic towards the Al­
lated to the government of Popular Unity of lende government. The issue of the first
Allende, the majority of a Trotskyist organi­ fortnight of June 1972 of the periodical of the
zation called Liga Comunista, members of Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista)
the Liga Bolchevique and many students and published an article by Posadas himself enti­
trade union activists." In 1983 the Izquierda tled "The Advance of the Government of
Socialista established a youth organization, Allende and the Tasks to Pass from a Revo­
Juventud Socialista, which a year later was lutionary State to a Workers State." This
reported as having "hundreds of members." and the lead editoriaKof the periodical car­
It also was publishing an underground peri­ ried no denunciations of the "popular front"
odical, El Socialista, which was said to have nature of the Allende regime or of its revolu­
"a circulation of various thousands each is­ tionary bona fides. They did propose some
sue." In m id-1984 the Izquierda Socialista very radical measures. Thus, "Our party pro­
was calling not only for the overthrow of poses that in place of a plebiscite, as is pro-

200 Chile
posed by the Socialist Party, the Govern­ Trotskyism in China
ment and the u p , suggest and carry out the
dissolution of Parliament and call a Popular
Assembly, whose representatives will be
elected from centers of labor and pro­
duction."21
There is little direct evidence available as Differences over the Communist Interna­
to whether the p o r (t ) survived during the tional's policies during "the second Chinese
Pinochet regime. As late as December 1976, Revolution" {1925-1927} were one of the
however, the Posadistas were claiming that first major issues which differentiated Inter­
their Chilean periodical, Lucha Obrera, was national Trotskyism from Stalin's followers
still appearing.22 in the Comintern. Although there were Chi­
nese Communist leaders who took posi­
tions similar to those of Leon Trotsky dur­
ing the 192 5-1927 period they only became
aware of this community of ideas subse­
quently. When a Trotskyist movement fi­
nally emerged, it included among its initia­
tors some of the principal founders and early
leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
Chinese Trotskyism existed in the country
for about two decades, and as an exile move­
ment for at least two decades more. It began
to be revived in nearby Hong Kong in the
1970s.

Early Years of the Chinese

Communist Party
Two people were the pioneers in organizing
the Communist Party of China. One of
those was Li Dazhao, Head Librarian of Pe­
king University, a Marxist intellectual writ­
ing by the time of World War I and one of
the first Chinese to write extensively in
praise of the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1918
he organized a Marxist Study Society in Pe­
king. It was Li whom the first Comintern
representatives, sent to China in the spring
of 1920, were instructed to contact.1
The second figure in the founding of Chi­
nese communism was Ch'en Tu-hsiu (Chen
Duxiu). He had participated in the 19 11 rev­
olution which overthrew the Chinese Em­
pire and in 1915 had established a magazine,
N ew Youth, in Shanghai, which became a
major voice against Confucianism and in
favor of cultural change, particularly the use

1
( China 201
 of the vernacular in the written Chinese lan­ In July 1922 the Chinese Communist
guage. .He did not become a Marxist until Party held its Second Congress. It adopted
1920.2 a "Manifesto" which set forth the party's
Grigori Voitinsky and YangMingzhai, the objectives. This document carried a passage
Comintern representatives, visited both Li of great interest in view of the c c p ' s later
Dazhao and Chu Tu-hsiu. They aided the history. This was a warning against workers
latter in setting up the first avowedly Com­ becoming "the appendage of the petty bour­
munist local group in Shanghai in the sum­ geoisie," and urging that they "must fight
mer of 1920. That group made New Youth for their own class interests."4
its official organ and established an illegal However, the Comintern's representa­
periodical, The Communist. It also estab­ tive, Sneevliet-Maring, had been meeting in
lished a Socialist Youth Corps among whose Canton with Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Chi­
founders were P'eng Shu-tse {Peng Shuzhi} nese Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang
and Liu Shao-chi (Liu Shaoqi). Soon other |k m t |, concerning possible alliance between
Communist groups were established in Wu­ the Kuomintang and the c c p . Sun was the
han, Changsha, Canton and Tsinan. political leader of a regional regime based on
The Comintern representatives and Canton which was dominated by his party
Ch'en Tu-hsiu decided that for the purpose and was already laying plans to bring about
of developing more or less rapidly a group of a revolution throughout the country which
cadres for the Chinese Communist move­ hopefully would end the warlord system
ment it would be useful to send a group of from which the country had suffered virtu­
young people to the University of the Toil­ ally since the end of the Empire in r9 ii.
ers of the East, which had been established On Sneevliet-Maring's request, a meeting
in Moscow. A group of somewhere between of the c c p Central Committee was held in
thirty and sixty Chinese students arrived in August 1922 to discuss cooperation between
Moscow by August 1921. Among those were the k m t and the Communists. Among those
P'eng Shu-tse, Liu Shao-chi, Ren Zuomin, present were Li Dazhao, Ch'en Tu-hsiu,
and Xiao Jingguang.3 Ts'ai Hosen, Zhang Tailei, Cao Shangde,
Meanwhile the First Congress of the Chi­ and Chang Kuo-t'ao.
nese Communist Party met in Shanghai, at­ Sneevliet-Maring reported that he felt
tended by eleven to thirteen delegates repre­ that Kuomintang-Communist cooperation
senting the fifty-some members then was essential because the k m t "was a strong
belonging to the Communist groups in vari­ national revolutionary political party with
ous cities. Although neither Li Dizhao nor members in all strata of Chinese society."
Ch'en Tu-hsiu was able to attend the meet­ However, he said, Sun Yat-sen did not regard
ing, it adopted a draft program drawn up by the c c p to be an equal to the Kuomintang
the latter as well as a party constitution as a national party, and so would agree to
written by Chang Kuo-t'ao (Zhang Guotao). "cooperation" only on the basis of Commu­
Two Comintern representatives, one of nists entering the k m t as individual mem­
whom was Hendrick Sneevliet (Maring), bers, a policy which Sneevliet apparently
were in attendance. endorsed.
The c c p congress decided to establish a There has been discussion of whether
Labor Secretariat. It soon came to gain some Sneevliet was carrying out specific instruc­
influence in the nascent trade-union move­ tions which he had received from the Com­
ment and in May 1922 organized the First intern, or was merely giving his own inter­
National Labor Congress which was at­ pretation to what he thought the Comintern
tended by 160 delegates claiming to repre­ policy to be.5 In any case, there is a certain
sent unions with 300,000 members. irony involved in the fact that Sneevliet,

202 China
who was ultimately to become a Trotskyist tions of Trotsky, he seems not to have taken
himself, was the one to take the first step in a strong stand one way or the other on
the evolution of a policy which Trotsky was them.9
to denounce so roundly. However, P'eng had begun to be critical
of the emerging Comintern policy of close
collaboration with the Kuomintang in
The Origins of Chinese Trotskyism
China. He was unsatisfied with arguments
in Moscow
of Russian Comintern officials in defense of
There were two sources of a Trotskyist cur­ it, returning to China with an inclination to
rent within the ranks of the Chinese Com­ be critical towards the k m t - c c p alliance.10
munists. One of these was the group of Chi­ Subsequent to P'eng's departure from
nese students at the University of the Moscow, some of the Chinese Communist
Toilers of the East and Sun Yat-sen Univer­ students who remained tended to gravitate
sity in Moscow; the other was opposition towards Trotsky and his ideas. Joseph Miller
within the c c f leadership in China to the has noted that "this grouping of very early
policy which Sneevliet-Maring had origi­ Chinese Trotskyists were mainly younger
nally advocated and which became official activists who had been sent to Moscow to
Comintern policy early in 1923. study during the years of revolution. They
Although it was customary for foreigners had no real experience with the revolution­
who came to Moscow for training to become ary struggle inside of China. P'eng argues
members of the Soviet Communist Party it that 'they were won over to Trotskyism
was decided to make an exception of the solely on the basis of Trotsky's writings and
Chinese. Many of them were organized in­ the influence of Karl Radek, who was the
stead into a "Moscow branch" of the Chi­ rector of Sun Yat-sen University at that
nese Communist Party. P'eng Shu-tse was time.' " n
chosen secretary of that branch in August Meanwhile, the Stalinists within the Chi­
I92I.6 nese Communist Party apparatus in Mos­
The Chinese students participated in a cow and within the Comintern had become
variety of activities. This was particularly anxious about the influence of the Left Op­
the case with P'eng. He attended the First position among the Chinese students in
Congress of the Toilers of the Far East held Moscow and within the c c f in China itself.
in Moscow and Petrograd in January-Febru- A number of steps were taken to counteract
ary 1922. Various officials of the Comintern, this influence.
including its Chairman, Gregory Zinoviev, Karl Radek was succeeded by Pavel Mif as
addressed this meeting.7 P'eng Shu-tse also head of Sun Yat-sen University and a deci­
was a delegate to the Fifth Congress of the sion was taken to concentrate all of the Chi­
Communist International in June-July nese students in that institution where they
1924, shortly before his return home. He could be more closely watched by Mif. In
later said that he was surprised that Trotsky June-July 1928 the Sixth Congress of the
had not attended that session,® Chinese Communist Party was held in Mos­
By the time P'eng returned to China he cow, and control over the organization was
had begun to have doubts about the situa­ assumed by Wang Ming, Stalin's most stal­
tion in the Soviet party and in the Comin­ wart supporter within the c c p ranks.
tern. As a member of the Soviet party he had The Trotskyist students in the meantime
attended meetings at which the emerging formally organized a faction and elected a
struggle of Trotsky against the party leader­ committee to lead it late in September or
ship was first discussed. Although he had early in October 1928. At its height the
some sympathy at that time for the posi­ group numbered among its members and

1 China 203
i
sympathizers 150 of the 4.00 Chinese stu­ and Ch'en Tu-hsiu. The policy was strongly
dents at Sun Yat-sen University. endorsed by the Third Congress of the Chi­
Finally, when it became known in Mos­ nese Communist Party in June 1923.14
cow that Ch'en Tu-hsiu had joined the ranks Meanwhile, both the organized labor
of the Left Opposition, there began a strenu­ movement and the peasant organizations
ous purge of the Chinese students in Mos­ were expanding rapidly. The Communists
cow early in the summer of 192.9. The g p u were playing important roles in the growth
descended on Sun Yat-sen University, ar­ of both of these movements, and this fact
resting about 200 suspected Trotskyists, made the question of the relations between
most of whom apparently were sent to spend the c c p and the k m t increasingly crucial.
the rest of their lives in Stalinist jails and On January 1 2 , 1 923, five months after the
concentration camps. Sun Yat-sen Univer­ c c p Central Committee's decision to work

sity itself was closed down.12 within the Kuomintang, the Executive
Even before these events the Russians had Committee of the Communist Interna­
begun to send a number of the "doubtful" tional had adopted a resolution stressing the
Chinese back home. When two of these, Lu desirability of cooperation between the c c p
Yen and Liang Gangiao, were sent home in and the k m t , a motion which Leon Trotsky
1928 they began to organize the first avow­ opposed. It called the k m t "the only serious
edly Trotskyist group in China, although it national-revolutionary group in China . * .
was outside of the c c p . Ultimately it was based partly on the liberal-democratic bour­
two Trotskyist sympathizers recently re­ geoisie and petty bourgeoisie, partly on the
turned from Moscow who put some of the intelligentsia and workers." Consequently,
c c p leaders who had become increasingly it was "expedient for members of the c c p to
critical of the party's line into contact with remain in the Kuomintang."
Trotsky's criticism of the Comintern's Chi­ But at the same time the resolution di­
nese policy. That was the catalyst which led rected the c c p to "maintain its independent
to the development of a Trotskyist move­ organization with a strictly centralized ap­
ment in China.13 paratus" while "avoiding any conflict with
the national-revolutionary movement.''
The c c p was told that "while supporting the
Controversy Over c c p Policy in the
Kuomintang in all campaigns on the nation­
Second Chinese Revolution
al-revolutionary front, to the extent that it
While Trotsky's political positions were conducts an objectively correct policy, the
gaining open support among the Chinese c c p should not merge with it and should

Communist students in the Soviet Union not during these campaigns haul down its
some of the top leaders of the c c p were on flag."15
their own developing a critical attitude to­ Soon after the passage of this resolution
wards the Comintern's policy in China the Soviet diplomatic agent in China, A. A.
which was similar to that of Trotsky. This Joffe, signed a statement with Sun Yat-sen
policy was the one which had first been pre­ which proclaimed that China was not ready
sented by Sneevliet-Maring in the August for communism "or even the Soviet sys­
1922 Central Committee meeting. tem," and that "China's most important and
Shortly after that meeting Communists most pressing problem^ are the completion
began to join the k m t . At that point there of national unification and the attainment
apparently was no significant opposition to of full national independence."16
that idea. Among those who entered the Ku­ As a consequence of Comintern policy,
omintang and helped organize branches of supported by the leadership of the c c p , the
it in various Chinese cities were Li Dazhao Communists continued to collaborate with

204 China
the Kuomintang even after the death of Sim later he decreed that no Communists could
Yat-sen. Apparently the c c p gained from hold strategic positions in the k m t or organi­
this collaboration. zations dependent on it.21
In January 1925 the Communists held In the face of this the Shanghai committee
their Fourth Congress, in Shanghai. It was of the c c p resolved that there should be a
reported that the party had one thousand "reconsideration" of the party's alliance
members and the Youth Corps had some with the Kuomintang. P'eng Shu-tse was
three thousand. At that congress P'eng Shu- sent to Canton with his wife, Ch'en Pi-lan,
tse was a delegate from the Moscow Branch by the Shanghai organization. P'eng sum­
and was elected to the Central Committee moned a meeting of a special committee
of the c c p . He then became the Politburo of Communists and left-wing Kuomintang
member in charge of party propaganda activ­ people to consider relations with Chiang
ities.17 and the k m t right wing. On the insistence
As a consequence of the Communists' of the Comintern representative, Borodin,
involvement in both the labor and peasant that meeting rejected P'eng's suggestion
movements the party membership grew that Communists withdraw from the Kuo­
very rapidly. By November 1925 it was mintang but continue to cooperate with it
claiming 10,000 members, while the Youth as an independent organization.12
Corps had 9,000.18 Harold Isaacs has written that "the pres­
However, doubts were being expressed sure to regain some measure of party inde­
within the c c p leadership about the alliance pendence was so strong that in June the Cen­
with the Kuomintang. P'eng Shu-tse as early tral Committee decided to propose that the
as December 1924 published an article in Communist party resume its own existence
the party periodical N ew Youth, of which and replace its current submersion inside
he had become the editor, emphasizing the the Kuomintang with a formal two-party
need for the proletariat to take the lead in bloc. This decision was sent to the Comin­
the Chinese national revolution. He had at tern in Moscow where it was immediately
least tacit consent for this article from and drastically condemned and rejected,"
Ch'en Tu-hsiu.19 largely because the idea was too close to
By late 1925 Ch'en himself was clearly what Trotsky was advocating within the
having serious doubts about continuing the Comintern.23
alliance of the c c f with the K M T , at least i n James Miller has noted that in mid-July
the form in which i t then existed. At a c c p 1926 a further Plenum of the Central Com­
Central Committee Plenary session in Oc­ mittee of the c c p met in Shanghai. It re­
tober 1925 he urged that "we should be jected a motion submitted by P'eng and
ready immediately to withdraw from the Ch'en Tu-hsiu for withdrawal of Commu­
Kuomintang." But his position was rejected nists from membership in the k m t . Again
by the Central Committee, with the support the Comintern representative strongly op­
of the Comintern representative, Voi- posed the resolution.24
tinsky.20 Without being aware of the polemics of
A crisis was presented to the Communists Leon Trotsky over Comintern policy in
on March 20, 1926, when Chiang Kai-shek, China, P'eng and some other Chinese Com­
who had succeeded Sun Yat-sen as principal munists had reached conclusions similar to
leader of the k m t , carried out a coup in Can­ those of Trotsky, even using one of his most
ton, arresting more than fifty Communists characteristic phrases, "permanent revolu­
who were active in the political section of tion." Thus, in an article appearing in Janu­
the Nationalist military. Although Chiang ary 1927 P'eng wrote that "the Chinese rev­
shortly released these people, a few weeks olution is a national democratic revolution

China 205
at present. . . . It should be finally under­ rump meeting of the c c p Central Commit­
stood that national revolution is not the last tee on August 7, 1927 dismissed Ch'en as
stage of the revolution; it is only a road secretary general. It blamed the party's fail­
leading to the socialist revolution. . . . The ures on his "opportunism"—which, of
ultimate objective of Leninism is to lead course, had been dictated by the Comintern
humanity as a whole from the oppression of (although this was not stated). The meeting
various societies to the freedom of commu­ also decided to substitute a policy of violent
nism. Thus ‘permanent revolution' should insurrections in various parts of China for
be understood to mean the process leading the previous policy of cooperation with the
directly from the national revolution into k m t . Ch'en and his supporters opposed that,

the proletarian revolution."25 as they had been against the earlier policy.29
The correctness of the doubts of P'eng and
Ch'en about the alliance with the Kuomin­
The Formation of the Left Opposition
tang was confirmed in April 1927 when,
after his troops captured Shanghai, Chiang The adherents of the Stalinist line of the
ordered the virtual extermination of the Comintern were clearly in control of the
Communists in the areas under his control. Chinese Communist Party after the August
Yet this did not end the faith of Stalin's 1927 Plenum. Nevertheless, Ch'en, P'eng
Comintern in the k m t - c c p alliance. This and their supporters continued for some
faith was transferred to a relationship with time to carry on their opposition to the poli­
the "left-wing" Kuomintang government cies dictated to the Chinese party by the
which was established in the city of Wuhan. Communist International, although with­
On April 24, 1927 the Fifth Congress of out doing so in terms of the wider factional
the c c p opened in Wuhan, with over one struggle within the ci.
hundred delegates representing a reported Harold Isaacs has noted that in the period
50,000 party members. The tendency of this after his removal from the c c p leadership
congress was to blame Ch'en Tu-hsiu and Ch'en Tu-hsiu "wrote several letters to the
those who were allied with him for the di­ Central Committee opposing the policy of
saster in the Chiang Kai-shek controlled staging futile and costly uprisings. In August
area. However, Ch'en was reelected secre­ 1929 he addressed a letter to the Central
tary general; P'eng lost his position in the Committee expressing his opposition to the
Politburo while remaining in the Central party's course and demanding a reexamina­
Committee.26 tion of its policies. . . ."29
In July 1927 the left-wing Kuomintang re­ When the Comintern leadership learned
gime also turned on the Communists, ar­ of the oppositionist attitude of Ch'en and
resting and killing as many of them as it P'eng they sent an invitation to the two Chi­
could lay its hands on. On that same day, nese to attend the Sixth World Congress of
Ch'en Tu-hsiu resigned as c c p secretary the International which was scheduled to
general, because "he could not continue as meet in Moscow within a few months. Al­
secretary general because the Comintern though Ch'en was first inclined to accept
wanted the Communists to apply its policy the invitation, he finally agreed with P'eng's
but did not allow them to withdraw from argument that their only alternatives if they
the Kuomintang." Comintern representa­ were to go to Moscow would be to "confess
tive Borodin agreed with other c c p leaders their error" and thus be assured a continuing
to place the whole blame for the Chinese role in the c c p ; or to state frankly their oppo­
Communists' disaster on Ch'en and his sition to Comintern policy in China, which
allies.27 would almost certainly result in their not
As a consequence of this agreement, a being allowed to return home. Both men

206 China
 turned down the invitation to the Sixth November 15, 1929, Ch'en, P'eng, Wang
Congress.30 Harold Isaacs has noted that Zekal, Ma Yufu and Cai Zhenda were ex­
Ch'en Tu-hsiu turned down still another in­ pelled from the party, accused of "Trots­
vitation to go to Moscow in i930.31 kyism, " as well as of "factionalism and anti­
In the spring of 1929 two of the Chinese party, anti-international activities."34 In all
students returning from Moscow brought about one hundred members were expelled
with them two documents of Trotsky, from the party at this time.35
"Summary and Perspective of the Chinese
Revolution" and "The Chinese Question
The Proliferation of Chinese
After the Sixth World Congress," which
Trotskyist Groups
they presented to P'eng Shu-tse.32 P'eng im­
mediately came to the conclusion that he When an independent Trotskyist move­
agreed with Trotsky's analysis of the errors ment was finally organized in China it did
of the Stalinist Comintern. not emerge as a single united organization.
P'eng showed the documents to Ch'en Tu- For several years there were four different
hsiu who also agreed with them. As a conse­ groups claiming allegiance to Trotskyism.
quence the two men decided to organize a Although these were ultimately united, the
Left Opposition within the Chinese Com­ differences among the various Trotskyist
munist Party. They quickly gained a wide leaders in the early period of the movement
range of adherents. P'eng later wrote that were to be an element in further splits which
"we recruited a group of workers and cadres occurred in later years.
who were responsible for political work in The first avowedly Trotskyist organiza­
the proletarian movement. Thus, our oppo­ tion to be established in China was the "Our
sition faction consisted of party leadership Words" group, named after a periodical it
and major cadres from different parts of the began to put out. Our Words was established
country."33 by a group of students returning in 1928
For several months after the formation of from the Sim Yat-sen University in Mos­
the Left Opposition there was a bitter fac­ cow. It was a very small group, reportedly
tional conflict within the party. In Septem­ having only nine members when it was for­
ber 1929 a so-called "Communist Party mally organized in January 1929. Soon after­
Joint Conference" was held, before which ward two of these, Ou Fang and Chen Yi­
P'eng was called to defend his position. mou, settled in Hong Kong where they
P'eng spoke three times during this meeting. began to acquire a modicum of influence
He denounced the attempt by the dominant among the dock workers. They also had
group in the party to blame Ch'en and his groups in Shanghai and Peking. Even so,
allies for the "opportunism" of the party in they probably never achieved a membership
its relations with the Kuomintang, arguing of more than thirty. From the beginning Our
that all of those who had supported the Words was established outside the Chinese
Comintern's policy should admit their share Communist Party.30
of responsibility for what had happened. He The second Trotskyist organization was
also demanded that there be freedom within that set up by Ch'en Tu-hsiu, P'eng Shu-
the party for members to discuss the posi­ tse and their associates upon being expelled
tions of Ch'en and other leaders of the party from the Communist Party. It was generally
who disagreed with the dominant group. known as the Proletarian faction, after the
The Stalinist group accused the Trotsky­ name of a periodical it began to publish in
ists of "illegal" factional activity. They de­ March 19 30.37
nounced the Left Opposition rather than ar­ Almost immediately upon their expul­
guing with the points which it raised. On sion from the c c p , Ch'en issued an "Appeal

f
{ China 207
 to AH the Comrades of the Chinese Com­ out an organized and resolute struggle with
munist Party." It argued that the "opportun­ the present opportunist leadership."40
ist" policy which the Comintern had retro­ The Proletarian group was undoubtedly
actively accused the c c p of following under the most important of the original Chinese
Ch'en's leadership had been principally the Trotskyist factions both in terms of the sta­
responsibility of the Comintern's leader­ tus of its leadership and the number of mem­
ship, headed by Stalin and Bukharin. It bers and cadres it attracted from the Com­
ended by demanding "a return to the spirit munist Party. It has been estimated that by
and political line of Bolshevism," and urged 1931 the group had about five hundred
party members to "stand straightforward on members.41
the side of the International Opposition led The third faction was that known as the
by Comrade Trotsky, that is, under the ban­ October Society. It was led by Liu Renjing, a
ner of real Marxism and Leninism."38 founder of the Communist Party, and Wang
Five days after issuance of Ch'en's appeal Fanxi (real name, Wang Wenyuan), who had
a statement entitled "Our Political Views" belonged to the party since 192s. Liu had
was issued over the signatures of eighty-one returned from the Lenin Institute in Mos­
members (or recent ex-members) of the cow in the summer of 1929 after having
Communist Party. Twenty-eight of the sig­ stopped over for interviews with Alfred
natories were workers, ten were former stu­ Rosmer in Paris and with Trotsky in Tur­
dents in Moscow, and the rest were local key. Trotsky sent back with him a docu­
party officials. This document, which was ment entitled "The Political Situation in
the first programmatic statement of Chi­ China and the Tasks of the B ol shevi k-Lenin-
nese Trotskyism, was divided into five sec­ ist Opposition," which Liu gave to P'eng
tions. Shu-tse in September 1919.
The document dealt with the evolution After discussions with P'eng and others
of Stalinist control in the Comintern and Liu joined the Our Words group. However,
traced the errors of the Chinese party's pol­ in the summer of 1930, Liu and Wang Fanxi
icy to that control. It condemned both the led a number of people, including some from
opportunism of the policy of continued col­ Shanghai, in establishing a new faction. It
laboration with the Kuomintang between published a short-lived journal, October.
1923 and 1927 and the "adventurist" subse­ The fourth Trotskyist faction was the
quent attempt to organize insurrections in Struggle Society, established in the summer
various cities. It endorsed the positions of 1930 with seven members, including
Trotsky had taken on these issues, saying Chao Ji and Wang Pingui, the two Moscow
that "if only we had had the benefit of Com­ ex-students who had first turned over the
rade Trotsky's political leadership before documents of Trotsky from the Sixth Com­
1927, then we might have been able to lead intern Congress to P'eng Shu-tse early in
the Chinese revolution to victory. Even if 1929. A third leader was Liu Yin. It probably
we were defeated, there would not have been never came to have more than thirty
such political confusion and organizational members.41
destruction. .. ,"i9
After giving Trotsky's analysis of the rise
The Communist League
of bureaucratization of the Soviet Union,
the document set forth "Our Attitudes and
Establishment and Early History of
Proposals." It summed these up by saying
the Communist League
that "In order to support a true proletarian
line and realize Bolshevik-Leninist unity, The various Chinese Trotskyist factions
the Opposition has no choice but to carry were in contact with Leon Trotsky. This

208 China
seems to have been particularly the case kyists opened and the proceedings contin­
with the October Society and the Proletar­ ued for three days. The meeting was at­
ian faction. The former apparently sought tended by seventeen delegates and four
to turn Trotsky against Ch'en Tu-hsiu, but observers claiming to represent 483 mem­
Trotsky, although recognizing the fact that bers in all. There were six representatives of
Ch'en had in the beginning gone along with Our Words, five of the Proletarian Faction,
the c c p alliance with the Kuomintang, four from the October Group and two from
knew that he had sought an end to that alli­ the Militant Group.44
ance and had come around completely to The conference established the Commu­
Trotsky's own view of the policy of the nist League of China and adopted Trotsky's
Comintern in China.43 document "The Political Situation in China
The Chinese Trotskyists themselves rec­ and the Task of the Bolshevik-Leninist Op­
ognized that their division into several com­ position" as its "programmatic base." It also
peting factions weakened their overall in­ elected a Central Committee, with Ch'en
fluence, so by the summer of 1930 they were Tu-hsiu as its secretary general. The other
already negotiating the possibility of unity. members of the Central Committee were
They formed a Negotiating Council for Uni­ P'eng Shu-tse, Wang Fanxi, Song Fengchun,
fication for this purpose. However, as Joseph Chen Yimou, Song Jingxiti, Zhang Jiu,
Miller quoted Wang Fanxi as saying, "the Zheng Chaolin, Liu Hanyi,and Pu Yifan.47
negotiations took a very long time. Each Although most of the Chinese Trotskyists
group expressed different opinions at every were unified in the Communist League,
meeting of the council."44 some did not go along with this unification.
Finally, on January 8, 19 31, Trotsky ad­ Some of them seem to have dropped out of
dressed a letter entitled "To the Chinese political activities, including Ma Yufu and
Left Opposition," urging the various fac­ Liu Yin (of the Struggle Society). Liang Gan-
tions to unite. He said that "To begin with, qiao of the Our Words group sometime later
I will say that in studying the new docu­ joined the Kuomintang. Liu Renjing, al­
ments I finally became convinced that there though not joining the Communist League,
is no difference in principle at all among the continued to consider and proclaim himself
various groups that had entered on the road a Trotskyist and was to play a subsequent
to unification. There are nuances in tactics, role in the history of Chinese Trotskyism.48
which in the future, depending on the course The membership of the Communist
of events, could develop into differences. League was concentrated almost exclu­
However, there are no grounds for assuming sively in the cities. There is no indication
that these differences of opinion will neces­ that the Chinese Trotskyists had any influ­
sarily coincide with the lines of the former ence in, or even contact with, the Chinese
groupings." Soviet Republic which scattered Stalinist
Trotsky ended this letter with an appeal guerrilla groups were trying to establish in
to his Chinese supporters. He wrote: " Dear various parts of southern China. E. H. Carr
friends, fuse your organizations and your has noted that "Trotsky ridiculed the idea
press definitively, this very day! We must that 'Chinese peasants, without the partici­
not drag out the preparations for the unifi­ pation of the industrial centres and without
cation a long time, because in that way, the leadership of the communist party, had
without wanting to, we can create artificial created a Soviet government.' " 49
differences."45 About three weeks after the establish­
Trotsky's appeal to his followers brought ment of the Communist League officials in
rather quick results. On May 1, 1931 the Shanghai cracked down on the new Trotsky­
unification conference of the Chinese Trots­ ist organization. Two-thirds of the members

lI China 209
 of its Central Committee were arrested. The position of the Communist League in
P'eng, Ch'en, and Song Jingxiu were the only the face of Japanese aggression got a favor­
Central Committee members still out of able response among workers and intellec­
jail, and they had to remain deeply in the tuals. Ch'en Pi-lan has written that "our
underground. This persecution frightened agitation and propaganda work had great in­
off some of the members of the organi­ fluence among the students and working
zation.50 masses, and we met with an especially broad
National events soon changed Chinese response among the lower levels of the party
politics and the situation of the Trotskyists, cadres."54 Ch'en Pi-lan added that "many
however. On September 18, 19 31, the Japa­ rank-and-file cadres who read the docu­
nese launched their campaign to take over ments of Trotsky and the anti-Japanese arti­
the Chinese province of Manchuria, and cles and criticisms of Stalin's policies pub­
they followed this in January 1932 by a mili­ lished in Warm Tide got in touch with us.
tary attack on Shanghai. After discussing with P'eng Shu-tse, they
Soon after these events the Trotskyists joined the Trotskyist movement. Several
began publishing an apparently clandestine dozen important industrial party cells came
periodical, Spark. It carried articles by Chi­ over to us, including the postal, power-plant
nese Trotskyist leaders and publications of and textile workers. These cells totaled half
Trotsky himself. Spark urged that the Com­ the membership of the Chinese Communist
munist parties force the USSR and the inter­ Party in Shanghai. The Left Opposition was
national Communist movement to support thus able to lead the workers movement in
China in its struggle against the Japanese. Shanghai in several important strikes that
In Chinese internal politics Spark urged mo­ met with relative success. The Trotskyist
bilization of the urban workers and linkage movement simultaneously made fresh
of the c c p ' s rural soviets with the urban headway in Peking, Wuhan, Nanking,
labor movement. It also urged the unifica­ Kwangtung, and Hong Kong."55
tion of the Chinese Communist ranks. Jo­
seph Miller has noted that "this was the
Persecution of the
basic program for the anti-Japanese resis­
Communist League
tance promulgated by the Communist
League, and they took this program into the But this period of success of the Communist
schools and the factories, where they agi­ League was to be short-lived. Joseph Miller
tated to develop a broad-based democratic has pointed out that the Trotskyists, who
movement."51 were operating semiclandestinely in Shang­
The Communist League also began pub­ hai and other major cities (in contrast to the
lishing an "open" periodical, Warm Tide, Stalinist cadres who had largely joined their
which was said to have "gained wide influ­ rural guerrilla forcesj, were particularly vul­
ence among general readers, including nerable to the persecution of the Chiang Kai-
members of the Chinese Communist shek regime.
Party." This influence was the result of in­ On October 15, 1932, Kuomintang gov­
creasing disillusionment of ccp members ernment police raided a meeting of the Cen­
with the policies of the party's Stalinist lead­ tral Committee of the League, arresting
ership.52 The Trotskyists also began issuing P'eng Shu-tse, who was presiding, and the
a magazine, The Moving Force, designed par­ four others in attendance. A few hours later,
ticularly to appeal to intellectuals and stu­ Ch'en Tu-hsiu was also arrested. On the
dents. In addition, they put out Chinese days that followed most leading cadres of
translations of works of Marx, Lenin and the group in Shanghai, as well as many in
Trotsky, including parts of Trotsky's autobi­ other cities, were arrested and jailed by the
ography.53 Nationalist government authorities.56

210 China
 Most of the Trotskyist leaders who had which served for some time as a mouthpiece
been picked up were taken to Nanking, the for the c c p . By late 1933 or early 1934 Isaacs
Nationalist capital. The press kept track of had become disillusioned with the Stalinists
what was happening to them and a number and attracted to the Trotskyists, perhaps
of leading intellectuals demanded that the through the person of Frank Glass, In any
League leaders be given a public trial in a case, he decided to close down China Forum
civil court rather than being subject to an and to turn over its printing establishment
"in camara" military tribunal, which might to the Trotskyists. Isaacs moved to Peking
well condemn them to death before the pub­ to work on his book The Tragedy of the
lic could be made aware. As a consequence Chinese Revolution, taking Trotskyist Liu
of this campaign the trial of Ch'en, P'eng Renjing with him as his research assistant
and others began in Nanking on April 14, and translator.60
1933 - For some time Liu Renjing, who had had
The Trotskyists were accused of "(1) dis­ a long-standing personal and political feud
semination of seditious propaganda, and (2) with Ch'en Tu-hsiu, was able to gain control
formation of organizations having for their of the Trotskyist leadership and to use it to
object the endangering of the Republic... attack his old adversary. He had recruited a
After a trial lasting a week Ch'en and P'eng number of new people at the University of
were sentenced to thirteen years in jail and Peking and early in 1935 was able, with their
fifteen years deprivation of civil rights. A help, to establish a new Provisional Central
higher court later changed the sentence to Committee. That body promptly con­
eight years' imprisonment. They were actu­ demned the alleged "opportunism" of
ally to remain in jail until the Japanese at­ Ch'en, and called upon him to "recognize
tack on Nanking.57 his errors."
In spite of the elimination of the top However, Trotsky soon intervened in the
Trotskyist leaders by the Nationalist gov­ situation. When he was visited in Norway
ernment, the Communist League continued by Harold Isaacs, who came to consult
to maintain some activity. Spazk continued Trotsky about his book on the Chinese revo­
to appear and several pamphlets also were lution, Trotsky expressed to Isaacs his sup­
published between 193a and 1934. Appar­ port for Ch'en, and in fact won Isaacs over
ently the principal organizer of this Trotsky­ to his point of view.
ist activity was Chen Qichang, who oper­ Apparently, Isaacs passed this word back
ated in Shanghai.58 In 1934 he was joined by to Frank Glass who took the lead in bringing
Wang Fanxi, arrested in October 193a but together the supporters of Ch'en and those
released in an amnesty late in I934-59 of Liu Renjing, who in the meanwhile had
A number of new people joined the Trots­ been jailed by the k m t police along with
kyist ranks during this period, particularly most of the other Provisional Central Com­
in Shanghai. Two foreigners were of particu­ mittee members. The result was that still
lar importance. One was Frank Glass, a another Provisional Central Committee
South African, already a Trotskyist who was established in Shanghai at the end of
came to China as a journalist. He was largely 1936 consisting of members of both groups.
responsible for financing the Trotskyist Its authority was formally recognized by
publications, contributing about $100 a Ch'en Tu-hsiu, who still remained in
month out of his salary of $400. prison 61
The other important foreigner was Harold By early 1936 the Communist League had
Isaacs, an American journalist, who in 1932 begun to publish another journal, Struggle,
had established close contacts with the which by the end of the year had a circula­
Communist Party and began to publish an tion of two or three hundred. The League
English-language periodical, China Forum, had also once again acquired local groups

China 211
in Peking, Kwangsi, Chekiang and in Hong by the Kuomintang government against Jap­
Kong, where it began to publish a journal, anese imperialism; accompanying this was
Star. a criticism from the political point of view
This renewed activity brought renewed of the government's reactionary policies."
persecution. In May 1937 Wang Fanxi was Ch'en Pi-lan added that "a provisional
arrested once again and was kept in prison central committee was elected and authori­
in Nanking until shortly before the Japanese zation given to publish a clandestine party
took that city in November 1937. Frank journal, The Struggle. Shortly after this
Glass's home was also carefully watched meeting a number of small regional groups
and people who visited him were arrested were again established. Owing to the favor­
from time to time.62 able objective situation, the Trotskyist orga­
nization was soon expanding in areas such
as Shanghai/Peking, Canton,' Hong Kong,
Splits in the Trotskyist Ranks
and the provinces of Kwangsi and
Ch'en Tu-hsiu and P'eng Shu-tse were re­ Chekiang."65
leased from jail in Nanking in August 1937 In August 1939 the Trotskyists were able
after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. to get out an open periodical, Moving On­
By that time they had developed basic dis­ ward, of which Ch'en Pi-lan said that "its
agreements. As Joseph Miller has noted, influence was quite considerable. The peri­
"Ch'en had developed fundamental differ­ odical carried criticisms of the Kuomin-
ences with some of the tenets of Trotskyism tang's passivity in the War of Resistance and
concerning the nature of the Soviet Union, of Stalin's signing the infamous German-
the notion of the dictatorship of the proletar­ Soviet pact." She noted too that they were
iat, and democracy. He and P'eng had ex­ able to translate and publish Trotsky's His­
changed views on these issues while in tory of the Russian Revolution as well as
prison, with P'eng maintaining what might his pamphlet The Moscow Trials, and some
be termed an 'orthodox' Trotskyist po­ pamphlets by P'eng.66
sition."63 However, shortly before the conversion of
Subsequent to their release from prison the Sino-Japanese War into the Pacific War
Ch'en went to Wuhan. When he was visited as a consequence of the attack on Pearl Har­
there in November by Wang Fanxi he sug­ bor there was a serious split in the Chinese
gested that the Trotskyists not try to revive Trotskyist movement. The question at issue
their organization but rather work with the was the attitude to be adopted toward the
"third party/' a group of small political orga­ war, and three positions emerged in this
nizations which were barely tolerated by the controversy.
Kuomintang regime but were opposed to Ch'en Pi-lan has explained that "one ten­
both the Nationalists and the Commu­ dency, headed by Ch'en Tu-hsiu, viewed the
nists.64 war as a struggle between democratic coun­
P'eng, on the other hand, returned to tries and the fascist Axis. He therefore ar­
Shanghai where according to his wife, Ch'en gued for abandoning the policy of 'defeat­
Pi-lan, there were only about a dozen Trots­ ism' in democratic countries like England
kyists left. She noted that "to begin swim­ and France. In addition, in view of the trag­
ming in the current of the anti-imperialist edy of the Moscow trials and the Hitler-
struggle, P'eng called a provisional confer­ Stalin pact, he reached the conclusion that
ence of all the remaining comrades, includ­ the Soviet Union was no longer a workers'
ing those newly released from prison. A res­ state and consequently should not be sup­
olution was passed at the conference ported."67
supporting the armed struggle being waged Virtually exactly opposite of Ch'en's posi­

212 China
tion was that of Wang Fanxi and Chang P'eng's wife has noted that "P'eng de­
Ch'ao-lin. Although favoring the struggle fended Trotsky's fundamental position on
against the Japanese invaders (while contin­ the Second World War and the Sino-Japanese
uing political opposition to the Kuomintang War, including the possibility of war break­
regime) as long as it continued to be merely ing out between Japan and the U .S."71
a Sino-Japanese conflict, they maintained This factional struggle came to a head at
that the situation would be different if that the Second National Convention of the
war became part of a wider struggle. Communist League in July 1941. The politi­
Wang argued that "if the American Array cal resolution adopted there, entitled "Our
intervened in the war and became the main Attitudes and Policies Toward the German-
opponent of Japanese imperialism, then the Soviet War and Coming United States-Japa-
war would change its character and become nese War," reflected the position of the
a war between Japan and the United States, P'eng group. The resolution claimed that
with China as a junior partner on the Amer­ "all advanced capitalist countries and back­
ican side." Therefore he claimed, "if we ward countries, including the Soviet Union
really meant to continue our revolution­ will become embroiled in the imminent im­
ary struggle during the war, not in words perialist war. .. . The destinies of China's
but in deeds, we should prepare ourselves to anti-Japanese war and the Soviet Union's
adopt. . . a position of 'revolutionary defeat­ anti-German war have now been tied to­
ism___ ' "6e gether." It argued against "defeatism."
The third faction was headed by P'eng Joseph Miller has summed up other por­
Shu-tse. He based his argument against both tions of this resolution: "the League de­
"Ch'en's opportunism and Wang's ultraleft manded the 'complete freedom' to speak,
sectarianism"69 on a letter which Trotsky publish, associate, lead strikes, take up arms
had written to the Mexican Trotskyist to fight Japan, and promote their political
Diego Rivera on September 23, 1937, soon program among the members of all parties,
after the beginning of the Sino-Japanese except for those of traitors. They also de­
War. Trotsky had written that "the duty of manded the institution of an eight-hour
all the workers' organizations of China was work day, the establishment of peasant asso­
to participate actively and in the front lines ciations in the villages, and the confiscation
of the present war against Japan, without of land. Concerning their relationship to the
abandoning, for a single moment, their own c c p , the League recognized that it must con­

program and independent activity. . .. tinue to criticize the party politically, but
China is a semi-colonial country which Ja­ as far as the anti-Japanese war and the de­
pan is transforming, under our very eyes, fense of the Soviet Union were concerned,
into a colonial country. Japan's struggle is it was necessary to cooperate in actual activ­
imperialist and reactionary. China's strug­ ities. The resolution also contained points
gle is emancipatory and progressive." concerning the organization of guerrilla
Trotsky had added that "Japan and China units, agitation among the Japanese
are not in the same historical plane. The soldiers... ." 71
victory of Japan will signify the enslavement Ch'en Pi-lan noted that "P'eng's resolu­
of China, the end of her economic and social tion was adopted by an overwhelming ma­
development, and the terrible strengthening jority. No one supported Ch'en's position,
of Japanese imperialism. The victory of and Wang's was backed by only a few
China will signify, on the contrary, the so­ members."73
cial revolution in Japan and the free develop­ Ch'en Tu-hsiu seems to have withdrawn
ment, that is to say unhindered by external from all further participation in the Trotsky­
oppression, of the class struggle in China. "70 ist movement after this Second Convention.

1
1 China 213
He died on May 27, 1942.74 The faction led tionalists substantially reduced the degree
by Wang Fanxi and Cheng Ch'ao-lin first of political oppression, allowing more free­
tried to continue the controversy within the dom of organization and expression than in
Communist League, then began its own pe­ the past. Ch'en Pi-lan has noted that "taking
riodical Internationalist, and finally estab­ advantage of the opening, our organization
lished their own organization, the Commu­ once more moved actively forward."
nist League of China (Internationalists}.75 The Communist League began publishing
two magazines, Seeking the Truth, edited
by P'eng Shu-tse, which Ch'en Pi-lan has
From Communist League to
said "was the most attractive magazine in
Revolutionary Communist Party
the postwar period," adding that it was
Right after the Japanese attack upon Pearl "openly propagating Trotskyist ideas." The
Harbor Japanese troops occupied the Inter­ other publication was edited by Ch'en Pi-
national Settlement area of Shanghai, where lan and was first called Young and Women,
the Trotskyists had had their headquarters. but was then changed to N ew Voice. It be­
A number of leading elements in the Com­ came the official organ of the League.
munist League were arrested by the Japa­ Ch'en Pi-lan has claimed that "the two
nese, although P'eng Shu-tse was not among periodicals had a nationwide circulation,
them, and contact between the League head­ reaching all the important cities until they
quarters and local groups was broken. For ceased publication at the end of 1948 upon
practical purposes the Communist League our leaving Shanghai. Their influence was
as a functioning organization did not exist considerable among the intellectuals, stu­
from December 1941 until the defeat of the dents and young workers. In addition they
Japanese. made it possible for branches of our move­
Ch'en Pi-lan has described the difficulties ment, disrupted by the war, to renew con­
the Trotskyists faced in this period: "De­ tacts and to reach out to individuals who
spite the perilous situation, P'eng managed had become isolated."
to bring together a group of young comrades. Branches of the League were reestablished
Using a pseudonym he gained an appoint­ in Shanghai, Canton, Hong Kong "and other
ment as a professor of Chinese history, cities," and P'eng held a weekly seminar in
Western history and philosophy in two uni­ Shanghai which was attended regularly by
versities. In his classes, of course, he could over one hundred people. The League also
not use Marxist terminology. Nevertheless, conducted "regular cadre schools." By the
he oriented his lectures along Marxist lines time of its Third National Convention in
and influenced a number of leftist students; August 1948 the League claimed 350
Some of them wanted to meet him after his members.77
lectures and thus we welcomed a group of The Third National Convention of the
young people to our home, regardless of Communist League adopted a new political
their political backgrounds." program. It also adopted a new name for the
She went on: "We discussed various prob­ organization, the Chinese Revolutionary
lems with these students, later converting Communist Party, and approved a new party
even those who had come under Stalinist constitution and "a resolution on organiza­
influence to our positions. These youths tional principles."78
were to become the foundation of our move­ The rebirth and modest growth of the Rev­
ment in the postwar period."76 olutionary Communist Party (r c p ) took
With the surrender of the Japanese and the place against the background of the civil war
return of most Chinese cities to the control between the Chiang Kai-shek government
of the Chiang Kai-shek government the Na­ and the Communist Party forces, which had

214 China
been raging intermittently since the end of cially emphasize demands for the release of
World War II. Soon after the Third National all political prisoners, for the abrogation
Convention of the r c p took place, the Com­ of all 'emergency' and martial laws. . . ." It
munists launched what proved to be their concluded that "In this area our general
final offensive against the Kuomintang. slogan is 'Down with the Kuomintang
During the civil war the Trotskyists took government: For a National Assembly cho­
the position that "both the k m t and the c c p sen by universal, equal, direct and secret
should unconditionally stop the war." Many suffrage!' "
years later, this slogan was criticized in ret­ The r c p maintained that "we must pay
rospect by the Chinese Trotskyists, because particular attention to systematic agitation
it "objectively equated the k m t and the c c p " and propaganda in the Stalinist-controlled
which was "a tactical mistake."79 area. Above all, we must point out to the
Before the launching of the last Commu­ masses that the so-called 'people's govern­
nist offensive, while the Communists and ment' under the auspices of the Stalinist
Kuomintang were still engaged in negotia­ party is in essence a military bureaucratic
tions about the possibility of forming a co­ dictatorship propped up with guns. In the
alition regime, the Trotskyists issued an ap­ final analysis the power of the Communist
peal to the workers and peasants about the Party bears a bourgeois character,. basing
situation: itself primarily on the petty-bourgeois
peasantry. Power of this kind is quite un­
The outstanding feature of the present sit­
stable."
uation is that while the peasant armies
Finally, the r c p admitted that "we Trots­
are scoring unprecedented victories and
kyists understand that in the first stage of
while the bourgeois regime is engulfed by
the Stalinist dictatorship we will be isolated
unprecedented bankruptcy, the Chinese
temporarily from the broad masses. What is
working class is lacking a powerful party
more, we know that we are threatened with
armed with the correct program and able
physical annihilation."80
to provide the workers with revolutionary
It was in view of their likely treatment
leadership.
by the triumphant Stalinists that the r c p
To the Chinese working class, we
Executive Committee held an emergency
Trotskyists point out that in the absence
meeting in December 1948, as the Commu­
of a powerful proletarian party the peas­
nist armies were approaching the Yangtze
ant army has fallen into the hands of con­
River area of central China. At that meeting
ciliators. It is being used by the top bu­
it was decided that the Political Bureau of
reaucracy of the Stalinist party as a means
the party would be transferred to Hong
of striking a bargain with the bourgeoisie
Kong, that a Provisional Committee in
in the establishment of a "coalition gov­
Shanghai would attempt to maintain con­
ernment. " Once it begins playing the role
tact with party groups in various parts of the
of guardian of a "coalition government,"
country, and that members of the r c p would
the peasant army will of necessity be used
try whenever possible to enter the c c p and
by the bourgeoisie and by the conciliators
its Communist Youth League and the "mass
as a weapon against the workers.
organizations" established under Stalinist
The r c p put forward the "correct" posi­ aegis, "in order to better support all progres­
tions to be maintained by workers in both sive measures undertaken by the c c p . "
Kuomintang and Communist-controlled ar­ Ch'en Pi-lan has noted that "of the five
eas. In the former, "we must expose the Kuo- comrades on the Political Bureau, Chin was
mintang's entire policy of oppression and its already in Hong Kong; I K'uan, who was not
'peace maneuver'. . . Our slogans must espe­ willing to leave Shanghai, was soon arrested

China 215
by the c c p regime along with many other the Fourth International and the Socialist
comrades none of whom have been heard Workers Party of the United States.
from since; P'eng Shu-tse, Liu Chia-Liang The Wang-Cheng group continued to
and I set out for Hong Kong, where we ar­ maintain the position which had brought
rived at the end of 1948."81 them to split from the c l . Thus, in sug­
During the first few years of the Commu­ gesting to the Fourth International the posi­
nist regime the Chinese Trotskyists led a tion which it ought to adopt with regard
highly precarious existence before being to "anti-imperialist wars," the Communist
completely obliterated as an organized League (Internationalists} wrote that "if the
group. As early as August 1949 according war were carried on as a war between a colo­
to an appeal by underground Trotskyists in nial country on the one side, and an imperi­
January 1953, "most members of the Kian- alist power on the other, then it is progres­
gsu-Chekiang Emergency Committee of our sive; but if the war were, or finally became
Party and several other responsible com­ interlocked with, a war between two imperi­
rades were arrested, but were later in­ alist powers . . . then it has lost the progres­
structed to cease political activity and re­ sive meaning which it had originally."83
leased." At about the same time, The Communist League (International­
Trotskyists were arrested on a large scale in ists) continued to be highly critical of the
Wenchow (Chekiang Province) and Shunsan rival Chinese Trotskyists. Thus, in a "dis­
[Kwangtung Province). "Some were shot on cussion document" issued in November
the false charge of being 'Kuomintang 1947 they wrote that "our tactical diver­
agents." ' In 1950 there was a further gences at the present stage are centered on
roundup of Trotskyists in Kwangsi Prov­ the question of the civil war now being
ince. The appeal noted that "the fate of doz­ waged between the Kuomintang and the
ens of arrested comrades is not yet known Chinese Stalinists." It claimed that the
to this day." P'eng group "in reality . . . took the side of
Then, "from December 1952 to January the Kuomintang."
1953, wholesale arrests of Trotskyists were The Communist League (International­
staged throughout the country, from Peking ists} document continued, "We reject and
to Canton, and from Shanghai to Chung­ oppose this bankrupt position of theirs. We
king. . . . Such a simultaneous action on a maintain that the Kuomintang and the Chi­
national scale clearly indicates that it was nese Communist Party represent different
by no means a 'local incident,' but a planned class forces in Chinese society. The former
action conducted directly by the supreme represents the landlords and bourgeoisie,
authority of the c p . " 82 while the latter represents mainly the poor
peasants.. . . As a peasant war, the civil war
has a progressive character on the side of the
From Communist League peasants; but, as a peasant war only, the
(Internationalists) to Internationalist civil war is devoid of any perspective, and is
Workers Party even doomed to failure, because of its Stalin­
ist domination."84
The dissident Trotskyists, led by Wang In the immediate post-World War II period
Fanxi and Cheng Chiao-lin, continued to the dissident Trotskyists, like their rivals,
function after 1941 as a separate organiza­ were able to establish organizations in vari­
tion from the Communist League. They ous parts of the country, including Shang­
used the name Communist League (Interna­ hai, Peking, Kwangsi, and Hangchow. In
tionalists). Once the war was over they en­ April 1949, only a few weeks before the
tered into at least epistolary contact with Communists captured Shanghai, the group

216 China
held a convention in which they changed About a dozen of the refugee Chinese
their name to Internationalist Workers Trotskyists were arrested and deported by
Party. the Hong Kong authorities. The police also
It was decided that Wang Fanxi and one began to search for P'eng and Ch'en who, to
other member of the leadership of the new evade capture, kept changing their resi­
party should go to Hong Kong in view of the dence. Finally, as a consequence of this per­
proximity of Stalinist capture of Shanghai. secution, they and a fellow Political Bureau
For at least a while other members of the member, Liu Chia-liang, fled to Vietnam.
group continued to be clandestinely active The Chinese Trotskyist leaders were not
even after the Stalinist victory. They estab­ safe in Vietnam either. A few months after
lished a new underground journal, Marxist arriving there a group of Vietnamese Trots­
Youth, which flourished modestly for a kyists, accompanied by Liu Chia-liang, ac­
while.85 cepted an invitation to a "conference" in a
One of those who stayed behind in Shang­ part of the country controlled by the Stalin­
hai was Cheng Ch'ao-lin, who had shared ist Vietminh. There they were arrested, and
top leadership in the Internationalist Work­ Liu Chia-liang died shortly after in a Viet­
ers Party with Wang. There were at least minh jail. Since they felt that Liu's fate
some overtures made to him by onetime would soon be theirs as well, P'eng Shu-tse
friends in high posts in the Stalinist regime and Ch'en Pi-lan fled once more, this time
to get him to give up his Trotskyist alle­ to Paris.88
giance, but these failed. Finally, on Decem­ In 1952 the handful of Chinese Trotsky­
ber 22, 1952, at the time of the general ists still left in Hong Kong established a
roundup of Trotskyists throughout the Provisional National Committee ( p n c ) to
country, Cheng and his wife Wu Ching-ju take the place of the party's elected Central
were arrested. Cheng was kept in jail until Committee. The only surviving members of
after the death of Mao Tse-tung, being re­ that Central Committee, P'eng and Ch'en,
leased only on June 5, 1979. His wife, who by then resident in France, recognized the
had been freed in 1947 but had rejoined her p n c as the legitimate directing body of the

husband in a prison camp fifteen years later, Revolutionary Communist Party in 1954.89
was also released with him.44 Joseph Miller has noted that "activities
The Internationalist Workers Party was in Hong Kong were minimal; an irregular
dissolved "in the 1950s."87 journal .. . was published, along with pam­
phlets discussing major events in China and
the world. Since the major trade unions in
Chinese Trotskyism in Exile
Hong Kong and Kowloon were under Maoist
With the triumph of the Stalinists in China control, there was little, if any, activity by
the Chinese Trotskyist movement existed the Trotskyists in this arena. Basically this
principally in exile. P'eng Shu-tse and Ch'en was a period of retrenchment, a period of
Pi-lan, when they moved to Hong Kong late holding actions, which might allow the rem­
in 1948, established the r c p ' s publication nants of the movement to take advantage of
there. They also brought out in Chinese Har­ any change in conditions."90
old Isaac's Tragedy of the Chinese Revolu­ In spite of the obliteration of the Trotsky­
tion. However, as a consequence of Commu­ ist movement inside China, and the ex­
nist victory in China in 1948-49 the British tremely limited membership and activity of
authorities in Hong Kong, anxious to main­ the group in Hong Kong, P'eng Shu-tse and
tain good relations with the forces which Ch'en Pi-lan continued not only to be very
dominated China, began to persecute the active Trotskyists but also influential fig­
Trotskyists. ures in the world Trotskyist movement. Jo­

China 217
seph Miller has noted that as soon as they In subsequent years P'eng became one of
arrived in Paris in mid-1951 they "began the principal people in the International
full participation in the work of the Fourth Committee seeking to bring the two fac­
International."91 tions of world Trotskyism back together
P'eng almost immediately came into con­ again. He was the principal proponent
flict with the European Trotskyists, led by within the ic of the "First Parity Commis­
Michel Pablo, who at that time dominated sion" which functioned in 1954-55.94
the International. He strongly disagreed From time to time P'eng acted as his par­
with Pablo's move in suspending the major­ ty's spokesman with regard to events within
ity of the members of the Central Commit­ China itself. He strongly opposed the Great
tee of the French Section. At about the same Leap Forward started in 1958 and "criticized
time Pablo refused to circulate a criticism some members of the Fourth International
by P'eng of a draft resolution on China for what he felt were naive views toward the
which the International Secretariat had sent commune movement."95
out for discussion. Meanwhile, because of P'eng and the r c p also strongly denounced
P'eng's position on these and other issues, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
Pablo prevented P'eng from participating in A resolution of the Provisional National
the work of the International Secretariat of Committee of the r c p on February a 8 ,1967,
which he was presumably a member. argued that "Mao's purpose is to reestablish
Early in 1953 P'eng received an appeal his personal dictatorship and to cut short
from five Chinese Trotskyists who had suc­ any reform measures," and argued in favor
ceeded in avoiding arrest for aid and public­ of "critical support" for the opponents of
ity about the mass arrests of Trotskyists car­ Mao, headed by Liu Shao-chi and Deng
ried out by the Maoist regime in December Tsiao-ping, because Mao's victory "w ill
195a and January 1953. P'eng asked Pablo block all reformist roads, revive adventur­
to publish this and although (according to ism, and intensify the frenzied cult of the
P'eng) "apparently Pablo consented to his personality and personal dictatorship." This
request, in practice he put this appeal away position was in contrast to the "neutral"
in his office drawer. The only reason was stance taken by the United Secretariat of the
that he was afraid that once this appeal was Fourth International toward the Cultural
published his propaganda idealizing the Mao Revolution.96
regime would be frustrated and his lies ac­ Liz Cheung has noted the participation of
cusing the Chinese Trotskyists of 'refusing the Chinese Trotskyists in the controversy
to go among the masses and being sectarian' in the United Secretariat in the 1970s. She
would also be exposed."92 has said that "after 1970, when there was a
As a consequence of these disagreements, polemic in the f i on the Latin American
when the International Committee of the guerrilla warfare strategy, the r c p stood
Fourth International was set up under the against the strategy and was in the l t t " 97
aegis of the Socialist Workers Party of the (Leninist Trotskyist Tendency).
U.S., P'eng and the Chinese Revolutionary Joseph Miller has summed up the role of
Communist Party became part of it. A state­ P'eng Shu-tse and Ch'en Pi-lan in the 1950s
ment issued in January 1954 in the name of and 1960s thus: "It is clear . . . that P'eng's
the National Central Committee of the r c p involvement at the center of the Trotskyist
said that Pablo and his supporters "evi­ movement has meant a continued visibility
dently abandoned the fundamental position for the Chinese perspective. In the years un­
of orthodox Trotskyism.. . . This revisionist der consideration . . . the role played by
deviation has become more clearly revealed P'eng and his wife . . . within the Fourth
when applied to all important problems."93 International has been substantial. . . . Cer­

218 China
tainly, in a period when the Trotskyists in young people looked up P'eng Shao-tse and
Xiahgang (Hong Kong) were at their lowest had long conversations with him, and he
ebb, these activities at the center by two was able to recruit a few of them to the
of the earliest members of the c c p and the movement, which they joined upon their
Chinese Left Opposition were crucial to the return to Hong Kong.102
maintenance of the r c p . " 98 The r c p at first did not favor its new re­
P'eng was a member of the International cruits abandoning the Seventies Biweekly
Executive Committee and Secretariat of the group. However, in May 1973 two of the
United Secretariat from 1963 until 1979 returnees did so and established a Trotskyist
when, because of his age, he was designated youth group, the Revolutionary Internation­
a "consultative member" of the i e c . He died alist League. This organization in 1974 took
in 19 8 3 ” the name Socialist League, and in 1975
changed its name once again, to Revolution­
ary Marxist League. It published a periodi­
Trotskyist Revival in Hong Kong
cal, Combat Bulletin, and was led princi­
The resurgence of an open and rather dy­ pally by Wu Zhongxian. It was aligned with
namic, albeit small Trotskyist movement at the International Majority Tendency of the
least on the periphery of China, in Hong United Secretariat.103
Kong, was the result of the student move­ Liz Cheung has written about this group
ment of the 1960s, which was so important that "the Revolutionary Marxist League .. .
also in the history of Trotskyism in the was connected with the majority in the
United States, France, Australia and several United Secretariat. Its leader, C. C. Wu, had
other countries. Liz Cheung of October Re- been in the r c p for a short time and he later
view has noted some of the specifically Chi­ withdrew from the r c p and formed the r m l
nese factors which contributed to the re­ and began recruiting new members. The two
vival of Trotskyism in Hong Kong: "The organizations remain separated up to today.
change came after 1970 with the discredit­ Each has dozens of members and operates
ing of the c c p due to the Cultural Revolu­ with H.K. as base."104 Like the r c p , the r m l
tion and the Lin Biao Incident, and the grad­ was "part of the Fourth International"105
ual rise of social movement in Hong (United Secretariat).
Kong."100 In September 1973 Li Huaiming led an­
After student demonstrations in 1969 a other group of young people in breaking
group of youths in Hong Kong established away from the Seventies Biweekly, this
early in 1970 a periodical, Seventies Bi­ time with the support of the Revolutionary
weekly, which "represented a radical ten­ Communist Party. They formed a group
dency within the over-all youth move­ which called itself the International Young
ment."101 Trotskyism was only one of the Socialist Alliance and changed its name in
radical ideologies in which those associated 1974 to Young Socialist Group. It published
with the Seventies Biweekly were inter­ a periodical first called Left Bank and then
ested. However, some of the older Trotsky­ renamed N ew Thought.
ites, most notably Wang Fanxi, established Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Commu­
contact with them, and he even contributed nist Party had launched an "open" periodi­
articles to the magazine. cal, October Review. It also organized its
It wasn't until 1972, when a few of the own youth group, the Revolutionary Com­
Hong Kong youths made an extensive trip to munist Youth, which worked largely
France, that a definite Trotskyist tendency through the Young Socialist Group. The
began to develop within the new radical youth group published a periodical called
youth movement of Hong Kong. Those Young Militants.

i China 219
 October Review, which by the early 1980s 'peaceful coexistence.' Its relations with
was carrying several pages in English in each other workers' states has never been consis­
issue although the periodical was mainly tent; at different times there have been dif­
written in Chinese, followed what might be ferent evaluations and different attitudes. In
called an orthodox u s e c line. It frequently all of this, China's foreign policy has vio­
carried articles by Ernest Mandel and other lated the basic principles of Marxisra-Lenin-
United Secretariat leaders, maintained the ism and has departed from the revolutionary
traditional position that the Soviet Union, standpoint of proletarianism."
the Peoples Republic of China and other Sta­ The resolution called for "a proletarian
linist-controlled regimes were "workers internationalist revolutionary policy." This
states," and called for "political revolution" involved "support and aid the revolutionary
in them, particularly in China. It supported movements of all workers, and laboring
Polish Solidarity as the beginning of such masses," "make public all diplomatic trea­
a revolution. It was highly critical of the tises and other documents," and that "all
Chinese regime both in its Maoist and post- workers' states should, on a voluntary and
Maoist phases. The monthly periodical car­ equal basis, establish a Socialist Federation
ried extensive news not only about China at the first step towards a World Socialist
and Hong Kong but about movements and Federation."
events in many parts of the world. The 1977 political resolution also adopted
The Tienanmen Square "incident" in Pe­ the orthodox Trotskyist position in analyz­
king on April 5, 1976, when a more or less ing the Chinese Stalinist regime. It argued
spontaneous demonstration that took place that "China's bureaucratic caste has already
in commemoration of Chou En-lai, who had become an indestructible social layer, hold­
recently died, was attacked by "security" ing tightly to political and economic power.
forces of the government, provoked a united . . . In order to remove this obstacle, a com­
front "forum" in Hong Kong. This took plete political revolution must be carried
place on May 1 6, and the participants in­ out, with the proletariat leading all the la­
cluded not only the pro-Trotskyist organiza­ boring masses in the overthrow of the c c p ' s
tions of the colony but a variety of other bureaucratic regime and the establishment
radical groups as well. The only elements of a true proletarian democracy."
which did not participate were the This "proletarian democracy" was de­
Maoists.106 fined in terms of "fundamental democratic
As a consequence of the resurgence of rights of the worker-peasant masses." These
Trotskyist activity in Hong Kong the Revo­ were detailed as being "personal, speech,
lutionary Communist Party held its fourth press, assembly and association, bearing of
Convention in April 1977. It was attended arms, strikes, demonstration, residence, mi­
by sixteen voting delegates as well as observ­ gration, travel, education, choice of work,
ers from the Revolutionary Communist and creation."108
League of Japan and the Socialist Workers
Party of Australia.107
Discussion of Trotskyism in
This convention adopted a number of ba­
Post-Maoist China
sic resolutions. Most important of these was
the Political Resolution, which covered a The death of Mao Tse-jtung and subsequent
wide range of issues. It condemned the Chi­ arrest of "the Gang of Four," and the ascen­
nese Communist government's foreign pol­ dancy of Deng Tsiao-ping, provoked an
icy, saying that "for more than twenty years, "opening" in the Chinese Stalinist regime.
the fundamental principle behind China's To some degree at least, the situation made
foreign relations with imperialist and capi­ possible an investigation and discussion of
talist countries has always been that of many ideas and theories which previously

220 China
 I

had been completely taboo. Among these publications in H. K. being circulated in

was Trotskyism. China through unofficial channels. It is hard
Joseph Miller noted in 1982 that "regard­ to say if the democracy movement was in­
less of the differences between the Trotsky­ spired by Trotskyism, but there are striking
ists and the current leadership in China, an similarities between their analysis of the
official internal discussion of Trotskyism bureaucracy, proposition of multiparty sys­
has apparently been going on since 1979. tem and democratication, etc., with Trots­
This discussion seems to include academics kyist ideas. However, it is still difficult to
who have special expertise in the question say if the movement has come to the conclu­
and access to pertinent documents, a few sion of political revolution. As you may
old recanted Trotskyists . . . and high-level know already, the movement was sup­
party leaders. .. ." l09 pressed in April 1981 and the main leaders
The present author has encountered one arrested, though there are reportedly clan­
small piece of evidence of this new curiosity destine activities still going on."113
about Trotskyism in post-Mao China. This Another r c p leader, Lee Sze, has said that
is the fact that in the early 1980s there was Wang Sizhe, leader of one of the three major
legally published in China a translation of tendencies within the Democracy Move­
our study of Trotskyism in Latin ment, "has said that he agrees with Leon
America."0 Trotsky's views on the development of bu­
Also perhaps reflecting a somewhat al­ reaucracy, although he does not agree with
tered view of Trotskyism on the part of the Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution."
c c p leadership in the post-Mao period was Lee Sze was paraphrased as saying in an
an assurance given to a delegation of the interview early in 1984 that "because many
Hong Kong Federation of Students which of the young Democracy Movement activ­
visited Peking in July 1983 to learn about ists are the children of middle-ranking or
the Chinese Communists' plans for Hong high-ranking cadres in the Chinese Com­
Kong once the colony had reverted to Chi­ munist Party they had access to a wider
nese sovereignty in 1997. According to the range of theoretical works than others
communique issued by the delegation upon might. Because of their family connections
its return the Communist officials had as­ they could even read some of Trotsky's
sured them that "the rightists, the Trotsky­ works since the Chinese Communist Party
ists and all religious personalities would be has published books and articles about
allowed to run in elections, and that "the Trotsky and the Fourth International in re­
Kuomintang, the Trotskyists and anyone cent years for internal reference by high-
with particular political background will ranking party members."114
not have their activities restricted" In Hong In defending the dissidents in the Peoples
Kong after 1997, "if they do not engage in Republic the Chinese Trotskyists in Hong
sabotage."111 Kong defined their own positions and ideas.
The ideas of Trotskyism apparently had This was the case in an editorial in October
some influence upon the opposition move­ Review of November 1979 in defense of Wei
ment, the Chinese Democracy Movement Jingsheng, a leader of the c d m who was be­
( c d m ), which arose after the death of Mao ing prosecuted by the Chinese government
Tse-tung. Both the October Review of the and who had challenged not only the Chi­
r c p and Combat Bulletin of the dissident nese regime but Marxism itself. The periodi­
Trotskyist group in Hong Kong carried cal had already published a number of Wei's
much information on the c d m and ex­ writings.
pressed support for it.111 The editorial in October Review said that
Liz Cheung has commented with regard Wei's conviction for "counter revolutionary
to this that "there are also some Trotskyist propaganda" the month before indicated

1 China 221
1
I
i
i
that "the ccp-drafted Constitution is not have no officially recognized democratic
only entirely useless, empty writing, but is rights and have no access to publications to
also an irony of the autocratic dictatorship." publicize the exchange of their views, peo­
The editorial even defended the right of ple in general are more open in expressing
Wei Jingsheng to criticize Marxism and so­ their views."117
cialism. It argued that "if Marxism cannot Both Hong Kong Trotskyist groups were
withstand criticism and opposition, it only critical of the foreign policy of the regime
shows that it is not the truth. We are firmly under Deng Tsiao-ping. Both parties
convinced that Marxism and socialism rep­ strongly opposed the Chinese invasion of
resent the truth, and are absolutely unafraid Vietnam in 1979, seeing it as an effort to
of criticism and opposition by the people curry favor with the United States.118
because it does not represent the truth, and When the agreement between China and
it is extremely weak."1,5 Great Britain for the return of Hong Kong
to Chinese control was announced late in
1984, the two Trotskyist groups in Hong
Hong Kong Trotskyists and the
Kong issued a joint statement on the accord.
Evolution of Post-Mao China
That document expressed regret that the
Understandably as the orientation of the Chinese had not insisted on immediate re­
People's Republic changed drastically fol­ turn of the colony to China, but rather had
lowing the death of Mao Tse-tung, the Hong agreed to the transfer as of July 1,19 97, when
Kong Trotskyists followed very closely and the "leases" of the mainland part of the col­
extensively commented on these develop­ ony expired. The statement observed that
ments. In an interview with two representa­ "this is not only a recognition of the unequal
tives of the Intercontinental Press early in treaty which leased the New Territories, but
1984, Lee Sze of the r c p and Mr. Lueng of is also in practice recognition of the legality
the r m l both indicated their view of what of British rule of Hong Kong based on the
was occurring. unequal treaties. This is a serious political
Both men expressed reservations on the mistake."
market orientation which underlay much of The Trotskyists ended their statement
the policy of the Deng Tsaio-ping regime. with two sets of "appeals," to "the people
Lueng summed up their preoccupations by of China," and "to the Hong Kong people"
saying that "although it is too early to tell, respectively. The first of these sets was "A.
the convergence of capital accumulation by Oppose all articles of the Sino-British Joint
the peasants, the restoration of investment Declaration and the Annexes that violate
income to former capitalists, and the foreign the principle of sovereignty and that break
investment and loans could be an impetus the interests of the Chinese (including Hong
to capitalist influence in China."116 Kong) people. B. Demand that the Chinese
Both Hong Kong Trotskyists stressed that government assist the Hong Kong people to
the relative freedom for dissidents to protest convene a generally elected, full-powered
and organize between 1978 and 1981 was a General Assembly, recover sovereignty as
function of Deng Tsiao-ping's efforts to get soon as possible, and practice democratic
complete control of the Peking regime. They self-rule of the Hong Kong people. C. Com­
agreed that once he had gotten such control pel the Chinese government to at once carry
his administration cracked down substan­ out radical democratic changes, abolish one-
tially. However, Lee Sze observed that this party dictatorship and bureaucratic privi­
repression was not as great as during the leges, practice socialist democracy and legal
earlier period. He commented that "al­ system, and return the government to the
though the Chinese people and workers people."

222 China
 The "appeals" to the people of Hong Kong Trotskyist movement exists within a few
were miles, in a territory the population of which
is ethnically and emotionally the same as
A. Organize and take the initiative to con­
that of that country. However, the possibil­
vene a generally elected and full-powered
ity of Trotskyism taking root again in China
Hong Kong General Assembly, end colo­ seems at best very remote.
nial rule, and democratically elect a self-
rule government. B. Actively start the dis­
cussion on the drafting of a Basic Law,
strive for the democratic enactment of
the Basic Law by the Hong Kong people,
and realize the democratic rule of Hong
Kong by the Hong Kong people. C. Be
closely concerned with the political, eco­
nomic and social developments in China,
join forces with the people in the main­
land, and straggle together for the practice
of socialist democracy in China.119

Conclusions About Chinese

Trotskyism
Its position on the Chinese Revolution was
one of the first things which differentiated
International Trotskyism from Stalinism.
Similarly, Chinese Trotskyism was one of
the first national sections to be established.
It was organized by some of the major found­
ers of the Chinese Communist Party and at
its inception was able to rally substantial
support among the remnants of that party
which survived the decimation of the c c p
ranks by Chiang Kai-shek's regime in 1927-
28.
Although decimated, the Trotskyist
movement in China was able to survive the
persecution of the Nationalist regime and
even of the Japanese occupation forces be­
tween 1941-1945. It was completely oblit­
erated by the Stalinist-Maoist government
which came to power in 1949, surviving
thereafter only in exile in Hong Kong and
Paris.
This situation began to change only mar­
ginally after the Great Cultural Revolution,
and particularly after the death of Mao. As
P'eng Shu-tse has noted, China is the only
Stalinist-controlled country in which a

! China 223
 u s e c were reflected in the new Colombian
Trotskyism in Colombia
Trotskyist movement almost immediately.
The revival of Trotskyism in Colombia
first took shape in the Bloque Socialista, ap­
parently founded in 1976. It was converted
into the Partido Socialista de los Trabaja­
The story of Trotskyism in Colombia di­ dores (p s t ) in September 1977 and was ac­
vides sharply into two time periods. For a cepted as a sympathizing organization of the
short while in the 1930s there was a small United Secretariat.2 However, by 1978 there
Trotskyist group in that South American was a second u s e c sympathizing group in
country. Four decades later a more long-last­ Colombia, the Liga Comunista Revolucio­
ing and substantial Trotskyist movement naria (l c r —Revolutionary . Communist
appeared there, which soon split into two League).3
parties affiliated with different factions of The p s t was aligned with the Bolshevik
International Trotskyism. Tendency ( b t ) of u s e c , headed by Nahuel
Not very much information is available Moreno. As relations between the b t and
concerning Colombian Trotskyism during the faction aligned with the Socialist Work­
the 1930s. The Mexican Trotskyist periodi­ ers Party of the United States became in­
cal El Bolshevismo reported in 1939 the ex­ creasingly difficult this fact was reflected
istence of the Internationalist Socialist within the Partido Socialista de los Trabaja­
Party in Colombia. Also, the report on Latin dores.
America to the Emergency Conference of The Bloque Socialista had had a periodi­
the Fourth International in May 1940 noted cal, Revolucidn Socialista.4 When the orga­
that "in Cali, in Colombia, we have had for nization became the Partido Socialista de
several years, a small group of comrades, los Trabajadores it began to publish another
without any leading figure. It is very weak paper, El Socialista, but Revolucidn Social-
organizationally." 1 This would seem to refer ista also continued to appear. The factional
to the same Internationalist Socialist Party. blocs formed around these two publica­
We have no information about how long this tions.5
party continued to exist. It was almost four In 1977 and early 1978 the p s t underwent
decades before a more substantial Trotsky­ a split. It began in May 1977 with the sus­
ist movement appeared in Colombia. pension and then expulsion of Ricardo San­
International Trotskyism first established chez, one of the party's principal figures.
an enduring presence in Colombia during Subsequent to that it was reported that 315
the 1970s. The establishment of a Trotsky­ members of the party, including its 1978
ist movement there undoubtedly owed presidential candidate, Socorro Ramirez,
much to the presence in Colombia of Na- had been expelled on charges of "faction­
huel Moreno (Hugo Bressano), the Argentine alism."6
Trotskyist leader who took refuge in Bogota As a consequence of these events there
and there began publishing his periodical, emerged another Trotskyist group in Co­
Revista de America. Since Moreno was the lombia, the result of the merger of those
leader of one of three factions then function­ who had been expelled from the p s t with
ing within the United Secretariat of the the Liga Comunista Revolucionaria. This
Fourth International, the quarrels within new party, formed late in 1978, was the Par­
tido Socialista Revolucionario, and it be­
Unless otherwise noted, information on the 1930s
is adapted from Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in came the Colombian affiliate of the United
Latin America, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, Secretariat.7
1973 - Meanwhile, the Trotskyists had partici-

224 Colombia
pated in the 1978 elections—held in two Tendency which established, the Interna­
installments, for congress and departmental tional Workers League (IVth International).
(state) and municipal legislatures in Febru­ The headquarters of the new f i faction was
ary, and for president in June. The two Trots­ established in Bogota.
kyist groups then existing—the p s t and Both Colombian Trotskyist factions were
l c r —joined with two other far left groups active in the organized labor movement,
to form the Unidad Obrera y Socialista particularly in national unions which were
(u n i o s —Worker and Socialist Unity) coali­ not affiliated with any of the country's four
tion. They nominated "more than 1,000 central labor organizations. When after the
workers candidates" for legislative posts 1982 election there was a conference of rep­
and named Socorro Ramirez as their nomi­ resentatives of many of these independent
nee for president. In the legislative contest unions, a p s r leader Jose Amulfo Bayona of
they received only 3,000 votes, about 1 per­ the Educators Federation was elected to the
cent as many as a Communist-backed slate Coordinating Committee established by
received.8 this conference.10
In 1979 the Partido Socialista de los Traba­ The Trotskyists fought against the ten­
jadores undertook to organize what they dency of the governments of Liberal presi­
called the Sim6n Bolivar Brigade to fight dents Alfonso Lopez Michelson and Julio
with the Sandinistas against the dictator­ C6sar Turbay (1974-1982) to limit civil lib­
ship of General Anastasio Somoza in Nica­ erties in the name of fighting the guerrilla
ragua. They had some support for this from movements then active in the countryside.
one of the principal political commentators When President Belisario Betancur soon
of the Bogota daily newspaper El Tiempo, after his inauguration in 1982 sponsored an
Daniel Samper. The Brigade actually sent amnesty law, the p s r strongly supported the
some soldiers into battle and they were re­ measure and Socorro Ramirez accepted
sponsible for capturing the Atlantic coastal (with the backing of her party, the p s r ) mem­
town of Bluefields. However, when they and bership on a "Commission for Peace" to ne­
Nicaraguans whom they had recruited be­ gotiate with the guerrilla groups.11 In De­
gan after the victory of the Sandinistas to cember 1983 when a guerrilla group
organize a Trotskyist party in Nicaragua kidnapped the president's brother, Jaime Be­
which was very critical of the Sandinista tancur, the p s r expressed its strong condem­
leadership, the new government ordered all nation of the action.12
foreign members of the Brigade expelled After agreements were reached in March
from the country.9 and August 1984 between the Betancur gov­
When the United Secretariat of the Fourth ernment and most of the guerrilla groups to
International supported the actions of the call a temporary halt to the fighting and to
Sandinista government and dissociated it­ establish a National Dialogue, the Partido
self from the Sim6n Bolivar Brigade, this Socialista Revolucionario expressed its sup­
action provoked a split in the u s e c , with the port for this. It argued:
Moreno-led Bolshevik Tendency, including
the Colombian p s t , breaking away. This Together with all the forces of the left,
split is dealt with in the chapter on Interna­ the workers, and the people, we must or­
tional Workers League (Fourth Interna­ ganize broad forums that call for mobili­
tional). zation and not simply forums that discuss
Both factions of Colombian Trotskyism and make revolutionary propaganda.
continued to exist into the middle 1980s. In Moreover, in conclusion, they will have
January 1982 the p s t played host in Bogota to fight to convert them into platforms
to an international meeting of the Moreno for exposure and into events that call for

Colombia 225
 mobilization and set dates and means of ing a "revolutionary united front" under the
struggle—for a demonstration of solidar­ name of A Luchar! (Fight On!), together with
ity with a strike, for the civic shutdown a number of groups of Maoist and Fidelista
for taking the land. . . . We, who have sa­ origin. It called for a general strike against
luted the idea of the National Dialogue the policies of the Betancur government.18
since the beginning, must participate
with this perspective, which expresses
our deep conviction that the liberation of
the workers can only be the task of the
workers themselves.13

When the National Dialogue was de­

stroyed in November 1985 by an attack by
the M -19 guerrilla group on the Palace of
Justice in Bogota—to which the government
responded with a military attack resulting
in the death of more than 100 people, includ­
ing members of the Supreme Court—the p s r
issued a statement. It said, "We do not sup­
port the action of the April 19 Movement"
but then added that "the government of Beli-
sario Betancur bears the sole responsibility
for the deaths of the chief justice of the Su­
preme Court, Alfonse Reyes Echandia; of
the Supreme Court judge Maria Inez Ramos;
of the civilian personnel; and of the mem­
bers of the April 19 Movement. Thus, the
major blow to the so-called 'democratic'
opening has come from the bipartisan gov­
ernment itself."14
During the election of 1982 the p s r sup­
ported the candidacy of Gerardo Molina,
named by a coalition dominated by the pro-
Moscow Communist Party. However, it re­
ported that it did so "on the basis of a posi-.
tion of class independence and criticism of
the oscillations of the candidate."15
Both Trotskyist parties held regular con­
gresses. The Fourth Congress of the p s r met
in August 1982. It dealt particularly with
two questions: a "turn towards industry" on
the part of its members, and a proposal made
by Gerardo Molina for the establishment of
a new Socialist Party, an idea the congress
looked upon with skepticism.16The p s t held
its Third Congress in May 1983.17
Early in 1985 the Partido Socialista de los
Trabajadores took the initiative in organiz-

226 Colombia
 Costa Rican Trotskyism tion. It was reported in 1982 that it had "quit
Trotskyism and changed the name of the
organization." As a consequence, at that
time the only Trotskyist group in Costa Rica
was the Partido Revolucionario de los Tra­
bajadores, which published a periodical
Trotskyism did not get started in Costa Rica Adelante! and was associated with the
(or in any of the other Central American Morenoist faction of International Trots­
countries) until the 1970s. It was one of the kyism, the International Workers League
first Central American nations in which the (Fourth International).6
movement began.
By 1978 there were two sympathizing or­
ganizations of the United Secretariat of the
Fourth International in Costa Rica, the Or-
ganizaci6n Socialista de los Trabajadores
( p s t ), and the Partido Revolucionario de los
Trabajadores ( p r t ) .1 The o s t was established
in 1976 and it was active in several cam­
paigns. It strongly supported the revolution­
ary movement against the regime of General
Anastasio Somoza in neighboring Nicara­
gua.1 It was also involved in work in the
Caribbean coastal area of Costa Rica, Puerto
Lim6n—together with a local party, the Par*
tido Aut6ntico Limonense—to gain better
treatment from the national government for
the predominantly Black population of that
area.3
The o s t held its first regular convention
in September 1978. Some eighty "delegates,
members and international guests" were re­
portedly in attendance. This same report
commented that "two years of organizing
have brought the o s t from an initial nucleus
of four Trotskyists to an organization of
about one hundred members with a history
of important initiatives in the class strug­
gle." Some trade unionists and some high
school students were among those partici­
pating in this convention.4
In the 1978 general election the o s t ran
its own presidential candidate, Carlos Coro­
nado Vargas. It also ran a nominee for the
national assembly, Alejandra Calder6n
Fournier, a daughter of ex-President Rafael
Calderon Guardia.5
Subsequent to the Nicaraguan Revolution
of 1979 the O ST changed its political orienta­

Costa Rica 227

I
 Cuban Trotskyism contact occurred when Nin was still an of­
ficial of the Red International of Labor
Unions in Moscow or after he had returned
to Spain is not clear. After Junco's return to
Cuba he and his friends received consider­
able printed material from the Spanish
The story of Trotskyism in Cuba is a sad
Trotskyists, particularly things written by
one. After gaining considerable influence in
Andres Nin and Juan Andrade. It seems
the labor movement and in national politics
likely that Junco had decided to align him­
during its first years (the early 1930s), it rap­
self with the Trotskyist opposition by the
idly declined. Because of problems of "en­
time he returned to Cuba.
trism" and factional division Cuban Trots­
Junco returned home early in 1932. Soon
kyism fell in the next decades to a marginal
after his return he wrote a memorandum
status, both in organized labor and in general
which he submitted to the Communist Inter­
politics. Finally, after the Castro regime em­
national criticizing its analysis of the Cuban
braced latter-day Stalinism in the early
social and political situation. That docu­
1960s it suppressed the only surviving
ment, although having little influence on the
Trotskyist group in Cuba, which did not
Comintern, brought about Junco's expulsion
prevent some factions of International
from the Communist Party late in 1932.
Trotskyism from extending strong support
Outside of the party, Sandalio Junco orga­
to Castro's government.
nized what was first called Oposici6n Com­
unista, but soon took the name Partido Bol-
The Early Years of Cuban Trotskyism chevique-Leninista (p b l ). The new party
decided to join the International Left Oppo­
The founder of Cuban Trotskyism was San- sition. However, at least judging from the
dalio Junco, one of the leading Communist published writings of Leon Trotsky, there
trade unionists and the most prominent apparently was little or no personal contact
Black leader of the Cuban Communist between him and his new Cuban supporters.
Party. He was International Secretary of the Upon his return home Sandalio Junco
Communist-controlled Confederation N a­ quickly reassumed a leadership role in the
tional Obrera de Cuba (c n o c ) when he was trade unions. He became one of the principal
forced to flee into exile in 1928 in face of figures in the Federation Obrera de La Ha-
persecution by the dictatorship of President bana, a major labor organization in the capi­
Gerardo Machado. tal city, where the Oposici6n Comunista
Junco was to stay abroad for almost four shared leadership with the new Aprista
years. During that time he worked for a Party and the Socialists. There was a coun­
while in Mexico with Julio Antonio Mella, terpart of that federation in the eastern city
the leader of the Cuban Communist exiles of Santiago, and these two groups consti­
in that country, attended the Latin Ameri­ tuted the principal opposition within the
can Communist trade union conference in labor movement to the c n o c , which was
Montevideo in 1929, and then went to Eu­ still under Communist leadership.
rope and ultimately to the Soviet Union. The p b l also drew support from the revo­
During his stay abroad Sandalio Junco had lutionary student' movement, particularly
considerable contact with Andres Nin, the the Ala Izquierda {Left Wing), the principal
Spanish Trotskyist leader. Whether this rival of the terrorist-oriented Student Direc­
Material in this entry is adapted from Robert J. Alex­
torate. The principal student leader of the
ander: Trotskyism in Latin America, Hoover Institu­ p b l was Charles Simeon.

tion Press, Stanford, 1973. In August 1933 dictator Gerardo Machado

228 Cuba
was forced out of power as a consequence Joven Cuba. These proclamations brought
of a massive political general strike—which strong protests from the United States sec­
the c n o c (as the result of a deal with Ma­ tion of the International Left Opposition,
chado) tried to "call off," although it had not the Workers Party. A. J. Muste, then secre­
launched the movement in the first place. tary general of the Workers Party, objected
A few weeks later, on September 4, 1933, a both to the slogan of a "workers and peas­
coup organized by noncommissioned offi­ ants" government and to collaboration with
cers of the Army led by Sergeant Fulgencio Joven Cuba, suggesting that a broader unity
Batista, and student organizations of the committee ought to be established includ­
University of Havana, resulted in the instal­ ing the Stalinists. These criticisms seem to
lation of a radical-nationalist government have had little impact on the immediate
under President Ram6n Grau San Martin of policy of the Cuban Trotskyists.
the university medical faculty. But there was clearly considerable dissi-
The labor organizations in which the p b l dence within the p b l . The secretary general
held leadership supported the Grau San of the party submitted a report to the Inter­
Martin government. In contrast, the Com­ national Secretariat in Paris, dated March
munist Party and the c n o c violently op­ 20, 1935, in which he reported on the ten­
posed it, in conformity with the Comin­ sions within the party between those whom
tern's line that all left-wing groups except he identified as being "real" supporters of
the Stalinists were "social fascists." The Fourth Internationalism, and more "oppor­
combined opposition of the Stalinists and tunistic" elements.
the United States Department of State fi­ When the strike actually took place, un­
nally brought about the ouster of the Grau der the leadership of the Committee of Pro­
government in January 1934 by Colonel (ex- letarian Defense in which the p b l and Joven
Sergeant) Fulgencio Batista. Cuba were the most important elements,
During the following year the Federation it was met by the full force of the Batista
Obrera de La Habana, under Sandalio Jun- dictatorship. The headquarters of all trade
co's leadership, organized a number of unions were closed, large numbers of people
strikes in the capital while at the same time were arrested, terror was openly used by the
carrying on a bitter struggle with the c n o c . government. The labor movement did not
The p b l probably reached the high point o f recover from the effects of this defeat for
its membership at that time, it being esti- several years.
mated that there were more than 600 people One major casualty of the general strike
in its ranks. was Antonio Guiteras, who was captured
In March 1935 a revolutionary general and killed by the police. Although this
strike took place in which the Partido Bol- seemed to open the way for Trotskyist pene­
chevique-Leninista played a major role. In tration of the Joven Cuba organization ex­
organizing this movement the p b l worked actly the opposite occurred: most of the
closely with Joven Cuba, a political group leaders of the p b l entered Joven Cuba, but
organized by Antonio Guiteras, who had they soon lost all contact with Trotskyism.
been the most left-wing member of the Grau In 1937 Joven Cuba itself merged with the
San Martin government. Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Aut£ntico)
During the months preceding the general of ex-President Ramon Grau San Martin.
strike the p b l was quite open about its plans For the following twenty years the ex-
to organize a "democratic anti-imperialist Trotskyist Aut^ntico leaders constituted
revolution of the workers and peasants," the major element opposing the Stalinists
even publishing a program of government within the new Confederation de Trabaja­
which had been agreed upon by the p b l and dores de Cuba ( c t c ), the labor confederation

1 Cuba 229
1
which Batista allowed to be established un­ Posadas tendency. They also changed their
der Stalinist control in 1938. From 1947 un­ name to Partido Obrero Revolucionario
til the advent of the Castro regime at the (Trotskista). The anti-Pablo International
beginning of 1959, they controlled the c t c . Committee, and subsequently the United
However, they had long since ceased to have Secretariat, did not have any section in
any affiliation with or interest in Trots­ Cuba.
kyism. The p o r (t ) is said to have had members
The Partido Bolchevique-Leninista con­ who fought in the mountains with the Cas­
tinued to exist, however, although no longer tro forces sometime between late 1956 and
having any major role in the labor move­ the victory of those forces in January 1959.
ment or any significant part in general poli­ Subsequently, they strongly supported the
tics. It soon took the name Partido Obrero movement to the left of the-Castro regime.
Revolucionario ( p o r ) and Pierre Naville During this early period of the Cuban Revo­
listed the p o r as the Cuban section of the lution the p o r (t ) was violently attacked by
Fourth International at the p i Founding Con­ the Communists but was left more or less
gress in September 1938.1 He estimated its alone by the Castro government.
membership as being about one hundred.2 However, in May 1961 the Castro regime
suppressed the p o r (t ) ' s newspaper Voz Pro-
letaria and destroyed plates for Trotsky's
Cuban Trotskyism Until and During
Permanent Revolution which the p o r (t )
the Castro Revolution
was about to publish. The Ministry of Labor
The p o r was centered principally in the took over the print shop which the Trotsky­
eastern city of Guantanamo where it had ists had used and subsequently denied all
some modest influence among the railroad newsprint to the Trotskyists. As a conse­
workers. At the time of the split between quence, they had to resort to the mimeo­
the Communist and Aut6ntico parties' fac­ graph machine.
tions of the Confederaci6n de Trabajadores Castro government persecution of the
de Cuba in 1947 the Trotskyists played little Trotskyists intensified. In August 1962 two
part, although urging maintenance of a of their leaders were arrested for distributing
united organization. a statement of the p o r ( t ) Political Bureau
During the 1944 election the p o r en­ to a meeting of delegates from sugar cane
dorsed ex-President Ram6n Grau San cooperatives. That statement complained
Martin, and urged its supporters to vote for about the lack of democracy in the labor
trade unionists running as congressional movement and in the cane cooperatives.
candidates on the ticket of Grau's Aut6ntico In August 1962 the p o r ( t ) held its Second
Party. By the municipal and congressional National Conference in Havana. It adopted
elections in 1946 they had become disillu­ a series of resolutions including one endors­
sioned with the Grau government. When ing the action of the Latin American Bureau
efforts to run their own candidates in the of the International Secretariat in "reorgan­
Guantanamo area were thwarted by the izing" the Fourth International, that is, the
electoral tribunal's refusal to recognize their establishment of the Posadas-led version of
party they urged abstention from voting. the f i .
With the split in the Fourth International Finally, in December 1963 the Castro gov­
in 19 52-5 3, the Cuban party stayed with the ernment gave the coup de grace to the
Pabloite International Secretariat (is). Some p o r { t ). Its principal leaders were arrested

years later, when J. Posadas led the Latin and were tried for distributing an illegal peri­
American Bureau of the is in setting up its odical, advocating overthrow of the Castro
own version of the f i , the p o r joined the regime and being critical of Fidel Castro.

230 Cuba
They were sentenced to jail terms ranging Trotskyism in Cyprus
from two to nine years.
In January 1966 Fidel Castro used the plat­
form of the Tricontinental Congress in Ha­
vana to deliver a violent attack on Trots­
kyism. He particularly attacked activities in
various parts of America by the Posadista Trotskyism in Cyprus has certainly been
tendency. one of the more marginal elements of the
However, in spite of the anti-Trotskyist international Trotskyist movement. To a
rhetoric engaged in by Castro and other lead­ considerable degree it has been a reflection
ers of the Cuban Revolution, and the sup­ or offshoot of the movement in Greece.
pression of the only existing Trotskyist There is no evidence available that a
group in the country, the United Secretariat Trotskyist group was established in Cyprus,
faction of International Trotskyism was then a British colony, before World War II.
able to maintain more or less cordial rela­ In his report to the Founding Congress of
tions with the Castro regime. This was par­ the Fourth International in September 1938
ticularly the case with the Socialist Workers on the national groups which were affiliated
Party of the United States, some of whose to or associated with the f i , Pierre Naville
leaders visited Cuba from time to time. The made no mention of any such group in Cy­
s w p had early proclaimed the Castro regime prus.1 Nor is there any indication that Cy­
to be a "workers state." But so, for that mat­ prus was represented at the first postwar
ter, had the Posadista wing of International Conference of the Fourth International in
Trotskyism. March 1946.2
However, by the time of the Second Con­
gress of the Fourth International early in
1948 a Trotskyist party had been organized
in Cyprus. It was represented at that Con­
gress, which adopted the following resolu­
tion: "After having heard a report on the
activity and request for affiliation of the In­
ternationalist Communist Party of Cyprus,
and assured that it involves an organization
functioning in a viable fashion and which
adheres to the program and principles of the
IVth, the World Congress recognizes this
organization as an official section of the IVth
International in Cyprus, and seats its repre­
sentative to the present Congress."3
It is perhaps significant to note that the
name taken by the Cypriot party was the
same as that which had recently been
adopted by the reunified Greek organi­
zation.
Although the United Secretariat paid lit­
tle or no attention to developments in Cy­
prus in the resolutions adopted at its various
congresses, there is indication that at least
as late as 1970 that group did have a Cyprus

Cyprus 231
section. Inevitably that section became in­ Trotskyism in
volved in the overriding political issue fac­
ing that country since before the attainment Czechoslovakia
of independence, that is, the conflict be­
tween the Greek and Turkish ethnic groups
on the island.
On April is , 1970, the Cyprus section of Internal Divisions
the United Secretariat issued a statement on Virtually all of the Czechoslovakian Trots­
the country's ethnic conflict. It started, "As kyists of the late 1920s and the 1930s came
we have repeatedly declared in the past, the out of the Communist Party. They broke
solution of the Cyprus problem is prevented with the c p at different times and came from
by international imperialism by its interfer­ different parts of the country. These were
ence in the Cyprus dispute, through its among the circumstances which made it
agents, in an effort to create a communal particularly difficult to establish a united
strife or civil war, slaughter and chaos, so Trotskyist movement in Czechoslovakia.
that it may find the pretext of invading Cy­ One source of disunity among Czechoslo­
prus ostensibly for the 'restoration of peace vakian, Trotskyists is the underlying fact
and order,' but in reality for the purpose of that Czechoslovakia is a multinational
establishing a military base for n a t o in case country. Carved out of portions of the pre-
international imperialism finds it necessary 1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire, it con­
to attack the Arab people and suppress their tained three major ethnic groups as well as
revolution." several minor ones.
This statement ended with the observa­ The two elements from which the coun­
tion that "As international imperialism try took its name were Slavic peoples, the
failed in its efforts to create chaos in Cyprus, Czechs and the Slovaks. The other large
and find the necessary pretext of interven­ group consisted of the so-called Sudeten
ing, imperialism has turned for assistance Germans who lived along the western bor­
to its old watchdog, General Grivas, a reac­ der, contiguous to Germany, in one of the
tionary anti-Communist who is just barking more heavily industrialized parts of the
at Makarios, accusing him that he is be­ country. In addition, in the north along the
traying the cause of Cyprus, on the ground Polish frontier were Polish-speaking people
that he does not declare war against the in the Teschen area, and in the easternmost
Turks, and unite Cyprus with Greece. We strip between Hungary and Poland, known
are sure that even this trick will not catch as Carpatho-Ukraine, were Ukrainian­
on, as the people in Cyprus have now ac­ speaking people.
quired an unerring criterion enabling it to Different groups professing loyalty to the
sense all the maneuvers, tricks, and traps of ideas and policies of the International Left
imperialism."4 Opposition developed in each of the three
The only other element which evidently major ethnic areas of Czechoslovakia. How­
has had a section in Cyprus has been the ever, somewhat different ideological and
Tendance Mamste-Revolutionnaire Inter­ factional origins, as well as personal rival­
nationale ( t m r i ) of Michel Pablo. In 1982 ries, complicated the problem of bringing
there existed in Cyprus a group called For unity among the different ethnic Trotskyist
Socialism, the same name as the Greek af­ groups.
filiate of the t m r i and described as a "deriva­
tive" of the Greek organization.5 Sudeten German Trotskyists
The largest element in Czechoslovakian
Trotskyism was that in the Sudeten German

232 Czechoslovakia
region. The leader of the group was also convert to Trotskyism who became an im­
probably the best known figure in Czecho­ portant figure in the Czechoslovakian
slovakian Trotskyism, Alois Neurath. Bom Trotskyist ranks was Joseph Guttman. He
in 1886, Neurath was one of the founders had been a member of the Political Bureau
of the German section of the Czechoslovak and Secretariat of the Czechoslovakian
Communist Party. He was secretary of the Communist Party as late as 19 31, but he
party between 1921 and 1926 as well as a was very much opposed to the policy which
member of the Executive Committee of the the Communists had followed in Germany
Communist International. Both nationally in the period before the rise of Hitler to
and in the Comintern he was a supporter of power. As a consequence, he was expelled
Zinoviev.1 from the c p in 1933. Subsequently, he joined
Neurath was expelled with a group of forces with the Trotskyist leader Z. Kalan-
other leaders of the Communist Party in dra to publish a new periodical, Proletar.7
1928. They did not form a pro-Trotskyist With the rise of Hitler to power in Ger­
group, but rather a Communist Party (Oppo­ many several Trotskyist leaders from that
sition) which became a member of the Inter­ country went to Czechoslovakia. These in­
national Communist Opposition, the group cluded Anton Grylewicz and Wenzel Koz-
associated in the popular mind with the So­ lecki, who entered into the activities of the
viet Right Opposition of Bukharin, Rykov Sudeten German Trotskyists.8
and Tomsky rather than with the Left Oppo­
sition.
Czech Trotskyists
The Czechoslovak c p o gained control of
the Communist-controlled trade union One of the earliest pro-Trotsky groups to be
group, the l a .v , and merged it into the Social established in the Czech-speaking parts of
Democratic-controlled osc in 1930. The the country was that of Arthur Pollack, a
c p o was particularly strong in the Sudeten professor at the University of Prague. It con­
German region, where the influence of Neu­ sisted principally of intellectuals and stu­
rath was extensive.1 dents. Although it published no regular peri­
The Neurath group at its inception con­ odical, it did from time to time put into
trolled the Communist Party organization print expositions of its ideas. One of these
in Reichenberg (Liberec) through its secre­ was a pamphlet entitled "The Struggle in
tary, Kreutz. After considerable proselytiz­ the Comintern."9
ing by him for the Opposition Kreutz had Another group of Czech Trotskyists in
been removed. Nevertheless, the Neurath Prague was that established by Otto Fried­
opposition group also had local organiza­ man, who had been a leader of the Commu­
tions in Karlsbad, Krumau and a number of nist Youth when in 1927 he established con­
other Sudeten German cities.3 tacts with the Russian Left Opposition. He
For some time the Neurath group pub­ began to publish Rudy Prapor {Red Flag).
lished a periodical, Neue Tribune . 4 Subse­ Associated with him was Karel Fischer (also
quently, it put out another German-lan- known as Michalec), an old collaborator of
guage newspaper, Unser Wort, in Prague.5 Zinoviev.’0 Once this group became avow­
They and the other Czechoslovakian Trots­ edly Trotskyist it published a Czech-lan-
kyist groups had considerable difficulty in guage periodical, Delnicka Politika. It came
maintaining a regular official organ. in for some criticism from those close to
By 1932 Alois Neurath and his supporters Trotsky for maintaining friendly relations
had abandoned the Right Opposition and with the group in Austria headed by Joseph
become associated with the International Frey.11
Left Opposition.6 A relatively late Sudeten Still another Czech Trotskyist group cen-

Czechoslovakia 233
tered on Prague was that headed by Wolf­ tered in Bratislava, the principal city of the
gang Vaclav Salus. At the age of sixteen he region, and was headed by Hynek Lenorovic,
had entered the Young Communist League, one of the founders of the Communist Party
in 1924. Three years later he was a delegate in Slovakia. He was first won to the Com­
to a congress of the International Commu­ munist cause while a patient in a tuberculo­
nist Youth in Moscow, and there came into sis sanitarium in Merano, Italy, in 1923.
contact with the Russian Left Opposition. Two other patients converted there at the
There were some reports that he had an in­ same time were Jan Frankel and Kiri Kopp,
terview with Trotsky himself. who also were to become Czechoslovakian
Salus (who used the pseudonym W. Trotskyist leaders.16 Lenorovic subse­
Krieger) was one of the first people to take quently became a leader of the Communist
the lead in establishing a Left Communist student organization. He had entered into
faction in the Czechoslovak Communist contact with the Russian Left Opposition as
Party, and as a consequence was expelled early as 1925, and became one of the first
from the party. Upon Trotsky's exile in 1929 Czechoslovak Trotskyist leaders.17 He es­
Salus volunteered to serve as Trotsky's per­ tablished the Trotskyist group in Slovakia
sonal secretary and bodyguard in Prinkipo, in March 1929.18
which he did for a year. Once back in Prague Another leader of the Bratislava group was
he returned to leadership of the local Trots­ Vaclav Skandera. It made some progress
kyists. 12 His group edited for a time a period­ among both Slovak and Hungarian speaking
ical, jfiskra, named after the publication ed­ workers in the Bratislava area.15
ited by Lenin early in the century.13 Leon Trotsky was not entirely satisfied
It was probably the Salus group to which with the orthodoxy of Hynek Lenorovic. In
Trotsky was referring when he informed the December 1934 he wrote a critique of Lenor-
Russian Left Opposition in March 1930 that ovic's ideas, "Contribution to a Discussion
"the Czechoslovak group, which came into on the Theoretical Foundations of the
existence several months ago, is working I.C.L." He accused Lenorovic of various the­
with great energy; the first of its publica­ oretical errors but approved of his insistence
tions should be out very soon."14 that it was time to establish new Commu­
In the southern city of Brno (Briinn) there nist parties, including a new one in the So­
was still another Czech-speaking Trotskyist viet Union.50
group. It was headed by Vladimir Burian, One other Czechoslovak Trotskyist of
who had been one of the founders of the note was particularly closely associated
Communist Party in that city. He had edited with Leon Trotsky himself and played a rela­
in Brno a review Rovnost and a weekly tively small role in the organization in
newspaper Svernost for the party. For some Czechoslovakia. This was Jan Frankel. He
time he had been editor of the German-lan- succeeded Wolfgang Salus as Trotsky's sec­
guage edition of the Comintern's weekly In- retary in 1930 and served in that capacity
precor in Vienna, and subsequently had until 1933. Thereafter he continued to col­
spent the years 192,5 to 1927 in Moscow. laborate closely with Trotsky, traveling
There he had come into contact with the widely to report on the state of the move­
Left Opposition. After spending several ment in various countries.21
years in Berlin, he returned to Bmo in 1932
and there established a Left Opposition Czechoslovak Trotskyists
group.15
Czechoslovak Trotskyists, Trotsky,
Slovak Trotskyists and the International
The third and smallest ethnic group of The Czechoslovakian Trotskyists were one
Trotskyists was that in Slovakia. It was cen­ of the nine national groups represented at

234 Czechoslovakia
 the April 1930 "preliminary conference" of the Soviet Union to help meet its import
the International Left Opposition in Paris, needs in connection with its Five Year Plan
the first international gathering of Trotsky's development efforts.
followers.22 The Czechoslovakian delegate In January 1936 Trotsky corresponded
was Jan Frankel, representing the Lenoro- with Erich Loffler, a lawyer of Reichenberg
vich group. "A student group .. . later en­ who belonged to a small group of profes­
dorsed the decisions taken at the meet­ sional people in that city who were particu­
ing."23 It seems probable that that was the larly active in raising money for Trotskyist
element headed by Arthur Pollack. activities, Loffler had raised questions about
In September 1933 Walter Held (Heinz Trotsky's characterization of the Soviet
Epe), who visited Czechoslovakia on behalf Union as a "workers state," and Trotsky
of the International Secretariat, reported undertook to answer him at some length.28
back on the various groups in the country More than two years later, Trotsky wrote
professing loyalty to the International Left his Czechoslovakian followers concerning
Opposition. He recommended that the Neu­ doubts that some of them had at that time
rath group be recognized as the official concerning Trotsky's hostility toward the
Czechoslovakian section of the interna­ Spanish p o u m , and about the efficacy of at­
tional movement. He also urged that tempting to declare the establishment of the
"friendly pressure" be brought on that group Fourth International in the near future. He
to include within its leadership some non- reiterated his position on both of these
German speaking figures, naming specifi­ issues.29
cally Lenorovic, Skandera, and Burian.24 Although there were undoubtedly other
There is no indication as to whether Wal­ communications between Leon Trotsky and
ter Held's advice was followed at that time his Czechoslovakian followers, certainly
by the International Secretariat. It appears the most politically significant of these was
that it was not until February 1938 that the his "remarks on Czechoslovakia" which
dispersed Trotskyist groups of Czechoslova­ was dated June 2, 1938 and basically re­
kia were in fact brought together to form the sponded to the question, "What would be
Revolutionary Socialist Party. The factions the tactics of the Bolshevik-Leninists in
represented at this unity congress were Czechoslovakia in face of the aggression
those of Jiskra-Das Banner led by Salus and from fascist Germany?" His response to this
Kopp, Avant-Garde headed by Neurath and question was quite clear.
Haas, and the Proletar group headed by Ka- Trotsky first developed the idea that
landra and Guttman 25 It was reported at the Czechoslovakia was a nation of "internal
Founding Conference of the Fourth Interna­ colonies" in which the six million Czechs
tional that Wolfgang Salus in Prague headed "colonized" the nine million people of the
the official Czechoslovakian section of the country who were not Czechs. Therefore,
International.26 he argued, the various "colonized" groups—
Trotsky himself was from time to time in Slovaks, Sudeten Germans, Hungarians,
epistolary contact with his Czechoslova­ Poles, and Carpatho-Ukrainians (who are
kian followers. As early as August 1930 he "really part of Russia")—had no reason to
wrote a "Letter to the Communist Workers support the continued existence of Czecho­
of Czechoslovakia" (clearly communicated slovakia.
through his followers there) in which he ar­ Furthermore, Trotsky argued, Czechoslo­
gued in favor of the International Left Oppo­ vakia "is a country which, from the military
sition proposal that the Communist parties point of view, is doomed to catastrophe.. ..
and other workers organizations in the capi­ Czechoslovakia can be saved from fascism
talist countries should launch campaigns for only by revolution and revolution can be
their governments to extend wide credits to provoked in Germany only by the revolu­

1 Czechoslovakia 235
tionary attitude of workers in other coun­ not recorded what role he played in the c p
tries. . . . Imagine," Trotsky asked, "in in the immediate postwar period, but in
Czechoslovakia that we have a revolution­ 1951 he was arrested and charged with being
ary policy and that it leads to the conquest an ex-Trotskyist. He died in prison at age
of power. It would be a hundred times more seventy before it was possible to bring him
dangerous to Hitler than patriotic support to trial.32
of Czechoslovakia." Therefore, Trotsky Another Trotskyist victim of the Czecho­
concluded, "That is why it is absolutely slovakian purges was Zvis Kalandra (appar­
obligatory that our comrades follow a de­ ently not the Slovak leader before noted)
featist policy. "30 who had joined the Trotskyists after being
expelled from the Communist Party in 193 6
for having written a pamphlet on "The Se­
Czechoslovak Trotskyists After 1938
crets of the Moscow Trials." He was arrested
Although a "defeatist policy" by the in November 1949 but was not put on trial
Czechoslovakian Trotskyists certainly had until May 1950. At that time, he "con­
no influence one way or the other on what fessed" to working with "western imperial­
happened in the country, the overrunning of ists" and to being a "traitor and a spy." He
Czechoslovakia by the Nazis as a result of was convicted and executed early in June.33
the Munich Agreement, which in effect liq­
uidated the first Czechoslovakian republic,
Trotskyists and Postwar Dissidents
resulted in the temporary suppression of all
of the Czechoslovakian parties and groups. Stalinist control of postwar Czechoslovakia
It also resulted in the complete and perma­ made it impossible for Trotskyism to be re­
nent (at least until now) destruction of the vived. However, for some time after the
Czechoslovak Trotskyist movement. "Prague Spring" of 1968 the international
Of course, the end of an organized Trots­ Trotskyist movement showed considerable
kyist movement did not mean the end of the sympathy for one of the dissident groups
political activities of all those who had led which appeared at that time. This was the
and belonged to that movement: Their fates Revolutionary Youth Movement and then
were quite diverse. the Revolutionary Socialist Party which was
Alois Neurath ultimately ended up in established in 1969. That was a group which
Sweden after having been captured by the was Marxist, but not clearly aligned with
Nazis and then escaping. He reached approx­ any of the existing Marxist, or Marxist-Le-
imately the same conclusions as the Shacht­ ninist tendencies. Among the material
manite faction in the United States Trotsky­ which they published was a theoretical
ist movement, that a new ruling class had study by the Belgian Trotskyist leader Er­
taken power in the Soviet Union. Conse­ nest Mandel.34
quently, he broke off all relations with the The Revolutionary Socialist Party was
international Trotskyist movement and in short-lived. Early in 1970 a number of its
the postwar period was active in the Swed­ leaders were put on trial. Among the other
ish Social Democratic Party. He died in Swe­ charges brought against them was that of
den in April 1955.31 being "Trotskyites."35
Other ex-Trotskyists were victims of the By the early 1980s the international Trots­
Stalinist purges in Czechoslovakia from kyist tendency headed by the Hungarian ex­
1949 to 1951. One of these was Herman ile Varga claimed to have affiliated with it
Taussig, who had been deported to Buchen- the Revolutionary Labor League of Czecho­
wald during the war but survived. Upon his slovakia.34 It appears likely that this organi­
return to his native country after the con­ zation consisted of exiles rather than actu­
flict he rejoined the Communist Party. It is ally existing inside Czechoslovakia.

236 Czechoslovakia
 Danish Trotskyism before the middle of the 1930s.5 In any case,
the group was short-lived.
In that early period, "apart from the Ger­
man emigrants, the early Danish groups had
three main sources of recruitment: the syn­
dicalists, the Social Democratic Youth (and
Early Danish Trotskyism in some cases anarchist elements) and the
Stalinist party. . . . These very different ele­
A Trotskyist organization first appeared in ments were organized in several groups with
Denmark in the 1930s. One source claims one central Danish figure, Paul Moth."6
that the first such group was established in Trotskyist recruiting was most successful
1932. However, since this source attributes inside the Social Democratic Youth. There
the organization to the efforts of German an organization called the International So-
refugee Trotskyists, particularly George cialistisk Brevium (International Socialist
Jungclas, this early date seems unlikely.1 Letter Club), led by Paul Moth, changed its
Trotsky, in his report on his meeting with name to Leninistisk Arbejdegruppe (Lenin­
his supporters from various countries during ist Work Group). When they were finally
his short stay in Copenhagen in November thrown out of the Social Democratic ranks
1932, makes no mention of any Danish rep­ in 1935 they reorganized as Socialistisk Ar-
resentation at that gathering. Nor do George bejder Ungdem (Socialist Workers Youth)
Breitman and Sarah Lovell nor Rodolphe and began issuing a magazine, Klassekamp
Prager in their listing of those people at­ [Class Struggle).
tending.2 The struggle against the Moscow Trials
However, as Anton Schou Madsen has brought the Trotskyists into contact with a
pointed out, the lack of a Trotskyist organi­ number of trade unionists and disillusioned
zation in Denmark in 1932 "does not mean Communists, but they were not apparently
that Leon Trotsky during his visit to Copen­ able to make any organizational gains as a
hagen that year did not make political con­ result of these contacts.
tacts in Denmark. As a matter of fact, he In 1937 a "democratic discussion forum
established strong bonds with his host in but without a common platform," the So­
Copenhagen, the socialdemocratic youth cialist Cooperation Association, was estab­
leader, Bernhard Boeggild, who from 1932 to lished with Trotskyist participation. It soon
1936 not only propagated Trotskyist ideas broke up into the Syndicalist Youth Group
inside the Danish Socialdemocratic Party, and the International Communists (ik ).
but in many ways helped to form an inde­ Within the ik, in turn, there existed the old
pendent Danish group (George Jungclas Leninistisk Arbejdegruppe which main­
stayed at his home, and Boeggild corres­ tained contact with the Trotskyist interna­
ponded with Trotsky.)"3 tional, and another faction which was affil­
It was apparently Boeggild who estab­ iated with the London Bureau.7
lished the first avowedly Trotskyist group Meanwhile, George Jungclas had come to
in Denmark in 1934. Although consisting of the conclusion that the group around Poul
only three or four people, it took the name Moth was very sectarian, accusing them of
Den Danske Sektion of Internationale Kom- "repeating stereotype abstractions, discred­
munisters Forbund (Bolsjevik-Leninister) or iting the Fourth International." He finally
Danish Section of the International Com­ broke with Moth and turned to a group for­
munist League.4 We presume that it was merly associated with the German Brandler-
probably this group which published the ites and led by Karl Metz. Together they
first Trotskyist periodical in Denmark, 4. organized the Revolutionaere Socialister
Internationale, which certainly appeared (rs—Revolutionary Socialists), which by

Denmark 237
 1939 had about thirty members. The two ists also participated actively in the network
outstanding figures in this group were a which was developed to smuggle Jews and
former Stalinist youth leader, Borge Trolle, German military deserters to Sweden.11
and former syndicalist Carl Heinrich Peter­ In June 1944 Danish Trotskyism suffered
sen .8 a devastating blow. Anton Schou Madsen
There is no evidence that the Danish has noted that "almost all members of the
Trotskyists were represented at any of the r s were arrested, including Jungclas and

international gatherings of the movement Trolle. Most of them were sent to a concen­
during that period. Denmark was not one tration camp near the Danish/German bor­
of the twelve countries with organizations der. Two members fled to Sweden. Only two
which participated in the founding of the other r s members and a large portion of the
Fourth International in September 1938.’ Arbejderopposition (Workers Opposition),
However, the Danish Trotskyists, with which collaborated closely With the Trots­
Georg Jungclas's help, played an active role kyists, went free." After the "popular
for some time during World War II. One of strike" at the end of the month, however,
the first underground journals to appear "most of the Arbejderopposition was ar­
after the Nazi occupation in April 1940 was rested by Gestapo."
Arbejderpolitik, which was put out by a Madsen added that "almost all members
group of young Trotskyists together with survived the war, but in a state of physical
members of the Social Democratic youth and psychological exhaustion, having lost
and student groups. It appeared from No­ contact with the workers movement. Actu­
vember 1940 to June 1941. Subsequently, ally the r s was wiped out in the very mo­
the Trotskyists were able to put out their ment when the mass radicalization opened
own clandestine periodical, Klassekamp, the best possible chances to recruit and gain
between October 1942 and June 1944.10 influence."13
Anton Schou Madsen has sketched the
activities of the Trotskyists in the under­
Postwar Danish Tiotskyism
ground: "The fight of resistance was essen­
tially political. The trade unions were inade­ Right after the war the Danish Trotskyists
quate (they were a means to economic fights published a monthly paper, Arbejterpolitik,
and consisted of legal structures). Therefore which was not presented as a frankly Trots­
the working class had to create illegal organs kyist periodical. For a while, their group as­
for a political fight (socalled resistance sumed the name of the paper.14 The Danish
groups) organized within the factories and group was not represented in the First Inter­
co-ordinated on a national level. They national Conference of the Fourth Interna­
should gather the avantgarde but make a tional, which met in Paris in March 1946,
platform for mass action." according to the official communique issued
Madsen added that "from 1941 the r s by the International at the conclusion of the
strengthened its contacts to the working meeting.15
places and to the trade unions. This led to In 1946 Revolutionaere Socialister was
the formation of the first proletarian resis­ able to reestablish the wartime Arbejderop­
tance group (end of 1943: Arbejderoppositi- position group. At the time of a widespread
onen—The Workers Opposition). The r s ' s strike movement in May of that year it orga­
political line was advanced in Marxisms (a nized a meeting bringing together five hun­
theoretical magazine) and Klassekamp, and dred workers. However, Anton Schou Mad­
leaflets. Arbejderoppositionen published an sen has noted that "the r s led by Borge
illegal bi-weekly of the same name (average Trolle made the same mistakes as most of
of numbers printed: s,ooo]."n The Trotsky­ the European sections, not taking into ac­

238 Denmark
count that the vast majority of the striking tionale). Anton Schou Madsen has said of this
workers . . . were members of the reformist faction that "there were several temporary
and Stalinist parties. Instead of helping groups, but the final result was that the Moth
those workers to force their . . . leaders and people together with Preben Kinch and oth­
organizations to organize a general strike, ers formed a group in 19 so called Internatio­
the r s falsely hoped to be able to organize a nale Socialister (4. Internationale.}"11
general strike themselves, through the shop The is revived the newspaper Det Nye
steward network. This was of course impos­ Arbejderblad in 19 so, but it ceased to ap­
sible .. . and the Arbejderopposition soon pear in 1954.12 The r k meanwhile had been
disappeared under the pressure from a hys­ accepted as a sympathizing organization of
terical campaign launched by the bourgeois, the Fourth International, and had two dele­
social-democratic and Stalinist newspapers gates at the Second World Congress in 1948.
all over the country."16 Its successor, Internationale Socialister, had
Meanwhile, in January 1947 the Danish the same status and it was represented at
Trotskyites were able to join with some the Third Congress in 1951, where its repre­
Communists who had hoped that their party sentatives strongly opposed entrism into the
would lead a revolution after the war and Social Democratic Party.13
were alienated by the party's joining a coali­ The ending of the newspaper Det Nye A r­
tion government. They formed the Revolu- bejderblad in 1954 seemed to signal the end
tionaere Kommunister (Revolutionary for the time being of organized Trotskyism
Communists) which declared its adherence in Denmark. However, it was able to revive
to the Fourth International. Preben Kinch in 1956. At that time, as a consequence of
has noted that it "had some influence in the Khrushchev's Twentieth Congress speech
big strikes in Denmark in the first years and the Hungarian Revolution, a group of
after the war."17 Communist Party members broke away to
There is disagreement on how large the establish the Socialist Party of Denmark
membership of the r k was. Preben Kinch ( d s p ). The Trotskyists of the former Poul
puts it at 100-150, whereas Anton Schou Moth group (but without Moth, who had
Madsen said that the organization didn't retired from political activity) were able to
have more than sixty or seventy members.18 join this party, which "remained small, but
It published, usually as a fortnightly, Det the Trotskyists were able to recruit valuable
Nye Arbejderblad (The N ew Workers’ Mag­ cadres among its members."
azine)}9 Then in 1958, Axel Larsen, until then
By 1948 the Danish Trotskyists had suf­ chairman of the Communist Party, also
fered a major split. A majority of them, in­ broke with it and established the Social-
cluding most of those active in the organized istisk Folkeparti (People's Socialist Party—
labor movement, decided to carry out en­ s f ). The d s p merged with the s f and the

trism in the Social Democratic Party. Most Trotskyists were able to function within the
of those who did so were totally absorbed in new party as "an accepted, even if not offi­
the s d p ranks, s o m e of them reaching fairly cially recognized fraction, as the s f has never
high levels within the party, but they ceased forbidden the formation of fractions, even if
being Trotskyists.20 the right to do it is not officially included in
There were two other groups in this fac­ the party rules."
tional split. One, around BorgeTroIle "made Preben Kinch has written that "what in
priority to theoretical work" and apparently this period probably most characterized the
dropped out of active political work. The Danish Trotskyists was their participation
third element, centering on Poul Moth, con­ in anti-imperialist work, especially in rela­
tinued to exist under the name rk {4. Interna­ tion to the Algerian Revolution. Under the

Denmark 239
guidance of leading comrades of the 4th In­ s u f was founded in 1961 it was neutralist

ternational, especially Comrade Pablo and and pacifist (disarmament, conscientious

after his arrest in Holland, the German com­ objection, solidarity with 3rd world). . . .
rade Jungclas, the Danish section (which The s u f ' s showdown with Moscow Com­
was officially recognized as a section in munism was expressed in its affiliation to
1958) engaged in the struggle for support for the s f as its youth organization (1962.)."
the revolution in Algeria, both legally and At the Seventh Congress of the organiza­
illegally, and many Danish comrades were tion in May 1967, the s u f "exchanged its
active in helping the Algerian rebels get neutralist Socialism for revolutionary Marx­
arms for their fight against French imperi­ ism." Then in 1968, following a split in the
alism." Socialistisk Folksparti in December 1967
During this period the Trotskyists re­ and the formation of the.Venstresocialist-
mained active within the s f . According to eme (Left Socialists—vs), the s u f became
Kinch, they "had the leadership of the local the youth group of that new party.26
branches in some of the traditional workers Between 1968 and 19 71 five different fac­
districts in Copenhagen." They also were tions fought for control of the s u f . One was
active in the affairs of the Fourth Interna­ k f ( m - l ), the pro-Chinese Kommunistisk
tional, most of the Danish Trotskyists sup­ Forbund, Marxister-Leninister (Communist
porting the Pablo tendency, although later League, Marxists-Leninists). Another pro-
they "refused to follow this tendency in Chinese group was the Kommunistisk Ar-
breaking with the International."14 bejdskreds ( k a k —Communist Work Cir­
cle). A third tendency was a Bordiguist
group, the Internationale Kommunistiske
From SUF to RSF
Parti (International Communist Party). The
The Danish Trotskyist movement was able Trotskyists of Revolutionaere Socialister
to take some advantage of the upswing in (r s ) constituted the fourth element. Finally,
radical student activity in the late 1960s. A there was the Forum tendency "comprising
more or less official account of the evolution all members who did not belong to one of
of Danish Trotskyism in this period ob­ the Marxist tendencies."
served that the sections of the u s e c "threw The first casualty of the factional struggle
themselves into the movements which within the s u f was the k f ( m - l ) group, which
sprang out of the youth radicalization. .. . was expelled by the s u f ' s Tenth Congress in
Notwithstanding the mistakes that were May 1969 "because of the methods it had
committed in this period, there can be no used in its attempt at making the s u f the k b
doubt that the Danish section . . , [was] able (m - l ) ' s youth organization." Then in May
to take a qualitative step forward. . . ,"2S 1970 the other pro-Chinese group, the k a k ,
The Trotskyists' principal Vehicle for ben- withdrew from the s u f and at about the
efitting ,frora the movements of the 1960s same time the leader of the Bordiguist group,
was an organization known first as the So- Gustav Bunzel, was suspended and then ex­
cialistisk Ungdoms Forum (Forum of Social­ cluded "because of disagreements about
ist Youth—s u p ). It was established in 1961 money from a study circle."
and has been described by Michael Svendsen Michael Svendsen Pedersen has cited
Pedersen as "an important center for the Ejner Friis Pedersten's generalization about
development of political arguments and the these factional struggles: "A characteristic
formation of factions of the 'New Left' in feature of the conflicts between the Trotsky­
the 1960s. It was a kind of nursery for left ists and the KAK/Bordiga tendencies was—
wing people who later moved in various di­ just as it was the case in the conflict between
rections." k f ( m - l ) and the s u f —that it was not a politi­

Pedersen went on to say that "when the cal showdown on the basis of a political

240 Denmark
discussion but mainly an organizational Rasmussen, that group remained for more
conflict."27 than a decade in the vs, continuing to use
While this struggle for control of the s u f the name Revolutionaere Socialisters.33
was going on, the Revolutionaere Socialister The r s f began with "about seventy mem­
was publishing the bimonthly magazine So- bers, a good starting point for work in the
cialistisk Information. It was deeply in­ 70s," according to a semiofficial report.34
volved in the movement against the United
States war in Vietnam and also participated
Danish Trotskyism in the 1970s
in the student upheaval of the period.28 This
activity helped to draw many members of At that point Danish Trotskyism was over­
the s u f toward Trotskyism. whelmingly a student movement. The pre­
The final step in converting the s u f into a viously cited semi-official report said that
Trotskyist group took place at the Eleventh "as far as the new members were concerned,
Congress of the organization in May 1970. they were mostly undergoing education and
In a struggle between them and the Forum only had experience with political work
Tendency there was "victory for the Trots­ from this milieu." Even with the working
kyists, which means that the Trotskyists class members of the group "their political
in reality have taken over the political and development had not taken place 'at the
organizational leadership of the s u f . The work place' but together with the rest of the
name is changed from Socialistisk Ungdoms members of the anti-imperialist and similar
Forum to Socialistisk Ungdoms Forbund movements. They had no real experience of
(League of Socialist Youth)."29 political work among their fellow workers
In the autumn of 1970 the Trotskyists had or of traditional work in the trade unions.
a slight majority of the Central Committee . . . They were not regarded as leaders at
of the s u f . The minority members of the their work places and in their unions."35
Central Committee then tried to stage a The Danish Trotskyists engaged in a
coup by registering some forty to fifty anti- number of different activities in this period.
Trotskyist members of the vs with the pur­ In November 19 71 they organized a meeting
pose of taking over the Copenhagen branch celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Leon
of the s u f . The majority reaction to this Trotsky's visit to Copenhagen.36 They were
maneuver was to expel the leaders of the active in the campaign against the Vietnam
minority.30 War.37 They campaigned against Danish ad­
At that point "only Trotskyists and their hesion to the European Common Market.38
sympathizers were left in the s u f . " As a The student background and inexperience
consequence, at its 12th Congress in January of the young Danish Trotskyists led them
1971 the organization decided to apply to into "very sectarian tendencies towards the
the United Secretariat for admission as a majority of the working class and towards
"sympathizing" group. It broke all connec­ reformism. Instead of putting the method of
tion with the vs.31 the Transitional Program into practice, the
Subsequent to the Trotskyists' taking r s f tried to make the Danish class struggle

control of the s u f it was decided to merge and the Danish working class fit its formula­
the organization with the existing Trotsky­ tions."39 As a consequence, "we reacted too
ist group. It took the name Revolutionaere late at the great decisive events in the Dan­
Socialistisk Forbund (Revolutionary Social­ ish class struggle" during the 1970s. Thus
ist League—r s f ) 32 “we were all the time behind events when
There was an element among the Trotsky­ we adopted and improved our politics and
ists who were opposed to breaking with the our propagandist methods."40
Left Socialists. Under the leadership of a From their position of being basically out­
one-time collaborator of Poul Moth, Vagn side of the trade union movement, the

Denmark 241
I
i
Trotskyists sought to organize "revolution­ in the Copenhagen area. And once again the
ary trade union oppositions" under various r s f demonstrated with the smartest and big­

names. Later, they described their experi­ gest banners."43 But these efforts, appar­
ence with one of these groups, the Den Ko- ently, produced very little concrete results
benhavnske Arbejderopposition (Copenha­ for the r s f , and "the May strikes for the r s f
gen Workers' Opposition— d k a ). They said, were then just about nil."44
" d k a was one of the greatest possibilities
for the r s f in the period. At the collective
Changes in the "Line" of the
bargaining strike in 1973 we called a meet­
Danish Trotskyists
ing for workers who were dissatisfied with
l o ' s bureaucratic way of running strikes. The strikes of May 1974 marked the begin­
The meeting was a success, and oh the basis ning of a new wave of militancy in the orga­
of it d k a was formed and had, when it was nized labor movement. Consequently, the
at its height, fifty members. During the fol­ r s f / s a p 1980 Report noted that "this forced

lowing [two] years it developed into a discus­ the r s f to take the trade unions seriously.
sion club. . . . The r s f was never able to An understanding of the fact that we had to
develop it into opposition work within the work ipside the trade unions began to make
trade union movement. Eventually d k a died progress within the r s f . Similarly, we in this
out." This report added that "Both in the period gave up the sectarian line toward the
political platform which we gave to . . . the leaders of the trade union movement. In­
d k a and in our independent propaganda the stead of just writing them off as 'bureau­
trade unions were absent. Instead, the r s f crats' and 'left bureaucrats,' we put demands
called upon the workers to form strike com­ to them to defend the interests of the work­
mittees and workers' councils."41 ing class."
In retrospect, the r s f leaders felt that they Although seeking to orient their activities
had not known how to make a correct and more toward the trade unions, the Danish
politically useful approach to the working Trotskyists did not want to abandon activi­
class. They wrote that "we did not under­ ties in other fields. The previously cited party
stand the necessity of a united front and of report noted that "at the same time a number
centralizing the struggle politically, i.e. for of movements outside the organized work­
the necessity of the demand of a workers' ing class were still alive. The Chile Commit­
government. . . . This fear of calling upon tee, the students movement, the women's
the reformist leaders to do something—and movement, neighborhood actions. . . .
thereby create 'illusions'—was just like our Therefore, the conclusion of the internal dis­
strategy-propaganda linked to the model of cussions in the period was not a turn to the
party building which we had in common trade union movement but a turn to the
with the majo.rity of the 4th International: movements ingeneral. Wegaveup the barren
to win the hegemony in the new mass ayant propaganda line and tried to mobilize."45
garde which was composed of members and The internal discussion within the Trots­
periphery of the 'extreme left.' "41 kyist ranks continued for about two years,
The lack of effectiveness of the Danish until the Third Congress of the r s f in Febru­
Trotskyists was not due to lack of activity. ary 1976. It involved not only Danish issues
When in May 1974 massive strikes broke but the wider controversy then going on
out in Copenhagen and elsewhere against within the United Secretariat. The Danish
the efforts of the minority bourgeois govern­ Trotskyists had until then been aligned with
ment to impose an "austerity" program, the predominantly European International
"activism was revived. Handbills were Majority Tendency (i m t ) against that fac­
printed all day and all night and distributed tion of u s e c centering on the Socialist Work­
in front of a lot of factory gates, especially ers party of the United States.

242 Denmark
 In this connection the gioup later noted and had a clear impact on the attitude of
that "this discussion dealt precisely with larger organizations like the national trade
the orientation towards the organizations of union of the office and white-collar workers.
the 'extreme left/ the lack of work in the The campaign was conceived, initiated and
trade union movement, sectarianism and to a large extent organized and led by the
propagandism, the lack of a slogan of a work­ women Trotskyists working within the
ers' government." The party's 1980 report women's liberation movement.49
added that "the leadership which belonged Meanwhile, Denmark was passing
to the i m t was at a loss what to do.. . . " The through an economic and political crisis.
upshot of the discussion was that "it was The impact of the dramatic rise of petro­
possible at the 3rd Congress to elect a Cen­ leum prices was felt in the country, and vari­
tral Committee the majority of which had as ous attempts were made to reduce the real
its platform a showdown with the sectarian wages of the country's workers. This pro­
propaganda line and a turn to the move­ voked a series of political crises, culminat­
ments. . . . Shortly after the 3rd Congress ing in 1978-79 in a series of strikes against
most of the old internal dividing lines were the formation of a coalition government by
annihilated as a result of common practice the Social Democrats with the Liberal Party.
and experience."46 This led in 1979 to new elections which
However, the adoption of an orientation resulted in a parliament in which the Social
toward work within the trade unions and Democrats and smaller left-wing parties had
other popular movements was not enough a majority.
to assure rapid growth of the Danish Trots­ During this period the r s f raised the slo­
kyists. Michael Svendsen Pedersen has ex­ gan of formation of a "workers' govern­
plained that there was "a situation where ment" of the Social Democrats and parties
the members did not quite feel that they to the left of them. Given the Trotskyists
were actually members of the same party in lack of a base in the trade union movement,
all respects. If you, e.g., were active within they were unable to develop wide support
the group of the party which was concerned for this idea.
with housing, you did not feel that this work The consequence was a decision to "prole-
could immediately be related to what hap­ tarianize" the Trotskyist movement. As the
pened in the party's women's group (that r s f / s a p 1980 Report noted, "The r s f / s a p

part of the party which was concerned with had to turn drastically to industry, among
women's liberation). . . . We had a program other things through a quick proletarization
in common, but in our daily political activi­ of a majority of its present members.. . . Our
ties it was not always easy to relate all of political line gave us the necessary faith in
your work to the rest of the party."47 Discus­ our political preparedness for carrying
sions of appropriate ways of trying to build through the turn and the proletarization.. . .
a party and to gain influence in the country's The fact that the Eleventh World Congress
mass organizations dominated the discus­ of the 4th International furthermore carried
sions and decisions of the r s f ' s Fourth and the turn as an immediate task for the whole
Fifth congresses in 1977 and 1978.48 of the International gave us the final politi­
One of the more important results of the cal support."50
r s f work in the movements of this period

was a week-long national campaign against

Trotskyist Factions
unemployment among women. In 1977 this
campaign, arranged by dozens of women's
The Socialist Workers Party—SAP
groups throughout the country, drew thou­
sands of women into political activities like In 1980 at its Seventh Congress the r s f de­
demonstrations, marches, and meetings, cided to change its name to Socialistisk Ar-

Denmark 243
bejderparti (Socialist Workers Party— s a p ). America, mobilization against imperial­
As a report to the Congress noted, "This was ist rearmament, in particular against the
to indicate that the League was now on its deployment of nuclear missiles in West­
way to becoming a national party/'51 By that ern Europe.56
time its membership had risen to "just un­
der 200. " 51 The Socialist Workers Party prepared a
For the first time, in December 1981 the memorandum for a u s e c European School
Trotskyists of s a p participated in general in the summer of 1983 which provided inter­
elections. In order to get on the ballot this esting information on the state of the organi­
required them to obtain signatures on peti­ zation at that time. This reported that the
tions equivalent to the number of votes party had 140 members. Of these, 27.9 per­
needed to elect a deputy in the previous elec­ cent belonged to the metal workers unions,
tion, which was between fifteen and twenty of whom 17:2 percent had V job and 10.7
thousand. To elect four deputies, which was percent were unemployed. There were 22.3
the minimum requirement for representa­ percent of the members who were working
tion in parliament, it was necessary to get 2 in other parts of industry, 7.9 percent of
percent of the total vote.53 whom were apprentices. Some 15 percent
The s a p ran thirty-five candidates in the were in public employment.
December 1981 election. They received a The membership of the party was rela­
total of 2,034 votes, equivalent to 0.1 per­ tively young. It was reported that 43.6 per­
cent of all those cast.54In the following elec­ cent were between twenty-five and thirty
tion two and a half years later, the party years of age, 28.6 percent were between
received 2,262 votes, which was again 0.1 thirty and forty. Some 26.4 percent of the
percent of the total.55 members had been in the party a year or
The s a p summed up its 1981 election plat­ less, whereas 12.9 percent had been in the
form under five points: organization for more than ten years. Be­
tween 40 and 50 percent of the party mem­
struggle against the attempted offensive bers lived in Copenhagen, while 20 to 25
of the bourgeois parties. . . that is, a strug­ percent were in Arhus, and there were addi­
gle against the perspective of having a tional branches in seven other cities and
Danish 'Reagan-Thatcher government/ towns.57
struggle for a workers government, a gov­ In November 1982 the s a p absorbed a
ernment composed of representatives of group of about twenty Trotskyists who had
workers parties, to initiate a policy to de­ stayed in vs when most had left it in 1 9 7 1 58
fend the interests of the working popula­
tion; a platform of the first initiatives that
the workers parties in common should The Internationale Kommunisters
take to take up the struggle against unem­ Gruppe (IKG)
ployment, lowering of real wages and
other consequences of the capitalist crisis The quarrels of the 1970s within the ranks
and the austerity policy; indication of the of the United Secretariat had their impact
(total) anticapitalist policy to solve the on Danish Trotskyism. As we have seen,
crisis in the interest of the working popu­ they were one aspect in the discussions
lation, that is nationalisations of banks, within the r s f during the mid-seventies. At
big companies, socialist planned econ­ the end of the 1970s they resulted in a split
omy, etc.; and Solidarity with Solidamosc in the ranks of the organization.
and the Polish workers, solidarity with Anton Schou Madsen, a leader of the dissi­
the revolutionary struggles in Central dent group which emerged from this con­

244 Denmark
flict, has sketched the origins of his organi­ gued against the formation, of the s a p and
zation: the 'proletarisation' line. . . . The i k g was
formed by the expelled Danish l t . . . . " 6l
The internationally organized Leninist
In 1979 when the Morenoists of u s e c
Trotskyist Faction supported by the swp
withdrew and joined forces temporarily
started a struggle in Denmark (as else­
with the Lambertist Organizing Committee
where inside the u s e c ) to solve the sub­
for the Reconstruction of the Fourth Inter­
stantial problems in r s f . . . the beginning
national ( c o r q i ) to form a Parity Commit­
of a turn away from sectarianism was
tee, the Danish dissidents participated in
mainly a result of the fight of the Danish
that, which provoked their expulsion from
l t f , which became by far the biggest
the r s f . However, when that Parity Com­
group at the third Congress, when it
mittee broke up and the Lambertists reorga­
joined together with one of the tendencies
nized at an "Open and Democratic World
in the r s f around a specific national plat­
Conference" in Paris under the name of
form. This meant a turn, but it was never
Fourth International Centre for Reconstruc­
completed . . . mainly because the s w p
tion, the Danish group was represented, as
suddenly decided to support the dissolu­
the Internationale Kommunisters Gruppe
tion of the l t f the same year.59
( i k g ).62
Another participant in these events had a According to Anton Schou Madsen:
somewhat different memory of them. He
The i k g aims at reinforcing and defending
has commented, "As I recall the platform—
the proletarian world revolution at its two
for the most part written by me—it was far
heights, the political revolution in Poland
from being 'specifically national.' On the
and the social revolution in Central
contrary, it was very general and fairly ab­
America. The international solidarity
stract. "
work against Imperialism and Stalinism
This same source added that the most
are at the center of the i k g ' s activities as
prominent tendency in the Third Congress
the i k g fights for the workers' united front
"had forty percent of the delegates—and. . .
both at home and internationally against
was a new tendency comprising the mem­
suppression in the East and the West.
bers of the two old tendencies plus several
i k g ' s method for rebuilding the revolu­
others, who had not taken a position until
tionary party is the strategy of the work­
then. The l t f of Denmark never had more
ers united front, and the i k g rejects all
than twelve to fifteen members before it was
other methods as being short cuts and
dissolved."
substitution methods . .. the i k g ad­
Finally, this source has commented that
vances the demand for a united front con­
"the dissolution of the international l t f was
sisting of all workers parties in order to
actually facilitated by the previous dissolu­
unconditionally overthrow the bourgeois
tion of tendencies in Denmark and the with­
Schluter Government and in order to sup­
ering away of old antagonisms."60
port unconditionally the Danish working
Madsen went on to describe the emer­
class' efforts to make the Social Demo­
gence of the i k g : "In 1978 some members of
cratic Party and the s f form a majority
the r s f took up the fight to convince the rest
workers government which breaks with
of the organization that it had to develop
the bourgeoisie and meets the demands
along the line of the former l t f . This na­
of workers and youth.63
tional tendency joined the revived interna­
tional l t tendency during the discussions The i k g began publishing a magazine, In­
preparing the Eleventh World Congress of ternationalen. Through it and other media,
the u s e c in 1979. The l t in Denmark ar­ it "makes propaganda for and agitates for the

Denmark 245
formation of workers' majority committees tarian answer to the crisis of capitalism:
which are to force through a coalition of the socialist revolution'. [It presents] a sys­
the organizations of the working class. . . . " tem of transitional demands that take
Among the slogans which it raised were their starting point in the immediate
"Down with n a t o and the Warsaw Treaty," problems and consciousness of the work­
and "The United Socialist States of ing class, and in their consequences lead
Europe."64 to the final conclusion: the working class'
conquering of power through a social rev­
olution—and the working class' conquer­
The Trotskistisk ing and reconquering soviet democracy
Arbejderforbund (TAF) through a political revolution in the de­
generated and deformed wQrkers' states.
A third Trotskyist faction was founded in
Denmark in the early 1980s. This was the The t a p issued a magazine, Trotskistisk
Trotskistisk Arbejderforbund (Trotskyist synspunkt (Tzotskyist Viewpoint}.65
Workers League—tap), which was estab­
lished "by a handful of comrades from vari­
ous political currents." The International Socialist Tendency
One of the leaders of tap has written that
One other group with its origin in Interna­
"the sap and its international organization,
tional Trotskyism also has had representa­
the United Secretariat, lay claim to the
tion in Denmark. This is the "state capital­
Trotskyist tradition. But we consider the
ist" International Socialism Tendency,
party to be only part of the depressed Trots­
allied with the Socialist Workers Party of
kyist world movement, and we think that
Great Britain. The s a p reported in mid-1983
it has at its present stage written off the
that they had had some contacts with the
revolutionary method of the Trotskyist
Faglig Faelles Liste (Trade Union Common
Transitional Program and adjusted itself to
List), "which is the tendency with some
other forces (parts of the trade union bureau­
connections with the British s w p , that is
cracy, feminism, and the anti-nuclear move­
ment . . . ) which have anti-workers pro­ 'with some connections' as opposed to sim­
ply being a s w p - tendency in vs. They are
grams—and programs which are against the
'militant, revolutionary minded/ but tradi­
working class' political independence of the
tionally sectarian, when it comes to the
bourgeoisie."
question of united front, and syndicalist/
The tap joined the Trotskyist Interna­
economistic, that is they are politically
tional Liaison Committee, the so-called
weak in a situation where it is important to
Thomett faction of International Trots­
put forward a rounded political alternative
kyism. Our informant has noted that the
to the line of the government and of the
tap 's basis is the 1938 Transitional Program,
Socialdemocrats. . . ."6&
and that
This Danish group was represented at the
taf ' s struggle to carry it into the workers conference of the International Socialist
movement and the trade unions takes its Tendency in Great Britain in September
starting point in the decisive contradic­ 1984. At that meeting "the session on cen-
tion: the objective situation of decaying trism was taken up with the discussion of
capitalism and a ripening of the revolu­ the Danish comrades and hammering them
tionary conditions, and . . . a historical to split from the centrist group . . . the Left
crisis in the leadership of the working Socialists, which they are members of. It
class which ties the masses politically to was useful as it helped further clarify the
the bourgeoisie and hides the only prole­ questions of firstly the need to sharply dif-

246 Denmark
 I

ferentiate your politics and secondly the Trotskyism in the

need for the highest possible level of politi­
cal clarity. It also made an impact on the
Dominican Republic
Danes, some of whom eventually agreed to
split to form an explicitly is group. " 67

Pierre Naville, in his report to the Founding

Congress of the Fourth International con­
cerning groups then affiliated with it, lists
"Bolshevik-Leninists" of the Dominican
Republic.1 The actual existence of any kind
of Trotskyist organization in the Dominican
Republic in 1938 seems highly unlikely
since the country was controlled then by
the exceedingly tyrannical and sanguinary
dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo.
It was in fact not until 1982, that the first
party more or less aligned with International
Trotskyism, the Movimiento por el Social­
ismo ( m p s ), was established in the Domini­
can Republic. In the following year, after
"a sector which maintained an opportunist
policy of class collaboration" broke away,
the m p s decided to join the Morenoist ten­
dency of International Trotskyism. The m p s
leaders officially reported that "in the meet­
ing of last February the Central Com­
mittee decided to accept positively the pro­
posal to adhere to the International Workers
League (Fourth International), and to pro­
pose that to the Organization for its final
decision at the Fourth National Conference
to meet May 4-6." z The m p s was accepted
as a "section" at the March 198s World Con­
gress of the Morenoist group.3
Another organization in the Dominican
Republic, the Bloque Socialista, developed
relations in the early 1980s with the U.S.
Socialist Workers Party. However, there is
no indication available that the Bloque So­
cialista formally declared itself to be Trots­
kyist, or that it sought affiliation with the
United Secretariat.

Dominican Republic 247

i
 Ecuadorean Trotskyism which published a periodical El Trabajador
Socialista and was a sympathizing organiza­
tion of the United Secretariat. The first issue
of the paper appeared in February 1978 and
its lead editorial said: "Perhaps you already
know us. The Movimiento Socialista de los
As early as 1 934 an effort was made to estab­ Trabajadores is a young political organiza­
lish a Trotskyist organization in Ecuador. tion that includes workers, artisans, profes­
However, there is no indication of the name sionals, peasants, women and students who
of this group, and apparently it was short­ have the goal of a new Ecuador—a socialist
lived.1 It was not until the early 1970s that Ecuador where neither oppression nor pov­
a more long-lasting Trotskyist movement erty in any form would exist-.. The m s t and
was finally established in the South Ameri­ its newspaper El Trabajador Socialista iden­
can republic, and even then Trotskyism in tify with the positions of the Fourth Interna­
the country remained very small and with­ tional, a world organization that unites so­
out any significant impact on general poli­ cialist and workers parties of the five
tics or even on the politics of the left. continents." It also called on the workers to
The first Trotskyist group to be organized nominate their own candidates in forthcom­
in this period was the Partido Obrero Revo­ ing elections®
lucionario, associated with the Posadas fac­ With the 1979 split in the United Secretar­
tion of International Trotskyism, estab­ iat, the m s t of Ecuador went with the Mor­
lished in 19 71. It began to publish Lucha eno faction. They became the Ecuadorean
Comunista as its official organ.2 Lucha affiliate of the International Workers League
Comunista was still appearing early in 1975. (Fourth International).6
The February 1975 issue, as was the custom
with Posadista publications, carried a long
article by J. Posadas. It also had a long edito­
rial entitled "Push the Anti-imperialist
United Front and the general strike de­
fending workers' conquests." An article in
the periodical was devoted to a forthcoming
congress of the Communist-controlled Con-
federacion de Trabajadores del Ecuador. It
urged that "the Congress of the c t e must
approve a program to struggle for the statiza-
tion of the principal industries and public
services of the country under workers con­
trol . . . "3
The Posadista version of the Fourth Inter­
national still reported late in 1976 that the
Ecuadorean Partido Obrero Revolucionario
(Trotskista) was publishing Lucha Comun­
ista. 4 There is no information available as
to whether the Posadista Ecuadorean party
survived the death of Posadas in m id-1981.
Another Trotskyist party appeared in Ec­
uador early in 1978. This was the Movi-
miento Socialista de los Trabajadores,

248 Ecuador
 Egyptmn Trotskyism Trotskyism in El Salvador

A Trotskyist movement appeared in Egypt Trotskyism first made an appearance in El

sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Salvador in m id-197 9, perhaps as a reflec­
At its inception at least it consisted mainly tion of the revolution in neighboring Nicara­
of ex-Communists.1 The Israeli Trotskyist gua and the tangential participation of
leader Michel Warshawski reported early in Trotskyists in that event. The Partido So-
1985 that in Egypt "there are lots of Com­ cialista de los Trabajadores (p s t ) was estab­
munist parties; with one of these Commu­ lished as an affiliate of the Morenoite ten­
nist parties there is quite good collabora­ dency of International Trotskyism, the
tion" between it and the local Trotskyist International Workers League (Fourth Inter­
group.2 In January 198s, of thirty leftists ar­ national).
rested and brought to trial by the govern­ The p s t immediately became involved in
ment of President Hosni Mubarak nineteen the guerrilla war then occurring in El Salva­
were reported to be members of "a Trotsky­ dor. It was reportedly established "by a
ist Communist organization."3 small group of union activists." A More­
It was later reported that the govern­ noist source claimed that "the Partido So­
ment's persecution of the Trotskyist group, cialista de los Trabajadores . . . is the only
the Revolutionary Communist League, organization that clearly calls for Socialism
"had several aims. One aim was to repress and the formation of a Workers and Peasant
those who could be considered the most dy­ Government as the only way for the Central
namic and influential members of these American Revolution."1 The p s t was said to
communist currents. Another aim was to publish a newspaper, Avanzada Socialista.
thwart the r c l ' s attempts to build its
strength in view of the struggles expected to
break out in the near future. Another was to
determine its organizational scope."4 The
Revolutionary Communist League was ap­
parently associated with the United Secre­
tariat, although we have no information as
to whether it was formally a part of u s e c .

£1 Salvador 249
 Finnish Trotskyism Fomento Obrero
Revolucionario

Few data are available on the Trotskyist

movement in Finland. Livio Maitan has
written that "in Finland there never was a The Fomento Obrero Revolucionario (f o r )
section of the f i . There was a very small was an international grouping with its roots
group for a certain period."1 in Trotskyism which grew out of diver­
Douglas Jenness, editor of Intercontinen­ gences of G. Munis, one-time leader of the
tal Press, has noted that between 1963 and Spanish section of the Fourth International,
1971 a Trotskyist paper Luokkatsistelu was with the leaders of the f i during World War
published in Finland, and added that "At II. Munis and his followers broke with the
least seventeen issues were published dur­ International after its Second Congress in
ing those eight years." Subsequently, an­ 1948. Although Munis and his followers car­
other Finnish Trotskyist periodical N&uvos- ried on extensive polemics against the H in
tovalta |Soviet Power) was published. Of it subsequent years, it was not until the late
Jenness noted that "the earliest issue . . . 1970s that they formed a formal interna­
that I located was dated 197s- Other issues tional organization. At its height the f o r
appeared in 1976, 1977 and two issues in included the Alarma group in Spain (with a
1978."2 branch in Paris), f o c u s of the United States,
Neuvostovalta was succeeded by another Allarme Group in Italy, and Synagemos
paper, Tyovaenvalta [Workers Power), group of Greece.1
which was published in Tampere.3 Jenness The f o r held only one international con­
has noted that at least three issues of that ference, in Paris in January 1981. That meet­
paper appeared in 1978 and one in 1979.4 ing was marked by a split between the "inte­
We have no information available con­ rior" Spanish group supported by the f o r
cerning the names of the groups which put Organizing Committee (f o c u s ) of the
out those periodicals, or very much concern­ United States, on the one hand, and the two
ing the activities of those groups. It is groups in Paris (French and Spanish) led by
known, however, that in 1978 the Finnish G. Munis, on the other. Subsequently, the
Trotskyists were carrying on a strong cam­ Spanish interior section virtually disap­
paign against the installation of nuclear peared and f o c u s was expelled from the Fo­
power plants in Finland.5 mento Obrero Revolucionario.1
Munis and his associates developed "ex­
treme left" positions which were substan­
tially at variance with traditional Trots­
kyism, although they never repudiated their
Trotskyist origins. These positions were
summed up by an editorial in the journal of
the Spanish section of f o r in 1981:

denounce the capitalist system, whatever

its apparent form of government, as a sys­
tem based on the exploitation of man by
man; denounce the so-called socialist
countries, they are state capitalist coun­

250 Finland
tries; support of communism as the only Fourth International:
social system capable of saving humanity
from its destruction in capitalist barba­ From International Left
rism; denounce the vulgar character of Opposition to Movement
nationalism and of false 'struggles of na­
tional liberation' as alienation of the
for the Fourth International
working class and contrary to its interests
as a social class without fatherlands or
frontiers; denounce parliamentarianism,
political parties and their trade union ap­
pendices, as elements of social exploita­
tion and basic pillars of the capitalist sys­ Leon Trotsky had hardly begun his last exile
tem; affirmation in this moment of the before he started efforts to bring together
total decadence of the system, of the inev­ on an international basis his followers in
itable necessity of the communist revolu­ various countries. While he was still living
tion on a world scale.3 in the Soviet consulate in Istanbul Trotsky
entered into epistolary contact with some of
his friends in Western and Central Europe.
There was no lack of individuals and
groups who were—or thought they were—
loyal to the person and ideas of Leon
Trotsky. These were people who had left the
official Communist movement at various
times and under various circumstances (and
there were even some who were still mem­
bers of the official Communist parties).
Once Leon Trotsky was forced into exile
these heterogeneous people immediately
turned to him for guidance, for encourage­
ment, or for self-aggrandizement or a combi­
nation of all of these things.
Alfred Rosmer, writing to Trotsky about
France, might also have been describing the
situation in several other countries. He ob­
served that "your banishment has made all
of the opposition groups come out of the
lethargy more or less characteristic of all of
them, and all, or nearly all, present them­
selves as the true champions of your ideas.
. . . The great difficulty with all the opposi­
tion groups is that they find themselves
apart from all action and thus their sectarian
character has been fatally accentuated. . .
Rosmer concluded that "it is only with
the establishment of a general platform that
it will be possible to emerge from the pres­
ent difficulties and give the opposition a co­
hesion indispensable for its development

Fourth International: Origins 251

and action." 1 This was exactly what Trotsky the Rosmers tried to sort out the various
set about trying to do. oppositionist groups which existed in
France. They also very early helped to put
Trotsky in contact with oppositionists with
The Early Role of the Rosmers
whom they themselves had been associated
People from many different countries en­ in Luxemburg and Belgium.3
tered into correspondence with Trotsky In July 1929 Alfred Rosmer made a trip to
soon after his arrival in Turkey. Some of Austria and Germany to meet with groups
these he had known in the past during his and individuals there who had proclaimed
earlier exiles or during the early years of themselves to be followers of Trotsky, and
the Soviet regime. Others were people about had had correspondence with him. He wrote
whom he knew little. Still others had been to Trotsky about his impressions of Landau,
his opponents in the past, but changing cir­ Frey and other factions and individuals in
cumstances had made them allies or would- Austria, and of the Leninbund, Hugo Ur-
be allies of the exiled Soviet leader. bahns, and those opposed to Urbahns in
During his struggle within the Soviet Germany.
Party after 1923 Trotsky had had relatively One of, the purposes of Rosmer's travels
little contact with supporters outside of the was to muster support for a periodical which
Soviet Union. Pierre Frank has noted: could not only serve as an official organ of
the French followers of Trotsky but could
The Left Opposition in the c p s u . .. had
be an official mouthpiece for the embryonic
not organically aligned with the different
international Trotskyist movement. It
oppositions which were formed in the
could clearly put forth the ideological posi­
same years (1923 to 1927) within the dif­
tions of Trotsky and differentiate them from
ferent Communist parties. These opposi­
those of other oppositionist groups which
tions were far from having common polit­
might have thought themselves to be Trots­
ical bases. . . . The opposition which, in
kyist but in fact did not hold with the ideas
different Communist parties, fought
which Trotsky felt were the correct posi­
against the mounting bureaucratic re­
tions on a wide range of issues.
gime and published the documents of the
This publication, the first number of
Soviet Opposition which came into their
which appeared soon after Rosmer's return
hands, had been formed during different
from Austria and Germany, was La Verite.
stages of the crisis of the Communist In­
Trotsky had confided the task of bringing
ternational and its sections around differ­
out such a journal principally to Rosmer,
ent national and international problems,
and in the beginning at least Rosmer had
and they presented a heterogeneous polit­
apparently hoped to have it appear in at least
ical character: there were even in certain
two languages, French and German. In fact,
countries several oppositional groups
it appeared only in French.'*
which were fighting one another. These
Trotsky himself, in a letter dated March
groups had only the remotest relations
31, 1929, defined the "three classic ques­
with the Soviet Opposition, and that
tions which provide a decisive criterion
amounted only to the exchange of publi­
allowing one to understand the tendencies
cations or of documents.1
existing in world Communism." These
Under these circumstances Trotsky questions were " 1. the policy of the Anglo-
turned in the first instance particularly to Russian Committee; 2. the course followed
his old friends and comrades-in-arms, Alfred in the Chinese revolution; 3. the economic
and Marguerite Rosmer, for advice and help. policy in the USSR together with the theory
In their early letters to Trotsky in Turkey of socialism in one country."s

252 Fourth International: Origins

 Trotsky went on to add a characteristic work." He sent a draft of a circular letter
observation: "Certain comrades will be sur­ calling for the establishment of such a body,
prised perhaps that I do not mention here suggesting that it be signed by G. Gourov (a
the question of the internal regime of the pseudonym of Trotsky}, Alfred Rosmer and
party. I act thus not to forget the issue, but the Belgian War van Overstraeten. Trotsky
quite consciously. The existing regime in was particularly anxious for action because
the party has no importance of its own, is of of rumors that Hugo Urbahns and Maurice
no value in itself. It is a factor which derives Paz, who had recently broken with him,
from the policy of the party. The most het­ were about to take a similar step.9
erogeneous elements have sympathy for the However, no action was taken at that
struggle against Stalinist bureaucracy."6 time. Two months later, on December 13,
Pierre Frank has noted that "in this letter Trotsky again wrote Rosmer about the is­
and in other documents that followed sue. He commented that "the creation of
shortly thereafter, Trotsky distinguished an international center, however modest it
three fundamental currents in the Commu­ may be, is very urgent, for France as well as
nist International. . . . " These were, said for the other countries."9
Frank, "(a) The Left Opposition, which de­ It was not until April 6 ,1930, that the first
fended the fundamental political and organi­ international meeting of Trotskyists took
zational policies of Leninism advocated by place and the International Left Opposition
the Bolshevik-Leninists in the Soviet was formally established. The French Ligue
Union, (b) The Right Opposition, oriented Communiste (Opposition), Communist
by the right wing of the Bolshevik Party League of America, Unified Opposition of
(Bukharin) and composed of groups opposed the German Communist Party, Opposition
to Stalinism, not because of its fundamental Group of the Belgian Communist Party, the
policy, not on the question of 'socialism in Spanish Opposition, the Czechoslovakian
one country,' but more particularly because Left Opposition, the Hungarian Communist
of its 'ultra-left' errors.. . . In the centre, the Opposition, and the Jewish Opposition
Stalinist faction, the bureaucratic wing in Group of Paris were represented by delegates
the service of the Kremlin."7 at this meeting in Paris.10 Among those at­
tending were Max Shachtman from the
United States, Alfred Rosmer and Pierre Na-
The Founding Meeting of the
ville of France, Julian Gorkin from Spain,
International Left Opposition
the German Oscar Seipold, Leon Lesoil and
Once La Verite was being published Leon Adh£mar Hennaut from Belgium, Jan Fran-
Trotsky became increasingly impatient to kel from Czechoslovakia, Szilvaczi from
have the next step taken: the establishment Hungary, and Obin-Mill from the Paris Jew­
of an international organization which ish group.1*
could coordinate the activities of the various This meeting elected an International
national left Communist groups and provide Secretariat, presumably to carry on the ac­
a regular means of exchanging information tivities of the new organization. It also
and ideas among them. He particularly agreed that there should be a bulletin issued
pressed this idea on Alfred Rosmer. Thus, regularly in which "the texts published will
writing to Rosmer on October 13, 1929, he be of two kinds. On the one hand will be
says, "I have already written you my opinion information sent by all the groups. . . . The
of the necessity for the provisional commit­ other part will be discussion articles, look­
tee (or perhaps information bureau—a more ing towards the preparation of the confer­
modest and therefore wiser title) to present ence, the elaboration of a political
itself to the various groups and begin its platform."11

1 Fourth International: Origins 253

(
 The April 6 meeting also adopted two doc­ out a program of proletarian dictatorship
uments. One was a short message "sending and of liquidation of the capitalist class on
warm greetings and testimony of close soli­ the basis of the theory of socialism in one
darity to the Bolshevik comrades, impris­ country is bound to fail."
oned and deported, and to their exiled leader, The conclusion of this part of the April
L. D. Trotsky."13 The second document was 1930 document was that "the International
a "Call to the Proletarians of the World." Left Opposition says openly to the con­
This call was the first official doctrinary scious workers of the entire world that the
and programmatic statement of Interna­ Soviet Union, the dictatorship of the prole­
tional Trotskyism. It began by noting "the tariat, the Communist International, the
profound social and political crises" devel­ vanguard of the working class, are in danger,
oping in the various capitalist countries. It that the regime dominant in Russia and the
observed that "only the revolutionary International are moving towards catastro­
movement, with the proletarian party, phe. All the Communist militants, the revo­
thanks to the teachings of Marx and of Le­ lutionary combatants, must join the Left
nin, lead the proletariat to its liberation, Opposition to retrieve the flag of Bol­
thus creating the bases of the new society shevism."16
which will liberate all humanity." How­ This statement of the Paris meeting made
ever, the document noted that "a profound it clear that they were not establishing a
crisis presently ravages the Communist In­ new International. Quite to the contrary,
ternational."14 "the moral and political heritage of the In­
A substantial part of the "C all" was de­ ternational of Lenin is firmly asserted by the
voted to this crisis. It observed that it "is in International Left Opposition. It cannot be
large part a reflection and a direct conse­ seized from it."17 This point was reiterated
quence of the crisis which is taking place in near the end of the statement: "Thanks to
the Russian Communist Party and in all the the tradition of the revolution of October,
Soviet Union." It then developed what was official Communism, regardless of its enfee-
to become the classic Trotskyist explana­ blement, still brings together in many coun­
tion for that crisis: "principally the weak­ tries the most active part of the working
ness of the Occidental proletarian revolu­ class. That is why the opposition rejects the
tion in the years immediately following the idea of a second party and a fourth interna­
imperialist war. . . . The USSR could not tional. It considers itself a fraction with the
alone liquidate the society divided into objective of rehabilitating the Communist
classes or construct socialism. It could only International, on the true basis of Marx and
defend the bases of a society against the of Lenin. For the same reasons it can never
whole of the capitalist world until the prole­ be separated from the activity of the prole­
tariat of the advanced capitalist countries tarian vanguard."18
comes to its aid." Subsequent to the Paris meeting, nine
However, "after the death of Lenin, after other groups expressed their support of the
the heavy defeats suffered in Germany, in new International Left Opposition, bringing
Bulgaria, and in Estonia, the Soviet Union the total at that time to seventeen. These
entered a period of social and political reac­ were the Russian Opposition, the Commu­
tion, in the party and in the country as a nist Opposition of Austria and the Austrian
whole. It was in that epoch that, ignoring Communist Party (Opposition), the Com­
the course of the international revolution, munist Opposition Committee of Argen­
there was chrystalized the theory of social­ tina, the Brazilian Lenin Communist Com­
ism in one country."15 The document went mittee in Exile, the Archeiomarxists of
on to proclaim that "every attempt to carry Greece, the Italian Left Fraction and the

254 Fourth International: Origins

New Opposition of the Italian Communist tablish an international . organization.
Party, and the Communist Opposition of George Breitman has noted that "in 19 31
Mexico.19 and 1932, forces that had split from the n o
The April 1930 meeting established an tried to put together a new international
International Bureau consisting of Alfred center in competition with the is. They re­
Rosmer and Pierre Naville (as Rosmer's dep­ ceived tolerance and even sympathy from
uty), Max Shachtman, Kurt Landau of Ger­ some of the anti-is people still in the i l o . "
many (an Austrian), Andres Nin, and Trots­ Breitman notes that "the effort finally failed
ky's son, Leon Sedov, who used the because the only thing the dissidents had in
pseudonym Markin. This bureau was common was a distaste for the 'methods' of
largely ineffectual because Shachtman re­ Trotsky and the rs, and because the main
turned to the United States, Andr6s Nin was cadres of the il o rallied around Trotsky and
soon jailed in Spain, Alfred Rosmer with­ the i s in 1932. The effort to organize a
drew from Trotskyist activities later in kind of "International Trotskyism without
1930, and Sedov-Markin was unable to get Trotsky" thus came to naught.
to Paris from Istanbul.10
The International Secretariat (is) which
Leon Trotsky's Visit to Copenhagen
was also named was slightly more success­
ful. Pierre Naville was the most reliable Trotsky never attended any of the meetings,
member of the is. He was at first aided by preconferences, or conferences of his follow­
an Italian named Suzo and by Obin-Mill, ers leading up to the establishment of the
who in 1932 was disclosed as a Stalinist. Fourth International, nor did he take part in
Trotsky then relied on the Sobolevicius the Founding Conference. Virtually the only
brothers to reorganize the Secretariat, but time he met with a substantial number of
they were also Stalinist agents and quite his followers from several different coun­
spectacularly "went over" to the Stalinist tries at the same time, and to exchange
side in 1933. They were then working with views with them at some length, was in
Sedov, who had been able to establish his November 1933 in Copenhagen. Trotsky
headquarters and a part of the International had been invited by the Social Democratic
Secretariat in Berlin until the Hitler regime Youth group of Denmark to come to the
came to power.11 Danish capital and deliver a lecture on the
One thing the International Secretariat Russian Revolution. The Social Democratic
did succeed in doing was issuing more or government in power at the time, to avoid
less regularly The International Bulletin of political embarrassment, could not turn
the Left Opposition. It first appeared in down this request and issued visitors' visas
French and English, and in early 1931 the to Trotsky and his wife. This was in spite
Communist League of America (Opposi­ of official demurches (according to Trotsky
tion) announced that the English-language himself) by Soviet embassies in both Den­
version of the periodical would be issued mark and Sweden against such action. The
regularly under its aegis.11 Danish government turned down Trotsky's
request that he and his wife be allowed to
stay in Denmark a few weeks beyond his
Attempt at International Organization
lecture, for medical treatment.14
by Trotskyist Dissidents
The Soviet news agency Tass broadcast a
Some of those people in various countries report that during his stay in Copenhagen
who had sought to join forces with Trotsky Trotsky had participated in a "Trotskyite
during the first year or so of his exile, but international conference." There was in fact
who then broke with him, also tried to es­ no such "conference." There was a small

Fourth International: Origins 255

gathering of Trotsky's supporters and he ex­ having as it did, presumably, the task of
plained the occasion for this: "M y friends in preparing the ground for a full-blown confer­
various countries of Europe were extremely ence to be held later in the year.
worried by the campaign in the European The Pre-Conference of February 1933 was
reactionary press. They saw this campaign of peculiar importance in the history of In­
in connection with the recent disclosures in ternational Trotskyism. It not only brought
the left press about the terrorist act being a reorganization of the apparatus of the
prepared against m e... . Some two dozen of group and reviewed its progress in a number
my co-thinkers arrived from the six coun­ of countries, but, most importantly it set
tries nearest Denmark. After the completely forth a series of "Eleven Points" that were
peaceful outcome of my talk, they all went largely to constitute the ideological and pro­
home, apart from one or two who decided grammatic basis of International Trots­
to accompany me back."25 kyism for the next half century:
There were twenty-seven people in all According to a report on the Pre-Confer­
who came to Copenhagen to meet, protect, ence which appeared in La Veriti on Febru­
and talk with Trotsky. There were ten Ger­ ary 16, 1933, there were delegates present
mans—O. Fischer, A. Grylewicz, O. Hippe, at the meeting from the Russian, German,
H. Schneeweiss, J. Schoffmann, B. Weinberg, French, Belgian, Greek, Bulgarian, British,
G. Jungclas, E. Kohn, C. Hunter, andK. Stor- Italian, Swiss, Spanish, and American sec­
tenbecker,- eight Frenchmen—Pierre and tions. In addition, "others sent their adher­
Denise Naville, Gerard Rosenthal, Jeanne ence" to the meeting.27
Martin, Jean Meichler, Robert Buren, Ray­ The meeting adopted several documents
mond Molinier, and Pierre Frank; three Ital­ in addition to the Eleven Points. One was
ians—Pietro Tresso, Lucienne T edeschi, and an "Appeal to the members of the German
Alfonso Leonetti; Hendrik Sneevliet of the Communist Party, to the Social Democratic
Netherlands, Jan Frankel of Czechoslovakia, Workers, to the German Proletariat," call­
Harry Wicks of Great Britain, Leon Lesoil of ing for the establishment of a united front
Belgium, and B. J. and Esther Field of the immediately in Germany to face the menace
United States. The last two were reported as represented by the coming of Hitler to power
being present "in a personal capacity." a few days earlier.28
Although this meeting was in no sense Another document was a telegram sent to
a formal conference, Rodolphe Prager has the Comintern, which read: "In face gravity
noted that they "amply debated the themes German situation and menaces against
that would be dealt with in the 'Eleven USSR, demand urgent convocation world
Points.' " Trotsky commented when the congress Communist International with
session was over that "the unforeseen, im­ participation International Left Opposition.
provised meeting of two dozen Bolshevik- Invite Comintern propose United Front to
Leninists, from seven European countries, organizations l s i , r i l u , i f t u for common
will be considered an important accom­ action German and international proletariat
plishment in the history of our international against German fascism, for defense
fraction."26 USSR."19 Needless to say, the Trotskyists
received no answer.
In addition, the Pre-CQnference took steps
The "Pre-Conference" of
which were presumably to lead both to a
February 1933
more efficient organization, and to prepara­
The next meeting of the International Left tion for a full-scale world conference of the
Opposition (Bolshevik-Leninists) took place movement. It established a plenum of the
in Paris from February 4-8, 1933. It had the organization, composed of the delegates
peculiar designation of a "pre-conference," from the German, French Belgian, Greek,

256 Fourth International: Origins

and Russian sections, which would super­ International Trotskyism, was entitled
vise a new secretariat, which was also "The International, Its Tasks and Methods."
named and would have the power to change It had been completed by Trotsky in Decem­
the membership of the secretariat. ber 1932, shortly after his return to Prinkipo
In preparation for the world conference from the visit to Copenhagen.31 The Eleven
the Pre-Conference submitted the docu­ Points were contained in a section of that
ment containing the Eleven Points as the document entitled "Fundamental Princi­
basis for discussion among the national sec­ ples of the Left Opposition." That section
tions. The sections were instructed to spend began by stating that "the International Left
four weeks in such discussion and to submit Opposition stands on the ground of the first
thereafter any changes they might suggest. four congresses of the Comintern . . . all the
The sections were also invited to submit by essential principles (in relation to imperial­
April 1 5 other theses to be discussed at the ism and the bourgeois state, to democracy
world meeting, which it was announced and reformism, problems of insurrection,
would take place in July.30 The conference the dictatorship of the proletariat, on rela­
did not actually meet until three years after tions with the peasantry and the oppressed
the date it was originally scheduled. nations, soviets, work in the trade unions,
The Pre-Conference also sought to define parliamentarism, the policy of the united
as carefully as possible just who would be front) remain even today the highest expres­
invited to the coming world conference. The sion of proletarian strategy in the epoch of
same document containing the Eleven the general crisis of capitalism." The eleven
Points noted that "the last four years were essential elements of Trotskyism were then
for the International Left Opposition a time stated. Since they included what was to re­
not only of clarification and deepening of main its basic program, they are worthy of
theory but also of its cleansing of alien, sec­ extensive quotation:
tarian, and adventurist bohemian elements,
without a principled position, without seri­ 1. The independence of the proletarian
ous devotion to the cause, without connec­ party, always and under all conditions. . .
tion with the masses, without a sense of condemnation of the Stalinist theory of
responsibility and discipline, and for that all two-class (worker and peasant) parties
the more inclined to listen to the voice of and of the whole practice based on this
careerism. . . . " theory. . ..
As a consequence of this, the document 2. Recognition of the international and
said, "The proposal to call a conference with thereby of the perman en t character of the
each and every group that counts itself in proletarian revolution; rejection of the
the Left Opposition (the groups of Landau theory of socialism in one country. . . .
and Rosmer, the Mahnruf, Spartakos, the 3. Recognition of the Soviet state as
Weisbord group, etc.) represents an attempt a workers’ state in spite of the growing
to turn the wheel backward and shows a degeneration of the bureaucratic regime;
complete lack of understanding of the condi­ and unconditional obligation of every
tions and laws of development of a revolu­ worker to defend the Soviet state against
tionary organization.. . . The preconference imperialism as well as against interna­
not only rejects but condemns such an atti­ tional counterrevolution.
tude as being in radical contradiction to the 4. Condemnation of the economic pol­
organizational policies of Marxism."31 icy of the Stalinist faction both in its stage
of economic opportunism of 1923 to 1928
The Eleven Points (struggle against 'superindustrialization/
The document containing the Eleven staking all on the kulaks) as well as in its
Points, which summed up the position of stage of economic adventurism in 1928

Fourth International: Origins 257

 to 1932.. . . condemnation of the criminal Some of the Eleven Points were directed
bureaucratic legend that 'the Soviet state specifically against the Third Period policies
has already entered into socialism .'. . . of the Stalinist Comintern—the theory of
5. Recognition of the necessity of sys­ social fascism, opposition to united fronts,
tematic Communist work in the proletar­ dual unionism—and therefore became more
ian mass organizations, particularly in or less moot issues once the Stalinists had
the reformist trade unions; condemna­ changed their "line." However, none of the
tion of the theory and practice of the Red eleven positions enunciated here was ever
trade union organization. .. . repudiated by Trotsky or his followers, and
6. Rejection of the formula of the 'dem­ only the tenth was substantially modified.
ocratic dictatorship of the proletariat and The points concerning the "independence
the peasantry' as a separate regime dis­ of the proletarian party," thq "permanent"
tinguished from the dictatorship of the nature of the'revolution, recognition of the
proletariat, which wins the support of USSR as a workers' state, rejection of the
the peasant and the oppressed masses in idea of a "democratic dictatorship of work­
general; rejection of the anti-Marxist the­ ers and peasants," and the necessity for
ory of the peaceful 'growing-over' of the "transitional" slogans continued to be the
democratic dictatorship into the socialist essence of Trotskyism. Many if not most of
one. the bitter internecine quarrels among the
7. Recognition of the necessity to mo­ Trotskyites during the next half-century
bilize the masses under transitional slo­ centered to a greater or less degree on allega­
gans corresponding to the concrete situa­ tions that one faction or the other was break­
tion in each country, and particularly ing either in theory or practice with one or
under democratic slogans insofar as it is more of these doctrinal positions.
a question of a struggle against feudal rela­ What might have been regarded as a
tions, national oppression, or different va­ "twelfth point," although it was not listed
rieties of openly imperialistic dictator­ as such in the document, was repudiated
ship (fascism, Bonapartism, etc.) soon after the February 1933 meeting. This
8. Recognition of the necessity of a de­ was the statement that "the International
veloped united front policy with respect left Opposition regards itself as a faction of
to the mass organizations of the working the Comintern and its separate national sec­
class, both of trade union and political tions as factions of the national Communist
character. . . . parties. This means that the Left Opposition
9. Rejection of the theory of social fas­ does not regard the organizational regime
cism and of the entire practice bound up created by the Stalinist bureaucracy as final.
with it as serving fascism on the one hand On the contrary, its aim is to tear the banner
and the Social Democracy on the other. of Bolshevism out of the hands of the
10. Differentiation of three groupings usurping bureaucracy and return the Com­
within the camp of communism: the munist International to the principles of
Marxist, the centrist, and the right; recog­ Marx and Lenin. . . ,''34
nition of the impermissibility of a politi­
cal alliance with the right against cen-
The August 1933 Plenum
trism; support of centrism against the r
class enemy; irreconcilable and system­ The world conference of the International
atic struggle against centrism and its zig­ Left opposition planned for July 1933 never
zag policies. took place. However, there were two ple­
1 1 . Recognition of party democracy num meetings, in May and August 1933,
not only in words but also in fact. . . 33 which marked a fundamental change in the

258 Fourth International: Origins

 strategic orientation of the international munist party in Germany, and traced the
Trotskyist movement. They followed the "degeneration" of the Comintern and its
evolution of Trotsky's thinking concerning member parties since the death of Lenin.
the strategy which he and his followers It then proclaimed that "The force of facts
should follow in the light of the complete imposes upon us a new orientation. . . .
collapse of the mighty German Communist From now on," the resolution went on, "we
Party in the face of the advent to power of must envisage all the possibilities of rap­
the Nazis, and the refusal of the Soviet lead­ prochement and collaboration with the rev­
ership and the Comintern not only to recog­ olutionary forces which, after the German
nize that they had erred in the policies they catastrophe, begin to detach themselves
had dictated to the German party but also, from the influence of the Communist Inter­
on the contrary, to continue to insist that national directed by the Stalinists and of
their policies had been entirely correct. the Second International, and which orient
The May 1933 Plenum of the Interna­ towards a Communist movement founded
tional Left Opposition adopted a resolution on the principles formulated by the first con­
calling, as had Trotsky, for the establish­ gresses of the ci and upon the experience
ment of a new Communist Party in Ger­ acquired in the Communist movement
many.35 The following meeting, three since the death of Lenin. .. ."37
months later, took the much more drastic A major part of the resolution set forth
step of calling for the establishment of a new five answers to the question "How to consti­
international, and new Communist parties tute this new international?" The first point
in every country. was "to consider ourselves as the embryo of
Two actions of the August Plenum set the true Communist party; to establish in
forth this fundamental change of strategy. each section our very extensive action pro­
One was a modification of point ten of the gram. . . . " Perhaps presaging the "French
Eleven Points. Another was passage of a res­ turn" to be shortly undertaken, this point
olution entitled "The International Opposi­ called for "directing our principal fire
tion and the Communist International." A against the influence of the social democ­
third move, an alteration in the name of the racy . . . tending to attract the workers
Trotskyist international organization, was attached to the party by real action against
taken at a subsequent plenum in September the bourgeoisie and its valets."38
1933 - The second answer to the question of how
According to La Verite of September 8, to bring about the new international called
1933, the August Plenum decided to change for the Trotskyists to build up counterparts
point ten, which originally had dealt with of the "front groups" of the Comintern, us­
the three factions of the Comintern, to read ing as a specific example the International
as follows: "Struggle for regroupment of the Red Aid.39 The third was to emphasize the
revolutionary forces of the world working point that "the reconstitution of a party in
class under the banner of internationalist the USSR and the reenforcement of the revo­
communism. Recognition of the necessity lutionary proletariat in the world around a
to create a true Communist International revolutionary International are decisive fac­
capable of applying the principles already tors in the defense of the Workers State."
enumerated."36 The fourth tactical point of the resolution
The resolution which extensively set claimed, "Our present forces acting as the
forth the change in strategic direction, "the embryo of a Communist Party, through
International Opposition and the Commu­ their political cohesion, their success in ac­
nist International," first noted the earlier tivity in the organizations of the working
decision to support formation of a new Com­ class, the resulting experience, can exercise

Fourth International: Origins 259

an important attraction on the other cur­ British Labor Party, and the Norwegian La­
rents of the workers movement, ejected bor Party, which after a short affiliation with
from the Third or the Second International, the Comintern in the early 1 920s had main­
which are evolving towards Communist po­ tained itself as an independent leftist social
sitions. Our attractive power will be much democratic organization—and with neither
greater because our position as a fraction of which the Trotskyists wanted anything
will no longer exist as a barrier between to do. There was also the Socialist Labor
these currents and us."40 This part of the Party ( s a p ), which had broken away from the
document went on to warn that the pro­ German Social Democrats shortly before
posed new international would not be "be­ the triumph of Hitler and had been joined
tween" the Second and Third, but rather by a substantial part of the German Com­
based on the positions of the first four con­ munist Right Opposition. There was also
gresses of the Comintern, "abandoned by the Swedish Communist Party, the only na­
the c i," which have been "enriched by the tional party which in its majority had bro­
experience of the last ten years"; and on ken with the Comintern to join the Right
"the eleven points of the preconference" of Opposition, but which by 1933 was on the
the International Left Opposition.41 way to abandoning that group. Another ele­
Finally, the document argued that "with ment more or less aligned with the Right
the basis of political agreements with ex­ Opposition was the Bloque Obrero y Carape-
isting groups thus defined, the Left Opposi­ sino of Spain, led by Joaquin Maurin, which
tion must understand the historic interest also maintained contacts with the i l p , s a p ,
represented by the international realign­ and similar groups. Finally, there were the
ment of these groups currently dispersed, two Dutch parties, the Revolutionary So­
which, without • well defined principles, cialist Party ( r s p ), a dissident Communist
without organic links, could in the present group led by Hendrik Sneevliet, and the In­
chaos degenerate or be subjected to extermi­ dependent Socialist Party ( s s f ) which had
nating maneuvers of the Stalinists."42 recently broken with the Social Democrats.
Conforming to their new orientation as a A number of these groups had participated
group quite separate from the Comintern, in a congress in April 1932 which estab­
the Trotskyist September 1933 Plenum de­ lished an organization widely known by its
cided to change the name of their organiza­ German initials i a g (Internationale Arbets-
tion, adopting the title Internationalist gemeinschaft) or as the London Bureau,
Communist League (Bolshevik-Leninists).43 from the city where its headquarters was
located. The participants in this meeting
had included the i l p , the s a p , the Indepen­
The Declaration of the Four
dent Socialist Labor Party of Poland ( n s p p ),
In launching the idea of forming a new inter­ the Independent Socialist Party of the Neth­
national Leon Trotsky and his followers erlands (o s p ), and the Norwegian Labor
clearly thought at first in terms of the possi­ Party.44 A subsequent meeting of the i a g in
bility of uniting under their banner a diverse Brussels had adopted a resolution written by
group of parties which over the previous few Boris Goldenberg of the s a p calling for "the
years had broken away from either the Com­ recreation of a new international labor
munist or Socialist International. The par­ movement."45 •».
ties involved were a very heterogeneous To a greater or less degree, all of these
group. groups favored establishment of a new inter­
On the one hand, there were dissident So­ national. However, they had vastly different
cialist parties including the Independent La­ concepts about the nature of such an organi­
bor Party, which had just recently with­ zation and disagreed profoundly on a num­
drawn from its long affiliation with the ber of programmatic issues, particularly

260 Fourth International: Origins

with regard to the Soviet Union. In retro­ cated "the revolutionary struggle for power
spect it is clear that Trotsky and his associ­ and the establishment of the proletarian dic­
ates were excessively optimistic in thinking tatorship as the only means for the transfor­
that all or most of these groups could be mation of the capitalist society into a social­
welded together in a new international un­ ist society."
der Trotsky's leadership and in conformance The second point declared the revolution­
with his ideas. ary struggle to be international and therefore
One of the decisions of the August Trots­ said that the signers "categorically reject. . .
kyist plenum had been to send an observer the theory of 'socialism in one country'
delegation to the i a g congress to be held in which undermines the very foundation of
Paris at the end of the same month. Appar­ proletarian internationalism."48
ently the original idea had been for each of The third point of the document likewise
the sections of the International Left Oppo­ "no less categorically rejected" the ideas of
sition to have its own representatives at the the left-wing "Austro Marxists and left re­
meeting. However, it was finally decided to formists. . . . " It proclaimed that "the victo­
limit the Trotskyist delegations to those of rious working class must direct all of its
the German section and the International efforts to the extension of the socialist revo­
Secretariat of the International Left Opposi­ lution to other countries."49
tion. Peter f. Schmidt of the Dutch o s f pre­ Point four presented the Trotskyist analy­
sided over the Paris meeting. sis of the "degeneration" of the Soviet re­
It was agreed among Trotsky, Sneevliet, gime and added that "the slavish depen­
and Jakob Walcher of the s a p to submit a dence of the sections of the Comintern on
document to the Paris meeting calling for the Soviet leadership led, in its turn, to a
establishment of a new international and new series of grave defeats, to bureaucratic
setting forth the principles upon which this degeneration of the theory and practice of
new international should be formed. The the Communist parties and to their organi­
motion was duly introduced, but the resolu­ zational weakening. More than that, the
tions committee of the meeting refused to Comintern proved not only incapable of ful­
accept it.46As a consequence, the document filling its historic role but also more and
was finally made public as "The Declaration more of an obstacle in the way of the revolu­
of the Four on the Need for and Bases of a tionary movement."
New International." This Declaration was Points five and six argued that the rise to
signed by E. Bauer of the International Secre­ power of Nazism in Germany had shown
tariat of the International Left Opposition, J. the inadequacies of both the Social Demo­
Schwalb (Jakob Walcher) of the s a p , Hendrik crats and the Communists.50 Point seven
Sneevliet of the Revolutionary Socialist drew a conclusion from this: "The position
Party of the Netherlands, and P. J. Schmidt of world capitalism; the frightful crisis that
of the Independent Socialist Party of the plunged the working masses into unheard-
Netherlands. of misery; the revolutionary movement of
Two versions of the document were pub­ the oppressed colonial masses; the world
lished. The first one, which was probably danger of fascism; the perspective of a new
the version introduced at the Paris Confer­ cycle of wars which threatens to destroy the
ence, was published in La Verite on Septem­ whole human culture—these are the condi­
ber i, 1933. The second version, probably tions that imperatively demand the welding
reworked by Leon Trotsky, was somewhat together of the proletarian vanguard into a
more extensive.47 We shall summarize the new (Fourth) International." It added that
principal points of the second version. "the undersigned obligate themselves to di­
Point one of the Declaration called for rect all their forces to the formation of this
"break with reformist policy," and advo­ International in the shortest possible time

Fourth International: Origins 261

on the firm foundation of the theoretical and the only serious result of the Paris confer­
strategic principles laid down by Marx and ence."55 He also observed that representa­
Lenin."51 tives of the organizations which had signed
Point eight pledged cooperation "with all that declaration had taken different posi­
the organizations, groups, and factions that tions on certain issues at the conference, but
are actually developing from reformism or counselled his followers to have patience,
bureaucratic centrism (Stalinism) toward saying that "we conserve our entire right,
revolutionary Marxist policy. . . . " It added not only to appear under our own banner,
that "the new International cannot tolerate but also openly to give our opinion to our
any conciliation towards reformism or cen­ allies on what we consider errors on their
trism." part."56
Point nine declared the Soviet Union to The efforts to hold together the four
be still a workers' state and added that "the groups which had signed the Declaration
new International will inscribe on its banner were doomed to fail. This became clear—if
as one of its most important tasks the de­ it was not already so—in the "Preconference
fense of the Soviet state from imperialism of the Four" held on December 30, 1933, in
and internal counter revolution."52 the apartment of Dr. Weil, father of Simone
Point ten proclaimed that "party democ­ Weil, in Paris. Those present were Bauer,
racy is a necessary prerequisite for the Trotsky, Peroci, Pierre Frank, Pierre Na­
healthy development of revolutionary prole­ ville, and Leon Sedov for the Internationalist
tarian parties on a national as well as inter­ Communist League; Hendrik Sneevliet for
national scale. Without freedom of criti­ the Dutch rs p , Jacques De Kadt for the
cism, without election of functionaries from Dutch o sp , and Jakob Walcher and Boris
top to bottom, without the control of the Goldenberg for the German s a p .57
apparatus by the rank and file, no truly revo­ The minutes of that session indicate that
lutionary party is possible." Although recog­ there were very sharp exchanges between
nizing that peculiar circumstances would Trotsky and both Walcher and De Kadt.
face illegal parties, it proclaimed that even Trotsky accused the s a p and o s p of backslid­
there "honest information about the party, ing and of wanting to maintain a foot both in
freedom of criticism, and a real inner unity the camp of the Four and that of the London
between the leadership and the party major­ Bureau. For his part, Walcher accused the
ity" were required. It concluded that "the Trotskyists of "the same sectarian and ster­
new International, as well as the parties ad­ ile methods well known to be theirs."58 He
hering thereto must build their entire inner claimed that "we cannot admit the question
life on the basis of democratic cen­ being posed in the form: London Bureau or
tralism."53 bloc of four. . . ."S9
Point eleven noted that the signers had De Kadt was, apparently, even more vehe­
created a "permanent commission of dele­ ment. He said that "the Left Opposition
gates representatives" to lay the ground­ only wishes to get its principles accepted on
work for the establishment of the new Inter­ an international basis, and it considers the
national.54 Fourth International as only an enlarged
Writing shortly after the l a g conference, l c i . " He added that "there is within the new

Trotsky professed himself pleased with the International a different International (l c i

results of that meeting. He declared them plus r s p ). This would be an impossible situa­
"on balance favorable to the Left Opposi­ tion if we quickly construct the new Inter­
tion." Writing in the Internal Bulletin of the national."60
Left Communist Opposition however, he Boris Goldenberg has summed up some of
noted that "the declaration of the four was his memories of this meeting:

262 Fourth International: Origins

 The topic under discussion was the for­ guests at the hotel were a number of heavy-
mation of a new International. I remem­ set men who were police agents, although
ber Walcher telling Trotsky (a) that a new the conference delegates did not at first rec­
'international' could not be formed on the ognize them as such. These gentlemen took
basis of a defeat [that by Hitler); (b) nor as notes on overheard telephone conversations
a union of sects under the leadership and and private discussions on which they were
total hegemony of a historical leader like able to eavesdrop. They found out that the
Trotsky who, inevitably, would dominate conference was going to convene in a town
the scene. Trotsky required that we ( s a p outside Amsterdam and sent word of this to
and others) separate ourselves from cen­ higher police authorities.
trist and reformist parties, like the Nor­ The Trotskyists had about fifteen dele­
wegian one—to which Walcher (and I) gates to this conference and were the largest
contested that this would mean to break single group. They included people from the
off relations with the only proletarian United States, Great Britain, France, and
mass party collaborating with us. So noth­ Germany (in exile), among others. There
ing came for the moment of the plan to were also representatives from i a g affiliates,
create the IV International—with us. By including the British i l p , Norwegian and
'us' is meant here the s a p and the Dutch Swedish groups, and the German s a p .
De Kadt group, not the other members of Soon after arriving in Amsterdam, the
the London 'International' considered by American Albert Glotzer and Walter Held
Trotsky as centrists and reformists.61 (Heinz Epe), both Trotskyists, sought to find
Willy Brandt, who was an s a p delegate. They
The Bloc of Four soon broke up. The Ger­ were first told that he was not there, but
man s a p had little more to do with the Trots­ when they insisted they were told that he was
kyists. Although Sneevliet's party had
busy, at a meeting. That made Glotzer and
joined the International Left Opposition in
Held a little suspicious, and they discovered
September 1933,61 it was March 1935 before
later that their suspicions were justified.
it merged with the o s p to form the Revolu­ When the conference opened in the pro­
tionary Socialist Labor Party ( r s a p ). Subse­ vincial town the Trotskyists found that they
quently, the r s a p broke with Trotsky and
were being excluded from any influence in
never became a part of the Fourth Interna­ the meeting. None of them was elected to
tional. Nor did any of the other groups the presidium of the conference, none was
which Trotsky had hoped to attract to the
elected to the major committees. When
movement for the Fourth International fi­
Glotzer got up to protest, the police moved
nally evolve in that direction. He had at one
in, said the meeting was over and they were
time had particular hope for attracting the all under arrest.
Swedish Communist Party of Kilbom and Four Germans among those arrested were
the British Independent Labor Party.*3 put across the German border by the mayor
of the Dutch town. The others were put in
a comfortable jail and then were deported to
The International Youth Bureau
Belgium. The Americans were put on a milk
In February 1934 an effort was made to es­ train to Antwerp, whence they went to
tablish an international organization of Brussels.
those youth groups which were committed In the Amsterdam jail Held, Glotzer, and
to the establishment of the Fourth Interna­ Willy Brandt had agreed to reassemble the
tional. This took place at a conference the conference in Brussels, although giving out
delegates to which first gathered in Amster­ word that they would meet in Luxemburg.
dam at the Red Lion Hotel. Among the When they got to Brussels, the local Trots­

Fourth International: Origins 263

kyists suggested that they meet in a restau­ class, whose vanguard they aspired to
rant in front of the city police headquarters. become.
There, on the second floor, they held a day­ This led Trotsky to propose another strat­
long meeting. egy, the so-called "French Turn." Although
The big argument at the meeting con­ he certainly could not foresee this, Leon
cerned the formation of a new international. Trotsky's recommendation to his French
The Trotskyists pushed for a declaration in followers in June 1934 was to raise an issue
favor of the Fourth International, but the which would plague the international Trots­
non-Trotskyists opposed this and a com­ kyist movement for the next half-century:
promise was reached, the call being for a the entry of the Trotskyists into the ranks
new international. Subsequently, Trotsky of the mass workers7 parties, to try to re­
strongly attacked Walter Held for agreeing cruit there enough followers to convert their
to this compromise. It was agreed that the own organizations into "m ass" groups, or
new International Bureau of Revolutionary if exceptionally lucky, even to seize con­
Youth Organizations would have its head­ trol of the groups which they entered and
quarters in Stockholm.64 to convert them into mass revolutionary
This Youth Bureau was short-lived. It was parties. „
deadlocked between the Trotskyists who Trotsky first proposed entry into the So­
continued to insist on its working for estab­ cialist Party to the Ligue Communiste Inter-
lishment of the Fourth International and the nationaliste of France in June 1934. The idea
s a p representatives and others who opposed met with resistance but was accepted by
this idea. The Youth Bureau sent Willy most French Trotskyists. Subsequently, the
Brandt as a delegate to a conference of the same strategy was applied in Belgium and
i a g in Paris in February 1935, and he de­ the United States. However, Trotsky appar­
nounced Hendrik Sneevliet and P. J. ently met great opposition to making the
Schmidt, the Dutch delegates, for their sup­ French Turn into a general policy of the in­
port of the idea of the Fourth International. ternational Trotskyist movement.
In August 1935 Brandt and his allies ex­ The issue arose at an Enlarged Plenum of
pelled Walter Held from the Bureau, which the Internationalist Communist League in
went out of existence soon thereafter.65 October 1934. According to Rodolphe
Prager, the resolution endorsing the new
policy of the French League "obtained a
The Internationalist Communist
small majority on the condition that the
League and the French Turn
turn be limited to France."66
The Bloc of Four clearly failed as a device to The resolution of the October 1934 Ple­
bring together the various parties and groups num started with the familiar recitation of
which had been alienated from the Second the "degeneration" of the Comintern and a
and Third Internationals so as to form a new short account of the transformation of the
Fourth International with a Trotskyist pro­ Trotskyist movement from an "opposition"
gram. The fact was that the Trotskyists re­ to a group seeking to establish a Fourth In­
mained largely isolated from organized labor ternational. It then sketched the supposedly
and the movement for social change in the new situation within the Socialist parties,
handful of countries in which during its first that is, the tendency-, toward polarization
half-decade International Trotskyism had within them between right and left, and the
been able to establish a foothold. With the fact that the impact of events had forced
possible exception of its Dutch affiliate the some of them to assume revolutionary posi­
movement consisted of small agitational tions, a situation of which advantage could
groups, largely made up of intellectuals, be taken.
with very limited contacts with the working The resolution then contained a passage

264 Fourth International: Origins

which, in view of subsequent history, one States. Its first effects in France were also
might find curious. It read: positive, although subsequent internecine
conflict among the French Trotskyists re­
The psychology, ideas, customs, usually
sulted in the loss of much of the ground they
lag behind developments of objective rela­
had gained.
tions in society and in the class; even in
Meanwhile, the work for the establish­
the revolutionary organizations the dead
ment of a Fourth International went on.
lay their hands upon the living. The pre­
Clearly Trotsky spent much of his time and
paratory period of propaganda has given
attention on this effort. He was even con­
us the cadres without which we could not
cerned with the minutiae of the proposed
make one step forward, but the same pe­
new organization. Thus, he sent to the Inter­
riod has, as a heritage, permitted the ex­
national Secretariat in July 1935 a curious
pression within the organization of ex­
letter discussing the appropriate name for
tremely abstract concepts of the
the new organization. He ruled out the plain
construction of a new party and a new in­
title Fourth International on the grounds
ternational. In their chemically pure
that "it is a number, not a name," and simi­
form, these conceptions are expressed in
larly excluded "socialist" and "communist"
the most complete manner by the dead
for the title because they had been "much
sect of Bordiguists who hope that the pro­
compromised." He finally suggested "World
letarian vanguard will convince itself, by
Party of the Socialist Revolution" and pro­
means of a hardly readable literature, of
posed that be appended to the name of each
the correctness of their position and
national group, giving the example, "Work­
sooner or later will correctly gather
ers Party of the United States (American
around their sect. . . .6?
Section of the World Party of the Socialist
The resolution discussed various objec­ Revolution)."69
tions to the move of the French Trotskyists. In August 1935 a new "Open Letter to
It then said that "the Plenum notes that Revolutionary Organizations: For the IV In­
the position openly taken by the Bolshevik- ternational" was issued. Written by Trotsky
Leninist group within the sno . . . has noth­ just before leaving France for his stay in Nor­
ing in common with capitulation but repre­ way, this document, which was a new ap­
sents the application of the principles and peal to rally all groups and individuals who
methods of the i c l in its new orientation favored a new international, met some resis­
and under new conditions." tance, particularly among the French Trots­
The resolution ended with a hint that the kyists, who feared that it might embarrass
French Turn might have a wider application, their work within the Socialist Party.70
beyond France. It said, "the Plenum orders However, it was finally issued and published
the is to regularly furnish materials to all in La Vezite on August 23, 193s.
sections, illustrating the work of the French The open letter was signed on behalf of
section in the new situation, in order that the Dutch r s a p by Hendrik Sneevliet and J.
the i c l as a whole may utilize the experi­ P. Schmidt; for the Workers Party of the
ences thus acquired."68 United States by James P. Cannon and A. J.
Muste; for the Workers Party of Canada by
J. MacDonald and Maurice Spector; and by
The 1936 First International
the Bolshevik-Leninist Group of the s f i o (no
Conference for the Fourth
names indicated}. For the International Sec­
International
retariat, the document bore the signatures
The policy of entrism somewhat expanded of Crux (Leon Trotsky), Martin (Alfonso Le-
the forces of the Trotskyists in a few coun­ onetti), and Dubois (Ruth Fischer).71
tries, notably Belgium and the United The next step toward establishing the

1
1 Fourth International: Origins 265
I
 Fourth International was a conference tariat to carry on day-to-day activities.76Still
which met in Paris, July 16—31, 1936 {al­ another resolution endorsed the move of the
though it was reported as meeting in Ge­ U.S. Trotskyists to enter the Socialist
neva). Trotsky had wanted it to be the found­ Party.77
ing congress of the new international. Trotsky wrote three of the programmatic
However, in the face of resistance, he ac­ documents adopted at the 1936 conference.
cepted a compromise according to which it These were the resolution on "The New
was declared that the meeting launched a Revolutionary Upsurge and the Tasks of the
new group, the Movement for the Fourth Fourth International," "The Fourth Interna­
International, into which the Intemalistist tional and the Soviet Union," and "To the
Communist League was being merged.72 Public Opinion of the Workers of the Whole
According to the official announcement World (An Appeal for the Russian Revolu­
of the International Secretariat, this 1936 tionists)."78
conference was attended by four French del­ The resolution on the New Revolutionary
egates, two from the p c i , and two from the Upsurge pictured the existence of a prerevo­
Youth; one from the Dutch r s a p ; two dele­ lutionary situation which was going to be
gates and two observers from Great Britain; resolved in favor of either socialism or fas­
two from the German i d k ; and one Italian. cism. It asserted that "the sections of the
There were also representatives of the So­ Fourth International clearly and distinctly
viet Bolshevik-Leninists, representatives of see this danger.. . . They teach the vanguard
the International Secretariat and the Inter­ to organize itself and to prepare."79This res­
national Youth Secretary, as well as two olution also claimed that "not a single revo­
"observers" from the United States/3 Since lutionary grouping in world history has yet
the U.S. Trotskyists had recently entered experienced such terrible pressure as the
the Socialist Party they could not appear at grouping of the Fourth International," They
this meeting as "official" delegates. Other were subject not only to the persecution of
groups which were not able to send dele­ the elements of the status quo, but also to
gates for financial reasons included those that of the Stalinist bureaucracy both in the
of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Poland, USSR and in the Comintern.80However, the
Romania, and Switzerland. Long distances resolution argued, the future lay with Inter­
and "the need to limit the conference for national Trotskyism. It proclaimed that
reasons of legality to a minimum of dele­ "the organizations of the revolutionary van­
gates" were responsible for the fact that no guard will cease to be isolated. The slogans
one had been invited from Bulgaria, Den­ of Bolshevism will become the slogans of
mark, Spain, Lithuania, a number of Latin the masses. The coming epoch will be the
American countries, China, Indochina, Aus­ epoch of the Fourth International."81
tralia, and South Africa.74 Probably the most crucial document
The conference adopted a considerable adopted at the 1936 conference was that on
number of resolutions, both programmatic "The Fourth International and the Soviet
and organizational. One of the latter was in Union." It put forth the position which was
approval of the move of the French section to be Trotskyist orthodoxy for the next half-
in expelling Raymond Molinier.75 Another century. This document was almost strident
established a framework for the new Move­ in its denunciation of1 the Stalinist regime
ment for the Fourth International including in the USSR. It argued that "inequality is
an international conference as the supreme growing with seven league strides" and that
authority, with a General Council, to be in "Soviet bureaucracy has acquired an actual
charge between conferences and to meet at independence from the toilers.82
least once a year; and an International Secre­ The resolution also accused the Stalinist

266 Fourth International: Origins

regime of beginning "to reestablish and glo­ tion." It concluded that "the proletarian
rify the petty bourgeois family . . . that fos­ vanguard of the USSR, basing itself upon the
tering soil of all species of social idiocy." It toiling masses of the whole country, and
argued that "state coercion is not attenuated upon the revolutionary movement of the
.. . but on the contrary it acquires an excep­ whole world, will have to batter down the
tionally concentrated/ open and cynical bureaucracy by force, restore Soviet democ­
character," and that the Communist Party racy, eliminate the enormous privileges and
"is independent both of the people and of its assure a genuine advance to socialist
own members and. . . represents a political equality."86
machine of the ruling caste."83 However, However, in spite of the strong condemna­
the resolution did not accept the idea that tion of the Stalinist regime and the call for
the bureaucracy has become a new ruling a political revolution against it, Trotsky and
class in a Marxist sense. This resolution the 1936 conference pledged support to the
summed up the situation by saying that "the USSR against all contenders. The resolution
working class of the USSR has been robbed stated that "Theproletarian vanguard of the
of the last possibility of legal reformation of entire world will support the USSR in war,
the state. The struggle against the bureau­ in spite of the parasitic bureaucracy and the
cracy necessarily becomes a revolutionary uncrowned Negus in the Kremlin because
struggle. " 8* the social regime in the USSR, despite all
In spite of these bitter denunciations of its deformations and ulcers, represents an
the Stalin regime the resolution drawn up by enormous historical step forward in compar­
Trotsky and adopted by the 1936 conference ison with putrefied capitalism."87
argued that "it remains a fact of decisive The third resolution prepared by Trotsky
significance, however, that all the social re­ and adopted by the 1936 conference, "To the
lationships of the USSR, the privileges of Public Opinion of the Workers of the Whole
the Soviet aristocracy included, have them­ World," elaborated further on the situation
selves in the long run on state and kolkhoz in the USSR. It started by observing that
property, acquired by the expropriation of "the question of the fate of the Soviet Union
the bourgeoisie which, in distinction from is close to the heart of every thinking
capitalist property, opens up the possibility worker. A hundred and seventy million hu­
of the growth of industry and of culture. The man beings are carrying out the greatest ex­
historical gulf dug by the October Revolu­ periment in social emancipation in history.
tion still continues to separate the Soviet The destruction of the new regime would
state planned economy from capitalist signify a terrible blow to the development
'stateism.' " 8S of the whole of mankind. But precisely for
The resolution defined the kind of revolu­ this reason the necessity arises for an hon­
tion which was required in the USSR. It est, i.e., critical attitude toward all these
argued that "if a social counterrevolution, complex processes and contradictory phe­
i.e., the overthrow of State ownership of the nomena which are to be observed in the life
means of production and of the land as well of the Soviet Union."88 The resolution then
as the reestablishment of private property went on with a detailed critique of the latest
is necessary for the return of the USSR to events in the USSR, particularly the intro­
capitalism, then for the further develop­ duction of the "Stalinist" constitution.89
ment of socialism a political revolution has This July 1936 Paris meeting was the last
become inevitable, i.e., the violent over­ full-fledged gathering of the international
throw of the political rule of the degenerated Trotskyist movement before the conference
bureaucracy while maintaining the property which formally founded the Fourth Interna­
relations established by the October Revolu­ tional.

Fourth International: Origins 267

 Fourth International: napped and murdered in Spain, Ignaz Reiss,
himself a g p u agent who had defected to the
The Establishment of the Trotskyists, was assassinated in Switzer­
Fourth International land. Leon Sedov, Trotsky's own son, had
died in a White Russian hospital in Paris in
February 1938 under very strange circum­
stances. Most relevant to the Founding Con­
ference, Rudolf Klement, the member of the
International Secretariat who had been most
closely concerned with organizing the meet­
The Founding Conference of the Fourth In­ ing, had been murdered in Paris in July, and
ternational was finally held on September 3, documents which he had been carrying were
1938. Meeting under highly secretive cir­ purloined.1
cumstances a handful of men proclaimed After the meeting adjourned it was an­
the existence of what they proudly pro­ nounced that the Founding Conference of
claimed to be the World Party of the Social­ the Fourth International had been held
ist Revolution. Working at what must have "somewhere in Switzerland."2 In fact, how­
been a marathon pace this Founding Confer­ ever, the meeting took place at the home of
ence, completing all of its work in a single Alfred Rosmer who, although he had broken
day, also adopted statutes for the new group, politically with him eight years before had
elected its officials and adopted a wide range remained Leon Trotsky's personal friend
of resolutions, in addition to ratifying the and was willing to make his residence avail­
so-called Transitional Program, which be­ able for the meeting which fulfilled Trots­
came the most fundamental statement of ky's long-held dream.
the position of International Trotskyism. The Rosmer house was located in the
countryside some thirty miles from Paris. It
was a bam which had been converted into a
The Background of the
residence. There was an entryway and be­
Founding Conference
yond it a long table around which the meet­
ing was held. Beyond that there were the
The Historical Circumstances
living quarters, including a kitchen and din­
of the Conference
ing rooms, and several upstairs bedrooms.
The meeting which formally established the Those who attended the meeting sought
Fourth International took place at the height to be as circumspect as possible about where
of the Munich crisis, at a moment when the they were going and what they were going
threat of a new world war seemed immi­ to do. Thus, they took a number of different
nent. The Trotskyists had to take extreme routes from Paris to the Rosmer house—
security measures to assure the safe ful­ although they all had to traverse the same
fillment of their mission. They had to pro­ road in the end.
tect themselves not only from the possible Because of security considerations it was
interference by the French police but, more necessary that the meeting not last more
importantly, from attempts of the Soviet than a day. As a consequence, a great deal of
g p u to disrupt the meeting a n d perhaps to business had to be transacted in a very short
kill some or all of those attending it. time, even though over some issues there
In the months preceding the Founding was considerable discussion and even con­
Conference the g p u had claimed several vic­ troversy. The situation was further compli­
tims from among the Trotskyists and their cated by the fact that there was no common
sympathizers. Erwin Wolf and been kid­ language which all of those present could

268 Fourth International: Establishment

understand and use. As a consequence Max mer of 1938 Trotsky was busy preparing the
Shachtman served as a kind of universal in­ 'Draft Programme' and resolutions for the
terpreter. He spoke not only English but 'foundation congress' of the International."7
good German and French, and a little Polish However, Will Reisner has claimed that
and Russian. He also spoke Yiddish, which Deutscher "was mistaken in attributing au­
he used particularly in conversing with the thorship of most of the conference resolu­
Russian and Polish delegates when his mas­ tions to Trotsky, who actually wrote only
tery of their languages was not sufficient. the major programmatic document, 'The
Thus, the role of the American leader was Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks
particularly crucial in facilitating the busi­ of the Fourth Intemations,' also known as
ness of the day.3 the 'Transitional Program.' "®
Subsequent to the visit of the swpers to
Mexico City, commissions were established
Preparations for the Conference
which met for about a month before the
Rodolphe Prager has noted that the Found­ plenary session of the founding conference,
ing Conference of the Fourth International preparing the documentation to be submit­
"was undoubtedly better prepared than the ted to the meeting.9According to the report
previous ones."4 The laying of the ground­ of the International Secretariat on the con­
work for the meeting was done in close con­ ference, "the plenary sessions have been pre­
sultation with Trotsky. In March 1938 a del­ pared with the collaboration and under the
egation from the Socialist Workers Party of direction of the is, by particular commis­
the United States, consisting of James Can­ sions which submitted the results of their
non, Rose Karsner, Max Shachtman, and work to the conference. The plenary meet­
Vincent Dunne, had spent six days with ings were themselves followed by meetings
Trotsky, during which much of the prelimi­ of special commissions established for com­
nary planning for the meeting was done. plementary work of editing and revision.
Diego Rivera also sat in on some of these These commissions, designated by the con­
sessions. At that time it was decided to hold ference, were only to carry out the wishes
the conference at the end of June or the be­ of the conference."10
ginning of July, although in fact it did not Other preliminary meetings were held be­
meet until two months later. It has been fore the final plenary meeting of the Found­
noted that much of this week of discussion ing Conference. The most important of
was devoted to "programmatic documents these was a "preconference" in New York
to be prepared for the conference." Steno­ of Trotskyist groups of the Western Hemi­
graphic notes were kept of these discus­ sphere. It established a Pan American and
sions.5 Pacific Bureau of the soon-to-be proclaimed
There has been some controversy over Fourth International.11
just what role Trotsky had in preparing the As a consequence of this preliminary
fundamental documents which were work, the founding conference was pre­
adopted by the Founding Conference. In his sented with a well-thought-out agenda, and
discussions with the s w p visitors Trotsky the documentation necessary for the discus­
had said that "I will prepare, then: (1) transi­ sion of each item on it. The agenda consisted
tional demands; (2) the question of democ­ of 1. Report of the International Secretariat;
racy; (3} war; (4) manifesto on the world 2. International Theses, divisible into three
situation, either separately or in the form of sections: labor questions, the USSR, the war
one basic pamphlet."6 problem, including the situations in Spain
In his biography of Trotsky, Isaac and China; 3. Statutes of the International;
Deutscher wrote that "throughout the sum­ 4. Reports of Commissions dealing with the

1 Fourth International: Establishment 269

t
I
i
f
I
situation of affiliates in various countries; France: Parti Ouvriere Intemationaliste and
5. International solidarity; 6. The Youth; Jeunesse Socialiste Revolutionnaire
and 7. Naming of the International Execu­ Great Britain: Revolutionary Socialist
tive Committee.12 League
Belgium: Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire
and Jeunesse Socialiste Revolutionnaire
Delegates and Whom They
Germany: German Communist Interna­
Represented
tionalists (ikd )
According to a credentials report made at Poland: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
the beginning of the meeting by Pierre Na­ United States: Socialist Workers Party and
ville, there were delegates at the Founding Young People's Socialist League (IV Interna­
Conference from the United States, Great tional)
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
Poland, Greece, Italy, Germany, Russia, and Spain: Bolshevik-Leninist Group of Spain
Brazil. He added that some of those present Netherlands: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
also had "mandates" from groups in Spain, Greece: Internationalist Communist
Czechoslovakia, Canada, and Mexico.13 League and Internationalist Communist
According to a report on the Founding Union
Conference published shortly afterward by Switzerland: Marxistische Aktion
the New York Trotskyist paper Socialist Ap­ Czechoslovakia: Iskra-Banner Group
peal, thirty people attended the meeting.14 Norway: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
The minutes of the session would seem to Romania: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
indicate a somewhat smaller number taking Austria: Revolutionary Communists
an active part. On the most important issue USSR: Left Opposition (Bolshevik-Le-
on which there was a vote, whether or not ninists)
to declare the establishment of the Fourth Mexico: Liga Comunista Internacionalista
International, only twenty-two ballots were Cuba: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
cast.15 The same number voted on several Dominican Republic: Bolshevik-Leninists
other issues. Brazil: Partido Operario Leninista
Trotsky, of course, did not attend. How­ Argentina: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
ever, a number of the most important figures Chile: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
then active in International Trotskyism did Bolivia: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
participate. The delegation from the United Uruguay: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
States included James Cannon, Max Shacht­ China: Internationalist Communist League
man (who presided over the sessions)/6 Na­ Indo-China: Union of Bolshevik-Leninists
than Gould, and Emanuel Geltman.17 Pierre Australia: Labor Party (?)
Naville, Ivan Craipeau, Jean Rous, and Mar­ South Africa: Bolshevik-Leninist Group
cel Hie represented France; Mario Pedrosa,
the founder of Brazilian Trotskyism, repre­ Naville also noted that there were two
sented his country. Michel Raptis, better other groups which had "liaison with the is
known as Michel Pablo, was present from without being affiliated." These were the
the Greek movement. Leon Lesoil was a del­ Proletar group in Czechoslovakia and an un­
egate from Belgium, and C. L. R. James was named organization 4 n Denmark.19
a member of the British delegation.18 At one point Pierre Naville presented the
Pierre Naville presented the meeting with conference with some estimates concerning
an account of the organizations then "regu­ the membership of the various affiliated na­
larly affiliated" with the Fourth Interna­ tional groups. According to him, the U.S.
tional. These were Socialist Workers Party was by far the

270 Fourth International: Establishment

largest group in the International; he cred­ which was strongly argued at the meeting
ited it with 2,500 members. The Belgian itself.
party had 800 members, the French 600, the Trotsky was strongly in favor of the Sep­
Polish 350. Naville reported that there were tember 1938 meeting, going on record as
approximately 200 members of the German establishing the Fourth International, the
affiliate., between 150—200 in the Czecho­ World Party of the Socialist Revolution. In
slovakian group, and 170 in the newly his discussions with the Socialist Workers
united British affiliate, the Revolutionary Party leaders six months earlier he had made
Socialist League. The International's affil­ this very clear: "I agree that it is absolutely
iates in Greece, Chile, Cuba, and South naive to postpone. Naturally, we are a weak
Africa were each credited with about one International but we are an International.
hundred members; that of Canada with sev­ This International will become strong by
enty-five, and the Australian, Dutch, and our own action, not by maneuvers of other
Brazilian with about fifty. Finally, Naville groups. Naturally we can attract other inter­
reported that there were from ten to thirty mediary groups, but that would be inciden­
members of the Spanish affiliate and sixteen tal. The general line is our own development
in that of Mexico.20 . .. we have no reason to boast that we are
Isaac Deutscher has raised some ques­ strong, but we are what we are."22
tions about the supposed size of the various In the months preceding the Founding
national groups represented at the Septem­ Conference one of the strongest opponents
ber 1938 conference. Fie cited figures which of the proclamation of the Fourth Interna­
appeared in an s w p Internal Bulletin of the tional had been Georges Vereeken, one of
period claiming a membership of only r,ooo the principal leaders of Belgian Trotskyism.
and he noted that Dwight Macdonald He had written that "in our opinion, the
claimed in his memoirs that the swp had objective and subjective conditions neces­
only about eight hundred members.21 sary to take that historic step do not yet
In any case, it is clear that the new Inter­ exist. Our international organization does
national which was being brought into exis­ not yet have profound and solid roots in the
tence was by no means yet a "mass organi­ international proletariat. We have only fee­
zation." ble groups which, for the most part, are sepa­
rated from the working masses."
Vereeken asked the question, "What are
Issues and Resolutions the conditions which would permit taking
this supreme act?" and answered it:
The Question of Founding
the International For an international to be created, to live,
to develop and to become the historic in­
The small size of the organization sparked strument of the proletariat, it is necessary
what was apparently one of the two or three that it come from and be the product of
most warmly debated issues at the Founding the proletariat, and above all of the strug­
Conference, as it had been within some of gles against capitalism and its servants.
the organizations which were represented But, our international organization is far
there. That issue was whether or not to pro­ from that. It only consists of militants
claim at the meeting the formal existence thrown out of the Second and principally
of the Fourth International. Although the of the Third International. It is not a di­
vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the rect product of the struggles between cap­
action, it nonetheless had been a question ital and labor, but in great part, the prod­
which had been hotly debated before and uct of the struggle of tendencies within

1 Fourth International: Establishment 271

 the old degenerated workers organiza­ A number of delegates replied to the Pol­
tions, not a direct product of social strug­ ish arguments, notably Pierre Naville and
gles, but an indirect product.M Max Shachtman. According to the minutes
of the meeting Naville argued:
Vereeken was out of the movement by the
time of the Founding Conference. There the The historical analogies put forward by
principal opponents of founding the Interna­ Karl were all false. There was no analogy
tional were the members of the Polish dele­ whatever between the Fourth and the
gation. Subsequently, Isaac Deutscher, who other Internationals as regards the appro­
was not present at the meeting, claimed that priate moment for their proclamation.
he had been the author of the statements of The present was a unique political situa­
the Polish delegates against founding the tion which fully justified, the creation of
International at the September 1938 the Fourth. The real question was not
meeting.24 whether to proclaim the Fourth, but
Karl Hersz-Mendl (Sztokfisz), one of the whether the existingnational sections re­
two Polish delegates, first opposed the proc­ ally needed a definite international orga­
lamation of the Fourth International. He nization. The answer to this question was
was reported as saying that "one cannot dis­ that in fact it was absolutely necessary
cuss the question of the IV apart from the for the national sections to have a clearly
situation of the labor movement. The labor delimited international organization
movement is passing through a period of whatever size it might be. It was essential
disintegration and depression in the fascist to put an end to the present indeterminate
countries. In the democratic countries, the situation and to have a definite program,
Stalinist pressure is making the workers re­ a definite international leadership, and
treat. . . . " definite national sections.16
Hersz-Mendl went on to say that "the III
was created after the victory of the Russian Max Shachtman also argued against
revolution and with a great number of Com­ Hersz-Mendl's historical analogies. He
munist parties already formed. Even though noted, according to the minutes of the meet­
the Zimmerwaldian Left was stronger in ing, that "as for the Third, Lenin posed the
1919 than we are today, the Spartakists were question long before the Russian Revolu­
against the proclamation of the III Interna­ tion; he did not bring the proposal up at
tional. We don't have numerous organiza­ Zimmerwald because he hoped to win over
tions. The organizations have no mass in­ various vacillating and centrist groups. It
fluence, above all in the unions. . . . " was the same consideration which pre­
The Polish delegate concluded that "the vented us from proclaiming the Fourth in
future of all humanity depends on the IV 1936; it was still hoped to gain the centrist
International. One cannot create a fiction, organizations. Since 1936, however, all the
but only a true international. . . . It is the centrist organizations have either disinte­
proletariat which will create the IV Interna­ grated or evolved away from us. The path is
tional. It is necessary to enlighten the work­ thus clear for the proclamation of the
ers and prepare the movement. If we remain Fourth, and it is necessary to constitute it
a propaganda group, the workers will not definitely. "2? X.
demand much of us, but if we are an interna­ When the vote was finally taken the mo­
tional the workers will demand leadership tion to declare the Fourth International in
and we are not able to lead; they will be existence, was passed, nineteen to three.
disillusioned. . . . So long as the IV has no Only the French delegate Craipeau voted
mass parties, it cannot be proclaimed.. . ."2S with the two Poles.49

272 Fourth International: Establishment

 Implementing the Decision to Article thirteen provided that "the i e c has
Proclaim the Fourth International the right, after examination of and consulta­
tion with the interested parties, to pro­
The debate and vote on the proclamation of nounce the expulsion of sections or individ­
the existence of the new international was ual members of the Fourth International.
actually part of the discussion of the statutes Decisions of expulsion are executory, al­
of the organization. The vote on this general though the interested parties retain the right
issue was also nineteen in favor, with the of appeal before the International Con­
same three delegates voting against the ference."30
statutes. "19 The founding conference also elected the
The Statutes of the Fourth International first International Executive Committee. Its
were a relatively short document of only members were J. Rous, Pierre Naville, and
thirteen numbered articles. Article one pro­ Joannes Bardin (Boitel) of France; James P.
claimed the name of the organization to be Cannon, Max Shachtman, and one addi­
Fourth International (World Party of the So­ tional member to be named by the Political
cialist Revolution). Article four proclaimed Committee of the Socialist Workers Party
that "The internal structure of the Interna­ of the United States; Leon Lesoil and Walter
tional, on the local, national and world Dauge of Belgium; C. L. R. James and Denzil
scales, is determined by principles and prac­ Harbor from Great Britain; Julian from Italy;
tice of democratic centralism. The sections Karl Hersz-Mendl from Poland; Mario Pe­
are required to observe the decisions and drosa of Brazil Thu Thau of Indochina; and
resolutions of the International Conference, Leon Trotsky as a "secret member." There
and, in its absence, of the International Ex­ was also to be a youth representative to be
ecutive Committee represented during the named by a youth conference which was
intervals between its meetings by the Inter­ supposed to be held in the near future. The
national Secretariat—while nevertheless re­ vote on these names was unanimous.31
taining the right of appeal before the next Another organizational matter consisted
higher bodies until the next International of a series of resolutions concerning the in­
Conference." ternal situations of several of the affiliates
The Statutes provided that the Interna­ of the International. One of these congratu­
tional Conference should be held every two lated the British comrades on having
years, and the International Executive Com­ achieved unity in a single organization; an­
mittee of fifteen members should meet at other ordered the immediate unification of
least every three months. There was also the two Greek organizations represented at
provision for subsecretariats to be set up in the conference. A resolution on the situa­
various parts of the world to work under the tion in Poland ordered the Trotskyists there
general direction of the International Secre­ to withdraw from the Jewish Labor Bund
tariat. Sections were empowered to recall and form a separate organization; another
any of their members serving on the Interna­ called for the reorganization of the Mexican
tional Executive Committee with the ap­ section and condemned the policies of those
proval of a majority of i e c members. who had hitherto been leading it; still an­
It was provided that there could only be other noted reunification of the Canadian
one section in any country. Mergers of such Section and directed it to continue to work
sections with other groups seeking to enter within the Canadian Commonwealth Fed­
the International had to have the approval eration, that country's Second International
of the i e c . . . . All national sections were affiliate. Finally, a particularly harsh resolu­
required to pay regular monthly or quarterly tion condemned "the present state of disor­
dues to the International. ganization" in the French Section and laid

Fourth International: Establishment 273

 down lines for the reorientation of its activi­ of the Soviet regime and the Chinese Com­
ties. This was supplemented by a resolution munist Party. The resolution reviewed the
endorsing the decision of the French Trots­ old condemnation by the Trotskyists of the
kyists to exclude Raymond Molinier from policies of Stalin during the 1926-27 civil
their ranks.32 war in China and extended that condemna­
Another organizational question dealt tion to include the supposed "surrender" of
with by the conference was the establish­ the Chinese Communists, with Stalin's
ment of organizations complementary to backing, in the period of Chiang Kai-shek's
the Fourth International itself. One of those domination of China.
resolutions noted the extensive persecution The last two numbered paragraphs of the
of "revolutionists" by bourgeois and Stalin­ resolution (Numbers XXXI and XXXII) then
ist organizations and governments and spelled out the attitude to be adopted toward
called for establishment of national "relief the conflict then raging. The first of these
and defense organizations" by the various proclaimed that "having discovered in expe­
•sections, and the formation of an interna­ rience the utter bankruptcy and impotence
tional committee to coordinate their of the Kuomintang, the national bourgeoi­
work.33 Another resolution, ostensibly is­ sie, and, their Stalinist allies, the Chinese
sued by "the International Conference of masses will more and more incline to rely
the Youth of the Fourth International, Lau­ on their own organizations and their own
sanne, Switzerland," called for the rallying arms. They will look to the Bolshevik-Le­
of youth around the new International and ninists for leadership and rally under the
put forth a series of demands for adequate revolutionary standards of the Fourth Inter­
opportunities for work, nondiscriminatory national." This turn of events will presage
social legislation and expansion of educa­ a vast revolutionary upheaval encompassing
tional facilities.34 not only China, but Japan and the Japanese
colonies.36
Finally, paragraph thirty-two proclaimed:
The Sino-Japanese and
American Resolutions The perspectives outlined above obligate
the workers in all countries, and espe­
The Founding Conference of the Fourth In­
cially the revolutionary vanguard, to sup­
ternational adopted three programmatic res­
port China's struggle against Japan by all
olutions. By far the most significant and
possible means. The defeat of Japanese
long-lasting of these was the so-called Tran­
imperialism will not only open roads to
sitional Program. However, the other two,
the revolution in China and Japan but will
on the Sino-Japanese War and the "Thesis
encourage fresh waves of revolt in all the
on the World Role of American Imperial­
colonies of the imperialist powers. It will,
ism " were also important reflections of
moreover, remove a grave menace to the
Trotskyist thinking at the time of the formal
Soviet Union and stimulate the Soviet
establishment of the Fourth International.
proletariat to struggle against the coun­
The resolution on "The War in the Far
terrevolutionary Stalin regime. The inter­
East and the Revolutionary Perspectives"
national revolutionary campaign for aid
started out by proclaiming that the conflict
to China must proceed under the banner
between China and Japan "assumes the
of workers' sanctions-against Japan and
character of a war of liberation."35 Most of
find its full expression in the promotion
the twenty-page document consisted of
of the class struggle and the proletarian
analysis of the role of the ruling classes of
revolution.37
Japan, China, Great Britain, France, and the
United States in the struggle, as well as that The position of the United States in the

274 Fourth International: Establishment

 world at that time was considered of suffi­ eliminating or even moderating the con­
cient importance to be worth a separate res­ flicts among the European powers them­
olution. That document started by pointing selves" has caused "an enormous aggrava­
out that the United States, although work­ tion of the inter-European conflicts of the
ing everywhere to expand its imperialist in­ various powers. All of them are.being driven
fluence, operated differently in Latin irresistibly towards a new world war, some
America, Europe, and the Far East. in defense of their present share of the ra­
In Latin America, the resolution argued, tions to which America's power has reduced
the United States had been increasingly Europe, others in struggle for such an in­
dominant since the turn of the twentieth crease in their share as will contribute sub­
century. Using the Monroe Doctrine it had stantially towards resolving their interna]
fought against the influence particularly of contradictions. . . ."39
the formerly dominant British, and more re­ Insofar as the Far East is concerned, the
cently against growing penetration by Ger­ United States, as a late participant in the
many and Japan. struggle for power and influence, had fa­
The Roosevelt administration, the resolu­ vored the "open door," particularly insofar
tion argued, "despite all its bland preten­ as the exploitation of China was concerned.
sions, has made no real alteration in the The resolution saw the principal rival of the
imperialist tradition of its predecessors. . . . United States in the Asian area as still being
The 'good neighbor' policy is nothing but Great Britain, although for the time being it
the attempt to unify the Western Hemi­ supported British resistance to the militant
sphere under the hegemony of Washington, imperialism of Japan.40
as a solid bloc wielded by the latter in its However, "the question of the war be­
drive to close the door of the two American tween Japan and the United States for the
continents to all the foreign imperialist domination of the Pacific and the Far East
powers except itself."38 is . . . at the top of the order of the day.
In its relationship to Europe since the First Fearing the outcome of a war with the
World War, the U.S. had passed through United States at the present moment. . . .
three phases. In the first "it appeared as a Japan has been making desperate efforts to
brutal aggressor in defense of the vast fi­ placate the United States and drive a wedge
nancial interests acquired by the American between it and England, at least until her
ruling class in the outcome of the war, and position on the mainland has been consoli­
by virtue of its tremendous industrial-fi- dated."41
nancial-military power, it contributed the From this analysis, the resolution con­
decisive force required by the Allies for the cluded that "the struggle against American
crushing and prostrating of the Central Pow­ imperialism is therefore at the same time a
ers, especially Germany." struggle against the coming imperialist war
Then, "in the second stage, inaugurated and for the liberation of the oppressed colo­
by the defeat of the German proletariat at nial and semi-colonial peoples. Hence, it is
the end of 1933, the United States appeared inseparable from the class struggle of the
at once as the 'pacifier' of Europe and as the American proletariat against the ruling
greatest counter-revolutionary force. . . ." It bourgeoisie and cannot be conducted apart
demanded the disarmament of Europe so from it."42
that the Europeans would have the re­ The Founding Conference resolution pro­
sources available to repay their war debts to claimed that the Fourth International was
the United States. "for the immediate and unconditional inde­
Finally, "in the present, last stage of its pendence of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
intervention," the United States "far from the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, Samoa, and

1 Fourth International; Establishment 275

{
all other direct colonies, dependencies and historical period at that, a catastrophe
protectorates of American imperialism."43 threatens the whole culture of mankind.
It concluded by instructing its Latin Ameri­ The turn is now to the proletariat, i.e,
can sections to develop closer association chiefly to the revolutionary leadership."46
with the U.S. section and the struggle in the Trotsky then set forth his concept of a
United States for revolutionary change, and "transitional" program for the revolution­
advised the U.S. section to pay more atten­ ary epoch. He wrote that "the strategic
tion, through its press, demonstrations, and task of the next period—a prerevolution­
other means to the struggle of the workers ary period of agitation, propaganda, and or­
of the countries subjected to U.S. imperi­ ganization—consists in overcoming the
alism, and particularly to carry out propa­ contradiction between the maturity of the
ganda and organizational work among objective revolutionary conditions and the
people from those countries living in the immaturity of the proletariat''and its van­
United States.44 guard. . . . It is necessary to help the masses
in the process of the daily struggle to find
the bridge between present demands and the
The Transitional Program
socialist program of the revolution. This
By far the most important programmatic bridge should include a system of transi­
document passed by the Founding Confer­ tional demands, stemming from today's
ence of the Fourth International was the conditions and from today's consciousness
long resolution entitled "The Death Agony of wide layers of the working class and unal­
of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth terably leading to one final conclusion: the
International," more popularly known as conquest of power by the proletariat."47
"The Transitional Program," which had Trotsky noted that the social democratic
been drawn up by Trotsky himself. This doc­ parties had long had both "maximum" and
ument became the most fundamental state­ "minimum" programs but insisted that be­
ment of the position of International Trots­ tween these "no bridge existed." He then
kyism. went on to say that "the Fourth Interna­
The perspective from which the Transi­ tional does not discard the program of the
tional Program was written was that the old 'minimal' demands to the degree to
world revolution was imminent, and that which these have preserved at least part of
the Fourth International would "inevitably" their vital forcefulness.. . . But it carries on
lead that process. It started off with the this day-to-day work within the framework
statement that "the world political situa­ of the correct actual, that is, revolutionary
tion as a whole is chiefly characterized by perspective. Insofar as the old, partial, 'mini­
a historical crisis of the leadership of the mal' demands of the masses clash with the
proletariat." It then went on to claim that destructive and degrading tendencies of dec­
"the economic prerequisite for the proletar­ adent capitalism—and this occurs at each
ian revolution has already in general step—the Fourth International advances a
achieved the highest point of fruition that system of transitional demands, the es­
can be reached under capitalism. .. ."4S sence of which is contained in the fact that
Trotsky further reiterated that point: "All ever more openly and decisively they will
talk to the effect that historical conditions be directed against she very bases of the
have not yet 'ripened' for socialism is the bourgeois regime. . . ."4S
product of ignorance or conscious decep­ The first two transitional demands sug­
tion. The objective prerequisites for the pro­ gested by the document were those for "em­
letarian revolution have not only 'ripened;' ployment and decent living conditions for
they have begun to get somewhat rotten. all."49 These are to be achieved by further
Without a socialist revolution, in the next specific demands for sliding wage scales tied

276 Fourth International: Establishment

 to price increases, and "a sliding scale of sents the transitional state, because it in­
working hours," to spread the available cludes in itself two irreconcilable regimes:
work and assure full employment of all, but the capitalist and the proletarian. The fun­
without any reduction in wages. Trotsky damental significance of factory commit­
commented that "by means of this struggle, tees is precisely contained in the fact that
no matter what its immediate practical suc­ they open the doors if not to a direct revolu­
cesses may be, the workers will best come tionary, then to a prerevolutionary period—
to understand the necessity of liquidating between the bourgeois and the proletarian
capitalist slavery."50 regimes. .. . " S4
Trotsky declared that the members of the Trotsky's document emphasized that one
Fourth International would continue to of the purposes of the factory committees
work in all mass organizations, particularly should be to end "business secrets," and to
the existing unions, "for the purpose of insist on being told all of the financial de­
strengthening them and raising their spirit tails of the management of their respective
of militancy." He soundly denounced "sec­ enterprises. He explained that "the im­
tarian attempts to build or preserve small mediate tasks of workers' control should be
'revolutionary' unions, as a second edition to explain the debits and credits of society,
of the party," and declared that "self-isola­ beginning with individual business under­
tion of the capitulationist variety from mass takings; to determine the actual share of
trade unions, which is tantamount to a be­ the national income appropriated by indi­
trayal of the revolution, is incompatible vidual capitalists and by the exploiters as a
with membership in the Fourth Interna­ whole___ " 5S
tional."51 The "transitional" nature of the factory
However, not only did Trotsky's docu­ committees was emphasized by Trotsky. He
ment declare that the unions "cannot re­ said that "the working out of even the most
place the party," but that "as organizations elementary economic plan—from the point
expressive of the top layers of the proletar­ of view of the exploited, not the exploiters—
iat, trade unions . . . developed powerful is impossible without workers' control, that
tendencies toward compromise with the is, without the penetration of the workers'
bourgeois-democratic regime." As a conse­ eye into all open and concealed springs of
quence, "the sections of the Fourth Interna­ capitalist economy. Committees represent­
tional should always strive not only to re­ ing individual business enterprises should
new the top leadership of the trade unions, meet at conferences to choose correspond­
boldly and resolutely in critical moments ing committees of trusts, whole branches of
advancing new militant leaders in place of industry, economic regions and finally of
routine functionaries and careerists, but national industry as a whole. Thus, workers'
also to create in all possible instances inde­ control becomes a school for planned econ­
pendent militant organizations correspond­ omy." He added that "if the abolition of
ing more closely to the task of mass struggle business secrets be a necessary condition to
against bourgeois society. . . workers' control, then control is the first
The first such organization which step along the road to the socialist guidance
Trotsky proposed was the "factory commit­ of economy."56
tee." It would be "elected by all the factory At the same time that factory committees
employees," and would immediately estab­ were seeking to develop workers control,
lish "a counterweight to the will of the ad­ Trotsky asserted that "the socialist program
ministration."53 He observed that "from the of expropriation, i.e., of political overthrow
moment that the committee makes its ap­ of the bourgeoisie and liquidation of its eco­
pearance, a factual dual power is established nomic domination, should in no case during
in the factory. By its very essence it repre­ the present transitional period hinder us

i Fourth International: Establishment 277

t
from advancing, when the occasion war­ controversy among Trotsky's followers dur­
rants, the demand for the expropriation of ing the nearly half-century following the
several key branches of industry vital for adoption of that program by the founding
national existence or of the most parasitic conference of the Fourth International. One
group of the bourgeoisie." Most particularly, of these was the "Workers and Farmers Gov­
the nationalization of the banking system ernment" formula presented in the doc­
must be sought because "only the expropria­ ument.
tion of the private banks and the concentra­ Trotsky was anxious in the Transitional
tion of the entire credit system in the hands Program to differentiate between the way
of the state will provide the latter with the he and his followers might use the term and
necessary actual, i.e., material resources— the way in which the Stalinists were pre­
and not merely paper and bureaucratic re­ senting it. He noted that it was first used by
sources—for economic planning."57 the Bolsheviks in 19 17 but that then "it
Trotsky was apparently very impressed represented nothing more than the popular
with the revolutionary potential of the sit- designation for the already established dic­
down strikes which had occurred in France tatorship of the proletariat."59
in 1936 and in the United States a year later. Trotsky argued that "the slogan, 'workers'
He commented that "sit-down strikes are a and farmers' government' is thus acceptable
serious warning from the masses addressed to us only in the sense that it had in 1917
not only to the bourgeoisie but also to the with the Bolsheviks, i.e., as an anti-bour­
organizations of the workers, including the geois and anti-capitalist slogan, but in no
Fourth International. . . . The present crisis case in the 'democratic' sense which later
can sharpen the class struggle to an extreme the epigones gave it, transforming it from a
point and bring nearer the moment of de­ bridge to the socialist revolution into the
nouement. But that does not mean that a chief barrier upon its path."60
revolutionary situation comes on at one At various times in the future this inter­
stroke. Actually, its approach is signalized pretation of the "workers' and farmers gov­
by a continuous series of convulsions. One ernment" was to become an issue of dispute
of these is the wave of sit-down strikes.. . ." among Trotsky's followers. One faction or
He tied in another transitional demand to another within the movement accused its
the sit-down strike situation, arguing that rivals of regarding the slogan as an interme­
the employers are "nowhere satisfied with diary concept different from the dictatorship
official police and army" and so establish of the proletariat rather than synonymous
their own private armed groups. Therefore with it.
"in connection with every strike and street Another aspect of this part of the Transi­
demonstration, it is imperative to propagate tional Program also became a matter of con­
the necessity for creating workers groups troversy in the Trotskyist ranks after World
of self-defense. It is necessary to write this War II. Trotsky posed the question of
slogan into the program of the revolutionary whether "the traditional workers' organiza­
wing of the trade unions. It is imperative tions" could possibly bring into existence
wherever possible, beginning with the the kind of "workers and peasants govern­
youth groups, to organize groups for self- ment" which the Trotskyists advocated. He
defense, to drill and acquaint them with the thought it unlikely, bi*t said that "one can­
use of arms."58 not categorically deny in advance the theo­
retical possibility that, under the influence
"Workers and Farmers Government" of completely exceptional circumstances
There were several elements in the Transi­ . . . the petty-bourgeois parties including the
tional Program which became subjects of Stalinists may go further than they them­

278 Fourth International: Establishment

selves wish along the road to a break with was its discussion of the situation in "colo­
the bourgeoisie."61 nial and semi-colonial" countries. These
In the 1950s Michel Pablo, then the head countries, Trotsky proclaimed, "are back­
of the International Secretariat of the Fourth ward by their very essence," but "are part of
International, was to argue that the Stalinist a world dominated by imperialism." As a
parties then in power in various countries result, "their development, therefore, has a
were being forced to "go further than they combined character: the most primitive
themselves" wished to go "along the road economic forms are combined with the last
to a break with the bourgeoisie." On the word in capitalist technique and culture."
basis of this analysis, he developed policies As a consequence, "the struggle for the most
which split the Fourth International. The elementary achievements of national inde­
protagonists of the Castro regime within the pendence and bourgeois democracy is com­
ranks of International Trotskyism made a bined with the socialist struggle against
somewhat similar analysis in defending the world imperialism. Democratic slogans,
evolution of a "workers state" in Cuba. transitional demands and the problems of
However, in 1938 Trotsky argued that as the socialist revolution are not divided into
the revolutionary situation developed the separate historical epochs in this struggle,
factory committees and other spontaneous but stem directly from one another/'
organizations established by the workers Trotsky argued that the "central tasks" in
"will soon begin to feel their lack of cohe­ those countries were the agrarian revolution
sion and their insufficiency. Not any of the and national independence. "Both tasks are
traditional demands can be fully met under closely linked." To illustrate his argument,
the conditions of preserving the bourgeois Trotsky said that it was appropriate in those
regime."62 countries for the revolutionaries to put for­
The upshot of this would be the formation ward the "slogan for a National (or Constit­
of soviets. Trotsky argued that "soviets can uent) Assembly." Under this slogan the
arise only at the time when the mass move­ workers could mobilize the support of the
ment enters into an openly revolutionary peasantry. But, "then, at a certain stage in
stage." They would "unite the representa­ the mobilization of the masses under the
tives of all the fighting groups. . . . They slogans of revolutionary democracy, soviets
throw open their doors to all the exploited. can and should arise. Their historical role in
Through these doors pass representatives of each given period, particularly their relation
all strata, drawn into the general current of to the National Assembly, will be deter­
the struggle.. . . All political currents of the mined by the political level of the proletar­
proletariat can struggle for leadership of the iat, the bond between them and the peas­
soviets on the basis of the widest democ­ antry, and the character of the proletarian
racy. The slogan of soviets, therefore, party policies. Sooner or later, the soviets
crowns the program of transitional de­ should overthrow bourgeois democracy.
mands."63 Only they are capable of bringing the demo­
cratic revolution to a conclusion and like­
wise opening an era of socialist revo­
Backward Countries and
lution."64
Combined Development
Another element of the Transitional Pro­
“ The Struggle Against Imperialism
gram, which was to be used by the Trotsky­
and War”
ists to differentiate themselves from the Sta­
linists and sometimes became a subject of Considerable attention was turned in the
controversy within the Trotskyist ranks, Transitional Program to the threat of war

Fourth International: Establishment 279

I
and the way in which the Fourth Interna­ the international class struggle. . . ." Fur­
tional should confront it. After condemning thermore, "in supporting the colonial coun­
both the "collective security" ideas and the try or the USSR in a war, the proletariat does
pacifism popular in different circles at the not in the slightest degree solidarize either
time, the program listed a number of specific with the bourgeois government of the colo­
positions Fourth Internationalists should nial country or with the Thermidorian bu­
advocate. These included complete opposi­ reaucracy of the USSR."66
tion to expenditures on armaments, "com­ This position was to give rise to consider­
plete abolition of secret diplomacy," "m ili­ able confusion in Trotskyist ranks during
tary training and arming of workers and World War II. In France and Belgium in par­
farmers under direct control of workers and ticular, after those countries were overrun
farmers committees," and various others. by the Nazis, there was a tendency on the
The program then put forward the basic part of some Trotskyists to equate their
position of the Fourth International with countries with the "semi-colonial" group,
regard to the coming war: "The imperialist worthy of the workers' support against Nazi
bourgeoisie dominates the world. In its basic imperialism. Even in the United States and
character the approaching war will therefore Great Britain the Trotskyists sometimes
be an imperialist war. The fundamental con­ found it difficult to combine support for the
tent of the politics of the international prole­ Soviet Union and opposition to the war be­
tariat will consequently be a struggle against ing waged in alliance with the Soviet Union.
imperialism and its war. In this struggle, the
basic principle is: 'the chief enemy is in your
The Russian Question
own country,' or 'the defeat of your own
(imperialist) government is the lesser The section of the Transition Program deal­
evil."65 ing with the Soviet Union generally adopted
However, since all regimes were not im­ what had by then become the traditional
perialist, the military struggle of the colo­ Trotskyist position. It stated that "The
nial and semicolonial countries "will be not USSR . . . embodies terrific contradictions.
imperialist but liberating. It would be the But it still remains a degenerated workers'
duty of the international proletariat to aid state. Such is the social diagnosis. The polit­
the oppressed countries in their war against ical prognosis has an alternative character:
oppressors. The same duty applies in regard either the bureaucracy, becoming ever more
to aiding the USSR, or whatever other work­ the organ of the world bourgeoisie in the
ers government might arise before the war workers' state, will overthrow the new
or during the war." forms of property and plunge the country
The program insisted, however, that "the back to capitalism, or the working class will
workers of imperialist countries . . . cannot crush the bureaucracy and open the way to
help an anti-imperialist country through socialism."
their own government no matter what Considerable attention was devoted to the
might be the diplomatic and military rela­ Moscow Trials which, the program said
tions between the two countries at a given "came not as a surprise and not as a result
moment." Even if a particular imperialist of the personal madness of the Kremlin dic­
regime was temporarily an ally of an anti- tator, but as the legitimate offspring of the
imperialist one, the proletariat of the impe­ Thermidor. They grew out of the unbearable
rialist country "continues to remain in class conflicts within the Soviet bureaucracy
opposition to its own government and sup­ itself. . . . " 67
ports the nonimperialist 'ally' through its The Transitional Program gave a broad
own methods, i.e., through the methods of view of the nature of the' "political revolu­

280 Fourth International: Establishment

tion" which the Fourth International sought the crisis. They offer a program based on
in the Soviet Union. It postulated that “a international experience in the struggle of
fresh upsurge of the revolution in the USSR the proletariat and of all the oppressed of the
will undoubtedly begin under the banner of world for liberation. They offer a spotless
the struggle against social inequality and banner. Workers—men and women—of all
political oppression.. . . The struggle for the countries, place yourselves under the ban­
freedom of the trade unions and the factory ner of the Fourth International. It is the ban­
committees, for the right of assembly and ner of your approaching victory! " 69
freedom of the press, will unfold in the
struggle for the regeneration and develop­
The gpu and the Fourth International
ment of Soviet democracy."
in the 1930s
Specifically, the Transitional Program
proclaimed that "as once the bourgeoisie Before proceeding with a discussion of the
and kulaks were not permitted to enter the further history of the Fourth International
soviets, so now it is necessary to drive the it is necessary to relate and comment upon
bureaucracy and the new aristocracy out of the efforts of the Soviet Secret Police, then
the soviets. In the soviets there is room only known as the g p u , to penetrate the highest
for representatives of the workers, rank-and- circles of the movement. This subject be­
file collective fanners, peasants, and Red came a matter of great controversy within
Army men." the movement many years later when much
Becoming more specific than most previ­ of what was discussed was quite aside from
ous Fourth International documents on how the point. However, there did lie behind this
the proposed democratization was to be as­ controversy a certain amount of reality.
sured, the Transitional Program proclaimed It is clear, to start with, that Stalin was
that "democratization of the soviets is im­ very much preoccupied with the persistence
possible without legalization of soviet par­ of Trotsky as the principal alternative to
ties. The workers and peasants themselves himself as leader of the Russian Revolution
by their own free vote will indicate what and was perhaps unduly impressed with the
parties they recognize as soviet parties." potentialities of the movement which
Finally, the section of the program dealing Trotsky was trying to build. The numerous
with the USSR called for reorganization of murders of Trotskyist leaders during the late
the planned economy "in the interests of 1930s, culminating in the assassination of
the producers and consumers," and of the Trotsky in August 1940, is proof enough of
collective farms "in the interests of the this fact.
workers there engaged."6® Under those circumstances, it is under­
standable that Stalin was anxious to pene­
trate the movement led by Trotsky to the
Peroration
greatest degree possible. He was particularly
The Transitional Program adopted by the anxious to know what was going on in the
Founding Conference of the Fourth Interna­ highest circles of movement, and perhaps to
tional on September 3, 1938, ended with a influence the attitudes and activities of the
peroration about the International itself. In International Secretariat and the Interna­
its conclusion this section of the document tional Executive Committee of what after
returned to the theme with which it began: September 3, 1938, was officially the Fourth
"The present crisis in human culture is the International.
crisis in the proletarian leadership. The ad­ At various times there were at least four
vanced workers, united in the Fourth Inter­ people who were associated with the top
national, show their class the way out of leadership of the international Trotskyist

Fourth International: Establishment 281

movement who were certainly, or almost which was indicated by his masters of the
certainly, g p u agents at the same time. Soviet bureaucracy."72
These were Pavel Okin, also known as M. Jean van Heijenoort had no doubts about
Mill and Jacques Obin; Abraham and Ruvim the g p u affiliation of the Sobolevicius broth­
Sobolevicius, known in Trotskyist circles as ers. Of them, he says, "Abraham and Ruvim
Abraham Senin and Roman Well; and Mark Sobolevicius were Lithuanian Jews who, un­
Zborowski, who was known within the der the names of Abraham Senin and Roman
Trotskyist movement as Etienne. All of Well, appeared on the scene as members of
these men were Russian-speaking, which the German Trotskyite group in Leipzig in
was the basis of their gaining the confidence 1929. As is now known, they were then
of Trotsky and his son Leon Sedov. agents of the g p u recruited and trained in
Jean van Heijenoort has written about the 1927. . . . The Sobolevicius brothers rose
first of these, that rapidly in the international organization.
Well undertook responsibility for the circu­
Paul Okun, also known as Obin, was a
lation of the Bulletin of the Opposition in
Jew from the southern Ukraine, living as
Germany. Leon Sedov (Liova) soon came to
a refugee in Brussels, who had displayed
rely on Well for the circulation of the journal
Trotskyist sympathies. Though he did
in Russia itself and in the bordering coun­
not go to live in Prinkipo, he was soon
tries, which was far more serious. The two
intimately involved with the work of the
brothers participated in the leadership of the
International Secretariat. Raymond Moli-
German Trotskyite group and in the work
nier arranged for him to come to Paris at
of the International Secretariat."73
the beginning of December 1930. He took
Van Heijenoort argued that the Sobolevi­
the name of Mill. . . . Although Obin did
cius brothers, like Mill, tried through in­
not settle in Prinkipo as a secretary to
tense factional activity to weaken both the
Trotsky, Raymond Molinier took him
German and International Trotskyist orga­
there for a visit of several weeks. 1 heard
nizations. With regard to the German move­
that Trotsky was fond of exchanging
ment, he said that "many reasons can be
childhood memories in Russian with
cited'' for the weakness of that group, "but
Mill. Toward the middle of 1932, Obin
it may well be that the deceitful intrigues of
entered into negotiations with the Soviet
the Sobolevicius brothers were an important
Embassy in Paris to return to Russia. He
factor."74
received permission to go back and live
Trotsky apparently did not suspect the
in Kharkov, where he had relatives. Who
g p u connections of the Sobolevicius broth­
was he—turncoat or spy?70
ers. Isaac Deutscher noted that after the de­
Isaac Deutscher, who mistakenly identi­ fection of Mill from the International Secre­
fied Mill as an "American," seemed less tariat, "Trotsky then sought to overhaul it
doubtful than Jean van Heijenoort about the with the help of Senin-Sobolevicius and
man's real identity. He commented that Well."75Later, Deutscher noted that an open
"M ill was presently exposed as a Stalin­ break between them and Trotsky occurred
ist."71 Georges Vereeken was also convinced in December 1932, when Senin "moved a
that while associated with the International motion dissociating the International Secre­
Secretariat Mill was already a Stalinist tariat of the Oppositiomfrom one of Trots­
agent. He insisted that Mill contributed sub­ ky's sharp attacks on Stalin." Deutscher
stantially to widening the split between said that "even now Trotsky suspected no
Leon Trotsky and Alfred Rosmer which cul­ foul play, but thought that Senin was yield­
minated late in 1930 with Rosmer's leaving ing to 'the party's puli' and that this might
the Trotskyist movement. Vereeken com­ lead him to capitulation. . . . He evidently
mented that in this "he thus played the role regretted losing an intelligent and helpful

282 Fourth International: Establishment

 follower; but the break was accomplished of his relationship with Leon Sedov. Albert
and soon Senin disappeared from Trotsky's Glotzer met him in 1934 in Sedov's office
horizon."76 Only after the first Moscow in the International Secretariat in Paris. He
Trial, according to van Heijenoort, did recalled that during several meetings with
Trotsky come to suspect that "the brothers Sedov, Etienne was always present, but
Well and Senin" might have been g p u spies since he spoke only French and Russian and
in the Trotskyist ranks.77 Glotzer spoke neither, the two men never
The identity of the Sobolevicius brothers conversed. Nonetheless, at each meeting
became clear in the 1950s. Roman Well, by Zborowski was able to overhear the conver­
then known as Robert Soblen, was involved sation. Glotzer was told at the time that
in the Rosenberg atomic espionage case in Zborowski was a member of the French Sec­
1950 and received a thirty-year jail sentence, tion, edited the Russian Bulletin, and was a
of which he served eighteen years. His close friend of Sedov.31
brother, Abraham, by then going under the Zborowski was thought to be implicated
name Jack Soblen, was also arrested in the in the deaths of several of the Trotskyist
United States in 1957 and received a seven- leaders who died at the hands of the g p u .
year jail sentence as a Soviet espionage Jean van Heijenoort noted, with regard to
agent.78 Leon Sedov's fatal decision when he fell ill
The case of Mark Zborowski was, how­ to go to a Russian clinic "which in Paris
ever, the most serious of all. After the rise in 1938 could only have been staffed with
of Hitler to power, Leon Sedov moved from White Russians and Stalinist agents," that
Berlin to Paris and was for the next five years "Zborowski could hardly have failed to
the most important figure in the Interna­ strengthen him in this decision." Van Heije­
tional Secretariat. During most of that time noort noted that Zborowski "is today
Zborowski was his closest associate, and known to have been a Stalinist spy."82
continued after Sedov's death to be a key Isaac Deutscher suggested the possibility
figure in the International Secretariat. that Zborowski was also associated with the
Jean van Heijenoort has said that "Zbo­ murder of Rudolf Klement. Speculating on
rowski had found his way to Liova through the reasons for the g p u ' s deciding to get rid
the French Trotskyite group. He had joined of Klement, Deutscher asked, "Had he re­
the group after presenting himself as a stu­ cently come into possession of some impor­
dent with sympathies for Trotskyism. When tant g p u secret? Had he been on the track
Jeannie learned that he knew Russian, she of their agent provocateur, perhaps about
introduced him to Liova."79 to unmask him . . . ?" Here and elsewhere,
Zborowski's modus operandi was much Deutscher used the phrase agent provoca­
different from that of the Sobolevicius teur to refer to Zborowski.83
brothers, who played the role of leaders in In retrospect, an American who was one
the German section and in the International of the last people to see Klement alive also
Secretariat. Van Heijenoort observed that suspected that Zborowski was probably the
"m y definite impression is that Zborowski person who got rid of him. Emanuel Gelt-
never asked Liova a question that could pro­ man, then in Paris in connection with prepa­
voke a political discussion of any sort or lead ratory work for the Founding Conference,
even to a serious conversation on a serious attended a meeting at which Zborowski and
topic. He was obliging, always willing to Klement were both present. Geltman
fulfill the tasks with which Liova entrusted walked some distance with these two after
him. There was nothing you could grapple the meeting broke up and finally Zborowski
with in him, except his insignificance."80 and Klement went off together. Geltman
An American acquaintance of Zborowski- noted that Klement was never seen alive
Etienne had somewhat the same impression again, and that his body was found, grue­

Fourth International: Establishment 283

somely butchered; in the Seine several days of Rudolf Klement, Erwin Wolf and Walter
later.84 Held. He also professed to have had nothing
Geltman was also convinced that Zbo- to do with the selection of the White Rus­
rowski arranged for the murder of Ignaz Re­ sian clinic where Leon Sedov died under
iss, the g p u agent who defected to the Trots­ mysterious circumstances after an appendi­
kyists. Georges Vereeken had the same citis operation; nor, he claimed, did he in­
suspicion.85 form the g p u of Sedov's whereabouts.
Zborowski survived to migrate to the By the time that the Founding Conference
United States, where he gained some fame of the Fourth International met, Zborowski
as an anthropologist. In September 1955, for­ was already suspected by some of those asso­
mer g p u General Alexander Orlov testified ciated with him of being a g p u agent. Hen­
before the Internal Security Subcommittee drik Sneevliet had publicly accused him, a
of the United States Senate concerning fact which Zborowski duly reported to
Zborowski's having been a g p u agent, not­ Trotsky.89
ing that he had been considered of sufficient About this same time, Trotsky had re­
importance for the g p u to keep Stalin per­ ceived direct (although anonymous) evi­
sonally informed of his activities.86 Five dence of the fact that Zborowski was a g p u
months later, Zborowski himself testified agent. Alexander Orlov, who had been chief
before the same Senate committee. He ad­ g p u agent in Spain and defected to the

mitted that he had been a g p u agent during United States, reaching there in August
the period of his association with Leon 1938, wrote Trotsky a letter from Philadel­
Sedov and the International Secretariat, al­ phia dated September 27, 1938, warning him
though he sought to downplay the impor­ about Zborowski. However, Orlov did not
tance of his role. Neither the senators on the identify himself in the letter.
committee nor Robert Morris, their counsel, Perhaps because of the anonymous nature
had sufficient interest in International of the information he received, Trotsky ap­
Trotskyism, apparently, to push Zborowski pears to have taken no action on the basis
very hard on the subject.87 of it. Yet the identification of Zborowski
After his denunciation by Orlov, Zborow­ could hardly have been clearer. Orlov wrote
ski sought out three old Paris acquaintances that "this agent provocateur has for a long
then living in the United States, David and time been the collaborator of your son Leon
Lola Dallin and Elsa Reiss, the widow of the Sedov."
g p u agent Ignaz Reiss, who had defected to Orlov said that he was not sure of the last
the Trotskyists and then been murdered by name of the man involved, but that his first
his ex-comrades of the Soviet secret police. name was Mark. Orlov went on: "He was
Zborowski sought to "explain" his actions literally the shadow of Sedov; he informed
as a g p u agent. He submitted himself to an the Cheka of every step of Sedov, even his
extensive interrogation by his three former personal activities and correspondence,
Paris acquaintances, on which David Dallin which the Provocateur reads with his ap­
took extensive notes.88 proval. This provocateur has won the total
Both in his senate testimony and his dis­ confidence of your son and he knows
cussion with the Dallins and Mrs. Reiss, through him all about the activities of your
Zborowski specifically claimed "not to re­ organization. Thanks ta.him, many Chek-
member" having given the g p u information ists have been decorated. This provocateur
about three people with the deaths of whom worked until 1938 in the archives of the
his Trotskyist former friends suspected that Institute of the well-known Menshevik Ni-
he was involved, and who certainly died at kolaievsky in Paris and perhaps still works
the hands of the g p u . These were the cases there. It is this Mark who stole a part of your

284 fourth International: Establishment

archives from the apartment of Nicolaiev- The Fourth International:
sky. . . . These documents have been trans­
ferred to Moscow. . . . This agent provoca­ The Fourth International
teur is between thirty-two and thirty-five During World War II
years of age. He is a Jew, bom in the Russian
part of Poland, writes Russian well. He
wears glasses. He is married and he has a
baby."90
Apparently the suspicions about Zbo­
rowski were sufficiently great that his
Trotskyist associates did not want to con­ The Founding Conference of the Fourth In­
tinue him in his role in the leadership of the ternational (f i ), in view of the likelihood
Fourth International. According to Rodol- that a new world war would break out
phe Prager, Zborowski was brought to the shortly, had provided that the International
Founding Conference at the last minute and should be prepared for that eventuality. It
attended its sessions. However, when he had decided that when the conflict com­
suggested that he ought to be a member of menced the headquarters should be trans­
the International Executive Committee ferred to the United States, and that a Resi­
elected at the September 3, 1938, meeting, dent International Executive Committee
as a representative of the Russian Section, ( i e c ) should be established there to direct it.1

his suggestion was rejected.91

If Mark Zborowski and the g p u had the The New York Secretariat
objective of preventing the formal establish­
ment of a Trotskyist Fourth International,
Problems of the Resident IEC
they certainly did not succeed in doing so.
However, they almost certainly did contrib­ In conformity with this decision the seat of
ute to making it a less potent and extensive the Fourth International was shifted from
organization than it might otherwise have Paris to New York City soon after the war
been. broke out. The Secretariat of the Interna­
tional held its first meeting in New York in
September 1939. Those attending, according
to the minutes of the session were Mario
Pedrosa (Lebrun) of Brazil, Jan Frankel (An­
ton) of Czechoslovakia, Max Shachtman
(Trent), C. L. R. James (Johnson), James Can­
non (Martel), and Sam Gordon (Stuart). Ab­
sent members of the International Execu­
tive Committee included Albert Goldman
(Fauchois), who was in Paris, Oskar Fischer
(Schussler), and Leon Trotsky (O'Brien or
Cruz).1
The new Resident International Execu­
tive Committee, named soon afterward to
direct the affairs of the El, consisted of four
people: Max Shachtman of the Socialist
Workers Party of the United States; Mario
Pedrosa, a founder of Brazilian Trotskyism;
Jan Frankel, an original Czech Trotskyist

Fourth International: World War II 285

 and one-time secretary of Leon Trotsky; and swp and the Mexican and Canadian Sections
C. L. R. James, a native of Trinidad, one of of the International, and was officially en­
the early leaders of British Trotskyism, who dorsed by Trotsky, Fischer, Cannon, and
had recently moved to the United States.3 Dunne.7
It was also provided that other members
of the International Executive Committee
elected at the Founding Conference should The 1940 Emergency Conference
be "consulted" on important issues. The
only ones who proved to be available for The Emergency Conference met in New
consultation were James Cannon and Vin­ York City May 19-26, 1940. It was claimed
cent Dunne of the swp, the German Oskar that there were "mandated representatives"
Fischer, and Trotsky.4 from the United States, Canadian, Mexican,
The members of the Resident i e c were Spanish, Belgian, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Ger­
supposed to serve as the Secretariat of the man, Australian, and Chilean sections, and
International. In addition, Sam Gordon of that "statements" were received from those
the s w p was assigned to be "administrative of Argentina and Uruguay.8 It met at a'time
secretary" for the Resident i e c .5 when the German armies had already over­
Subsequently, the members of the Resi­ run Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Nether­
dent International Executive Committee lands and were rapidly breaking the back­
were severely criticized by the Emergency bone of the French army in the Battle of
Conference of the International held in May France.
1940. It was alleged that "they not only did The Emergency Conference had several
not see to it that meetings were held and purposes. One was to adopt a position for the
questions of international discipline or of International on the latest developments of
international aid in moderating the struggle the war. Another was to receive reports on
in the s w p were taken up, but on the con­ the status of the various affiliates of the or­
trary, they failed to respond when called to ganization in view of the latest turn of
order by the administrative secretary of the events. Finally, and of most immediate im­
committee whose selection they unani­ portance for the organization, the confer­
mously endorsed." ence had to replace the members of the Resi­
Even more serious than these charges was dent International Executive Committee
the fact that the four members of the Resi­ who had defected as a result of the Shacht­
dent International Executive Committee manite split in the Socialist Workers Party
sided with the dissidents within the s w p of of the United States.
the United States in the 1939-40 factional Trotsky, although unable to be physically
struggle. The same "statement" of the present, presented in writing what was des­
Emergency Conference already cited said tined to be his last programmatic statement.
that "when the danger of split threatened This was the manifesto entitled "The Impe­
the s w p , they took sides with the splitters rialist War and the Proletarian World Revo­
and joined them in the unheard of proposi­ lution," issued by the conference.
tion of allowing a group within the Interna­ The document started by noting that
tional to issue a public organ with a line "Germany has unloosed all the furies of hell
of policy contrary to the principles of the in a major offensive to->which the Allies are
Fourth International."6 replying in kind with all their forces of de­
In view of this situation, those opposed to struction," and noted that "the Fourth Inter­
the Resident International Executive Com­ national considers that now is the time to
mittee arranged for the summoning of an say openly and clearly how it views this war
emergency conference of the Fourth Interna­ and its participants, how it evaluates the
tional. That conference was called by the war policies of various labor organizations,

286 Fourth International: World War II

 and most important, what is the way out to fire first. . . . The real struggle against war
peace, freedom and plenty." means the class struggle against imperial­
The manifesto declared that the Fourth ism and a merciless exposure of petty-bour­
International was not directing its message geois pacifism." On this point it concluded
to "the governments who have dragooned that "only revolution could prevent the
the peoples into the slaughter," or to bour­ American bourgeoisie from intervening in
geois politicians or the "labor bureaucracy" the second imperialist war or beginning the
but to "the working men and women, the third imperialist war. All other methods are
soldiers and sailors, the ruined peasants and either charlatanism or stupidity or a combi­
to the enslaved peoples." It proclaimed that nation of both."12
the Fourth International had no connections The Fourth International document re­
with the government, the bourgeoisie, or jected "both the defense of the fatherland
the labor bureaucrats, but was "the world and the struggle for democracy" as Allied
party of the toilers, the oppressed, and the justifications for the war. It likewise com­
exploited."9 mented that "Hitler's official slogans in gen­
After sketching the history of capitalism eral do not warrant examination."13
between the two world wars and particu­ The manifesto emphasized the Fourth In­
larly the impact of the world Depression the ternational's determination to defend the
manifesto claimed that "in order to enrich Soviet Union in its own way. In contrast to
themselves further, the capitalists are de­ Trotsky's earlier strong defense of the
stroying and laying waste to everything cre­ USSR's attack on Finland, it said that "The
ated by the labor of centuries."10 It asserted invasion of Finland unquestionably aroused
that "contrary to the official fables designed on the part of the Soviet populace profound
to drug the people, the chief cause of war condemnation," but added that "the ad­
as of all other social evils—unemployment, vanced workers understood that the crimes
the high cost of living, fascism, colonial op­ of the Kremlin oligarchy do not strike off
pression—is the private ownership of the the agenda the question of the existence of
means of production together with the bour­ the USSR. Its defeat in the world war would
geois state which rests on this foundation." signify not merely the overthrow of the to­
It concluded that "the immediate cause of talitarian bureaucracy but the liquidation of
the present war is the rivalry between the the new forms of property, the collapse of
old wealthy colonial empires, Great Britain the first experiment in planned economy,
and France, and the belated imperialist plun­ and the transformation of the entire country
derers, Germany and Italy."11 into a colony. . .. Neither the people of the
The manifesto saw the United States as USSR nor the world working class as a
emerging as the most powerful capitalist whole care for such an outcome."14
country, and as inevitably confronting Ger­ The document added that "the Fourth In­
many and Japan. It contrasted Roosevelt's ternational can defend the USSR only by the
position of favoring help to the European methods of revolutionary class struggle. . . .
Allies with that of the isolationists, equally While waging a tireless struggle against the
.concerned with the hegemony of the United Moscow oligarchy, the Fourth International
States in world capitalism but favoring, it decisively rejects any policy that would aid
claimed, confrontation first with the Japa­ imperialism against the USSR. The defense
nese. It observed that "our struggle against of the USSR coincides in principle with the
United States intervention into the war has preparation of the world proletarian revolu­
nothing in common with isolationism and tion."15 It called for "the revolutionary over­
pacifism. . . . The dispute within the ruling throw of Stalin's Bonapartist clique."16
class involves only the question of when to The Fourth International went on to pro­
enter the war and against whom to level the claim that "by its very creation of enormous

Fourth International: World War II 287

 difficulties and dangers for the imperialist are fused, the more the epoch of bloody
metropolitan centers, the war opens up wide convulsions will be shortened, the less
possibilities for the oppressed peoples. The destruction will our planet suffer. But the
rumbling of cannon in Europe heralds the great historical problem will not be solved
approaching hour of their liberation."17 in any case until a revolutionary party
After special reference to the situations in stands at the head of the proletariat. . . .
China, India and Latin America, the mani­ The conclusion is a simple one: it is nec­
festo noted that "the perspective of the per­ essary to carry on the work of educating
manent revolution in no case signifies that and organizing the proletarian vanguard
the backward countries must await the sig­ with ten-fold energy. Precisely in this lies
nal from the advanced ones, or that the colo­ the task of the Fourth International.19
nial peoples should patiently wait, for the
The perspective of the Fourth Interna­
proletariat of the metropolitan centers to
tional was a bright one, according to the
free them. . . . Workers must develop the
manifesto of the Emergency Conference:
revolutionary struggle in every country, co­
"The Fourth International in numbers and
lonial or imperialist, where favorable condi­
especially in preparation possesses infinite
tions have been established, and through
advantages over its predecessors at the be­
this set an example for the workers of other
ginning of the last war. The Fourth Interna­
countries."18
tional is the direct heir of Bolshevism in its
After an extensive survey of the historical
flower. The Fourth International has ab­
inadequacies of the Second and Third Inter­
sorbed the tradition of the October Revolu­
nationals (and even of the anarchists), the
tion and has transmuted into theory the ex­
document proclaimed that "the Fourth In­
perience of the richest historical period
ternational is the only organization that cor­
between the two imperialist wars. It has
rectly predicted the general course of world
faith in itself and its future."20
events, that anticipated the inevitability of
In a peroration this document set down
a new imperialist catastrophe and exposed
the line which in fact the Fourth Interna­
the pacifist frauds of the bourgeois demo­
tionalists were to follow in the next five
crats and the petty-bourgeois adventurers of
years:
the Stalinist school, that fought against the
policy of class collaboration.. . . The Fourth At the same time we do not forget for a
International builds its program upon the moment that this war is not our war. In
granite theoretical foundations of Marxism. contradistinction to the Second and Third
. . . Our program is formulated in a series of Internationals, the Fourth International
documents accessible to everyone. The gist builds its policy not on the military for­
of it can be summed up in two words: prole­ tunes of the capitalist states but on the
tarian dictatorship." transformation of the imperialist war into
The document set forth a long-range per­ a war of the workers against the capital­
spective for the Fourth International. It said: ists, on the overthrow of the ruling classes
of all countries, on the world revolution.
The capitalist world has no way out, un­ .. . Independently of the course of the
less a prolonged death agony is so consid­ war, we fulfill our basic task: we explain
ered. It is necessary to prepare for long to the workers the irreconcilability be­
years, if not decades, of war, uprisings, tween their interests and'the interests of
brief interludes of truce, new wars, and bloodthirsty capitalism; we mobilize the
new uprisings. A young revolutionary toilers against imperialism; we propagate
party must base itself on this perspective. the unity of the workers in all warring
. . . The swifter the ranks of the vanguard and neutral countries; we call for the frat­

288 Fourth International: World War II

 ernization of workers and soldiers with­ Soon after the Emergency Conference,
in each country, and of soldiers with sol­ Jean van Heijenoort became the principal
diers on the opposite side of the battle member of the Secretariat of the Fourth In­
front. . . . ternational. He was a young French Trotsky­
ist who had for almost a decade been a secre­
The document ended: "This is our pro­
tary of Leon Trotsky in Turkey, France, and
gram. Proletarians of the world, there is no
then again in Mexico. He had come to the
other way out except to unite under the ban­
United States in 1939 and served during
ner of the Fourth International!"21
most of World War II as head of the Fourth
Other documents emanating from the
International Secretariat.22
Emergency Conference of the Fourth Inter­
Rodolphe Prager has noted that "the pres­
national included organizational reports on
ence of Jean van Heijenoort contributed to
the situations in the French, British, Ger­
assuring a certain continuity and legitimacy
man, Canadian, and Latin American sec­
to the si. He was the best-informed, insofar
tions of the organization. There were also
as the experience of the international Trots­
resolutions on the split in the s w p and a de
kyist movement and knowledge of its sec­
facto rejection of the Shachtmanite Workers
tions were concerned, as a result of his long
Party's request to be represented at the
collaboration with Trotsky, which gave him
meeting. Finally, there was a greeting to
a certain notoriety. His political contribu­
Leon and Natalia Trotsky, congratulating
tions, his studies of conflict and European
them on having escaped the first attempt on
problems . . . gave him authority. . . ."u
their lives by the g p u , which took place
During this period van Heijenoort had two
while the Emergency Conference was still
principal assistants. In the beginning, his
in session.
aide was Sam Gordon, who in 19 3 9 had been
appointed "administrative secretary." How­
The Functioning of the Fourth ever, Gordon was a sailor and went off to
International in N ew York sea, and he was succeeded by Bert Cochran,
also a leader of the Socialist Workers Party
The organizational reports to the Emer­ of the United States.24 For short periods, a
gency Conference reflected the tenuous con­ German, Ludwig (Suhl); a Russian who
tacts which the center of the Fourth Interna­ passed as a Mexican-American, A. Gonza­
tional had with its sections. Indeed, for most lez; and an American, Charles Curtiss, also
of the next half decade the task of trying to served with the Fourth International New
maintain some kind of coherent interna­ York headquarters.25
tional organization was an exceedingly dif­ The work of the International Secretariat
ficult one for the Trotskyists. Most of the consisted mainly of correspondence with
national sections, those in Europe, were the Trotskyist groups in Latin America,
soon suffering the severest persecution at Great Britain, China, Australia, and for a
the hands of the Nazis and indigenous fas­ considerable period, France. Contact with
cist regimes. Similarly, the Chinese Trots­ the French Trotskyists was maintained
kyists were being repressed by all of the con­ through the port of Marseilles via American
flicting elements in that country—the Trotskyist sailors until the end of 1942.
Japanese, the Kuomintang, and the Stalin­ After the Germans militarily took over "un­
ists. The Ceylonese party was driven largely occupied" France and seized Marseilles,
underground as was the small group in India. such contacts were ended.
Contacts were even difficult, except perhaps As a result of the break in relations with
in the case of Mexico, with the scattered the French Trotskyists the International
Trotskyist groups in Latin America. Secretariat found it hard to keep track of

1 Fourth International: World War II 289

I
 what was happening in the Trotskyist for the International Secretariat of the
movement in continental Europe. As a con­ Fourth International in 1938-39. Rodolphe
sequence, for instance, the New York head­ Prager has noted that "in his capacity as a
quarters did not know about the European journalist, he could carry out very useful
Conference of its affiliates held early in 1944 tasks when the French organization had to
until many months later. enter into clandestinity." Prager added that
Cut off from its affiliates in Europe, the "his reports from Paris, a deserted city,
Fourth International headquarters in New which he was one of the rare people not to
York perforce had to devote much of its at­ abandon, just before the entry of the German
tention to those sections outside the area troops, were very successful. He helped with
controlled by the Axis powers. There was the reconstitution of the Trotskyist organi­
extensive correspondence with the British zation in the first weeks of the occupation,
section, particularly about the question of until his expulsion by the Nazis on August
the Trotskyists' entering the Labor Party. 17, i 94 ° . " M
Van Heijenoort even wrote articles under Subsequently, Phelan was assigned as a
pseudonyms about the British Trotskyists' Time-Life-Fortune jourfialist in South
situation. America. There he intervened extensively
A good deal of the International Secretari­ in efforts to reunite divided Trotskyist
at's correspondence during the war was with groups in Argentina and Chile and he had
its Latin American affiliates, particularly some temporary success in this endeavor.29
those of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and United States sailors belonging to the So­
Cuba. In the case of Argentina, much of the cialist Workers Party were another impor­
Secretariat's activities concerned internal tant contact between the International
disputes within the section there, centering headquarters in New York and Trotskyist
on Liborio Justo (Quebracho).26 groups in various countries. Rodolphe
Although he was usually not officially a Prager has noted that "The 'maritime frac­
member of the International Executive tion' of the party grew considerably during
Committee or the International Secretariat the war, and included between a hundred
of the Fourth International, Terence Phelan and a hundred fifty militants, who .. . trans­
(Sherry Mangan) played a key role in main­ mitted information and documents to their
taining contacts between the New York comrades in India, Australia, South Africa,
headquarters and various national Trotsky­ the Antilles, Cuba, Great Britain, France and
ist groups. He was a foreign correspondent Italy. . .. Seven militants perished in the
working for the Life-Time-Fortune group high seas." Prager noted that the ranks of
and traveled widely in various parts of the these American Trotskyist seamen included
world. Joseph Hansen, Sam Gordon, Frank Lovell,
Phelan seemed an unlikely Trotskyist and George Clark.30
contact man. He made full use of his ex­ There was one American Trotskyist sailor
pense account as an envoy of the Henry Luce who reported to the International Secretar­
empire to live well in not-too-modest hotels iat after making runs to Murmansk. Once he
and had an outgoing personality. He lived a stayed several months in Murmansk. This
double life, writing for the Luce publications sailor had nothing to report on the Soviet
as Terence Phelan and at the same time re­ Opposition, because inhere were none of
porting to the Fourth International and writ­ them left. But he reported on the working
ing for its publications as Sherry Mangan.27 and living conditions of the USSR, and on
In the immediate prewar period, Phelan the attitudes of the local people, about what
was stationed in Paris. He served (certainly he heard from them about the progress of
surreptitiously) as a "technical secretary" the war. The Fourth International was well-

290 Fourth International: World War II

 informed about Murmansk, even though ence of France shows once and for all that
this was not of particular relevance to the the 'national' considerations serve only to
International's cause.31 mask the interests of the bourgeoisie, which
At one point, La Verite, the French under­ is always ready to change sides when that
ground Trotskyist paper, reported that Jean serves to safeguard its interests. Let the
van Heijenoort had gone to the Soviet Union workers remember the lesson that the bour-
to support the USSR in its military struggle geosie has given them once and for all!"3S
against the Nazis. Of this, van Heijenoort In contrast to the belief widely held in
wrote that "the information in La Verite is, France at the time, the manifesto pro­
of course, incorrect. Sometime in 1 941 the claimed that "the present situation will not
Russian press (Pravda) published a short be of long duration. Heretofore, the suc­
item (a few lines) stating that I had enlisted cesses of Hitler have been due to the weak­
in the Red Army. I have never seen the item ness and decline of the democracies. The
myself, but it was reported to me by various real test of the Nazi system has only begun."
persons. This was perhaps a trick contrived It added that "to the fascist 'reconstruction'
by Stalin-Beria in order to rally some Trots­ of Europe.. .we juxtapose the United Soviet
kyites for the regime."32 States of Europe, a free federation of peoples
Another activity of the New York head­ with a socialized economy or a system in
quarters of the Fourth International was the which profit will be replaced by the coopera­
issuance from time to time of the Interna­ tion of the workers. . . . The French State
tional Bulletin, which was distributed to all of P6tain has replaced the III Republic of
of the sections with which the International Daladier. The latter has entered into the past
Secretariat was able to maintain contact. and nothing can revive it. To emerge from
Three numbers of the Bulletin were issued servitude, oppression and misery, there is
in 1940, four in 1941, two in 1942, none in only one way, to establish a workers and
1943, and only one each in 1944 and 194s. peasants government."36
Rodolphe Prager has suggested that growing The peroration of this document reiter­
differences of Jean van Heijenoort with the ated this argument, which was to be the
leaders of the Socialist Workers Party ex­ fundamental position of the Trotskyists in
plain the paucity of issues of the Bulletin all of the European countries occupied by
during the last years of the war.33 the Nazis. It said, "An entire epoch has en­
tered into the past, that of decadent bour­
geois democracy. It has taken with it the
Manifestos of the International
bourgeois democratic parties and their lead­
Committee of the FI
ers, as well as the working class parties and
The International Executive issued a num­ leaders who have tied their fate to that of
ber of public documents dealing with cur­ 'democracy.' We have entered a new epoch,
rent problems in various parts of the world that of the struggles and convulsions of the
during the war. Several of these statements agony of capitalism. But that new epoch is
are worthy of note. also that of the Fourth International and of
In November 1940 the International pub­ its triumph."37
lished a "manifesto" entitled "France Under On March 31, 1941 the International
Hitler and P6tain," which was written by adopted a resolution on "The American In­
Jean van Heijenoort.34 After a brief survey of tervention in China" which it also widely
the circumstances of the fall of France and circulated. This was apparently written by
the resulting collaboration of the French Frank Graves and Harold Isaacs.38 This doc­
bourgeoisie with the Nazi conquerors, the ument argued that recent announcement of
proclamation concluded that "the experi­ substantial aid by the United States for the

1 Fourth International: World War II 291

 Chiang Kai-shek regime's war against Japan Nazi troops the Fourth International issued
was part of the grand imperialist strategy in August 1941 a document entitled "Mani­
of the United States. The document argued festo: For the Defense of the USSR!" written
that "Pursuing its 'manifest destiny/ Amer­ by Jean van Heijenoort.42 This began, "The
ican imperialism is preparing to occupy the USSR is at war. The USSR is in mortal dan­
positions of the British Empire, including ger. In his desperate struggle to open the
China, in the Far East, and to assure the world to German imperialism, Hitler has
defeat of its Japanese rival in the Pacific. turned towards the East, hoping for a rapid
Washington proposes to defeat Japan in war, victory to reinforce his military and eco­
to chase the Japanese imperialists from nomic positions. In the hour of supreme
China and to exercise its own suzerainty danger, the IV International proclaims what
over the Chinese people. . . ,”39 it has constantly said to the workers: For the
The Fourth International therefore defense of the USSR! To defend' the Soviet
warned the Chinese workers against the im­ Union is the elementary duty of all workers
plications of United States "aid" to China in loyal to their class."
the war then in progress. However, although The manifesto repeated the classic Trots­
denouncing the supposed intentions of the kyist criticism of the "Soviet bureaucracy"
Chiang Kai-shek government to accept U.S. and Stalin, arguing that they were largely
suzerainty in place of that of Japan, the responsible for the situation facing the So­
Fourth International proclaimed that "revo­ viet Union because of their betrayal of the
lutionaries . . . will not 'punish' Chiang Kai- revolution, both at home and abroad
shek by declaring themselves 'defeatists' in through the Comintern. It was very critical
the war of China against Japan. They will of Stalin's latest turn toward an alliance
continue to support the defense of China in with Churchill and Roosevelt, and his
spite of and against the Chinese bour­ fighting the war under the banner of Russian
geoisie."40 nationalism rather than of world revolution.
Finally, the Fourth International state­ However, the Fourth International docu­
ment painted the perspective of a forthcom­ ment claimed that "in spite of all the crimes
ing revolution throughout East Asia. It pro­ of the bureaucracy, the revolution of Octo­
claimed that "every major defeat that Japan ber, which led all of the peoples of Russia to
suffers in consequence of American inter­ a new life, is not yet dead. The worker and
vention in the Far East will create revolu­ the kolkhoznik know well what would be
tionary movements among the masses of the significance of the victory of Hitler: it
Manchukuo, Korea, Formosa, and will stim­ would be the seizure of the economy by the
ulate a revolutionary renewal in China. German trusts and cartels, the transforma­
Confronted with the expansion of the revo­ tion of the country into a colony, the end of
lutionary uprising, the American imperial­ the first experiment of a planned economy
ists will become less preoccupied with com­ outside of the system of capitalist profit, the
batting Japan than with suppressing an ruin of all hopes. That they are not going to
independent movement of the masses permit."
which will menace the whole of their posi­ As for the Fourth International's own po­
tion. Just as the war against Japan has sition, the document said that "what the
brought Chiang Kai-shek to become an in­ Soviet worker discerns with his class in­
strument of American imperialism, the stinct, the IV International has not ceased
masses of China, allied with their class to proclaim: For the unconditional defense
brothers in the Japanese Empire, will ad­ of the Soviet Union! We defend the USSR
vance in the direction of social revo­ independently of the betrayals of the bu­
lution."41 reaucracy and in spite of its betrayals. We
After the Soviet Union was invaded by do not insist as a condition of our support

292 Fourth International: World War II

such or such a concession on the part of ish government, represented by Sir Stafford
the Stalinist bureaucracy. But we defend the Cripps, and the leaders of the Indian Na­
USSR with our methods. We represent the tional Congress, and the declaration by the
revolutionary interests of the proletariat, Congress of a campaign of civil disobedience
and our aim is the revolutionary class strug­ against the British, the Fourth International
gle. The imperialist allies of the Kremlin are issued a "Manifesto to the Workers and
not our allies. We continue the revolution­ Peasants of India." According to Rodolphe
ary combat, including that in the ‘demo­ Prager, this document was largely written
cratic’ camp."*3 by Felix Morrow of the U.S. s w p .46
The manifesto made separate appeals to This manifesto cited early proclamations
the workers of the different warring coun­ of the Fourth International and Trotsky in
tries. Insofar as the Western Allies were con­ support of the Indian independence move­
cerned it proclaimed that "to support the ment. It also warned against trusting the
imperialist sectors of England or the United "bourgeois" leaders of the Indian National
States would be to aid Hitler to maintain Congress, citing their earlier refusal to em­
his control over the German workers. We barrass the British during the war, and par­
emphasize the revolution, and the best ticularly condemned the position of the In­
means of serving the revolutionary future of dian Stalinists who, since the invasion of
the German workers is to seek to expand the the Soviet Union by the Nazis, had thrown
proletarian struggles in the opposed camp." all their weight in favor of Indian coopera­
Within Germany and Occupied Europe tion with the British war effort. It particu­
"the defense of the Soviet Union signifies larly warned against "mediation" by the
directly the sabotage of the German war U.S. government. The Fourth International
machine.1' Furthermore, "The Fourth Inter­ Manifesto also warned against any alliance
national calls on the German workers and with the Japanese imperialists to fight the
peasants in uniform to pass over, with arms British. It cited a statement of the Indian
and baggage to the ranks of the Red Army." section on this subject.
Insofar as the USSR was concerned, "The The manifesto emphasized the key role of
IV International calls upon the Soviet work­ the world revolutionary struggle. It insisted
ers to be the best soldiers at their combat that, as Russia had been the weakest link in
posts." It further called on them to be in­ the capitalist chain during World War I, In­
spired by the memory of Trotsky's leader­ dia was the weakest link during the Second
ship during the Civil War.44As for the strug­ World War. It said to the Indian workers,
gle against Stalin, the Fourth International "Break the weakest link in the imperialist
proclamation said that "the war does not chain and the peoples of the entire world
end our struggle against the bureaucrats, but will follow you and join you in the strug­
makes this struggle more necessary than gle!"47 Emphasizing again the world revolu­
ever. For the defense of the USSR, formation tionary struggle, the Fourth International
of soviets of workers, peasants and soldiers. insisted that the British workers would sup­
That is our rallying cry. But our struggle port the fight for Indian independence,
against the bureaucracy remains subordi­ stressing that recent strikes in Britain had
nate to the war against imperialism." It indicated general discontent there. It also
must remain a political struggle and "the argued that British workers who were serv­
assembling of cadres and organization of the ing as soldiers in India would not fire on
Soviet section of the IV International" was Indian revolutionists, as the Russian Cos­
proclaimed to be "the first task of the pres­ sacks had refused to fire on Russian revolu­
ent hour."45 tionaries in 1917. Rather than the civil dis­
On September 26, 1942, following break­ obedience of the Indian National Congress,
down of the negotiations between the Brit- the Fourth International urged the Indian

1 Fourth International: World War II 293

1
I
I
f
 workers to undertake the class struggle the socialist revolution, the IV Interna­
against both imperialism and the Indian cap­ tional. Join its ranks and prepare yourselves
italists. The manifesto stressed particularly with it to direct the victorious struggle for
the slogans of agrarian reform, a constituent the world revolution."50
assembly, and a large-scale industrialization
program for India.
The Fourth International’s
Finally, the Fourth International insisted
Wartime Line
on the need for a vanguard party to lead the
Indian revolution. "That party exists today The general line of the Fourth International
in India! It is the Bolshevik-Leninist Party, during World War II was well reflected in
Indian Section of the IV International." It these statements of its International Execu­
ended, "Indian workers and peasants, be tive Committee. It followed closely the po­
sure that, on all continents, the sections of sition which the founder of the Interna­
the IV International defend your struggle, tional, Trotsky, had preached during the
unmasking the lies of imperialism and call­ years in which he had nursed the organiza­
ing upon the workers and peasants to take tion into existence.
their places at your side."4® First of...all, except in the cases of the So­
The final document of the Fourth Interna­ viet Union and China, the Fourth Interna­
tional which we wish to note is that pro­ tional preached "defeatism" to the workers
voked by Stalin's dissolution of the Comin­ of all of the warring countries. World War II
tern, and issued on June 12, 1943. It is not was simply presented as a continuation of
clear who was the author of the "Manifesto World War I, a mere struggle among imperi­
on the Dissolution of the Comintern." alist nations over markets and colonies with
This manifesto traced the customary the victory of neither side being advanta­
Trotskyist indictment of the conversion of geous to the workers. Therefore, the Interna­
the Comintern from the general staff of the tional advocated opposition on the part of
world revolution into the tool of the foreign the workers of all capitalist nations to par­
policy of the Stalinist bureaucracy, dedi­ ticipation of their own countries in the war.
cated to thwarting rather than leading the The only exception to this was China, where
world revolution. The dissolution of the the war was seen as a struggle of a "sem i­
Comintern by Stalin without any authoriza­ colonial" nation against an imperialist ag­
tion from the rank and file of the organiza­ gressor and therefore worthy of support, but
tion merely confirmed this analysis, the without the workers and peasants giving
manifesto claimed. any political backing to the Chiang Kai-shek
However, the end of the Comintern regime.
should not be a cause for despair of revolu­ Second, the policy of the International
tionaries. "The fall of the (Socialist) Interna­ was one of insisting on the essential similar­
tional in 19 14 left the workers vanguard des­ ity of the democratic and fascist regimes.
titute. . . . This time, the vanguard is Both were instruments of control by the
perfectly alerted. On all the continents and bourgeoisie, which stood quite ready to cast
in all the principal countries there existed aside all democratic pretense and install fas­
cadres of the IV International well before the cism when to do so would serve its interests.
war began. Everywhere they have passed the In conformity with this argument the proc­
decisive test of the war and have remained lamations of the International tended to ex­
loyal to revolutionary internationalism."'*9 aggerate the degree to which the democratic
This proclamation ended, "Comrade system was being destroyed by the govern­
workers, the workers need today, more than ments of the Allied countries, and particu­
ever, the International to lead them. There larly the degree to which Trotskyist groups
is only one International, the world party of were being persecuted by the Allied regimes.

294 Fourth International: World War II

 Following from the alleged sameness of The Trotskyists also argued that along
the democratic and fascist regimes, the with capitalism, the Second and Third Inter­
Fourth International vehemently opposed nationals were doomed because of their long
all loyalty of workers to their particular na­ history of aiding and abetting international
tion. Even in the cases of the Nazi-occupied capitalism. The Fourth International con­
nations of Europe and of China, the struggle stantly insisted that the workers had learned
against the military occupation should al­ the lesson that they could no longer depend
ways be carried out in the name of the world on the leadership of the traditional working-
working-class revolution, never in terms of class parties and were now turning their
defense of their homelands. backs on those parties and eagerly seeking
Another constant theme throughout all of new leadership.
the Fourth International's wartime propa­ These assertions inevitably led the Fourth
ganda, as reflected in the documents we International leaders to the conclusion that
have cited, was that of converting the inter­ the future was in the hands of their move­
national war into a civil war in each belliger­ ment. Admitting their present weakness,
ent country. This position was closely they argued that as the revolutionary situa­
linked to the belief that World War II and tion developed, the national sections of the
World War I were essentially the same, so "world party of the Socialist Revolution"
that the position advocated by Lenin and would rapidly expand with that situation
Trotsky in the first conflict was equally ap­ and the workers would inevitably turn to
plicable to the second one. them for leadership. In spite of their weak­
"Defense of the Soviet Union" was an­ ness in numbers, it was argued, the sections
other constant in the International's war­ of the Fourth International and the "world
time position. Without giving up the strug­ party" itself were eminently prepared to
gle against the Stalinist "bureaucratic" seize this leadership because only they had
regime in the USSR, that struggle had to consistently had the correct revolutionary
be subordinated for the time being to the line and had foreseen the events which had
military defense of the country. However, led up to the war and which would result
outside the Soviet Union, it was argued, the from it. Furthermore, they had already de­
best defense of it was to be found in the veloped the leadership cadres which were
spread of the world revolution, which would necessary to put into execution the correct
bring about the fall not only of all major line of the Fourth International.
capitalist regimes but also of the Stalinist
bureaucracy itself. A lighting of the fires of
Weaknesses of the Fourth
revolution in the capitalist countries, it was
International Position
argued, would rekindle the same blaze in
the USSR itself, bringing about the reestab­ The French Trotskyist historian Rodolphe
lishment there of the "workers democracy" Prager, in his introduction to a volume on
which had been destroyed by Stalin and the the Fourth International during the war,
bureaucrats. commented on the ways in which the Inter­
Another fundamental position of the national's wartime position proved to be in
Fourth International during the war was the error. He started by commenting that "what
insistence on the conflict's signaling the perhaps most strikes one from reading the
death of international capitalism. The capi­ texts in this book is the divorce between
talist system could not survive the war as certain perspectives and the postwar reali­
the dominant economic, social and political ties. Marxist foresight is an indispensable
world order. On the contrary, it would inevi­ tool for action, but one which, if well under­
tably be swept away by the proletarian revo­ stood, has its limits. It defines the character­
lution. istics of a period and the probable develop­

Fourth International: World War II 295

ments which guide political action and the room for anti-imperialism." Prager added
choice of slogans. It is by no means a proph­ that "because of this, aroused in part by the
ecy which pretends to describe the future, ultra-chauvinist campaigns of Stalinism,
which will always be infinitely richer, more imbued by its new role as a party of the
unexpected and more capricious than the government, the impact of revolutionary ac­
best predictions."51 tion was limited."54
Prager noted at least three areas of mis- Finally, the Fourth International mis­
judgment of the Fourth International leader­ judged the loyalty of the workers of Europe
ship. These were the survivability of Stalin to the traditional working-class parties, ac­
and the Soviet bureaucracy, the loyalty of cording to Prager. He noted that "the work­
the workers to nationalist conceptions, and ers don't change organizations in the way
their loyalty to the traditional workers par­ they change their brand of automobile. It is
ties and union movements. not sufficient, to make them "move, just to
Concerning the first of these issues, brandish a new flag, a new program, no mat­
Prager noted that "a crucial point, difficult ter how correct it may be. Even if dissatisfied
to understand, touches the capacity of resis­ and distrustful with regard to the party to
tance of the Soviet bureaucracy in such a which they belong, they only resort to
storm. As a transitory phenomenon, with change in the last extremity."
little stability, supported by certain interna­ Prager explained why this was so: "It is for
tional forces, the power of the bureaucracy the simple reason that these organizations
did not seem able to survive such an up­ constitute their instruments of daily de­
heaval, in the opinion of Trotsky. In that fense and struggle, which they are only w ill­
hypothesis, Stalinism must suffer a fatal ing to replace if they appear to be irremedia­
coup which would increase the chances of bly weakened, and if a new group,
the Fourth International to change into a sufficiently strong and credible, having al­
mass organization."52 ready proven itself, is able to attempt to take
Such did not turn out to be the case. Prager their place.,,ss
noted that "after making numerous errors He added that, insofar as the development
and finding itself on the edge of destruction of the Fourth International sections into par­
during the smashirig offensives of the Wehr- ties which could supplant those of the Sec­
macht, the general shocks suffered by impe­ ond and Third Internationals was con­
rialism allowed the bureaucracy to emerge cerned, it could not be done "by the simple
reinforced from the war. The prestige of Sta­ means of progressive expansion." Rather,
linism, its hold on the masses, and then its "the development of such parties presup­
counter-revolutionary capacity accrued to a poses that the traditional organizations are
degree unknown until then. . . . This is one so enfeebled by profound crisis, as to pro­
of the factors which limited the fundamen­ voke the departure of entire layers of their
tal (revolutionary) wave of 1 943-1947, and membership. It was thus that the Commu­
which checked it. . . ."53 nist parties were most often formed, and
Nor did the Trotskyists foresee the hold although there is no immutable rule about
of nationalism on the working class of the the matter, one can suppose that the situa­
countries occupied by the Nazis. Prager tion will be about the same for the parties
noted that "upon coming out of the Nazi of the IV Internationail."56
terror, the deportations and summary exe­
cutions, aroused nationalist sentiment was Problems of the N ew York
widely diffused across class frontiers. The Headquarters of the International
enthusiasm for the Liberation and the deliri­ The role and activity of the International
ous reception of the 'liberators' left little Secretariat in New York declined during the

296 Fourth International: World War II

last years of the war. This was due not only their individual national organizations in­
to the fact that Jean van Heijenoort and Bert tact but even more in reestablishing and
Cochran were the only people left to man maintaining relations among those organi­
the is office, but also to the development zations, and of all of them with the Fourth
of a factional dispute within the Socialist International outside Europe. The situation
Workers Party and increasing difficulties was further complicated by the schisms
which van Heijenoort in particular had with which had occurred in several European
the leadership of the s w p . Trotskyist groups just prior to the war.
In a confidential memorandum which he The Molinier faction of the French Trots­
presented shortly after the end of the war, kyists, the Parti Communiste Intemational­
van Heijenoort says that "the political ste­ iste, in preparation for the war had sent three
rility of the is is an established fact of long people to Belgium as early as February 1939:
duration. I reserve for another occasion this Pierre Frank, Raymond Molinier and Rodol-
history and the responsibility of the leader­ phe Prager. These three established contacts
ship of the s w p , but the fact itself is suffi­ with Belgian and Dutch Trotskyists, includ­
ciently evident." He claimed that the s w p ing elements which were not officially in
leaders had not permitted "the giving of po­ the Fourth International, the Vereeken party
litical content to the work of the is," fre­ in Belgium and the Sneevliet r s a p in the
quently claiming that not enough informa­ Netherlands.
tion was available for the International When the war broke out, a proclamation
Secretariat to take a position. was issued against the conflict, in the name
Another factor, undoubtedly, was that of the Fourth International, although none
van Heijenoort sympathized with the mi­ of the groups signing it was officially a mem­
nority within the Socialist Workers Party ber of the International. The document was
led by Albert Goldman and Felix Morrow signed by Vereeken of the Contre Le
which sought a rapprochement with the Courant group in Belgium, Prager for the
Shachtmanite Workers Party, which had per, and a representative of a British dissi­
been expelled in 1940. His position intensi­ dent group.58
fied his difficulties in getting along with the The Trotskyists of Western Europe suf­
s w p leadership.57 fered considerable persecution from their re­
Van Heijenoort retired from activity in spective governments once the war had be­
the Trotskyist movement soon after the end gun. Their situation became much worse
of the war. In the next decade his assistant, once the Nazis had overrun Western Europe.
Bert Cochran, was to lead a major split in Although there were some individual con­
the s w p . tacts between the French Trotskyists and
those of the Low Countries it was not until
January 1942 that a delegation of French
The Provisional European Secretariat
Trotskyites, representing the group by then
recognized as the French Section of the
Towards a European Conference of
Fourth International, went to Brussels to
the Fourth International
meet with their Belgian counterparts. Ro-
The events of April-June 1940, with the dolphe Prager has said that the French dele­
German conquest first of Norway and Den­ gation consisted of Marcel Hie, Ivan
mark, and then of the Netherlands, Belgium, Craipeau, and Swann.
and France, dealt shattering blows to the As a consequence of the meeting in Brus­
Trotskyist movements in Western Europe. sels, a session was held soon afterward at a
All driven underground, they faced im­ farm at St. Hubert in the Belgian Ardennes
mense difficulty not only in maintaining belonging to Henry Opta, a young Belgian

j Fourth International: World War II 297

Trotskyist. It established the first European Saint Hilaire du Touvet sanatorium, al­
Secretariat of the Fourth International. though he had maintained contact with his
Prager reported that Opta and Abraham Trotskyist colleagues.
Leon-Wajnsztok represented the Belgian The other members of the Provisional
Trotskyists at this meeting but doesn't indi­ Secretariat were Marcel Hie (who, when he
cate who else was there, although sug­ was arrested in October 1943, was suc­
gesting that no more than five or six people ceeded by Ivan Craipeau], Nicolas Spoulber,
were at the meeting.59 also a member of the French p o i ; Leon-
The headquarters of the new European Wajnsztok of the Belgian party, Rafael Font-
Secretariat was established in Paris. It Farran of the Spanish Bolshevik-Leninist
sought to coordinate the activities of the Group, and after a while Rodolphe Prager of
various Trotskyist groups in countries un­ the French group of Molinier.62
der Nazi occupation. It also issued at least The Provisional European Secretariat
two important documents, a "Thesis on the sought to bring together all of the European
National Question," and a "Manifesto on groups professing loyalty, to the principles
the Dissolution of the Communist Interna­ of the Fourth International whether or not
tional/' which we shall note later. they had been officially recognized as sec­
During the summer of 1943 the first Euro­ tions of the International. Overtures were
pean Secretariat was succeeded by what was made particularly to the Molinier group in
called the Provisional European Secretariat France and the Vereeken party in Belgium.
of the International. It published a resolu­ The former accepted these overtures and
tion on "The Reconstruction and Reinforce­ joined the Secretariat, as a result of which
ment of the IV International" on July 19, Prager became a member of that body. How­
I943-60 ever, all efforts to incorporate the Vereeken
The Provisional Secretariat also under­ group, undertaken particularly by Prager,
took to publish a regular periodical to speak proved to no avail.63
for the European Trotskyists. The first issue Particular attention was paid by the Provi­
of Quatrieme Internationale appeared in sional European Secretariat to trying to re­
August 1943. It and the December 1943 edi­ construct a German affiliate. We have indi­
tion were mimeographed, but with the Janu­ cated the success of this effort in our
ary 1944 number the magazine was printed. discussion of the French and German affili­
Five issues were published in 1944. ates of International Trotskyism.
The alteration of the name was not the The Provisional European Secretariat also
only change in the Fourth International's worked to reunite the French Trotskyists. A
European organization in 1943. Its person­ joint committee of the Secretariat and the
nel also was altered. The first European Sec­ two principal French groups, the p o i an d the
retariat was largely managed by Marcel Hie, Molinierists, was established. At that point
a member of the French section, who was Prager joined the Secretariat representing
principally responsible for the documents the Molinier faction. Subsequently, negotia­
issued by the organization. Subsequently, tions were expanded to include the "Octo­
he was accused of using "ultra-bureaucratic ber" group and the small element led by
methods."61 Barta. The former joined in the final unifi­
The new Provisional European Secretariat cation of French Trotskyism, although the
was largely under the influence of Michel Barta group did not64
Raptis, better known as Michel Pablo. He
was a young Greek Trotskyist who had be­ Documents of the European
longed to the "unofficial" group of Poulio- Secretariat
polis. He had lived in France since 1938, and The most controversial document issued by
between 1940 and 1942 had been sick in the the European Trotskyists in the name of the

298 Fourth International: World War II

Fourth International was the "Thesis on the tionary and imperialist nationalism of
National Question" issued by the European London; it is one of the fundamental forces
Secretariat in July 1942. It was in fact writ­ which prepares and matures the revolution­
ten by Marcel Hie, then the leading figure in ary crisis in Europe.. . . The national move­
the French Trotskyist underground. It was ment of the masses, far from having strictly
subsequently repudiated by the European nationalist roots, plunged into one of the
Trotskyists. The European Conference of most fundamental contradictions of the cap­
early 1944 condemned it as a "social-patri­ italist system in the imperialist epoch: it is
otic deviation incompatible with the pro­ first of all the manifestation, under the form
gram of the IV International," a strong state­ of nationalism, of the radicalization of the
ment, although Rodolphe Prager thought petit bourgeoisie, a new expression of the
that the conference was condemning an ear­ revolt of the middle classes against large
lier statement by the French Trotskyists in financial capital."71
its resolution as well as the proclamation This argument was expanded by the The­
issued in the name of the European Secre­ sis when it said that "in a general way, in
tariat.*5 spite of the reactionary character of its de­
The Thesis started by tracing the growth mands, the national movement can play a
of nationalism as part of the evolution of progressive role in the revolutionary, crisis
capitalism. However, it added that in the which is about to begin, in that it will
present epoch nationalism was neither pro­ launch great masses of the population in the
gressive nor reactionary per se; what it was political arena, aligning them practically
depended on its social content.66 It also against the domination of imperialism. The
stressed the need to support the anti-imperi­ characteristic of the great historic crisis is
alist struggle of the colonial and semicolo­ exactly to launch into struggle against the
nial countries subject to the European em­ existing order those who before participated
pires, as well as that of the oppressed in the exploitation of the masses but who,
nationalities of Europe itself such as the newly joining the struggle against the re­
Ukrainians in Poland, Croats in Yugoslavia, gime, provide the members of the first wave
etc.67 of revolution."72
The document also stressed the need for The Thesis reemphasized the leadership
the "revolutionary party" to put forward which the petty bourgeosie would first give
class struggle ideas within any nationalist to the inevitable revolutionary wave. It ar­
movement. It likewise strongly attacked the gued that "disorganized and disoriented,
"nationalism of Radio London,"68 and strongly hit by misery and unemployment,
strongly denounced the chauvinism of the the proletariat can only regroup within the
Communist parties' appeal to the national­ national movement of the petit bourgeosie.
ist feelings of the people of the Nazi-occu- The legal and illegal attempts at re­
pied countries.69 groupment are at first effected in function of
In these parts of the Thesis there was rela­ national issues. But, very quickly, the labor
tively little which could be interpreted as movement has assumed, throughout Eu­
being in conflict with the orthodox Trotsky­ rope, its own features; although nationalism
ist position. However, there were other por­ and antifascism remain one of the funda­
tions about which this was not true. The mental characteristics, it is very quickly ori­
Thesis proclaimed that "the Marxist revolu­ ented towards autonomous class action, un­
tionaries cannot therefore neglect the justi­ dertaken with methods appropriate to the
fied national arguments of the masses. working class."73
.. ." 70 Elsewhere, it argued that "the na­ The outright endorsement of the idea of
tional movement has, in Europe, a funda­ Trotskyist participation in the nationalist
mentally different character from the reac­ reaction against Nazi domination was too

Fourth International: Woild Wax II 299

much in conflict with the traditional inter­ fices in order for the Workers State to be
nationalism of the Trotskyist movement. replaced by imperialist exploitation of a
All of its reservations, warning of danger, colonial type. To the program of bour­
and denunciations of chauvinism were not geois counter-revolution of imperialism,
enough to save it from the taint of heresy. the masses oppose the program of politi­
The manifesto of the European Secretariat cal revolution; they want to chase the
on the occasion of Stalin's dissolution of the bureaucracy from power, take in hand the
Communist International, which according administration of the economy through
to Rodolphe Prager was also written by Mar­ workers and peasants committees. This
cel Hie,74 and was published as a pamphlet, program, which is that of the return to
was extensive but quite orthodox in Trots­ the tradition of October, is that of Trots­
kyist terms. It largely conformed with the kyism, that of the IV International.76
resolution adopted independently at about
Subsequently, the Provisional European
the same time by the New York headquar­
Secretariat issued manifestos greeting the
ters of the Fourth International.
uprising of the Italian workers at the time
The European Secretariat argued that the
of the fall of the Mussolini government, call­
decision of Stalin is not only the crowning of
ing for solidarity with the German workers,
twenty years of abandonment of principles
deploring anti-German chauvinism and the
and capitulation to imperialism. It poses the
bombing of open cities in Germany by the
problem of the whole future of the revolu­
Allies. The Provisional Secretariat also is­
tion. At the moment when the capitalist
sued a proclamation about the partisan
world is cracking everywhere . . . "the ges­
movement in December 1943.77
ture of Stalin constitutes a veritable be­
trayal___ " 7S
Nevertheless, the European Secretariat ar­ The European Conference of the
gued, "Stalin, no more than Churchill or Fourth International
Roosevelt, no more than Hitler or Franco,
can stop the class struggle. He has killed the The intention of the Provisional Secretariat
III International with his hands. Already, to organize a European conference of the f i
the IV International rises to replace it. The was announced in the first issue of Qua­
IV International is not just a hope, it is not trieme Internationale, dated August 1943,
only something which tomorrow might in a document entitled "Resolution: Recon­
take form. It already exists, suffers and struction and Reinforcement of the IV Inter­
struggles in thirty countries. The masses national." The resolution announced that
will join forces tomorrow under its banner "this conference will bring together all the
and tomorrow it will triumph!" revolutionary tendencies, fractions or par­
The most striking feature of the manifesto ties which accept or which are evolving to­
was its discussion of the Soviet Union. It wards the principles of the III International
argued: of Lenin and Trotsky, as well as the funda­
mental ideas enunciated by the primitive
The dissolution of the Communist Inter­ nucleus of the IV International in its transi­
national constitutes in this way a particu­ tion program and which recognize the need
larly decisive step in breaking the last for­ for new parties and. the new interna­
mal tie uniting the USSR and the world tional."76
proletarian revolution, making national The document noted that the conference
socialism the official doctrine of the So­ "will choose, in proportion to the force of
viet state.. . . But the Soviet masses have the ideological tendencies, compatible with
not consented to such enormous sacri­ the general principles of the IV Intema-

300 Fourth International: ’World War II

tional, an enlarged executive committee and of Development of the IV International,"
a limited. . .secretariat expressing the polit­ "Resolution on the Strategy of the European
ical line of the majority of the conference." 79 Sections of the IV International in the Work­
In preparation for this conference the Pro­ ers Struggles," "Resolution on the Policy of
visional Secretariat drew up basic docu­ the Workers Front," and "Resolution on the
ments for discussion which were submitted Mounting Revolution and the 'Second'
to the various national groups which were Front."
to participate in the meeting. These were The documents of this conference con­
thoroughly discussed by conferences of the centrated on the need for converting the im­
respective groups. perialist war into a civil war. They predicted
The European conference finally met for that such a civil war, between the proletariat
six days early in February 1944 in an isolated and its peasant and petty bourgeois allies on
farm house at St.-Germain-la-Patrice near the one hand, and the capitalist class of all
Beauvais, belonging to French Trotskyists the countries involved on the other, was
Daniel Mat and Louis Dalmas. During the about to begin.
six days and six nights the delegates were The resolutions saw the uprising of the
together they only suspended their activi­ workers of Italy, particularly in the north in
ties for short periods, when they all slept on the period between the fall of Mussolini and
the floor of the farmhouse. They did not the armistice with the Allies, as the begin­
leave the building during the whole time. ning of the Europe-wide civil war. That prec­
Fourteen delegates attended the European edent would be followed by the workers
conference. They were Abraham Leon-Wajn- throughout Europe, particularly Western
sztok and Emest Mandel of the p c r of Bel­ and Central Europe.
gium) Ivan Craipeau, Nicolas Spoulber, The resolutions put particular emphasis
Marcel Gibelin, and Alain Le Dem of the on the importance of the revolution in Ger­
French poi; Jacques Grinblat and Rodolphe many as the key to the revolution in Europe.
Prager of the French cc i; Henri Claude- They professed to see growing resistance of
Pouge of the French October Group; Martin the German workers to the Nazi regime,
Monat of the German Trotskyists; Michel and willingness of the workers to enter into
Raptis and Georges Vitsoris of the Greek revolutionary struggle in Germany. For that
Section; and Ernesto Morris and Rafael reason these resolutions denounced "chau­
Font-Farran of the Spanish Trotskyists.80 vinistic" attacks on the Germans by the re­
Much of the discussion was taken up with sistance movements in the occupied coun­
the problem of reunifying the French Trots­ tries, and particularly the Stalinists' use of
kyists, a task which was finally largely chauvinism. They attacked the idea of "na­
achieved. The session also adopted a num­ tional resistance," counterposingthe notion
ber of basic documents which were ap­ of working-class resistance across national
proved by a majority of the delegates, but lines. They called for fraternization of Ger­
with the representatives of the cci and the man workers and the forced laborers from
Spaniards generally voting in the negative the occupied countries; they also strongly
and the delegate of the October Group ab­ advocated fraternization of workers of the
staining.81 occupied countries with German rank and
There were five major programmatic doc­ file troops.
uments adopted by the conference. These The resolutions noted that the Trotsky­
were a "Thesis on the Liquidation of the ists had opposed the use of terrorism and
Second Imperialist War and the Mounting sabotage by the resistance movements be­
Revolution," "Thesis on the Situation in fore 1942. However, with the levies of work­
the Labor Movement and the Perspectives ers from occupied countries to work in Ger-

l Fourth International: World War II 301

I
many starting in 1942 the situation had since only a USSR controlled by the workers
changed, with many thousands of workers, and not the bureaucracy could efficaciously
particularly young workers, joining the re­ defend itself. The workers uprising against
sistance, the maquis, as a result of the Ger­ capitalism in Western and Central Europe
man campaigns to round up forced workers. and the Soviet workers' political revolution
As a consequence, the resolutions said, the against the Soviet bureaucracy were part and
Trotskyists now supported the maquis be­ parcel of the same struggle.
cause they were a genuine movement of the While urging support of the USSR the res­
masses. However, within the resistance olutions opposed sabotage and similar activ­
movement they urged their followers to ities designed to prevent materials getting
seek the separation of workers, and that this to the German armies in the East if such
separate workers organization should be actions would imperil the, revolutionary
committed to class warfare, not only against struggle in Western and Central Europe. The
the German occupiers but also against the revolution of the workers of Central and
indigenous capitalists and in time against Western Europe, the resolutions insisted,
the occupying allied troops. The resolutions was the greatest possible aid which could be
urged that the Trotskyists should organize given to the Soviet Union. However, sabo­
their own groups within the resistance and tage on a mass scale was permissible.
should insist that the workers never partici­ The resolutions recognized the current
pate in nationalist resistance groups. weakness of the Trotskyist groups. How­
The resolutions urged formation in factor­ ever, they pictured the Fourth International
ies of workers fronts, of workers of all politi­ as existing throughout the world, and car­
cal and trade union affiliations. These fronts rying on a united struggle for the revolution.
should prepare to take over the factories They insisted on the need for the revolution
when the chance should present itself. to be led by a Bolshevik-Leninist party but
Meanwhile, the workers fronts should fight insisted that that party already existed, and
for the "transitional demands" of shorter that it would inevitably grow and take con­
hours, better pay, better distribution of food, trol of the movement as civil war developed
and so on. They should also organize a work­ in Europe.
ers militia in the factories and shops to be The resolutions insisted that the world
ready for the cataclysm when it arrived. revolution was spreading throughout the
They should establish liaison with the resis­ globe but that it might develop at a different
tance outside the cities and get training from pace in different areas. They maintained
it for the workers militia. The workers' that the key to the world revolution was the
fronts should establish contacts, too, with revolution in Europe, which was just over
the peasant workers in the countryside, both the horizon.
for food distribution and for cooperation in The conference insisted that the workers
the ultimate denouement of the revolution. had learned from past experiences. It
The resolutions insisted that the Soviet claimed that the workers, and particularly
Union was still a workers state because it the German workers would not be misled
maintained nationalized property and cen­ into. support of "bourgeois democracy"
tral planning, and that defense of the USSR again as they had been after World War I.
was part of making the world revolution. However, the resolutions advocated the tac­
They said that there might have to be tem­ tic of pushing "democratic" demands where
porary cooperation with the "bureaucracy" appropriate. Under certain circumstances,
still controlling the USSR but that that where the workers were not yet in a position
should not mean giving up the idea of a to seize power themselves, it might be rea­
political revolution in the Soviet Union, sonable to call for a constituent assembly,

302 Fourth International: World War II

 and it certainly was correct to advocate the tion emerging from the collapse of the Ger­
fullest democratic freedoms of press, man forces, and that the policies of the
speech, party organization, trade union in­ Allies were particularly designed to prevent
dependence, and the right to strike. How­ that from happening. This was the explana­
ever, under other circumstances, where the tion for the Allies' insistence on complete
workers were in a position to seize power, German surrender and their equating the
it would be a crime to advocate a constituent German workers with the Nazis. It was also
assembly and to put major emphasis on the explanation for their making deals with
other democratic demands. Darlan and Badoglio. The resolutions in­
The conference documents clearly drew a sisted, too, that Stalin was fully cooperating
parallel between the immediate future and with the efforts to prevent the European rev­
what had happened between 19 17 and 1919. olution, because he well understood that tri­
With this in mind, the resolutions urged umph of revolution in Western and Central
formation of councils of workers in the fac­ Europe would be the death knell of the rule
tories, councils of peasants, and councils of of the bureaucracy in the USSR and would
soldiers in the armed forces. The revolution be followed by political revolution in the
would come when these councils—sovi­ USSR. The resolutions emphasized the class
ets—seized power and reorganized the polit­ struggle going on in the Allied countries,
ical life and economy of the various coun­ and that the English and American workers
tries of Western and Central Europe. would support the revolution in Europe and
The resolutions warned against attempts were backing the war because they were
by "reformists" to convert the soviets into anxious to defend the Soviet Union. The
mere trade unions. They warned against conference urged fraternization with Allied
"apoliticism" in workers organizations in troops when they landed.
the factories. They advocated that the basic The Allied leaders, the resolutions in­
units of the factory committees should be sisted, wanted to extend the war as long as
small groups of three or four workers with possible, to undermine revolutionary possi­
liaison among these groups and liaison bilities and weaken the USSR. But the ad­
among various factories, with the establish­ vances of the Red Army had made them
ment ultimately of regional and national change their plans and had made the Second
groups, in preparation for the ultimate sei­ Front the order of the day.61
zure of power. They emphasized the need In addition to the programmatic docu­
for democracy within the various workers ments which it adopted, the European con­
organizations. ference also passed some organizational res­
While recognizing that middle-class ele­ olutions. One was a document calling for all
ments had been moved to revolt against European Fourth International affiliates to
their oppressors, the resolutions warned have "Internationalist Communist" in their
that there remained vestiges of reactionary names, followed by "(—Section of the IV
ideas in the middle class, such as chauvin­ International)."83 Another document was
ism and a desire to return to the past. The "Complements to the Statutes of the IV In­
workers groups should cooperate with mid- ternational," which was designed both to
dle-class rebels but push them toward the assure that each party would have a demo­
only worthwhile objective: the socialist rev­ cratic centralist form of organization, and
olution. have a structure which would guard it, as an
The conference documents laid great illegal organization (under the circum­
stress on the idea that the Allies, in their stances), as much as possible from penetra­
fight against the Germans, were very con­ tion and disruption by the governmental and
scious of the possibility of a workers revolu­ occupation authorities.84

i Fourth International: World War II 303

 Thus during the last fifteen months of the The Fourth International:
war the Trotskyist movement in Europe
functioned under the general guidance of an
The Immediate Post-
Executive Committee and Secretariat ema­ World War II Period
nating from a duly elected conference.
These central authorities undoubtedly were
of great utility not only in maintaining con­
tacts among the existing national Trotskyist
organizations, but also in helping reestab­
lish liaison with the Fourth International
outside of Europe, as the fortunes of war Between the end of the Second World War
made that possible, and in helping to begin and I9S3 there existed only-one Fourth In­
the task of organization or reorganization in ternational. Thereafter, International Trots­
countries where the Trotskyist movement kyism was to be always divided into two or
did not exist, as those countries were freed more organizations which claimed to repre­
from Nazi control. sent the ideas of Leon Trotsky and to be
the legitimate successor of the International
which had been established with his patron­
age and enthusiastic support in 1938.
There were three international meetings
of the Fourth International during the 1945-
53 period, in 1946, 1948, and I9SI- In each
of these, there were evidences of disagree­
ments over not only strategy and tactics to
be followed by the movement but also over
some basic programmatic and ideological is­
sues. But a split in the International only
developed after the last of these meetings.

The 1946 Conference

Negotiations for the

1946 Preconference
At the end of the Second World War there
were two international bodies representing
the Trotskyist movement. One of these was
the International Secretariat, which had
been functioning, more or less, in New York
City since the outbreak of the war. The
other was the European Secretariat, which
had been set up in Paris in 1943 and ratified
by the European conference early in 1944.
There was some delicacy required to bring
these two groups together and to organize
a conference from which would emerge a
united leadership for the Fourth Interna­
tional.
The first person associated with the New

304 Fourth International: Postwar

York Secretariat to enter into contact with for calling an international meeting. The Eu­
the European Secretariat was Terence Phe­ ropean Secretariat had called for such a con­
lan, who was present in Paris as a war corre­ ference, with the concurrent transfer of the
spondent after the liberation of the French International Secretariat back to Europe.
capital from Nazi occupation. He arrived in Also, the European Executive Committee
September 1944 and was surprised and decided to call its own conference in Decem­
pleased to leam about the establishment of ber 1945, but that meeting was postponed
the European organization, and that it had when the Socialist Workers Party of the
adopted positions in conformity with those United States suggested the calling of a "pre­
of the s w p . He delivered greetings of the conference" of the whole International.6
European Executive Committee to the Elev­
enth Conference of the s w p in November
The 1946 Conference of the
1944.1
Fourth International
Another American who had contacts with
the European Executive and Secretariat dur­ The first postwar international meeting of
ing this period was George Breitman, a the Trotskyists took place March 3-5, 1946.
member of the National Committee of the It was held in a large Paris restaurant and
s w p who at that time was a United States the first two days passed without incident.
soldier stationed in Paris. He participated However, at eleven a .m . on the third day,
in the activities of the European Secretariat apparently on the initiative of the restaurant
and represented the s w p at the conference owner who was suspicious of what was tran­
of the Paris district of the French Trotskyist spiring in his establishment, the police
party, the p c i , in March 1945 and at the raided the meeting and arrested all the dele­
conference of the Belgian section in Novem­ gates.
ber 1945.2 When the war was over Breitman The Americans, who included one soldier
had enough "points" under the U.S. military in uniform (George Breitman}, were quickly
discharge system to leave the armed forces, released, but most of the others were held
but at his own request was allowed to stay overnight. They continued with the agenda
on in Europe for several months.3 of the conference while being held in the
Late in 1945 Phelan and Breitman were Tenth Arrondissement jail. Two Spanish
joined by another s w p leader, Sam Gordon, and two Vietnamese delegates were kept in
who was specially deputed to maintain con­ prison for two days.7
tacts with the European Executive Commit­ The minutes of the meeting were pre­
tee and Secretariat.4 served due to the quick thinking of Terence
Meanwhile, the International Secretariat, Phelan, who was keeping them. When the
based in New York, was undergoing a crisis. police arrived he put the notes in his brief­
Jean van Heijenoort, the principal secretary case and then, on the grounds that he was a
there, was having increasing difficulties foreign correspondent, refused to allow the
with the leadership of the s w p . On October police to look into it, and they acquiesced.8
2,0, 194s he sent a confidential letter to the According to Rodolphe Prager there were
European Executive Committee and Secre­ between twenty-eight and thirty-two dele­
tariat urging them to take charge of the af­ gates attending this conference.9 Among
fairs of the International, as "certainly by far those present were Eduardo Mauricio and
the most representative organ of the Fourth Rafael Font-Farran of Spain, Pierre and Le
International today." The European groups Van from Vietnam, Piet van't Hart and Sol
turned down this suggestion and urged van Santen of the Netherlands, Heinrich Buch-
Heijenoort to continue his work in the Inter­ binder of Switzerland, Michel Raptis (Pablo)
national Secretariat.5 of Greece, Jacques Grinblat, Marcel Gibelin
By this time, negotiations were under way and Paul Parisot of France; Gerry Healy,

11 Fourth International: Postwar 305

John Archer, and Dan Tattenbaum of Great nitely more severe than that of the r930S.
Britain; Bob Armstrong of Ireland; and Sam They insisted that in order to "stabilize"
Gordon, Sherry Mangan (Phelan), and the capitalist economy the capitalists of the
George Breitman of the United States. Breit­ United States and its allies would inexora­
man was still a member of the U.S. armed bly drive down the living standards and
forces.10 working conditions of the workers. The res­
Although this meeting was officially olutions insisted that the Second World War
called a "preconference/' one of the first had not resolved the contradictions of the
resolutions which it adopted unanimously capitalist system, and that sooner, rather
was "to meet as a World Conference of the than later, the United States would seek a
IV International and take responsibly deci­ way out of these contradictions by taking
sions on all the questions on the agenda, and the lead in launching a new world conflict,
to dissolve the present International Execu­ this time against the Soviet Union.
tive Committee and the International Secre­ One has to suppose that the majority rep­
tariat and elect at this conference a new i c e resentatives of the British r c p argued
and is with full authority to act until the against this resolution in the conference.
forthcoming world congress."11 They voted against it, and a few months
The 1946 Conference of the Fourth Inter­ later the r c p ' s own national conference
national adopted two major programmatic passed resolutions objecting to the eco­
resolutions. One was addressed to "the nomic crisis notions accepted by the Inter­
Workers, to the Exploited, to the Oppressed national, as well as to the International's
Colonial People of the Entire World," and insistence that the United States would
had the title "Only Victorious Socialist Rev­ shortly provoke a new world war.’3
olutions Can Stop the Third World War!" The 1946 resolutions reflected the by then
The other was a resolution entitled "The traditional attitudes of Trotskyism towards
New Imperialist 'Peace' and the Construc­ the Soviet Union. The USSR was pro­
tion of the Parties of the Fourth Interna­ claimed still to be a workers state because of
tional." There was considerable repetition its socialized property and planning system,
in these documents, and so we shall discuss although at the same time it was said to
together the major points made in both of have degenerated under the control of the
them.12 Stalinist bureaucracy.
The two principal statements of the 1946 Stalin and his associates were accused of
conference reflected the differences which having joined with the Social Democrats to
existed within the Fourth International in thwart and betray the revolution which oth­
the interpretation of the postwar reality. In erwise would have occurred, particularly in
general they took the position which had Europe, at the end of the Second World War.
been adopted by the majority of the Socialist Special note was taken of the failure of a
Workers Party of the United States, but revolution to develop in Germany with the
there were delegates present who objected collapse of the Nazi regime, as the Trotsky­
to this analysis. The majority of the British ists had predicted that it would. This failure
delegation was particularly opposed, and was attributed to the "chauvinism" of both
subsequent to the conference the British r c p the Stalinists and the Western Allies, to the
adopted resolutions objecting to the docu­ continued military occupation of Germany,
ments. and to the exceedingly severe socioeco­
Both resolutions passed by the conference nomic conditions in Germany. The revolu­
stressed the vast increase in the power of tionary spirit would only revive in Germany
the United States which had resulted from when the minimum conditions of living had
World War H. They went on to assert the been restored there.
"inevitability" of a new Depression infi­ The resolutions noted that the Stalinist

306 Fourth International: Postwar

regime was in the process of establishing indicated the virtual certainty of their rapid
a sphere of influence for itself in Eastern expansion in the immediate future. It was
Europe. They expressed approval of the stressed that only the Fourth International
"progressive" measures adopted by the East had the correct revolutionary program.
European regimes, such as agrarian reform, In this connection the documents stressed
confiscation of foreign investments, nation­ that unlike the prewar period, the Fourth
alization of enterprises, but denounced the International now had no rivals. Somewhat
"pillaging" of Eastern Europe by the Soviet prematurely, the Socialist and Communist
Union, emphasizing that this was turning Internationals were declared dead, and
against the USSR its natural allies in those rather more accurately the London Bureau
countries, the workers, and the peasants. was said to have disappeared. In spite of the
There was renewed emphasis in these res­ gains of the socialist and communist parties
olutions on the need for the overthrow of at the end of the war it was proclaimed that
the Stalinist bureaucracy. Although pro­ the period of the decline of these groups,
claiming the need to defend the USSR particularly the communist parties, had
against imperialism, the "Manifesto to the begun.
Workers" asserted that "The IV Interna­ Therefore, the road was cleared for the
tional does not support any of the existing leadership of the Fourth International. The
regimes."14 Both documents denounced the fate of humanity was declared to depend
failure of the Stalin government to seek sup­ upon this leadership, and it was argued that
port for the Soviet Union among its most only "defeatism" within the ranks of the
natural allies, the workers of the capitalist Fourth International could thwart its inevi­
countries. table progress and triumph. Indeed, an addi­
A strongly recurring theme in both of the tional separate resolution on the favorable
major documents of the 1946 Conference conditions then existing for the building of
was the existence of great revolutionary po­ the International was passed to supplement
tential at that moment. The defeats of the the two fundamental documents of the con­
revolution suffered in 1944-45 were just ference.15
temporary. The inevitable economic depres­ Considerable attention was paid to the
sion and intensified exploitation of the strategy and tactics to be adopted by the
workers in the major capitalist industrial Fourth International and its sections in the
nations, and the growing revolt in the colo­ period just ahead. Although both indepen­
nial and semicolonial countries both pres­ dent parties and fractions within the social­
aged a new revolutionary wave very soon. ist and communist parties were to be used,
Evidence for this was seen in the rash of it was declared that "contrary to the condi­
strikes which was sweeping the United tions which characterized the prewar situa­
States at the time, which were interpreted tion, independent work of our European sec­
as having incipiently revolutionary motiva­ tions, their autonomous existence, distinct
tions. Furthermore, it was argued, the petty from the traditional organizations, acquires
bourgeoisie throughout the capitalist world in general greater importance than fraction
were evidencing growing disillusionment work, and can serve as a powerful pole of
with the capitalist system and were turning attraction for working class vanguard ele­
toward the workers' parties, another portent ments which wish to struggle and who sepa­
of revolutionary possibilities. rate, indignant or disappointed, from those
Both documents stressed that the Fourth organizations."16
International would play the crucial role in The 1946 Conference stressed the impor­
leading this revolutionary upsurge. Al­ tance of transitional demands in the existing
though its parties were small, the exceed­ prerevolutionary circumstances. Among the
ingly favorable conditions for their growth slogans suggested were those for socialist/

Fourth International: Postwar 307

communist governments without "bour­ a vote from the Netherlands, Switzerland,
geois" participation, for a constitutional as­ India, and China.
sembly, for wages tied to price changes, for In practice, the positions for Germany,
"the right to work" and division of existing China, and Latin America remained vacant,
employment among all workers without and as a consequence representatives from
wage reductions, for nationalization without the Netherlands and Switzerland were given
compensation of various enterprises. It was full membership in the i e c . By 1947 the In­
emphasized that these transitional demands ternational Secretariat was composed of M i­
should always be put forward in terms of be­ chel Raptis as the principal secretary, Sam
ing steps on the road to socialism. Gordon, Morris Lewitt (Stein), and Sherry
Special attention was given to the transi­ Mangan (Phelan) from the United States;
tional demands to be stressed in Soviet-oc­ Pierre Frank and Ivan Craipeau of France,
cupied areas. There emphasis should be on Ernest Mandel of Belgium, V. Sasitry of India;
agrarian reform, nationalizations, and free­ and Jimmy Deane (unidentified). Other
dom of the workers parties, unions and other members of the i e c in addition to these were
organizations. Support for the continuance Jock Has ton of Great Britain, Eduardo Maur-
of Soviet military occupation of those coun­ icio of Spain, Le Van of Vietnam, Sol Santen
tries should only be offered on the basis of of the Netherlands, Heinrich Buchbinder of
their carrying out such demands. Switzerland, and Jacques Grinblat and Paul
In general, it was argued that the sections Parisot of France.17
of the Fourth International must struggle
to achieve or maintain the legality of their
Between the 1946 and 1948 Meetings
organizations, should emphasize the impor­
tance of their press for getting their message The International Executive Committee
over to the workers and should be active elected at the 1946 Conference had five ple­
and militant in the trade union movement. nary sessions between then and the Second
Some specific tasks were set forth for the World Congress of the Fourth International
sections in the United States, Great Britain, in 1948. The report submitted by the Inter­
and the colonial countries. national Secretariat to the 1948 meeting
In addition to the discussion and adoption noted that these dealt with "numerous probJ
of these programmatic resolutions and hear­ lems which the International had to face."
ing reports on the functioning of the Interna­ It also undertook the preparations for the
tional and European Executives and Secre­ Second Congress, with "the longest discus­
tariats, the 1946 Conference took upon itself sion possible . . . safeguarding the rights of
the task of choosing a new leadership for the the minority. . . . "
Fourth International. It was unanimously At the same time the International Secre­
decided that on the new International Exec­ tariat, which was made up "in its majority of
utive Committee there should be two from representatives of the important sections"
Great Britain, two from France, one from was especially active under the general di­
Germany, one Italian, one Belgian, one rection of the i e c . It issued statements on
Spaniard, one Vietnamese, one from North issues which arose, and established contacts
America, and four from "Canada" (a euphe­ "with practically all the sections and all the
mism for the United States, where the swp organizations claiming t-o be associated with
claimed that the Voorhees Law forbade it to the Fourth International." It also published
have official affiliation with the Interna­ the periodical, Quatrieme Internationale,
tional), plus the Secretary, Michel Raptis as well as an Internal Bulletin, and also is­
(Pablo). In addition, there were to be "con­ sued a Press Service "which furnished to the
sultative" members with a voice but not press of the International information on

308 Fourth International: Postwar

the life of the sections." Finally, it handled Conference of the Fourth International, it
with unaccustomed rapidity the various was not subsequently considered to have
theses and other documents in preparation been a congress of the organization. It was
for the 1948 congress, distributing them for not until late March and early April 1948
discussion among the sections.19 that the official Second World Congress of
The International Secretariat and i e c the Fourth International met in Paris.11
spent much of their time and discussion dur­ According to the official report of the Sec­
ing those two years on internal problems of ond Congress which appeared in Quatzieme
the various sections. The is report to the Internationale in its March-May 1948 is­
1948 Conference noted that they sought sue, "delegates of twenty-two organizations
"the unification of the groups in a single of the IV International, coming from all con­
section where that was possible, the best tinents met to discuss the problems of the
tactics to be followed by the sections in the revolutionary labor movement and to elabo­
struggle to break their isolation and to find rate in common the line of the IV Interna­
the path to the masses." The same report tional in the immediate future."12 Max
noted that the International had had to deal Shachtman, who was present, later con­
particularly with the situation in the Brit­ firmed that "the congress was undoubtedly
ish, French, Swiss, and Spanish sections. the most numerously attended and repre­
In their preparations for the Second Con­ sentative of all the international meetings
gress of the International, the is report of the Trotskyist movement." Shachtman
claimed that the i e c and is "sought to have added that "bourgeois or Stalinist repression
alt sections and all tendencies participate in and meagemess of financial resources pre­
the preparatory discussion. The long years vented many sections from sending their
had made a normal life of the International representatives. Yet as never before, dele­
impossible, and the international leadership gates came to the meeting not only from
did not hesitate to take measures to assure Europe, but from Asia, South Africa and sev­
participation of groups and tendencies eral countries of the Western Hemisphere.
which had broken in the past with the Inter­ Their presence was an earnest of the devo­
national Workers Party."19 As we shall see, tion of the Trotskyist movement to that so­
a number of the groups represented at the cialist internationalism which has been
Congress denied that there had been any abandoned by so many backsliders, cynics
such broad discussion prior to the meeting. and tired men."13 Security precautions were
Pierre Frank has summed up the path very extensive at the meeting, presumably
taken by the International between the 1946 to prevent it being disrupted by the police
Conference and the Second World Congress or anyone else. One had great difficulty to
in 1948: "The new orientation, resulting get into or out of the meeting, and creden­
from the new world situation, consisted in tials were exceedingly closely checked.
the task of changing our sections, which These efforts did not prevent interested gov­
until then had been propaganda groups, into ernments from finding out what was going
parties linked to the mass struggle—and on. Max Shachtman, for example, was
aimed to leading those struggles."10 shown by a United States Embassy official
a virtually verbatim account of all that had
transpired. The leader of the British delega­
The Second World Congress
tion was hailed as he was returning from
Paris by an immigration official who knew
Circumstances of the Congress
him personally and was asked how he had
Although the 1946 international meeting voted on various questions discussed at the
had taken upon itself the powers of a World meeting.14

1 Fourth International: Postwar 309

t
 The agenda of the Second World Congress Union during the war, saying that "the In­
was extensive. After a report by the Interna­ ternational was absolutely right in insisting
tional Secretary, Michel Raptis, on the evo­ on unconditional defense of the Soviet
lution of the International since its founding Union against imperialist attack," but ar­
conference almost ten years before, there guing also that "the error was in the fact of
were extensive debates over a general politi­ not having clearly warned the masses . . .
cal resolution, on a resolution concerning that the Red Army, as instrument of the
the situation in the colonial countries and Stalinist bureaucracy, would do all in its
on a thesis on the Communist-controlled power to repress their revolutionary move­
states. There were also extensive discus­ ments. . .
sions, with appropriate resolutions, con­ Pablo also offered "self-criticism" on the
cerning the situation within a number of the International's position on the. role of Ger­
national sections of the si. New statutes of many in the postwar revolution. He said
the International were also adopted. that the International had not paid enough
Although the resolutions adopted at the attention to "(a) the material and human
congress subsequently appeared in Qua­ destruction in Germany, (b) the reactionary
trieme Internationale, no record of the de­ character of the Soviet and Allied occupa­
bates at the meeting seems to have been tion, (c) the extreme atomization of the Ger­
published. In the discussion which follows man proletariat under the fascist regime. All
we shall reply both on the Quatrieme Inter­ of these factors worked to thwart the prem­
nationale report and on an article published ises of major action by the German masses."
later in the year by Max Shachtman, one of Finally, Pablo's report noted the consoli­
the principal opposition spokesmen at the dation of a new leadership in the Interna­
meeting. tional after the war, and divergences which
appeared in various sections, particularly
those of Britain, France, and Spain. He con­
Pablo's Report to the Congress
cluded with the claim that "the World Con­
The report of the International Secretariat, gress of 1948 will declare that the IV Interna­
submitted by Michel Pablo, was entitled tional is on the way to carrying out its tasks,
"1938-19 48: Ten Years of Combat." It and by its decisions it will consolidate the
started with a discussion of "How the Inter­ orientation of the whole International on
national Resisted the Test of the War," not­ that way."25
ing the persecutions to which the various In his report on the congress Shachtman
national sections had been subjected during noted that there was no debate on Pablo's
the conflict, and the International's many report. He claimed that "as far as can be
martyrs, then quickly reviewed the work of remembered, this is the first instance in the
the New York-based International Secretar­ history of the movement where a congress
iat. Pablo concluded that "the balance of failed to devote a single word to a discussion
the IV International during the war has no of the report of its Executive Committee,
comparison in the annals of the revolution­ and a report of ten years at that!"16
ary movement."
Other portions of the report dealt with
The General Political
% Resolution
differences which had arisen within the In­
ternational during the war, particularly the The General Political Resolution of the Sec­
Shachtmanite split and controversies over ond World Congress was entitled "The
"the national question," especially in World Situation and the Tasks of the IV In­
France. Pablo then reviewed the Interna­ ternational." It was introduced by Michel
tional's support of defense of the Soviet Pablo.27

310 Fourth International: Postwar

 The document started with the statement ments during the preceding year. The reso­
that the positions which the International lution admitted that this left turn was creat­
had taken at its 1946 Conference had all ing new difficulties for the Trotskyists.28
been bome out by events. It still predicted,
as the International had two years earlier,
that there would soon be a massive eco­ The Colonial Resolution
nomic depression. However, it hedged its The colonial resolution was entitled "The
prediction in view of the advent of the Mar­ Struggle of the Colonial Peoples and the
shall Plan. On balance, it concluded that the World Revolution." It was introduced by
world capitalist system now had achieved Pierre Frank.19 The resolution had an exten­
an "unstable equilibrium." sive survey of the decline of imperialism
Turning its attention to the Cold War, the in the postwar world. There was specific
resolution pictured this as being due to the discussion of the roles of Great Britain,
aggressiveness of the United States against France and the Netherlands, and particular
the Soviet Union. The USSR, on the other emphasis on the growth of United States
hand, had only been acting defensively, to imperialist influence at the expense of these
consolidate its hold on Eastern Europe. older colonial powers. The document
As in 1946, the General Political Resolu­ stressed the change of strategy of the imperi­
tion of 1948 stressed the continuing mili­ alist regimes, with their turning over the
tancy of the workers in Europe and the direct responsibility of government to the
United States, among other things seeing native bourgeoisie and its parties, while (it
the rise of the Progressive Party movement was asserted) maintaining continuing con­
of Henry Wallace in the United States as trol by the metropole over the economies of
evidence of this. The document also stressed the colonial countries.
working-class resistance to the Nehru gov­ The resolution stressed the "traitorous"
ernment in India and to Chiang Kai-shek's role of the Communist parties in these
regime in China. It likewise stressed the countries, particularly during the 19 4 1-
growth of labor militancy in Latin America 1945 period when they had thrown all of
since the end of World War II, which it pic­ their influence behind the war against the
tured as continuing in spite of the supposed Axis. It noted the relatively modest influ­
right-wing turn of the bourgeoisie and gov­ ence of the Socialist parties in the colonial
ernments of the area. countries. There was also discussion of the
The document then analyzed the rise of importance of the linkages of the Commu­
the Socialist parties in Northern Europe, nist and Socialist parties of the metropole
Australia, and a few other areas, and their and those of the colonies.
relative decline in France and Italy. It noted Finally, there was discussion in the docu­
that right after the war the Socialist parties ment of the role of the Fourth International
in Eastern Europe had also declined, but sub­ in the colonial areas. After expounding upon
sequently had risen in influence as the result the situation in several countries, the reso­
of growing working-class resentment at the
lution concluded:
Communists' behavior in those countries.
The conclusion drawn from this discussion It is to the IV International that falls the
was that it was still correct policy for the task of constructing the first real workers
Trotskyists to work within the socialist par­ parties in the colonial and semi-colonial
ties in some countries. countries. Its mission is to save the prole­
Finally, this document noted the left turn tariat of those countries from the painful
of the Communist parties following their defeats of the European proletariat. It is
ouster from a number of European govern­ the first International which has effec­

t
f Fourth International: Postwar 311
 tively united in its leadership the most 'degenerated workers state' we are perfectly
qualified representatives of the young co­ conscious of the need to complete it with
lonial proletariat. Its ideas can today ex­ more detailed precision. In reality, no exact
pand beyond the iron curtains, the jungles definition of the present Russian society is
and the oceans with astonishing rapidity, possible without long circumlocution. The
from Black Africa to Japan, from Korea to relative superiority of this formula, com­
Egypt. The IV International will prepare pared with all the others proposed so far
on a terrain virgin of working-class de­ consists of this: it puts emphasis at the same
feats the most radical upheavals that his­ time on the non-capitalist character of the
tory has ever known.30 USSR and on the instability of its social
arrangements, which have not yet acquired
and will not acquire during the. immediate
The Debate on the Russian Question
future years a definitive historic physi­
The most bitterly argued issue at the Second ognomy. "31
World Congress of the Fourth International The document put forth,, in considerable
was that of the nature of the Soviet Union detail, the traditional Trotskyist position in
and of the East European countries occupied favor of a "political" revolution in the
by the USSR after World War II. The resolu­ USSR—quoting extensively from the 1938
tion on this subject was entitled "The USSR Transitional Program in the process. It
and Stalinism," and it was introduced by added that the Russian Bolshevik-Leninists
Ernest Mandel.31 "will claim above all the immediate with­
The Mandel resolution was bitterly op­ drawal of Russian occupation troops from
posed by a substantial number of the dele­ all occupied countries, and the application
gates. They by no means agreed on what of the democratic right of self-determina-
should be substituted for the ideas presented tion, including separation of all the national
by the majority, but they were united in minorities in the USSR, fighting for inde­
their condemnation of the positions intro­ pendent Ukrainian, White Russian, Esthon-
duced by Mandel. ian, Lithuanian etc. socialist republics."33
"The USSR and Stalinism" presented the The new problem with which the 1948
"orthodox" Trotskyist position. It contin­ document had to deal was a definition of the
ued to portray the Soviet situation as one in nature of the East European regimes estab­
which the only alternatives were between lished by the Stalinists. It argued that there
advancing toward socialism and retreating had been a "compromise" between the So­
to capitalism. Indeed, there was emphasis viet bureaucracy and capitalist elements in
in the resolution on certain supposed trends the East European countries. As a conse­
towards a return to capitalism in postwar quence each country "remains a bourgeois
developments, such as the alleged growth of state (a} because their structure remains
the capitalist market in the production and bourgeois. No part of the old bureaucratic
distribution of agricultural and artisanal machine of the bourgeois State had been
goods. The Soviet bureaucracy was said to destroyed. The Stalinists have only taken
be unable to prevent such developments. the place of certain elements of the bour­
There was also the usual Trotskyist de­ geois state apparatus (b) because their func­
nunciation of the political tyranny of the tion remains bourgeois defends a prop­
Stalinist regime and emphasis on the fact erty which, in spite of diverse and hybrid
that the workers were in a powerless posi­ forms remains fundamentally bourgeois in
tion. Nevertheless, the resolution con­ nature."
cluded on this point that "if we continue to The resolution went further than this. It
apply to this social organism the formula argued that the East European countries

312 Fourth International: Postwar

"present at the same time an extreme form in a number of other countries and to re­
of Bonapartism, the Stalinized State having place it with nationalized property.37
only acquired a large degree of independence With the triumph of the Stalinist coun­
of the bourgeoisie as of the proletariat .. . terrevolution, the working class was ex­
above all because of its intimate association propriated politically and a new state
with the Soviet state apparatus and the dom­ power established which maintained and
inant force that that apparatus now pos­ even extended the form and predomi­
sesses in East Europe. . . ,"34 nance of collective, or nationalized or
The Russian resolution also took note of statified property. Consequently, it estab­
alternative explanations which had been of­ lished new and fundamentally different
fered of the nature of the Soviet Union, that relations in the process of production.. . .
is, the "state capitalist" and "bureaucratic The worker, as an individual or as a class,
collectivist" definitions. It rejected both of has absolutely nothing to do with de­
these.35 termining the production relations, with
The Russian resolution concluded with determining the relations of his class to
the declaration that "the construction of the the process or the conditions of produc­
IV International is at present the essential tion or the relations to it of those who,
condition for the amplification and the vic­ as a social group, control and decide the
torious conclusion of the workers revolu­ conditions of production. Like all ruling
tionary struggles throughout the globe. A classes, the latter thereby control and de­
victorious solution of this task 'will resolve' cide the distribution of the surplus prod­
with the facts the Russian question through uct extracted from the producers.38
the victory of the IV Russian Revolution.
History will demonstrate that an exact anal­ Max Shachtman wrote elsewhere about
ysis of this phenomenon, Stalinism, is one the opposition argument against the major­
of the bases for the realization of our historic ity resolution's definition of the East Euro­
mission."36 pean regimes: "My argument, much more
From Max Shachtman's subsequent re­ exactly, was this: If Russia was a 'degener­
port on the congress one can judge the na­ ated workers state'—which I denied—then
ture of the argument of those opposed to the so were the new satellites, by virtue of the
majority position on the Russian issue. identity of socio-economic and political
structures and forms, which introduced into
The traditional theory of the Trotskyist our 'doctrine' the twin embarrassments that
movement on Russia was completely a proletarian revolution had taken place in
shipwrecked during the w a r.. .. The Sta­ the satellites without a proletariat or a revo­
linist bureaucracy did not disintegrate lutionary party; and that you could have a
during the war. .. . The bureaucracy did 'degenerated workers state' before you ever
not prove incapable of defending its coun­ had a {nondegenerated) workers state. I did
try .. . its rule, its social system and its not say at all that on balance they were de­
economy from enemy attack.. . . The bu­ generated workers states, but that, like Rus­
reaucracy did not capitulate to capitalism sia, they were reactionary, bureaucratic-col-
or its capitalist allies.. .. On the contrary, lectivist states."39
it not only fought and fights tenaciously Joseph Hansen has noted that there was
for the maintenance of nationalized prop­ another minority at the congress which
erty, which is the property of its state, and "would have liked to have called them de­
the indispensable economic foundation of generated workers' states, but could hardly
its rule, but it managed to destroy the do so in all consistency since they had origi­
economic foundation of the bourgeoisie nated under the bureaucratic military aus­

Fourth International: Postwar 313

pices of the Kremlin regime and therefore eral orientation of the congress. This was
were 'degenerated' to begin with. The mi­ reflected both in the new statutes and in
nority therefore called them 'deformed' some of the resolutions adopted by the con­
workers states. .. . The minority position, gress.
it should be added, eventually was adopted The new statutes adopted by the 1948
by the majority of all sectors of the world congress were written by Sherry Mangan
Trotskyist movement, becoming the offi­ (Phelan).44 They were considerably more
cial position of the Fourth Interna­ extensive and detailed than the ones which
tional."40 This acceptance of the 1948 con­ had been ratified a decade earlier, and were
gress minority position took place at a Ple­ preceded by a longish preamble containing
num of the i e c in April 1949 and was ratified a statement of the general strategic "line"
by the Third World Congress in August of the International at that time.45 Al­
19 51.41 though as we" have indicated, the Second
Max Shachtman noted that "those of us Congress decided that "entrism" into So­
who supported the position of the Workers cialist parties might be justified in a few
Party—that Russia and the buffer countries countries, the orientation was generally to
are bureaucratic-collectivist states—voted be towards setting up independent revolu­
for the resolution of the French Chaulieu tionary parties.
group which, while not identical with our The preamble to the statutes proclaimed
position was sufficiently close to it for pur­ that "in each country the leadership of the
poses of the record vote. This resolution was proletariat must be taken from the counter­
supported by the delegates from the Chau­ revolutionary Social Democracy and the
lieu group, the German section, the Irish Stalinist traitors. The chains which they
section, the Indo-Chinese October group have forged to fetter and immobilize the
and the Workers Party."42 working masses must be broken. It is only
Pierre Frank has observed that "the ques­ in resolutely breaking both with the classic
tion of the class nature of the Soviet Union reformism of Social Democracy and with
and the question of the defense of the Soviet Stalinist neoreformism that the proletariat
Union had been continuously raised inside of each country can build the revolutionary
the Trotskyist movement and had provoked party without which no struggle for social­
many splits. The Second World Congress ism can be crowned with success."46
marked the end of the peat debates on these The resolution on the Russian question
questions inside the Fourth International. took basically the same line. In its discus­
Afterwards, on the basis of the definition of sion of "The Struggle Against Stalinism,"
the Soviet Union as a 'degenerated workers it asserted that "the breakaway from the
state' the debates took place on the transfor­ Stalinist organizations will be a long and
mations which took place there, their sig­ painful process which is merged essentially
nificance, and their consequences in rela­ with the construction of the revolutionary
tion to political tasks."43 party. By a constant intervention, intelli­
gent and patient, in all of the workers' strug­
gles, in all the movements of discontent and
revolt of the masses, the revolutionary mili­
The N ew Statutes and General
tants must progressively gain the confi­
Orientation of the 1948 Congress
dence of the most advanced worker ele­
One final aspect of the Second World Con­ ments, for the purpose of establishing a true
gress worthy of note, particularly in view of new leadership for the next revolutionary
the controversy which arose in the Fourth wave. They will play this role only to the
International in the early 1950s, is the gen­ extent that they have their own characteris­

314 Fourth International: Postwar

tics and the masses can no way confuse and his followers the Fourth International
them with 'left Stalinism.' " 4? urged them to give up "party monolithism."
It told them that "If you cling to this concep­
tion you will head inexorably toward the
Between the 1948 and 1 9 5 1 Meetings
foundering of your revolution and of your
own party."4®
The Yugoslav Question
The Trotskyists established contacts with
The next congress of the Fourth Interna­ the Titoites. The Fourth International had
tional did not take place until 1951. In the some relations with the Yugoslav Embassy
interim at least two important events which in Paris. The International and the Embassy
occurred are worthy of some note. These jointly arranged for sending work brigades
are the Trotskyists' reaction to the Titoite of young French Trotskyists to Yugoslavia
defection from Stalinism and the break of during the summer of 1950.49
Natalia Sedova Trotsky with the Fourth In­ But the courting of the Yugoslavs by the
ternational. Trotskyists did not last for long. By early
Only two months after the end of the Sec­ 1952 Michel Pablo was noting that "the Yu­
ond World Congress of the Fourth Interna­ goslav c p caught between internal difficul­
tional the Cominform declared the "excom­ ties and the increasing pressure of imperial­
munication" of the Yugoslav Communist ism began to give ground to the latter." The
Party and the Tito regime from the ranks Tito leadership, Pablo added, had been
of orthodox Stalinism. This event, totally brought to "break the class front."50
unexpected by the Trotskyists as by virtu­
ally all other outside observers, had the im­
Natalia Sedova Trotsky's Defection
mediate effect of arousing great hope and
support in Trotskyist ranks. Albert Glotzer has maintained that after
The Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ World War II Leon Trotsky's widow, Natalia
tional dispatched a series of open letters to Sedova Trotsky, sympathized more with the
the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Shachtmanites than she did with the Social­
Communist Party. These sought a rap­ ist Workers Party and the Fourth Interna­
prochement with the Yugoslav party. That tional.51 Certainly she supported the Gold-
of July 13 went "into painstaking detail on man-Morrow faction's efforts to bring the
what the Stalinist regime should do. It Shachtmanites back to the swp.S2 However,
should adopt the road of the class struggle; until 1951 she continued to think of herself
it should establish full workers' democracy; and be thought of as a member of the Fourth
it should nationalize the land; it should or­ International.
ganize a Balkan Socialist Federation; it On May 9, 1951 Natalia Sedova directed
should adopt all the principles of Leninism; a letter to the Executive Committee of the
it should start a 'vast campaign of re-educa- Fourth International and the Political Com­
tion'; there should be a 'real mass mobiliza­ mittee of the Socialist Workers Party an­
tion, to be brought about by your party.' " nouncing her separation from the Interna­
The Fourth International assured the Ti- tional. She started by noting that they knew
toites that "your party has nothing to fear that she had had certain disagreements with
from such a development. The confidence them "since the end of the war or even ear­
of the masses in it will grow enormously lier," but that "now you have come to a
and it will become the effective collective point at which it is not possible for me to
expression of the interests and desires of the remain silent or limit myself to protesting
proletariat of its country." privately. I must publicly express my
In its September 1948 open letter to Tito opinion."

1 Fourth International: Postwar 315

 She noted that "this step . . . is for me in the war which they are forcing the tor­
grave and difficult. . . . But there is no other mented people of Korea to suffer. I cannot
way. . . . I have decided to inform you that I and do not desire to follow you."
find no other solution than communicating Natalia Sedova ended her letter by saying
openly to you that our disagreements are that "in the message that the recent conven­
such that it is impossible for me to remain tion of the s w p sent me, you write that the
in your ranks." She then listed the basic ideas of Trotsky continue serving as your
elements of her disagreements with the guide. I must confess that I have read this
Fourth International. with great bitterness. As you can see from
First of all, "Obsessed with old formulas the previous lines, I don't see those ideas in
no longer of use, you continue considering your policy. I believe in those ideas, and I
the Stalinist State as a Workers State. I can­ remain convinced that the only way to get
not and don't wish to follow you in this. out of the present situation is the socialist
Stalinism and the Stalinist State have noth­ revolution, the emancipation of the world
ing more in common with a Workers State proletariat by its own efforts. " 53
nor with Socialism. They are the worst and
most dangerous enemies of Socialism and
■The N ew Strategy of the
the working class."
Fourth International
She also disagreed with the Fourth Inter­
national's position that the East European The Third World Congress of the Fourth
regimes were Workers States. She com­ International took place in August 19 s 1 - A l­
mented that "propagating these monstrous though the major resolution adopted there
falsehoods among the labor vanguard, you seemed to have the support of almost all of
deny yourselves and the IV International the delegates, they were in fact the first step
all basic reason for your existence as a towards a new strategic line for the Interna­
world party of the socialist revolution. In tional which was to generate a process of
the past we have always considered Sta­ splintering of International Trotskyism
linism as a counterrevolutionary force in which had not ended more than three de­
the widest meaning of the term. You no cades later.
longer think in this way, but I continue A plenum of the International Executive
thinking so." Committee met in November 1950 and
In the third place, she disagreed with their adopted a series of "theses" to be submitted
enchantment with the Tito regime in Yugo­ to the Third World Congress. The principal
slavia. She argued that "his regime doesn't author of the document involved was M i­
differ fundamentally from that of Stalin. It is chel Raptis, better known as Michel Pablo,
absurd to think or say that the revolutionary who was international secretary, and un­
leadership of the Yugoslav people will arise doubtedly reflected his and many of his col­
from this bureaucracy, or in any other way leagues' reaction to events of the post-World
than struggle against that same bureau­ War II period.
cracy." First, they were disillusioned by the fact
Finally, she wrote the Fourth Interna­ that the Trotskyists had made disappoint­
tional and s w p leaders, "The most insup­ ingly slow progress in building national sec­
portable of all is the position you have on tions and the World Party of the Socialist
war . . . in the face of everything that has Revolution. The great optimism on this
happened in recent years, you continue sup­ count which had been expressed in the 1946
porting and committing the whole move­ and 1948 International gatherings had dras­
ment to the defense of the Stalinist State. tically receded. In fact, by late 1950, instead
You are now justifying the Stalinist armies of seeing the triumph of the world revolu­

316 Fourth International: Postwar

tion under Fourth International leadership cess cannot be stopped short of the unavoid­
as something which would occur in the able destruction of the regime. . . ." s“
proximate future, Pablo and his friends saw This new war would be of a special kind.
the advent of socialism throughout the Pablo argued that "such a war would take
world in very long-run terms indeed. on, from the very beginning, the character
Second, the Yugoslav split with Moscow of an international civil war, especially in
had served to convince Pablo and his associ­ Europe and in Asia. These continents would
ates that the Stalinist parties might not nec­ rapidly pass over under the control of the
essarily be as unalterably subordinate to Sta­ Soviet bureaucracy, of the Communist Par­
lin as they had previously thought, and the ties, or of the revolutionary masses. . . .
advent to power of a Communist regime in These two conceptions of Revolution and of
a major country, China, which seemed to War, far from being in opposition or being
presage the necessity for a kind of Soviet- differentiated as two significantly different
Chinese partnership in leading the Stalin­ stages of development, are approaching
ists, reinforced the hopes of growing diver­ each other more closely and becoming so
gence in the Stalinist ranks. interlinked as to be almost indistinguish­
Third, the polarization of world politics able under certain circumstances and at
resulting from the Cold War and culminat­ certain times."
ing in the Korean War seemed to Pablo and The result of this War-Revolution, ac­
his supporters to provide an urgency in cording to Pablo, was that "this pattern of
terms of time which had not existed before. development of the Revolution, which is
They foresaw the advent of World War III, the real pattern and has its reasons for exis­
accompanied by the long-expected eco­ tence, implies a more complicated, more
nomic crisis in the "imperialist" world, as tortuous, longer passage from capitalism to
an immediate prospect. socialism, lending transitional form to soci­
These factors made it necessary, in the ety and to proletarian power."55
view of Pablo and his friends, for the Fourth Clearly, Pablo had developed a difference
International to adopt a completely new with the traditional Trotskyist position that
strategy. It was this strategy which was soon Stalinist regimes could only play a counter­
to split the Fourth International into war­ revolutionary role. He argued that "the rise
ring factions. of Communist Parties to power is not the
Pablo first clearly put forth his new view consequence of a capacity of Stalinism to
of world affairs in an article "Where Are struggle for the Revolution, does not alter
We Going?" which appeared in March 1951. the internationally counter-revolutionary
This article started out by tracing what role of Stalinism, but it is the product of an
Pablo thought to be the dismantling of the exceptional combination of circumstances
world capitalist market due to the Chinese which has imposed the seizure of power ei­
revolution and the disintegration of the co­ ther upon the Soviet bureaucracy (in the
lonial system. He maintained that the result case of the European buffer zone), or upon
of this was that "the capitalist regime hav­ certain Communist Parties (Yugoslavia,
ing lost its equilibrium, now has no possibil­ China)."56
ity of recovering it without restoring a world He chastised those who were worried by
market embracing the lost territories, and "the bogie of the 'world-wide domination of
without a more equalized redistribution of Stalinism,' " saying that such worry came
forces within the imperialist camp." As a from:
consequence of this, "capitalism is now rap­
idly heading toward war, for it has no other . . . lack of a correct theoretical under­
short or long-term way out, and. .. this pro­ standing of Stalinism, that the contradic-

1 Fourth International: Postwar 317

i
 tions inherent in its nature, far from being not at all bound by this policy. . . . With­
ameliorated or eliminated in direct pro­ out having thought through all these
portion to its expansion, are in reality be­ questions . . . it would be impossible for
ing reproduced on an ever greater scale us in the days ahead to link ourselves
and will provoke its destruction. This will with the mass revolutionary movement
take place in two ways: by the count­ as well as with the proletarian vanguard,
erblows of the anti-capitalist victories in which in Asia and in Europe follow Stalin­
the world and even in the USSR stimulat­ ist or Stalinized leaderships.59
ing resistance of the masses to the bureau­
cracy, for all bureaucracy, in direct pro­ Pablo then presented the strategy which
portion as the capitalist regime suffers he suggested for the Fourth International.
setbacks and an ever increasing and eco­ For Asia, he urged that "the new conditions
nomically more important sector escapes in which the Communist Parties in those
from capitalism and organizes itself on Asian countries which are currently going
the basis of a statized and planned econ­ through a revolution find themselves, dic­
omy, thereby stimulating the growth of tate to us, as a general attitude toward them
the productive forces.57 .. . that of a Left Opposition which gives
People who despair of the fate of hu­ critical support." But "in Europe, where the
manity because Stalinism endures and Communist parties manipulate the prole­
even achieves victories, tailor History to tarian m asses.. . . Much closer to the ranks
their own personal measure. They really of those parties: such is our slogan. . .
desire that the entire process of the trans­ Finally, "in those countries where Stalinism
formation of capitalist society into social­ is practically nonexistent or exercises weak
ism would be accomplished within the influence over the masses, our movement
span of their brief lives so that they can will strive to become the principal leader­
be rewarded for their efforts on behalf of ship of the proletariat in the years ahead: in
the Revolution. As for u s . . . this transfor­ the United States, England, Germany, Can­
mation will probably take an entire his­ ada, in all of Latin America, in Australia,
torical period of several centuries and will Indonesia, perhaps in India. The main im­
in the meantime be filled with forms and mediate future of our movement resides far
regimes transitional between capitalism more in those places than in countries
and socialism and necessarily deviating where the Stalinist influence still reigns."60
from 'pure' forms and norms.58
Faced with the long-run perspective that
the Stalinists, whether they wanted to or The Third World Congress
not, would be the leaders of a growing revo­
The first steps in developing the new orien­
lutionary wave, Pablo took his stand with
tation favored by Pablo were taken at the
them:
Third World Congress, which met in August
Our movement is naturally not "neutral" 19Si. It was attended by seventy-four dele­
between the so-called two blocs, that of gates from twenty-five countries.61
imperialism and that led by the U SSR.. . . Pierre Frank, who after some hesitation
Our support to the colonial revolutions became one of Pablo's ipost important sup­
now going on, despite their Stalinist or porters, has outlined the. major elements of
Stalinized leadership, in their struggle the central document adopted by a thirty to
against imperialism is even uncondi­ three margin (with one abstention) at the
tional. . . . Our movement is independent Third Congress, that is, the "Theses on the
of Moscow's policy, of the policy of the International Perspective and the Orienta­
Soviet bureaucracy, in the sense that it is tion of the Fourth International." The only

318 Fourth International: Postwar

opposition to the passage of the Theses came num of the International Executive Com­
from a majority of the French delegates. mittee in February 1952. That meeting en­
Frank wrote that the document “ began dorsed a report by Pablo explaining in detail
by stressing the increasing preparations of the full meaning of the new strategy. Pablo
various kinds being made at that time for a started by claiming that "the tactical con­
new world war. . . . These theses did not ception defined by the Third World Con­
dismiss the possibility of temporary com­ gress simultaneously trains its sights in
promises between the United States and the three distinct directions according to the
Soviet Union, above all because of the Krem­ special characteristic of the mass movement
lin's conservative policy, but they projected in each country: essentially independent
such a new world war in the relatively near work; work directed toward the reformist
future." workers and organizations; work directed
Frank went on to note that the Theses toward the Stalinist workers and organiza­
"added that, by its nature, this war would be tions."
a 'war-revolution,' in which an imperialist The areas in which "essentially indepen­
victory would be problematical. Linked to dent work" should continue by the Fourth
this perspective on the war was the point of International's affiliates included "above all
view that the arms race economy would Latin America and Ceylon." He added that
have catastrophic consequences on the eco­ "the United States, India, the countries of
nomic situation: inflation, lowering of the the Middle East, the African colonies, can
workers' standard of living, etc." be considered a part of this category with
Furthermore: the following reservations: In all these coun­
tries the Trotskyists must from now on act
From what had happened in Yugoslavia
and China, these theses concluded that as the revolutionary leadership of the
masses even though it may be necessary in
the Communist parties, even when they
had a reformist policy, were not exactly some of these countries to go through an
experience with certain reformist, centrist
classical reformist parties; that they were
not as yet mere instruments of the Krem­ or simply national currents and forma­
tions."
lin under any and all circumstances; that,
To explain what he meant by this, Pablo
under certain conditions of exceptional
mass movement, they could be drawn cited the advocacy of the establishment of a
into going beyond orientations corres­ Labor Party by the U.S. Socialist Workers
Party. He also noted the need for "penetra­
ponding to the policies of the Kremlin and
beyond their strictly reformist objectives. tion of the national movements which are
now convulsing" many of the colonial coun­
These theses insistently stressed the con­
crete, contradictory relationships in oper­ tries.43
In those countries in which the Socialist
ation between the masses, the Commu­
parties remained the dominant working-
nist parties, and the Soviet bureaucracy;
class political organizations, Pablo argued
and they stated that the Trotskyists had
to take advantage of these contradictions that "the question of entry, even total entry,
has to be faced if it hasn't as yet been real­
and in order to do so, had to become part
of the real mass movement, especially ized, because for all these countries it is
infinitely probable that except for new and
where Communist parties were mass or­
at present unforeseeable developments, the
ganizations.62
movement of mass radicalization and the
first stages of the revolution, of the objective
The Tenth Plenum
revolutionary situation, will manifest
The strategic turn started in the Third World themselves within the framework of these
Congress was completed in the Tenth Ple­ organizations."

Fourth International: Postwar 319

 However, in this case, the "entrism" into The independent sector will continue
the socialist parties was to be different from all of the present essential activities, in
that of the 1930s. Pablo noted that "we are the plants, the trade unions, among the
entering them in order to remain there for a youth; and will continue the work of re­
long time, banking on the great possibility cruiting, especially among the best ele­
which exists of seeing these parties, placed ments within the Stalinist movement
under new conditions, develop centrist who have been pointed out by our com­
tendencies which will lead a whole stage of rades who have made the entry. [The inde­
the radicalization of the masses and of the pendent sector would consist of] those
objective revolutionary processes in their re­ who are strictly necessary for conducting
spective countries."®4 the work as a whole; plus those who for
However, the really innovative part of the one reason or another, and despite all our
strategy proposed by Pablo, and accepted by efforts, are not able to integrate them­
the Tenth Plenum, was in the approach to selves into the Stalinist movement; plus
the Stalinist parties, where they were the those for whom we consider it preferable
majority working-class party. There, too, he and even necessary that they should carry
proposed entrism, but with a difference. He on the work of Trotskyist indoctrination
explained that "in regard to the c p s — and at in the independent sector.44
least for a period—we cannot practice total
entry but entrism of a specific kind, sui ge­
Conclusion
neris. . . ,"65 The reason for this particular
kind of entrism.into the Communist parties By the early months of 1952 the Fourth In­
was "the special character of the Stalinist ternational had made a major change in pol­
movement, the extremely bureaucratic icy, adopting a basically new strategy {which
leadership of which prevents us from pro­ it called a tactic). That strategy, although
ceeding exactly as we would in a reformist having certain apparent similarities to the
movement. . . . The nature of the Stalinist "French Turn" of the 1930s, was fundamen­
movement imposes on usinrealitya combi­ tally different.
nation of independent work along with the The French Turn executed under Trots­
task of entry, with the following character­ ky's direction essentially called for hit-and-
istics: our independent work must be under­ run raids into a number of socialist parties
stood as having as its chief aim to assist the with the hope either of quickly gaining con­
work of entry, and similarly sets its face trol of them or leaving with sufficient new
primarily toward the Stalinist workers. The recruits for the Trotskyist parties to begin
work of entry will become broader and to become "mass organizations." However,
broader as the war comes nearer." in view of the International's new perspec­
Pablo elaborated on this notion of entry tive of "several centuries" during which Sta­
sui generis: linism or something like it might be the
major "revolutionary force," the policy of
The independent sector will assist the the early 1950s was basically different.
"entrist" work by supplying the forces, For one thing, "entrism" this time in­
directing them from the outside, devel­ volved the Communist parties as well as the
oping the themes of our policy and our socialists. For another, ajl indications were
concrete criticisms of the Stalinist policy, that the entry into both socialist and Com­
etc. . . . in simple, clear fashion, with no munist parties was intended to be for an
restrictions other than those of wording unlimited period of time. Although it was
and formulation, which must be studied apparent that in the cases of entry into so­
so as to find increasing response from the cialist parties it was proposed that clearly
Stalinist militants. Trotskyist factions be organized in them,

320 Fourth International: Postwar

the situation was more problematical in the Fourth International:
case of those Trotskyite groups which en­
tered the Communist Parties of their respec­ Split and Partial Reunion
tive countries. Although the plan was to
maintain a small core group outside of the
Communist Party, the relations it was to
maintain with the Trotskyists inside the
party certainly remained obscure. Even During the early 1950s three of its most
more obscure was the way in which all of important national sections, together with
these diverse groups could be kept together several smaller ones broke away from the
in a single international organization. established Fourth International and set up
Understandably, this radical break with a rival organization. The three were the So­
the past policies of International Trots­ cialist Workers Party of the United States,
kyism ultimately aroused considerable op­ and the majority groups of the French and
position. By 1953-54 that opposition re­ British sections of the International.
sulted in a split in the Fourth International. Only one of these breakaways, that of the
International Trotskyism has never recov­ French section, was caused directly by the
ered from that split. new strategy developed by the Fourth Inter­
national under the leadership of Michel
Pablo. Flowever, that strategy was also a ma­
jor contributing factor in the splitting away
of the British and American sections, and
the new International Committee of the
Fourth International which they established
took a strong position against "Pabloism/'
that is, the turn in policy which the Fourth
International had taken under Pablo's lead­
ership.

The Beginnings of the Split

In the appropriate sections of this book deal­
ing with those national sections, we have
traced in some detail the internal controver­
sies which determined the split of the
French, American and British sections from
the International. Here it is sufficient to re­
capitulate very briefly those events, and to
trace how they resulted in the establish­
ment of a rival to the existing apparatus of
the Fourth International.
The crisis first arose in the French section.
Early in 195a the Parti Communiste Inter­
nationaliste ( p c i ) was ordered by the Interna­
tional to undertake the policy of "entrism
sui generis" and to direct its major efforts to
trying to get its members into the French
Communist Party. The majority of the lead­
ership of the p c i rejected this notion, as a

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 321

result of which, in March 1952, the Interna­ al's leadership, James Cannon and others in
tional stepped in and in effect converted the the swp majority became increasingly con­
majority of the Political Bureau of the p c i vinced that Pablo was using his influence
into a minority pending the next party con­ on behalf of the swp minority. As the contro­
gress, scheduled to meet in May. versy grew more heated, Pablo did in fact
When the Eighth Congress of the p c i m et, side with the minority, particularly with
it passed a resolution declaring that "a grave Clarke. This finally provoked a break be­
danger menaces the future and even the ex­ tween the Cannon group and the majority
istence of the Fourth International.. . . Revi­ in the Fourth International leadership.4
sionist conceptions bom of cowardice and As the Pablo-swp quarrel intensified the
petty-bourgeois impressionism have ap­ leadership of the British section was drawn
peared within its leadership. The still great into it. In that case the controversy arose
weakness of the International, cut off from originally over a document which had been
the life of the sections, has momentarily submitted to the sections in the name of
facilitated the installation of a system of the International Secretariat, as part of the
personal rule, basing itself and its anti-dem­ preparations for the forthcoming Fourth
ocratic methods on revisionism of the Trots­ Congress of the International. This docu­
kyist program and abandonment of the ment, entitled "The Rise and Decline of Sta­
Marxist method."1 Shortly afterward, the linism," put forth once again the ideas of
majority of the French section were expelled Pablo about the changed nature of the Soviet
by the International Executive Committee.2 leadership and the Stalinist parties in gen­
At that point the party of the French ma­ eral. When it was first discussed in the Exec­
jority stood alone. As Fred Feldman has writ­ utive Committee of the British Section,
ten, "many of the forces which later sup­ Gerry Healy, the leading figure in the sec­
ported the International Committee faction tion, tentatively presented certain modifi­
still had considerable confidence in Pablo. cations to the document. His right to do so
Since these forces .. . were not convinced was then challenged by Jack Lawrence, who
that Pablo was on a revisionist course, they claimed that since Healy was a member of
thought the French refusal to carry out the the International Secretariat he was bound
'deep entry' tactic reflected a sectarian bent. by is discipline not to dissent from the docu­
Therefore, they made no objection at the ment which it had sponsored.
time to Pablo's moves and even supported Subsequently, on September 23, 1953, the
them."3 Bureau of the International Secretariat
In the meantime, a split began to develop wrote to Healy in the same vein.5 But Healy
in the Socialist Workers Party in the United was incensed rather than mollified by this
States. At its inception this struggle had lit­ "advice" from the headquarters of the Inter­
tle to do with "Pabloism." Bert Cochran and national. He took steps to call a meeting of
most of those associated with him wanted the section's National Committee to re­
very different kinds of changes in policy and move members of the Lawrence faction
in the nature of the s w p from Pablo’s general from the direction of the section's peri­
proposals. George Clarke, who had been the odical.
s w p representative at the headquarters of Clearly, the British situation was related
the Fourth International and had become a to the quarrel between-ihe swp and Pablo.
strong supporter of Pablo, sided with the At one point Healy was summoned to the
Cochranites upon his return home. International headquarters in Paris, where
As a consequence of this situation, and he was assured that if the British section
particularly of Clarke's insistence that he would line up against the s w p , Pablo and his
represented the thinking of the Internation­ associates would see to it that the Lawrence

322 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

faction ended its activities. Healy de­ above any other consideration the unity of
murred.6 our International movement, the unity of
your own organization."9
When the swp leadership clearly did not
Emergence of the International
follow its advice, the is issued a "Letter from
Committee
the Bureau of the International Secretariat
Events in the last months of 1953 moved to the Leaderships of All Sections," signed
quickly towards an organic split in the by Pablo, Pierre Frank, and Ernest Mandel,
Fourth International. On October 3-4 a and dated November 15, 19S3- It began,
meeting was held in London of representa­ "The most revolting operation has just been
tives of the British section of the Interna­ launched against the unity of the Interna­
tional, the French majority group which had tional. The majority of the American organi­
been expelled the year before, and the Swiss zation, cynically defying the most elemen­
section. Sam Gordon of the s w p also at­ tary rules of our international movement,
tended "individually." That meeting de­ and its traditions as well as its leadership
cided to set up a "provisional committee" have just excluded by the decision of its
of two representatives each from the French, Plenum of November 7-8, the minority
British, and Swiss sections. At that point which declares itself in agreement with the
what was being organized was a faction line of the International."10
within the International. The meeting de­ After noting that Cannon and his associ­
clared that "the delegates declare their polit­ ates, as well as Healy, had until recently
ical agreement on the international perspec­ supported the International leadership, the
tive on the character of the Soviet letter noted that "their 100 percent about-
bureaucracy and Stalinism. They decide to face of today dates only a few months back.
undertake together the defense of Trots­ How then to explain it?"
kyism against Pabloist revisionism and the The letter answered its own question.
struggle against the liquidation of the If they now act in this way it is above all
Fourth International." They also agreed to to safeguard the personal clique regime in
prepare documents for submission to the the midst of their organizations that they
Fourth Congress of the International.7 consider threatened by the extension of
Then on November 7-8, 1953, the Social­ the influence of the International as a cen­
ist Workers Party held a plenum at which it tralized world party.. . . Fixed on old ideas
expelled the Cochranite faction. The Inter­ and schemas, educated in the old organi­
national Secretariat sent a letter to this zational atmosphere of our movement,
meeting. After noting that the s w p had not they really represent politically and orga­
yet submitted any critique of the documents nizationally the sectarian tendency
for the Fourth World Congress, this letter which recoils from the movement of the
claimed that "to build a faction under such Social Democratic or Stalinist masses or
conditions, then to bring it forth brusquely feels itself ill at ease within it. They fur­
in the late day and then violently oppose ther remain profoundly resistant to all
it to the International leadership becomes, real integration into a centralized world
frankly, an unprincipled, unspeakable oper­ party. . . ,n
ation, profoundly alien to the traditions and
nature of our movement."8 It ended saying, This letter then proceeded virtually to
"avoid a fundamental political crystalliza­ read the s w p out of the international Trots­
tion on this or that line before previous dis­ kyist movement.
cussion between delegations responsible to The International was, remains and will
your leadership and the is or the i e c . Put remain a political movement and a princi­

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 323

 pled organization. It will not compromise Fourth International to assert their will
on its principles, it will never permit the against Pablo's usurpation of authority.
expulsions effected by Cannon, nor those They should in addition safeguard the ad­
which Bums [Gerry Healy] is preparing in ministration of the affairs of the Fourth
England. With all our forces we ask the International by removing Pablo and his
i e c to stigmatize these measures, to en­ agents from office and replacing them
join those who have taken them to imme­ with cadres who have proved in action
diately withdraw them and to reintegrate that they know how to uphold orthodox
forthwith the expelled members within Trotskyism and keep the movement on a
their organizations. Any other road fol­ correct course both politically and organi­
lowed by anyone whatsoever could only zationally.14
place them outside our movement:12
This appeal of the swp was very soon an­
Meanwhile, in addition to expelling the swered. On November 23, 1953, a "Resolu­
Cochranites the s w p plenum had adopted tion Forming the International Committee"
"A Letter to Trotskyists Throughout the was issued from Paris, over the signatures
World." This document, after reciting a bit of Gerry Healy, Bleibtreu of the French ma­
of the postwar history of the Fourth Interna­ jority, Smith of the "New Zealand" Section
tional "restated" the fundamental princi­ (apparently Farrell Dobbs of the s w p ) and
ples of Trotskyism. It then proclaimed that Jacques of the Swiss section. It proclaimed:
"these fundamental principles established
1. We affirm our solidarity with the fun­
by Leon Trotsky retain full validity in the
damental line of the appeal of the N a­
increasingly complex and fluid politics of
tional Committee of the Socialist Work­
the world today. . . . "
ers Party to the Trotskyists throughout
Then the letter argued that "these princi­
the world, and particularly with the defi­
ples have been abandoned by Pablo. In place
nition therein of the programmatic bases
of emphasizing the danger of a new barba­
of Trotskyism.. . . a. We consider as hav­
rism, he sees the drive toward socialism as
ing forfeited its power the International
'irreversible'; yet he does not see socialism
Secretariat of the Pabloist usurpers,
coming within our generation or some gen­
which is devoting its activity to the revi­
erations to come. Instead, he has advanced
sionism of Trotskyism, the liquidation of
the concept of an 'engulfing' wave of revolu­
the International and the destruction of
tions that give birth to nothing but 'de­
its cadres. 3. Representing the vast major­
formed,' that is, Stalin-type workers states
ity of the Trotskyist forces of the Interna­
which are to last for 'centuries.' " l3
tional, we decide to constitute an INTER­
After criticizing a number of specific acts
NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE
of the Pablo leadership, including its support
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL___
of the Cochranites, the letter said:
We call on the leadership of all the sec­
To sum up: The lines of cleavage between tions of the Fourth International to estab­
Pablo's revisionism and orthodox Trots­ lish relations with the leadership which
kyism are so deep that no compromise is represents the Trotskyist program and the
possible either politically or organization­ majority of the forces of the International.
ally. . . . If we may offer advice to the Every responsible cadr&, every Trotskyist
sections of the Fourth International from militant concerned with the unity of the
our enforced position outside the ranks, International and the future of his na­
we think the time has come to act and to tional section, must clearly and swiftly
act decisively. The time has come for the take a position as between the revisionist
orthodox Trotskyist majority of the and liquidationist center of the Pabloist

324 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

 usurpers, and the International Commit­ the Fourth International. Because we are
tee of the Fourth International.15 compelled to remain outside the Interna­
tional organization due to the reactionary
The Fourteenth Plenum of the i e c of the Voorhis Law of 1940, we are all the more
Fourth International, which met December interested and concerned with the develop­
26-28, 1953, retaliated against the signers ment of the Fourth International. The Inter­
of the s w p ' s "letter" and the resolution es­ national Committee insures the line of revo­
tablishing the International Committee. It lutionary continuity that extends from
resolved: "a. To suspend from membership Lenin, through Trotsky and into the future
in the International all members of the i e c victory of socialist mankind."21
who signed the split appeal which appeared The Pabloite leadership claimed to main­
in The Militant of November 16, 1953, or tain within its ranks the great majority of
the appeal of the 'Committee of the Fourth the sections. In a letter addressed to the Chi­
International,' or who support the appeals, nese section the is wrote that "the following
and endeavor to rally the sections of the sections: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bel­
International on this basis, b. To suspend gium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Ceylon,
from their posts in the leadership of the sec­ Chile, Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Brit­
tions all those who signed these appeals, or ain (majority), Greece, Holland, Italy, Indo­
who support them and endeavor to rally the china, Peru, Uruguay, that is, the over­
sections of the International on this basis, whelming majority have said that their
c. To leave the final decision on these cases organization is the only f i and condemn the
to the Fourth World Congress."16 split committee."22
The Fourteenth Plenum also decided to This claim was clearly exaggerated. The
recognize as official sections the minority majority of the Canadian section had gone
groups of the s w p and of the British sec­ with the International Committee as had
tion.17 Finally, it replaced Gerry Healy on the majority of that of Great Britain. In the
the i e c and the is with John Lawrence, and case of the Bolivian party, a split took place
added representatives of the German and shortly after the schism in the Fourth Inter­
Ducth sections to the International Secre­ national. Although the causes of that divi­
tariat.1® sion in the Partido Obrero Revolucionario
Those who had launched the Interna­ were domestic rather than international,
tional Committee were able to gain some one faction, that led by Hugo Gonzalez Mos-
additional recruits. These included the ex­ c6so, aligned with the Pabloites, while the
iled Chinese section based in Hong Kong,19 other, led by Guillermo Lora, sympathized
and the Canadian section, although the Ca­ with the International Committee, al­
nadian group underwent a split as a conse­ though it may well not have officially affili­
quence of this decision.20 ated with it.23
Of course, the International Committee
had the support of the Socialist Workers
The Question of Unity and the Fourth
Party of the United States. An editorial in
World Congress
The Militant said that "the organization of
the International Committee signifies that The Trotskyist party in Ceylon (Sri Lanka),
the Fourth International has once again the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (l s s p ), sought
proved its historic viability. It shows that to act as mediator in this conflict within
no force on earth, external or internal, can the Fourth International. To this end, they
destroy it." insisted that all of the groups represented at
The editorial concluded: "We hail the for­ the Third World Congress should also be
mation of the International Committee of invited to send delegates to the Fourth

1
i Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 325
I
1
i
 World Congress. To facilitate this, the l s s p It did arouse conflicting reactions among
urged that the congress, scheduled for July groups which had remained with the Inter­
1954, be postponed. The Fourth Interna­ national Secretariat and the i e c . On the one
tional leaders refused such a move. hand, John Lawrence of Great Britain wrote,
However, perhaps due to the pressure of protesting, "as you know, I am completely
the l s s p , the International Executive Com­ opposed to your method in this question."26
mittee sent a letter which, according to the The Cochranite Socialist Union of America
document itself, was sent "to all those, also protested, saying that "it is with a sense
without exception, who were members of of strong urgency that we call upon the i e c
the International at the time of the Third to reverse the course and to reorient the
Congress and who by their own volition entire struggle along correct lines."27
have placed themselves outside the organi­ On the other hand, the Ceylonese l s s p
zational framework of the International, also protested, but from a different point of
centralized world party. view. It argued that "the draft appeal as it
Although this document was clearly par­ stands can be construed as a factional docu­
tisan (arguing, for instance, that "The i e c ment. . . . It is completely out of place for
has always been invested with the confi­ the i e c to make any such declaration. . . ."
dence of the vast majority of the Interna­ Therefore, Colin R. de Silva and Leslie
tional"), it did urge the recipients to "Sub­ Goonewardene, member and alternate
mit any disputes you may have . . . to this member of the i e c for Ceylon, refused to
Congress." It continued, "You no longer sign the letter.28
have confidence in the present leadership of In the end, only those groups which stayed
the International, or its organization of this with the Pablo leadership were represented
Congress? Offer concrete proposals as to at the Fourth Congress.
how you envisage your participation in this
Congress; state the conditions of the future
The Pabloite Fourth International,
functioning and leadership of the Interna­
1953-1963
tional which, if adopted or largely satisfied
by the Congress, would in your opinion The Fourth International faction headed by
make possible the reestablishment of the Michel Pablo held three world congresses
unity of the International." after the split at the end of 1953. Alongside
To receive these proposals, the i e c set up these meetings there were intermittent ne­
a "commission . . . which would function gotiations for reestablishing the unity of the
prior to the beginning of the Congress ses­ international Trotskyist movement which
sions. . . . " It named to this commission Les­ culminated in the so-called Reunification
lie Goonewardene of Ceylon, Edward of Ger­ Congress of 1963 which, however, only suc­
many, Livio Maitan of Italy, Emest Mandel, ceeded in partially reuniting the forces of
J. Posadas of Argentina, Bos of the Nether­ the Fourth International.
lands, Dumas of the pro-Pablo French group, The Fourth Congress, which met in July
and Serrano of the Bolivian p o r . The letter I 9 S4 / was attended by delegates from orga­
argued that "the purpose of this commission nizations in twenty-one different countries.
is to assure your participation—genuine, It dealt, understandably, with the problem
not formal—in the Congress, in order to of the split in the International, and also
achieve the reunification of our interna­ discussed and adopted several documents.29
tional movement, with the Congress having Most of the delegates to this congress sup­
the sovereign decision. ported the position which Pablo and his as­
This letter of the i e c did not serve to bring sociates had maintained in the conflict with
about the reunification of the International. those sections which formed the Intema-

326 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

 tional Committee. However, a minority, mies of the "workers states," noting their
consisting principally of George Clarke rapid progress, and suggesting the need for
from the Socialist Union of America, Mur­ rationalizing their economies. Pierre Frank
ray Dawson of the Pabloite minority from has noted that "the document emphasized
Canada, Michele Mestre of the pro-Pablo p c i the basic role of workers democracy, not
of France, and John Lawrence of the British only as a political factor, but as indispens­
minority, protested strongly against the able for development in the economic
compromises which Pablo had made with area."
the Ceylonese l s s p . They finally walked out Finally, the economic document dealt
of the meeting. Fred Feldman has noted that with the situation in the colonial countries.
"Mestre and Lawrence immediately joined It noted that some economic progress had
the Communist parties in their respective been made there, but that relatively the co­
countries. "30 lonial nations were falling farther behind
The most important resolution of the the big industrial countries, and argued
Fourth World Congress was entitled "Rise "that the result of this would be a growing
and Decline of Stalinism." The draft of this impoverishment of the colonial masses and
document, which more or less repeated the consequently the continuation of the objec­
position which Pablo had put forth in the tive conditions that were fanning the flames
previous few years that the Stalinist parties, of colonial revolution."33
whether they wanted to or not were increas­ The second document was on "Colonial
ingly being forced to take the leadership in Revolution Since the End of the Second
revolutionary movements in various parts World War," introduced by Pierre Frank. It
of the world, had been severely criticized by "stressed the fact that it was the dominant
the l s s p of Ceylon. Although in the precon­ feature of the postwar period; it had upset
gress discussion Ernest Mandel {under the all the perspectives that had been made
name Ernest Germain) strongly answered since the origin of the working class move­
the l s s p ' s criticisms, Pablo and his associ­ ment, even those made after the October
ates finally agreed to accept the modifica­ Revolution.. . . The congress insisted on the
tions suggested by the l s s p .31 necessity for the Trotskyist movement, es­
The Fifth Congress of the Pabloite faction pecially for the sections in the imperialist
of the International (which was usually re­ countries, to devote a large part of its activ­
ferred to as the International Secretariat or ity to aiding the colonial revolution."34
is) met in October 1957 and was attended Finally, the Fifth Congress came back to
by "about a hundred delegates and observers a new version of the previous meeting's doc­
from twenty-five countries."32 The con­ ument, "The Rise and Decline of Sta­
gress' discussions centered on three docu­ linism," adding another part to it, "The De­
ments. The first of these, entitled "Eco­ cline and Fall of Stalinism." It was
nomic Perspectives and International introduced by Ernest Mandel. The revised
Policies," was presented by Pablo, and it document, after tracing the rise of Sta­
recognized for the first time (for the Trotsky­ linism, noted "the objective conditions of
ists) that a major world depression was not the new situation: the existence of several
likely in the proximate future. It discussed workers states, the USSR become the sec­
the ways in which the capitalist regimes ond world power, the revolutionary rise
had prevented such a crisis, and noted that throughout the world." Pierre Frank has
although revolutionary strikes in the capi­ noted that "thus it demonstrates that hence­
talist countries were not likely soon, there forth there can be no danger, except in the
might be extensive economic strikes. highly improbable case of defeat in a world
This document also dealt with the econo­ war, of a restoration of capitalism in the

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 327

Soviet Union," the first time an interna­ short time before in making the island a
tional Trotskyist meeting had made this workers state, the first in the Western Hemi­
fundamental change in the traditional "for­ sphere."38
ward to Socialism or backward to capital­ This time Pierre Frank introduced the res­
ism" dichotomy. It claimed that the de-Sta- olution on Stalinism. It recounted the "re­
linization launched by Khrushchev at the forms" undertaken by Khrushchev and
Twentieth Congress of the c p s u the year "made a study of the new contradictions to
before constituted "measures of the self-de­ which the Communist parties were subject.
fence—not self-liquidation—of the bureau­ It pointed out the compromise between the
cracy."35 Chinese and Soviet leaderships embodied in
Frank concluded concerning this Fifth the text adopted several weeks earlier in the
Congress that "the discussions . . . were Moscow conference of eightyTone commu­
broad in scope; certain points were strongly nist and workers parties and concluded that
debated by various delegates, but there was this compromise could not be a lasting one,
no tendency struggle. The International had that the Sino-Soviet crisis would inevitably
largely recovered; it came out, once again erupt again."
unanimously, in favor of reunification of the This was the first Fourth International
international movement."36 Congress since 1948 at which the Lanka
The last international meeting of the Pab- Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon was not repre­
loite faction before "reunification," the sented. There had already begun the quarrel
Sixth Congress, met early in 1961 with "a between that party and the International
hundred participants from about thirty which was two years later to result in the
countries." Pierre Frank noted that "be­ expulsion of most of the l s s p from the Inter­
cause of the fierce and bitter—and politi­ national.39
cally impoverished—struggle waged by the One of the decisions of the Sixth Congress
Posadas faction, the discussions did not that was not published at the time was to
allow the International to make any real move the headquarters of the International.
progress in its thinking. . . . But the docu­ Until i960 it was located in Paris, but it
ments ratified by the congress were not was concluded that because of the return of
without importance." Charles de Gaulle to power it was no longer
One of these documents, introduced by advisable to keep the headquarters there,
Emest Mandel, reviewed the world eco­ since the International Secretariat had been
nomic situation, recounting again the particularly active in support of the Algerian
means by which the capitalist countries had revolution.
avoided a major economic crisis. Also, al­ In i960 the headquarters was moved to
though noting the continued advance of the Amsterdam, where it was thought that the
"workers states," it "refuted Khrushchev's Trotskyists would be freer to operate and
claim, widely believed in that period, to the where they would be nearer the European
effect that the USSR would rapidly surpass headquarters of the Algerian revolution,
the USA on the economic plane."37 which was in Cologne. However, soon after
Livio Maitan introduced the congress doc­ moving there Michel Pablo was arrested by
ument on the colonial revolution. It "made the Dutch police for his work against the
a special study of the situation in a certain Algerian War and wask sentenced to two
number of colonial zones or colonial coun­ years in jail, which he served.
tries. A great deal of space was allotted to the After Pablo's arrest it was decided to move
Algerian revolution.. . . A special resolution the International Secretariat to Rome. The
was devoted to Cuba, retracing the revolu­ reason for this was that, of the three mem­
tionary process that had culminated only a bers of the Bureau of the Secretariat—Pierre

328 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

Frank, Ernest Mandel, and Livio Maitan— were not formally considered by the con­
Maitan was at that time the only one who ference.43
could devote full-time to the work of the is. One development within the Interna­
Pablo opposed this decision.40 tional Committee which was to have con­
siderable future impact on the evolution of
International Trotskyism was the formation
The International Committee from
of a Latin American organization within its
1953 t0 I 9fi3
ranks. This resulted from a meeting in Octo­
The other faction of International Trots­ ber 1954 which set up the Comit6 Latino-
kyism, the International Committee, did americana del Trotskismo Ortodoxo ( c l a )
not hold full-fledged congresses such as consisting of Nahuel Moreno from the Ar­
those of the Pabloite group. Pierre Frank has gentine POR-Palabra Obrera, Humberto Va­
noted that it "really functioned not as a cen­ lenzuela of the Chilean p o r , and Hernandez
tralized organization but as a faction with from the Peruvian p o r .
loose ties among its members. According to The c l a organized in March 1957 what it
information supplied by comrades who took called the First Conference of Latin Ameri­
part in the International Committee, there can Orthodox Trotskyism, which estab­
were few international meetings of the com­ lished the Latin American Secretariat of
mittee, political positions often being for­ Orthodox Trotskyism ( s l a t o ), which con­
mulated, in the form of documents from tinued to exist until December 1964. Start­
national sections after exchanges of views ing in 1957, s l a t o issued a more or less
between the committee's meetings."41 regular publication, Estiategia, edited by
However, from time to time there were Nahuel Moreno and appearing in Buenos A i­
limited meetings of representatives of the res. Although some other groups were nomi­
parties and groups associated with the Inter­ nally affiliated with s l a t o , its major affili­
national Committee. For example, one such ates continued to be those of Argentina,
meeting took place in Paris in November Chile, and Peru.44
19 S 5 . It adopted resolutions on the so-called In April 1961 s l a t o held its second meet­
Parity Commission between the Pabloites ing, in Buenos Aires, where it paid particular
and the ic, and on "Solidarity with the Alge­ attention to the phenomenon of Castroism
rian Struggle for National Liberation."41 in Latin America. It also adopted resolutions
The nearest thing to a worldwide meeting requesting the International Committee to
of the International Committee was a World publish all documents on the subject of Cas­
Conference which met in Leeds in 1958. troism and the Cuban Revolution which had
The leading role was apparently taken by been adopted by the member groups of the
the delegates of the s w p of the United States, ic, and calling for a general discussion of the
whose principal resolution was adopted at Castroite phenomenon within the ranks of
the meeting. The Latin American delegates the International Committee.4S
to the conference submitted several docu­ The position of s l a t o was later summed
ments which were critical of the attitude of up thus: " s l a t o decidedly oriented itself to
the swp within the International Commit­ the perspective that the Cuban Revolution
tee, particularly its allegedly "federal" con­ had provoked a decisive change in the rela­
cept of the nature of the Fourth Interna­ tions of forces between imperialism and the
tional, and particularly of the International masses, in favor of the latter, with a leading
Committee and of overtures which swp role for the agrarian revolution and the
leaders had made for reunification with the armed struggle. . . and that a petty bourgeois
International Secretariat. However, the res­ revolutionary nationalist movement on
olutions submitted by the Latin Americans continental dimensions, Castroism, had ap­

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 329

peared. A correct line for the construction of of the Communist parties to use the betrayal
Trotskyist revolutionary parties must take of the workers by their parties in the Hun­
into account these new phenomena, in par­ garian situation to get rid of their Stalinist
ticular, guerrilla war, incorporating them in leaders. It also appealed to the Soviet Armed
the traditional program of Trotskyism."46 Forces, calling upon them to "remember the
After first categorizing the Cuban regime revolutionary traditions of the Red Army
as a workers' state "in transition," s l a t o founded by Leon Trotsky. Solidarize your­
soon came to regard it as a "bureaucratic selves immediately with the gallant Hun­
workers state." As a counterpart to this garian fighters for socialist freedom orga­
definition s l a t o advocated a "political revo­ nized in their soviets."49
lution" in Cuba as in other "workers
states."47
Early Moves Toward Reunification
s l a t o formed the core o f what in the

1970s and 1980s was to be the "Morenoist" The split in the Fourth International had
tendency in International Trotskyism. hardly been consummated when steps be­
Pierre Frank has noted concerning rela­ gan to be taken which, in the eyes of some
tions between the ic and the is that "begin­ of the people involved, were designed to try
ning in 195 6, the Twentieth Congress of the to reestablish the unity of the international
c p s u and the Sino-Soviet dispute brought Trotskyist movement. A leading role in this
the positions of the two groups closer on the process was taken by the Lanka Sama Sa­
question of the crisis of Stalinism. More­ maja of Ceylon which, although staying in
over, on the problems of the colonial revolu­ the Fourth International of the Pabloites,
tion members and sympathizers of the Inter­ shared many of the views of the rival group
national Committee, especially those in organized in the International Committee.
North America and Latin America, under­ Leslie Goonewardene of the l s s p had
went an experience with the Cuban revolu­ meetings with Gerry Healy, apparently soon
tion that was in many respects similar to after the Fourth World Congress of the Pab­
the Fourth International's experience with loites. Out of this discussion came the deci­
the Algerian revolution."48 sion to establish a "Parity Commission" of
From time to time the International Com­ the two groups. Fred Feldman has noted that
mittee issued general statements. One of "to Goonewardene, this was a step toward
the most significant of these was the "Mani­ reunification, but for Healy, the parity com­
festo of the International Committee of the mission was intended to win over the Cey­
Fourth International (Trotskyist), on the lonese and to place the onus . . . for the con­
Hungarian Revolution," published in No­ tinuation of the split on Pablo."50
vember 1956. It proclaimed that "the Hun­ This Parity Commission soon became a
garian people, arms in hand, have revolted bone of contention within the International
against the native Stalinist bureaucracy and Committee. Although they had gone along
its Russian overlords. In the course of their with its establishment, the leaders of the
heroic struggle, they have established work­ Socialist Workers Party (often referred to in
ers councils in several important industrial the relevant documents as "the New
towns." The statement went on to argue Zealand section") quickly came to the con­
that "to destroy Stalinist bureaucratic op­ clusion that the Parity. Commission was a
pression and counter-revolution, the Hun­ bad idea. After some exchange of correspon­
garian workers council (or soviet) method dence they succeeded in convincing Gerry
of organization, which as in Russia in '17, Healy of the same point of view. The French
forms the basis of the dictatorship of the affiliate of the International Committee had
proletariat." been opposed to the commission from the
This document appealed to the members beginning.

330 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

 The only leading figure in the Interna­ tially successful, began in February 1962. In
tional Committee who remained convinced that month the National Committee of the
that the exchange of documents between Socialist Labor League, the British affiliate
the Pabloites and the International Com­ of the International Committee headed by
mittee through the vehicle of a Parity Com­ Gerry Healy, passed a motion calling for
mission was the best possible way of getting
The ic to approach the is with a view to
the ic points of view presented to the leaders
the setting up of a sub-committee consist­
of the possibly sympathetic groups which
ing of three members from the Interna­
remained in the Pabloite organization—par­
tional Committee and the International
ticularly the Ceylonese—was P'eng Shu-tse,
Secretariat. The purpose of this commit­
the exiled leader of the Chinese Trotskyists.
tee would be to arrange an exchange of
He had closer contacts with the l s s p than
internal material on international prob­
did his European and U.S. colleagues. P'eng
lems among all the sections affiliated to
continued to fight for the maintenance of
both the sections. It is to be hoped that
the Parity Commission.
such a step would encourage discussion,
After about a year and a half of discussion,
and the sub-committee could arrange for
a meeting of the International Committee
the regular publication of an international
in.Paris on November 7-8, 1955, decided to
bulletin dealing with this. Eventually, the
withdraw from the Parity Commission. The
sub-committee would prepare a summary
decision was taken by a vote of five to one,
report on the area of agreement and differ­
with the French, British, Swiss, German,
ences between the two bodies.
and Dutch sections voting in favor of with­
drawal and only the Chinese delegate oppos­ This resolution was unanimously ac­
ing the idea.51 Further efforts of P'eng Shu- cepted by the ic and agreed to by the Interna­
tse to change his colleagues' minds were to tional Secretariat. The first meeting of the
no avail.52 so-called Parity Committee took place on
In 1957 there were further discussions September 2, i962.5S There it was agreed to
looking to the possible reunion of the two invite all national sections of both organiza­
factions of International Trotskyism. Pierre tions to participate and to include the Posa­
Frank has noted, in discussing the Interna­ das group, which had also broken away from
tional Secretariat's Fifth World Congress, the International Secretariat. It agreed to
that "in the course of preparing for the con­ hold meetings every month and to organize
gress, an attempt at rapprochement with the joint activities particularly around the ques­
International Committee was made, with a tion of getting the Soviet leaders to "rehabil­
view to reunification. . . He added that itate" Trotsky, and the issue of the Angolan
"this attempt at rapprochement failed, revolution then in progress. The meeting
mainly because distrust on the organiza­ also urged the end of all factional activity
tional level persisted.1,53 Some controversy within both groups.
continued on whether the British Section of In addition, the September 2, 1962, Parity
the ic or the Socialist Workers Party was Committee meeting had before it two sets
more responsible for the failure of this at­ of proposals, from the ic and the is. The
tempt at reunification.54 former was more or less what was adopted
by the meeting with the addition of a proviso
that "the Parity Committee agrees to work
The 19 6 2 -6 3 Parity Commission
for the calling of a preliminary international
and Its Results
congress during the summer of 1964. The
The last attempt to try to reunite the Fourth purpose of this congress would be to estab­
International of the Pablo followers and the lish the political policies and the relation­
International Committee, which was par­ ship of forces between the various tenden­

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 331

cies so that discussion can proceed towards French sections of the International Com­
a definitive solution of the international mittee felt that the first thing necessary was
crisis." a thorough discussion of the causes of the
The International Secretariat resolution original split and a repudiation of "Pab­
was one passed by the Twenty-third Plenum loism" which they felt had been responsible.
of its International Executive Committee, Possible reunification could take place only
which had taken place a few days before. after an extensive period of discussion.
The resolution expressed "its strong belief These different points of view proved ir­
that the political and organizational condi­ reconcilable, at least on the side of the Inter­
tions exist for a successful reunification. It national Committee. As a consequence,
appeals to all the Trotskyists in order that there was a conference of the prounification
they be equal to their responsibilities and elements of the ic in March,1963—which
help the world movement to progress with Joseph Hansen claimed included not only
reunified forces in the historical period of the s w p but also the Argentine, Austrian,
world revolution in march which will see in Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, and Japanese
the coming years the progressive integration sections—and it agreed to join with the In­
of our cadress in the mass revolutionary ternational Secretariat's sections in mount­
forces in all the continents."56 ing the "Reunification Congress," which
Several subsequent meetings of the Parity took place in June I963.57
Committee were held. It was clear from the
start that different elements involved in the
The Posadas Schism in the
Parity Committee exercise had different ob­
International Secretariat
jectives. The majority leadership in the In­
ternational Secretariat—headed particu­ The so-called Reunification Congress only
larly by Ernest Mandel, Pierre Frank, and reunified part of the international Trotsky­
Livio Maitan—were anxious to reunite as ist movement. There were important ele­
much of the world Trotskyist movement as ments from both the International Secretar­
soon as possible. One minority of the Inter­ iat forces and those of the International
national Secretariat which was against re­ Committee which did not participate in this
unification had already broken away from process. Before looking at the Reunification
the is under the leadership of J. Posadas be­ Congress itself, it is necessary to look at
fore the Parity Committee was even estab­ those who refused to take part in it.
lished. A second element of the is, headed During the post-World War II period the
by Michel Pablo, who was by that time in number of Trotskyist groups in Latin
the employ of the new Algerian government America had expanded considerably. When
of Ben Bella, had its reservations about the the split in the Fourth International took
unity drive and formed its own tendency place in 1953 the majority of these stayed
within the International Secretariat. with the International Secretariat—the ma­
There were also differences of opinion and jor exceptions being the Argentine group led
objectives within the International Com­ by Nahuel Moreno, a major part of the Chil­
mittee. These apparently became clear at a ean movement, and part of the Bolivian p o r .
meeting of the ic in January 1963. On the Sometime after the Fourth International
one hand, the U.S. Socialist Workers Party split there had been ^organized within the
shared the is majority's objective of rapid International Secretariat the Latin Ameri­
reunification of the world movement, bring­ can Bureau of the Fourth International. It
ing together as many elements as were w ill­ was headed by one of the more curious fig­
ing to participate. On the other hand, a group ures in the history of International Trots­
composed principally of the British and kyism, Homero Cristali, who used and was

332 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

generally known by the party name J. Posa­ A communique issued by this meeting
das. He was a one-time professional soccer announced that "there has been named a
player who had some organizing ability and, new Provisional International Executive
as it turned out, a somewhat exaggerated Committee and a new International Secre­
idea of his own capacity as a Marxist-Lenin- tariat, to take the place of the former ones,
ist-Trotskyist theorist. which have become paralyzed and disinte­
Pierre Frank has traced the emergence of grated. It has been decided to reconstruct the
Posadas as a factional leader within the In­ sections of the IV International in Europe,
ternational Secretariat to the disillusion­ drawing political and organizational conclu­
ment of a number of people within the sions from the capitulation of the leadership
Trotskyist ranks with the possibility of suc­ of Germain in the Belgian Section, of Pierre
cessful revolution in the highly industrial­ Frank in the French Section, of Livio Maitan
ized states, and their growing conviction in the Italian Section.. . . These Parties have
that the hope of world revolution lay almost nothing to do with the IV International and
entirely in the colonial and semicolonial Trotskyism. .. ."62
countries. Among those who tended to have Posadas's new International Secretariat
this point of view were Pablo and Posadas. claimed that "the majority of the Interna­
Sometime in 1959 "they united against the tional" had been represented at this confer­
'Europeans' and the members of the interna­ ence, although no specific figures were
tional leadership who did not want to aban­ given. It also announced that the Extraordi­
don political activity within the European nary Conference had decided "to declare
mass movement. . . ."58 outside of the International Mr. Maitan,
Shortly afterward Pablo and a Dutch Frank, Pablo and the others, in the face of
Trotskyist leader, Sal Santen, were arrested their clear political, ideological, organiza­
in the Netherlands in connection with their tional surrender and their abandonment of
agitation on behalf of the Algerian revolu­ the resolutions of the congresses since
tion, leaving Posadas as more or less the 1938.'/63
leader of the "anti-Europeans." He mounted The official documents of this "Extraordi­
a major effort on the basis of his influence nary Conference" provided some indication
among the Latin American Trotskyists to of the organizational, personal, and ideologi­
win a majority at the World Congress of the cal bases of the Posadas group's decision to
International Secretariat early in 1961. He split and in effect to form their own Fourth
did not succeed; in addition, a number of International. In a "Call of the Extraordinary
those at the congress who were close to Conference of April 1962 to the Bolshevik
Pablo dissociated themselves from Posadas Militants and Cadres of the International in
because of his "extreme" behavior.59 Subse­ Europe, Asia and Africa," they charged that
quently, Posadas broke violently with Pablo at the Sixth Congress it had been decided
over differing attitudes toward the Sino-So- that a majority of the International Secretar­
viet dispute, among other issues.60 iat should be "colonial," but "the conserva-
Finally, in April 1962 Posadas and his fol­ tized, capitulating and liquidationist sector
lowers organized what they called an Ex­ of E. Germain, Pierre Frank, Livio Maitan,
traordinary Conference of the Fourth Inter­ Michel Pablo, Sal Santen, George and Rene
national "under the direction of the Latin . . . brutally violated" that decision. Further­
American Bureau." It was held somewhere more, they "have paralyzed the leadership
in Latin America (the internal evidence of of the International." Although the Latin
some of the documents adopted there indi­ American delegations had succeeded at the
cating that it probably met in Uruguay). Ac­ Sixth Congress in getting acceptance of "the
cording to Posadas, it lasted nine days.61 strategy of applying the essential forces of

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 333

the World Party in the arena of the colonial material goods produced, but because it
revolution," and the Sixth Congress had pro­ is in the consciousness of human beings.
vided for an i e c and is to carry out such a When humanity reacts and works in a
policy, "during a year the capitulating sector Communist form as it is working, there
did nothing serious to establish the colonial is no atomic bomb capable of turning back
majority, even passing a resolution to leave that which human consciousness has ac­
the leadership as it was, as a result of which quired and learned. . . ,66
the members from the colonial countries History, in its violent, spasmodic form,
remained in the minority."64 is demonstrating that little time remains
Clearly, too, Posadas and his colleagues for capitalism. Little time. We can say in
felt that their talents and capacities had not a completely conscientious and certain
been adequately recognized by "the Europe­ way that if the Workers States fulfill their
ans." A special resolution concerning Pablo, historical duty of aiding the colonial revo­
for instance, accused him of calling the lutions, capitalism doesn't have ten years
movement in Latin America in an open let­ of life. This is an audacious declaration
ter a "troupe" and of accusing the Latin but it is totally logical. Capitalism hasn't
American leaders of being "ignorant." This ten years of life. If the Workers States
same resolution said that "taking as the cen­ launch support of the colonial revolution
ter of his attacks Comrade Luis, the letter with all their forces, capitalism has not
turns its depreciating attitude however, on five years of life, and the atomic war will
the whole Latin American movement. The last a very short time.67
letter reveals the disdain of the revolution­
The Extraordinary Conference instructed
ary proletariat on the part of the petty bour­
its new Provisional i e c and International
geois intellectuals who have been incapable
Secretariat to prepare for a full-fledged world
of constructing Bolshevik cadres or organi­
congress in the near future. To that end it
zations."65 ("Comrade Luis" was used to
was instructed to organize new parties in a
designate Posadas in the official documents
number of European countries. By July 1962
of the Extraordinary Conference.)
it was claimed that new sections affiliated
Finally, the documents of this meeting
with the Provisional International Execu­
clearly spell out the peculiar "theoretical"
tive Committee had been established in It­
or "ideological" line which Posadas had
aly, France, Belgium, and Spain.68
adopted and which may well go far to ex­
plain whatever "disdain" he and his associ­
ates were held in by "the Europeans." This The Defections of the
line is alluded to in several of the documents Healy-Lambert Groups
of the meeting but nowhere more clearly
than in Posadas's closing speech. He said On the side of the International Committee
there that the British and French sections refused to
participate in the Reunification Congress
We repeat, emphasize with all the historic and instead continued the existence of the
force and the decision of our conscience, International Committee. The positions
of our confidence, and at our command supported by the Socialist Labor League led
that atomic war is inevitable. It will de­ by Gerry Healy and the Organization Com-
stroy perhaps half of humanity, it is going muniste Intemationaliste headed by Pierre
to destroy immense human riches. It is Lambert, and perhaps the reasons for their
very possible. The atomic war is going to actions, by no means entirely coincided.
provoke a true inferno on earth. But it will They were united, however, in their opposi­
not impede communism. Communism is tion to merging with the "Pabloites."
an achieved necessity, not because of the There had been disagreements from time

334 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

 to time between the Healy group and the "facts" without the proper philosophical
Socialist Workers Party of the United States framework within which to organize their
since the earliest days of the International meaning were useless. Hansen and the other
Committee/ but it was not until the begin­ swp leaders had abandoned the philosophi­
ning of serious consultations concerning the cal framework of dialectical materialism, as
possibility of reuniting the ic and the is that refined over the preceding thirty-five years
these divergences brought a parting of the by the Trotskyist movement. They there­
ways between the two groups. The principal fore had misinterpreted the "facts" of the
programmatic-ideological question over Cuban situation.
which the s l l and s w p quarreled was that of Furthermore, this attitude of the s w p lead­
the Cuban Revolution. The Socialist Work­ ers meant, according to the s l l , that Hansen
ers Party, of course, had come some time and the others were falling into the same
earlier to the conclusion that the Castro re­ trap of "Pabloism" which had caused the
gime was by then a workers' state. The Brit­ I 9 S 3 split in the first place. Not only was
ish did not agree. A polemic on the issue their position similar at that moment to the
ensued between Joseph Hansen of the s w p position of the is leaders with regard to the
and the leadership of the s l l . Algerian Revolution, which Pablo and oth­
Hansen wrote a long article entitled ers were arguing was evolving into a work­
"Cuba—The Acid Test: A Reply to the Ultra ers' state, but the problem was more pro­
Left Sectarians," dated November 20, 1962. found. The s w p leaders had come around to
Although the article extended over fifty accepting what they had rejected ten years
pages, its thesis may be summed up in terms earlier, the anti-Trotskyist notion that the
of the old story to the effect that if an animal. revolution could be brought about in some
looks like a dog, barks like a dog, wags its other way than through the aegis of the revo­
tail like a dog, and says it is a dog, it is lutionary vanguard party. This all added up
probably a dog. Hansen maintained that if to capitulation to the Stalinists.69
the Castro regime had the characteristics Other issues inevitably entered into the
which the Trotskyist movement over more controversy. On the one hand, the s l l lead­
than a quarter of a century had laid down ers accused the s w p of working behind the
as those of a workers' state, it must be a backs of the British both in dealing with the
workers' state. These characteristics were a International Secretariat and with elements
nationalized economy and the substitution of the International Committee that agreed
of the plan for the market as the guiding with quick unification with the "Pabloites."
force in the economy. On the other hand, the swp leaders insisted
After a considerable interval the Socialist that Healy was disloyal in his dealings with
Labor League's National Committee opposition groups within the Socialist
adopted a document on March 23, 1963, Workers Party which favored the s l l posi­
entitled "Opportunism and Empiricism." tion and were against "reunification."70
This long essay was a more or less direct The position of the leadership of the
reply to the piece by Hansen. The British French Section of the International Com­
accused Hansen and the s w p leadership gen­ mittee was rather different from that of the
erally of the mistake of substituting the s l l . They did not agree with the Healyite

philosophical approach of empiricism (in its argument that the Castro regime was still
peculiar American manifestation of pragma­ "capitalist," arguing rather that it was a
tism) for the dialectical materialism of workers' and peasants' government.
Marx. Attacking Hansen for his insistence On the other hand, the Lambertists had
that "the facts" about the Castro regime their own good reasons for not wanting
indicated that it had become a workers' unity with the International Secretariat and
state, the s l l leadership argued that mere therefore siding with Healy and the s l l . The

Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 335

first move in the 1952-53 split had been the tional Secretariat led by Michel Pablo pre­
intervention of the International Secretariat sented a minority resolution for discussion.
in the internal affairs of the French p c i , s e e k ­ Representatives of his tendency were
ing to convert a majority there into a minor­ elected as a minority in the new Interna­
ity. The Lambertists were still the largest tional Executive Committee chosen by the
Trotskyist group in France, but in a reuni­ meeting.
fied International it would in all likelihood A full day of the congress was devoted to
be Pierre Frank, leader of the other major discussion of the Algerian revolution, con­
group, who would figure in the top leader­ cerning which Pablo presented a report.
ship of the Fourth International. Also, with­ Pierre Frank has said that "the congress was
out specific repudiation of the entrism sui unanimous in seeing important possibilities
generis notion, the Lambertists certainly for the development of the Algerian revolu­
had reservations about going back to the tion towards a socialist revolution, as had
International which had tried to force them happened in Cuba, and decided to do its ut­
to follow such a policy. most to mobilize the International and its
The upshot of this situation was that the sections in support of the Algerian revo­
British Socialist Labor League and the Lam­ lution."72
bert group in France did not participate in The major document adopted by the Re­
the Reunification Congress of June 1963. unification Congress was entitled "Dynam­
Instead, a congress of the International ics of World Revolution Today." This seven­
Committee met from September 9-13, teen-page document presented the basic
1963, and voted to keep the organization in orientation of the majority element in Inter­
existence. However, it also adopted a resolu­ national Trotskyism in 1963.
tion calling for a "world congress of the The statement started by noting that "the
forces of the ic and the is . . . during the classical schema of world revolution as­
autumn of 1964" and for a joint committee sumed that the victory of socialism would
to prepare such a congress. That committee occur first in the most industrially devel­
should "prepare a joint resolution on world oped countries, setting an example for the
perspectives to be submitted to all sections less developed." However, the resolution
of both groups."71 Healy communicated this noted that "the revolution followed a more
resolution, in the name of the International devious path than even its greatest theoreti­
Committee to the United Secretariat, but cians had expected. . . ." As a consequence,
nothing came of the idea. "All the victorious revolutions after 19 17,
including the establishment of workers'
states through revolutionary upheavals in
The Congress of Reunification
Yugoslavia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba, thus
The majority faction of the International took place in relatively backward countries,
Secretariat and the prounification part of the while the possibility of early revolutionary
International Committee each held a con­ victory in the imperialist countries was
gress which discussed the problems and pos­ postponed."73
sibilities of unity of the Trotskyist move­ Following this general line of thought, the
ment. Both meetings approved documents resolution claimed that "it is important to
which subsequently were to be adopted by recognize that the three main forces of world
the Reunification Congress of the Fourth revolution—the colonial revolution, the po­
International held in June 1963. litical revolution in the degenerated or de­
The Reunification Congress adopted the formed workers' states, and the proletarian
resolutions which had been previously ap­ revolution in the imperialist countries—
proved. However, the faction of the Interna­ form a dialectical unity. Each force influ­

336 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

ences the others and receives in return pow­ though in a partial, one-sided or distorted
erful impulses or brakes on its own devel­ way."76
opment." 74 Admitting that the f i and its sections re­
After reviewing each of these aspects of mained relatively small, the resolution as­
the world revolution, the resolution argued serted that "the world Trotskyist move­
that ment has given much consideration to the
problem of setting out with small forces to
The most probable variant in the next few win the working class and organize it into a
years is, therefore, the following: the colo­ party capable of challenging the rule of the
nial revolution will continue, involving capitalist class. The over-all principle on
new countries and deepening its social which it has proceeded on the organiza­
character as more workers' states appear. tional level is . . . that a revolutionist must
It will not lead directly to the overthrow not permit himself to be separated from his
of capitalism in the imperialist centers class under any circumstances.. .. They be­
but it will play a powerful role in building long to the big organizations of the masses
a new world revolutionary leadership as whether they be nationalistic, cultural or
is already clear from the emergence of political in character. Insofar as possible,
Castroist currents. The pressure of the they advance the ideas and the program of
masses in the workers' states will con­ Trotskyism among the members of these
tinue, with a tendency toward increasing organizations and seek to recruit from
.mass action and the possible beginning them."77
of political revolution in several workers' It follows that "they have no choice but
states. Both these developments will fa­ to practice 'entryism'; that is, to participate
vorably influence the resurgence of mass as an integrated component in the internal
militancy among the proletariat in the life of the mass movement.. . . The purpose
imperialist countries, reinforcing a ten­ of 'entryism' is not to construct a 'pressure
dency stemming directly from the socio­ group,' as some critics have charged, but to
economic mechanism of advanced capi­ build a mass revolutionary Marxist party in
talism and the slowing down of its rate of the real conditions that must be faced in a
expansion.75 number of countries. . . for a certain stage of
work, no practical alternative remains open.
In its discussion of the basic issue which Owing to national peculiarities, the tactic
had split the Fourth International a decade has many variants. It must be applied with
earlier, entrism sui generis, this basic docu­ great flexibility and without dogmatism of
ment of the Reunification Congress would any kind. The norm for those engaging in it
seem to have been closer to the "Pabloite" is to maintain a sector of open public work,
position of 1952-53 than to that of Pablo's including their own Trotskyist publi­
opponents, although it was somewhat less cation."78
explicit than Pablo had been. This discus­ However, the document also contained a
sion started with the claim that the Fourth gesture in the direction of the "anti-Pablo"
International "in its programmatic declara­ position of the International Committee. It
tions and in its participation in the class said that" the building of an alternative lead­
struggle on a world-wide scale . .. has ership of the working class; i.e., of new revo­
proved itself to be the legitimate heir and lutionary mass parties, remains the central
continuator of the great tradition of revolu­ task of our epoch. The problem is not that
tionary Marxism. Events have proved it of repeating over and over again this elemen­
right on many points that even its antago­ tary truth, but of explaining concretely how
nists have had to borrow from its arsenal, it is to be done. In fact, the building of revo­

t Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion 337

1
 lutionary mass parties combines three con­ cisive importance of building Marxist-Le-
crete processes: the process of defending and ninist parties in all countries."83
constantly enriching the Marxist revolu­ The Latin American parties of the Interna­
tionary program; of building, educating and tional Committee, which had been grouped
hardening a revolutionary Marxist cadre; together in the Latin American Secretariat
and of winning mass influence for this cadre. of Orthodox Trotskyism, did not immedi­
These three processes are dialectically inter­ ately join the United Secretariat. However,
twined. . . ." 7S> "once the reunification was consummated,
The resolution also reflected the close as­ our tendency, s l a t o , characterized it as pos­
sociation elements of the United Secretariat itive, gave it critical support and began a
either had or hoped to develop with the A l­ process of discussions and negotiations. . . .
gerian and Cuban revolutionary regimes. Only in December 1964, when the discus­
Noting that "in previous decades" failure sions and negotiations which We had carried
to develop a revolutionary party before the on for more than a year culminated/ our
outbreak of revolution "would signify cer­ tendency, s l a t o , headed by Palabra Obrera,
tain defeat for the revolution/' it went on to transformed its critical support of reunifi­
say that "because of a series of new factors, cation into formal entry into the Fourth In­
however, this is no longer necessarily the ternational headed by the United Secre­
case. The example of the Soviet Union, the tariat."01
existence of workers' states from whom ma­
terial aid can be obtained, and the relative
Conclusion
weakening of world capitalism, have made
it possible for revolutions in some instances During the early 1950s the Fourth Interna­
to achieve partial successes . .. and even to tional suffered a major split, dividing it into
go as far as the establishment of a workers two organizationally distinct groups. The
state. Revolutionary Marxists in such coun­ major policy issue at the heart of this schism
tries face extremely difficult questions," but was the old question of "entrism" which
"no choice is open to them in such situa­ had been a cause of controversy even when
tions but to participate completely and Leon Trotsky was still alive, but an entrism
wholeheartedly in the revolution and to of a rather different type, which in most
build the party in the very process of the European and many Asiatic countries would
revolution itself." have meant the virtual disappearance of any
Finally, the resolution reiterated that open Trotskyist organization. This policy
"only an International based on democratic was posited on a new perspective of a revolu­
centralism, permitting different tendencies tionary process of "several centuries" dur­
to confront each other democratically while ing which leadership would be in the hands
uniting them in action, can allow experi­ of Stalinist parties and Stalinist-type bu­
ences from all comers of the world to be­ reaucracies in countries in which the revo­
come properly weighed and translated into lution triumphed—leaving the Trotskyists,
revolutionary tasks on a world scale.. . . The supposedly, no alternative but to work for
necessity to build a strong, democratically their ideas within those parties and regimes.
centralized International is underscored all Undoubtedly organizational and personal is­
the more by the present dialectical relation­ sues also played'important parts in the
ship between the three main sectors of the 1952.—s 3 split in the Fourth International.
world revolution. . . . " Presumably the con­ A decade later, through the device of sus­
clusive argument on the issue was "that Fi­ pending more or less indefinitely any further
del Castro, as a result of his own experience discussion of the causes of the split and in­
in a living revolution, today stresses the de­ cluding elements from the positions of both

338 Fourth International: Split and Partial Reunion

factions in a new position statement, unity French Trotskyism Before
of major elements of both sides was
achieved. However, important parts of both World War II
international factions stayed out of the
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
tional, so that "reunification" in fact re­
sulted in there being three international fac­
tions instead of two. From the early 1960s, France was the West European country with
therefore, it becomes necessary to trace the which Leon Trotsky had been most closely
history of the Fourth International in terms associated before the Russian Revolution
of those factions, of schismatic groups and in the years immediately after it. He had
which emerged from them, and still other lived there in exile before 1917, and within
claimants to the tradition of Leon Trotsky's the Communist International he had taken
original Fourth International which a particular interest in the fortunes and prog­
emerged without any clear connection with ress of the French Communist Party, which
the three "Fourth Internationals" which ex­ was particularly faction-ridden during the
isted after June 1963. 1920s.
This long-lasting concern forms the back­
ground for his efforts to build up a strong
Communist Opposition movement in
France once he was exiled from the Soviet
Union by Stalin. A priori, the ground looked
particularly fertile for such a movement
there because of the number and variety of
oppositionists who were already present.
But as Trotsky soon discovered, factional­
ism was as prolific among the Opposition as
it had been in the Communist Party itself.
The task of forming a viable French section
of the World Party of the Socialist Revolu­
tion, to which he devoted a great deal of
energy and attention between 1929 and
1940, proved to be a very difficult one.

Antecedents of Left Opposition

in France
As was the case in many, if not most, of
the Communist parties, that of France was
characterized by intense factionalism dur­
ing its early years. A contributing factor to
the internal conflicts of the French Commu­
nist Party was the fact that the prewar So­
cialist Party (known often as the s f i o —the
French Section of the Workers Interna­
tional) had been one of few such organiza­
tions in which the majority had decided to
accept the Comintern's Twenty-one Condi-

1 France: Before World War II 339

{
 tions and to affiliate with the Communist The internal situation in the French party
International. Inevitably it included within was further complicated not only by the in­
its ranks more than the usual proportion of tervention of the Comintern but by that of
people who, although attracted by the Bol­ the Soviet party as well. Humbert-Droz, in
shevik Revolution and by the very radical the second volume of his memoirs, noted
rhetoric of the early Comintern, were in no that "parallel to the apparatus of the Com­
real sense Bolsheviks. munist International, which formally main­
The "sorting out" of the various currents tained contact with the member parties, the
began even before the s f i o assumed the Political Bureau of the Soviet Communist
name Communist Party and officially Party had its own rapporteurs on the various
joined the Communist International. It con­ sections of the International. Thus Trotsky,
tinued until after the triumph of Stalin in specialist in French questions, received cop­
the Soviet party and the ci, and was closely ies of my reports to Zinoviev." Humbert-
watched by the Soviet party and the Comin­ Droz added that "later Stalin, who knew
tern, both of which actively interfered in the nothing of the international movement, or­
feuding within the French party. ganized a special section in his own secretar­
As early as 1922 Jules Humbert-Droz, the iat to follow the affairs of the Comintern.
member of the Secretariat of the Commu­ He sent to the parties delegates who did not
nist International officially charged with send their reports to the e c c i . The secretar­
oversight of the parties of Latin Europe (and iat of Stalin thus became the Russian dupli­
Latin America}, was busy on the spot, trying cate of the e c c i , with powers naturally supe­
to support those whom the Comintern con­ rior, depending directly on the chief and
sidered real Bolsheviks and oppose those receiving his instructions. "3
whom it felt were misfits in the French As a consequence of the internal faction­
party. The editor of a volume of Humbert- alism in the French party and in some in­
Droz's papers covering his work in Latin stances of action by the Comintern, a num­
Europe and America for the Comintern ber of leaders of the Left had been expelled
noted that in 1922 the French c p was charac­ from the French party or had left it volunta­
terized "by violent factional struggles rily during the years preceding Trotsky's ex­
among the left grouped around Souvarine ile to Turkey. The first of these was Boris
and Treint, the center left with the secretary Souvarine, who had been editor of the "in­
general Frossard and Cachin, the center ternal bulletin" of the party and its delegate
right of Renoult and the right (Verfeuil, La- to the Comintern. He was a "premature
font, etc.) and the 'ultralefts.' That constel­ Trotskyist," his role being somewhat simi­
lation was further complicated with the en­ lar to that of Max Eastman in the United
try upon the scene of the revolutionary States.
syndicalists and anarchists in the Party and Jules Humbert-Droz has indicated the rea­
the dispute over the question of relations son for Souvarine's fall from Communist
between the p c f and the c g t u , detached leadership. Commenting on the Fifth Con­
from the c g t and dominated by the revolu­ gress of the Comintern in the spring of 1924,
tionary syndicalists."1 after Lenin's death, in which there was
In 1922 the Comintern favored an alliance widespread rumor-mongering about the
of the left and the center-left, and the expul­ struggle against Trotsky which was already
sion of the right from the party, and this was in full swing within the Soviet Party, he said
what Humbert-Droz tried to bring about. that "contrary to what it had done with the
However, this was made very difficult by Workers Opposition, the International did
bitter quarrels between the leaders of the not publish the documents of the Trotskyist
left and center-left.2 opposition and the delegates were informed

340 France: Before World War II

only by the most contradictory rumors Another group of leftists expelled from
which circulated in the corridors of the con­ the Communist Party founded the journal
gress. Only Souvarine had published in Contre le Courant, which first appeared in
France the documents of Trotsky, which November 1927. It received some financial
brought against him violent attacks and fi­ aid from the Russian Opposition through
nally exclusion from the International."4 the Soviet leader Y. Piatakov. Among the
Humbert-Droz noted that at the Fifth most important figures in this group were
Congress Albert Treint, then closely allied Maurice and Magdeleine Paz.9
to Zinoviev, chairman of the Comintern and
at that time bitterly opposed to Trotsky,
Trotsky's and the French
carried the battle against Souvarine. The re­
Left Opposition
sult was that in the plenum of the e c c i held
right after the congress, Souvarine was "ex­ Isaac Deutscher has noted that "on the day
cluded . .. from the ranks of the Communist he arrived" in Turkey Trotsky "sent out
International, against only the votes of the messages to friends and well-wishers in
Italian Communist Party, since Togliatti western Europe, especially in France. Their
and Bordiga had taken up his defense."5 response was immediate."10 Among those
In the process of carrying out the so-called replying were Alfred and Marguerite
"bolshevization" of the French Communist Rosmer, Boris Souvarine, and Maurice and
Party decreed by Zinoviev as head of the Magdeleine Paz. It was the Rosmers and
Comintern during the period in which he Pazes who put Trotsky in contact with vari­
was allied with Stalin (192,4-1926), Albert ous Western newspapers, including the N ew
Treint purged the party of anyone suspected York Times and the Daily Express of Lon­
of sympathy for Trotsky. One of the most don, which immediately accepted (for pay­
important of these was Alfred Rosmer, a ment) articles from him on what was going
one-time syndicalist who had become head on in the Soviet Union and about why and
of the left wing of the labor confederation, how he had been expelled. These two cou­
the c g t , during the First World War. He had ples also came to visit him in Turkey.11
participated in the Zimmerwald conference Maurice Paz also made a loan to Trotsky of
and was a member of the Communist Party 20,000 French francs to tide him over his
from 1920 until he was expelled in 1924. He first financial difficulties, a loan which, ac­
served as a member of the e c c i in 1920-21/6 cording to Isaac Deutscher, Trotsky repaid
Albert Treint spent eighteen months in within a year.n
Moscow in 1926-27. It was after that that Some supporters whom Trotsky had
he expressed his support for the United Op­ never previously met also arrived to estab­
position and was himself expelled from the lish contact with him. One of those who
French Communist Party in 1927. Thereaf­ was for many years to play a major role in
ter he participated in several Communist the French Trotskyist movement was Ray­
opposition groups, including L'Unitd Leni- mond Molinier. Jean van Heijenoort re­
niste and the Comite de Redressment Com- counted that "at the end of March 1929, a
muniste.? young stranger arrived from Paris. On April
Still other leftists were thrown out of the 20 Trotsky wrote to Paz: 'Personally, Ray­
French Communist Party after the depar­ mond Molinier is one of the most obliging,
ture of Albert Treint. One of the most im­ practical and energetic men that one can
portant of these was Pierre Naville, expelled imagine. He has found a place for me to live,
in r928, who thereafter revived a Commu­ discussed the conditions with the landlady,
nist literary-political journal Clarti, chang­ and so on. He is quite ready to stay with us
ing its name to La Lutte de Classes.8 for a few months, with his wife.' Molinier

1 France: Before World War II 341

t
 had indeed won Trotsky's esteem. A few weekly speaking with the voice of the Oppo­
months later Trotsky told a visitor, 'Ray­ sition, and to launch an ambitious recruit­
mond Molinier is the prefiguration of the ing campaign." According to Deutscher, "he
future communist revolution.' Molinier worked out with them the plan of the cam­
went back to Paris in May, but his wife, paign and promised his own close coopera­
Jeanne, whose maiden name was Martin des tion. They accepted his suggestions though
Pallieres, stayed on for a while in not without reservations."
Prinkipo."13 However, upon their return to Paris Mau­
Trotsky set about immediately trying to rice and Magdeleine Paz had second
weld those French well-wishers and pre­ thoughts about the possibility of carrying
sumed supporters into a viable organization. out the plans agreed upon. Furthermore,
However, several of those upon whom "above all, they protested against his 'at­
Trotsky had undoubtedly most counted tempt to impose Rosmer's leadership;' and
proved to be an almost immediate disap­ they spoke disparagingly of the young Trots­
pointment. kyists spoiling for a fight as a bunch of sim­
One of the first defectors was Boris Souva­ pletons and ignoramusses." Deutscher
rine. Isaac Deutscher has noted that Trotsky noted that "nothing could be more calcu­
had "expected him to be the Opposition's lated to convince Trotsky that the Pazes had
most articulate French mouthpiece." How­ in them little or nothing of the professional
ever, "To his surprise Souvarine displayed revolutionaries whom he was seeking to
intolerable airs and pretensions. He asked gather."14 As a matter of fact, Contre le
Trotsky to make no public statements with­ Courant expired before the end of 1929.17
out 'previous agreements with the French A third potential supporter whom
Opposition/ that is with himself. Trotsky, Trotsky failed to win at that point to the
anxious to avoid dissension, answered that French Opposition which he was trying to
he would make no pronouncement on nurse into existence was Albert Treint.
French issues, but that so far he had spoken Trotsky's own followers had deep resent­
in public on Soviet (and Chinese) affairs ment against Treint who, as an associate of
only, on which surely he was entitled to Zinoviev, had been principally responsible
have his say without asking for a French for their expulsion from the Communist
placet. Souvarine replied with an immense Party. They wanted no part of him, even
epistle, running to over 130 pages packed after he too was expelled.
with paradoxes, bon mots, odds and ends of Pierre Naville, writing in La Verite,
shrewd observation and analysis, but also summed up the attitude of the French Trots­
with incredibly muddled arguments, all ad­ kyists towards Treint, saying that "a long
vanced in a tone of venomous hostility time ago Treint lost all political direction,
which made a breach inevitable."14 Trots­ and has only been preoccupied with finding
ky's reply to this tirade was "I do not see a place and a role in the opposition move­
anything left of the ties that united us a few ment. He has never gone beyond the posi­
years ago. .. . What guides you and suggests tion of Zinoviev, he has never attempted
your paradoxes to you is the pen of a disgrun­ a serious critique of all his political errors
tled and frustrated journalist. . . ." ls between 1924 and now. . . . " ‘8
The Pazes proved to be equally disap­ However, Deutscher has noted that
pointing. Isaac Deutscher has noted that "Trotsky nevertheless invited Treint to
when the Pazes visited him early in 1929 Prinkipo, in May 1929, and through a whole
Trotsky "urged them to unite their circle month tried to bring about a reconciliation.
with the other groups, to transform Contre But the old resentments were too strong,
le Courant into a 'great and aggressive' and Treint, trying to justify his behavior in

342 France: Before World War II

 1924, did nothing to assuage them. Trotsky, Trotskyist. His personal relationship with
pressed by his own followers, had to part Trotsky was of long standing and very close.
from Treint; but their parting was more He was a generation older than most of his
friendly than that with Souvarine, and they French colleagues, in fact two years older
remained in amicable though remote rela­ than Trotsky himself. At first it was upon
tions."19 him that Trotsky relied most, not only to
A fourth element which Trotsky had start the work of building up the French Left
hoped to attract to his united French Oppo­ Opposition, but also to establish firsthand
sition consisted of the group of revolution­ contacts with Trotsky's followers elsewhere
ary syndicalists from the periodical Rdvolu- in Europe. Isaac Deutscher has noted that
tion Proldtarienne and the Syndicalist "in the summer of 1929 Rosmer went on a
League. They were headed by Pierre Mo- tour of Germany and Belgium to inspect and
natte and Robert Louzon. Trotsky had rally groups of the Opposition there; and
known them before 1917, and in part due to he established contact with Italian, Dutch,
his influence, apparently, they had joined American, and other Trotskyists. In detailed
the Communist Party after 1920. They, like reports he kept Trotsky informed about his
many others, had been expelled from the findings."21
jparty during the campaign against Trotsky's Trotsky felt that the first important task
followers. was to establish a newspaper which would
Of this group Isaac Deutscher said that be the official voice of the Left Opposition
"their personal attachment to Trotsky was in France and a vehicle for publishing infor­
still strong; but their experience with the mation and documentation on the move­
Comintern confirmed them in their old dis­ ment elsewhere, particularly in the Soviet
taste for politics, and in the belief that mili­ Union. He had at first hoped that Maurice
tant trade union activity, culminating in the Paz could, with the collaboration of other
general strike was the highway to socialist Oppositionists, convert his periodical Con­
revolution. Hard as Trotsky tried, he did not tre le Courant into such a publication. He
manage to bring them back to the Leninist soon lost patience with Paz's procrastina­
view of the paramount importance of the tion on the subject and entered into negotia­
revolutionary party and induce them to join tion with Rosmer and others about launch­
in the struggle for a reform of the Com­ ing a paper.22
intern."20 Rosmer and those working with him were
ready by August 1929 to begin publication
of a weekly, La Verity. Trotsky explained
Launching of La Verite
in a letter to Pierre Naville that "under La
When all was said and done, those who fi­ Verite's banner have gathered active com­
nally rallied to Trotsky's banner in France rades from various groups only because
and began more or less seriously the task of nothing came of attempts to get support
establishing an organization and beginning from one of the existing groups for the cre­
consistent agitation on behalf of Leon Trots­ ation of a weekly."23 Trotsky further argued
ky's ideas and political positions consti­ that "of all the possible candidates for edi­
tuted a mere handful. The three outstanding tors of the weekly, Rosmer has the most
figures in the beginning were undoubtedly right to confidence. . . . " because of his past
Alfred Rosmer, Pierre Naville, and Ray­ history in the Communist movement.2,1
mond Molinier. At the beginning, Molinier Trotsky ended this letter to Naville saying
had not formally left the Communist Party. that "I gather .. . you are likewise agreed
In this earliest phase of activity Alfred that the group now fused around Verite has
Rosmer was the most important French in the given conditions the best chances of

! France: Before World War II 343

establishing the needed w eekly.. . . I should ing the correct tactics according to the facts
like to hope that you will soon also take of the situation itself."29
the third step, namely: declare the cause of The declaration of La Verite conceded
Verite to be your own cause."25 Naville and that "in France the Communist Left is di­
his closest associate, Gerard Rosenthal, did vided into different groups, [but] this is due
do just that, joining in the publication of the to the fact—and we do not exclude ourselves
new newspaper of the French Left Oppo­ from this criticism—that the French Oppo­
sition.26 sition has spent too much time on the prepa­
Meanwhile, in "An Open Letter to the ratory stage before beginning political ac­
Editorial Board of La Verity," dated August tion among the workers." It warned that
6, 1929, Trotsky had given his enthusiastic "we must clearly state that should this situ­
endorsement to the forthcoming publica­ ation persist, the Opposition would be
tion. He ended the letter, "Dear friends! I threatened with becoming a sect, or, more
am with you with all my heart. I joyfully precisely, several sects."
accept your proposal for collaboration. I will To prevent this eventuality, the declara­
do everything in my power to make this tion stated that "we want to make our
collaboration regular and systematic. I will weekly the organ of the whole Left Opposi­
try to supply articles for each issue on the tion." Hence, "the orientation of the paper
situation in Russia, on events in world life, is sufficiently spelled out, we hope, by this
and on the problems of the international declaration. . . . That will not stop the edi­
labor movement."27 tors from opening the columns of the paper
La Verite made its appearance on August to the expression of differing nuances of
15,19 29 . The first issue carried an extensive thought within the Communist Left."
"Declaration," setting forth its orientation The declaration concluded: “ La Verite is
and point of view. This statement stressed your organ."30
that French capitalism was beginning a ma­ With the appearance of La Verite, the peri­
jor crisis, and that the Communist Party of odical La Lutte de Classes, which Pierre Na­
France, having been purged of most of its ville had been editing for several years, be­
founding leaders, was in no position to take came the French Trotskyists' theoretical
advantage of this crisis. "The danger, as we journal. It usually contained longer and
have said, is that a new crisis of French more analytical articles than La Veriti.31
capitalism could catch the vanguard of the
French proletariat unawares. The danger is
The Ligue Communiste
that favorable situations can be allowed to
slip by, one after another, as has been seen
Establishment of the Ligue
to occur in different countries after the war.
Communiste
Our task is to prevent this danger by an
urgent and repeated appeal to the class con­ Once a Left Opposition newspaper had been
sciousness and the revolutionary will of the launched, the next task, clearly, was the es­
proletarian vanguard. "2® tablishment of a formal organization by
The declaration went on to say, "O ne of members of the tendency. In January 1930
the essential tasks of the Communist Oppo­ Trotsky professed himself to be very opti­
sition is to stop the justified indignation mistic about the possibilities of such an or­
against a pernicious leadership from be­ ganization. Apparently writing in the Rus­
coming a disillusionment about commu­ sian Opposition Bulletin, he said "La Verite
nism and the revolution in general. This has introduced, or to put it more modestly,
can only be done by developing a Marxist has begun to introduce, order into this
understanding of the facts and by determin­ chaos. During the short period of this publi­

344 France: Before World War IE

cation's existence, it has been fully con­ Ligue Communiste was miniscule. The
firmed that the Verite grouping is not acci­ founders of La Verite had estimated in the
dental, that it is now the basic nucleus of first issue of their newspaper that "the offi­
the Communist Left in France, and that the cial party now contains some twenty or
consolidation of the vanguard communist thirty thousand members. It controls—in a
elements will take place around this sorry way—the c g t u , which has about
grouping." 300,000 members. In the last elections the
Trotsky went on to say that "after the party obtained more than a million votes."34
strenuous efforts of the first period, the gath­
ering of forces will be accomplished ever
The First Factional Fight
more quickly. The revolutionary workers,
searching for the correct revolutionary lead­ In spite of its small size, the Ligue Commun­
ership, must be convinced through their iste was the scene of the first of many bitter
own experience that—contrary to the lies factional fights within a few months of its
and slanders of the Stalinists—the Opposi­ establishment. As was to be the case in the
tion will not pull them back to syndicalism factional quarrels later in the decade, the
or to the right toward reformism, and that principal figures on the two sides were
it in no way seeks to begin history from the Pierre Naville and Raymond Molinier. In
beginning, i.e. to build a new party in a new this first quarrel, in the middle of 1930, Al­
phase as if the war, the October Revolution, fred Rosmer was aligned with Naville, al­
and the rise of the Third International had though he finally withdrew from the organi­
never happened."32 zation in November 1930.35
In spite of Trotsky's optimism, the Left We have noted that Raymond Molinier
Opposition remained a tiny group. Although had been very helpful to Trotsky when the
a formal organization, the Communist exiled Russian leader was first settling down
League, was established in April 1930, it did in Turkey, and that Trotsky had developed
not succeed in gaining a mass following. a high regard for him. For about half-a-dozen
Jean van Heijenoort has described the state years, Trotsky was to continue to be favor­
of the Communist League two years after it ably disposed toward Molinier. However,
was established: "At that time there were from the beginning there was a certain cloud
no membership cards. We were so few; of suspicion which hung around the man.
hardly twenty or so were really active." As Naomi Allen and George Breitman ex­
Van Heijenoort went on to say that "I took plained it, "some political opponents
part in the activities of the group, which charged that he was an unscrupulous busi­
consisted mostly in carrying on discussions nessman and adventurer who did not belong
and in selling La Verite, the weekly pub­ in the revolutionary movement; his reputa­
lished by the group, at subway stations in tion was also clouded by a business bank­
the evening when the workers were coming ruptcy and allegations that he had pleaded
home from work, or in the streets of working insanity to escape imprisonment for deser­
class districts on Sunday morning. At night tion as an army conscript in the 1920s.
we would put up posters, and often ended up Rosmer and Naville thought Molinier was
at a police station, since we had no money to unfit to be a leader of the French section.
//3 S
put the required stamps on the posters." He
observed that, "I was the first member of The campaign of rumors against Molinier
the Ligue who had not passed through the had become an issue as early as June 1929.
Communist Party or the Young Communist Then Trotsky had written Pierre Gourget
League."33 that "I am in complete agreement with you
Compared to the Communist Party, the that we cannot tolerate lies and slanders

i( France: Before World War II 345

 spread about a comrade who is distinguished the League these measures were adopted
from others by the fault of being more ener­ unanimously. . . ."
getic and more generous in his actions. Peace was by no means totally restored.
There can be no doubt the many comrades Trotsky, about a year later, reported to the
will be exposed to 'arguments' of this kind." leadership of his Belgian group that "the
Trotsky proposed that the members of the conditions of the 'peace of Prinkipo' were
French Left Opposition lay the issue at rest violated in a disloyal fashion by Comrade
once and for all by setting up a commission Naville. Comrade Rosmer thought it possi­
"composed of irreproachable revolutionar­ ble to continue casting unwarranted asper­
ies" to look into it. He suggested the names sions on the character of Comrade Molinier
of Rosmer and Pierre Monatte, and said that without addressing himself to the control
if as he hoped he was able to come to Lon­ commission."39 \
don, he would be glad to serve on the com­ This struggle undoubtedly seriously
mission himself.37 weakened the French Trotskyists. Although
This suggestion apparently did not reflect Trotsky claimed that "the differences with
any doubts of Trotsky himself concerning the Naville group have basically always
Molinier. When a year later the National been differences of principle," Pierre Naville
Executive of the Ligue Communiste, domi­ remained in the organization. In contrast,
nated by Rosmer and Naville, sought to ex­ Alfred Rosmer withdrew both from the
clude Molinier from membership, and the French Ligue and the international organiza­
Paris Committee of the organization totally tion. In June 1931 Trotsky alleged to his
rejected the idea, so did Trotsky. Belgian followers that "Comrade Rosmer
On June 26, 1930, Trotsky wrote Pierre has become the flag of all those elements
Naville that "you say that R.M. should not that are conducting a battle against our fun­
'go beyond the limits within which he is damental ideas, and who have up to now
capable of doing something.. . . For my part, greatly compromised the ideas of the Left
I believe that every member of the organiza­ Opposition, compromised them to a far
tion can and must know, analyze, and criti­ greater extent than they have propagated
cize all the questions that form the content them."40Isaac Deutscher has noted with re­
of our activity. There are no 'limits' for gard to Rosmer that "for several years he
anyone." refused to meet him or even to exchange
Trotsky added that "you have tried to views" with Trotsky.41 It was not until
eliminate M. from his post. You remain in Trotsky's move to Mexico more than half a
the minority. That shows that you have pro­ decade later that friendly personal relations
ceeded with too much light-mindedness, were reestablished between the two men,
without facing the mood of the organiza­ but Rosmer never did return to the ranks of
tion. After the setback you wanted to ex­ the Left Communist Opposition.
clude M. from the Opposition! How could Meanwhile, Trotsky wrote to Pierre Na­
you do this? By a small coup d'etat. I don't ville, "You know, I've never seen faction
understand any of this."38 fights like yours. With us [Russians) there
Finally, Trotsky "invited Comrades Moli­ were many of them. It wasn't always sweet,
nier and Naville to visit me. I spent several oh no. But ferocious rows like yours, no. I've
days discussing all the disputed questions never seen that. It's extraordinary. How is it
with them and . . . we arrived at agreement possible? It must be straightened out."42
on certain measures which we jokingly
called 'the peace of Prinkipo.' These mea­ Stagnation of the Ligue Communiste
sures included the creation of a control com­ (1 9 3 0 - 34 )
mission to rule on all the accusations of a The years 1930-34 were a period of relative
personal nature. . . . At a plenary session of stagnation for the French Trotskyist move­

346 France: Before World War II

ment. The Ligue Communiste remained a adopting this position more than six months
tiny organization, predominantly middle before the Communist Party itself suddenly
class in social composition and quite unable accepted it, presumably on the direction
to make any significant imprint on French from the c p s u and the Comintern.
politics, even on the politics of the French After the fascist riots of February 6, 1934,
Left. which were followed by a general strike
There were some new adhesions to the called by both the c g t and c g t u and sup­
movement during this period. Albert Treint, ported by the Socialist and Communist par­
the old Zinovievist, did finally join the Ligue ties, Doriot set up in his city a series of
Communiste in May 1931. However, he "vigilance committees" which sought to
brought very few other people with him and bring together workers of all political com­
apparently sowed a certain amount of dis­ plexions to confront any possible fascist in­
sension in the ranks of the Ligue because of cursions and to be embryos for future so­
his constant attempts to justify his actions viets.
when, as head of the Communist Party, he Some of the Trotskyists apparently partic­
had major responsibility for expelling the ipated in the vigilance committees. But they
Trotskyites from the party. Trotsky on vari­ went much further than that in trying to
ous occasions sought to have Treint drop win Doriot and his followers over to Trots­
the subject and get on with the work of kyism.46 Their efforts were fruitless; Doriot
building a viable Left Communist Opposi­ quickly moved to the Right, became an
tion. He even had Treint come to Prinkipo avowed fascist, and played a minor role in
to talk things over personally, but it would the Vichy regime during World War II.
appear that to a considerable degree the two Although relatively few trade unionists
men talked past one another.43 belonged to the Trotskyist movement in
Another addition to the Ligue's ranks was this period those who did carried on political
a small group of Yiddish-speaking Jewish work mainly within the Communist Party-
workers, principally in the Paris region. The dominated group, the c g t u . Trotsky wrote
group issued a periodical Klorheit (Clar­ in June 1934 that "nowhere in the c g t u is
ity).44 Trotsky was not particularly happy there a solid fraction; only twelve members
with the performance of these new adher­ at most hold responsible posts in it. There
ents, accusing them of not integrating them­ is no fraction in the c g t . " 47
selves into the general work of the Ligue, Within the c g t u the Trotskyists sup­
but of trying to function as an autonomous ported the so-called Unitary Opposition. It
if not independent organization within the was opposed both to the Communist Party
Ligue, along the lines of the Jewish Labor dominated leadership of the confederation
Bund in prerevolutionary Russia. Their prin­ and to the syndicalists' Committee for Inde­
cipal virtue seems to have been that they pendence, an opposition group within the
were a predominantly working-class c g t u with a stronger base than that of the

group.45 Unitary Opposition.48 On at least one occa­

Early in 1934 the French Trotskyists had sion the issue of correct trade union tactics
considerable hope of attracting an important generated controversy within the Trotsky­
dissident element which broke away from ists' ranks.49
the Communist Party. This was the c p unit One important activity of the French
in St.-Denis, in the working-class environs Trotskyists which was appreciated by their
of Paris and led by Jacques Doriot, mayor of leader was helping to mount an interna­
St.-Denis and one of the major figures in tional organization for the movement. In a
the French Communist Party. Doriot was "Report on the State of the Left Opposition"
a "premature" advocate of a united front in December 1932 Trotsky wrote, in con­
between the Communists and the socialists, nection with his meetings with followers

France: Before World Wat II 347

I
 during his visit to Copenhagen, that "the tunity for the Trotskyists in this event. In
major part of the preparatory work for the order to avoid one and take advantage of
consultation lay as usual upon the French the other, he urged his French supporters to
League, which was broadly represented in enter the Socialist Party as a group and to
Copenhagen." He added that "the French form a faction within the s f j o .
section of the Left Opposition . . . is marked Until 1934 the only possible "entrism"
by very great international initiative. The which the French Trotskyists had at all con­
League took an active part in making con­ templated was a return to the Communist
tact with almost all the other sections and Party. Thus, in February 19 31 they sent a
contributed to their development by illumi­ letter to the Communist Party demanding
nating all questions of the International in "the reintegration of the Left Opposition so
the pages of its organs."50 that it can work in the c p for its reform
Factionalism continued within French and its strengthening." They made a similar
Trotsky ist ranks during much of this period. demand later in that year. Of course, the
However, in this same report on the interna­ Communists did not seriously consider re­
tional organization in December 1932 admitting the Trotskyites.52
Trotsky claimed that "the League itself in The formation of the United Front, which
any case has passed the period of uninter­ provoked the idea of the French Turn, had
rupted internal struggle and has worked out come about in part because of the beginning
an indispensable unity of ideas and meth­ of a change in the Third Period extremely
ods." But he warned that "without wishing sectarian line of the Communist Interna­
to minimize this achievement in the least, tional. It was more immediately provoked
we must still remember that with so narrow by the events of February 6, 1934, when
a base in the working class, political unity there were serious riots provoked by several
cannot be distinguished by great perma­ fascist and semi-fascist groups. These riots
nence. . . ."S1 brought about the fall of the government
For the next year and a half relative tran­ of Edouard Daladier and establishment of
quility reigned within the ranks of the a "national unity" cabinet headed by ex-
French Trotskyists. It was not until Trotsky President Paul Domergue. At the time of the
decided on a new major tactical maneuver installation of the Domergue regime, the
for his followers in France and elsewhere in Trotskyists had unsuccessfully called for a
mid-1934 that a new period of factionalism general strike against it.53
was to develop, one which was in fact to The issue of entrism into the Socialist
split the French Trotskyist movement into Party generated considerable conflict within
two bitterly competing organizations. the French Trotskyist ranks. Although this
controversy in France was fairly quickly re­
solved, the concept of the Trotskyists func­
Schisms in French Trotskyism
tioning within non-Trotskyist political par­
ties was to remain an issue of violent debate
The Advent of the French Turn
for the next half-century.
The new tactic, which was immediately to Trotsky made his proposal for his French
be known as the "French Turn" because it followers to enter the Socialist Party in June
was first suggested by Trotsky to his French 1934. He did so in several documents, one
followers, and later was often referred to as of the most extensive o('which was "The
"entrism," was precipitated by the advent State of the League and Its Tasks," dated
of the United Front between French Social­ June 29, 1934. In this, he presented his rea­
ist and Communist parties in June r934. sons for his recommendation and the nature
Trotsky saw both a danger and a new oppor­ of the entrism which he was proposing.

348 France: Before World War II

Summing up the danger of isolation of the ourselves. We enter as the Bolshevik-Lenin­
Ligue Communiste which he foresaw if they ist faction, our organizational ties remain
continued to function independently in the the same, our press continues to exist just
face of the Socialist-Communist United as do ‘Bataille Socialist’ and others.'1*6
Front, he wrote, "in the revolutionary strug­ Trotsky's suggestion caused considerable
gles that are beginning, our frail cruiser will consternation among his French supporters
throw itself into battle—but in the wake of and in other countries as well. Naomi Allen
large political formations, which are start­ and George Breitman have noted that "the
ing to put their ranks in battle order through proposal to enter the s f i o came as a shock
the united front. The maneuver itself ab­ to many members of the i c l and elicited a
sorbs the entire attention of the crew, whose good deal of resistance outside France as
eyes are fixed anxiously on the horizon, and well as inside. To formalistic minds it
the tougher the struggle becomes the more seemed to be in glaring contradiction to the
the respective general staffs will be able to call for a new International and new revolu­
isolate our frail ship, even to sink it. That is tionary national parties, and in violation of
the real danger in the present situation: we the principle that the revolutionary party
seem to be coming to these struggles from must remain independent under all condi­
the outside. . . ."5“ tions: some rejected it as a betrayal of princi­
Given that situation, Trotsky argued, the ple . . . others opposed it on tactical
Trotskyists needed to be able to work within grounds."57
one or another of the parties in the United Within the French group, Raymond Moli­
Front. He commented that "as revolution­ nier immediately supported the idea and his
ary parties, the s f i o and c p are equally bank­ chief lieutenant Pierre Frank did so after
rupt. But in this period of upheavals and some hesitation. Pierre Naville was very
readjustments it is our task to adjust our much opposed to it. There were two months
tactics according to both our knowledge of of discussion within the Ligue Communi­
the environment and our opportunities for ste, and at a conference in Paris late in Au­
creating the new revolutionary party. We gust 1934 the Ligue decided by "a decisive
must therefore observe that the internal po­ majority . . . to dissolve the Communist
litical life of the Stalinist party is nil and League and join the s f i o , " which they did
that the possibility of developing a tendency the following month. There they estab­
in its midst must be excluded. . . . The So­ lished the Groupe Bolchevik-Leniniste
cialist Party, on the other hand, has pre­ ( g b l ), with La Verite as its publication.58
served throughout this whole period a rela­ Pierre Naville did not agree with this deci­
tively intense life, all proportions sion. For some time he and his closest fol­
considered." lowers refused to abide by it, although sub­
Trotsky also noted with regard to the s f i o sequently they did join the s f i o , where they
"the fact that the internal regime, in spite formed a separate group known as the Inter­
of the bureaucracy's power, has not yet nationalist Communists.59 That group
straitjacketed the rank and file and permits maintained La Lutte de Classes, which had
a certain freedom of movement among sec­ until then been the theoretical organ of the
tions of the workers."ss Ligue Communiste, as its publication.60
Trotsky urged that his followers openly In October 1934 the International Com­
enter the s f i o . He argued that "its internal munist League, the movement's interna­
situation permits the possibility of our en­ tional organization, held a plenum in Paris,
tering it under our own banner. The environ­ attended by, among others, James P. Cannon
ment suits the aims we have set for our­ of the American Trotskyists. It adopted a
selves. . . . There is no question of dissolving resolution urging the Naville group to join

1 France: Before World War II 349

1
forces with the g b l "on the basis of a com­ N ew Militant reported that in the congress
mon discipline."61 However, the two Trots­ of the Morocco Federation ten delegates of
kyist groups remained separate until, under the Bolshevik-Leninist Group were elected
Trotsky's insistent urging, they finally re­ to the Mulhouse Congress of the party; the
united at a congress in September 1935, by Mame Federation had chosen five Trotsky­
which time the reversal of the French Turn ist delegates, the Trotskyists getting 120 of
was already under way.62 the 700 votes in the regional convention;
while in the Rhone Department, the g b l
received x5 percent of the votes and elected
Trotskyists in the Socialist Party
nine delegates, and in several others they
The French Turn proved to be a profitable ' were able to elect delegates to the national
one for Trotsky's French followers. Very congress.64
quickly they were able to develop an appre­ The Trotskyists made particular headway
ciable degree of influence within the s f i o , in the Young Socialists, the s f i o ' s youth
and particularly in its youth group. How­ group, again particularly in the Seine region.
ever, subsequent factional struggles within Naomi Allen and George Breitman have
the Trotskyite group over the question of noted that "they established close working
withdrawing from the s f i o resulted in the relations ’ with the left wing leading the
loss of much of the ground gained during the Seine Alliance and through it began publish­
execution of the policy. ing a paper. Revolution, which claimed sales
The Trotskyists made particular progress of 50,000 copies per issue in August 1935,
within the Seine Federation of the Socialist as against 30,000 for the official national js
Party, covering Paris. The U.S. Trotskyist paper. This left bloc had around one-third of
periodical N ew Militant reported in April the delegates of the national js congress in
1935 of their French colleagues that "their July."65
influence in the s p has grown rapidly, until Summing up the successes of the Trotsky­
almost every militant, in the Seine district ists within the s f i o , Daniel Guerin was au­
at least, is a propagandist for their ideas. thority for the assertion that "even if the
Their platform is advanced in every internal Trotskyist conceptions of organization vio­
discussion in the party." This article contin­ lated the libertarian penchant of the social­
ued: "Their press, La Verite, and their pam­ ists, the Bolshevik-Leninists by their 'revo­
phlets have a wide circulation not only in­ lutionary lucidity' and their 'courage'
side the party but outside as well (at public succeeded in carrying out a 'profound propa­
meetings, on the streets, at demonstrations. ganda' and had a 'happy influence on Mar-
At a demonstration on November 10, 800 ceau Pivert whom they pushed towards the
copies of a special number of La Verite were extreme left. ' 1,66
sold in a few hours). In the principal sections The highpoint of Trotskyist influence un­
of the Seine District of the s p Trotskyists doubtedly came at the Mulhouse Congress
occupy responsible posts and are at the head of the Socialist Party in June 1935. There
of practical work. They are the prime mov­ the main subject of discussion was the
ers in propaganda and membership cam­ expansion of the Socialist-Communist
paigns. They have taken a leading part in United Front into the Popular Front, includ­
the creation and development of physical ing the Radical SocialistJParty. The motion
defense corps and military committees, the in favor had the support of two-thirds of the
embryos of workers militia."63 delegates. However, as Allen and Breitman
Although the Trotskyists' major influ­ noted, "the voice of revolutionary Marxism
ence was in Paris, they had some support in was heard at an s f i o congress for the first
Socialist Party federations in the provinces. time since 1920 as the g b l , together with

350 Ftancc: Before World War II

the Naville group, compelled the congress in urging an end to the maneuver. Allen and
to debate or at least listen to its position on Breitman have observed that "indepen­
'national defense/ the need for the Fourth dently of the congress, he felt that the s f i o
International, etc." The final vote on the episode was virtually finished and wrote a
major political resolution was 2,025 for that letter recommending that the section make
sponsored by Leon Blum and Paul Faure, 777 a shift in its orientation away from the s f i o
for that of the non-Trotskyist Left, and 105 and toward the construction of a new revo­
for that of the g b l . The congress elected Jean lutionary party." At the same time he urged
Rous of the g b l to the National Administra­ speedy reunification of the g b l and the Na­
tive Committee (c a p ) of the Socialist Party, ville group. Allen and Breitman suggested
with Pierre Frank as his alternate.6' Al­ that Trotsky was motivated not only by his
though not elected to any position at the belief that the Trotskyists had gotten about
Mulhouse Congress, Pierre Naville partici­ all they could out of the Socialist Party, but
pated actively in the debate on several of the also by his belief that a new war (around
issues presented there. He was subjected to the issue of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia)
considerable heckling from non-Trotskyist might be imminent and that there was
delegates.68 therefore an urgent need to have both a
The Stalinists were particularly perturbed French revolutionary party and the new
by the influence, albeit very moderate, of Fourth International in place to confront
the Trotskyists within the Socialist Party. such a situation.70
N ew Militant noted on April 13, 1935 that Trotsky's suggestion that his followers
"the Stalinists are in a regular frenzy. No now orient towards leaving the Socialist
longer able to crush Trotskyists by bureau­ Party provoked a new schism within French
cratic terror, they now devote scare heads Trotskyist ranks. As in the past, Pierre Na­
and long articles to 'The Trotskyists Who ville led one faction, favoring following
Mean Nothing.' Maurice Thorez himself, Trotsky's advice; Raymond Molinier led an­
the chief of the Stalinist Party, stirs out of other, opposing the move. New elements in
his office to deliver speeches in which he the picture were the emergence of the third
warns the Socialists that 'the Trotskyists "centrist" group led by Jean Rous and the
who mean nothing' 'wish to destroy the So­ fact that this time Trotsky was strongly
cialist Party.' " aligned with Naville and against Molinier,
The Trotskyists seem to have underesti­ whom he had supported so strongly for half
mated the importance of the Stalinists' pres­ a dozen years.
sure against them. Naomi Allen and George The basic disagreement centered on the
Breitman have noted that "Blum's warning belief of Molinier and his supporters that
that the g b l would be ousted if it obstructed the Trotskyists still had much to gain by
collaboration with the Stalinists was not aligning themselves with Marceau Pivert
taken seriously by the g b l leaders, who within the Socialist Party. Pivert had broken
seemed indifferent to the heavy pressure from the Bataille Socialiste group domi­
that the Stalinist bureaucrats were exerting nated by the pro-Stalinist Jean Zyromski to
on their Social Democratic counterparts to form his own Revolutionary Tendency (r t )
purge the 'Trotskyists.' " 69 and Molinier fought to have the Bolshevik-
Leninists join forces with the r t . Naville
strongly opposed that idea in words but was
Origins of 1935-36 Split in
slow about organizing a formal withdrawal
French Trotskyism
of the Groupe Bolchevik-Leniniste (reunited
As he had taken the initiative in suggesting in September 1935) from the Socialist Party.
the French Turn, Leon Trotsky took the lead The Jean Rous group sided basically with

France: Before World War II 351

Naville, but was more willing than Naville Molinier soon stole another march on his
to give Molinier room to experiment with opponents when the January 17, 1936, issue
the Pivert Socialists. of La Commune announced the establish­
Trotsky was unhappy about all three ment of a new Committee for the Fourth
groups of his followers. He felt that Naville International ( c q i ) and soon afterwards an­
had the right orientation but was very criti­ nounced that the c q i was applying for ad­
cal of his unwillingness to put that orienta­ mission to a new Secretariat for the Fourth
tion into effect' He became increasingly hos­ International, known as the Amsterdam
tile toward what he denounced as the Secretariat, which the international move­
"centrism" of Molinier. At the same time ment had recently established.
he was exasperated by the apparent zigzags Molinier followed this up by organizing a
of the Rous faction. convention to launch a new party on March
Much of the controversy centered on the 7, 1936, which resulted in the establishment
question of issuing a "mass paper." All fac­ of the Intemationaliste Communist Party
tions agreed that such a paper should be (Parti Communiste Intemationaliste— p c i ),
issued; various alternatives (converting La which proclaimed itself to be the "French
Veriti into such an organ, using the Young Section of the Fourth International."71
Socialists' Revolution, or issuing an entirely The g b l faction headed by Pierre Naville
new paper, the notion favored by Molinier) and backed by Leon Trotsky was also mov­
were suggested. Controversy centered on ing towards the establishment of its own
whether this should be a purely Bolshevik- party. The first step was taken early in Janu­
Leninist publication or one issued by the ary 1936 when the Bolshevik-Leninists and
g b l and its allies within the Socialist ranks, their allies in the Young Socialists formally
and on whether it should frankly put for­ established a new organization, the Revolu­
ward the Trotskyists' position favoring a tionary Socialist Youth (Jeunesse Socialiste
new revolutionary party and the Fourth In­ Revolutionnaire— j s r ). It continued to pub­
ternational. Naturally Trotsky strongly fa­ lish the organ of the Young Socialists, R evo­
vored a frankly Trotskyist periodical, but lution. The g b l and j s r issued a joint procla­
his supporters within the g b l hesitated to mation calling for the establishment of a
carry out his ideas and Molinier went ahead new revolutionary party.73
with his own plans for a watered down However, although the g b l had planned
"mass paper." for a congress to found a new party to meet
on April 12,, after the establishment of the
p c i in March the International Secretariat
Split, Reunification, Split
urged the g b l to seek reunification. As a
On December 6, 1935 the first issue of La result, the planned congress was called off.
Commune, the new Molinier "mass paper" Negotiations went on for several months
appeared, supposedly representing several between the two Trotskyist groups aiming
far Left groups, against the orders of the g b l at their reunification. During that period
Central Committee, and shortly afterward both groups ran candidates in parliamentary
Molinier was removed from that committee elections, although the g b i refused to collab­
and from the International Secretariat of the orate with the p c i in the campaign. Neither
International. This consummated the split group got more than a few hundred votes in
within the French Trotskyist ranks.71 any one constituency.
The new newspaper was not particularly Finally, on May 31, 1936 the g b l was con­
successful in gaining a mass audience in verted into the Internationalist Workers
spite of the fact that it did not advocate a Party (Parti Ouvrier Intemationaliste— p o i }.
clearly Trotskyist point of view. However, Then, on the following day it merged with

352 France: Before World War II

the p c i under the name of the p o i , and this Soviet Union could still be considered a
new group was promptly recognized as the workers' state. About one third of the dele­
French section of the International Commu­ gates voted for the resolution offered by Jean
nist League. It was reported to the unity Craipeau arguing that such was not the
convention that the new p o i had 6 1 5 case.78 Trotsky wrote a reply to Craipeau's
members. arguments.79
The Central Committee of the new party The p o i published a "mass organ," La
was composed of seven from the old g b l , Lutte Ouvriere, first as a weekly, then as a
seven from the p c i , and three from the j s r . monthly. It also put out a "theoretical re­
Raymond Molinier became a member of the view," Quatrieme Internationale, which
Central Committee but not of the Political was edited by Pierre Naville and was the
Bureau. The official organ of the new p o i successor to his old publication La Lutte de
was to be called La Lutte Ouvriere and the Classes.80
details of a new party constitution were left In April 1938 Trotsky wrote to Cannon
for decision by a congress which was sup­ and Shachtman about the deplorable state of
posed to meet on August 15, 1936.74 the French section. "The development of our
But the new unity did not last for long. French section is not satisfactory. They do
The International Secretariat reminded the not communicate any statistics to us, which
Central Committee of the p o i that Molinier is a bad sign in itself. The newspaper does
was only "provisionally" a member of the not appear regularly. The same is true of the
group and demanded that he immediately so-called monthly. They have not a single
cease his business activities "not just in man with organizational capacities."81
words but in fact." Three Molinierists, in­ The Founding Conference of the Fourth
cluding Pierre Frank, objected, and as a con­ International, which met about six months
sequence were suspended from the commit­ after Trotsky's letter to the American Trots­
tee. As a result, all the Molinier group kyists, adopted a "Resolution on the Tasks
boycotted further meetings of the Central of the French Section" which ran to nine
Committee, starting with that of July 12, and a half printed pages. The tone of that
1936.” document can be gauged from its argument
Trotsky was clearly aligned with the anti- that "the inadequacies of the p o i ' s leader­
Molinier group, as a result of which Moli­ ship are shown by an increasing organiza­
nier and one of his associates went to Nor­ tional letdown, with as a sequel, the exis­
way to see Trotsky, but although listening tence of a certain 'revolutionary'
to them, Trotsky refused to negotiate with amateurism, the lack of a serious party ad­
them in any way.74 ministration, of a normally functioning na­
The new break was consummated at the tional treasury, and of a Lutte Ouvriere edi­
p o i ' s first regular congress in October 1936. torship which is stable and full of the spirit
At that meeting "the Molinierists marched of emulation. Naturally to some extent
out crying fraud," and "several of the dele­ these inadequacies result from the lack of
gates threw punches at one another."77 even a modest organizational apparatus
composed of comrades who devote all their
time to party work."82
The POI from 1936 to 1939
This resolution criticized virtually all as­
Weakened by constant feuding and the with­ pects of the functioning of the p o i . It noted
drawal of the Molinier faction, the p o i re­ that "the p o i ' s financial situation has al­
mained small, quarrelsome, and largely im­ ways been very bad. The dues are either not
potent. At its second congress late in 1937 paid at all, or if they are, it is just by luck,
there was a bitter debate over whether the without supervision of the leadership." It

t France: Before World War II 353

t
u rg e d e s t a b lis h m e n t o f a f u ll- tim e tre a s u re r As a consequence there was a new split,
a n d th a t "a n y o n e w h o w ill n o t p ay h is d u es with the Rous-Craipeau group deciding to
re g u la rly s h o u ld a fte r d u e w a rn in g h a v e h is enter the p s o p in spite of the position of the
m e m b e r s h i p i n t h e p o i c u t o f f . " 43 p o i . According to Allen and Breitman, the

The Fourth International was very critical entrists "made headway inside the p s o p ,
of La Lutte Ouvriere. “ First of all, it is neces­ winning over the leadership of the p s o p
sary to fight against the stupid and primitive youth group and becoming part of a left wing
ideology which has crept in under the bor­ that got over one-fourth of the votes at the
rowed label of 'mass newspaper.' "84It urged p s o p ' s second congress in June 1939." 88

that articles be signed, that the paper be Within the p s o p this group published a peri­
better edited, and written so as to be attrac­ odical, La Voie de Lenine 89
tive to workers. Furthermore, it argued that Trotsky and the International Secretariat
"to keep up its regular weekly appearance is of the Fourth International supported the
an absolute duty."s$ position of Rous and Craipeau. They called
The resolution was particularly critical of upon the rest of the p o i to enter the p s o p .
the failure of the p o i to work effectively When the p o i leadership refused to do so
in the labor movement in spite of constant the International Secretariat "withdrew its
proclamations of its intention to do so. It recognition of the p o i as the French section
commented that "the lack of directed trade of the Fourth International in July 1939, a
union work has failed to make the develop­ few weeks before the start of World War
ment of the workers' struggle and the exact II."90Only then did most of the recalcitrants
understanding of their demands really living enter the p s o p . A small group which still
subjects in the party. Thus it comes about refused to do so continued to publish La
that, with its weak forces, the p o i has weak Lutte Ouvriere as the organ of the 'recon­
connection in the factories—a work insuf­ structed' p o i , "but without any mention of
ficiently tied up with the workers' day-to- a connection with the Fourth Interna­
day lives."86 tional."91
The Fourth International proposed a se­
ries of organizational reforms which the p o i
The PCI from 1936 to 1939
should make. It promised that if the kind of
steps it suggested were made the Interna­ The p c i of Raymond Molinier and Pierre
tional Secretariat would guarantee to pro­ Frank was in much better shape than the p o i
vide some subsidy to the French section "in during much of this period. Trotsky wrote to
order that the French section may get its Cannon and Shachtman that "I know practi­
paper out with regularity and assure the cally nothing about the real state of the
functioning of its activities and its organiza­ Commune organization, but their paper is
tional work according to the general mea­ incomparably richer. Until last month it ap­
sures herein recommended."87 peared weekly; now it appears in small for­
The p o i was faced with new complica­ mat three times a week. They published a
tions at the end of 1938, when Marceau Piv­ thick 'theoretical' symposium and numer­
ert and his followers were finally driven out ous leaflets and pamphlets." Trotsky recog­
of the French Socialist Party and established nized that "this competition is causing gen­
their own Workers and Peasants Socialist eral confusion and is extremely prejudicial
Party (Parti Socialiste Ouvrier et Paysan— to our section."92 One can only speculate
p s o p ). One element of the p o i led by Jean that this better performance was at least in
Rous and Ivan Craipeau favored a new "en­ part due to Molinier's despised financial re­
try" into the p s o p , but Joannes Barden and sources.
Pierre Naville, with a majority of the p o i The p c i revived La Verite under the edi­
leadership, opposed this. torship of Pierre Frank, but this time as a

354 France: Before World War II

 "theoretical journal." It claimed lineal de­ ternational Secretariat was authorized to
scent from the original French Trotskyist discuss the issue after the founding confer­
periodical.93 ence, and it submitted an eight point resolu­
The appearance of the p s o p of Marceau tion to the p c i as a basis for the reincorpora­
Pivert presented much the same problem tion of its members in the p o i , and hence in
to the p c i as to the p o i . However, the p c i the International, and assuring them propor­
prepared the ground as the possibility of the tional representation in the executive and
expulsion of the Pivertists from the s p i o apparatus of the p o i . However, Point Four
grew to be a probability. A number of the of this resolution read: "The personal case
youth of the p c i , led by Rodolphe Prager, of JR.. Molinier having been decided by the
were sent into the Autonomous Federation international conference in r936, decisions
of Socialist Youth dominated by the Piver- which have not been changed or modified
tist group. by the Conference of 1938, he remains com­
In October 1938 the p c i announced its pletely outside the unified French
decision to dissolve its organization and section."96
have its members join the p s o p as individu­ A statement by the International Secretar­
als. This was done early in December. The iat explained that "in the subsequent discus­
p s o p decided that neither Raymond Moli­ sion it became perfectly clear that Point 4
nier nor Pierre Frank would be allowed to (the elimination of R. Molinier) was the only
join the party before their records had been real point at issue. . . . The negotiations
scanned by a "committee of inquiry" headed foundered on this point."97
by Molinier's old enemy Alfred Rosmer. The Thus, the p c i was not admitted to the
congress of the p s o p in May 1939 decided Fourth International. With the exclusion of
almost unanimously not only to exclude the p o i from the International in July 1939,
Molinier from its ranks, but "forbade any the result was that with the outbreak of
member, under penalty of exclusion, from World War II International Trotskyism had
having the least relation with him." When no official affiliate in France.
shortly afterward there was a meeting of
former members of the p c i , with Molinier
being present, the executive of the p s o p ex­
pelled all those who attended. They in­
cluded Roger Foirier, Pierre Lambert and
Jacques Privas, former leaders of the p c i
youth and of the p s o p youth.94
Meanwhile, one of the last acts of coopera­
tion of the two Trotskyist groups before the
outbreak of World War II was the establish­
ment of a committee of coordination to
draw up a "projected program" for the Parti
Socialiste Ouvrier et Paysan. This project
was introduced by a former p c i member,
Jacques Desmots, but there is no record
available concerning how much support it
received within the p s o p .95
Efforts by the Molinier group to gain entry
into the new Fourth International, estab­
lished on September 3, 1938, were unsuc­
cessful. As Trotsky had predicted, the p c i
did formally request affiliation. The new In­

France: Before World War II 355

 French Trotskyism World War. Two days later the French and
British officially declared war on Germany.
During World War II However, between September 1939 and
April 1940 there was very little military ac­
tivity on the Western Front, and this period
went down in history as that of the "phony
French Trotskyism remained seriously di­ war."
vided throughout most of World War II. It This was a period of great confusion and
was not until February 1944 that the most considerable disorganization insofar as the
important factions of the movement were French Trotskyists were concerned. On the
brought back together in a single group. In one hand they suffered from the fact that
the interim, the two rival organizations most males of military age were mobilized
which existed at the time of the outbreak of into the armed forces. On the other, even
the war were subdivided into at least five before the war began, the French govern­
during most of the period. ment had imposed severe limitations on
All of the Trotskyist groups continued to civil liberties and soon thereafter the Com­
be active throughout the war. They fought munist Party was outlawed; the police
against the successive French governments raided headquarters not only of the Stalin­
of the period and against the German occu­ ists but also of other left-wing groups, many
pying power. One of the factions made a radicals of all stripes being arrested and sub­
heroic but exceedingly dangerous effort to jected to prosecution and incarceration.
spread the message of international work­ Many Trotskyists were included.
ing-class revolutionary solidarity among the Jacqueline Pluet-Despatin has noted con­
occupying German troops. All factions con­ cerning the impact of the outbreak of war
tinued their hostility toward the French on the Trotskyists that "as Trotsky had fore­
Communist Party, although continuing to seen in April 1939, the war made the two
support the cause of the Soviet Union as a organizations lose two thirds of their m ili­
"workers state." The list of French Trotsky­ tants, who were dispersed, isolated, mobi­
ist martyrs, some executed by the Germans, lized or arrested."1 Jean-Pierre Cassard has
others physically eliminated by the Stalin­ also noted of the Trotskyists that "as a
ists in the underground, was a long one, par­ group, they maintained themselves, but
ticularly for such a tiny group. with difficulty. The contacts with the prov­
All Trotskyist groups were convinced that inces were broken. Bourgeois repression
World War II was going to be followed by a curbed them. . . . The extreme youth of the
cataclysmic collapse of international capi­ militants meant that they were mobilized.
talism and by the long hoped-for "political Dozens of Trotskyists were rounded up in
revolution" against the Stalinist regime in the process of general mobilization. . . .
the Soviet Union. Their mistaken assess­ Most of the mobilized Trotskyist militants
ment of the nature of the struggle and of its only rejoined their organizations after the
likely outcome was a principal cause of the debacle" of May-June 1940.2
inability of the Trotskyists to take advan­ However, both major Trotskyist factions
tage of the "opportunities" created for them maintained a semblance of organization.
by World War II. The ex-Parti OuVrier^ Intemationaliste
[which until shortly before the outbreak of
The Trotskyists During the the war had been the official French section
"Phony War" of the Fourth International} remained split
The Nazi war machine attacked Poland on until after the phoney war between those
September 1, 1939, thus starting the Second who had entered the p s o p of Marceau Pivert

3S6 France: World War II

and those who had not. The latter group, war period the Comites Fran^ais pour la IVe
headed by Marcel Hie and David Rousset, Internationale published four issues of its
maintained a separate group until August periodical, L’Etincelle. Jean-Pierre Cassard
1940.3 has noted that the periodical stressed that
Meanwhile, the Trotskyists of the p o i "it is the working class which will pay for
who were within the p s o p argued at a meet­ the war, this imperialist war rendered possi­
ing of the Permanent Administrative Com­ ble by the betrayal of the leaders of the work­
mittee ( c a p ) of that organization on August ing class." Among the slogans it raised were
31, 1939 that the p s o p should go under­ "for a just peace, for an immediate peace, it
ground. This motion was defeated, and it is necessary to fight the capitalist regime."
was decided that the p s o p would continue The first issue of the periodical protested
as a legal party and maintain its legal news­ against the suppression of the Communist
paper Juin 36. Only four issues of the Party by the French government. It said,
monthly periodical were able to appear "The social democratic jackals are biting
thereafter, all of them heavily censored by with all their teeth their Stalinist friends of
the authorities. The last issue was for fanu- yesterday, today garotted by the govern­
ary-February 1940. After that date the party ment. We, Trotskyists, in spite of the insults
for all practical purposes disappeared.“ and the blows of yesterday, protest against
The Trotskyists, in the meanwhile, had the dissolution of the p c f by the bourgeoisie,
decided to break p s o p discipline and go un­ against the persecution of their militants.
derground "although maintaining some We also have extensive accounts to settle
contacts with the legal organization."5 On with their chiefs for the betrayal of the labor
September 1 they established a new group, movement. But we settle these among the
the Comites Fran?ais pour la IVe Internatio­ workers. Against the bourgeoisie, we show
nale. It soon began to publish an under­ solidarity." The last issue of the paper came
ground newspaper L ’Etincelle, and also put out in September 1940, after which its place
out one issue during the phoney war period was taken by La Verite.9
of Le Bulletin du Comite pour la IVe Inter­ The Molinier-Frank faction of French
nationale, apparently designed to be the Trotskyism (ex-Parti Communiste Lntema-
"theoretical" journal of the group.6As a con­ tionaliste] had officially dissolved into the
sequence of these actions the c a p of the p s o p p s o p soon after that party was formed. They

decided at a further meeting on November continued to function as a group, and as

20,1939 to exclude all of the p o i Trotskyists early as February 1939 decided that, in view
from the party.7 of the proximity of war, they should set up
At the time of the establishment of the an underground organization. They rented
Comit€s Fran^ais pour la IVe Internationale, places which could serve as headquarters
one small group broke away to form still and dispersed their records. They also de­
another element in French Trotskyism. Led cided that there should be an executive com­
by a man of Romanian origin named David mittee which was outside the country. They
Komer, who used the name Barta, it began picked Pierre Frank, Raymond Molinier,
to publish a periodical L ’Ouvrier. Although Maurice Segal, Bra2, Ernesto and Rodolphe
consisting of only a handful of people, this Prager {of the Youth} to form this commit­
group was to continue its separate existence tee, and these men went to Belgium, where
and was the forerunner of one of the three they were at the time the war broke out.
major French Trotskyist elements of the Prager had been drafted, but when he was
1950s and thereafter, the Lutte Ouvrifere on leave in Paris he deserted and went to
group.8 Belgium to join the others.10
During and immediately after the phony In Belgium the ex-pci leaders entered into

France: World War II 357

 contact particularly with the Contre la and imperialisms with a fascist structure.
Courant group headed by Georges Vereeken, We have always accused Stalinism of be­
which had broken with Trotsky sometime traying the interests of the workers, of help­
earlier over the issue of the French Turn. ing the establishment of fascism in various
They also established contacts in the Neth­ countries by abandoning the objective of
erlands with the followers of Hendrik proletarian revolution in favor of that of na­
Sneevliet, who had also broken with tional defense."15
Trotsky about a year before the outbreak of The organ of the c i c q i reflected the wide­
the war.11 spread belief among the Trotskyists that the
Those of the ex-pci who remained in outbreak of the war presented the opportu­
France regrouped around Henri Molinier nity for them to take the leadership in bring­
and Charles Margne and formed the Comite ing about the world revolution. It pro­
Internationale pour la Construction de la claimed in its' second issue, after the war
IVe Internationale ( c i c q i ). During the phony began, that "the imperialist war which has
war period much of their effort was concen­ begun does not find us unprepared, it is the
trated on distributing La Correspondance hour of the IVth International. The repres­
Intemationaliste, printed in Belgium but sion, the Stalinist terror in the class is dead.
smuggled extensively across the frontier.11 Finished are the claims about agents of Hit­
Between August 23, 1939, and April 29, ler, Trotskyist spies, pretended clandestine
1940 twenty-four issues of La Correspon­ meetings of Leon Trotsky and Rudolph
dance Intemationaliste were printed in Bel­ Hess, the right arm of Hitler. Stalin has suc­
gium and circulated in France. It presented ceeded in destroying the infamous Moscow
the point of view of the c i c q i during that pe­ trials."16
riod. Jean-Pierre Cassard has summed up this In February 1940 thirteen militants of the
position, saying that "feeble and dispersed as c i c q i , together with three members of the

organizations, formulating as they saw it the ex-poi, were arrested and tried for carrying
need for revolutionary struggle against the on Communist propaganda and undermin­
war, generally in a dogmatic fashion—due to ing the morale of the army and civil popula­
their youth and inexperience—the Trotsky­ tion. Among those arrested there were
ists resolutely aligned themselves on the side Charles Margne and Pierre Lambert, then a
of the world revolution."13 youth activist. They were sentenced to long
La Correspondance Intemationaliste ex­ terms in jail, but most of them succeeded in
pressed the Trotskyist support for revolu­ escaping from prison at the time of the Fall
tionary defeatism. In its first issue, even be­ of France.17
fore the outbreak of the war, it declared that Right at the end of the phoney war period
"defeatism is the class struggle in the war the Molinier-Frank group sought rapproche­
period. It is necessary therefore to express ment with Trotsky and the Fourth Interna­
the demands of the exploited at the front tional. An exchange of letters began be­
and in the rear, with the object of fraterni­ tween Raymond Molinier and Pierre Frank,
zation."14 who were then in Great Britain, and Trotsky
Once the war began, La Correspondance and officials of the International Secretariat.
Intemationaliste declared that "the slogan The two Frenchmen first wrote Trotsky on
of the antifascist war was only a means of May 25,1940, congratulating him on having
preventing the workers from carrying on the escaped the first attempt on his life and ex­
class struggle. The Bolshevik-Leninists, pressing an interest in "renewing relations"
Communists, internationalists, have al­ with him and the Fourth International.
ways declared that there is no distinction to Trotsky responded on July 1, saying that for
be made in terms of democratic imperialism such a reconciliation the Molinierists would

358 France: World War II

 have "to be loyal. . . particularly at present, most four years, not one, before most of the
in the tragic times in which we live," and French Trotskyists would be reunited.
added that "if you have drawn this conclu­ Jacqueline Pluet-D6spatin has noted that
sion from the past, seriously and defini­ during the phoney war period the Trotsky­
tively, then a sincere reconciliation would ists tended largely to be concentrated in and
present no difficulty."18 around Paris: "The militants of the two or­
On August 5 Molinier and Frank replied ganizations are essentially concentrated in
to Trotsky. They said that "we accept the Paris, although there are more or less con­
rights and duties which are defined in your centrations in the provinces, in Marseilles,
letter of i July, and this without reserve, Valence, Nice, Toulouse, Mazamet, Clerm-
without equivocation." They added that ont-Ferrand, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes,
"we shall use all our force to make our peo­ Quimper, and Brest. In spite of the existence
ple understand everything," and agreed that of clandestine contacts, these cities in
the details of the reconciliation would have which the p o i tendency usually is domi­
to be worked out with the International Sec­ nant, remained largely cut off from the Pari­
retariat.19 sian region."12
This letter did not reach Trotsky before Overall, the French Trotskyists remained
his murder. However, subsequently Moli­ a very small group during this period..It has
nier and Frank received a letter dated Octo­ been estimated, more or less officially, that
ber 23, 1 940, from Jean van Heijenoort, then "{very approximately) there were thirty mil­
working at the International Secretariat itants in the ex-pci, and a hundred, or per­
headquarters in New York, saying "we sup­ haps a few more in the Comitds Fran^ais
port the return of Ray with us. Naturally, pour la IVe Internationale. "u
one cannot demand of anyone that he forget
the past. One cannot restore virginity. But
Confusion and Regrouping After
if we seriously wish it, I am sure that we can
the Fall of France
find the way for solid and fertile collabora­
tion." Finally, Sam Gordon, also writing The collapse and surrender of the French
from the headquarters of the International government and military had during the
Secretariat, communicated indirectly with first few weeks contradictory effects on the
Frank and Molinier reasserting the is's de­ French Trotskyists. On the one hand the
termination to "collaborate to our best" military rout of the French armed forces cre­
with them and promising "to make a more ated millions of fleeing refugees, and surren­
formal reconciliation in about a year of such der brought the division of France into the
collaboration."20 occupied and unoccupied sectors, in addi­
This exchange of letters was written in tion to total separation of Alsace-Lorraine,
terms of correspondence between members Brittany, and the northwestern part of
of the same family, because of "security con­ France from either of these. These develop­
siderations." Trotsky is "uncle Leon," the ments undoubtedly cut liaisons which had
two erring Frenchmen are "Pierrette and existed among the members of the Trotsky­
Raymonde" and "cousins," the Fourth In­ ist movement during the phony war period.
ternational is "the family," and the Interna­ On the other hand the chaos surrounding
tional Secretariat is "father" and "Professor the defeat and surrender facilitated the es­
Sei of New York."21 cape of Trotskyist political prisoners and
The Fall of France and the arrest of Moli­ the desertion of Trotskyist draftees from the
nier and Frank in Great Britain apparently armed forces, and the return of both kinds
broke off further communication between of people to the civil society where they
them and the International. It was to be al­ could enter into contact with their political

i
France: World War II 359
comrades. Likewise, the total defeat of In this report Craipeau and Hie said that
France had the immediate effect, particu­ the new group represented "(a) The return
larly among French workers, of more or less to the organization of elements which had
absolutely discrediting (for the time being been practically separated from us in the
at least) all political groups which in any course of various crises; (b) the adherence to
way bore responsibility for getting France the new organization of the people gained
into the war and then losing it once the by each of the currents during the war; (c)
conflict had started. This meant, in particu­ the definitive inclusion of a fraction from
lar, discrediting of the Socialist and Com­ the p s o p . " They went on to claim that "that
munist parties and the organized labor signifies practically that in the course of the
movement, particularly the Confederation next several weeks we can organize in clan-
Generale du Travail ( c g t ). The disillusion­ destinity from 7 to 800 militants, and from
ment of the workers in the old organizations that base quickly develop the organi­
seemed to open up possibilities for other zation."27
political groups, among them (perhaps) the They reported that the new group was
Trotskyists. based on the principles of the Fourth Inter­
In the face of the really shattering events national,.and had called themselves "French
of May-June 1940, the two principal Trots­ Committee for the Fourth International"
kyist groups, that is, the ex-poi and the Mol- because they did not consider themselves a
inierists of the ex-pci, sought almost imme­ full-fledged revolutionary party and felt that
diately to regroup and reorganize their the International was still really to be built.
forces. By August they were beginning to However, they asked the International Sec­
make some progress in this direction. retariat to recognize them as its French af­
During July the group headed by Marcel filiate, and asked for financial aid and for
Hie, Marcel Beaufrere and Paul Parisot, con­ help to get a few people whose lives were
sisting of members of the p o i who had re­ particularly in danger out of Europe.2®
fused to join Marceau Pi vert's p s o p , made For their part the Molinierists also re­
overtures for reunification with the p o i "en- grouped. A number of militants who had
trists" led by Ivan Craipeau, Marcel Gibelin, escaped from prison or the armed forces or
and Henri Souzin, who constituted the had been demobilized joined their comrades
Comites pour la IVe Internationale. After who had been active during the phony war
some negotiations this reunification took period. Some of those leaders who had gone
place at the beginning of August.24 A provi­ to Belgium a year before also returned to
sional executive consisting of Craipeau, Gi­ Paris. The technical work of maintaining
belin, and Souzin of the entrist group, and and bringing back together the ex-pci people
Hie, Beaufrere, and Rigaudias of the nonen- was largely handled by Henri Molinier and
trists, was established, and they kept the Jeanne Martin des Palliferes, the former com­
name Comites Franijais pour la Quatri£me panion of Raymond Molinier and then of
Internationale.25 Leon Sedov.
Ivan Craipeau and Marcel Hie sent a re­ In July, a meeting of twelve ex - p c i leaders
port to the International Secretariat of the took place in the park of St.-Cloud. Soon
Fourth International in New York right after thereafter they began to publish an informa­
the reunification. It was taken out of France tion bulletin, largely for circulation among
by the American Trotskyist Sherry Mangan, members of the ex-p c i group.29
the Paris correspondent for Fortune {under
the name of Terence Phelan) and a former
The Wartime La Verite
member of the International Secretariat
who had been expelled from France by the Soon after the reunification of the elements
occupation authorities.46 of the old p o i they began to publish an un­

360 France: World War II

 derground newspaper, La Verite. This was even after the freeing of Paris from German
certainly one of the longest-lived and most occupation, because the de Gaulle govern­
remarkable of the clandestine periodicals ment, which came to power with the libera­
published in France during World War II. tion of France, for some months refused to
The first issue of the wartime La Veriti permit the legal publication of the periodi­
appeared as a mimeographed sheet on Au­ cal. The last illegal number seems to have
gust 31, 1940. It was identified under the appeared on December 25, 1944.34
masthead as a "Bolshevik-Leninist Organ." The paper faithfully reflected the chang­
This first issue carried a lead article about ing positions of the groups which published
the growing conflict between the reaction­ it. La Verite also reflected the conditions in
ary and fascist elements operating in Paris France at the time: the increasingly bitter
and elsewhere in occupied France under economic situation, the growing resistance
German protection, and the Vichy govern­ movements of various kinds, the political
ment in unoccupied France. The second machinations of both those elements associ­
page was taken up with an article on the ated with the occupying power and the Vi­
murder of Trotsky. The third page had a chy regime and those aligned with the oppo­
piece on the Vichy government's moves to sition to them.
destroy the labor movement and an article In addition to La Verite, which was or at
entitled "Down with Antisemitism!" On least aspired to be a "national" periodical,
the fourth and final page was an article enti­ there appeared during the war a considerable
tled "Our Plan."30 number of local or regional Trotskyist publi­
La Verite appeared fitfully, sometimes ev­ cations of the various tendencies within the
ery two weeks, at other times once a month. movement. This did not reflect the size or
Its first six numbers continued to identify it resources of French Trotskyism during this
as a "Bolshevik-Leninist Organ," then after period as much as it did the great difficulties
two issues without any identification at all in communication and distribution of litera­
the tenth number, on March 15, 1941, pro­ ture under German occupation. Most of
claimed itself a "Revolutionary Communist these periodicals were of an ephemeral na­
Organ," which continued to be its designa­ ture. Pluet-Despatin has gathered an exten­
tion until the first printed issue, number sive annotated bibliography of these publi­
twenty, dated September 15, 1941, which cations.35
identified itself as "the Central Organ of the During much of 1941 there was in addi­
Comit£s Fran<jais pour la IVe Interna­ tion a version of La Verite published in New
tionale."31 York by Jean van Heijenoort. Pluet-Despa-
With the transformation of the Comitds tins has noted that "written in French, La
into the Parti Ouvrier Internationaliste (IVe Verite was destined for France, for franco­
Internationale) once again, at the beginning phone Europe, and the colonies. Thanks to
of 1943, the periodical proclaimed itself the complicity of French sailors, La Verite
"Organ of the Parti Ouvrier Intemationa- reached France, smuggled inside American
liste (IVe International)."32 Finally, with the newspapers. From the free zone, where it
unification of most of the French Trotsky­ arrived, it was sent clandestinely to the oc­
ists in the reconstituted Parti Communiste cupied zone."36
Internationaliste (Section Franqaise de la
IVe International) in March 1944, La Verite
Controversy Within the Comites
appeared as the "Central Organ" of that
Fran^ais pour la IV e Internationale
party until the end of the war.33
All in all, seventy-seven numbers of the Between the Fall of France in May-June
illegal La Verite appeared. The last few is­ 1940 and the Nazi attack on the Soviet
sues still had to be produced clandestinely, Union in June 1941 serious controversies

France: World War II 361

raged within both the Comites Framjais the British in the continuing struggle
pour la IVe Internationale and the Molinier- against Nazi Germany, A publication of the
ist group. They centered on the tactics and c f q i in February 1941 proclaimed that "the

strategy which the Trotskyists should use problem is to use and support in our own
in combatting the Nazi triumph and the way the military struggle of English imperi­
consequences of this triumph in France and alism, the only means at the present stage of
generally in Europe. weakening the German military apparatus,
Within the c f q i the controversy tended the principal obstacle. For the English work­
to center on whether or not, because of the ers, this signifies abandonment of revolu­
German conquest, France had been con­ tionary defeatism."38
verted into an "oppressed nation." If that That line was not as strongly reflected
was in fact the case it was argued that it in La Verite as one might have expected.
was necessary for all French classes to join Although the paper, frequently pointed out
together in the struggle against the Nazi op­ and criticized the subservience of the Vichy
pressors. government to the German occupation
The principal exponent of the idea that forces and stressed the need for revitalizing
the c f q i ought to take a "national revolu­ the French economy so as to put the large
tionary" position in favor of unity of various part of the working class which was unem­
classes in the country against the Nazi occu­ ployed back to work, the articles in La Verite
pying force was Marcel Hie. He put forth a almost always called upon the workers to
document, "Letter to the English Workers," take the lead on their own in opening up the
arguing this line. Jean-Pierre Cassard sums closed factories and putting them to work,
up the content of this piece which, as a " the­ seeking out available raw materials and tak­
sis on the national question" was adopted ing other steps to put them back into opera­
unanimously by the Central Committee of tion. The newspaper frequently returned to
the Comites Fran?ais pour la IVe Internatio­ the theme of the need for socialist revolu­
nale on September 20, 1940, thus: "Nazi tion and the establishment of the United
occupation has placed on the order of the Socialist States of Europe as the only answer
day the struggle for national liberation, in­ to the Nazi conquest of the continent.
separable from the struggle for the socialist On only two occasions between August
revolution. In this combat, the workers 1940 and June 1941 have we found more or
must find an ally in the petit bourgeoisie less frank appeals to French nationalism in
and the national bourgeoisie." La Verite. In the issue of October 1, 1940,
The thesis of September 20 was published the lead article was entitled "Only the
in the c f q i ' s Bulletin. One passage pro­ French People Can Reconstruct France." It
claimed that "France has become an op­ proclaimed that "the German army doesn't
pressed nation" and that the immediate is­ want to reorganize France. German imperi­
sue was therefore "the right of peoples to alism doesn't want French industry to com­
dispose of themselves." It declared that in mence to function. Its interest. . . is to pre­
seeking to reestablish that right, the posi­ vent the functioning of the least French
tion of the Comitds Fran$ais pour la IVe institution. . . . It is upon the initiative of
Internationale was that "it is to the French the people of France that the recovery of the
fraction of the bourgeoisie that we extend country depends. . . .'/3?.
our hand."37 The second article making a "national
The position put forth by Marcel Hie and revolutionary" appeal was one on the sec­
his friends had little room for the traditional ond page of the issue of January 1, 1941,
revolutionary defeatism which Trotskyists dealing with the new "labor charter" the
had favored. Rather, it involved support for Vichy government was proposing to issue.

362 France: World War II

It argued that "all those who fight against the Nazis as "a colonization of France by Ger­
oppressor and who are not workers, must un­ many." It advocated "strong resistance to
derstand that the support of the working Germany when it becomes oppressive," and
class forces is vitally necessary for the suc­ that "it is necessary to profit from all blows
cess of the struggle for national liberation."40 struck by England against Germany, be­
There were within the c f q i elements who cause 'in the conflicting contradictions of
both wanted a stronger appeal to French na­ the new situation, there can begin to de­
tionalism than that proposed by Hie, and velop a policy of French liberation.' "42
those who opposed such an appeal alto­ The m n r was dissolved by the German
gether. The former group, in fact, left the authorities in June 1941.43
organization and established their own A third group of c f q i militants opposed en­
group in conjunction with non-Trotskyist tirely the nationalist orientation which the
e le m e n t S j the latter continued to be an op­ Comit£s had during the first year after the
positionist element within the c f q i s o long Fall of France. Headed by Marcel Gibelin,
as the Comites Frangais continued to exist. who resigned from the Central Committee
Jean Rous left the c f q i to join with some of the c f q i , they formed the Internationalist
ex-members of the p s o p and other groups to Opposition within the Comites Frangais
form the Mouvement National Revolution­ pour la IVe Internationale. This group, set up
naire (m n r ). It published three issues of an in October-November 1940, opposed "what
illegal periodical, La Revolution Prangaise, it considered to be the nationalist orienta­
in July, August, and September 1940, and tion" of the c f q i . The Internationalist
four numbers of another periodical, Le Com­ Opposition continued in existence until the
bat National Revolutionnaire. between unification of most French Trotskyists in
March and June 1941.41 March 1944.44
The Molinierists also were very critical of
Pluet-Despatin has synthesized the posi­
the alleged "nationalism" of the c f q i . A s
tion of the m n r : The m n r is for a "true"
late as the congress of their group in January
socialism, "inserted in the French tradi­
1944 they adopted a long document criticiz­
tion and genius," in which production
ing that position.45 However, Ernest Man­
would center on a large nationalized and
del, the Belgian Trotskyist leader, in an ap­
planned sector, which would be in the
pendix to a book by Pierre Frank who at the
hands of "directing committees": those
time was associated with the Molinier group
will be ''directly derived from the world
and in any case spent most of World War II in
of work, organized in its professional cate­
Great Britain, has concluded that, whatever
gories, that is the workers, the employers
nationalist ideological vagaries the c f q i en­
who work, particularly the small and
gaged in 1940-41, they had little practical
middle employers, the technicians, the
or lasting effect. He has written that "in fact
artisans, the peasants." The m n r supports
it did not lead to anything in practice. Those
a strong, hierarchical state, in which the
who say that the French Trotskyists 'be­
relations between various elements of the
trayed' by making a bloc with the bourgeoi­
population will be established by “corpo­
sie in 1940-41 do not understand the differ­
rations." Hostile to the pseudo-demo­
ence between the beginning of a theoretical
cratic parliamentary regime, to totalitari­
mistake and an actual treacherous interven­
anism and to racism, the m n r is favorable
tion in the class struggle. There was never
to the imperial unity of France and its
any agreement with the bourgeoisie, never
national independence.
any support for them when it came to the
She notes that the m n r regarded the "col­ point. . . . I think the comrades of the p o i
laboration" of the Vichy regime with the minority who fought against it did a good

France: World War II 363

job, and by 1942 it was reversed and did not been the practical consequences of the line
come up again."46 advocated by Testu. Jacqueline Pluet-D6s-
patin has extensively investigated this con­
troversy. She has found unconvincing the
The Revisionism of Henri Molinier
charges from Stalinist and ex-Trotskyist
The controversies within the Molinierist sources that members of the Molinier fac­
faction were of quite a different nature. They tion collaborated with the occupation au­
centered on different assessments of the de­ thorities, held leadership positions in the
gree of total victory which the Nazis had fascist organization established by ex-So-
achieved in 1940, the probable duration of cialist Marcel D6at in 1941, or volunteered
Nazi domination of France and of the rest of to join the French volunteer corps organized
Europe, and consequently, the miethods of by Jacques Doriot and sent to fight with the
struggle the Trotskyists should adopt vis- German army on the Russian front. How­
a-vis the victorious Nazis and the French ever, she does note that the European Secre­
regime and political movements which ap­ tariat of the Fourth International in March
peared in the wake of the Nazi victory. 1944 questioned the activities of Henri Mol­
Henri Molinier (who was also known as inier and Roger Foirier within the Deat
"Testu") was the principal advocate o£ a pro­ group, the Rassemblement Nationale Popu­
found revision of traditional Trotskyist late. She has noted, too, that the reunified
ideas (and consequently of strategy and tac­ Trotskyist party in its first congress in No­
tics) in the face of the Nazi victory and its vember 1944 set up a commission of inquiry
consequences. He put forth his ideas in a on the subject and that even after the war
publication Que Fair el (What To Do}), the Parti Communiste Intemationaliste felt
which appeared on August 28, 1940. called upon to issue officially an "explana­
Henri Molinier began by arguing that the tion" of the affair.48
USSR had become a form of state capitalism, Two associates of the Moliniers have
"which assimilated it with Nazi Germany, borne witness to the fact that neither Henri
also characterized as state capitalist," ac­ Molinier nor Roger Foirier broke discipline
cording to Jean-Pierre Cassard. Molinier of the Trotskyists or in any real way cooper­
foresaw, furthermore, "the relative stabili­ ated with the Nazis or with French "collabo­
zation for a fairly long time, of fascist state rators." These witnesses are Rodolphe
capitalism." Prager, who was a leading figure in the p c i
Cassard has noted that "the analysis of underground, and Pierre Frank, Raymond
Testu goes very far; he thinks that a new Molinier's principal lieutenant in the 1930s
period has begun. The Fascist and Stalinist and a major French Trotskyist leader in the
mass organizations are going to dominate postwar period.
the working class and the country. Within Rodolphe Prager has noted that
these movements exist anti-capitalist cur­
rents; it is necessary for the revolutionary The only two solutions for old militants
militants to make them evolve towards the known to the police were to go into ille­
International, the proletarian revolution. gality or obtain political cover.. . . Know­
'Que Faire?' proposes therefore entrism ing that the clandestine life under the Ge­
within the fascist organizations, the p c f and stapo was going to"*be very rude and
its popular committees. This orientation difficult if it prolonged for several years,
has as a logical consequence the disappear­ the organization decided to authorize the
ance of all independent expression of the use of such strategems in a very excep­
Trotskyists."47 tional situation. It was not a matter of
Controversy raged for years over what had compromising with Nazism, it was a ruse

364 France: World War II

 oi war which permitted these two com­ In' any case, there was a substantial ele­
rades to 'cover' their intensive clandes­ ment within the Molinier group which did
tine activity at the head of a Trotskyist not agree with the position of Testu. This
organization. H. Molinier, in particular, opposition was particularly strong in the
concentrated on seeking the financial re­ Marseilles region, but in the Paris area one
sources vital for a clandestine organiza­ of its principal spokesmen was Pierre Lam­
tion. The information gained in the col­ bert. He wrote in the internal bulletin of the
laboration centers was furthermore Molinier group in November 1940 that "the
useful and transmitted to the Resistance. comrades say quite rightly that fascism is a
That has nothing in common with "en­ capitalist expression. . . . For one thing, the
trism" or a French turn, involving no ob­ violence of the struggle which will be
jective of carrying out political activities greatly accentuated in the coming months
in that milieu, seeking only to provoke will bring enormous destruction of produc­
error by the class enemy. tive forces which means, if I am not mis­
taken, economic regression. . . . With Ger­
Prager commented specifically on Roger many victorious, Dr. Frank has already said
Foirier. He noted that "the personality of to us that Europe will be converted into a
Foirier was so little questioned that he was source of supplies of raw materials, which
elected to the International Control Com­ is to say that we have the prospect for France
mission by the Second World Congress of of the destruction of national industries.
the Fourth International in 1948." Where are the progressive characteristics of
Finally, Prager also dealt with the charge that?"
that some p c i people sought to recruit vol­ Lambert ended his article saying, "the vic­
unteers to join French elements fighting tory of fascism will only occur on the ruins
with the Nazis on the Russian front. He of civilization. Lenin, and the Old Man re­
wrote that "this concerns a former member cently, have said that unless there is the
of the p c i , Ren£ Binet, leader of the Havre proletarian revolution there will be the re­
group, who had broken in December 1938 turn to barbarism, in this epoch in which
because of the entrism into the p s o p who, the economic conditions are more than ma­
as a prisoner of war in Germany, turned from ture for the realization of socialism."51
virulent anti-Stalinism to admiration of Na­
zism. As soon as we knew that he had be­
French Trotskyism and the Nazi War
come a fascist, we denounced him in our
on the Soviet Union
bulletin. I am not sure if he went to the
Russian front, but he sought to recruit oth­ The Nazi attack on the Soviet Union on
ers. He led fascist groups in France after the June 21, 1941, put an end to the ideological
war, and died rapidly."49 confusion within the ranks of the French
Pierre Frank also bore witness to the con­ Trotskyists. They returned to the orthodox
tinued loyalty of Molinier and Foirier to the view of the nature of the Soviet Union and
Trotskyist movement. He noted that "inde­ the need to defend it against all attack and
pendently of the particular analysis that they saw the struggle of the USSR against
each might make from one moment to an­ the German invaders as part of the general
other, both Henri Molinier and Roger Foir­ struggle for socialist revolution in Europe
ier—who more than once took risks in their and throughout the world. This return to
existence—were always Trotskyist m ili­ Trotskyist orthodoxy took place both in the
tants working loyally according to the deci­ Comites Fran9ais pour la IVe International
sion of their organization and under its and in the Molinier group.
control."50 The first issue of La Verite after the attack

1
1 France: World War II 365
on the USSR, dated June 25, 1941, was de­ groups, this struggle can only make full
voted exclusively to a statement of the c f q i sense as part of the simultaneous struggle
on that event. After analyzing the causes of for control of workers committees and the
the attack, the statement said that "in all taking of power."
countries, starting now, the workers must On the other hand, "in the countries un­
organize to paralyze the Hitlerian aggres­ der the fascist boot, everything must be done
sion. . . ,"52 to undermine the offensive capacity of the
The next issue of the c f q i periodical, Axis armies. But it is important to under­
dated August 1, consisted largely of an arti­ stand that this task cannot be carried out by
cle entitled "It is Necessary to Defend the methods of terror and individual sabotage.
USSR." It started by asking "Why?" and What is needed, is to organize the move­
among various answers to this, it said, "Be­ ment of large masses, that is, to prepare the
cause Hitler wants to profit from the peril­ revolution. .. . Furthermore, today to save
ous situation created for the USSR by the the USSR it is necessary to put first the
betrayals of the Stalinist bureaucracy to an­ program of the world proletarian revolution.
nihilate the Workers State, the planned And to rally the working class in a unani­
economy, the collective property, to make mous bloc for the defense of the Workers
the USSR a source of raw materials and la­ State, it is necessary to return, in the USSR
bor, a market for the products of capitalist itself, to the revolutionary and Leninist
industry. Because Hitler can thus instill a methods. It is necessary to run out the orga­
new bit of life in dying capitalism . . . termi­ nizers of defeat; it is necessary above all, at
nate the war and submerge in blood for the front, in the rear, to rely on the initiative
many years all possibility of class struggle." of the workers and peasant masses. " s“
For the French Trotskyists the Nazi at­ The French Trotskyists felt themselves
tack on the Soviet Union did not change the part of the struggle going on in the Soviet
nature of the war between Germany and Union. In a curious article in the December
Great Britain {together with the United 4, 1941 issue of La Verite they claimed that
States, which they saw was soon to enter "the voice of the oppositionists and the
the conflict). La Verite wrote on December Trotskyists has made itself heard in Mos­
5, 1941, "We have already said what we cow, Leningrad, Irkutsk; it calls all the So­
think of the war of Churchill. That war re­ viet peoples and the proletarians of all the
mains an imperialist war, that is to say, anti­ countries to the defense of the Workers
working-class, even if Churchill defends the State, for the defense of the conquests of
USSR."53 October 19x7." In another passage this arti­
Early in the conflict the editors of La Ve- cle said that "it is because the Trotskyists
riti indicated what they thought ought to die in Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov, Brussels,
be the attitude of all workers towards the Paris and Nantes before the fascist enemy
war against the Soviet Union. In the issue that we have the right to speak to the Com­
of October 15, 1941, they wrote that "it. is munist militants. . . ."
necessary in the democratic countries to get In this same article La Verite even
started a proletarian program of aid to the claimed that Jean van Heijenoort, the
USSR; to demand, by demonstrations and if French Trotskyist who was then serving as
necessary strikes, the immediate dispatch secretary of the Fourth International in New
of all available war material; the railroaders, York, had volunteered and been accepted for
dockers, sailors must assure immediate service in the Red Army.S5 Van Heijenoort
transport; the workers in armament factor­ has written about this report that" the infor­
ies must demand full production, without mation in La Veriti is, of course, incorrect.
profit, for the USSR. On all levels, with all Sometime in 1941 the Russian press

366 France: World War II

{Piavdal)published a short item (a few lines) tional to the Germans, both the workers
stating that I had enlisted in the Red Army. back home and the German soldiers in
I have never seen the item myself, but it was France. A typical statement of their position
reported to me by various persons. This was appeared in La Veiiti on July 10,1942, under
perhaps a trick contrived by Stalin-Beria in the headline "Hand Extended to the German
order to rally some Trotskyists to the Workers!" This article said that the readers
regime. "s6 would see "in particular how criminal is the
The Molinierist faction also rallied to the present policy of Stalinism, which claims
defense of the Soviet Union. A statement that the German people are responsible for
issued on June 28 and again on August 1, the present situation. They will see that our
1941, said of the USSR that "the liquidation watchword 'Fraternization with the Ger­
of the political conquests doesn't change the man workers, in green uniform or the "blue"
fact that this economy, the way it is, repre­ one of work,' is not a 'utopian' idea and that
sents for the working class and the entire it is, on the contrary, the only realistic
world an inestimable value for the future watchword, the watchword which, tomor­
struggles against capital and for the realiza­ row, will be carried out in practice, for the
tion of Socialism. In this context, we are socialist liberation of Europe."59
defenders of this economy. "5? The c f q i put their belief in fraternization
For the French Trotskyists the defense of into practice, specifically in Brest, in Brit­
the Soviet Union was inextricably inter­ tany. The principal person in charge of this
twined with the struggle for world revolu­ work was the German Martin Monat, who
tion; the triumph of that revolution was in­ was then more generally known as "Victor"
evitable, and that triumph would involve and was a member of the European Secretar­
the overthrow of the Stalin regime. A typical iat of the Fourth International. He worked
statement of this point of view appeared in very closely with two German Trotskyists,
La Verite on July 25, 1942, in an article enti­ Paul and Clara Thalmann, and the center of
tled "For the Revolutionary Defense of the the work was a seven-room house of the
Soviet Union." The writer said that "the Thalmann's "which became a veritable
proletarian revolution is on the march; in tower of Babel."60
spite of all the obstacles that Stalin may The principal work of fraternization was
accumulate in its way, it will triumph. The carried out through a newspaper, A ibeitei
class struggle of workers of all countries, und Soldat, edited by Monat and the Thal-
democratic or fascist, more than all the trea­ manns. It was a mimeographed sheet which
ties, will assure a true defense of the Soviet appeared in July, August, and September
Union. A victory of the revolution in Europe 1943. The first issue carried the subtitle
will definitively guarantee the USSR against "Organ for revolutionary proletarian rally,"
all aggression. And as Stalin makes agree­ but the second and third numbers added
ments once again with the enemy, with im­ "Fourth International" as further identifi­
perialism, he must know that the revolution cation.61
will get rid of him and it will get rid of his The first issue of A ibeitei und Soldat con­
friends of the white guard and the Chur­ sisted essentially of a long essay dealing
chills, at the same time as the Hitlers, Lavals with German history since World War I, the
and MussoIinis."S8 evolution and dissolution of the Comintern,
the Spanish Civil War, and recent develop­
ments in Germany. The tone of the issue is
Trotskyist Fraternization Efforts
perhaps best expressed in this statement, "It
The French Trotskyists believed firmly in is with this process of destruction of fascist
carrying the message of the Fourth Interna­ domination and all bourgeois domination,

i
France: World War II 367
in this work of sapping the capitalist war they were sent to concentration camps. Hie
front, of reconstitution of the proletarian did not survive his concentration camp ex­
class front, of preparation of the Communist perience. One German soldier was also exe­
revolution that Arbeiter und Soldat aligns cuted in Paris, after being tortured, because
itself. Its tasks are therefore perfectly indi­ of his contacts with the Trotskyists.
cated."62 This did not entirely end the work of col­
The third issue of the paper began with a laboration of French Trotskyists with Ger­
headline "We Want Defeat." The lead arti­ man soldiers. A new version of Arbeiter und
cle said, "We wish the defeat of our capital­ Soldat, this time printed instead of mimeo­
ist class in this war. They are going to cry graphed, began to appear in April 1944. It
out, these gentlemen of industry, bank bar­ proclaimed itself the organ of the German
ons, all the Nazi bosses and the generals, all Section of the Fourth International. Like its
those who are still blinded and misled by predecessor, this journal was edited by Mar­
them, and they will call us 'traitors to the tin Monat. Monat was arrested by the Ge­
fatherland' and 'agents of the enemy.' But stapo about a month before the capture of
we hold fast. We want the defeat of our capi­ Paris by Allied troops and was never seen
talists. We prefer that to their victory."63 by his friends again. His arrest ended the
In addition to Arbeiter und Soldat, the second Arbeiter und Soldat.65
German soldiers working with the French
Trotskyists put out several issues of a peri­
Organizational Evolution of
odical of their own, Zeitungfur Soldat und
French Trotskyists
Arbeiter in Westen. Copies of only one issue
seem to have survived. It, too, was mimeo­ From its establishment in August 1940 the
graphed and was more "popular" than Ar­ Comit6s Fran^ais pour la IVe Internationale
beiter und Soldat, having cartoons and short had assigned particular tasks to its major
news items and appeals for support for the leaders. Marcel Hie and Ivan Craipeau were
Fourth International.64 the editorial committee of La Verite; a trade
There were about fifteen German soldiers union commission was directed by Henri
who worked with the French Trotskyists in Souzin. David Rousset was charged princi­
the Brest area. They were engaged princi­ pally with intelligence work, facilitated by
pally in surreptitiously distributing the peri­ the fact that he was employed in the Vichy
odicals. However, the Gestapo was soon Ministry of Information. Other leaders had
able to break up the fraternization effort. On other specific tasks.66
October 6, 1943, the Gestapo moved exten­ For the first two years one of the most
sively against both the French Trotskyists important activities of the c f q i was to main­
and their German friends in Brest as well as tain contacts with the Socialist Workers
conducting raids in Paris against the Parti Party of the United States and the Fourth
Ouvrier Intemationaliste (which the c f q i International headquarters in New York.
had by then become). This was achieved through the Marseilles
Although Martin Monat was able to es­ organization of the c f q i , led by Albert De-
cape that roundup, eleven other Breton maziere, members of which were in contact
Trotskyists were caught and four of them with s w p members working in the United
were killed. It was reported that fifteen Ger­ States merchant marine who visited the
man soldiers were executed at the same French port periodically. Some of the Mar­
time, although this news was never offi­ seilles Trotskyists were also associated with
cially published. In Paris a group of French a local office of the International Rescue
Trotskyist leaders was also rounded up, in­ Committee of the U.S.A., which was princi­
cluding Marcel Hie and David Rousset, and pally engaged in providing relief for left-

368 France: World War II

wing political leaders in unoccupied France '38, youths trained in the hard school of
and facilitating their getting visas for entry illegality."
into the United States. The meeting authorized the Central Com­
In June 1942 the Vichy police closed down mittee to issue a letter of invitation "to
the International Rescue Committee opera­ workers organizations for the creation of a
tion, and at the same time rounded up most Workers Front." It agreed that organizations
of the leaders of the Marseilles Trotskyist should be formed "in factory, enterprise,
group, including Demaziere. For many years neighborhoods" while simultaneous efforts
thereafter there were widespread questions would be made to launch such a front on a
about the possible role in those police ac­ national basis.
tions of Michel Kokoszinski, a c f q i member Another major decision of the December
and employee of the International Rescue 1942 meeting was to change the name back
Committee, who turned up at the end of the to Parti Ouvrier Internationaliste (4e Inter­
war as a member of the Communist Party. nationale), saying that this did not mean
The question of whether or not Kokoszinski that "the party of the revolution is defini­
had betrayed his associates was not even tively constituted." On the contrary, the
adequately resolved by a "tribunal of honor" meeting instructed the Central Committee
which studied the question as late as 1965 47 "to redouble efforts . . . in reinforcing the
In April 1942 the ComitSs Frangais pour links among the workers vanguard, to per­
la IVe Internationale changed its name to mit the whole proletariat to engage victori­
Comit^s Frangais de la IVe Internationale, a ously in the struggle for the Socialist United
change which was reflected on the masthead States of Europe and of the World."70
of La Verite in its issue of April 10, 1942 and In pursuance of this proposal a special
thereafter.68 Jean Pierre Cassard has noted (mimeographed) issue of La Verite was pub­
concerning this change that even before lished on April 25, 1943, consisting only of
their contacts with the International head­ an Open Letter to the Central Committee
quarters were severed they "ceased to con­ of the Communist Party urging establish­
sider that they were working for the IVth ment of a Workers Front. It expressed will­
International. Rather, they affirmed that ingness to have the "popular committees"
through their activity the IVth International being established by the Communists as a
was very much alive in the heart of the sec­ basis for this front. The letter ended "Long
ond world conflict. They were the French Live the Workers Front! Long Live the Com­
Committees of the IVth International."49 munist Revolution! Bolshevik Greetings."71
On December 26-27, 1942, the Central In June 1943 the p o i held what it called
Committee of the group held a plenary ses­ its Fifth Congress. La Verite devoted its July
sion "in a city of France" in which there 9 issue entirely to this meeting. It reported
took part "representatives of all the essen­ that the congress was attended by "an im­
tial sectors of the organization." This meet­ portant number of delegates from all regions
ing, which was reported in the January 15, of the country."
1943 issue of La Veriti, made several impor­ La Verity reported two documents
tant decisions. One was to issue a call for the adopted by the p o i ' s Fifth Congress. One
formation of a "workers front" composed of was a manifesto "to the Workers of France,"
"the most class conscious of the workers: the second one dealt with the workers front.
syndicalist militants, Trotskyist militants, The manifesto declared that "the hour of
Communist militants, anarchists, former the Revolution has sounded," and warned
secretaries of enterprise trade union sec­ against "the reactionary plan of Wall Street
tions, former workshop delegates, combat­ and The City." It concluded by asserting
ants of June '3 6, combatants of November that "more than ever, the emancipation of

France: World War II 369

the workers can only be the work of the The preconference of the c c i also adopted
workers themselves. . . . It must carry on a resolution calling for the establishment of
the combat on its own ground, that of class Workers Groups (Groupes Ouvrieres— g o ) .
action, with its own methods, those of the Jean-Pierre Cassard has explained the con­
class struggle. . . ."71 cept behind the g o . "The g o is a rudimen­
While the p o i was being reestablished, the tary but progressive form of reorganization
Molinierists were likewise working to re­ of the class for combat . . . the g o regroups
vive their prewar organization. At the same the most consequent elements in the factory
time both groups were inching toward the to carry on clandestine combat in the enter­
general reunification of French Trotskyism. prise, to organize resistance to deportation,
With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union to employer and governmental maneuvers,
steps were taken to heal the split which had to express and defend workers, demands, to
developed within the Molinier ranks as a present problems on the basis of class and
result of the policy advocated by Henri Moli­ channel the best people into Communist
nier. The opponents of the line of Testu were activity."
particularly concentrated in unoccupied Cassard noted that the leaders of the c c i
France, centered on Marseilles. There they were never able to decide whether the g o
had continued to use the name Parti Com­ were embryonic soviets or underground
muniste Internationaliste. After June 21, trade unions. He noted that usually where
1941, they were joined in their opposition they were really established they tended to­
by most of the leadership of the group in ward the latter alternative and ultimately
the Paris area. One consequence was the were absorbed by the unions of the c g t . 75
retirement of Henri Molinier from the lead­ Finally, the preconference of the c c i
ership.73 adopted a political resolution entitled
In January 1942 the Molinier group was "Americanism Against Bolshevism," which
reorganized. A provisional political bureau Cassard attributed to "the youth and politi­
was chosen, and it was decided to issue a cal inexperience of the group."7* He
monthly theoretical journal, La Seule Voie. summed up the essence of this resolution
It was also agreed to establish "cells" of not thus: "the USA liquidating the USSR liqui­
more than five members each to carry on dates Stalinism, the USA liquidating Ger­
the rank and file organizational work. These many opens the world revolution. The
were to exercise discipline over their mem­ world revolution open, it is the hour of the
bers, dropping those from membership who IVth International."
in fact were not active. Each cell was to issue Cassard cited a passage from the resolu­
its own agitational periodical for distribu­ tion: "The attack of the USA on the USSR
tion among workers. will open the civil war. It is the crumbling
The La Seule Voie group held what they of German imperialism which will set off
called a preconference in February 1943. the world revolution. The committees and
This decided to adopt the name Comite the soviets will appear from the first days of
Communist Internationaliste (cci), to issue combat. It will be the victory in Germany
a new monthly periodical, Le Soviet, and to or its crumbling everywhere, power to the
number its first issue i s 7, to indicate its Soviets in Berlin or barbarism in the world.
continuity with the prewar p c i publication, . . . The proletariat 'will* seek new cadres, a
La Commune. At the same time La Seule new organization, a new program, it will be
Voie would continue to be published as the the hour of the IVth International."77
cci's theoretical organ. Steps were taken to This resolution provoked a schism within
reestablish contact with ex-pci elements in the c c i . A minority led by Henri Molinier,
the unoccupied zone with whom contacts the Spaniard Font-Farran, and Pierre Lam­
had been broken.7'1 bert, saw it as extremely sectarian and lead­

370 France: World War II

ing to mistaken positions on concrete is­ unity negotiations. In December 1943 it was
sues. One of these was the uprising of Italian invited to meet with the p o i , c c i and Euro­
workers in March 1943, creating revolution­ pean Secretariat in negotiations for French
ary conditions which were only suppressed Trotskyist unity and it accepted the invita­
by Nazi troops. The majority of the cci exec­ tion and became part of the European Secre­
utive claimed that this uprising was "within tariat.80
the struggle of American imperialism The Lutte de Classes group was quite dif­
against the USSR." The minority, on the ferent. It had been established in 1939 by
other hand, proclaimed it to be "a first erup­ Barta and held itself to be the only true
tion of the masses," which the Trotskyists Trotskyist element in France. It was the
should support.78 only one which stayed out of the unity
In January 1944 the cci held its first and achieved in February 1944.81
only congress. The leadership presented a The first overtures toward reunification
recapitulation of the group's activities since took place during the first half of 1942. In
April 1943; three issues of Le Soviet pub­ April, the La Seule Voie group wrote a letter
lished, forty throwaways, four issues of La to the Comit^s Fran<;ais pour la IVe Interna­
Seule Voie. The congress also expelled the tionale suggesting establishment of a liaison
principal figures in the minority: Henri Mol­ committee between the two organizations.
inier, Font-Farran and Lambert, who The Comit£s responded favorably.82 Subse­
promptly joined the p o i . The meeting also quently each organization had fraternal del­
established the cci's conditions for Trotsky­ egates at the other's national congress.
ist unity, which included continuation of La The European congress organized by the
Seule Voie as a factional organ within the European Secretariat in February 1944
unified party and equality with the PO I in brought to conclusion the process of French
its leadership.79 unification. It set a time limit of one month
for its achievement and decreed that there
should be a Central Committee of three
Reunification of French Trotskyism
from the p o i , two from the cci, one from the
The European Secretariat of the Fourth In­ October Group plus Michel Raptis (Pablo)
ternational, which had been functioning of the European Secretariat. The new group
since 1942, used its good offices to bring took the name Parti Communiste Intema-
about the unification of the various groups tionaliste which the European Congress de­
in France professing loyalty to Trotskyism. cided that all European sections should
There were four of these: the Parti Ouvrier adopt,83
Internationaliste (with its majority and the The March 25, 1944, issue of La Verite,
International Opposition minority), the cci the first to carry the identification "Organe
(also with a majority and minority faction), Central du Parti Communiste Intemationa-
the October Group, and the Lutte de Classes liste," carried the "Declaration of Unity" of
group. the three groups establishing the new party
The October Group was a new faction. It and a lead editorial, "It is Necessary to Build
owed its inspiration to Henri Molinier, who the Revolutionary Party." This editorial
had been principally responsible for organiz­ ended, "The moment has come to forge in
ing it among a group of non-Trotskyists to action the revolutionary party, to make it a
whom he had lectured extensively on Marx­ powerful instrument of the working class.
ism and Trotskyism and had won over to That is the understanding of the three orga­
the ideas of the Fourth International. Jean- nizations which unite today in the Parti
Pierre Cassard concluded that Molinier or­ Communiste Internationaliste. At the deci­
ganized this group outside of existing Trots­ sive turning point of the second world war,
kyist factions as a bargaining pawn in the the IVth International is at its post of com­

France: World War II 371

bat, keeping high and firm the flag of the peared. It proclaimed itself a Marxist-Lenin­
revolution."84 ist organ. After the last number of L ’O uviiei
The new p c i held its first congress in early in 1940 the group gave no evidence of
December 1944. Since the de Gaulle govern­ its existence until November of that year.
ment had not legalized the party the meet­ The Barta faction strongly opposed the na­
ing had to be held in semilegal circum­ tionalist turn of the Comit^s Fran^ais after
stances. It was reported in La Verite of the Fall of France. That position, it pro­
December as that "a sufficient number of claimed, "constitutes a betrayal of the class
delegates had been arranged for to permit all struggle and a weakening of the struggle
tendencies to express themselves com­ against national oppression."88
pletely. .. ."L a Veriti also said that the new On October 15, 1942, the Barta group be­
Central Committee elected at the congress gan to publish a new periodical;,.!^ Lutte de
"represents all the tendencies which have Classes, and from then on it was generally
expressed themselves." known by the name of its periodical. It was
The congress adopted a "plan of action." at first included in preparations for unifying
It included "a plan of reconstruction elabo­ French Trotskyism. A letter addressed to
rated by the c g t , applied under control of them by the p o i and the cci on December
the workers committees, nationalization 10, 1943 recognized that the Barta group "is
without indemnity or purchase of the banks entirely on the terrain of Trotskyism," and
and trustsj government of the p s , p c , c g t ; invited the group to "clarify its political po­
armament of the people, workers militia,- sitions and end its isolation from the organi­
international unity of action of the prole­ zations of the IVth International in France."
tarians."85 The La Lutte de Classes group replied to
this invitation on December 16. According
The Lutte de Classes Group to Jean-Pierre Cassard, "the group claimed
We have noted the breakaway of the group to have broken all contacts with the past of
led by David Komer (Barta) from the Com- the IVth International in France, to be able
itds Franijais pour la IVe Internationale right to construct the revolutionary section of the
at the beginning of World War II. According IVth International. . .
to Jean-Pierre Cassard the dissidence of the A further letter from the Barta group to
Barta group had begun as a consequence of the unity committee of the French Trotsky­
the formal establishment of the Fourth In­ ists attacked the p o i and cci as "petty bour­
ternational in September 1938, which it had geois organizations incapable of construct­
opposed.86 ing the revolutionary party," and refused to
The Barta group itself explained its break have anything more to do with the unifica­
with the Comites by the charge that the tion efforts.851
Comites Frangais pour la IVe Internationale La Lutte de Classes thus continued its
"is limited to a petty bourgeois milieu separate existence. It recruited a number of
where organizational practices are social young people and continued to publish its
democratic and not communist."87 Once es­ paper. They began particularly to carry on
tablished it directed its recruiting efforts agitation among factory workers and for a
principally towards disillusioned members short while after the war had considerable
of the Communist Party, disoriented by the influence among the autoworkers of the
Stalin-Nazi Pact and the resulting 180 de­ Paris region, leading a strike at the Renault
gree turn in the policies of the French Com­ company.90
munist Party. Unlike the case of the p c i and La Verite,
The Barta group began publishing a peri­ the Lutte de Classes group did not seek legal­
odical, L’Ouvriei, three issues of which ap­ ization of its paper by the de Gaulle govem-

372 France: World War II

ment in 1 944. It argued that such legal recog­ reports from France spoke of Resistance
nition would constitute "compromising groups run on quasi-military lines, 'some
those who wish really to struggle against wearing a variety of uniforms, others identi­
imperialist war with the authorization and fied by armbands.' " 9S
under the control of bourgeois cen­ Ultimately three groups emerged in the
sorship."91 Resistance: "the 'United Resistance Move­
ments' (mor), the purely military 'Army Re­
The French Resistance sistance Organization' ( o n a ) , and the Com­
Organized opposition to German occupa­ munist 'French Irregulars and Partisans'
tion forces was slow in developing in France. ( p t p ), a l l of which officially merged early in
In fact, elements which were later to be February 1944- Having been formed . . . the
among key factors in the Resistance at first 'French Forces of the Interior' ( f f i ) were then
sought to collaborate with the Germans. restructured like a proper army with na­
The Communist Party, for instance, sent tional, regional, and department command
Maurice Treand to Gestapo headquarters centers and twelve military districts subor­
seeking legalization of the party newspaper dinate to a general staff."94
L’Humanite. When he was then arrested by The Stalinists had a major role in the Re­
French police, he was freed on orders of the sistance. Werner Rings has noted that "the
German authorities.91 Communists secured a majority on the De­
In the beginning, opposition to the Ger­ partmental Liberation Committees and also
mans found expression mainly in violent gained control of the Military Committee
attacks on individual German soldiers and of the 'National Resistance Council' ( c n r )
more or. less spontaneous demonstrations. formed in the Spring of 1943." This role of
Thus, a German sentry was killed in Weine- the Stalinists was due "not only to efficiency,
curt a few days after the French surrender,93 discipline, and fanatical self-sacrifice, but
and on November 11, 1940, a group of a few also to the Soviet Union's reputation,
hundred students marched down the among Communists and non-Communists
Champs~Elys€es singing the Marseillaise alike, as the premier Resistance power."97
and chanting slogans against Hitler to com­
memorate the Armistice Day of World
Trotskyists in the Resistance
War I.94
It was not until the Germans began to Because of their small numbers, weak orga­
round up hundreds of thousands of French nization and internal divisions, the Trotsky­
workers to work in German industry and on ists could not play more than an exceedingly
farms that massive resistance began. Werner modest role in the Resistance. They were
Rings has noted that "the war had already further hindered in trying to capitalize on
been decided, and the Battle of Stalingrad the fight against the Nazi invaders and the
was over" before major organized under­ Nazis' French collaborators by their ideolog­
ground struggle against the Germans began. ical position, which misinterpreted the na­
"In May 1943, Commander in Chief West ture of the struggle: they insisted on seeing
reported for the first time that 'armed guer­ it primarily as a class struggle and the first
rilla bands' five hundred strong had formed act in the proletarian revolution in France,
in the Department of Correze. These con­ Europe and the world as a whole rather than
sisted of deserters from the labor service— as a national struggle against the German
parties of men who had evaded conscription conquerors.
by taking to the woods without military or­ Before unification of the p o i and the cci
ganization and equipment. It was not until the former had carried on propaganda for
the summer of 1943 that German situation the "workers front" and the latter for the

i
I France: World War II 373
"workers groups." These both seemed to be which will confront the national front
conceived of as having the combined role of and the fronts of the imperialisms with
presenting the workers' immediate de­ the Workers Front, is part of the prepara­
mands in their plants and factories and serv­ tion of the factory committees and the
ing as nuclei for revolutionary soviets which soviets whose hour will soon sound.
would obtain arms and seize power with the
collapse of the German occupation. After In a special issue of May 1944 La Verite
unification, the Parti Communiste Intema­ had a lead article attacking the call of the
tionaliste used both "workers front" and Algiers-based Committee of National Liber­
"workers groups" interchangeably or even ation of Charles De Gaulle for a national
together, but the concept of them had not uprising with the coming opening of the Sec­
changed. ond Front in France. It charged.that among
The Trotskyists continually presented other things the "national insurrection"
their prescription for socialist revolution in called for by De Gaulle was designed "to
La Verite and their other publications. Typi­ prevent the rising of Qerman soldiers
cal is what appeared in La Verite on April against their officers, and the union of revo­
29, 1944, about six weeks before the Allied lutionary German soldiers with the workers
landings in Normandy. This editorial argued of the occupied countries."
that:98 Rather, this article said, the Trotskyists
"call on the workers to struggle for them­
The preparation of the workers for armed selves to conquer bread, freedom, peace.
struggle is the order of the day. Each con­ Only the working class allied with the peas­
scientious worker must seek to procure ant workers and intellectual workers, can
arms, munitions. But most essential is assure bread by the planned and socialist
the direction, the organization of the organization of production, only it can as­
struggle. For that, it is necessary at pres­ sure freedom by the powers of the workers
ent to form in the factories, quarries, and peasants committees, the soviets, only
mines, clandestine Workers Groups of 3 it can assure peace by installing the United
to 4 sure comrades which will prepare the Socialist Soviet States of Europe and the
struggle for demands in the enterprise and World."99
undertake at the same time the prepara­ The special issue of La Verite of August
tion of the armed struggle. Courage, hero­ 11, 1944, put out when the Allies were ap­
ism are not sufficient for this struggle. It proaching Paris, was in the form of a two-
must be understood that the proletariat sided throwaway of the p c i . It called for sup­
never struggles on equal terms with the port of a general strike it claimed the under­
forces of the bourgeoisie. The power of ground c g t had called. .On the back side,
the proletariat resides above all in its under the heading "So that the defeat of
mass, in its unity, in its cohesion. It is Hitler is the victory of the workers," the
only based on those qualities that the paper launched the slogans: "Open the pris­
armed struggle can have effective value. ons and the camps! Arm yourselves! Form
The armed struggle will always be impor­ your Workers Militias in enterprises and
tant separate from the mass of the prole­ neighborhoods! Occupy your enterprises!
tariat. It is for that reason that this task Elect your delegates as in June '36!"
does not devolve on special groups which At the bottom of the second page of this
come into existence in isolation from the issue were two short passages to "Deutsche
proletarian masses, but are part of the gen­ Soldaten" and "Allied Soldiers." The latter
eral tasks of the Workers Groups and read (in English): "We want to overthrow
should be carried out only by them. capitalism and take the power for the work­
The struggle of the Workers Groups ing class. This our struggle is yours too. It's

374 Fiance: World War II

 the only way to help English and American they were clearly faced with disagreeable
workers, to win best wages for them and alternatives. The part of the Resistance run
you. Don't break our struggles. Don't shoot by professional military men had little at­
at us! LONG LIFE TO INTERNATIONAL traction for them, and the more "popular"
BROTHERHOOD! LONG LIFE TO THE parts of the maquis were usually dominated
SHOP AND SOLDIERS COMMITTEE! by Communists, and this meant that the
LONG LIFE TO SOCIALIST PEACE!"100 Trotskyists either had to hide their own true
The August 21, 1944, issue of La Verite beliefs and feelings or run the risk of being
carried an open letter of the pci to the French eliminated physically by the Communist
Communist Party and the Socialist Party. It leadership of the guerrilla groups.103
urged a pact of "unity of workers action."101 Rodolphe Prager has explained the atti­
There is no indication that either of the large tude of the Trotskyists toward the Resis­
parties took any notice of this "letter." tance and their relationship to it. He wrote
Clearly, the French Trotskyists regarded that "the Trotskyists opposed the Popular
the "maquis" as being merely supplemen­ Front, the strongest reason why they could
tary to the principal resistance struggle, not join the National Resistance Front
which they saw as being in the factories and which included groups from the most reac­
other workplaces. They in no way regarded tionary to the parties of the left and sup­
the Allied troops which landed in Nor­ ported the cause of the Allied imperialists.
mandy as "liberators," but rather as an army . . . Practical agreements were, on the other
seeking to supplant one imperialism for an­ hand, conceivable and took various forms,
other insofar as France and Europe in general on the local and national level. They con­
were concerned. cerned exchanges of information and practi­
Rene Dazy has noted the very limited suc­ cal aid."
cess, and ultimate failure, of the Trotskyists Prager added that "in addition, the com­
in their efforts to organize embryonic sovi­ rades participated on an individual basis in
ets. He has written that "After the 17 of the organizations of the Resistance, either
August, following the Liberation of Paris, because they had lost contact with the
worker committees were bom in the Jumo Trotskyists, or in accord with the Trotskyist
factories at B.M.W. of Argenteuil, where the organizations. These comrades generally
Trotskyists had good positions. The move­ had to hide their quality as Trotskyists, par­
ment included several dozen enterprises of ticularly when they worked in organizations
the Parisian region. . . . The majority of under Stalinist influence where their lives
these committees were confused with trade would have been in danger. But I repeat,
union committees, that is, the c g t . Some during the occupation that was not a subject
were directed by the Trotskyists who gave of debate. . . ," w
leadership to an Interenterprise Committee
and an Inter-militia Liaison Committee of
Trotskyist Martyrs
forty factories, large and small of the West­
ern suburbs. Those committees, spontane­ For a very small group, the French Trotsky­
ously arising from the rank and file, had a ists suffered very severe casualties during
scent of sovietism. . . . Thus the p c f and World War II. A more or less official list of
c g t dedicated themselves to restraining the their dead contains thirty-four names.
powers of the factory committees to finally These include leading figures in the move­
make them play only the simple role of en­ ment, such as Henri Molinier, killed in the
terprise committees which the law of 22 fighting for Paris in 1944, and Marcel Hie,
February 1945 officialized."102 murdered in a German concentration camp.
Some Trotskyists also participated in the In addition to those murdered, at least
armed Resistance. In doing so, however, another twenty-five members of the French

Francc: World War U 375

Trotskyist movement were sent to German war the Trotskyists tried vainly to ascertain
concentration camps, and another fifty or what had happened to them. Ren6 Dazy has
more Trotskyists were jailed for longer or summed up the results of this inquiry: "We
shorter periods between 1939 and 1944. have in this history a good example of the
Both major French factions suffered casu­ conspiracy of silence. Four suspects under
alties. As the larger of the two, the p o i was surveillance and submitted to forced labor
more severely affected. It has been noted before the eyes of all disappeared without
that "The por underwent four repressive leaving a trace, and seventy men closed their
waves of particular severity: that of the lead­ eyes to the circumstances of their disappear­
ership in the Southern Zone (Tresso, Dema- ance. As the photos of leaders made victims
ziere, Bloch, Sadek, etc.}, that of August of purges are erased, four people were erased
1942 in the Parisian region (Corvin, Bar- from their memories. . . ." iM
thelmy, Thielen), that of 6 October 1943
affecting simultaneously the leadership of
Conclusion
the party (Hie, Rousset, Filiatre) and the
Breton region (Cruau, Baufr6re, Trevien, At the end of the Second World War most of
Berthome, Bodenes, etc.) and the last, in the French Trotskyists were reunited in a
March 1944 (Maruse and Renee Laval, Mar­ new Parti Communiste Intemationaliste.
guerite Metayer, Pauline Kargeman, United, they still amounted to no more than
etc.)."105 a few hundred dedicated people. They had
Nor were all of these people victims of the been totally unable to convert the interna­
Nazis. The Stalinists on occasion were equal tional war into a civil war as their doctrine
to the Nazis in their persecution and elimi­ called for. Quite contrary to their own ex­
nation of Trotskyists. The most notorious pectations, not they/ but the traditional So­
case of suspected Stalinist liquidation of cialist and Communist parties, emerged as
Trotskyists was that of Pietro Tresso (an the major organizations of the Left, and the
Italian Trotskyist aligned with the p o i ), Jean Trotskyists remained at best a fringe group.
Reboul, Maurice Segel, and Abraham Sadek.
The first two had been arrested along with
Albert Demazifere by the Vichy authorities
when they broke up the p o i organization in
Marseilles, the other two had been arrested
at other times.
All five of these Trotskyists ended up at
the prison at Puy-en-Velay. On the night of
October 1 - 1 , 1943, that prison was raided
by a maquis group and all the political pris­
oners were liberated. The five Trotskyists
were part of a group which joined the maquis
camp at Wedli. There they were segregated
and subjected to "quarantine" by the Stalin­
ist leaders of the maquis. A few days later
Albert Demazifere was sent with two other
men on a food search mission, and Dema-
ziere ended up in Paris, where he rejoined
his Trotskyist comrades.
The other four Trotskyists at the Wadli
camp were never heard of again. After the

376 France: World War II

 French Trotskyism: tion" did not take place, the Communist
Party playing a particularly significant role
From p c i to New p c i in dampening whatever revolutionary aspi­
rations certain groups of workers might
have had.
The first major activity of the p c i in the
months following the liberation of Paris was
During the four decades following World a campaign to get the de Gaulle government
War II French Trotskyism suffered from to legalize the appearance of the party's
even more splits than it had experienced in newspaper, La Verite, which for a consider­
its earlier years. By the early 1980s there able period was prevented by Communist
were three major Trotskyist organizations influence in the government. Many years
in France and several minor ones. later one Trotskyist writer was to note that
During those decades, too, the French "for the first time, and in spite of inadequa­
movement experienced alternating periods cies, the party mobilized for a common ob­
of success and failure in terms of member­ jective. All of the organs of the party be­
ship and influence, ranging from being close haved more or less well, but all carrying out
to extinction during the 1950s to being a the tasks assigned to them. Above all, in
group of significance on the far left of French this campaign, the p c i joined the presenta­
politics at other periods. By the early 1980s tions to the minister with a mass campaign.
French Trotskyism constituted an element Petitions circulated. In spite of Stalinist and
of recognized although still small influence police repression the members sold La Ve­
in organized labor, and of major importance rite Sunday after Sunday. By its action the
in the student movement. One of the three party forced, at the end of 1945, the legaliza­
principal French Trotskyist parties was by tion of La Verite.1 However, this same
then one of the largest organizations in In­ writer noted that after this concentrated ef­
ternational Trotskyism. fort the Parti Communiste Internationaliste
suffered a crisis. Without such a clear-cut
immediate objective its organization ceased
The Immediate Postwar Years
to function as effectively, its publications
French Trotskyism emerged from the Sec­ appeared tardily, and it became increasingly
ond World War with two rival organizations. hard to collect dues from the members.2
The larger of these was the Parti Communi­ However, the Trade Union Commission
ste Internationaliste (p c i ), the f i ' s French of the p c i was particularly active in the im­
affiliate which had regrouped forces belong­ mediate postwar years. Working-class mem­
ing to the Fourth International during World bers of the p c i had pockets of strength in a
War II. The other group was Voix Ouvriere, few unions, and even where the party had
to which we shall devote separate attention. no members the Trade Union Commission
During the last couple years of the war the tried to assure a presence in strikes and other
Trotskyists had expected a "revolutionary activities through the distribution of liter­
wave" to come after the conflict and had ature.
expected that they would be able to grasp Trotskyists of the p c i were active in one
the leadership of that process. Events disap­ of the first postwar strikes, that of the em­
pointed the Trotskyists' hopes. The great ployees of the social security system in July
mass of workers turned back to the "tradi­ 1945. Their prominence in the walkout of
tional" left parties, that is the Socialists and Paris printing trades workers in January
Communists, for leadership, rather than to 1946 was sufficient to bring a denunciation
the Trotskyists. Furthermore, the "revolu­ of them from A. Croizat, then a Communist

li France: From PCI to New PCI 377

 Party member of the de Gaulle government. Despatins has noted that "it is the organ of
During that strike the p c i paper La Verite, a broad group, without distinction of trade
which backed the walkout, was the only union affiliation, in which the militants of
periodical the strikers would allow to the p c i played a preponderant role. Unlike
appear.3 Unite Syndicale, it no longer put accent on
It has been noted that the p c i Trotskyists immediate reunification of the c g t but
"were present in the post office strike of rather on the lesser tactic for the immediate
August 1946, in the combats of Labour future: unity of action." The efforts of the
printing workers, the Rateau factory, in the p c i trade unionists were greatly hampered

first movement 'for bread' in Nantes." The when in May 19s 1 twenty-one members,
p c i trade unionists also played a role at the including Pierre Lambert, Stephane Just,
time of the Renault strike in May 1947 al­ and Yves Bellas, were expelled from the
though the rival Voix Ouvriere group was C G T .?
more important in that walkout. The p c i During the immediate postwar years the
pushed unsuccessfully to convert the Re­ Parti Communiste Internationaliste also
nault walkout into a general strike of metal conducted electoral activity. At the time of
workers.4 the elections for a constituent assembly in
The Trotskyists of the p c i were also active November 1945, they ran candidates in
in the widespread strikes of November-De- Paris and Isere, receiving a total of 10,817
cember 1947. Some four million workers, votes.8
including teachers, metalworkers, miners, The p c i also participated in the general
white-collar workers, and railroaders went elections of June 1, 1946. They ran seventy-
on strike. Both groups of Trotskyists were nine candidates in eleven different loca­
active in the strike in the Renault factories, tions, and received 44,906 votes out of a
but the Communists who controlled the total of 3,240,744 in the constituencies
Confederation General du Travail ( c g t ), where they had nominees.9 ■
with which the Renault workers were affil­ Campaigns on international issues were
iated, used the strike to break the influence another important p c i activity. It was the
of the Trotskyists in that union.5 only party to protest against massacres of
At the time of the split in the c g t in Algerian nationalists in May 1945. It also
December 1947, with the formation of the opposed the de Gaulle government's plans
Socialist-controlled C G T - F o r c e Ouvriere, for reconquest of Indochina, declaring its
the Trotskyists of the p c i urged reunifica­ support for the full independence of the In­
tion of the confederation. They established dochinese peoples and demanding the with­
"Unite Syndicale" at a conference in Paris drawal of French troops. In this connection
in February 1948 which "proposed to strug­ it helped to organize a branch of the Viet­
gle for trade union unity, organizing groups namese Trotskyist party in France after the
of militants inside each labor union, as well Vietnamese Stalinists had murdered most
as 'committees of interunion coordination.' of the Trotskyist leaders in that country.10
Their program: meeting of an extraordinary
congress of reconstruction of a single c g t ,
democratic reform of the reunited c g t , es­ Desertions and Early Splits
tablishment of a platform of demands." The
new group began issuing a periodical, Unite A number of important ■figures who had
Syndicale.6 been in the Trotskyist movement before and
In 1950 a new periodical, L'Unite, suc­ during World War II did not continue in its
ceeded Unite Syndicate, which had not ap­ ranks in the postwar period. Pierre Naville
peared for several months. Jacqueline Pluet- and Gerard Rosenthal joined the Socialist

378 France: From PCI to New PCI

 Party, in which they were active for some and so had a historic mission to fulfill,
time.11 which sentimentally Chaulieu and his com­
Another serious early defection from the rades condemned."14 The leftists were elim­
p c i was that of David Rousset. In October inated from the p c i .
1 945 he drew up a document entitled "Prop­ The rightists, on the other hand, without
ositions for a new Appreciation of the Inter­ questioning any of the basic ideological ten­
national Situation," in which he wrote "our ets of Trotskyism, had obvious doubts
programmatic base, which was essentially whether the strategy of trying to make the
made up of the first four congresses of the existing p c i the center of the French revolu­
Communist International, and the work of tionary movement was correct. A motion
Trotsky on Stalinist centrism, corresponds introduced by one of the rightist leaders,
to a political experience, to a level of revolu­ Ivan Craipeau, was submitted to the Second
tionary struggles in the world which, today, Congress of the p c i in February 1946. It
has been completely modified." He also ar­ called for building the revolutionary party
gued that in the Third World War, which "through grouping together the progressive
he regarded as inevitable, the Soviet Union tendencies which develop in the p c f and the
would be forced to take the leadership in the p s . " The motion was defeated by a vote of

world socialist revolution, a theme which twenty-four against, three in favor, and for­
was to be adopted a few years later by other ty-seven abstentions.15
leaders of the p c i , and by the Secretary of In the Third Congress of the p c i , in Sep­
the Fourth International, Michel Pablo tember 1946, Craipeau became secretary
(Raptis).12 Rousset was soon expelled from general of the organization, and for a short
the p c i . Other prewar French Trotskyists while the orientation which he had pro­
who abandoned the movement about the posed served as at least the party's unofficial
same time were Gilles Martinet, Henri position.16 Ever since 1944 Ivan Craipeau
Claud, and the economist Charles Bettel- (apparently without specific authorization
heim (who returned to the Communist of the rest of the leadership of the p c i ) had
Party, whence he had originally come).13 directed the efforts of a handful of Trotsky­
New divisions soon appeared among ists who worked within the Jeunesse Socia­
those people who remained in the Trotsky­ liste (js), the youth organization of the So­
ist movement. By the time of the Third Con­ cialist Party. One of these became secretary
gress of the p c i in September 1946, there of the js organization in the Department of
were three evident tendencies in the organi­ the Seine, while another became secretary
zation. The "rightists" were led by Laurent in charge of doctrinal education of the js.
Schwartz, who had been particularly active Both were on the executive committee of
in the party during the war; the center by the organization.17 After the Socialist Party
Pierre Frank; and the "leftists" by Chaulieu. officially dissolved the Jeunesse Socialiste,
Each of these groups had sharply differing its secretary general, Marcel Rousseau,
points of view. joined the Parti Communist Intematio­
The so-called leftists raised the old issue naliste.18
which had brought a split in the Trotskyist At the next congress of the p c i , in No­
movement of the United States at the begin­ vember 1947, Ivan Craipeau and his faction
ning of World War II: the "nature" of the were defeated by the "centrists," headed by
Soviet Union. "They defined the Stalinist Pierre Frank and Marcel Bleibtreu.19 At the
bureaucracy as a class, and saw, in the Com­ same time a motion supported by the
munist parties of the world, the elements of Craipeaux faction was defeated. It urged "a
this new social class in formation.. . . It was plan of penetration of our forces in the y s ,
not a parasite caste. It had become a class Action Socialiste Revolutionnaire, la Ba-

France: From PCI to New PCI 379

taille Socialiste, the periodical Fianc-Tireui, Meanwhile, the French Trotskyists were
which publishes 250,000 copies, Revue In­ faced with the unexpected but very wel­
ternationale. . . This document went on come split between the Tito regime in Yugo­
to urge " the discussion with those who wish slavia and Stalin. They reacted to that break
to form, keeping the closest and most frater­ with great enthusiasm. Pierre Frank, who
nal contact with the revolutionary elements had just become secretary general of the
of the labor movement, a vast organization Parti Communiste Internationaliste, wrote
of all the live forces of the people for the that "A Stalinist party which breaks with
development of a real force and to convoke Moscow ceases to be a Stalinist party, even
a national conference of all the workers cur­ if it keeps the Stalinist internal regime,
rents repudiating both Stalinism and the ' methods of thought and slogans." He also
third force, to construct a new labor move­ suggested that the Yugoslav Communist
ment, even if the p c i is rejected as such an Party "is in the process of reconstructing
organization." Trotskyism in a fragmentary fashion and
Without leaving the p c i the rightists without an overall vision, but dealing with
joined with a number of intellectuals, in­ the most important questions. '/23
cluding David Rousset, Jean-Paul Sartre, and For some time the French Trotskyites cul­
Albert Camus to establish the Rassemble- tivated relations with the Yugoslav regime
ment Democratique Revolutionnaire ( r d r ). and its embassy in Paris. During the sum­
However, this association soon brought the mer of 1950 they organized French youth
expulsion of the p c i rightists from the Trots­ work groups to go to Yugoslavia to help out
kyist movement.20 on a variety of projects.24 An Association of
This expulsion was confirmed at the Sec­ Brigades in Yugoslavia was organized,
ond Congress of the Fourth International which for about a year and a half published
early in 1948. A resolution of that congress a periodical, La Brigade.15 However, when
provided that the expelled members of the the Yugoslav delegation to the United Na­
French section could be reintegrated into it tions voted in favor of the resolution con­
only if they accepted the decisions of the demning the North Korean invasion of
Second World Congress, accepted the line of South Korea, the French Trotskyists turned
the p c i majority on building a revolutionary strongly against the Tito regime.26
party, worked under the direct control of the
International Secretariat, and "abstained
The 1952 Split in the pci
rigorously" from publicly attacking the
p c i .11 The French Trotskyists were the first to re­
The centrist group, which represented the act negatively to the ideas which the secre­
majority of the p c i , based its position on tary of the Fourth International, Michel
expressions of continued loyalty to the Pablo, began to develop soon after the out­
Transitional Program of the Founding Con­ break of the Korean War, which involved a
gress of the Fourth International. For the violent change in Trotskyist strategy and
moment at least, it rejected both any ques­ ultimately led to a schism in the Fourth
tioning of the positions which Leon Trotsky International. As one French Trotskyist
had put forth in the Transitional Program source has noted, "This occurred not be­
and other documents, and any idea that cause the p c i had the -most 'clairvoyant'
Trotskyism in France could be expanded by members, but because the International Sec­
joining forces with nonparty leftist intellec­ retariat was located in Paris, and the French
tuals or with Stalinist sympathizers.12 How­ militants were able to follow very con­
ever, before long there would be an even cretely the liquidating consequences of the
more serious split in the 1948 majority of policy of Pablo."27
the p c i . The positions adopted by Pablo between

380 France: From PCI to New PCI

 1950 and 1952 are dealt with more exten­ Right after the Ninth Plenum there was a
sively elsewhere in this volume. Here it is meeting of the Central Committee of the
enough to note that he saw the outbreak of p c i. George Clarke, who represented Pablo
the Korean War as having begun a process of at that meeting, violently attacked Frank
war and revolution to culminate in the Third and Privas, and the French Central Commit­
World War which he saw as occurring very tee refused to approve the Pablo document.
soon. He drew from this analysis the conclu­ At another French Central Committee
sion that the Trotskyists did not have time meeting in January 1951 Mandel, Privas, and
to build up the "party of the world revolu­ Frank reported that Pablo had threatened
tion" as they had been attempting to do since their expulsion from the is. Subsequently,
1938. He therefore called for a new strategy Pablo did succeed in getting Privas removed
of "entrism" into the socialist or communist from the Political Bureau of the is, as a result
parties of each country, depending on which of which he, Pablo, suddenly had a majority
of these two was the predominant working- in that body which favored his point of view.
class political element. But this was to be a He demanded that Frank and Mandel also
new kind of "entrism sui generis," which come around to his way of thinking or face
would be of very long duration and have as exclusion from the International Secre-
its objective gaining the leadership of the tariat.M
tendencies, particularly within the commu­ Under this pressure from Pablo, Frank and
nist parties which, he argued, would be Privas as well as Emest Mandel changed
forced by the long-lasting cycle of war and their positions and began to support Pablo's
revolution to take the lead in bringing about ideas, which they had until then opposed.
the world socialist revolution. Pierre Frank was reported to have answered
Insofar as France was concerned, this someone who questioned him about his
meant that the Trotskyists should orient apostasy, "What do you wish? As for me, I
themselves toward entering and becoming have my baton as a marshal. I cannot accept
very active in not only the faction of the la­ being thrown out of the International Secre­
bor movement controlled by the Commu­ tariat."29
nists (the Confederation General du Tra­ The change in position of Frank, Privas,
vail— c g t ), and the many front groups and some others meant the division of the
which the Communist Party controlled, but p c i party leadership into a majority which

also entering the Communist Party itself. still remained highly critical of the Pablo
When Pablo first began to put forward these point of view, and a minority, led by Frank
ideas, virtually the whole of the p c i leader­ and Privas, who now supported it. At first
ship opposed them. However, very shortly a the Labor Commission of the party hesitated
number of the principal party leaders went about getting involved in the factional dis­
over to Pablo's point of view, and there began pute. Although they opposed the position of
a bitter and long-drawn-out factional fight Pablo, they initially held back from joining
which ultimately split the party and came in a formal anti-Pablo faction within the
near to destroying French Trotskyism. p c i .30 Undoubtedly, the factor which made

The conflict began at the Ninth Plenum of them decide to participate actively in the
the Secretariat of the Fourth International in struggle was their knowledge that, as recog­
November 1950, where Pablo presented the nized Trotskyists in the various unions in
first version of his newly evolving view. At which they were active they would under no
that meeting Pierre Frank and Privas, an­ circumstances be able to join the Commu­
other French member of the International nist ranks. Pierre Lambert was the head of
Secretariat (is), raised serious questions the Labor Commission. Once he and his as­
about Pablo's position/ as did the Belgian Er­ sociates joined the anti-Pablo faction, that
nest Mandel. faction had a strong majority.31

France: From PCI to New PCI 381

 There was an open conflict between the is to understand that the independent orga­
two groups at a p c i Central Committee nization should above all aid the entrist
meeting in April 1951, which was attended work by speaking in a language addressed es­
by Pablo, who violently attacked the leaders sentially to the communist workers, and
of the majority.37 Pierre Frank also spoke out that the entrist work will broaden in scope
against the majority. Both the majority and as the war approaches."35
minority presented documents on the par­ The position of Pablo and his allies was
ty's trade union work, its youth activities, reflected in a letter which Mandel sent to the
and organizational problems. p c i majority group. It said that "whatever

Subsequently, in May 1951 the majority of the decisions of the Eighth Congress of the
the Central Committee of the p c i adopted a party, the line to be applied after the Con­
document, "Ten Theses on Stalinism," gress will be that of 'entrism sui generis';
which had originally been drawn up by Er­ the division of the party into three sectors,
nest Mandel before he joined Pablo's camp one sector immediately realizing the en­
and proposed to submit it to the upcoming try, a second modifying its activity to be able
Third World Congress of the Fourth Interna­ to activate the entrist turn within the near
tional. Marcel Bleibtreu, who was at that future, a third continuing independent
point the chief spokesman for the majority, work. This regroupment of the party re­
issued a document "Where Is Comrade quired the revision of all sectors of activity.
Pablo Going?," replying to "Where Are We . . . At the same time, it guarantees the con­
Going?," a document Pablo had issued out­ tinuation of independent work, with La Ve­
lining his new position.33 rite and other organs, with its trade union
At the Third World Congress a special activity and its own youth work, with its re­
French Commission functioned, to pass on cruitment and the satisfying of all its inher­
the situation in the French section. At that ent needs."36
meeting Pablo and his allies engaged in an Although the difference in these two ori­
energetic series of attacks on the French ma­ entations may seem one of emphasis, that
jority. However, no change in the French difference was of major significance to the
leadership was decreed 34 two factions. For the p c i majority major em­
The majority of the p c i agreed to submit phasis in the party's work was to continue
to the discipline of the International and to to be the independent activities of the party
try to undertake the "entrism sui generis." itself, with certain selected people at­
Its interpretation of what this meant differed tempting to "enter" the Communist ranks.
strongly from that of Pablo and his support­ With the Pablo people, the major emphasis
ers, however. This difference in approach of the party was to be on entering the ranks
was shown in two documents of the time. of the Communist Party and organizations
A resolution of the Political Bureau of the under the Communists' control.
p c i on March 31, 195a, stated the position of The final stages in the dispute were the
the majority. It said that "The concrete form "suspension" in January 1952 of the major­
of this orientation can only be a combination ity of the members of the p c i Central Com­
of independent work and of entrist work mittee and Political Bureau by Pablo in his
within the Stalinist organizations or organi­ capacity as head of the "world party of the
zations in the control of the Stalinists. . . . socialist revolution"- the acceptance in
There is no question whatever of liquidating March 1952 by the p c i majority of a tempo­
Trotskyism as an independent tendency in rary Political Bureau in which Ernest Man­
the workers political movement; on the con­ del, representing the International Secretar­
trary, a correct understanding of the situa­ iat had the casting vote; then the suspension
tion can permit us to play an important role of Pierre Frank and other minority members
in the months to come. But what is involved by the majority of the p c i Central Commit­

382 France: From PCI to New PCI

tee. Two separate "eighth congresses" of the in embryo) to what they themselves admit­
pci were then organized by the majority and ted was a "group."
minority factions.37 This change in the nature of the organiza­
At the time of the split the Parti Com­ tion was described thus by the ex-majority
muniste Internationaliste had about 150 p c i group itself many years later: "After the

members. Of these, a few more than one split, the Trotskyist fraction no longer func­
hundred reportedly stayed with the major­ tioned as an organization; it was reduced by
ity, and about thirty went with the minor­ the force of circumstances, to a 'group' in
ity. The rest presumably dropped out alto­ which the old nucleus took the place of all
gether.38 organization in training the militants, in the
accomplishment of tasks, the political line
defined on its own responsibility, with a
minimum of control by the militants. It
French Trotskyism After
could not be otherwise: it was only at this
the 1952 Split
price that the essential factor could be pre­
The fifteen years following the 1952 split served: the continuance of militant Trots­
witnessed the near disappearance of French kyism in France."43
Trotskyism. The division of the already tiny However, in spite of their small number
p c i left neither group able for many years and very limited resources, the ex-majority
to carry on more than exceedingly modest of the p c i (who came to be known as the
propaganda work. Lambertists) continued to be active in orga­
The group which attempted seriously to nized labor. Years later they described these
carry out the Pablo-type of "entrism sui ge­ activities thus: "After the general strike of
neris" fared very badly. One commentator August 1953, in September-October 1953 at
from the anti-Pablo group noted many years Nantes, Bordeaux in 1957 . . . in the move­
later that "some militants/ at the price of the ment of public employees, in the banks (July
most repugnant statements, were integrated 1957). . . among the Parisian metalworkers,
into the f c f and became its most zealous and among the teachers, the Trotskyists are
servants, prisoners of their own renagacy."39 present, participating, analyzing. . . ."44
A few others who at first succeeded in enter­ They were also active in other fields. They
ing the Communist ranks were soon ex­ participated in the Action Committee of In­
pelled as "troublemakers."40 tellectuals Against the Algerian War, which
In the one area in which the p c i Trotsky­ opposed the French attempt to suppress the
ists had a modicum of influence in the revolt of Algerian nationalists. However, in
unions before 1952, and where they at­ the Algerian struggle they committed what
tempted "entrism sui generis," the results they later recognized as being a major error.
were disastrous. This was in Brest, where The Lambert group particularly supported
the Trotskyists had participated in leader­ the Mouvement Nationaliste Algerien
ship of an important strike in 1950, but (m n a ), which had begun the struggle for A l­
where the Trotskyist group totally disap­ gerian independence but was later super­
peared after entry into the Communist seded by the Front de Liberation Nationale
ranks.41 ( f l n ), the ultimate winners in the struggle
The majority p c i , which had opposed Pab­ for independence. The Lambert group
lo's policies, did only marginally better than worked within the m n a but did not push for
its rival during the years following the split. its conversion into a "Marxist vanguard."4S
By 1958 its membership had fallen from The strong stand of the Lambertist pci
about one hundred to only fifty.42 Further­ against the Algerian War brought retaliation
more, the organization was transformed in from the French government. Francois Mit­
the 1952-1956 period from a party (at least terrand, then minister of interior in the ad­

Francc: From PCI to New PCI 383

f
ministration of Pierre Mendes-France, Early in 1964 the Lambertist group was
banned the circulation of the party's paper able, together with the Lutte de Classes
La Verite in Algeria late in 1954 and opened Trotskyist group and some independents, to
an "investigation" of the paper in Paris. The organize a group of trade unionists in
minister apparently found two articles, "It Nantes, who issued in March a so-called
is better to die than to live on one's knees," "Call of Nantes," seeking to get all trade
and "Trial of Sorcery in Oudjda," in num­ union groups to unite in a common struggle
bers 344 and 345 of the paper to be particu­ against the French bourgeoisie. Later, the
larly offensive.46 Lambertists were to argue that this was a
During this period the Lambertists also first step in labor developments which cul­
continued to play a role in International minated in the May-June 1968 general
Trotskyism. When the Socialist Workers strike which almost overthrew the de
Party of the United States finally broke with Gaulle regime.51
Pablo and the International Secretariat early At the end of 1964 the Lambertist group
in 1953, the Lambertists became the French held its Thirteenth Congress. At this meet­
section of the rival International Commit­ ing it sought to "begin the march towards
tee, which was organized under the leader­ an organization, to free itself from the poli­
ship of the s w p .47 tics of a group . . . to undertake the unique
Until 1958 the Lambertist group contin­ role it had of winning over the vanguard
ued to publish La Veriti as a weekly paper. workers element."52 Further efforts were be­
In October of that year it was converted into ing made among the students. A mimeo­
a monthly magazine "which corresponded graphed student bulletin RSvolt&s was
to the real situation of the Trotskyist forces. launched, around which efforts to establish
. . ." 48 Two years later they also began to a youth organization were conducted.53
issue a mimeographed weekly, Informa­
tions Ouvrieres, which "thus initiated a pa­
The c c i-pci
tient effort to rally forces which permitted
the recruitment of the first group of mili­ At their Fourteenth Congress in December
tants, 'friends' or readers through whom a 1965 the Lambertists took the name Organi­
class policy enlarged its influence." sation Communiste Internationaliste (oci),
In the spring of 1961 they also made their which they were to keep for nearly two de­
first effort to work once more among stu­ cades. Many years later they explained what
dents. A handful of Trotskyists joined with they had conceived to be the significance
others to establish the Liaison Committee of the assumption of a new name: "This
of Revolutionary Students, "the activity of political act was of extreme importance; far
which, very modest at first, was to grow from being motivated by the formal desire
quickly as the working class recovered the for an 'appellation,' it corresponded to the
terrain conquered by the bourgeoisie" with reality of the forces of French Trotskyism,
the advent of de Gaulle to power once to the recognition of an important stage on
4O
more. the way to the construction of the party in
In February 1964 the Lambert group was connection with the tasks of reconstruction
able to convert their mimeographed bulletin of the IV International."54
Informations Ouvrieres into a monthly The newly named organization continued
printed newspaper. It had a subtitle, "Open its activities among both students and work­
forum of the class struggle." Many years ers. The R6volt6s youth group helped to or­
later it was reported that this periodical had ganize a meeting in June 1967 attended by
become "the organizing center of the van­ 1,000 young people "to organize political
guard. . . ."50 action against the bourgeoisie, its govern­

384 France: From PCI to New PCI

ment and its State.'" It also organized inter­ begun as an economic walkout into a move­
national demonstrations with its British ment to seize control of the State. Other
counterpart, Young Socialists. In April 1968 political elements of the left, particularly
the organization within which the oci the Communist Party, did not share these
youth were active, the Comite de Liaison objectives, and the Communists were able
des Etudiants R6volutionnaires ( c l e r ), took to keep the movement oriented purely to­
the name Federation des Etudiants Revolu- ward economic demands and ultimately to
tionnaires ( f e r ).55 It was involved in a situa­ defuse the situation.59
tion in which student discontent was rising The events of 1968 brought about the out­
rapidly. lawing of the Organisation Communiste In­
In the labor movement the oci sought to temationaliste by the de Gaulle govern­
stimulate the revival of labor militancy in ment. They continued to function as the
the mid-1960s after the defeats it had suf­ Comit6s d'Alliance Ouvriere ( c a o ).60
fered following the return of de Gaulle to Following the events of May-June 1968
power in 1958. The oci also attempted to the youth organization of the Lambertist
foment unity among the various groups into faction of French Trotskyism played a par­
which French trade unionism was then di­ ticularly important role. Early in March
vided. Its members participated in a number 1969 they organized the first conference of
of strikes and demonstrations.56 the Alliance des Jeunes pour la Socialisme
The oci also had its first experiment with (a j s ) in Paris, attended by 400 delegates who
electoral action. In the parliamentary elec­ were said to represent "several thousand
tions of March 1967 it ran one candidate in members throughout France." The group
a heavily Communist district. Although no was headed by Charles Berg. The conference
information is available on how well the oci was addressed by Francois de Masset of the
nominee did, his campaign was based on c a o and a delegate from the British Young

"the perspective of the class united front, Socialists.61

against the policy of class collaboration bap­ At the time of a meeting organized in Feb­
tised 'union of the Left.' "57 ruary 1970 by the a j s in one of the biggest
Both student and worker discontent cul­ halls in Paris, attended by an estimated
minated in the student-labor general strike 8,000 young people, the organization
of May-June 1968 which almost toppled the claimed that it had four thousand members
de Gaulle government. Subsequently, the of whom about half were reported as being
oci claimed credit for converting what be­ "active." They included not only secondary
gan as a student movement into a workers and university students, but workers in such
uprising. They maintained that "in the first plants as Renault, Michelin, Nord-Aviation,
hours of the morning of May 14, 1968, the Sud-Aviation, the post office, and the social
general strike called at Sud-Aviation in security system. The A]rs was reported to be
Nantes under the leadership of the Trotsky­ " particularly established in the Paris region,
ists announced the general strike of M ay- Clermont-Ferrand, Nantes, and in Dijon."62
June 1968 which opened a new historic pe­ The a j s was publishing a regular periodical,
riod in the international class struggle. feune Revolutionnaire.63
j/5 8
The a j s held its second congress in No­
During the May-June 1968 general strike vember 1971, at which it was reported to
the oci stressed the need to form a united have a membership of 6,000 and an annual
strike committee of all of the country's labor budget of 3 million francs. Le Monde com­
organizations. They saw the situation as be­ mented that "few political organizations of
ing prerevolutionary and felt that such a youth can be compared with it." The a j s had
strike committee could convert what had a national committee of 230 members, two-

France: From PCI to New PCI 385

 thirds of whom were in the provinces, and time to put up two-hundred-fifty candidates
a national bureau of twenty-five, all living in the first round under the slogan "For So­
in Paris.44 cialism, for Power to the Workers." They
The a j s and the o c i (which was legalized urged their supporters to vote for Socialist or
again in 1970) were active on a number of Communist candidates in the second round,
issues. These included demonstrations in each case supporting the nominee more
against suppression of civil liberties in likely to win.71
Czechoslovakia and protests against the In the 1981 presidential election the oci
War in Vietnam.65 again called for a first-round vote for Mitter­
During the early 1970s the oci published rand, the Union of the Left nominee. How­
and distributed a number of pamphlets deal­ ever, in doing so it issued a statement saying
ing with various aspects of the party's pro­ that "it is necessary to destroy the bourgeois
gram. There were publications in opposition State, establish the power of th£ councils,
to the popular front (at the time of the cam­ construct the workers State, expropriate
paign of the Unity of the Left coalition in capital. . . . It is impossible to march ahead
1973)6S; a historical one on Stalinism—De­ if one fears to march towards socialism."
generation of the USSR and of the Commu­ Finally the oci statement urged "the con­
nist International67; and one on The United struction of an authentic party of the work­
Labor Front and the Construction of the ing class."73
Revolutionary Party. 69 In 1983 the Parti Communiste Intematio-
The oci also conducted electoral activi­ naliste (which name the O C I had reassumed]
ties. In the 1973 parliamentary campaign, organized "workers' unity" lists of candi­
after first negotiating with the other two dates for municipal elections. They won a
Trotskyist groups, the Ligue Communiste handful of seats on municipal councils in
and Lutte Ouvriere, it finally decided to run several different parts of the country.74Then
nineteen candidates of its own and to urge in 1984, at the time of the European elec­
their supporters in other constituencies to tions, the p c i organized a convention at­
vote for "recognized workers' organiza­ tended not only by members of their own
tions/' meaning particularly the Commu­ party but also by Socialists and Commu­
nist and Socialist parties.69In the 1974 presi­ nists, disillusioned in the Mitterrand gov­
dential election the oci called for a first- ernment of the Union of the Left, and inde­
round vote for Francois Mitterrand, the So­ pendents. It endorsed a "workers' and
cialist leader who was running as the candi­ peasants' unity list" of eighty candidates,
date of the Union of the Left—consisting of the great majority of whom were in their
the Socialists, Communists, and the Left twenties and thirties and included metal­
Radical Party.70 workers, white-collar employees, and teach­
In the municipal elections of 1977 the oci ers/5 The list received 182,320 votes.76
joined with the other two Trotskyist groups The lists supported by the p c i in the 1984
in signing a "pact of alliance" and running election received about 0.91 percent of the
joint slates of candidates in various parts of total votes cast, about half as many as were
the country. This document summed up the obtained by the other avowedly Trotskyist
alliance's program under four headings: "1. ticket, that of Lutte Ouvriere. However,
Develop the Possibilities of Workers Con­ one not-too-friendly commentator observed
trol," "2. Support the Struggles of the Work­ that the party's vote had fallen substantially
ers and Toiling Populace," "3. Defense and in the heavily industrialized and working-
Extension.of Democratic Rights," and "4. class Paris region, as compared with the pre­
Change the Conditions of Life."71 vious European parliamentary elections in
In the parliamentary election of 1978 the 1979.77
oci again joined with the l c r and l o , this By the early 1980s the p c i was undoubt­

386 France: From PCI to New PCI

 edly the largest Trotskyist party in France existed the u n e f Reorganize, ,controlled by
and one of the two or three largest in the the Communists and the u n e f Ind6pendant
world. It claimed 7,000 members in 1982.78 et Democratique, led by the p c i but in which
In September 1980 the Organisation Com­ the Socialists were active. In student elec­
muniste Intemationaliste had merged with tions the u n e f Independant et Democra­
a faction of the rival Ligue Communiste tique usually won over its rival, but not
Revolutionnaire, said to number between without a struggle.83
400 and 500 members, which had split from The political situation after the advent of
the l c r at the time the followers of Nahuel the Mitterrand government to power in
Moreno had quit the United Secretariat of 1981 was a difficult one for the p c i . For one
the Fourth International in 1979.79 They thing, they had supported Mitterrand on
formed the United oci.80 Shortly afterward, both the first and second ballots. For an­
the party's name was changed to Parti Com­ other, the workers tended at first to strongly
muniste Intemationaliste. support the Socialist president. The p c i ' s
By the early 1980s the p c i was active problem was one of organizing opposition
within the Communist-controlled Confed­ to the policies of the Mitterrand government
eration G£n6ral du Travail, and the Social­ without cutting themselves off from the
ist-oriented Force Ouvriere. They refused to workers whose support they were trying to
work within the Confederation Franijais win. Nearly three years after the Mitterrand
Democratique des Travailleurs, which was government took office the leaders of the p c i
Catholic in origin but aligned with the So­ felt that they had succeeded in this task.84
cialist Party, on the grounds that it was After the Mitterrand government began
"Church-controlled." an "austerity" program in mid-1982, the
It was often difficult for Trotskyists to p c i ' s criticism of the government became

work within the c g t , and the p c i people increasingly intense. In December 1982 it
were forced to do so surreptitiously in many organized a demonstration in Paris which it
cases. However, by 1982 they claimed to claimed was attended by 20,000 people. This
have at least some influence in the metal­ was followed by a "national conference of
workers', chemical workers', and social se­ political groups constituted on the initiative
curity workers' unions of the c g t .81 of the p c i . " The theme of this conference
The p c i could work much more openly in was "Socialist-Communist deputies, re­
the Force Ouvriere. Officials of that organi­ spect the mandate of the people!" This con­
zation admitted in 1982 that the p c i had ference insisted that "it is necessary to
some influence in local f o organizations but change course." It urged an end to wage
denied that they had any major strength freezes, a law prohibiting further laying off
within the organization.82 of workers, an end to the austerity budget,
The p c i was one of the two major political and support for freezing workers' rents.8S
groups with influence in the student move­ The p c i widely distributed leaflets con­
ment by the early 1980s. Until 1968 the demning the Mitterrand government's poli­
Communists had controlled the Union Nat- cies. A typical one was entitled "Another
ionale des Etudiants Frangais ( u n e f ), the Policy," and its headlines read "Freezing of
country's principal student organization. wages, increasing unemployment, freezing
However, their role in dampening down the of hospital budgets, the policy of Delors ap­
student-worker uprising of May-June 1968 plied against the workers. Another Policy is
tended to discredit the Communist Party Needed!"86
among the students, with the result that Another leaflet, labeled a supplement to
the o c i - p c i was able to win control of the the party newspaper Informations Ou-
organization. The Communists thereupon vrieres, was addressed particularly to the
split the u n e f , and by the early 1980s there steel workers. It opposed the government's

France: From PCI to New PCI 387

I
program to rationalize the steel industry in tional groups were reunited there should be
Lorraine, which was resulting in layoff of a thorough discussion of the factors which
20,000 workers.87 had brought about the original division in
A p c i document of July io, 1982, directed the ranks of International Trotskyism. Oth­
"to the responsible cell leaders/' recounted erwise there would be only a papering over
the party's activities between June 4 and of old differences which would lead to fur­
July 7. These included a series of meetings ther splits in the future.89
in Paris and provincial cities on June 4, a The Lambertists joined forces with the
demonstration against visiting U.S. Presi­ British Socialist Labor League, headed by
dent Ronald Reagan on June 5, demonstra­ Gerry Healy, to maintain in existence the
tions on June 13 m various cities for libera­ International Committee of the Fourth In­
tion of the imprisoned leaders of Polish ternational. They played a leading role in
Solidarity, a meeting of a steelworkers' dele­ the one full-fledged conference held by the
gation with an official of the president's International Committee in London in
staff, the sending of letters and telegrams to 1966. At that meeting they got the delegates
Mitterrand against steel layoffs, and a meet­ to accept at least formally the oci position
ing on June 1 6 against the Israeli invasion of that the original Fourth International had in
Lebanon. fact ceased to exist, and had to be "recon­
The same document indicated the basic structed."
orientation of the p c i . It stated that "the In 19 71-7 2 a split developed between the
working class keeps its forces intact. The oci and its British counterpart. As a result,
p c i , taking the line of rupture with the bour­ the British group and its allies continued to
geoisie, keeps the whole initiative of car­ use the title of the International Commit­
rying out a tactic seeking. . . to aid the work­ tee, whereas the oci and the groups associ­
ing masses to themselves bring about the ated with it established the Organizing
revolutionary crisis. We are at the beginning Committee for the Reconstruction of the
of a turn-about; it is necessary then to pre­ Fourth International j c o r q i }.
cisely discern . .. the first steps of this turn­ In the early 1970s c o r q i had very few
about, to follow with all the inflexibility affiliates apart from the oci. At least in part
necessary the combat required for the con­ because of this the French group developed
struction of the revolutionary party. . . ."89 some interest in possibly joining forces with
the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
tional. This possibility seemed to be rein­
International Affiliation of o c i -p c i
forced by the serious split which then ex­
As has been noted earlier, the majority group isted within u s e c between the major
of the post-World War II Parti Communiste European affiliates and the Socialist Work­
Internationaliste was expelled from the ers Party and its allies.90 The oci and s w p
Fourth International in 1952. When in the particularly shared their attitude toward the
following year the International Committee Portuguese Revolution, strongly opposing
of the Fourth International was established the u s e c majority's support for the Portu­
under the aegis of the U.S. Socialist Workers guese Communist Party's alliance with the
Party, the p c i became the French section of Movimento das Formas Armadas (m f a ) m ili­
that group. However, when the sw p took tary group91
the lead in attempting to reunite the two By 1977 the overtures between the oci
factions of International Trotskyism the and the swp had broken off. However, early
Lambertists opposed this effort. They felt in 1979 the oci again undertook negotia­
that reunification was being suggested on tions with the United Secretariat, these dis­
the wrong basis, that before the two interna­ cussions ending after the split in u s e c at the

388 France: From PCI to New PCI

 end of the year resulted in the exit of many French Trotskyism:
J of u s e c ' s Latin American affiliates under
■ the leadership of the Argentine, Nahuel The 1952 p c i Minority
Moreno. and Its Heirs; Lutte
For about a year, from late x979, the forces
i led by oci formed an alliance with the Mo-
Ouvriere and Other
] reno group. When that liaison broke down, French Trotskyist Groups
! the oci fully revived the Organizing Com-
l mittee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth
i International ( c o r q i ) .

I
[ Conclusion
By the early 1980s the group which had be- The faction which had constituted the mi­
f gun as the majority faction of the postwar nority of the Parti Communiste Intematio­
Parti Communiste Intemationaliste was naliste before the split in 1952, continued to
undoubtedly the largest and strongest Trots­ function under the p c i name for more than
kyist organization in France. It controlled a decade and a half after the division of the
the largest segment of the student move­ party. It remained affiliated with the Inter­
ment and probably had the most influence national Secretariat (is) headed by Michel
in the labor movement of the three principal Pablo, and then in 1963 joined with the ma­
Trotskyist groups. It was also the center of jority of the is in reuniting with the Socialist
one of the three principal tendencies in In­ Workers Party and some other affiliates of
ternational Trotskyism. the International Committee to establish
the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
tional. p c i leader Pierre Frank was one of the
principal figures in both the International
Secretariat and the United Secretariat.
The Frank p c i published from August
1952, on a periodical of its own, La VeritS
des Tzavailleurs, which at first was a
monthly and then a bimonthly.1 Ten years
later, in 1962, the name of the publication
was changed to L'Internationale "to end the
confusion with La Velite." Then, at its Eigh­
teenth Congress, in October 196 s, the Frank
p c i once more decided to change the name

of its periodical, to Q uatiiim e Interna­

tionale.1
Although, as we have already noted, the
p c i had very little success in infiltrating its

members into the Communist Party ( p c f )

and lost most of those who were able to
enter the p c f , they did do somewhat better
with another experiment in "entrism"
which they started in the 1950s. Left-wing
elements of the Socialist Party broke away
to form first the Autonomous Socialist Party

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 389

 and then the United Socialist Party
(p s a ) centered their activities on protests against
and at least some of the Pierre Frank
( p s u ), the Vietnam War.
Trotskyists entered that group. One of It was in the student uprising of M ay-
them, Rodolphe Prager, was elected to the June 1968 that Alain Krivine and the JC R
Central Committee of the p s u , although it achieved wide national and even interna­
was well known that he was a Trotskyist. tional attention. In an interview after the
He remained active in the p s u until the 1969 uprising, Krivine described the role of the
presidential election campaign, when he j c r in those events. "From the start, the

was expelled for publicly supporting the j c r fully integrated itself in the movement,

Trotskyist nominee Alain Krivine instead even though we were aware that the forms
of the p s u candidate Michel Rocard 3 the student movement was taking were ex­
tremely provisional. We realized that these
forms, that is, the antileadership, spontane-
The Jeunesse Communiste ity-worshipping, sometimes anarchist as­
Revolutionnaire pect of the movement, could not last with­
out threatening to get the student struggle
During the 1950s the Pierre Frank p c i re­ bogged down. But we thought that the
mained a tiny organization. It was not until movement would develop as a result of the
the early 1960s that the party began to make students' experience and by our posing polit­
some headway, gaining some influence in ical problems and the need for political orga­
the Communist Youth, particularly in the nization."5
Communist student organization of the The Paris newspaper Le Monde subse­
University of Paris.. quently indicated the key role the j c r had
The Paris newspaper Le Monde later de­ played in the student movement of M ay-
scribed how Alain Krivine, a leader of the June 1968. It said that "the j c r , which had
Union des Etudiants Communistes (u e c ), the most numerous cadres, played a role of
and a number of his associates were won mobilization and inspiration which the spe­
over to Trotskyism: "In 1962, as the secre­ cialists judged decisive. It was it, notably,
tary of the history section of the u e c , he which furnished the u n e f the marshals for
founded the Front Universitaire Antifas- the principal demonstrations. .. ,"6 Krivine
ciste which confronted the o a s groups indicated what the j c r had gained from its
[right-wing extremist] in the Latin Quarter role in the 1968 student uprising. He said
and elsewhere.. . . In 1963 a meeting in Paris that "in Paris, for example, the j c r doubled
with the Belgian Trotskyist leader Ernest its membership during the May~June mobi­
Mandel brought him definitively under lization and it was the same in many provin­
Trotskyist influence.. . . But it was not until cial cities. But aside from this very intensive
two years later that Krivine was expelled recruitment, what was much more impor­
from the Communist party. After having tant for us was the hearing we were able to
'submerged' himself, along with his com­ get before thousands, tens of thousands of
rades, in the left wing of the u e c for two youths. This means that when classes re­
years and conducting a fight at the 1965 u e c sume we will be the strongest left political
congress for the 'right of tendencies' and organization in the high schools and univer­
'real de-Stalinization of the French c p , ' he sities. . . ."7 >_
was expelled from the party in January Not only the Jeunesse Communiste Revo­
1966."4 lutionnaire, but also the p c i was active in
Krivine and his followers then organized the May-June 1968 events. Pierre Frank
the Jeunesse Communiste Revolutionnaire commented that "this is indicated by the
(TCR). During the following two years they daily bulletins and leaflets. I don't think we

390 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

 made any mistakes on the political line and tendencies. One could be characterized as
day-to-day tactical problems. Our activity, 'Maoist-spontaneist/ the other as centrist."
of course, was limited by our forces. The The minority was given representation on
roneo was turning day and night. But that the Central Committee of the l c , which was
doesn't carry very far when you have a described as "a highly centralized organiza­
movement of ten million people on strike tion capable of assuming the historical task
in the factories . .. we are accused along when the foreseeable class struggles next
with other 'groupuscules' of being responsi­ break out in the continuing crisis of the
ble for the movement. We'd be very proud French and international bourgeoisie." It
if that was so because if we had been in was decided to affiliate with the United Sec­
charge it would have finished in another retariat of the Fourth International.11
way."8 Shortly afterward, on May 6, the Ligue
The p c i strongly condemned the Commu­ Communiste named Alain Krivine as its
nist Party's attempts to dampen the rebel­ Candidate for president of the republic in
lion. A bulletin of the p c i condemned the elections provoked by the resignation of
negotiations of the Communist-controlled President de Gaulle. Krivine was at the time
c g t to end the workers' general strike. It serving in the 150th Infantry Regiment at
claimed that "the workers will reject" the Verdun, into which he had been drafted soon
c g t ' s efforts. "They will strengthen the after the May-June 1968 events. He was
unity of action between the workers and given a special furlough to conduct his cam­
students. . . . Forward against the Gaullist paign.12
Regime. For a Workers Government."9 Krivine received 239,076 votes, or about 1
After the end of the May-June 1968 revolt percent of the total, compared to the leading
the de Gaulle government outlawed both candidate in the first-round election (and
the i c r and the p c i . On this occasion Pierre ultimate victor) Georges Pompidou's vote of
Frank commented that "we are studying the 10,050,804, or a little more than 44 per­
legal aspects of the measure and are reserv­ cent.13 In the second round the Ligue Com­
ing our right to challenge it. We are confi­ muniste campaigned in favor of a blank
dent that many labor and civil liberties orga­ ballot.14
nizations will speak up against the In the period following its establishment,
dissolution measures taken by the govern­ the Ligue Communiste centered much of its
ment against a series of vanguard organiza­ attention on campaigning against the war in
tions, and will struggle against these decrees Vietnam. In November 1969 this brought
until they are abrogated. In any case, the the temporary arrest of Pierre Frank, Alain
Trotskyists, who have undergone many re­ Krivine's wife, Michele, and various other
pressions before, will emerge from this at­ leaders of the l c . 1s
tack stronger than ever."10 In spite of the role which many of its lead­
ers had played in the May-June 1968 move­
ment, the Ligue Communiste was not able
The Ligue Communiste
to maintain a continuing major influence
In April 1969 the p c i - j c r Trotskyists, who among the students. Many years later a
had in the meantime been publishing a leader of the group who had gone through
newspaper, Rouge, established anew organi­ the experience attributed this to the fact
zation, the Ligue Communiste (l c ). There that the l c people continued to appeal to the
were 300 delegates at the founding congress students principally on such grand issues
of the l c , and "the congress divided into a as the Vietnam war rather than becoming
majority of 80 percent and a minority of 20 involved with more mundane issues having
percent. The minority was divided into two to do with the living and study conditions

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 391

in the universities. In contrast, the oci brought against them 24 Early the following
Trotskyists did pay extensive attention to year another Ligue Communiste leader,
such matters and were able to emerge as the Pierre Rousset, was jailed for some time,
political group with most influence in the allegedly for being involved in transmitting
student movement.16 "material capable of being used in making
The l c also conducted campaigns on sev­ explosives" to Latin American revolution­
eral other international issues in addition to ary groups.15
Vietnam. These included protests against In spite of the l c ' s support for Latin Amer­
persecution of Czech dissidents,17 demon­ ican terrorist and guerrilla activities, the
strations against the Franco regime's perse­ party expressed opposition to the kidnap­
cution of Basque nationalists,18 and rallies ping of Robert Negrette, head of personnel
to back the Palestinians.19 In June 1971 they of the Renault Company, supposedly by
organized a large demonstration, together Maoist elements. The l c issued its own
with the Lutte Ouvriere group, commemo­ statement on the subject and joined with
rating the xooth anniversary of the Paris several other groups in another criticism of
Commune.20 the kidnapping.26 It also issued a statement
The Second Congress of the Ligue Com­ denouncing the international outcry against
muniste met late in May 19 71 in Rouen. It the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972
was reportedly attended by nearly 500 dele­ Olympic Games.27
gates and observers, including forty-five ob­ During 1972 the Ligue Communiste won
servers from organizations in twenty-seven two groups of recruits from the Parti Socia­
different countries. It was reported that "ac­ liste Unifie. In January a group of seventeen
cording to the credentials report given to p s u members publicly announced that they

the convention, 65 percent of those present were resigning from that party and joining
were under twenty-five. By occupation, they the l c .28 Then in December forty-seven
were 25 percent wage and salary workers, more p s u members, including two who be­
43 percent teachers, and 43 percent stu­ longed to its National Bureau and three from
dents. Ten percent were female."21 its National Political Directorate, an­
The Ligue Communiste suffered some nounced their affiliation with the Ligue
persecution at the hands of the government Communiste.29
of President Georges Pompidou. Late in The third congress of the Ligue met in
19 71 Charles Michaloux, executive editor December 1972. There were 287 delegates
of Rouge, was accused of five counts of libel who were said to represent "386 cells, 80
against the police and was found guilty on cities, and 18 sections of Paris. Of the dele­
four of these charges. He was fined the gates, 176 were workers, 100 students, and
equivalent of about $1,300.22 A month later 1 1 high-school students." The Ligue
the well-known publisher Frangois claimed a membership of 5,000, including
Maspero, who had recently joined the Ligue 68 percent "full members" and 32 percent
Communiste, was convicted on the same "candidates." It was said that "The Ligue
kind of charge.23 has cells or members in 270 factories and
On October 21, 1971, thirteen members carries out regular propaganda activities in
of the Political Bureau of the l c , including 100 others," and that it "has more than fifty
Henri Weber, Daniel Bensaid, and Charles full-time functionaries, throughout the
Michaloux, were arrested in connection country."30
with a demonstration the l c h a d organized The last mass activity of the Ligue Com­
in front of the United States consulate some muniste was its participation in the parlia­
time before. They were subsequently re­ mentary elections of March 1973. At the
leased without any formal charges being Ligue's December 1972 convention a minor­

392 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

ity had favored abstaining on both rounds of o r g a n iz e d a w o r ld w id e c a m p a ig n of
the election. However, a majority of 191 to p r o t e s t . 35
23 supported nomination of Trotskyist can­ The Ligue's newspaper, Rouge, continued
didates in the first round and supported the to publish, and for a time the former mem­
candidates of the Socialist-Communist-Left bers o f the l c rallied around it;36 they did
Radical Union of the Left on the second not try to maintain any formal party organi­
round.31 As a consequence, in the first round zation. Krivine was cited as saying that "we
on March 4 the Ligue ran a joint slate with do not want to reconstitute the Ligue se­
another Trotskyist group, Lutte Ouvriere, cretly. We will continue to express our­
the two parties apportioning candidacies be­ selves legally. But we think it would be
tween them and not running rival nomin­ melodramatic to get into a situation where
ees. The Ligue Communiste ran ninety-two several thousand militants would have to go
candidates who received about 100,000 underground."37
votes.34 The general results were that the The election in mid-1974 precipitated by
vote of the joint Trotskyist slate "generally the death of President Pompidou provided
ranged between 1.5 and 2 percent; in a few members and leaders of the former Ligue
cases the far left vote was 3 percent, and in Communiste with a chance to establish a
one case it was even 5 percent/'33 new organization. This was the Front Com­
Subsequently, the Ligue Communiste fol­ muniste Revolutionnaire ( f c r ), which was
lowed through on its plans to support the organized to back the presidential candidacy
candidates of the Union of the Left in the of Alain Krivine. At the same time it was
second round. Pierre Frank explained how noted that "the f c r ' s program emphasizes
they were able to do so in spite of the pres­ the need for independent organization of the
ence on the ticket of Left Radical nominees working class. The socialist alternative to
and the historical opposition of Trotskyists the bourgeois parties and the reformists is
to popular fronts. He argued that the Left projected in such demands as expropriation
Radicals "represent neither a political [nor] of all the big industrial trusts and the banks,
a social force. They are individuals who with management to be placed under work­
were elected with the help of Communist ers control. . . ,"38
and Socialist votes. . .. The Union de la After the election Daniel Bensaid, mem­
Gauche therefore is an alliance of reformist ber of t h e Political Bureau of the e x - L C ,
parties solely and not an alliance between noted that the f c r "is ready to play, in an
the reformists and any bourgeois party. even better fashion, a role that has been
From this standpoint, the Union de la poorly filled since the dissolution of the
Gauche is not a new Popular Front,"34 Ligue Communiste. The task is immense,
In June 1973 the government of Pompidou but we will not be deterred. The election
suddenly legally dissolved the Ligue Com­ was only the beginning, not the end."39 By
muniste as an aftermath of a demonstration the end of the year the f c r had been con­
by the Ligue on June 2 1—held to protest a verted into the Ligue Communiste Revolu­
meeting in the Mutualite building in Paris tionnaire (l c r ). The new group held its first
of a far right organization, Ordre Nouveau— congress in December 1974.
during which there had been clashes with
the police. Alain Krivine and Pierre Rousset
The First Decade of the Ligue
were arrested. This action of the Pompidou
Communiste Revolutionnaire
government aroused very extensive protests
from a variety of organizations, including The membership of the l c r remained very
the Socialist and Communist parties and young. A report on its founding congress
several trade union groups. The Trotskyists stated that although the average age of the

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 393

 delegates there was three years higher than left of the Communist and Socialist parties
that of the delegates to the third congress in France and internationally. Groups of this
of the Ligue Communiste two years before, type as well as sections of the Fourth Inter­
"the most numerous age brackets in the or­ national were invited to set up display
ganization are 21-26 years old (47 percent), booths and to promote their literature."
26-30 years (27 percent) and 18-20 years (13 The Paris newspaper Le Monde, in re­
percent)." This document went on to say porting on this Fete Rouge, commented that
that "about so percent of the militants have "the importance of this demonstration goes
been in the Trotskyist movement only since considerably beyond its strictly utilitarian
1972. Only 26 percent have more than five interests. It was also a matter of showing
years political activity in our current; 21 that the Trotskyist movement, and tomor­
percent joined in 1974." row its daily newspaper, undertakes and will
There had been a certain degree of "prole­ be undertaking actions and struggles solidly
tarianization" of the l c r , compared to the rooted in day-to-day life.. . . It was a particu­
l c . At the time of its founding congress, 6 1 lar success for the l c r . " 42
percent of the members were reported to In spite of their initial optimism the lead­
have been "wage workers/' but only 12 per­ ers and members of the l c r recognized by
cent were "blue-collar workers," whereas the end of 1976 that they were in fact mak­
17 percent were white-collar workers, 5 per­ ing little progress. The sympathetic Paris
cent technicians, 3 percent supervisory per­ weekly magazine Politique Hebdo prefaced
sonnel, 13 percent tenured teachers, 8 per­ an interview with l c r leader Rene Yvetot in
cent substitute teachers, and 4 percent were November 1976 with observations on "the
unemployed. University students still made (temporary?) crisis racking the far left." It
up 24 percent of the l c r ' s membership, and noted that "this crisis is a moral one. For
S percent were high school students.40 many, political activism has become un­
There were at least four factions or "ten­ bearable. . . . It is a crisis of organization.
dencies" in the l c r at its inception. The Copying the Bolshevik model, even restored
majority element, which had about 60 per­ to its pre-Stalinist 'purity/ has led to dys­
cent of the delegates at the founding con­ functions. .. . This has resulted in underpo­
gress of the l c r , oriented the group toward liticalization of the activists and in the in­
trying to achieve unity with what was left termediary cadres becoming mired in
of the Parti Socialiste Unifid. The p s u had bureaucratism; it has increased the gap be­
recently split, with a majority of its leaders tween the top and the bases. The crisis is
and members joining the reconstituted So­ also a political one. The contrast between
cialist Party headed by Fran cis Mitterrand, the political marginalization of the far left
and those remaining in the p s u had called and its real base in the unions .. . inspires a
for "building a revolutionary and self-man­ retreat into a sectarian siege mentality or
agement force. . . . " The LC R majority felt else opportunism. . . . The Ligue is going
that these events presaged the expansion of through its 'moment of self-criticism/ " 43
French Trotskyism by absorbing what was This situation was recognized by the Sec­
left of the psu.41 ond Congress of the l c r in January 1977.
One of the first activities undertaken by The "Organizational Thesis" adopted there
the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire noted that "although having acquired a de­
was the organization in October 1975 of a termining weight in the extreme left, the
"Fete Rouge" to raise funds to convert l c r is not an organization with significant

Rouge from a weekly to a daily newspaper. working class roots. In developing its audi­
It was reported that "the l c r projected the ence, it is in a political and organizational
festival as a meeting place of groups to the crisis."44

394 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

 The Second Congress, attended by 420 which attention was particularly centered
delegates, was marked by very extensive de­ on the coming presidential election and
bate among the various points of view repre­ upon gaining influence among young work­
sented. A report on the meeting noted that ers since the organization was principally
"the vote on the political resolutions . .. made up of students.50
indicated the emergence of a new majority. With the approach of the parliamentary
Tendency E dissolved and adopted the election of 1978 the l c r first sought to nego­
amended resolutions put forward by Ten­ tiate with the parties of the Union of the Left
dency D. The latter received 54.7 percent (Socialists, Communists and Left Radicals],
of the votes, as compared to 27 percent for particularly with the Communist Party, pre­
Tendency A, 4.7 percent for Tendency B, 3 sumably with a view to getting some l c r
percent for the Brest Working Group, and candidates included on the ticket of the co­
4.45 percent for the other working groups." alition. Its rationale for this position was
The most bitterly debated question was the expressed by Rouge: "If the left wins, the
role of women within the l c r and the work two principal parties of the working class
of the organization in the women's will be present in the government and the
movement.45 workers will think that this government is
For several years much of the energy and theirs.. . ."However, the Communists were
resources of the l c r centered on publication quite unwilling to enter into negotiations
of a daily newspaper. The first issue of Rouge with the Trotskyites, and Charles Fiterman
as a daily appeared on March 15, 1976.46 of the Communists' national secretariat was
From its inception it faced problems of lim­ quoted as saying that "all dialogue with the
ited circulation and high cost. It was re­ l c r is totally inopportune."51

ported in June 1977, when daily sales were When the Communists in effect broke up
11,000 copies, that 5,000 more were neces­ the Union of the Left, at least temporarily,
sary for .Rouge to break even financially. The by demanding fundamental changes in the
l c r had a special drive to raise 800,000 coalition's "common program," the l c r
francs to allow the paper to "survive the sent an "Open Letter to the Communist
summer" of 1977.47 Finally, in February Party" in which it urged the p c f to agree in
1979 the Political Bureau of the l c r decided the second round of the elections to support
to reconvert Rouge from a daily to a Socialist candidates where they had run
weekly.48 ahead of the Communist nominees in the
The l c r also published a theoretical re­ first round. This letter noted that "the issue
view, Critique Communiste. Usually each is not whether 250, 500 or 729 subsidiaries
issue of this publication dealt broadly with will be nationalized. The burning issue for
one kind of problem. For instance, early is­ the workers is: Will Giscard, Barre, and
sues dealt with ecology and environmental Chirac triumph once again, or will the work­
matters, militarism and Bonapartism, and ers parties win a majority?"52 When the p c f
municipal issues. The October-November in fact decided to continue to run all its own
1977 issue examined the sixtieth anniver­ candidates in the second round elections,
sary of the Bolshevik Revolution and discus­ Krivine of the l c r denounced that decision
sion of the eternal question among the as "sectarian."53
Trotskyists of "the nature of the Soviet The Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire
Union."49 itself formed a coalition with two other far-
In 1979 the l c r was able to establish a left groups, the Organisation Communiste
youth group, the Jeunesses Communistes des Travailleurs and the Comites Commun­
Revolutionnaires. That organization held istes pour l'Autogestion, with each organi­
its second congress in December 1980, at zation agreeing not to run competing candi­

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 395

 dates in the first round and to support each those to run Krivine once again for president
others' nominees.54 This coalition issued a in the forthcoming election and to follow
joint electoral platform, and the l c r issued the general policy of the United Secretariat
its own platform, in which it argued that affiliates of a "turn to industry."59
"the kind of government that the workers Although the l c r ran Krivine as its candi­
must establish is not a Union of the Left date in the first round of the 1981 presiden­
government. It is a government of the CP tial election, the party's Fifth Congress in
and s p alone, of which the workers will in­ December 1981 (after the election of Mitter­
sist that it meet their demands and respond rand and subsequent parliamentary elec­
to their aspirations."ss tions which gave the Socialist Party an abso­
Soon after the 1978 elections the l c r lute majority in Parliament and the
sponsored a meeting, attended by 10,000 Socialist-Communist combination a two-
people, on the theme "May 1968-May thirds' majority) proclaimed that "this gov­
1978," which centered particularly on the ernment is not a bourgeois government like
significance of "Eurocommunism" and the the others, since the s p and p c f are over­
future of the French Communist Party. The whelmingly in the majority, and the work­
speakers included not only leaders of the ers who have permitted their victory turn to
Trotskyist groups, the l c r and Lutte Ou- them to govern in their interest. . . . " It
vrifere, but also Roger Garaudy and Jean El- added that "the conflict will become sharp
lenstein, who had recently been expelled between the austerity policy of the new gov­
from the Communist Party, as well as the ernment . .. and the hopes of the electoral
Soviet dissident Leonid Plouchtich, Malo de majority of the workers parties among the
Molina, international secretary of the Span­ workers, made more urgent by the feeling of
ish Communist Party, and unofficial repre­ their own power."50
sentatives of the French Socialist and p s u The Fifth Congress saw revolutionary po­
parties.56 tential in the situation. It claimed to see
Following the split in the United Secretar­ "the prospect of a confrontation between
iat of the Fourth International at the end of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, which
1979, when the followers of the Argentine, leads in time to a revolutionary situation in
Nahuel Moreno, broke away from u s e c , a France, although it is not possible to foresee
split of some importance took place in the its rythm, profundity or duration."61 This
Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire. A sig­ same political resolution of the Fifth Con­
nificant minority of the l c r —perhaps be­ gress of the l c r claimed that the principal
tween 400 and 500 members—57 opposed "organizational task" of the party was "to
the expulsion of the Morenoists. They broke generalize the turn towards industry," so as
away to form the Ligue Communiste Inter­ to gain more influence in the organized labor
nationaliste, which in September 1980 movement.61 As a matter of fact, the l c r
merged with the oci of Pierre Lambert.5® was particularly active in the Communist-
The l c r held its Fourth Congress at the controlled Confederation G£n6ral du Tra­
end of June 1980. It adopted a general politi­ vail ( c g t ) and in the Socialist-oriented Con­
cal resolution, one on the 1981 presidential federation Fran?aise Ddmocratique des Tra-
election, one on "the construction of the vailleurs (c f d t ). Leaders of the c f d t
l c r , " and new statutes for the party. There admitted to the author -in 1982 that there
were minorities of varying sizes in the vote was an active l c r minority in their organiza­
on each of these documents. The one on tion, and one said that l c r supporters caused
"the construction of the l c r " passed with difficulties for the c f d t leadership because
only a 5 3 percent majority. The most impor­ they always took "extreme positions."
tant decisions of the Fourth Congress were There were no Trotskyists in the national

396 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

leadership of the c j d t , although c f d t lead­ Early in 1983 the l c r issued a pamphlet
ers admitted that the l c r had strength in a denouncing the failure of the Mitterrand So-
number of the Confederation's local cialist-Communist government to fulfill
unions.63 these same hopes, and stressing again the
It clearly continued to be more difficult need for a new revolutionary party: "For
for the l c r to work within the c g t , which more than a year and a half there has been
generally was still tightly controlled by the a National Assembly and government with
Communist Party, l c r leaders claimed that a Socialist and Communist majority. Unem­
they had helped to get a number of c g t local ployment remains the problem No. 1 of the
unions to express strong support for the Soli­ French. Isn't what was true in 1979 with
darity movement in Poland, even after it had more than one million unemployed even
been suppressed by the Polish gov­ more true in 1982 with more than two m il­
ernment.64 lion?" The pamphlet insisted that a new
In the first round of the 1981 presidential revolutionary party was "indispensable to
election the Ligue Communiste Revolu­ reenforce the unity, independence and mo­
tionnaire once again nominated Krivine as bilization of the working class."68
its candidate. At the time it issued a pam­ The l c r ran a joint ticket with Lutte Ou­
phlet entitled Alairt Krivine, Candidate of vriere in the 1983 municipal elections.. They
Labor Unity, which stressed the need to de­ labeled their list "the voice of workers
feat President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, in­ against austerity."69
sisted that the l c r had long supported elec­ The l c r held its Sixth Congress in January
toral unity between the Socialists and 1984. It adopted a political thesis which had
Communists, criticized the public quarrel­ the support of 60 percent of the delegates,
ing between leaders of those two parties, but three other drafts had the backing of 25,
concluding with the argument that the best 14, and x percent respectively. This resolu­
way, in the first round, to show support for tion claimed that the experience of the left
working-class unity was to vote for Kriv­ in the government was "the failure of a pol­
ine.65 However, about two weeks before the icy of class collaboration." It sketched the
first-round election electoral authorities re­ role of the l c r in seeking "the united mobi­
moved Krivine from the ballot with the ex­ lization of the workers," its insistence to
planation that all the legal requirements for the Socialists and Communists on the "need
listing him as a candidate had not been ful­ to govern against the capitalists," and in
filled.66 organizing opposition groups in various
After Mitterrand's election and his deci­ unions. It returned strongly to the theme of
sion to dissolve Parliament and call new the need to build a revolutionary workers
legislative elections, the Central Commit­ party, in passing indicating its willingness
tee of the l c r adopted a resolution calling to talk about unity with the p c i and Lutte
for establishment of a purely Socialist-Com­ Ouvridre.70
munist cabinet, and insisting that the So­ At the time of the reorganization of the
cialists and Communists must collaborate Mitterrand government in July 1984, with a
in the parliamentary poll. The pamphlet change of prime ministers and removal of
containing that resolution noted that the the Communists from the cabinet, Rouge
l c r would have candidates in the first round made clear the l c r ' s position toward the
in "several dozen constituencies." It also new version of the administration. One
proclaimed that "to vote for the candidates headline read "Combat this government,"
of the l c r is to vote against the right, mak­ and proclaimed that "the Union of the Left,
ing guarantees for the future, that the hopes rising on May xo, 1981, died on July 19,
of May 10 not be betrayed."67 1984." It also challenged the Communists

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 397

to become "the champion of the class according to Barta, are passive resistance to
struggle."71 German imperialism and active struggle
against the anti-worker action of the French
bourgeoisie."7'*
The Lutte Ouvriere Group
In October 1942 the Barta group began to
publish a monthly periodical, La Lutte de
Early History of the Lutte Ouvriere
Classes, which thereafter appeared "with re­
The third major French Trotskyist tendency markable regularity."75 In it, Barta contin­
since the early 1960s has been the Lutte ued to call for transformation of the imperi­
Ouvrifere group (l o ). It traced its origins to a alist war into a civil war, predicting major
faction of the pre-World War II Parti Ouvrier revolutions at the end of the conflict in Ger­
Internationaliste which broke away in 1939 many, Italy, and other European countries.
under the leadership of David Komer, more He opposed participation in the Resistance
generally known as Barta, and his wife, Lou­ and was very critical of what he saw as the
ise.72 From the beginning, the Barta group nationalist weakness of some of the other
adopted a position which was to character­ French Trotskyists/6
ize it and its successors for more than four Although there were some negotiations
decades. According to Jacqueline Pluet-D6s- between the Lutte de Classes group and the
patin, the group argued that "the ideas of other Trotskyist factions during World War
the Russian opposition had not taken root II, these ended with Barta and his friends
in the French working-class milieu because denouncing the "petty-bourgeois" nature of
of control over the proletariat of the country' the other French Trotskyist groups. As a
by two opportunist parties, one of which, consequence, the Lutte de Classes group did
the Communist Party, gained its prestige not participate in unification of French
from the revolution of October. The ideas of Trotskyism which resulted in formation of
the Opposition were disseminated above all the Parti Communiste Internationaliste in
among the intellectuals. . . . The Commu­ March 1944.77
nist Opposition thus acquired a petty-bour- During the war and immediate postwar
geois character, which strongly handicapped periods the Barta group was formally known
the later development of the movement at as the Union Communiste (IVe Internatio­
a moment when the power of proletarian nale). After strong protests by the p c i at the
action in the years 1932 to 1938 should have Barta faction's use of the name of the Inter­
permitted diffusion of its ideas."73 This em­ national, they changed their name in May
phasis on the primordial need to concentrate 1946 to Union Communiste (Trotskyiste).78
agitation among the workers became a hall­ They were in that period more commonly
mark of the Barta group and its successors. known as the Lutte de Classes group.
The Barta group published in November In the immediate postwar period, the
1940 a statement on "the Struggle Against Lutte de Classes group concentrated on try­
the Second Imperialist World War." In it, ing to get a foothold in the labor movement.
they argued, according to Jacqueline Pluet- Although not numbering more than thirty
Despatin, that "the occupation of France by people,. they did succeed in gaining influ­
the armies of the Reich did not give any ence among the workers of the Renault auto
validity to the national problem; if it was plant near Paris. In April-May 1947 they
felt necessary to break down the bastions organized and led a strike in the Renault
of imperialist violence which are Germany plant which gained widespread publicity
and Italy, and refuse Hitler the right of and resulted in substantial gains although
speaking as master, this must be done not a complete triumph for the workers of
through the class struggle." Pluet-Despatin the enterprise.79
added that "the means of carrying this out, After the Renault strike the workers were

398 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

unhappy with the attitude that the c g t had formally constitute itself into a party. It
taken toward their walkout, and decided to took the name again of Union Communiste
organize an independent union, the Syndi- {IVe Internationale), and Voix Ouvriere be­
cat Democratique Renault. The members of came the organ of the revived party.93
the Barta group concentrated their efforts on As was true of most far left groups in
the attempt to firmly establish that union France, the events of 1968 gave a major im­
and perhaps to have it as the core for a rival petus to the development of Voix Ouvriere.
of the c g t . The new union put out a periodi­ Soon after the outbreak of the student strike
cal, La Voix des Travailleurs, and for the and demonstrations in the universities of
time being La Lutte de Classes ceased publi­ Nanterre and Sorbonne, the Voix Ouvriere
cation. However, the union's paper closed group, which had gained some influence
down in January 1949, and in the following among the workers in the factories in
month La Lutte de Classes reappeared.80 Nantes, played a major role in organizing a
The Lutte de Classes group had not had sitdown strike in those plants. They later
the manpower or resources needed to carry said that this was the beginning of what
out the kind of effort it had undertaken with soon became a general strike of French
the Renault workers. As a consequence, workers, with the ostensible support of all
they soon lost their influence in the Renault three existing central labor organizations of
plant and by 1950 had virtually ceased to that time, the c g t , Force Ouvriere, and the
exist as an organized group. La Lutte de Catholic c f d t .84
Classes again ceased to appear in March of A few months after the May 1968 events
that year.81 the group published a special number of
Former members of the group continued their paper describing those events. It partic­
to see one another from time to time, and ularly denounced the role of the Socialists
the events of 1956 provided the impetus for and Communists in curbing workers' mili­
them to reestablish an active political orga­ tancy.85
nization. They got together to organize As a consequence of these events, the
meetings to denounce both the Soviet inva­ Voix Ouvriere group doubled its member­
sion of Hungary and the Anglo-French-Is- ship. Those events also brought down upon
raeli invasion of Egypt, and in the process it—together with most other far left politi­
attracted a few younger people to their cal groups—a decree of the de Gaulle gov­
ranks. ernment illegalizing them. A few months
Reconstituted, the Lutte de Classes group later, however, they were able to reorganize
began once more to try to gain some influ­ under the name Lutte Ouvriere, which was
ence among the workers. They started to the new title of their weekly periodical. As
issue regular factory bulletins every two Lutte Ouvriere, they supported the candi­
weeks which were distributed among work­ dacy of l c r leader Alain Krivine in the 1969
ers of several plants in the Paris area. These presidential election.86
mimeographed bulletins consisted of a po­
litical argument on one side and news about
Electoral Activities of the
the particular plant and the worker's prob­
Lutte Ouvriere
lems in it on the other side. The group also
began to issue a mimeograph version of La During the 1970s the Lutte Ouvriere group
Lutte de Classes. Finally, in 1967, they be­ devoted considerable time and attention to
gan to publish a printed weekly paper, Voix the electoral arena. This was certainly not
Ouvriere, from which they came to be because they felt that they had a chance of
known as the Voix Ouvriere group.81 gaining power through the ballot, but be­
By November 1967 the Voix Ouvriere cause elections provided their candidates
group felt that it had gained sufficiently to with free radio and television time and the

France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 399

I
party as a whole with a chance to establish lists with the Ligue Communiste Revolu­
contacts with workers, peasants, and others tionnaire in the municipal elections.94 The
which otherwise were not available to it.87 l o made perhaps its most spectacular cam­

As has been already noted, in the first paign in the parliamentary election of 1978.
major electoral effort, the parliamentary At that time it refused an electoral arrange­
elections of 1973, Lutte Ouvriere had an ment with the l c r . Instead, it put up 470
electoral alliance with the Ligue Communi­ candidates, one for each of the constituen­
ste Revolutionnaire. l o put up 17 1 candi­ cies in metropolitan France except Corsica,
dates, described by Arlette Laguiller as "all in the first round. It was reported at the time
workers: metal workers, white collar em­ that almost all the nominees were wage or
ployees, postmen, railroaders, specialized salary workers and that 191 were women.95
and professional workers, nurses, techni­ In that election the l o ran Laguiller in the
cians . . . all representative of our move­ department of Puy-de-Dome, in the Massif
ment."88 The votes for the l o candidates Central region, in which there was a small
came to more than 200,000, or about one- industrial town and a surrounding agricul­
tenth of the vote received by the nominees tural area and where they thought she might
of the Communist Party in the same constit­ stand a chance of winning. However, she
uencies.89 In the following year Lutte Ou- only received about 8 percent of the vote
vrifere for the first time ran a candidate for instead of the 20-25 percent they had hoped
president, Arlette Laguiller, who had been would be hers in the first round.96
one of the leaders of a recent bank strike in Leaders of the p c i and l c r accused the
Paris.90 In the first round of that campaign Lutte Ouvrifere of conducting "populist"
the Union of the Left ran Frangois Mitter­ rather than Trotskyist election campaigns,
rand against Jean Chaban-Delmas and of emphasizing that Laguiller was a working
Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the candidates of woman rather than stressing her party's pro­
the Gaullists and other forces on the right. gram. They also pointed out that the l o
In the second round Mitterrand ran against tended to do much better than the other
Giscard d'Estaing and lost. Trotskyist groups principally in the more
In her first television address of the cam­ backward parts of the country.97
paign, Arlette Laguiller explained why she in analyzing the results of the 1984 elec­
and her party felt it important to run in the tions for the European Parliament, the
first round of the poll. She said, "I want to French Pabloist periodical noted that Lutte
say, and repeat, that my candidacy doesn't Ouvriere had received about 2.09 percent of
have for its object to be an obstacle to the the vote throughout France. It commented
election of Mitterrand, far from that." that the distribution of l o ' s vote "reinforces
Rather, she said, "I run to permit the work­ the presumption that the l o vote is more
ers to vote against the Right without giving often a populist vote, of the small against
a blank check to Mitterrand, to permit them the large, the governed against the gover­
to affirm that, whatever the results which nors___ " 98
emerge from the election booths on the eve­ Lutte Ouvriere leaders did not entirely
ning of May 19, it will be their wish to deny the charges of their rivals. They said
change their life, their resolution, which that they did try to appeal to the average
will be the determining one for the worker, to argue ' thaf the bourgeoisie
future."91 cheated them, that it was unfair that the
Arlette Laguiller received over 600,000 people who do all the work received so little
votes in the first round of the 1974 elec­ in return, rather than calling in their elec­
tion.92This amounted to 2.33 percent of the tion speeches for the socialist revolution or
total vote.93 In 1977 Lutte Ouvriere ran joint explaining to the workers their particular

400 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

position on the nature of the Soviet Union Much of the l o ' s time and attention con­
or China, in which they felt the workers tinued to center on the publication and dis­
were not really interested. Insofar as the rel­ tribution of their newspaper. From the mid-
atively good vote of l o in the more backward 19 70s they also published a monthly maga­
parts of the country was concerned, the zine, Lutte de Classe. It was subtitled
Lutte Ouvriere leaders explained this in "Trotskyist Monthly" and bore on its cover
terms of the fact that they sought to offer the slogan, "For the Reconstruction of the
candidates in all parts of the country, and IV International." It carried longer and more
that particularly in the more backward re­ analytical articles than were possible in a
gions workers and peasants were frequently weekly newspaper. For instance, on April
impressed by the fact that the l o nominees 20, 1982, it had a piece attacking the eco­
travelled widely through their constituen­ nomic policies of the Mitterrand govern­
cies, seeking contacts with the more hum­ ment, an extensive article on the guerrilla
ble citizens who usually never saw a candi­ movements in Central America, and a study
date for deputy." of the Italian Red Brigades.102
Lutte Ouvriere organized an annual festi­
val. The newspaper Le Monde noted that at
Other Activities of the
their eighth annual "fete" in May 1978 "the
Lutte Ouvriere
visitors promenaded . . . almost two hun­
Lutte Ouvriere continued to concentrate dred fifty stands, some showing jewels or
much of its attention and activity on the culinary specialties, others presided over by
workers. As they had started to do in the French and foreign revolutionary move­
I950S, they were in the early 1980s still ments, the feminist movement and the pi­
printing and distributing a variety of mim­ rate radios." In the two days of the festival
eographed bulletins for different groups of 20,000 people attended. The festival
workers. An example of such a publication grounds were dotted with banners pro­
was Lutte Ouvri&re PTT Paris 18, distrib­ claiming such things as "the emancipation
uted among postal workers and dated July of the workers is the task of the workers
6, 1982. The front of this throwaway dealt themselves," and "Only one solution: revo­
rather scathingly with the Mitterrand gov­ lution. " Arlette Laguiller made the principal
ernment's recently announced plan to limit address of the festival.103
wage increases. On the reverse side were Unlike the other Trotskyist groups, Lutte
various short items of specific interest to Ouvriere did not maintain a public head­
the postal workers of the Paris region. quarters where meetings open to nonmem­
Lutte Ouvriere continued to work within bers were held and the party's literature was
all three major trade union groups, but par­ for sale. Their explanation for this was that
ticularly in the c g t and the c f d t . Before security considerations made the mainte­
1968 they worked principally within the nance of such a headquarters dangerous.104
c g t , although their trade union militants The Lutte Ouvriere group maintained
were often thrown out of c g t unions by more or less friendly relations with the
Communist leaders of those organizations. Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, al­
When this happened they went into the cor­ though having little or no contact with the
responding Force Ouvriere or c f d t union.100 o c i - p c i . In fact, in the early 1970s the l o

They had some leadership posts in the lower and l c r negotiated on the possibility of uni­
echelons of the three central labor groups. fication and reached a tentative agree­
Probably their most famous trade unionist ment.105These discussions ultimately broke
was Arlette Laguiller, who was an official of down, although various kinds of coopera­
Force Ouvri&re's bank workers' union.101 tion continued. Thus, in 1978, they partici­

1
i France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 401
pated in a public discussion organized by the Internationalist Communist Workers, as
l c r on the issue of Eurocommunism.106 In well as Lutte Ouvriere. It was featured prin­
July 1982 the two groups began publishing cipally by a debate between Lutte Ouvriere
each month a common supplement to their representatives and those from the Interna­
respective weekly papers.107 As we have al­ tional Socialists about the nature and prog­
ready noted, the l o sometimes also cooper­ ress of the Portuguese Revolution.111
ated with the l c r in the electoral field. A Subsequently, Lutte Ouvriere became the
1984 pamphlet of the l c r characterized rela­ center of a small international Trotskyist
tions between the two groups as "fraternal grouping of its own. The other members
and loyal collaboration conducting common were Combat Ouvrier, Spark, and the Afri­
work."10* can Union of Internationalist Communist
Workers, the last of these an organization of
African workers resident in France.112
Ideological Positions and Foreign
Contacts of Lutte Ouvriere
Other French Trotskyist Groups
Lutte Ouvriere held different ideological po­
sitions from the other French Trotskyist In addition to the three major French Trots­
parties. Although they continued to recog­ kyist groups, that is, the Parti Communiste
nize the Soviet Union as being a "degener­ Internationaliste, the Ligue Communiste
ated workers' state/' they denied that other Revolutionnaire, and Lutte Ouvriere, there
Communist Party dominated regimes were also existed by the early 1980s several other
in that category. Those they defined as still organizations which were or had been Trots­
being capitalist. However, they stood ready kyist. Some of these were composed of dissi­
to defend any Communist-dominated re­ dent elements of one or another of the three
gime which was attacked militarily by an major parties.
"imperialist" power.109 Two groups which had broken away from
In part because of its different ideological the o c i - p c i were the Ligue Ouvriere Revolu­
position, Lutte Ouvriere never became asso­ tionnaire and the Tendance Quatrieme In-
ciated with any of the major tendencies temationaliste. The former was the core of
within International Trotskyism. They did the "Varga" group which was expelled from
participate in the 1966 London Conference the o c i in 19 71-7 2 and was affiliated with
of the International Committee of the what was called simply the Fourth Interna­
Fourth International, and submitted a docu­ tional. It published a two-page weekly news­
ment criticizing the ic's characterization of paper, La Verite, which carried the subtitle
all Communist Party-controlled regimes as "Organ of the Ligue Ouvriere Revolu­
"degenerated" or "deformed" workers tionnaire, French Section of the IV Interna­
states, but they did not join the Interna­ tional."113
tional Committee.110 The Tendance Quatrieme In temationa­
Subsequently, Lutte Ouvriere organized a liste also had originated in the o c i -p c i . It
number of international conferences of its consisted of a small group which had broken
own attended by representatives of various away at the time of the expulsion of the
kinds of organizations. For instance, the Argentine group Politica Obrera from the
sixth such meeting, in November 1975, was Lambertist international grouping, the
attended by people from the British Interna­ c o r q i , in 1979.114

tional Socialists, the Italian Lotta Comun­ In the middle of the 1970s a small group
ista group, Combat Ouvrier from the French associated with the International Spartacist
Antilles, Spark from the United States, the tendency, the Ligue Trotskyiste de France,
Spanish p o u m , and the African Union of was established, reportedly as the result of

402 France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others

proselytizing by several members of the whether the group continued to exist in the
Spartacist League of the United States.ns In mid-1980s.
1978 it conducted a strong campaign against By the mid-1980s there were also at least
the Union of the Left, which it labeled a some sympathizers in France of the Interna­
Popular Front. Its slogan was "Comrades, tional Socialist Tendency. They were re­
don't vote for the candidates of the popular portedly represented at an international
front!"11* However, there is no indication meeting of that tendency in Great Britain in
that the Ligue Trotskyiste had any candi­ September 1984.111 No further details are
dates of its own. available about this group.
At the time of the 1981 presidential elec­ Finally, when Michel Pablo broke with
tion the Ligue Trotskyiste expressed its the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
willingness to give "savagely critical sup­ tional in the mid-1960s, a small group of his
port" to the Communist leader Georges followers was established in France. This
Marechais if he would run against Francois was the Alliance Marxiste Revolutionnaire
Mitterrand. Subsequently, they condemned ( a m r ). In 1969 they attempted a policy of
the "betrayal" of Marechais and the p c f for entrism in the Parti Socialiste Unifie, but
remaining in the Union of the Left.117 that experiment proved fruitless and they
In the Fall of 1980 the Ligue Trotskyiste soon broke away again. They then merged
de France began publishing a periodical, Le with another group, the Comite Communi­
Bolshevik. The editor-in-chief was William ste pour Autogestion ( c c a ). However, in De­
Cazenave. It carried on the same kinds of cember 1981 the c c a people withdrew and
campaigns as did the Spartacists else­ reformed their old organization. As was true
where—opposition to Polish Solidarity, sup­ generally of the followers of Pablo, the a m r
port of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, by the early 1980s no longer considered it­
and strong opposition to the Khomeini re­ self a Trotskyiste organization.122
gime in Iran.118
For some years, the Posadas section of In­
Conclusion
ternational Trotskyism also had a tiny group
in France, the Parti Communiste Revolu­ By the early 1980s the French Trotskyist
tionnaire (Trotskyiste), which in August movement was one of the most substantial
196a began publishing a newspaper, Lutte segments of International Trotskyism. The
Communiste. Like publications of other Parti Communiste Intemationaliste was
groups of that tendency, Lutte Communiste certainly one of the largest Trotskyite par­
consisted in large degree of writings and ties anywhere. The Ligue Communiste Rev­
speeches of J. Posadas. The Parti Communi­ olutionnaire and Lutte Ouvriere were con­
ste Revolutionnaire (Trotskyiste) was not siderably smaller, and some of the other
dissolved by the de Gaulle government after groups were minute in size.
the events of May-June 1968, as were most The three major Trotskyite groups all had
of the other Trotskyist groups. It was re­ at least marginal influence in organized la­
ported as late as 1978 to be still pub­ bor, and the p c i was the largest single politi­
lishing.119 cal group among the university students.
The followers of Nahuel Moreno also The three parties were regarded as of suffi­
maintained a very small organization in cient political significance for the metropol­
France after Moreno broke with the United itan press, particularly Le Monde, to report
Secretariat in 1979. Known as the Socialist more or less regularly on their activities.
Workers Group, it began publishing a peri­ Most of the tendencies within Interna­
odical, Tribune Ouvriere, in 1982.120 How­ tional Trotskyism had their French affiliates
ever, no information is available about by the early 1980s. The p c i was the key

! France: PCI, Lutte Ouvriere, and Others 403

organization in one of these tendencies, Trotskyism in the
c o r q i . Similarly, Lutte Ouvrifere was the

center of a small alignment of likeminded

French Antilles
parties and groups. The l c r , for its part, was
one of the major elements of the United
Secretariat of the Fourth International. In
addition, the Vargaites, Spartacists, More-
noists, and followers of Michel Pablo all had Trotskyism did not establish roots in the
small organizations in France. French Antilles, the West Indian French de­
It seemed possible by 1985 that disillu­ partments of Guadeloupe and Martinique,
sionment in the government of Francois until the 1970s. Until then the far left in
Mitterrand and the parties associated with those territories had consisted of local com­
it in the Union of the Left might well present munist parties, some Maoist groups, and the
the Trotskyists of France with new and en­ "autonomist" party, the Parti Progresiste
larged opportunities. Martiniquais led by ex-Communist Aime
Cesaire.
However, in the 1970s and early 1980s or­
ganizations affiliated with three different
tendencies of International Trotskyism were
established. These were the United Secretar­
iat, the Organizing Committee for the Re­
construction of the Fourth International
( c o r q i }, and the small element grouped
around the French party Lutte Ouvriere.
The u s e c affiliate, Groupe Revolution
Socialiste ( g r s —Revolutionary Socialist
Group), had its origins with several leaders
of the Communist Party of Martinique who
were expelled from that party for "Guevar-
ism." Two years later the g r s was formally
established, but it was not until its first con­
gress in December 1973 that it decided to
affiliate with the United Secretariat. At its
inception the g r s was said to have "a follow­
ing among high school students and impor­
tant sectors of the working class."
The g r s soon spread also to Guadeloupe.
It was reported in 1980 that "our organiza­
tion has about one hundred members and
a substantial number of sympathizers. The
largest number are in Martinique, but the
branch in Guadeloupe is very good, being
totally made up of union activists."1
From the beginning, the g r s had a more
or less close association with the u s e c affil­
iate in France. As early as November 1972
the French Ligue Communiste and the g r s
held a joint public meeting in Paris. Early

404 French Antilles

in the following year Alain Krivine, former murder, and the subsequent U.S. invasion
presidential nominee of the Ligue Com­ of Grenada.8
muniste, visited Martinique on behalf of the At the time of the arrest in France in 1985
g r s .2 In the 1974 French elections, in which of a leading Guadeloupean independence ad­
Martinique and Guadeloupe as French de­ vocate, Georges Faisans, the g r s partici­
partments participated, the g r s called upon pated in demonstrations in the island de­
its supporters to vote in the first round for manding his release. Alex Lollia, described
Krivine of the (by then) Ligue Communiste as "a leader of both the Movement for
Revolutionnaire ( l c r ) and in the second United Trade Union Action. . . and the Rev­
round for the Union of the Left nominee, olutionary Socialist Group, broadcast radio
Francois Mitterrand, the same policy as that appeals urging demonstrations on behalf of
of the l c r . However, in the 1981 presiden­ Faisans, who was finally freed by the Mitter­
tial election the g r s called for its followers rand government."9
to abstain to emphasize its program in favor The c o r q i was represented in the French
of independence for the two islands.3 Antilles by the Groupe Trotskyist Antillais
The g r s regularly published a weekly pe­ ( g t a —Antilles Trotskyist Group). The g t a
riodical, Revolution Socialiste, which car­ published a periodical, L‘Alliance Ouvriere
ried the slogan under its banner, "For the a) Paysanne, and held its first congress in
Construction of an Antilles Revolutionary June 1984. The g t a strongly supported inde­
Communist Party." By the early 1980s it pendence not only for Martinique and Gua­
was a four-page printed publication carrying deloupe but for French Guiana. It greeted
political and labor news from Martinique the massive abstention of the voters of those
and Guadeloupe as well as articles dealing three departments during the 1984 Euro­
with events elsewhere—in one issue, for in­ pean parliament elections as an indication
stance, about Solidarity in Poland and the of rapidly growing sentiment for separation
situation in Haiti.4 from France.10
The members of the g r s kept in contact Relations between the g t a and the g r s
with revolutionary developments in other were sometimes strained. On at least some
parts of the Caribbean. In 1982 it arranged occasions soon after establishment of the
for a trip of some of its youth group to revo­ g t a there were physical clashes between

lutionary Grenada;5 in the same year one of members of the two groups.11
its leaders, Vincent Placely, was a member The oldest of the three Trotskyist groups
of a prize jury of the Cuban Casa de las in the French Antilles was that associated
Americas.6 with Lutte Ouvriere in France. As early as
The g r s held its Fifth Congress in March 1965 those in the Antilles associated with
1982. A resolution adopted there called Lutte Ouvriere issued a proclamation, "The
upon workers of the Antilles to take advan­ Flag of the Masses Will Be the Red Flag,"
tage of the greater freedom to operate that which was published in the November 16,
was being provided by the new government 1965, issue of Lutte Ouvriere. It proclaimed
of President Francois Mitterrand to work for its support for independence rather than au­
the independence of the area.7 tonomy for Guadeloupe, and urged that the
At the time of the overthrow of Maurice struggle must be made "in the name of the
Bishop in Grenada the g r s protested. They international proletariat, the only force ca­
also made telephone contact with some of pable of participating in the socialist strug­
Bishop's associates who were under house gle on a world scale." It attacked a Maoist
arrest. The g r s also organized public dem­ group then active in Guadeloupe, the
onstrations in both Martinique and Guade­ Groupe d'Organization Nationale de Guade­
loupe against the overthrow and Bishop's loupe ( g o n g ), as being "nationalistic."12

1
i French Antilles 405
!
 By the late 1970s the Lutte Ouvriere group German Trotskyism
in the Antilles was publishing its own peri­
odical, Combat Ouvriere, a weekly. It car­ Before World War II
ried under its banner the description, "Revo­
lutionary Communist (Trotskyist)
Weekly." It also carried the slogans, "For
the construction of a revolutionary labor
party in Martinique and in Guadeloupe; For
the emancipation of the peoples of Marti­
nique and Guadeloupe; For the reconstruc­
tion of the IV International."13 During the earliest years of the history of the
Trotskyist movement, events in Germany
played a leading role in the evolution of Leon
Trotsky's ideas without the movement's
having a group of major importance in that
country. The rapid rise in the power of the
Nazi Party, began about a year after the
launching of International Trotskyism and
was a major factor in molding Trotsky's
ideas concerning the United Front. The tri­
umph of the Hitlerites in January 1933 in
the face of virtually no resistance from the
Communists was the principal factor in
Trotsky's coming to the conclusion that re­
form of the Comintern and its member par­
ties was impossible, thus turning Trotsky
and his followers from a "faction" of the
Communist movement into a rival to it,
certainly one of the most fundamental
changes of direction to take place during the
more than half century of the existence of
International Trotskyism.
During this same period German Trotsky­
ism remained relatively weak. It was partic­
ularly cursed with the malady of factional­
ism which then and later was one of the
characteristics of the whole Trotskyist
movement. Some of the issues in these fac­
tional disputes were the same ones which
in the 19 30s and afterward were to be sub­
jects of controversy within the movement
generally: the nature of the Soviet Union,
the relationship of International Trotsky­
ism to the Stalinists, the issue of "entrism,"
and the allegedly "bureaucratic" behavior of
Trotsky and other principal leaders of the
movement. The factionalism continued
when German Trotskyism became a move­
ment of exiles, and still marked it four de­

406 Germany: Before World War II

cades after the overthrow of the Nazi Subsequently, under the leadership of Ruth
regime. Fischer and Arkady Maslow, Zinoviev's
close allies, a process of "Bolshevization"
was carried out in the k p d , eliminating any­
High Regard for Trotsky in Early kpd
one suspected of dissidence with the current
party leadership.3
Maurice Stobnicer has noted the particu­ However, in November 1925, only three
larly high regard in which Trotsky was held months after the Tenth Congress of the k p d
during the years before Lenin's death in the had confirmed the control of Fischer-Mas-
German Communist Party ( k p d ). He was low over the party, a national party confer­
particularly close to Heinrich Brandler, the ence forced their removal from the Political
co-leader of the k p d in the period just prior Bureau and converted the Fischer-Maslow
to Lenin's demise. When Brandler, August group into one of the "opposition" faction.4
Thalheimer, and other k p d leaders were By the end of 1926 virtually all of the leaders
planning the abortive uprising of October of the Fischer-Maslow faction had been ex­
1923, they requested the presence of Trots­ pelled from the German Communist Party.5
ky in Germany to advise them on their prep­ After a series of meetings of those who had
arations, a request which Zinoviev, the head been expelled, a new "Left Opposition" or­
of the Comintern, succeeded in getting ganization, the Leninbund, was established
turned down. at a conference in Berlin in March 1928.6
Even after the beginning of the struggle
in the Soviet Communist Party, Trotsky's
popularity in the German party continued The Leninbund
for some time. His picture was prominently
mounted on the wall of the room in which One of the many organizations of dissident
the k p d regional congress in the Middle Communists outside the Soviet Union to
Rhine was held in February 1924, and the react favorably at first to Trotsky's call for
k p d paper Rote Fahne carried as late as Sep­ the formation of an international movement
tember 23, 1924, an announcement of a Ber­ of the Left Opposition was the Leninbund.
lin meeting organized by the party in honor Among those who had helped to establish
of Trotsky. Karl Radek is said to have com­ the group were several temporarily exiled
mented during this period that if the Rus­ Soviet leaders, including the Zinovievist
sian Central Committee majority turned Georges Safarov and the Trotskyist Eleazar
against Trotsky, the German Party would Solntsev. At its inception, according to
still align itself with him.1 Pierre Brou6, the Leninbund had "several
This situation did not last for long. The thousand" members/
leadership of Brandler and Thalheimer in Although the Leninbund included both
the k p d was repudiated and condemned by followers of Zinoviev and of Trotsky, at its
the Comintern, under Zinoviev's tutelage, inception its principal leaders were Arkady
and a new leadership of the "Center-Left" Maslow, Ruth Fischer, and Hugo Urbahns,
was put in place in the German party. Even who were Zinovievists rather than Trotsky­
Brandler sought to distance himself from ists. Maslow was instrumental in launching
Trotsky, and Stobnicer has noted that "in its periodical, Volkswille (People's Will)*
1925 the German Communists were Brand- Fischer and Maslow did not long remain
lerians, Fischerians, centrists, or leftists, but in the Leninbund. When in May 1928 the
no group expressed support for Trotsky. To Presidium of the Executive Committee of
declare oneself Trotskyist would signify en­ the Comintern made a tentative offer to
tering into combat against the leadership of allow Leninbund members who were will­
the Russian party and the International."2 ing to "condemn immediately as antiprole­

Gerraany: Before World War II 407

tarian and counterrevolutionary the activity changes of private letters, "open letters,"
of the Maslow-Fischer-Urbahns group," and and published discussions and polemics.
"who would retire immediately from the On the issue raised by the controversy
Bund and demand the dissolution of the or­ between the Chiang Kai-shek government
ganization," Maslow and Fischer accepted in China and the Soviet regime over the
this proposition and withdrew from the Le­ continuation of Soviet control of the Chi­
ninbund.9 Needless to say, they were not nese Eastern Railway in Manchuria,
accepted back into the k p d . 10However, with Trotsky, in an article entitled "The Defense
their withdrawal, the principal role in the of the Soviet Union and the Opposition,"
leadership of the Leninbund fell to Hugo accused Urbahns of seeking "to straddle the
Urbahns. fence" on the question. He summed up his
For some time the Leninbund under Ur- criticism of the Urbahns position by saying
bahns's direction continued to be publicly that "stripped of its reservations, equivoca­
friendly to Trotsky. Maurice Stobnicer has tions, and all other loopholes, its gist comes
noted with regard to 1927-1929 that "it was down to the following formula: Since the
above all in the place reserved for Trotsky national revolution triumphed in China,
in its press that the Leninbund served to while the counterrevolution has triumphed
some degree as an unofficial organ of Trots­ (or virtually triumphed, or is ineluctably
kyism in Germany. . .. During this period, bound to triumph) in Russia, therefore it
there was scarcely a number of Volkswille follows that—what follows? The article
or of Die Fahne des Kommunismus which does not give a clear answer. Its eclectic
didn't contain one or several articles of philosophy performs precisely the service of
Trotsky, or didn't take a position in his fa­ dodging a clear-out answer. . . ." 12
vor, or make reference to his writings. In Even more fundamental than Urbahns's
that period, the press of the Leninbund is disagreement with Trotsky over the Sino-
the tribune of Trotsky in Germany."11 Soviet dispute of 1929 was his different in­
terpretation of the issue of "Thermidor," in
essence, whether a counterrevolution had
Controversy With Urbahns
or had not taken place in the USSR under
From the moment Trotsky went into exile, Stalin's leadership, as had occurred in
differences arose between Hugo Urbahns France after the execution of Robespierre.
and those associated with him in the leader­ This disagreement clearly led to basic differ­
ship of the Leninbund, on the one hand, and ences of opinion over the class nature of the
Leon Trotsky and elements within the Le­ Soviet regime.
ninbund who were loyal to him and his Trotsky, in the article already cited, ar­
ideas, on the other. These centered on four gued that "the formula of Thermidor is of
issues: the 1929 conflict between the Soviet course a conditional formula, like every his­
Union and China over the Chinese Eastern torical analogy. When I employed this for­
Railway, the question of the nature of the mula for the first time against Zinoviev and
Soviet Union, the status of the Left Opposi­ Stalin, I immediately underscored its
tion as a "faction" of the Comintern, and wholly conditional character."13
the alleged "nationalism" of Urbahns and Trotsky went on to explain that "Thermi­
his colleagues. dor in France was preceded by a period of
Apparently Trotsky several times invited reaction which unfolded while the power
Urbahns to come to Prinkipo to discuss vari­ remained in the hands of the plebeians, the
ous matters with him, but Urbahns resisted city's lower classes. Thermidor crowned
those invitations. As a consequence, the this preparatory period of reaction by an out-
growing controversy took the form of ex­ and-out political catastrophe, as a result of

408 Germany: Before World War II

which the plebeians lost power... . Thermi- Thermidor was proclaimed as accom­
dor. . . indicates the direct transfer of power plished. . .. Unfortunately the leadership of
into the hands of a different class, after the Leninbund is stubbornly trying to con­
which the revolutionary class cannot regain vert this blunder into a basic line. Volks-
power except through an armed uprising."14 wille of February i x carries a resolution on
Trotsky argued that that had not occurred the situation in Russia in connection with
in the Soviet Union, in spite of the tenden­ my deportation. This resolution flatly
cies toward Thermidor under Stalin. He said states: 'This is Thermidor' . . . and it goes
that "the fact that the Soviet proletariat on to add: 'Hence flows the necessity for the
found it beyond its strength to prevent the Russian proletariat to fight for all liberties
organizational crushing of the Opposition against the Stalinist regime so that it may
represented naturally a highly alarming find itself equipped to cope with the im­
symptom. But on the other hand, Stalin pending open counterrevolution."17
found himself driven, simultaneously with Trotsky also cited a comment in an article
the crushing of the Left Opposition, to pla­ in Die Fahne des Kommunismus to the ef­
giarize partially from its program in all Helds fect that "Stalinist rule can no longer be
. .. and to convert an internal party maneu­ regarded as representing the working class
ver into a very sharp and prolonged zigzag and it must therefore be combatted by any
to the left. This shows that despite every­ and all means." He concluded that "it is
thing the proletariat still possesses powers hardly surprising that with such a position
to exert pressure and that the state apparatus Urbahns is obliged to make ever more fre­
still remains dependent on it. Upon this quent declarations to the effect that he is
cardinal fact the Russian Opposition must not 'one hundred percent in agreement' with
continue to base its own policy, which is the the Russian Opposition."18
policy of leform and not of revolution." ls Together with disagreements over the na­
Trotsky also used another argument, ture of the Soviet Union, Urbahns and his
which he and his followers were to repeat friends disagreed with Trotsky on the nature
many times over in later discussions of of the Opposition. Urbahns was "prema­
these same issues, to indicate that Thermi­ ture" in coming to the conclusion that the
dor was not an accomplished fact and that Left Opposition should be a rival party to
the USSR therefore remained essentially a the Comintern and not consider itself a "fac­
workers' state. He noted that "the means of tion" of that Stalin-dominated organization,
production, once the property of the capital­ a conclusion which Trotsky was not to
ists, remain to this very day in the hands of reach for almost four years.
the Soviet state. The land is nationalized. In the document we have been referring
The exploiting elements are still excluded to Trotsky observed that "it is beyond doubt
from the soviets and from the army. The that at the bottom of many of Comrade Ur-
monopoly of foreign trade remains a bul­ bahns's mistakes is his incorrect attitude
wark against the economic intervention of toward the official Communist Party. To
capitalism. All these are not trifles. . . ." 16 regard the Communist Party—not its appa­
Trotsky said that in contrast to his own ratus of functionaries but its proletarian
position, Urbahns argued that the Thermi- core and the masses that follow it—as a fin­
dorean reaction had already taken place. He ished, dead and buried organization is to fall
cited an article in the Leninbund theoretical into sectarianism. As a revolutionary fac­
organ Die Fahne des Kommunismus which tion, the Leninbund could have played a big
"drew an identity between the deportation role. But it cut off its own road to growth by
of Trotsky and the guillotining of Robes­ its pretensions, which to say the least are
pierre and his companions. In other words, not justified, to play the role of a second

t Germany: Before World War II 409

i
party."'9 Later, Trotsky added that "it must some other dissident German Opposi­
be clearly understood that the Leninbund is tionists without breaking openly with the
a faction and not a party. Hence flows a Leninbund.24
definite policy toward the party [especially Trotsky also asked Kurt Landau, a young
during elections)."20 Austrian whom Trotsky had invited to
Finally, Trotsky accused Urbahns and the come to Prinkipo to be his German-language
Leninbund leadership of a kind of national­ secretary but who had refused the invita­
ism disguised as a criticism of the "bureau­ tion, to go to Germany to try to straighten
cracy" of Trotsky and those closest to him. out the problems of the German Opposition.
Trotsky noted, that "I am very much afraid According to Hans Schafranek, "Trotsky
that Comrade Urbahns's conduct is not dic­ asked Landau to bring about in Germany
tated by his desire to intervene actively in the organizational reunification-of the Left
Russian affairs—which could only be wel­ Oppositionists, in the center of the struggle
comed—but, on the contrary, by his desire against fascism, the rise of which the Kom-
to keep the German Opposition separate and intem was neglecting in a criminal fashion."
apart from the Russian. We must watch vigi­ Landau went to Berlin in September I929.*5
lantly lest under the guise of struggle against Alfred Rosmer had originally planned to
bureaucratism there intrench themselves bring Landau to Paris to help him put out a
within the Left Opposition tendencies of na­ German-language edition of an interna­
tionalistic isolationism and ideological sep­ tional Trotskyist periodical. When Trotsky
aratism, which in turn would lead inescap­ asked Landau to go to Berlin, Rosmer wrote
ably to bureaucratic degeneration—only not to Trotsky, "You take Landau from me and
on an international but national scale."11 I cannot complain. It is certain that, in the
As the controversy with Urbahns in­ present situation, he can be more useful in
creased, Trotsky sent various personal and Berlin than in Paris. I have just received a
political friends from other countries to try letter from him in which he recounts what
to help sort out the German situation and he has done. He already has around him a
aid in the establishment of a really Trotsky­ base in the Leninbund .. . who can change
ist Opposition "faction" in Germany. The the political line of the Leninbund. In any
first to go to Berlin was Alfred Rosmer, then case, Urbahns doesn't any longer have abso­
Trotsky's closest associate in France. He re­ lute power .. . and the existence of a minor­
ported to Trotsky in a letter dated August 4, ity will oblige a certain amount of wisdom
1929, that "the long interview with Urbahns on his part. . . . "15
and several members of his Central Com­ By early 1930 the conflict between
mittee has been painful and unpleasant. Trotsky and Urbahns had reached the point
He also observed that "in his Central Com­ that Trotsky wrote an "Open Letter to All
mittee he behaves like a perfect autocrat, Members of the Leninbund." Trotsky ar­
communicating what he wishes, deciding gued that Urbahns and his colleagues were
everything himself, and no one has the forti­ isolated internationally and denounced Ur­
tude to resist him ."M Rosmer concluded bahns's expulsion of two of Trotsky's adher­
that Urbahns was "very dangerous for us, ents, Anton Grylewicz and Jako (Joseph
and not likely to change." He suggested to Kohn, an Austrian member of the group). He
Trotsky that the best way to "gather around concluded by saying thafe "these questions
us the good elements of the Leninbund and are far more important than the petty squab­
the comrades alienated from us by the policy bles on which Urbahns bases his prosecu­
of Urbahns" would be to start publication tor's indictment. The fate of your organiza­
of a German-language journal from Paris tion is at stake. Every member of the
which would be critical of Urbahns and Leninbund should understand that follow­

410 Germany: Before World War II

ing the split in the Leninbund it will become ninbund was not easy to carry out. There
completely transformed into an Urbahns- was opposition to unity from both sides.
bund, that is, a tiny national sect, without Nevertheless, early in March 1930
any importance, without a future, without Trotsky, in reporting to his Russian com­
perspectives. This means that a choice must rades, said that "in Germany the Marxist
be made. And for a genuine revolutionist it Left Opposition has finally dissolved its ties
is not so very difficult to choose!"17 with the Urbahns faction through a split in
Maurice Stobnicer has noted that after the the Leninbund. Within the next few days,
split of the Trotskyists from the Leninbund its Marxist wing is expected to unite once
it "lost importance rapidly." He adds that and for all with the Wedding group (a plat­
"in fact, in spite of the heroism of certain of form for unity has been worked out), and to
its militants, the Leninbund could not avoid undertake the publication of a weekly."31
becoming a little sect without influence and This unification of the pro-Trotsky ele­
above all without historic continuity."18 ments of the German Left Opposition took
place at a conference on March 30, 1930,
when it formed the United Left Opposition
The Struggle Against Nazism
of Germany (v l o ). The unity conference was
attended by Pierre Naville of the French
The United Opposition
Trotskyist movement and the American
The place of the Leninbund in the Interna­ Max Shachtman. The latter had just come
tional Left Opposition was taken by the from a visit to Trotsky in Prinkipo.31
United Opposition. This was formed by dis­ Trotsky had doubts about the solidity of
sidents from the Leninbund and members the new organization which in view of later
of the so-called Wedding Opposition. The developments were rather prophetic. On
unification of these groups was not easy, and April 3 he wrote a Russian supporter, Valen­
even after it was achieved it proved to be tin Olberg, who was active in the German
difficult to maintain. movement:
The Wedding Opposition consisted of a
group of Communists in the working-class I don't want just now to go back over the
Wedding section of Berlin led by Alexander conflicts that preceded unification and
Muller and Hans Weber. They had been in delayed it for a number of weeks. I don't
contact with the Russian Opposition since at all think that only the opposition of the
at least 1 927 and for some time had been the Leninbund was to blame. Quite recently
only part of the German party which had I received letters against the unification
maintained relations with the Soviet oppo­ from very responsible members of the
nents of Stalin.29 Wedding group. Without a doubt there
During his visit to Germany in the sum­ exist in both the former and the latter not
mer of 1929, Alfred Rosmer had made con­ a few elements embittered and poisoned
tact with the Wedding Opposition. At that by the past . . . it is absolutely clear that
time he reported that its members in Berlin the main difficulties, not only those of a
had been "dispersed," but that they had a general political nature . . . but also those
group of colleagues in Pfals in the Palatinate relating to the merging of the two groups,
with 300 members.30 are still to come. It is extremely impor­
The Wedding Opposition was much tant that within the unified Opposition
closer to Trotsky than the Leninbund, a nucleus of 'unity patriots' be formed,
which was, after all, of Zinovievist origin, composed, of course, of the best represen­
but the merger of the Wedding Opposition tatives of both old groups. A body of opin­
with the pro-Trotskyist elements of the Le­ ion within the United Opposition must

Germany: Before World War II 411

 be formed which will reject any intrigues headed by Georg Jungclas, and from Konigs-
by groups of individuals. In case of immi­ berg, Hamborn, and other centers joined the
nent danger, timely internal measures United Left Opposition.
must be taken, and, if need be, you should Second, there was a group formed at the
resort to the aid of representatives of the end of 1929 in Leipzig led by Ruvim and
International Opposition.33 Avram Sobolevicius (Roman Well and Adolf
Senin), described by Stobnicer as being "not
Two of the most important figures in the very numerous but very active." That group
new United Opposition were Anton Gry­ was soon joined by Erwin Ackerknecht (Er­
lewicz and Oscar Siepold. Grylewicz was a win or Eugen Bauer), a former Young Com­
metal worker by trade and had been a leader munist leader.35
of the Left within the German Communist A third group was the Wedding Opposi­
Party, and one of the planners of the abortive tion, both in Berlin and in the Palatinate. In
revolution of 1923. He had been a founder the latter area it had groups in Ludwigsha-
of the Leninbund but had fought first against fen, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe, Mannheim,
the leadership of Ruth Fischer and Maslow, Neustadt, and other cities.36
and then against that of Urbahns, arguing Soon after its foundation the United Op­
consistently for the positions of Trotsky on position began to gain some influence
various issues. within the Communist Party, many of
Oscar Siepold was a naturalized German whose members were disoriented by the at­
citizen of Russian origin and a German tacks of the k p d on the Social Democrats in
Communist Party (kpd) member who had the name of the "theory of social fascism,"
been an alternate deputy to the Prussian and in the face of the sudden and dramatic
Landtag. When the deputy whose alternate rise in the strength of the Nazis. Ten dele­
he was, B. Meyer, died, Siepold succeeded to gates to a conference of the Wedding section
his seat on February 9, 1930. Two weeks of the k p d in May 1930 signed a resolution
later on February 22, when he refused the of the Trotskyists. When the k p d expelled
Communist Party's demand that he resign those delegates from the conference, thirty
the post, he was expelled from the k p d .34He others openly protested. The Trotskyists
immediately joined the United Opposition also made some headway in the Communist
when it was formed and he was the only "transmission belts," the League of Free
Trotskyist provincial legislator in Europe at Thinkers and Red Aid, as well as in the Con­
that point. (The Chilean and Belgian groups struction Workers Federation.37
were the only Trotskyists to have national Although having its principal strength in
legislators in the 1930s.) the beginning in the Berlin region and the
Maurice Stobnicer has noted the elements Palatinate, the United Opposition gained
which entered the United Left Opposition adherents and local branches in several
at its inception. "The former Leninbundists, other parts of the country. In a letter of Feb­
grouped around Anton Grylewicz and Jako ruary 1931 Leon Trotsky noted having re­
(Joseph Kohn) were particularly important ceived communications from Opposition
in Berlin, where the split with the Le­ comrades in Hamburg and Saxony.38 In that
ninbund involved about fifty percent of the same document Trotsky commented that
members. . . . In Berlin, the Left Opposition "the Leipzig organization is the strongest
was present in all of the wards, particularly and most active organization of the Left Op­
Charlottenberg, where Oskar Hippe led a position in Germany. The positive features
group of more than forty Trotskyists." of this organization are indisputable: active
Shortly, Leninbund groups from Frankfurt/ and successful attempts to penetrate into
Main led by Fritz Belleville, from Hamburg the ranks of the party; proletarian activity;

412 Germany: Before World War II

organizational initiative. In general, just continued his attack on Landau. Although
those qualities that the Opposition has been in October 1930 Landau's place in the Inter­
lacking until now."39 national Bureau was reconfirmed, the at­
tacks on him did not cease. As a conse­
quence, Landau used his influence within
The Defection of Kuit Landau
the leadership to demote some of his oppo­
It was Kurt Landau, the youngish Trotskyist nents and expell others. But this did not end
from Austria who had been instrumental in the factional fighting.44
organizing the United Opposition, who was Trotsky finally threw his total support be­
to be the first important defector from it. He hind the Well faction and against Landau.
had been elected to the provisional national He did so in a document, "The Crisis in the
directorate of the United Opposition and German Left Opposition," which he ad­
was particularly active in editing its periodi­ dressed as "A Letter to all Sections of the
cal, Der Kommtmist. Shortly after the for­ International Left," dated February 17 ,19 31.
mation of the German United Opposition Trotsky's onslaught on Kurt Landau was
Landau was chosen to represent it in the clearly influenced by disagreements be­
International Bureau established at the first tween the two men on issues outside of Ger­
conference of the International Left Opposi­ many. Trotsky started his "Letter", with a
tion in Paris.40 Maurice Stobnicer has noted long attack on the "Mahnruf Group" in Aus­
that "with good reason, Landau passed then, tria, with which Landau had been associated
in the years 1929-30, as Trotsky's man in before going to Germany (on Trotsky's re­
Berlin, as his accredited representative. quest), objected to Landau's continued back­
«4l
ing of that group, and also strongly criticized
However, in a meeting of the leadership of Landau for supporting "the minority" in the
the United Opposition in June 1930 Ruvim French Left Opposition, apparently meaning
Sobolevicius (or Sobolevitch) opened a Alfred Rosmer and his followers.
strong attack on Landau, accusing him of Thereafter, Trotsky gave his assessment
"panic" in the face of the gains by the Nazis of the situation in the German organization.
and predicting a change in the line of the He started out by attacking the quality of
k p d . Many years later it became known that leadership which Landau had provided up
Sobolevicius (who used the name Roman until that point. On this, he said,
Well in the German Trotskyist movement
and many years later was known in the The misfortune of the Berlin Executive,
United States as Robert Soblen) had been an led by Comrade Landau, is that it has not
agent of the Soviet secret police, probably and could not attain even the slightest
since 1927. There is considerable reason to authority. It is sufficient to recall the fact
believe, therefore, that Well's assault on that this Executive held an extremely
Landau had as its real purpose the sowing of miserable conference in October, which
dissension within the German Trotskyist did not adopt a resolution on a single im­
ranks.41 If that was the case, it certainly suc­ portant question. There are not many
ceeded. such examples in the history of revolu­
At the same June 1930 meeting Well in­ tionary organizations! The weakness of
sisted on including in the leadership of the the Executive on questions of real revolu­
United Opposition Jakob Frank (also known tionary leadership is obvious. This weak­
as Max Graf), like SoboleviciuS'Well of Lith­ ness is entirely comprehensible in itself.
uanian origin, who was likewise later shown Lack of preparation and experience can
to have been a g p u agent.43 Well, who suc­ be overcome only in the course of time.
ceeded in rallying others to his point of view, However, the deep mistake of the Execu­

Germany: Before World War II 413

 tive and particularly of Comrade Landau suspicions and accusations. 4. In all cases
consists in the fact that the less its leader­ where organizational conflicts and objec­
ship gives to the organization, the more tions come to the fore, an examination
blind obedience it demands from it.45 must be referred to the International Sec­
retariat. . . . 5. The Kommunist must open
In contrast, Trotsky praised Well and his
its columns to the articles of both groups
associates. After citing Landau's earlier fa­ for discussion. The theses and counter­
vorable comments on Well, Trotsky said
theses for the German national confer­
that "it is clear that Landau, with his charac­ ence must be published in the Interna­
terization, considers Well a revolutionary,
tional Bulletin in several languages, not
firm in principle and destined for a leading less than four weeks before the opening
role. A more praiseworthy characterization
of the conference.48
can hardly be given."46
Trotsky also strongly defended Jan Fran-
However, Trotsky's intervention on be­
kel, one of his former secretaries, who was
half of the Well faction did not resolve the
associated with Well. He wrote that "in re­
schism within the so-called United Opposi­
plying to the letter of Comrade Frankel with
tion. The, International Secretariat (is) also
little twists, Comrade Landau, as is always
intervened by sending Pierre Frank, the
the method in unprincipled struggle, seeks
righthand man of Raymond Molinier in the
to discredit Frankel personally: a green stu­
French organization and member of the is,
dent, Trotsky's secretary, etc. If I am not
to Berlin. But in spite of Frank's mission,
mistaken, Comrade Landau belongs to the
the German Opposition split on May 31,
same category of employees as Frankel . . . 49
i93i
the difference consists in this—that the let­
The faction of the former United Opposi­
ter of Frankel contains indisputable facts
tion led by Landau, of which Hans
and political criticism, whereas Landau's re­ Schwalback and Alexander Muller were also
ply is full of tricks and insinuations."*7
important figures, continued to publish Dei
Trotsky also attacked Landau for alleg­
Kommunist. It had only about 300 mem­
edly refusing to engage in discussion of ideo­
bers. The group attempted to put into prac­
logical and programmatic differences, and
tice the policy of the united front, particu­
resorting instead to disciplinary action
larly during the transport strike in Berlin
against Well and his supporters. Finally,
in November 1932. With the advent of the
Trotsky suggested a line of procedure to
Nazis to power the Landau group held an
solve the crisis within the German Oppo­
illegal conference in March 1933 where it
sition.
was decided to issue an underground period­
Trotsky's proposals were:
ical, Der Funke, which gained circulation
i. It is necessary to put a stop to all repri­ among not only some elements of the Com­
sals, expulsions, and removals in connec­ munist Party but also among adherents of
tion with the factional struggle in the the left-wing Social Democratic group, the
German Opposition . . . 2. A special Con­ Socialist Workers Party (s a p ). However, by
trol Commission, as authoritative as pos­ July 1934 the Landau group had been virtu­
sible, must cooperate with the Interna­ ally liquidated by the Gestapo.50
tional Secretariat in examining the appeal Landau also sought to establish an inter­
made by the comrades . . . who have al­ national organization of dissident Trotsky­
ready been expelled, and give its decision. ist parties and groups. A conference was held
3. The conference must be prepared in in Berlin in April 1932 of delegates from
advance in such a manner that the mode groups in Germany, Austria, France, Hun­
of representation will allow no ground for gary, Greece, the United States, Belgium,

414 Germany: Before World War II

and Italy.51 Nothing permanent seems to lewicz, Eugen Bauer, Georg Jungclas, Bruno,
have resulted from this meeting. Oskar Hippe, Helmuth Schneeweiss, Eric
Kohn and three or four Hamburg students.
. .. Trotsky also had a discussion with
The United Opposition After
Senin-Soblevicius, an East European active
Landau’s Departure
in Germany."55
After the split of Kurt Landau, who took On his meeting with his German friends,
the organization's newspaper with him, the Trotsky wrote in his report "On the State of
United Opposition began to publish another the Left Oppositions" that "the reports of
periodical, Die Permanente Revolution.51 the German comrades, as well as the compo­
Writing "A Letter to the National Sections" sition of the delegation, have proved beyond
in December 19 3 1, half a year after Landau's a doubt that in the ranks of the German
split, Leon Trotsky wrote of the German section there exists a serious cadre of work­
Opposition that "it is precisely in recent ing-class Communists who are adequately
times that it has experienced a serious qualified politically and at the same time are
growth and is becoming an extraordinarily connected with mass organizations. That is
important factor in the policy of the German a very great achievement from which we
working class. The main reasons, naturally, must start and build further. In the first
lie in the objective conditions.. . . The pres­ place, we must assure a composition of the
ent situation in Germany also demonstrates leadership which is more proletarian and
very graphically how important it was for more bound up with the masses."56 In Co­
the International Left Opposition to free it­ penhagen, Trotsky also was made acutely
self at the right time from alien elements aware of the fact that the German organiza­
and ambiguous travelling- companions," tion was still suffering from internal dissen­
meaning both the Urbahns and Landau sion. His "discussion" with Avram Sobolev­
groups.53 icius dealt with this problem.
In this same letter Trotsky wrote a "PS" This time, it was Roman Well (Ruvin So­
in which he said, "If it is true that Germany bolevicius) and his brother Avram whom
is at the present time the key to the interna­ Trotsky had supported so strongly a few
tional situation, the conclusion follows that months before in his quarrel with Kurt Lan­
the main link of the i l o (International Left dau, who were at the root of the dissidence.
Opposition) now is the German section. It In his report "On the State of the Opposi­
lacks financial and technical means. If a tion," Trotsky complained about this new
weekly paper is especially needed anywhere, outbreak of factionalism, which centered on
then it is in Germany. The demand for the the relationship the Trotskyists should have
Opposition press in the circle of the German with the k p d and about the fact that too
workers increases rapidly. There is no doubt much publicity was being given to the quar­
that a weekly paper would have wide circu­ rel in the newspaper Die Permanente Revo­
lation. All the sections must set themselves lution.57
the task: to help the German section issue Trotsky tried to assuage the situation
a weekly organ."54 among his German followers. In a commu­
In December 1932, during his short visit nication to "the Leadership of the German
to Copenhagen, Trotsky was able to enter Left Opposition," he noted that Senin had
into personal contact with some German complained to him in Copenhagen that his
followers. Among the Left Oppositionists brother felt slighted by Trotsky, "claiming
from various countries who conferred with that I corresponded only with his opponents
Trotsky in the Danish capital were at least and not with him." Trotsky added that in a
ten or eleven from Germany: "Anton Gry­ letter he had given Senin, "I proposed . . .

Germany: Before World War II 415

to call a calm, harmonious conference of Remscheid, Dresden, Mautzon, Hamburg,
action, without having a suspicion of the and Ludwigshafen.60
differences of opinion recently formulated Given the small size of their organization,
by Well/' and noted that "I have long ago the German Trotskyists did a good job of
seen that he takes a vacillating position on distributing their periodical and other publi­
many questions." cations. The newspaper Permanente Revo­
Trotsky then observed that "what Well is lution was printed generally with a run of
now putting in question is nothing else than 5,000 copies, of which 3,000 were sold by
the right to existence of the Left Opposition. subscription. Stobnicer has noted that it was
He, Well, thinks everything will go well not so much the prose of Landau, Well,
enough even without Bolshevik-Leninists, Bauer, Grylewicz, and others which the
and that between Stalin and the Kremlin readers sought in the Trotskyist press. "It
and Trotsky and Barnaul there exist little was above all the pen, the vigorous style
misunderstandings because all of them fail and the brilliant analysis of Trotsky himself
to understand his, Well's ideas. .. ."SB which interested very large elements of the
Finally, in January 1933, a few days before German labor movement." This was partic­
Hitler came to power, Well put out a coun­ ularly clear in the sales of pamphlets by
terfeit issue of Die Permanente Revolution Trotsky. Tens of thousands of copies were
supporting the positions of the German sold, and Stobnicer has commented that
Communist Party, which he officially "Trotsky is undoubtedly a best seller... ."61
joined.59As his later career indicated, Well's
abandonment of the ranks of the Trotskyists
The Struggle for the United Front
did not end his service to the Soviet secret
police. The German Trotskyists concentrated
much attention and propaganda during the
1930-1933 period on trying to convince
Size of German Trotskyism
leaders and members of the Social Demo­
Before Hitler
cratic and Communist parties to join forces
German Trotskyism remained a small in a United Front to confront the growing
movement in the period before the advent Nazi menace. In these efforts they particu­
of Hitler to power, although it was fairly larly had to deal with the "Third Period"
widely dispersed around the country. Mau­ sectarianism of the k p d and the Comintern.
rice Stobnicer has noted that the Internal The Stalinist line during this period cen­
Bulletin of the organization claimed at the tered on three basic notions. First, the Social
end of 19 3 2 that it had at most 706 members, Democrats were "social fascists," in no fun­
a figure which was confirmed by the police. damental way distinguishable from the N a­
Stobnicer has added that "this was perhaps zis, and in view of their influence among the
augmented a little after the arrival of Hitler workers they were more dangerous than the
in power." He cited Anton Grylewicz as au­ Nazis. So k p o attacks had to be centered on
thority for saying that the strongest contin­ the s p d and not the Nazi Party. Second, from
gents were in Berlin, with sixty members, 1930 on the k p d and Comintern insisted
Leipzig with sixty, and Hamburg with "a that fascism already existed in Germany
strong group." The largest local organiza­ from the time the Bruning government be­
tion of all was in Bruchsal, where there were gan in mid-1930 to govern by decree laws,
100 members of the Trotskyite group. There and therefore the idea of a United Front to
were in addition cells of "from fifty to fifteen prevent the advent of the Nazis to power
militants" in Orianenburg, Magdeburg, Kai­ was meaningless. Finally, the k p d - c i argued
serslautern, Essen, Solingen, Wuppertal, that the victory of the Communist Party

416 Germany: Before World War II

as the denouement of the prerevolutionary munist organization} they formed a united
situation which existed between 1930 and front with the Social Democrats. In Oria-
January 30, 1933, was inevitable, and the nenburg they were able to convince the k p d
k p d needed no allies to achieve that victory. and s p d to form a local United Front.63
In contrast, Leon Trotsky and his German Meanwhile, Oscar Siepold, the Trotskyist
followers, although agreeing with the Sta­ member of the Prussian Landtag, used every
linists that the s p d had "betrayed" the Ger­ opportunity to push the United Front mes­
man working class and the revolution, in­ sage.64In the elections of the 1930-33 period
sisted nonetheless that the Social the Trotskyists supported the nominees of
Democrats were a part (still the largest part) the Communist Party instead of running
of the working class and that they would be their own candidates even where that might
as much the victim of the victorious Nazis' have been feasible, thus demonstrating both
effort to destroy all of the workers' organiza­ their support of the United Front and their
tions as would the k p d . Therefore, it was in role as a Communist "opposition," not a
the interest of both the k p d and s p d to join separate party.65
forces to fight the Nazi rise to power. Fur­
thermore, it would only be in the process of
Toward a N ew Communist Party
joint action of the Communists and Social
of Germany
Democrats that the former could convince
the rank-and-file Social Democrats of the With the demise of the Weimar Republic
nature and depth of their own leaders' be­ under the blows of the Nazis after January
trayal of the revolution. 30, 1933, and the almost total lack of resis­
The Trotskyists also insisted that a dis­ tance to this by the German Communist
tinction had to be made between the regime Party, Leon Trotsky made a fundamental
of Heinrich Bruning, and even those of Franz alteration in his revolutionary strategy. He
von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher (1932- concluded that reform of the k p d was impos­
1933) and a government controlled by the sible and that it was necessary to establish
Nazis. Particularly in the case of the Bruning a new German Communist Party as a rival
government, it stayed in office due to the to and not a "faction" of the k p d , associated
tolerance of the Social Democrats and there­ with the Stalinist-controlled Comintern.
fore its ability to impose on the workers the This presaged the generalization of this idea
full brunt of the effects of the Depression which was soon to lead to work for forma­
was limited; whereas a triumphant Nazi re­ tion of a Fourth International.
gime would have nothing to hold it back On March 12, 1933 Trotsky addressed a
from ruthlessly destroying the organiza­ document entitled " k p d or New Party" to
tions of the workers. the International Secretariat of his move­
Needless to say, appeals of Trotsky and ment, setting forth his new position. In this
his followers went largely unheeded by ei­ he wrote that "German Stalinism is collaps­
ther Stalinists or Social Democrats. The k p d ing now, less from the blows of the fascists
even went so far on several occasions as to than from its internal rottenness. Just as a
work together with the Nazis against the doctor does not leave a patient who still
Social Democrats and the unions under has a breath of life, we had for our task the
their control, actions which were de­ reform of the party as long as there was the
nounced by the Trotskyists.62 least hope. But it would be criminal to tie
Only in a handful of localities were the oneself to a corpse. The k p d today represents
Trotskyists successful in gaining support for a corpse. The scom of the vanguard of the
the United Front idea. In Bruchsal {where German workers for the bureaucracy which
the Trotskyists were the only existing Com­ has deceived them will be so great that the

1 Germany: Before World War U 417

i
 slogan of reform will seem false and ridicu­ the role as an "opposition" to the kfd ; Heinz
lous to them. They will be right. The hour Epe (Walter Held) argued in favor not only
has struck! The question of preparing for of working for a new German Communist
the creation of a new party must be posed Party but also for a new Communist Interna­
openly."66 tional. The discussion in the German ranks
There was considerable resistance within went on until July by which time they had
German Trotskyism to the idea that the been won over to Trotsky's position.70 Mau­
Trotskyists' mission had become that of rice Stobnicer has noted that "finally, the
building an entirely new Communist Party German Left Opposition made the turn with
instead of reforming the existing one. Pierre reticence and hesitation, but without dam­
Broue has noted that "his German com­ age. No scission, no withdrawals weakened
rades—those who had remained and fought it."71
in the underground—were not convinced Later in 1933 Trotsky extended the idea
that the moment had come for the struggle of a new Communist Party in Germany. By
for a 'new party' and they refused to follow the middle of the year he had become con­
Jan Frankel who sought to get them on that vinced that it was necessary to build rivals
path." In a resolution, they cited against to Stalinist-dominated Communist parties
Trotsky the position of the February 1933 everywhere, including the Soviet Union, as
"preconference" of the International Left well as to establish a new Fourth Interna­
Opposition which had "reaffirmed loyalty tional to rival the Third, completely subor­
to the line of 'faction' and its condemnation dinated to Stalin.
of that of a 'new party.' "67 This resolution
was passed at a clandestine convention of
German Trotskyism Under Hitler
the United Opposition at Leipzig on March
12.69
German Trotskyism Underground
Reflecting their doubts about Trotsky's
new course, the German Trotskyists sub­ With the coming of the Nazis to power, the
mitted to the International Secretariat a German Trotskyist movement was almost
"draft resolution" which contained many immediately forced to go underground.
reservations about Trotsky's position. In his Only two national meetings of the group
reply to this document, Trotsky perhaps were held in Germany under the Nazis. One
summed up his own argument best when he was a national conference which met in
said that "it is not a matter of our decreeing Leipzig on March 13, 1933. There the main
bureaucratically the creation of a new party, topic of discussion was Trotsky's conver­
but of proclaiming openly our position to­ sion to the idea of converting the Left Oppo­
wards the old party and our new perspective sition into a rival party of the k p d . 72 The
for work. It would be impermissible to di­ second and last meeting was an "organiza­
minish or to mask the significance of this tion conference" held in Berlin in March
turn. Our course is one of propaganda for a r 934 -73
new party and preparation for it. It is neces­ With some advice from Trotsky, the Ger­
sary to speak out clearly and openly about man group soon adopted the "cell" type of
this change. . . ."69 organization, each cell consisting of five
At a conference of the German Trotsky­ members. Only one person in each cell
ists in March 1933 there were three points would maintain contact with someone in
of view expressed. Jan Frankel, Trotsky's another cell, similarly designated as a liai­
representative, supported Trotsky's posi­ son. This was designed to prevent anyone
tion favoring a new German Communist from knowing too many people who were
Party,- Erwin Bauer favored maintenance of still active so that in case of being arrested

418 Germany: Before World War II

 by the Gestapo any member could only the idea was decisive in assuring its accep­
cause a limited amount of damage to the tance by the underground organization.
organization if he/she broke down.74 Bauer had been a member of the Interna­
Under these forced conditions of isolation tional Secretariat when it had been located
the maintenance of a press was essential for in Berlin, before the Nazis came to power.
the continuation of any kind of effective When the is was moved to Paris Bauer fol­
organization at all. The last issue of Perma­ lowed it there after some delay. He first
nente Revolution was published in mid-Feb­ went to visit Trotsky in Prinkipo, whence
ruary 1933 in Germany. But early in March he announced his final conversion to the
an exile publication, Unser Wort (Our policy of the "new turn."77
Word], began to appear, first in Prague, then For almost a year, Bauer served as Admin­
from August 1933 in Paris, and ultimately istrative Secretary of the International Sec­
in New York City. For some time the Trots­ retariat in Paris.78 However, he developed a
kyist underground network was able to dis­ strong difference of opinion with Trotsky
tribute between 1,500 and 2,000 copies per over relations with the German Socialist
issue of Unser Wort. Workers Party, the s a p . He advocated that
The exiled leadership also began to pub­ the German Trotskyists enter the s a p . The
lish in 1935 a monthly discussion bulletin, difference between Bauer and Trotsky on
the circulation of which was supposed to be this was sufficiently great that Bauer's fol­
limited to members. At least for a while lowers within Germany were not invited to
there also appeared (generally mimeo­ a conference of German Trotskyists held in
graphed) local periodicals in Berlin, the Dietikon, Switzerland, in December 1934.
Rhineland, Mainz, Frankfurt/Main, and Bauer finally joined the s a p .79
Magdeburg. However, Stobnicer has noted
that "most of these publications clearly had
The IKD in Exile
only a very limited distribution and ap­
peared irregularly."75 The last full-scale national conference of the
The banner of Unser Wort reflected the Trotskyists to meet in Germany in March
changes in orientation through which Ger­ 1933 elected an Exile Committee (Ausland-
man Trotskyism passed in the period fol­ komitee—a k ) of eight members. These were
lowing the Nazi triumph. The first issue Erwin Ackerknecht (Erwin or Eugen Bauer),
identified it as the organ of the "Left Opposi­ Oskar Fischer (Otto Schussler), N. Braun (Er­
tion of the KPD-Bolsevevik-Leninists." A win Wolf), Johre (Josef Weber), Schmidt
month later the identification was as "Bi­ (Willy Schauschkowitz}, Eiffel, Staal, and
monthly of the German Section of the Inter­ Otto Lehmann (Samuel Hundert). Subse­
national Left Opposition." Finally, after the quently, they were joined in Paris by Jan
International Left Opposition Plenum of Frankel and Rudolf Klement. Most of these
August 1933 the paper was identified as be­ people had been leaders of local Opposition
ing the organ of the German Internationalist groups in various parts of Germany.
Communists {Internationale Kommunisten Maurice Stobnicer has noted that "the
Deutschlands—i k d ].76 task of the Auslandkomitee is to secure the
The man who first led the Trotskyist un­ political leadership of the i k d , to maintain
derground right after the Nazis came to liaison with the other members of the emi­
power was Erwin Ackerknecht, more widely gration and, something much more delicate,
known by his pseudonym Eugen Bauer. As with local groups in Germany. Above all, it
we have noted, he had first opposed the was charged with assuring the regular ap­
"new turn" toward regarding the i k d as a pearance and distribution of Unser Wort."M
rival party to the k p d , but his conversion to The man responsible for launching Unser

Germany: Before World War II 419

Wort was Heinz Epe, better known as Walter or Karl?—Friedberg and in the i k d as Karl
Held, leader of the United Opposition in Erde) had also been a leader in the Bavarian
Remscheid, who fled to Prague where he Communist regime, and subsequently ac­
began publishing the new journal. He soon tive in the k p d paramilitary underground.
moved to Paris with the newspaper, after a In 1930 he secretly joined the German Left
new press law in Czechoslovakia made it Opposition, but in 1933 was sent by the k p d
very difficult to publish an exile periodical to help lead the party in the Saar region.
there.81 He visited Trotsky and in December At that point the Saar was separated from
1933 settled in Amsterdam.82 Unser Won Germany in conformity with the Versailles
meanwhile was published for some time in Treaty, with an autonomous regime linked
Antwerp, Belgium. economically with France. Grohl visited
Pierre Broue has noted that Unser Wort Trotsky in France in 1933.85 ,
"in the emigration and in Germany was reg­ One of the most important groups of Ger­
ularly distributed and had a real audience." man Trotskyist refugees was that in Ant­
He has observed, too, that subsequent to the werp. Emest Mandel has written of them
collapse of the German Communist Party a that "the German refugees in Antwerp who
number of important converts from the k p d formed a Trotsky group since 1935 (or even
were wOn over to the idea of establishing a 1934) were one of the central groups of the
new Fourth International. These included i k d . They were responsible for publishing

Maria Reese, a former member of the Unser Wort first, The Revolution Betrayed
Reichstag, and Felix Wolf, a former repre­ later and finally Der Einzige Weg. They were
sentative of the Comintern in Germany.83 the closest collaborators of Johre, the central
However, there is no indication that either leader of the i k d . The leading figure among
of these people formally joined the Trotsky­ them was a comrade called Brink, who had
ist Opposition either within Germany or in some correspondence with Trotsky him­
exile. Maria Reese ultimately joined the self."86
Nazis.84
Some other k p d leaders both expressed
The Maslow-Fischer Issue
support for the Fourth International and
joined the Trotskyist movement. These in­ In 1934 a new German element joined the
cluded Erich Wollemberg and Karl Grohl. international Trotskyist movement. This
Wollemberg had been a leader of the short­ was the International Group, which Arkady
lived Communist regime in Bavaria in 1919; Maslow and Ruth Fischer had founded and
subsequently he had been a major figure in led after leaving the Leninbund.87
the paramilitary underground organization Trotsky was very anxious to incorporate
of the German Communist Party and an Maslow and Fischer fully into his move­
editor of the k p d paper, Die Rote Fahne. ment. They had been the top leaders of the
He had been eliminated from the newspaper German Communist Party and were re­
editorial staff in August 1932 because of his cruits of major significance to International
criticisms of k p d policy, had been sum­ Trotskyism. However, the i k d refused to ac­
moned to the USSR in December, and ex­ cept them into their organization.
pelled from the k p d in April 1933. He suc­ Trotsky found at least a temporary way
ceeded in getting out of the Soviet Union out of this situation by bringing Maslow and
in July 1934 and joined the German Left Fischer into the top leadership of the inter­
Opposition. He became a frequent contribu­ national movement. From 1934 on Ruth
tor to the Trotskyist press in several coun­ Fischer was accepted as a "consultative
tries. member" of the International Secretariat.88
Karl Grohl (known in the k p d as Hans— Then in March 1935 Trotsky proposed to a

420 Germany: Before World War II

plenum of the is that she be made a full Ruth Fischer remained a member of the
member. International Secretariat through 1 9 3 6 , and
In a letter dated January 31, 1935, ad­ Arkady Maslow became a member of the
dressed to the forthcoming plenum, Trotsky General Council of the Movement for a
gave his reasons for incorporating Fischer Fourth International (m h ) at its 1 9 3 6 meet­
(whom he referred to as Dubois] in the orga­ ing. Both quit the m f i in 1 9 3 7 . ^
nization: "Comrade Dubois is a very experi­
enced comrade with a past of struggle and
Trotsky and the Socialist Workers
of experience. He (sic] adhered to us in a
Party (SAP)
difficult situation, which is a mark of revo­
lutionary sincerity. The cadres of experi­ In seeking to build a new Communist Party
enced comrades that we possess are not nu­ in Germany Trotsky at first thought it
merous. It is necessary to know how to might be possible to recruit all or part of
utilize them. It is necessary to reinforce the the new Socialist Workers Party ( s a p ] to the
plenum by a comrade who will surely be ranks of his movement. The s a p had been
able to contribute an individual note to our established a bit more than a year before the
discussions and an effective collaboration. advent of the Nazis to power by left-wing
Comrade Dubois knows the movement in dissidents of the Social Democratic Party.
different countries and commands three lan­ By 1 9 3 3 the leadership of the s a p was largely
guages. His knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon in the hands of people who had been mem­
movement and of the English language will bers of the Right Opposition in the German
be of great use to us."8’ Communist Party led by Heinrich Brandler
Trotsky was not oblivious to the opposi­ and August Thalheimer, but had broken
tion of his German comrades to admission from the Brandler-Thalheimer Communist
of Fischer and Maslow (Parabellum) to the Party (Opposition], had merged with the s a p ,
movement. He wrote that "the German and had soon captured control of it. Before
leadership did not want to have either Para­ the Nazis came to power, the s a p had several
bellum . . . or Dubois. Bauer accused them thousand members. Even in mid-1 9 3 3 the
of having wrong ideas on the permanent rev­ s a p was considerably larger than the Ger­

olution. The German leadership supported man Trotskyist group both inside the coun­
Bauer in this affair. We saw later the firm­ try and in the German exile community.
ness in principle of Bauer himself. It is quite In an article of April 1933 on "The Left
possible that there are different nuances in Opposition and the s a p , " Trotsky argued
our conceptions. But do we want an absolute that, "For my part, I am ready to do every­
monolithism?. . . We cannot impose collab­ thing to facilitate mutual understanding and
oration with Comrades Parabellum and Du­ collaboration with the comrades of the s a p .
bois upon our German section. But we can­ But the first condition for this is an honest
not, as an international organization, political understanding."93
tolerate being deprived of a collaboration In an attempt to come to such an "under­
that we deem useful and necessary."90 standing," Jakob Walcher (J. Schwab) and
The March 1935 Plenum supported Trots­ Paul Froehlich, two of the principal figures
ky's move. Those voting in favor of coopting in the Socialist Workers Party, visited
Ruth Fischer into the International Secretar­ Trotsky in his exile home in France in Au­
iat were Leonetti, Lesoil, Sneevliet, and gust 1933.94 Walcher-Schwab stayed with
Trotsky. Those against were Molinier and Trotsky for three days and after that visit
Vereeken. "Craipeau's vote was judged 'not Trotsky wrote him in a very optimistic tone,
clear' and Cannon's did not arrive on apparently very hopeful that the two groups
time."91 could join forces.

1
1 Germany: Before World War II 421
 In a letter dated August 18, 1933, Trotsky a merger as soon as possible with the s a p ,
wrote Walcher that "undoubtedly, the work hoping that the education of a unified orga­
of the k p o minority within the s a p has been nization would be hastened by our joint ex­
successful. But this success has got to be perience coupled with mutual criticism. But
pushed further, or it will be dissipated. The after initial vacillations, the leaders of the
Left Opposition, too, must take a leap to a s a p have rejected the merger."98

higher level. Amalgamation of the two orga­ Trotsky therefore wrote his correspon­
nizations will be the starting point of an dents that "as matters stand today (through
important new chapter in their develop­ no fault of ours), you must choose between
ment." Trotsky argued that disagreements the League and the s a p . . . You are only
between the two groups were not insur­ bound to determine your own position. . . .
mountable, and added that "naturally, the Needless to say, I should like-.to . . . attract
unification would have to take place on the you to come over to our ranks."99
basis of a programmatic document.. . . This Within Germany, many of Trotsky's fol­
important document could be produced by lowers were less willing than he to break off
the unified forces of the two organizations, relations with the s a p . In some cases they
and since it would set forth the platform of apparently had good working contacts with
the unification, it could serve as a manifesto them in the underground. The "organiza­
to rally the forces to build the new party and tional conference" of the clandestine i k d in
the new International."95 March 1934 "reaffirmed the desire of the i k d
No such "honest political understanding" to see a rapid fusion. .. . " I0°
as Trotsky professed to seek developed be­
tween the Trotskyists and the s a p , although
The IKD Before World War II
Jakob Walcher of the s a p became one of the
signers of the Declaration of Four which Late in 1935 the i k d engendered consider­
called for the establishment of a Fourth In­ able controversy within the international
ternational shortly after his visit to Trotsky. Trotskyist movement. Naomi Allen and
The s a p never merged with the German Left George Breitman have noted the origins of
Opposition nor did the s a p join the Fourth this: "In the third year of their rule, the
International when it was ultimately estab­ German Nazis, having wiped out all other
lished. non-Nazi political, economic and cultural
The S A P is ts came to the conclusion that, organizations, began to crack down hard on
although a new International was required, the Catholic and Protestant churches. The
Trotsky was trying to make that new organi­ ik d . . . supported the church resistance
zation fit more closely than they wished his against the German government as part of
own interpretation of theory and political the defense of democratic rights. The i k d ' s
practice, and to dominate personally any Emigre Committee, consisting of the exiled
new International which might be orga­ leadership, met strong opposition to its
nized.96 For his part, Trotsky came to regard point of view from members of other Euro­
the s a p as the epitome of a "centrist" and pean sections, including ultraleftists who
ideologically confused organization.97 accused the i k d of betraying the proletarian
Trotsky had given up hope by early 1934 class standpoint."
of any possibility of merging the s a p with Allen and Breitman went on to note that
his own followers' German organization. He "at Trotsky's suggestion, the i c l set up a
wrote on January 11, 1934, to a group of s a p German Commission to investigate the
members who had gotten in touch with him German situation and the i k d ' s policy."
that "you are no doubt aware that, together Having read the report of the commission,
with my closest German friends, I stood for Trotsky "sought to eliminate the heat in the

422 Germany: Before World War II

c o n t r o v e r s y , b u t d e f i n i t e l y s u p p o r t t h e i k d 's the underground to break off all relations
p o s i t i o n . " 101 with the s a p . He claimed that "after brief
In his "Letter to the German Commis­ consideration the comrades in Germany
sion," Trotsky made some recommenda­ concurred with this necessary turn."104
tions concerning illegal work in Germany. One part of the German Trotskyist organi­
He said that "we must orient toward work zation gained international attention for a
in the plants. However, since we are very short period late in 1936 and early in 1937
weak, we should concentrate for a time on when the leaders of its branch in the Free
one plant or another until we establish a City of Danzig (Gdansk) were brought to
firm footing and from there gain workers . . . public trial in December 1936. Known lo­
a sympathetic milieu . .. can only be found cally as the Spartacus League but also as
in the plants. From this vantage point the Internationalist Communists of Germany,
opportunities for combining legal and illegal Danzig Group (Trotskyists), the Danzig
work can be gradually learned and extended Trotskyists clearly regarded themselves as
in practice."101 part of the German Trotskyist organization.
A few weeks later Trotsky wrote to the Danzig had been separated from the rest of
Emigre Committee of the i k d , on September Germany as a consequence of the Versailles
2,1935. In that letter he noted that materials Treaty and established as a "Free City."
he had received from the German Trotsky­ Soon after the Nazis gained power in the
ists "prove that we have cadres in Germany German Republic they also won control of
whose Marxist capabilities we can really be Danzig, and it was the Nazi regime in Dan­
proud of. What the report from J--------says zig which brought the Trotskyists to trial.
about the situation in the factories is very The principal leader of the Danzig Trots­
important." kyists was Franz Jakubowski, who had been
He made observations also on the German bom in Poland in 1912. He became a Com­
Trotskyists' newspaper Unser Wort: munist in 1932 and a Trotskyist in 1933.
In the following year he moved to Danzig
Possibly some German comrades still
where he became head of the Spartacus
have too purely propagandists an orienta­
League.105
tion. This is connected with the attitude
Late in 1936 the Nazi government of Dan­
taken by Unser Wort. The paper has to be
zig arrested sixty Trotskyists, of whom ten
strengthened. It has a base in Germany
were finally tried. Documents were pre­
and with the intervention of our cadres
sented at their trial indicating that they
we can expand it successfully. However,
thought of themselves as members of the
the prerequisite is that Unser Wort appear
German Trotskyist movement, that they
regularly, at least twice a month, and at
had called for dock workers to refuse to send
least once a month with six pages. This
arms to the Franco insurrection in Spain,
would provide the opportunity to give
and that they had called on the workers of
two pages to more current, agitational
the Free City to "help us build a new Com­
themes, without disregarding theoretical
munist Party, which will give revolutionary
questions and international information.
leadership to the proletariat . . . build the
Every issue should have . . . some col­
Fourth International, which will lead the
umns filled with little notes , . . about the
world revolution to victory."
internal affairs of the workers' organiza­
The ten Trotskyists put on trial were con­
tions. The German comrades are highly
victed of subversive activities. They re­
interested in these questions. . . .I03
ceived a total of thirteen years imprison­
In this same letter Trotsky commented ment. Jakubowski got a sentence of three
on the order of the Emigre Committee to years and three months in jail.106 He was

1
Germany: Before World War II 423
freed before the absorption of the Free State able to consolidate their position before the
of Danzig by the Reich on the eve of World advent of the Nazis to power.
War II, fled to Denmark, then to Paris, Great The underground Trotskyist organization
Britain, and ultimately to the United States, continued to exist for a few years after the
where he disappeared from politics.107 Nazi triumph but was destroyed before the
The ik d was represented at the Founding outbreak of World War II. The exile move­
Conference of the Fourth International. ment was able to continue to exist on a
However, the German delegation does not minimal level thereafter.
appear to have taken a very significant role Throughout all of this period German
in the discussions which took place during Trotskyism was characterized by extensive
that one-day meeting.108 factionalism. Several groups broke away
At the subsequent Emergency Conference from the main stream of the movement be­
of the Fourth International held in New tween 19 29 arid 1939; none of them was able
York in May 1940, information was offered to establish itself as a part of an important
concerning the strength of the German international radical tendency.
Trotskyists from the time of the Nazi con­
quest of power until the outbreak of World
War II. This was presented in a "Report of
the organization of the International Com­
munists of Germany (i k d a )," which was an
official document of the Emergency Con­
ference.
This report said that "at the moment of
taking of power by fascism, the German sec­
tion had 1,000 members. Only fifty of them
emigrated. In Germany itself, there was at
the beginning a close contact between the
groups and the leadership abroad. In spite of
illegal conditions, Unser Wort was widely
distributed. But after several years, normal
relations with our comrades in Germany as
well as among the groups was broken. One
must judge that half of the militants have
left. At least 150 were arrested. Of the oth­
ers, we have received information, until the
outbreak of the war, proving that they were
far from abandoning the struggle and that
they had prepared for the insurrection which
will come."109

Conclusion

German Trotskyism had begun in the last

years of the Weimar Republic with some
apparent possibility of gaining at least mar­
ginal influence on the Left of German poli­
tics. However, the Trotskyists had not been

424 Germany: Before World War II

 German Trotskyism lie. Trotskyism has had no representation at
all in East Germany.
During and After
World War II The Internationale Kommunisten
Deutschlands

The IKD During World War II

The report on the German Internationalist
Communists ( i k d } to the Emergency Con­
ference of the Fourth International in May
The onset of World War II, and particularly 1940 presented a survey of the extent of the
the rapid Nazi conquest of most of Europe ik d exile organization during the early
in the middle months of 1940, almost de­ months of the war. It noted that "the organi­
stroyed and greatly demoralized what was zational and administrative direction" of
left of the German Trotskyist movement. the German Trotskyist organization had
Although some of the exiled Trotskyists been transferred to New York.
were able to escape from Europe and others The report recounted that "the twenty
continued to try to conduct some kind of comrades in France have all been interned.
underground activity in Nazi-occupied sec­ . . . The group of Antwerp, in Belgium, has
tions, the meager forces remaining to Ger­ until recent times functioned very well. .. .
man Trotskyism by 1939 were further dis­ Unser Wort confided to it, but it had to re­
persed and disorganized. nounce this responsibility, after the arrest
During the war another factor developed of H .. . . Other comrades in Belgium and in
which much complicated the task of re­ Holland are in close contact with the Ant­
building the Trotskyist movement in Ger­ werp group. There are fifteen comrades in
many after 1945. This was the fact that all."
many of the surviving Trotskyists adopted The report also noted existence of an ik d
positions which were, from the point of group in London—four people—as well as
view of the mainstream of International units in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo.
Trotskyism, quite heretical. Thus, a large The last of these was the only German group
scale purge of what was left of the i k d be­ to endorse the Shachtmanite position in the
came the order of the day even before sig­ split which had recently occurred in the
nificant efforts could be undertaken to try Fourth International. There were also Ger­
to reestablish the movement in postwar man IKD groups in Argentina, Bolivia, and
Germany. Of course, given the terrible con­ Mexico. Finally, the report commented that
ditions in Germany in the years immedi­ "the publication of Unser Wort, bimonthly
ately following the war such efforts would organ, is assured."1
have been difficult in any case. Subsequently, the Nazi conquest of most
Yet a very modest movement—even in of Western Europe made it very difficult for
Trotskyist terms—was slowly rebuilt in the the German Trotskyists to maintain even
Federal Republic of Germany. It tended to the rudiments of an organization. One of the
suffer from the same kind of internal strug­ most spectacular activities of members of
gles which were characteristic of Trotsky­ the ik d during the war was publication of
ism in other countries. Most of the factions Arbeiter und Soldat, a periodical designed
into which International Trotskyism was to win supporters among the German sol­
divided after 1952-53 came to have their diers of occupation in the Brest area in
small groups in the German Federal Repub- France. Although members of the French

1
t Germany: World War II and After 425
I
i
 Trotskyist underground had the major role toward theoretical issues which were to be­
in this effort, it could not have been carried come the subject of bitter controversy as the
out without the cooperation of German war drew to an end, and led to the expulsion
Trotskyists. Also, in the second phase of of many exiled German Trotskyist leaders
the publication of Arbeiter und Soldat it from the movement after the conflict was
appeared as an official organ of the German over.
Trotskyists. The key document in this controversy
One of the German Trotskyists involved was entitled "Three Theses on the Situation
in publishing Arbeiter und Soldat was Mar­ in Europe and the Political Tasks of the
tin Monat, known in France as Paul Widelin ik d ," dated October 19, 1941. Its principal
and Victor, and earlier in Germany as heresy from the point of view of the interna­
Monte. He had originally been a Zionist in tional Trotskyist movement was its support
Germany, had joined the Trotskyist move­ of a "stages" theory with regard to the strug­
ment in exile in Belgium in 1935, and in gle against Nazi domination of Europe and
May 1943 had gone to Paris where he had the struggle for socialism.
begun to work with the Parti Ouvier Inter­ The October 1941 resolution described at
nationaliste and to lead the German Trots­ considerable length the Nazi conquest of
kyist group in the French capital/ the continent and the kind of resistances
The other principal Germans involved which had developed against Nazi (which
with Arbeiter und Soldat were Paul and the resolution always referred to as "Ger­
Clara Thalmann. According to the Facsim­ man") domination. It then set forth the basic
ile de La Veriti, Paul Thalmann "created thesis which it was presenting.
with a group of militants of diverse national­ This key part of the document stated,
ities the Union des Communistes Intemati- "The transition from fascism to socialism
onalistes." This document added that "the remains a utopia with an intermediary
periodical was edited, copied, issued from a step—more or less prolonged—equivalent
house of seven rooms which Clara and Paul in its content to a democratic revolution.
Thalmann occupied on the Rue Friant and The advantage of the European situation is
which became a veritable Tower of Babel."3 the following: the peoples are forced to take
The periodical for German soldiers began the road of national liberation and the strug­
to appear in July 1943. It was mimeo­ gle for . . . a complete program of transition
graphed, and continued to appear for about which includes all the democratic demands,
three months before the Gestapo was able freedom of assembly, press, association, reli­
to suppress it.4 gion and the right of strike up to the right of
Arbeiter und Soldat reappeared in April peoples to control themselves."
1944, this time as the organ of the German The resolution went, on to say that "it is
Section of the Fourth International. Martin a total error to believe that one can partici­
Monat was still in charge of its publication. pate in political life while ignoring the dem­
Its last number, this time, appeared in July ocratic demands. It would be very dangerous
1944. Monat was finally captured by the Ge­ to pretend that national liberation doesn't
stapo and was executed a month before the favor socialist interests."
entry of Allied troops into Paris.5 The i k d resolution said with regard to
Generally, the contact of the German struggle for "national ...liberation, nothing
Trotskyist movement with its counterparts can free world socialism from the duty of
elsewhere in Europe and outside was tenu­ stimulating this revolt, of preparing, learn­
ous during much of World War II. Whether ing to know all forms of struggle which give
due to this isolation or to other factors, the force to the movement, which permit the
i k d developed attitudes toward the war and constitution of a revolutionary party and

426 Germany: World War II and After

have for their purpose giving the best results as the Trotskyists had hoped for to put an
in a given situation. On the contrary, an end to the war. Nor, with Germany's total
abstract attitude with regard to the revolu­ military defeat and the conditions subse­
tion, a defection on tactical questions of first quent to it, was there any possibility for
or second order, can only lead to a new such a revolt to take place in the period
defeat."® immediately following the war. Hence, the
task of rebuilding a Trotskyist movement
was formidable. It was further complicated
Background of Postwar Germany
by two other factors. In the first place, when
With the total defeat of the Nazi regime in working class organizations did begin to ap­
World War II it became possible once again pear again, the workers returned to their
to try to organize a Trotskyist movement in loyalty to the "traditional" parties, the So­
Germany, or at least in the Federal Republic. cial Democrats and Communists, rather
However, the reestablishment of even a than turning to the Trotskyists for leader­
small revolutionary movement of the Trots­ ship as had been hoped. In the second place,
kyist type was made peculiarly difficult by all Trotskyist organization in the Stalinist-
the conditions in Germany in the period dominated East Zone soon became totally
immediately following the war. The total impossible, while what the Stalinists were
nature of the German defeat resulted in divi­ doing in the East largely destroyed the popu­
sion of the country into four different zones lar appeal in the Western Zones of any Bol­
of military occupation, by the Soviet Union shevik movement, Stalinist or Trotskyist.
in the East, and the United States, Great As the work of reconstructing the German
Britain and France in the West, with even Trotskyist movement within Germany it­
the old capital, Berlin, being similarly split. self began to make some progress, leadership
Large segments of prewar Germany were of the movement as a whole was transferred
lopped off completely, to be annexed by Po­ back to the cadres within the country. At
land and the Soviet Union. Millions of peo­ least by the early 1950s a new German sec­
ple from those areas fled to the Western oc­ tion of the Fourth International had been
cupation zones, together with millions of created.
other German-speaking people from various
East European nations who had been forc­ The IKD Exiles vs. the
ibly expelled; while the millions of "slave Fourth International
laborers" recruited by the Nazis during the The exile leadership of the ik d continued to
war streamed home or into "displaced per­ maintain the line it had first set forth in its
sons camps" if they had no "home" left, or "Three Theses" document in October 1941.
did not want to return to it. Soon after the end of the war they issued a
Amid this chaos and confusion there soon new document, "Problems of the European
developed harrowing economic circum­ Revolution," in which they reemphasized
stances intensified by the great physical de­ and brought up to date the arguments they
struction resulting from the war itself. Mas­ had made in 1941. Referring first to the
sive unemployment, food supplies barely movements of Resistance during the Nazi
sufficient (if that} to the most basic require­ occupation of various European countries,
ments necessary to avoid starvation, rates the document then noted that "today, the
of inflation which for some time resulted in same ideas, enriched by the experience of
the conversion of much of Germany into a these national movements, can be applied
barter economy rather than a market one, to Germany. For the machine of oppression
were some of the aspects of this crisis. . . . is now turned against Germany. . . . "
There had been no such workers' uprising From this supposed parallel the ik d le a d ­

i
Germany: World War II and After 427
ers drew the heretical (from the Trotskyist conference, to submit to the discipline of
point of view) conclusion that "the presence the new i e c and the new is, and to prepare as
of terrible national oppression will sweep rapidly as possible their return to Germany,
the popular masses from their apathy . . . according to the instructions and directives
and will bring about an immense national- of the International."8
democratic movement. In place of easy hope The i k d leadership abroad clearly did not
of a spontaneous uprising of the German pay heed to the orders of the Fourth Interna­
workers, instead of having illusions of an tional. As a consequence, the Second Con­
imminent proletarian revolution, the revo­ gress of the International, in 1948, after
lutionists will have, as was the case in adopting a long resolution on "The Situa­
France, to support unconditionally the tion in Germany and the Tasks of the Ger­
movement, to accept the necessaiy detour man Internationalist Communists," also
of the democratic revolution and conquer voted two organizational resolutions, "On
the leadership in the course of the struggle, the Reorganization of the German Section,"
so that the movement, over-running na­ and "On the Foreign Committee of the Ger­
tional democratic limits, may as a move­ man Internationalist Communists {a k of the
ment of the proletariat against the bourgeoi­ ik d ) ." .
sie, realize the socialist revolution."7 The first of these organizational resolu­
The heresy of the i k d leadership brought tions noted that in 1935 the Foreign Com­
a quick response from the Fourth Interna­ mittee of the i k d (a k ) had been recognized
tional. At its conference in April 1946 the as "constituting the official leadership of
International adopted a resolution which the German section of the International."
"condemns unanimously the revisionist However, after the resolution of the April
ideas included in the documents since 1941 1946 Conference of the si, the Foreign Com­
by the leadership of the i k d . . . the leader­ mittee had refused to participate in the reor­
ship of the i k d has substituted for our transi­ ganization of the German section, as pro­
tional and socialist program corresponding vided for in that resolution. Thus, the World
to the historical character of our epoch, Congress decided provisionally to recognize
which remains fundamentally that of the as the German section the group newly rees­
socialist revolution, a national democratic tablished in Germany; and that after that
program based on 'the necessary detour of group held its first conference, "The Interna­
the democratic revolution' and on the per­ tional Executive Committee will defini­
spective of the 'approaching great national tively recognize the German section."
democratic wars of liberation of all the op­ Meanwhile, the International Secretari­
pressed peoples of Europe.'" at's German Commission was charged with
The same resolution ordered the newly reorganizing the German section. It was di­
elected International Executive Committee rected to establish two political commit­
and International Secretariat "in close col­ tees, for the West Zone and East Zone re­
laboration with the present leadership of the spectively, and to call a national conference
i k d to regroup all the elements who place as soon as possible. It also entrusted the i k d
themselves on the platform of the IVth In­ members abroad to send a delegate to the
ternational and submit to the discipline of conference and ordered that one emigr6
its congresses and of its leading organs and comrade be elected to.the executive of the
organize them in Germany itself in the offi­ new section.
cial section of the IVth International." Fi­ The resolution also provided for establish­
nally, the resolution stated that it "invites ment of a publication of the i k d abroad, un­
the leadership and rank and file of the i k d der supervision of the i e c . It was to have an
still abroad to apply the decisions of the editorial board of three people inside Ger­

428 Germany: World War II and After

many and two outside, and this board "will ever, this periodical was not an avowedly
be confirmed by the coming national con­ Trotskyist publication.11
ference." The principal prewar German Trotskyist
Finally, the resolution on reorganization figure who did return to leadership after
of the German section recognized that work 1945 was Georg Jungclas. He had fled to
in Germany had to be conducted illegally. Denmark shortly after the Nazi ascension
It added that in the Western Zone it was to power and had played a major role in
possible to conduct "certain forms of semi­ organizing a Trotskyist group in that coun­
legal activity," such as work in the unions, try. He was arrested by the Nazis in June
among the youth and as factions in the 1944 and spent the rest of the war in several
workers parties. It stressed that the basic concentration camps. When the American
purpose of the ik d must b e "to struggle for forces captured the Bayreuth camp where he
the leadership of these movements in all was, on April 16, 1945, Jungclas was not
parts of social life."9 immediately released "because Czechoslo­
The second organizational resolution, vakian and other Stalinists among the pris­
dealing with the Foreign Committee of the oners had taken over the camp."12
i k d , recounted at some length the refusal of Immediately after the war Jungclas went
that committee to recognize the legitimacy to work, first as administrator of the Wagner
of the i e c and is elected at the 1946 Interna­ fortune in Bayreuth, and then as director of
tional Conference, their refusal to cooperate the local land office.13 However, in 1946 he
in any way with those bodies, to participate first made contact with some old Trotsky­
in discussions leading up to the Second ists in Hamburg, and then got in touch with
World Congress, or even to answer corre­ the headquarters of the Fourth International
spondence. As a consequence the resolution in Paris. He and the group associated with
said that "the world Congress declares that him began to publish a journal, Unser Weg
the Ate has no right to speak in the name of (Our Road], which continued to come out
the i k d . Insofar as being an organism recog­ until September 1959. He was named as the
nized by the International, the a k is declared representative of the German Trotskyists to
dissolved." Its members could only remain the Second World Congress of the Fourth
in the International if they agreed to abide International in 1948, but had to get there
by its discipline.10 clandestinely since Allied regulations then
Those resolutions of the Second Congress in force forbade German citizens to travel
of the Fourth International marked the end to France.
of the long-running dispute between the After the congress Georg Jungclas became
i k d ' s leadership abroad and the f i . editor of the i k d periodical Die Internatio­
nale, which was established in conformity
with one of the resolutions of the meeting.
The Reestablishment of the The publication continued to appear for at
IKD in Germany least a quarter of a century.14
The revived Internationalist Communists
Most of the prewar leaders of the i k d appar­ of Germany { ik d ] were a tiny group. Partly
ently did not remain in the Trotskyist move­ as a consequence of that fact, they engaged
ment after the war. In 1947 a number of in the early 1950s in an "entrist" tactic. The
them started a magazine, Dinge der Zeit, party they chose to try to penetrate was the
which continued to appear intermittently Independent Workers Party (u a p ), a Titoist
for three decades. One of its principal con­ group which arose in the years immediately
tributors was Fritz Besser {who usually following the break between Stalin and the
wrote under the name Emst Most). How­ Yugoslav Communist leadership. For a

t
1 Germany: World War II and After 429
short while the u a p made some progress, were about fifty members of the group when
reportedly with the help of financial support it left the Social Democratic ranks.19
from Yugoslavia. Then it disappeared. In 1968 the i k d merged with a group
At that point the German Trotskyists, fol­ which had come out of the Socialist Student
lowing the advice then being given by Pablo Federation (Sozialistischer Deutscher Stu-
to work within either the Social Democratic dentenbund—s d s ), the student youth move­
or Communist Party, undertook a policy of ment of the Social Democratic Party. The
"deep entry" into the German Social Demo­ new organization took the name Interna­
cratic Party (s p d ). That experiment lasted tionalist Marxist Group ( g i m ). It was affili­
about fifteen years.15 ated with the United Secretariat of the
During all of this period, Georg Jungclas Fourth International.20
remained the leading figure in German During the next few years the g i m en­
Trotskyist ranks. On the occasion of his sev­ gaged in a number of different kinds of activ­
entieth birthday in 1972 it was noted that ities. They participated in 19 68 in a congress
"his main activity in the 1950s and the be­ and rally in West Berlin against the Vietnam
ginning of the 1960s was support of the Alge­ War at which Ernest Mandel and Alain Kriv­
rian Revolution, in close contact with the ine were die leading speakers.11 In 1970 the
Mohamed-Hardi tendency inside the f l n . youth group of the g i m , the Revolutionar-
He was involved in the publication of the Kommunistische Jugend ( r k t ), participated
paper Freies Algeiien [Free Algeria} between in student elections in the University of
1958 and 1962. Jungclas also participated in Mannheim and elsewhere.21 In February
the publication of the paper Sozialistische 19 71, the g i m organized its first public
Politik, which was directed at members of meeting in West Berlin, with Herwar Acht-
the s p d , between 1954 and 1956, and after erberg of the g i m , and Mandel and Krivine,
May 1956 in the publication of Die Interna­ as the main speakers.23
tionale and Internationale Information, Late in 1971 the German Trotskyists un­
which existed until i960."16 dertook an ambitious program of publish­
During their long stay within the ranks ing. They announced in Berlin that under
of the Social Democratic Party the German the general title Permanente Revolution
Trotskyists were not only active in engen­ they would bring out three periodicals deal­
dering support for the Algerian Revolution, ing with current problems and the theoreti­
but also in the fight against German rearma­ cal issues.24 We have no indication of how
ment.17 There is no indication that they many of these journals actually appeared
achieved any significant influence within and for how long.
th e spd . During 1972 much of g i m ' s time and en­
ergy was taken up with the struggle over the
decision of the West Berlin Senate to bar
The Internationalist Marxist Group Emest Mandel from accepting a teaching
post which he had been offered by the Free
Establishment of the GIM University. He had been a visiting professor
the year before for a short while, but the
The German Trotskyists finally emerged political authorities of West Berlin success­
from their deep penetration in the Social fully prevented him from assuming a perma­
Democratic Party and reestablished the nent post. For a while he was even barred
open Internationalist Communists of Ger­ from entering the German Federal Re­
many (i k d ) in 1967. At that point Georg public.25
Jungclas retired from active leadership of Also in 1972 the g i m decided not to en­
the group.18 It has been estimated that there dorse any party in that year's general elec­

430 Germany: World War II and Alter

tions. In a long statement, largely critical of Subsequently, another schism took place
the spd, the g i m said that "on the basis of in the g i m , with a group reestablishing the
this analysis, the Central Committee of the i k d . According to one hostile observer, "The

g i m . . . and the r k j . . . decided that their split was in a leftward direction.. . . Several
position on the election cannot be reduced other splits quickly fragmented the i k d lead­
to recommending any specific vote—no ing to the existence in Germany of unstable
matter how much this may be regarded as and competing left-centrist groupings.
>|31
a deficiency." That statement ended, "We
must point to the bracing experiences the Further dissension arose as the result of
workers had last April with parliamentar­ the establishment in the winter 1969-70 by
ism and its parties and hold up the struggle the g i m of another group, the Revolutionar-
in the form of mass strikes and demonstra­ Kommunistische Jugend ( R K j- R e v o l u t i o n -
tions as a practical alternative to passive acy Communist Youth). At the time of the
trust in the election of the s p d ."26 merger of the g i m and the r k j several years
On several occasions in later years the later, Was Tun (What Is to be Done), the
g i m took a more active electoral role. In g i m periodical, explained that "the r k j was

1978 they gave "critical support" to the never a 'youth organization' in the classical
Green Party in regional elections in Ham­ sense—a group guided by the 'mother orga­
burg and Hesse.27 In 1980 they urged their nization' and having specific tasks in the
supporters to vote for the Social Democratic field of youth work. The strategic concep­
Party. Among their slogans on that occasion tion of the r k j was rather that it be a 'lever'
were "No vote for the bosses' parties c d u / with which to build an organization capable
csu or the f d p ! " "Vote s p d to prevent of intervening in the class struggle under the
Strauss from winning the elections!"28 special conditions of the youth radicaliza-
(Strauss was the very conservative leader of tion. That is, fundamental to the founding
the Bavarian branch of the Christian Demo­ of the r k j was the g i m ' s extreme weakness
crats, the csu.) after the end of entrism and the split in the
spring of 1969. . . ,"32
The r k j was formally established as a na­
Factionalism Within the GIM
tional organization in a convention held in
Almost from the moment of their emer­ Frankfurt, May 29-31, 1971. It voted to be­
gence as a public group once again, the Ger­ come a "sympathizing organization" of
man Trotskyists associated with the United u s e c . Its function was spelled out thus: "In

Secretariat suffered severe factional prob­ a period of West German capitalism in

lems. Some of these reflected the struggles which a larger part of the worker youth,
going on within the u s e c during the 1970s. college students, and high-school students
At least two splits occurred in u s e c ' s are approaching revolutionary positions, the
German section in the years immediately r k j will intervene among the radicalizing

following the reestablishment of an open youth to hasten the organization of the van­
Trotskyist group. In the Spring of 1969 a guard for consistent anticapitalist struggle.
faction broke away to form the Spartacus In doing this, the r k j will make an essential
group.29 This Spartacusbund continued to contribution to the anchoring of the revolu­
exist for a number of years, although it­ tionary organization in the class struggles of
self suffering several splits. It became as­ the West German proletariat."33
sociated with a dissident u s e c group However, the creation of the r k j appar­
known as the Necessary International Ini­ ently created confusion among u s e c Ger­
tiative, headed by an Italian Trotskyist, man Trotskyists rather than strengthening
Roberto Massari.30 their movement. As a consequence, only

Germany: World War II and After 431

five months after this founding conference 1975 national conference of the organiza­
a second national convention of the r k j was tion, when three factions appeared: "These
held October 30-November 1971 in Co­ tendencies are the Internationalist Ten­
logne. Although that meeting allegedly "re­ dency (i t ), which has held the majority on
flected the rapid growth of the West German the Central Committee since the 1974 con­
Trotskyist movement," its most notable de­ ference and supports the majority leadership
cision was to call for the merger of the rk; of the Fourth International; the Compass
a n d the g i m .34 Tendency |k t ), the second largest tendency;
This merger was finally achieved at a "fu­ and a third, small tendency, the Leninist-
sion conference" held December 30, 1972- Trotskyist Tendency (l t t ), which supports
January 1, 1973. Although it was reported the minority tendency in the Fourth Inter­
that "broad agreement was reached on some national."37
key points" at that convention, it was de­ The German u s e c affiliate was thus split
cided to have formal votes on three compet­ along the lines of the controversy then rag­
ing draft political resolutions presented at ing generally within the United Secretariat.
the meeting "because neither the proposed The largest group was aligned with the "Eu­
theses nor the state of the discussion within ropeans" (Emest Mandel, Pierre Frank and
the organization yet fully meets the objec­ Livio Maitan) who were then pushing a
tive requirements of the struggles in West "guerrilla" approach, particularly for theLat-
Germany. "3S in American countries. The smallest group
A resolution dealing with the reasons for within the g i m was aligned with the u s e c fac­
unification of the g i m and r k j was passed. tion led by the Socialist Workers Party of the
Was Tun subsequently reported that "we United States. The second largest g i m fac­
believe that the conception of the r k j , de­ tion (Compass Tendency) was aligned with
spite its great practical value in building the the so-called Third Tendency within u s e c ,
section was based on a number of mistakes, led by the Italian Roberto Massari.34
which are described in this resolution; an Was Tun, in reporting on this meeting of
underestimation of the newly arising revo­ g i m , noted that "in the vote on the political

lutionary left itself, which generally strove resolution at the 1975 National Conference,
to overcome an outlook restricted to its own none of the three tendencies in the g i m was
sector and to work out a general perspective able to win a majority. For a democratic-
for the whole society; an underestimation centralist organization, this is a situation as
of the practical effects of the upsurge of West difficult as it is unusual. It means that no
German workers struggles, which opened tendency has a mandate to lead the organiza­
up increasing possibilities for bridging the tion on behalf of a majority of the member­
gap between the working class movement ship." In the face of this situation, it was
and the movement of radical youth by direct decided to summon shortly a new national
intervention in the proletariat; an underesti­ conference. Meanwhile, the 1975 meeting
mation of the concrete significance of the agreed to give the Internationalist Tendency
weight of the Fourth International in West an absolute majority on the new Central
Germany, which in the long run, if this de­ Committee and provided that its version of
velopment of a 'special West German strat­ the political resolution be "the public gen­
egy for building the organization' had been eral line of the g i m . " -A sixteen-point pro­
carried further, would have led to a political gram, for work in the labor movement,
regression."35 among immigrants, and on other organiza­
The sharp differences of opinion reflected tional issues was adopted as an interim di­
in the "fusion conference" continued rective to the leadership. Of the thirty mem­
within the g i m . This was reflected in the bers of the new Central Committee, the i t

432 Germany: World War II and After

w a s g iv e n s ix t e e n , t h e k t tw e lv e a n d th e ing .Group, and to work with it in a spirit of
l t t tw o ; w ith th e i t g e ttin g s e v e n a lte r n a te compromise."'11
m e m b e r s , t h e k t s i x a n d t h e l t t t w o . 39
Factionalism continued. On July 9, 1978,
Subsequent Activities of GIM
the Central Committee of the g i m adopted
a resolution which indicated that the inter­ In spite of fears that continuing factionalism
necine struggles were threatening the very might totally destroy the organization, the
existence of the organization. This resolu­ g i m continued to exist. It continued to be

tion started out by proclaiming that "despite active in various fields and on various is­
at times violent political conflicts, the g i m sues. Early in 1979 Was Tun expressed
has not yet fallen apart. While this fragile strong opposition to the Chinese invasion
unity may rest on the realization that left of Vietnam.41 They strongly supported Soli­
to their own resources splinter groupings darity in Poland and opposed its suppression
cannot arrive at any political perspective for by the Jaruzelski government.43
the long run, nonetheless the fundamental In October 1983 Was Tun published a spe­
common basis that still exists must be cial supplement on the wars then under way
underlined." It claimed that "the extant dif­ in Central America, Lebanon, Afghanistan
ferences of opinion are of a tactical and not and between Iran and Iraq. This proclaimed
of a principled nature."40 that "It is correct and necessary for the
The resolution went on to note that "a struggle of the peace movement to concen­
widespread criticism of the national leader­ trate on halting the stationing of the Cruise
ship appeared at the June National Confer­ and Pershing 2 missiles. On the basis of the
ence. In all probability the critics will be broad alliance of this movement, it is just
able to find support only from a minority in as correct not to impose positions on these
the future as well. But on the other hand, no international conflicts in an ultimatistic
other grouping, coalition or political con­ fashion. But a revolutionary socialist policy
ception has appeared from which an alterna­ within the peace movement must seek to
tive leadership could emerge. Hence it is as convince as many as possible of an interna­
good as certain that the present up-in-the- tionalist standpoint and to initiate corres­
air situation will continue, and the collapse ponding actions."44
of the organization will be hastened." At the height of the controversy over the
The Central Committee therefore re­ introduction of new missiles into Europe in
solved that "extraordinary efforts to unify June 1983, Was Tun published an article
the organization" had to be taken. These which set forth clearly the German u s e c
were the establishment of a Working Group, Trotskyist position on the issue. It first ar­
with representatives of all factions, even gued that "the warmongers in the Pentagon
those not represented in the Central Com­ are pursuing the goal of making the Soviet
mittee, and the request that the United Sec­ Union subject to military blackmail, to
retariat name someone to preside over that force it to renounce all support for liberation
organization. The Central Committee pre­ movements in the world, be they in Central
scribed that "The task of the Group will be America or in the Middle East. Moreover,
to produce a detailed program for the g i m ' s they have never renounced their goal of de­
work in the coming year, which as far as stroying the non-capitalist property rela­
possible will not be open to 'interpre­ tions in the Soviet Union and in Eastern
tation,' " and it appealed "to parts of the g i m Europe and to once again open these coun­
to take part in this attempt at unifying our tries to capital. It is the right of the Soviet
practice, to work out suggestions for it, Union to defend itself against this; it is the
name representative delegates to the Work­ duty of the peace movement to defend this

t Germany: World War II and After 433

1
I
right. For this reason, we reject the equation East! Solidarity with the independent peace
of East and West." movement in East Germany and the Soviet
The statement went on to say that "this Union! For a nuclear weapon-free Europe
does not change our opposition to the bu­ from Portugal to Poland! For a democratic,
reaucratic repression in the Soviet Union, self-governing, and socialist Europe!"45
in Poland, and elsewhere. The repressive re­ The g i m members carried on some mini­
gime of the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union mal activity in the trade union movement,
and other noncapitalist countries must be particularly in the two largest unions, those
overthrown in order to reopen the way to a of metal workers and government employ­
democratic and self-governed socialism." ees, and had a handful of elected union offi­
The statement continued: "The answer of cials among their members. The g i m also
the Soviet bureaucracy to the imperialist ran a publishing house which translated and
arms buildup must nevertheless be per­ published a number of books which had first
ceived by the peace movement and the been put out by their comrades in the United
workers movement in Eastern Europe and States and in France, as well as publishing
in the West as a threat, lt is neither suited some original German material. Late in
to defend the Soviet Union against imperial­ 1982 it was estimated that the g i m had
ism, nor (toj prevent a nuclear war. While about 400 members.46
a political answer is necessary, the Soviet
answer remains military."
Other German Trotskyist Groups
The German Trotskyists went on to insist
that "the Soviet bureaucracy is pushing a The United Secretariat is not the only fac­
deceitful and criminal game, if it is seeking tion in International Trotskyism which has
to create the impression that it could win a had affiliates in Germany. The Lambertist,
nuclear war. It has no chance to economi­ Morenoist, International Socialists, and
cally, militarily, or technologically overtake Spartacist factions of Fourth Internation­
imperialism. . . . The Soviet Union and the alism have all had groups in the Federal Re­
Warsaw Pact are behind the imperialist public associated with them.
West economically as well as technologi­ The first Trotskyist group in Germany op­
cally—and therefore also militarily. . . . " posed to the United Secretariat appeared in
The g i m statement went on to say that "the mid sixties," and established associa­
"only through the independent mobiliza­ tion with the International Committee of
tion of the working class in the West as well the Fourth International. At that time "a
as in the East can the warmongering policies small group of German youth began to ques­
of n a t o be stopped. Therefore, the working tion and then to challenge the premises of
class in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Pabloism. . . it was no accident that the first
must have the opportunity to organize itself theoretical study to which the new com­
in self-governing democratic structures for rades devoted themselves in the process of
peace. . . . We therefore support the initia­ becoming supporters of the International
tion of a peace movement in the Soviet Committee of the Fourth International was
Union and in the East European countries . . . the June 17 uprising. The result was a
that is independent of the state.. . . We pro­ brochure of twenty-four pages appearing in
test against all attempts by the Soviet bu­ mimeographed form in the initial number
reaucracy to go over the heads of the masses of the i a k . " 47
in wanting to station nuclear weapons in This affiliate of the Lambert-Healy Inter­
Eastern Europe. . . . " national Committee consisted of two parts.
The statement ended with four slogans: One was a group of adults "grouped around
"No new nuclear weapons in the West or the newspaper International Workers Cor­

434 Germany: World War II and After

 respondence (i a k )." The second was a youth istische Arbeiter Gruppe. It was represented
group, Young Guard.49 By 19 71 this group at a meeting of the tendency in Great Britain
was known as the Sozialistischer Arbeiter in 1984.55 No further information is avail­
Bund, and it sided with the Healyites in the able on this organization.
I 97 I~ 7 i split in the International Com­ The international Spartacist tendency
mittee.49 (sic) had also had its affiliate in West Ger­
The Lambertist Reorganization Commit­ many, the Trotzkistische Liga Deutsch-
tee of the Fourth International ( c o r q i ) also lands (t l d ). A leader of the t l d , Frank Behr,
had for some years an affiliate in West Ger­ wrote in 1982 that "it's hard to say precisely
many. During the 1980 general election it where the first brick was laid for the t l d . For
was reported that "in liaison with other instance, in a time of international isolation
German groups affiliated with the Parity for the s l / u s , several issues of Klassenkampf
Committee, the German section of c o r q i {'Spaitakist'} were published in 1967-68 by
carried on a struggle for the defeat of Strauss, a supporter of the s l / u s in Germany, in an
for the victory of the s p d , in the process of attempt to intersect leftward-moving ele­
fighting for an a ll- s P D government."50 This ments in the German New Left.. . . The t l d
German affiliate participated in a confer­ in its present form grew through re­
ence in Paris at the end of July 1980 looking groupment and recruitment in the ostensi­
towards a formal merger of the c o r q i and bly Trotskyist milieu during the early
the Morenoist faction of the United Secre­ 1 970s, particularly from Spartacus KJO and
tariat.51 According to a United Secretariat Spartacus BL (later Spartacusbund), nation­
source the Lambertist group in Germany ally limited leftwing splits from the ostensi­
consistently was smaller than that of the bly Trotskyist international bloc of Ernest
u s e c group.51 Mandel... . This was augmented in the late
The Lambertist group, the ISA, continued seventies by accretions from the increas­
to exist in the mid-1980s. At the time of the ingly social-democratic g i m . . . ." Behr
state elections in Baden-Wurttemberg early wrote that" the size and influence of the t l d
in 1984 the is A urged its followers to vote are as yet modest—we are neither the largest
for the candidates of the Social Democratic nor the smallest of the groups which lay
Party, but added that it "declares at the same claim to Trotsky in Germany (which vary
time that the call and electoral profession of in size from a handful to 150)."
faith are not sufficient; it is necessary for an Behr noted the positions assumed by the
axis of combat to be established and dis­ t l d : "our defense of the full revolutionary

cussed to aid the working masses and youth program of Leninism and Trotskyism; our
to combat the policy of the leadership of sharp opposition to all popular frontism as
the s p d , which threatens to bring about a a bourgeois trap for the working class; un­
defeat."53 conditional military defense of the de­
After the breakaway of the faction of the formed and degenerated workers states
United Secretariat under the leadership of against imperialism combined with the
Nahuel Noreno late in 1979 to form the struggle for proletarian political revolution
International Workers League (Fourth Inter- against the Stalinist bureaucracies. . . . "
national), that faction of the international On more specific issues, Behr noted that
Trotskyist movement also had a West Ger­ the t l d had used the slogan "Down with
man affiliate. It was known as the Socialist the Shah, down with the Mullahs:" in deal­
League, and had as its newspaper Aktion.54 ing with the Iranian situation. He noted also
By the middle 1980s the International So­ "our support to the Red Army intervention
cialist Tendency also had an affiliate in the in Afghanistan, which can open the way for
Federal Republic of Germany, the Social­ social progress in this backward feudalist

Germany: World War II and After 435

preserve/' He also emphasized "our slogan bitter factionalism. Unlike their counter­
for the 'Revolutionary Reunification of Ger­ parts in several other European countries,
many' through social revolution in the West the German Trotskyists had very little im­
and political revolution in the East," adding pact on the youth revolt of the 1960s and
that "the latter is key to the task of breaking early 1970s and developed virtually no base
through the reawakening bourgeois/social at all in the trade union movement.
democratic nationalism in Germany (fre­
quently in 'pacifist' garb) with a revolution­
ary perspective for Germany and Europe."
Finally, he noted the t l d slogan "Stop the
Counter-revolution of Solidamosc," and the
t l d ' s general opposition to Polish Soli­

darity.
Behr concluded his letter by saying that
"if this sounds perhaps familiar from the
other i s t publications, it is only because we
are, indeed an international organization for
socialist revolution."56
In 1982, the Trotskistische Liga Deutsch-
lands suffered a small split, with the expul­
sion of the External Tendency ( e t ). The pro­
grammatic or principled issues in this
division remained obscure. At about the
same time similar schisms took place in the
Spartacist organizations in the United
States and Canada.57 The German e t took
the name Gruppe IV Internationale.58

Conclusion
German Trotskyism revived, at least in the
Federal Republic, after World War II. Its
membership remained tiny and its influence
marginal even on the far left of West Ger­
man politics. After two experiments with
"deep entry," first into a Titoite offshoot of
the Stalinists and then in the Social Demo­
cratic Party, the Trotskyists finally emerged
as a separate open movement in the late
1960s. At that point the Trotskyists were
by their own admission very weak, perhaps
having lost a good deal more than they had
gained from entrism.
Even before emerging from the s p d the
German Trotskyists had begun to splinter.
In the next two decades they split into more
than half a dozen different groups, several
of which were themselves characterized by

436 Germany: World War II and After

f

Trotskyism in Great in the existence of clearly delineated groups

of Labor Party members with their own or­
Britain: The Early Years ganizations, discipline, and publications
of British Trotskyism working within the Labor Party, without
being official affiliates. In recent decades the
group around The Tribune, founded by An-
eurin Bevan, has been one of the most sig­
nificant and long-lived such groups.
A third element in the Labor Party picture
Nowhere else has the Trotskyist movement was added right after World War I. This was
been more consistently plagued by the prob­ the "constituency Labour parties," that is,
lem of "entrism" than in Great Britain. Labor Party clubs organized in the various
From its inception, British Trotskyism has parliamentary constituencies to nominate
had to face the fact that the vast majority of and try to elect Labor Party candidates.
the country's working class has continued These clubs have since 1918 had their own
to regard the British Labor Party as "their" representation—in proportion to their
party. Consequently, the British Trotskyists membership—at the annual conferences of
have been confronted with the quandary of the Labor Party, along with the trade unions
working inside the usually quite amorphous and the remaining "socialist societies."
Labor Party, where they could be "near" the This peculiar form of organization of the
workers but faced the constant dangers in­ Labor Party presented special problems for
volved in having to a greater or less degree to the Trotskyists. To the degree that they
"water down" their real position, or staying were successful in developing any influence
outside the Labor Party, where they could within the trade union movement, the
more easily maintain their doctrinal purity Trotskyists were virtually by definition ac­
but in so doing almost certainly assured tive in the British Labor Party as well, since
themselves of a more or less high degree of the unions in which they worked were affil­
isolation from the British working class. On iated with the party. Hence, the question of
more than one occasion they have sought to "entrism" resolved itself in essence into a
combine the two tactics. decision as to whether or not to participate
The situation has been complicated by in the constituency Labor parties and the
the peculiar organizational structure of the party's youth organization.
British Labor Party. It was originally estab­ Two other factors were of importance in
lished at the turn of the twentieth century this situation. One was the fact that since
as a coalition of the country's trade unions, the inception of the British Labor Party it
the cooperative movement, and various "so­ has virtually always had a more or less
cialist societies," the most important of clearly defined left wing. It centered on the
which was the Independent Labor Party. British Socialist Party before and during
Ever since, most of the nation's important World War I, the Independent Labor" Party,
trade unions have continued to be directly and the Socialist League between the wars,
affiliated—and pay dues—to the Labor and the Tribune and Tony Benn groups in
Party. Similarly, the "socialist societies" the decades since World War H. The last
tradition has persisted; although the Inde­ factor was that during most of their exis­
pendent Labor Party disaffiliated in 1932 it tence the Trotskyists have had to face the
was soon succeeded by the Socialist League presence of another Marxist-Leninist group,
as an officially recognized affiliate of the the Communist Party of Great Britain,
party. In addition, the "socialist societies" which was also usually practicing "en­
tradition has consistently found expression trism" in the Labor Party and usually could

Great Britain: Early Years 437

be counted upon to be hostile to the Trots­ He noted that it was "of importance because
kyists within whatever left wing existed in it contained figures later to play a role both
the Labor Party at any given time. in the British Trotskyist movement and in­
ternationally—D. P. R. ('Phillip') Gunawar­
dena, Colvin R. de Silva, Hugo Dewar, Dr.
Origins of British Trotskyism Worrall, Max Nicholls, Bill Graham, Gerry
and Lee Bradley." From February 1932 on
As the wave of propaganda against Trotsky they published a mimeographed paper, The
within the c p s u and the Comintern rose in N ew Man.3
the latter part of 1924, there were few voices The American Trotskyist, Albert Glotzer,
raised within the British Communist Party entered into contact with the Marxian
in protest against this onslaught by the So­ League when he first visited Great Britain
viet First Troika. One such voice, however, in 19 31. The members of the League argued
was that of Arthur Reade, a member of the to him that there was no use working in the
London District Committee of the c p g b , trade union movement, which was hope­
and business manager of its semi-official pe­ lessly corrupted, and that there was no hope
riodical Labour Monthly. At a London mem­ in the British Labor Party. Glotzer thought
bership meeting on January 17, 1925, at their position coincided with that which Le­
which a resolution endorsing the c p g b ' s de­ nin had denounced in his pamphlet Left
nunciation of Trotsky's Lessons of October Wing Communism. An Infantile Disease,
was introduced, Reade submitted an amend­ and he had long discussions and arguments
ment from the London District Committee with them. As a consequence they wrote a
which supported the Opposition and regret­ letter to Trotsky, denouncing Glotzer.4
ted the haste with which the c p g b ' s Council Shortly afterward Glotzer attended a
had acted. His motion was overwhelmingly meeting of the International Secretariat in
defeated. Reade, meanwhile, had been giv­ Paris which dealt with the question of the
ing a series of lectures expounding on Trots­ Marxian League. Present were M. Mill (Pa­
ky's positions to the Battersea Young Com­ vel Okun), Pierre Naville, Pierre Frank,
munist League.1 These lectures were to Myrtos of the Greek section, and Leonetti.5
greatly influence at least one of the people Also attending was Chandu Ram (Aggra-
who was to become a leader of British Trots­ wala} of the Marxian League, there to argue
kyism. its case to be recognized as the British
Shortly after the January 17 meeting, section.6
Reade was suspended as a member of the Glotzer largely spoke for the others pres­
London District Committee of the c p g b . ent, when in answering Chandu Ram, he
Soon afterward, he quit the party and left the said (according to the minutes of the is meet­
country. As Martin Upham has commented, ing of October 13 ,19 3 1) that "in England we
"perhaps the first British Trotskyist had must utilize all elements in the process of
departed, apparently making little im­ building the Opposition. We can have a good
pression."2 organization depending on how well it is
The first organized group in Great Britain organized. Our object is to bring these vari­
to take a position in defense of Leon Trotsky ous elements together. In conference, we
and to seek to interpret his ideas was the should discuss the problems of the British
Marxian League, which was formed some­ movement, the questions that fundamen­
time in 1929 or 1930. According to A1 Rich­ tally concern the Opposition. In this man­
ardson it "carried out propagandist activity ner, through mutual discussion will these
in Hyde Park, held socials and theoretical questions be solved. In these preliminary
discussions in Totenham Court Road area." gatherings of the various groups, the Opposi­

438 Great Britain: Early Years

 tion organization will emerge. Not everyone delegates as had been the case in the past.10
claiming to support us will be with us in the At that point Groves and his friends did not
end, but we will at least have an Opposition see the international implications of the
organization which is in fundamental agree­ purge and that it was in fact the imposition
ment with the views of the Opposition."7 by the Stalinists of a leadership which would
When Glotzer got to Turkey and talked do as it was told by the Comintern offi­
with Trotsky, and when Trotsky read the cialdom. 1!
documents of the Marxian League which Groves, whose rise within the c p g b was
Glotzer had brought with him, Trotsky is­ reportedly sponsored for some time by R.
sued a statement defending Glotzer against Palme Dutt, had other grounds for disagree­
the Marxian League.8 Subsequently, ment with the top party leadership: "He was
Trotsky had published in The Militant of angry about how they altered his pamphlet
New York City his reply to a letter from for the 1929 elections, how the 'Daily
Francis Ridley and Chandu Ram, two of the Worker' treated his 'Workers Notebook' ar­
principal leaders of the Marxian League. In ticles especially on India, and how they be­
this reply he commented that "it would be gan to alter their line of trade union struggle
very sad if the critical members of the Brit­ without discussing it."12
ish Communist Party would imagine that Martin Upham has commented about an­
the opinions of Ridley and Ram represent other Balham Group leader, Henry Sara, that
the opinions of the Left Opposition."9 he was "moderately well known in the party
Little more was heard of the Marxian . .. and, uniquely among the future founder
League. However, one of its important fig­ members of the British Section, he had par­
ures, Hugo Dewar, who had strongly dis­ ticipated in the theoretical discussions in
agreed with the Ridley-Ram position, soon the party press." He had been a Communist
joined forces with those who were to bring candidate for the House of Commons in
into existence the Trotskyist movement in 1929.13
Great Britain. These were the so-called Bal- The Balham Group had had some aware­
ham Group, about a dozen members of the ness of the nature of the struggles going on
Communist Party in Southwest London within the Soviet Party and the Comintern.
centering on the Balham area. Because they lacked adequate information
The Balham Group, whose principal fig­ on the issues they had either voted against
ures were Reg Groves, Stewart Purkis, E. S. or abstained on the routine resolutions in
(Billy) Williams, Bert Field, Henry Sara, and their local party organizations to approve
Harry Wicks, had for some time been un­ the expulsion of the Soviet Left in 1927,14
happy with the general course of the Com­ and supported the London District Commit­
munist Party of Great Britain. Groves, who tee's refusal to endorse the expulsion of the
was for some time an assistant district orga­ Soviet Right in 1929.15
nizer (number two man in the London orga­ Late in 1930 Harry Wicks became a mem­
nization) had been a delegate to the Novem­ ber of the Balham Group. He had just come
ber 1929 eleventh congress of the c p g b , at home from spending three years at the Lenin
which the old leadership of the party was School in Moscow and was, as a result, rela­
largely removed. He supported the ouster of tively well informed about the factional
leaders who he thought had been too com­ fights which had taken place in the Soviet
promising during the 1926 General Strike Party and the Comintern.16 Sam Bomstein
and thereafter but was perturbed by the fact and A 1 Richardson have also noted that
that the new leadership was chosen on the "Wicks . . . had been more or less a Trotsky­
basis of being "recommended" to the con­ ist since hearing A. E. Reade speak at the
gress instead of being freely elected by the Battersea y c l in 19 2 s."17

1
Great Britain: Early Years 439
 Bomstein and Richardson also have cited set up a Left Opposition organization. In
the importance of another member of the answer to a letter from Reg Groves Trotsky
Balham Group in informing its members of wrote him that "the British Left Opposition
what was transpiring in the c p s u . This was must begin systematic work. You must es­
a man who went under the name "George tablish a central staff, even if a small one.
Weston/' and who "was a g .p .u . man You must establish your own publication,
attached to 'Red Aid/ and probably knew even if on a modest scale. It is necessary to
more about the conflict than we do now." carry on sustained activity, analysis, criti­
They added that "in fact, it was Weston who cism and propaganda. . . " w
actually smuggled out the criticism of the Albert Glotzer visited the members of the
Draft Programme of the Comintern that Balham Group on his way back from his
James P. Cannon subsequently published sojourn with Trotsky. At about the same
and picked up the credit for."18 time, Max Shachtman, "urbane, witty, a
It was not until the spring of 1 931 that the theoretician of agility and much experi­
Balham Group established its first contacts ence," also passed through London and con­
with the International Communist Left Op­ ferred with them. Both of the Americans
position. This came about largely by acci­ sought to convince them to organize as a
dent. In a radical bookstore in the center of Left Opposition. However, as Reg Groves
London Reg Groves came across and bought noted, "We remained unconvinced as to the
several copies of The Militant of New York wisdom of the course suggested. . . . We
City, which contained, among other things, were not yet the British Section of the Inter­
several articles by Trotsky. They soon en­ national Left Opposition; and it was to be
tered into correspondence with the Ameri­ several months before we became so."21
can Trotskyists, particularly Arne Swabeck, During the spring and summer of 1932 the
at that time secretary of the Communist Balham Group came into increasing conflict
League of America. with the leadership of the c p g b . In letters to
Reg Groves noted that "we made it clear the Daily Worker and the party leaders they
to the Americans that we were not prepared criticized party positions on the role of the
to set up a Left Opposition group in Britain." trade unions, on the need for a united front
He added that "we went along with them on in Germany to confront the Nazis and on
much, such as the restoration of full inner- several other matters. At the same time they
party democracy in the national sections, established good working relations with the
a diminution of Russian command of the Independent Labor Party branch in their part
Comintern, and a recovery of the commu­ of the city. In May they published a mimeo­
nism of the founding fathers. And we were graphed journal, The Communist, which
deeply shaken by Trotsky's powerful indict­ carried Trotsky's most recent statement on
ment of Comintern policy in Germany . . . Germany and announced that "the British
to Trotsky's warnings of the disaster that Section of the Left Opposition was now es­
would follow for workers in Germany, Rus­ tablished," but without identifying the edi­
sia and throughout the world if that policy tors of the journal or the members of the
was persisted in; and by his call for a princi­ new "British Section."11
pled united front of the Social Democratic The final straw, insofar as the c p g b - au­
Party and the Communist Party to check thorities were concerned, was the Balham
and defeat the Nazis. All these things we Group's opposition to the nature of the pro­
would raise in the party and fight for, but as jected World Congress Against War to be
members, not outsiders."19 held in Amsterdam, organized by the Com­
Both Trotsky and the Americans sought intern but "sponsored" by what the Balham
to bring pressure upon the Balham Group to Group categorized as "a number of pacifists

440 Great Britain: Early Years

and social patriots."23 The Balham Group A few other people who sympathized with
organized the South West London Anti-War the Balham Group, including Max Nicholls,
Committee, held a number of public meet­ W. Graham, Gerry and Lee Bradley, and Ar­
ings with participation of some trade union­ thur Cooper, were able to continue within
ists, Labor Party and i l p people, an d Com­ the c p g b for some time further before being
munists. This committee elected "Comrade expelled in their turn.17
Wild" of the Amalgamated Engineering Relations between the British Trotskyists
Union as its delegate to the Amsterdam and the International Left Opposition were
Congress, with instructions to support a still a bit tenuous. However, Harry Wicks
number of points, including "untiring expla­ was one of those present at the informal
nation that the only guarantee of victory for meeting of Trotsky with his international
the workers of Russia lies in the develop­ followers in Copenhagen in November
ment of world revolution." 1932, and Reg Groves attended the precon­
The South West London Anti-War Com­ ference of the International Left Opposition
mittee resolution was published in the in Paris in February 1933.28
Daily Worker, but was soon denounced by
c p g b leader J. R. Campbell, who said that it
Entrism
needed "redrafting on the basis of a genuine
fight against the plans of the warmongers
The Entrist Problem
and cutting out the phrases which conceal
Trotskyist leanings."24 Within a few months the British Group of
On the same day this denunciation ap­ the Left Opposition of the Communist In­
peared, Reg Groves, Henry Sara, and Harry ternational, as the British Trotskyists first
Wicks were summoned to c p g b district called themselves, had about forty mem­
headquarters. There they were presented bers.29 In May 1933 they began to publish a
with a copy of The Communist and were paper, Red Flag, which Martin Upham de­
asked by William Gallacher "w ill you now scribed as "a propaganda vehicle aimed at
help to unite the party by supporting party a revolutionary audience."30 Leon Trotsky
policy and accepting party discipline?" sent the new periodical a message of greet­
When they refused a direct answer, Wicks ing, calling its appearance "a modest step
and Groves were expelled. Henry Sara was forward," and adding that "we must hope
for the moment merely "suspended."25 that other steps will follow." He stressed to
Disciplinary action against these three his British followers the need for studying
was soon followed by action against other the policies of the c p g b , to know its errors
members of the Balham Group, which the of omission and commission, and had words
c p g b officially declared to be "liquidated." of praise for the mimeographed bulletin The
At the next party congress in November Communist which the group was also pub­
1932, the group members handed out to the lishing. He urged that it be used "for the
delegates a document entitled "To Our examination of the policy of the British
Comrades in the Communist Party From Communist Party . . . and also a discussion
the 'Liquidated' Balham Group," which of of controversial questions within the Left
course, was not officially considered by the Opposition itself."31
meeting. It listed twelve people who, in ef­ The first formal meeting of the British
fect, had become the founders of British Opposition took place on June 18, 1933. It
Trotskyism: Steve Dowdall, Harry Wicks, adopted a constitution and accepted a na­
Henry Sara, Jim Barratt, D. Groves, Reg tional committee resolution "specifying the
Groves, W. Pyne, F. Chalcroft, I. Mussi, C. group's main tasks as: clarifying ideas and
Whiting, M. Simmonds, and N. Dowdall.26 holding regular conferences; a continuous

Great Britain: Early Years 441

i n t e n s iv e c a m p a ig n o n th e c p g b ; p a y in g a t ­ Thus, although it had the disadvantage
t e n t i o n to t h e le f t w in g y o u th a n d e s p e c ia lly of being infinitely smaller than the Labor
1000 Red Flags ■,
th e y c l ; s e llin g a m in im u m Party, the i l p seemed likely to be more eas­
p u b lis h in g The Communist w h e n n e c e s ­ ily influenced by Trotskyist ideas and orga­
s a r y ; p a r t i c i p a t i n g m o r e f u l l y i n t h e i l o . " 32 nizational activity than was the Labor Party.
When, after the crushing of the Socialist However, as Martin Upham has noted, "The
and Communist movements of Germany i l p had a very weak union base."35

Leon Trotsky proclaimed the need for set­ Trotsky advised his British followers to
ting up new Communist parties and a new undertake entrism in the i l p . But this move
International, the British Trotskyists en­ proved easier for Trotsky to prescribe than
dorsed the idea. They thereupon changed for his followers to execute. The problem
their name to Communist League.” led to a split in the ranks of the-Communist
The British Trotskyists remained ex­ League in December 1933. A mafority of its
tremely isolated politically. With most of members, who "could not resolve the prob­
them no longer in the Communist Party lem of applying Trotsky's proposal," de­
they did not have the advantage of whatever cided for the time being at least not to try
contacts it had within the trade union move­ to go into.the Independent Labor Party but
ment, or of the financial backing which the rather to maintain a separate organization
Comintern provided the c p g b . But neither outside. Only a minority of about a dozen
did their now being outside of the Commu­ members of the Communist League finally
nist Party's ranks automatically give them did undertake entrism in the i l p .
contacts with the great mass of the workers With this split, new complications devel­
who were supporters of the Labor Party. oped for the British Trotskyists. The Inter­
The Trotskyists were, therefore, faced national Secretariat of the Left Opposition,
with the problem of "entrism": In order to not wishing to encumber the "entrists"
grow and to exert influence, they had to find with the possible charge that they were
a place in a larger political body. At that "agents of an outside body," decided that
particular moment the policy of entrism, if both the majority and minority groups from
they were to adopt it, presented two possible the Communist League should henceforth
choices. be considered "sympathizers" rather than
Most unions, it is true, belonged to the full-fledged affiliates of the International
Labor Party. However, there also existed the Left Opposition.36 As Martin Upham has
Independent Labor Party, which until early noted, "Withdrawal of recognition of the c l
in 1932 had itself belonged to the Labor by the is was a complex affair, not accepted
Party but had disaffiliated in the wake of the by the majority."3'
collapse of the Second Labor Government
in August 19 31, and the disastrous defeat of
The Entrists in the Independent
the Labor Party in the subsequent general
Labor Party
election. The i l p was to the left of the Labor
Party, had a history and tradition even The Trotskyist group that decided to enter
longer than that of the Labor Party, and was the i l p explained its reasons for doing so at
more or less adrift ideologically. At least the time of entry. It proclaimed that "the
some of the i l p leaders had some personal building of a new party would be painfully
and political sympathy for Trotsky, as was slow. The possibility of a speedier way of
shown when the Independent Labor Party establishing an effective revolutionary party
published as a pamphlet {with an introduc­ is provided by the i l p , which despite its past
tion by James Maxton) Trotsky's public mistakes, represents a potentially revolu­
speech during his short visit to Copenhagen tionary force."38
in December 1932,.3" Even before the minority of the Commu­

442 Great Britain: Early Years

nist League decided to work within the i l p whole was drawn towards the c p g b because
rather than independently, there existed a it apparently embodied the Russian Revolu­
secret Bolshevik-Leninist Fraction of some tion and Marxist authority. Close coopera­
thirty i l p members, principally in London. tion in a united front was another matter
They succeeded in getting ten branches to and revolts. . . were traceable to association
support "the Trotskyist line" in the January with the communists. The Trotskyists
1934 conference of the London i l p .39 noted this, and some of them were to strive
However, Bornstein and Richardson have to appear as a loyal opposition within the
noted that the Communist League faction i l p . And some i l p leaders, notably Brock­

which entered the i l p "made little progress way, found Trotsky's thought a useful proof
during the first year. It was Autumn 1934, that King Street did not possess a monopoly
before they set up a functioning group (after of revolutionary wisdom."44 (King Street
having been in the i l p for 10 months). Their was where the c p g b headquarters was lo­
first delegate to an i l p congress, Ernie Pat­ cated.)
terson, had been converted to Trotskyism The Marxist Group in the i l p put out a
before the group went inside, and he antago­ number of publications. Marxist Bulletin
nized the still largely pacifist i l p at the con­ was a "duplicated pamphlet series, mostly
ference by talk of Soviets and the necessity of the works of Trotsky and statements of
for armed insurrection."40 the International Left Opposition." Some
The Marxist Group was finally estab­ i l p branches which were controlled by the

lished at a meeting on November 3, 1934, Marxist Group also edited similar material.
attended by delegates from four London i l p The members of the Marxist Group also
branches controlled by the Trotskyists. contributed to the internal bulletin and the­
Martin Upham has noted that "Sixty iL P e r s oretical periodical of the i l p , Controversy.4S
attended and vowed to transform the i l p Trotskyist influence in the i l p appears to
into a revolutionary party."41 have reached its apogee at the party's 1935
Al Richardson has noted that the Com­ annual conference. There "it had managed
munist Leaguers entering the i l p included to deploy its limited strength to best advan­
Denzil Harber, Margaret Johns, Bill Gra­ tage . . . by means of frequent speeches from
ham, and Max Nicholls, among others. He its few delegates and a phalanx of identifi­
added that "they were later joined inside the able Trotskyist resolutions on each subject.
i l p by Bert Matlow, Arthur Cooper, C. L. R. None of its positions was passed by confer­
James, Tony Doncaster, John Archer, John ence, but it had attained status almost as a
Goffe, Ernie Patterson, Hilda Lane . . . Ted balancing force to the r p c . " 44 James Jupp has
Grant . .. and others."42 noted that at this 193 s i l p Conference "six
Upon entering the i l p , the Trotskyists London branches and the East Liverpool
were faced not only with the traditional branch were clearly distinguishable as con­
leadership of the party, who were also lead­ sistent adherents to the Trotskyist view­
ers of the so-called London Bureau on an point."47
international level, but with a rival group of The advent of the 1935 general election
"entrists," those of the Communist Party. presented the Trotskyists in the i l p with a
The latter were generally grouped in the serious problem. In the two years preceding
Revolutionary Policy Committee, which this election the Labor Party had made a
also had some non-Stalinists associated considerable comeback, doing very well in
with it.43 parliamentary by elections and capturing
Martin Upham has noted that "it is im­ control of the London County Council. The
possible to make sense of Trotskyist behav­ i l p , on the other hand, was exceedingly

ior within the i l p without allowing for the weak and would be able to run candidates
effects of communist policy. The i l p as a only in a very limited number of constituen­

Great Britain: Early Years 443

cies. The Marxist Group in the i l p , there­ In November 1935 two Canadian mem­
fore, had to decide what it should urge its bers of the British Trotskyist group visited
supporters to do in those areas in which the Trotsky in Norway to discuss, among other
i l p was not fielding nominees. things, the role of his followers in the i l p .
John Archer was dispatched by the Group They "reported that Trotsky believed the
to make a tour of i l p branches to try to Marxist Group to have been correct to act
ascertain the real strength of the party. He with prudence, but that the situation had
concluded that only in the Glasgow area, been changed by the cooling of relations be­
where i l p leader James Maxton and others tween the i l p and the Stalinists and the
had a long tradition and where the Labor sharp differences which the approach of war
Party was very much an Irish machine orga­ was causing between pacifists and revolu­
nization and quite corrupt, did the Indepen­ tionaries."51
dent Labor Party have anything approaching It was proposed that the Marxist Group
a mass following. In other parts of the coun­ launch a manifesto, for which they would
try it generally had very little influence.48 seek signatures, so as to test their influence
In spite of Archer's observations "the within the i l p . This manifesto would call
Group decided to try to effect an alliance on the i l p to "create fractions in the Labor
with the Centrist leaders of the i l p . Hitherto Party, Trade Unions and Co-operative orga­
it had called upon the i l p to support all Labor nizations; send its small youth section into
candidates except in certain places in the the Labor League of Youth; repudiate paci­
Glasgow area. . . . In the hope of avoiding fism by means of a special conference . . .
social-patriotism, the Marxist Group now acknowledge the bankruptcy of the 'London
decided to call for support for all i l p candi­ Bureau' and declare the Fourth Interna­
dates and for only a very few pacifist Labor tional."52 Depending on the results of this
candidates." John Archer has admitted that manifesto, the Trotskyists would decide
"conditional support for Labor candidates whether to stay in the i l p or join the Labor
(such as is embodied in the formula 'Labor to Party.
Power on a Socialist Programme'), implying Trotsky's point of view did not by any
support for some but not for others, or for means meet with unanimous support
none, was a mistake, which was to have among those of his followers who were in
serious consequences, even though the the i l p . Many did not want to leave the Inde­
Group was not large and could not influence pendent Labor Party, some feeling that they
the election results." He added that "the still might be able to capture control of it,
Marxist Group isolated itself from the gen­ others arguing that "on principle" they
eral movement to get rid of the reactionary could not join the Labor Party. Still others,
government, leaving a space in the Labor expecting to be thrown out of the i l p by
Party which the Stalinists eagerly filled."49 the party's leadership, favored setting up an
During its sojourn in the i l p , one of the "open" Trotskyist organization outside
Marxist Group's major assets was undoubt­ both the Labor Party and the i l p . No deci­
edly C. L. R. James. A native of the West sion was reached.53
Indies, James was, as Martin Upham has At Easter 1936 the Trotskyists suffered a
said, "the most prominent black in the defeat at the annual conference of the Inde­
party, indeed in British politics." At the pendent Labor Party. Although the confer­
time of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in ence at first passed a motion sponsored by
1 9 3 S he was for a time the i l p ' s principal the Marxist Group urging "independent
spokesman for its position of supporting working-class activity to prevent Italian Im­
"workers sanctions" instead of League of perialism from receiving war materials for
Nations action against Italy.50 use against Abyssinia," this motion was fi­

444 Great Britain: Early Years

nally submitted to a referendum of the i l p nist League finally joined the Balham and
membership. At the same time the confer­ Footing Divisional Labor Party. As Upham
ence ratified affiliation of the i l p with the has noted, "The c l turn towards the Labor
London Bureau and repudiated the idea of Party is a rare instance from the annals of
the establishment of a Fourth International. British Trotskyism where joining or leaving
It also passed a motion prohibiting orga­ a larger party did not cause a split."59
nized factions within the party, a move He adds that "those who were well-
clearly aimed at the Marxist Group.54 Subse­ known figures in their locality (Wicks in
quently, the Trotskyists were defeated in Battersea, Groves in Balham) started with an
the i l p membership referendum by a vote of advantage. In Wimbledon, Henry Sara was
three to two.55 short-listed for a parliamentary candidature.
Their defeat at the 1936 i l p meeting pro­ Groves was actually selected as delegate
voked a schism within the Marxist Group. from the Balham and Tooting division of
Upham has noted that "it split three ways: the 1934 Labor Party conference with near
those who thought that the i l p phase might unanimous backing, though he was in the
usefully be prolonged; those who felt an in­ end barred by the n e c . .. . Also on the wider
dependent organization might now be stage, Wicks was able, as a Labor Party mem­
launched with success; and those who, after ber, to secure a delegate's place at a confer­
Trotsky, believed the time was now ripe for ence summoned by the London Trades
entering the Labor Party."56 Council, from which body he had been ex­
cluded for many years."60
In November 1934 The Red Flag was con­
The Marxist League
verted from a newspaper to a magazine, but
apparently only one issue of the new version
Origins
of the periodical appeared. Martin Upham
Meanwhile the majority element of the has noted that "for more than a year, until
Communist League, which had opposed en­ the start of 1936, there is no evidence of
try into the i l p , moved in the direction of internal life inside the c l . Possibly the loss
the Labor Party. They strongly supported of a paper which could only claim a limited
the Labor Party candidates in the London impact in any case was considered only a
municipal elections of March 1934 which small sacrifice for securing a place inside the
brought Labor control over the London Labor Party."61
County Council.57 In January 1936 a new Marxist Bulletin
However, during the first half of 1934 the appeared as the organ of the Marxist League,
Communist League majority group did not the new name of the Communist League. It
practice entrism. Martin Upham has noted contained two articles by Trotsky.62 Then
that "internally, League affairs were not in May 1936 The Red Flag appeared once
happy. Groves thought the national com­ again as "the organ of the Marxist League."
mittee 'very feeble' and functioning as a col­ It promised "the presentation and applica­
lection of factions rather than as a national tion of revolutionary Marxism."63This time
body. The League's main strength was the the paper continued to be published until
two strong locals of Balham and Chelsea, October 1937 when the Marxist League was
though there were several smaller local formally dissolved.6,1
groups. It had a definite asset in The Red Within the Labor Party the Communist
Flag, and continued to turn out its distinc­ League/Marxist League group worked prin­
tively produced leaflets on issues of the cipally within the Socialist League (s l ). This
hour."58 was a group headed by Sir Stafford Cripps,
During the summer of 1934 the Commu­ which was made up principally of e x - i L P e r s

Great Britain: Early Years 445

who had refused to quit the Labor Party tinue the work of the Socialist League in
when the i l p did so in 1932, and it was the the Labor Party. This was the Socialist Left
principal left group within the Labor Party Federation, but according to Martin Upham
at that time. Within the Socialist League the it never got more than one hundred mem­
Trotskyists faced strong opposition from bers. Reg Groves was its chairman and most
Stalinist elements who were also working of the other prominent Marxist Leaguers
within the s l .65 were in its executive. It expired late in
The Trotskyists arrived in the Socialist i 938 .?0
League at exactly the moment when the s l
had decided to try to become a "mass organi­
Reg Groves’s Parliamentary
zation." It welcomed the cooperation of the
Campaign
experienced Trotskyist leaders in this effort.
Martin Upham has noted that the Trotsky­ One important activity of the Marxist
ists' influence by 1935 in the s l "is apparent League in the Labor Party during this period
in the activities of Groves who was speaking centered on the parliamentary campaign
on League platforms from May and in the waged by Reg Groves. He had been named
autumn published a pamphlet on the impor­ as prospective candidate by the Mid-Bucks
tance of trades councils on the League's be­ Divisional Labor Party in April 1937, and
half."66 In September 1935 Groves became after the resignation of the sitting Conserva­
London area secretary of the Socialist tive M.P. there was an election in May 1938.
League and in September 1936 was named With the election coming shortly after
London Region representative on the Na­ Hitler's annexation of Austria, Popular
tional Council of the s l .67 Front sentiment tended to be running high
In spite of the growing influence of at least on the left. Groves was under considerable
some of the Trotskyists in the Socialist pressure to retire in favor of the candidate
League, they did not use this influence in of the Liberals, who had always run second
the latter part of 1936 to openly criticize in the constituency. Groves resisted this
tendencies in the s l to which they were pressure and carried on a very active cam­
clearly opposed. Most particularly, The Red paign.
Flag did not appear in exactly that period in For the most part, Groves got strong sup­
which negotiations were in progress among port from the Labor Party press in spite of
the Socialist League, i l p and Communist his known Trotskyist antecedents. He was
Party to sign a "Unity Agreement." As violently denounced by the Daily Worker
Upham has noted, "When Groves and the and leaders of the Communist Party as being
paper joined battle in January 1937, the issue backed by "the forces of reaction," and the
was already resolved."68 Communists urged their followers to vote
The Unity Agreement brought about a de­ for the Liberal. Although the National Of­
cision of the National Executive Committee fice of the Labor Party had at first sought to
of the Labor Party that made Socialist get Reg Groves to retire his candidacy, they
League membership incompatible with supported him when he refused. At one cam­
membership in the Labor Party. At a confer­ paign meeting Harold Laski, Ellen Wilkin­
ence of the Socialist League in May 1937, son, and D. H. Pritt, all of whom favored the
the leadership therefore recommended the Popular Front idea,' appeared on his plat­
dissolution of the organization. The Trots­ form. Groves was also backed by the Inde­
kyists offered a counter proposal to main­ pendent Labor Party.
tain the League as an independent organiza­ When the votes were counted the Conser­
tion. They lost by a vote of fifty-one to ten.69 vative nominee won, with twice the votes
A month later an attempt was made to of the Liberal, who came in second. Groves
establish an organization which could con­ received 3,560 votes more than the Labor

446 Great Britain: Early Years

Party candidate had received in the previous moment to forestall the inevitable expul­
general election. sions and lead a break-away."7S
Groves continued for some years to be the The Trotskyists in the League of Youth
Labor Party's prospective candidate for the soon extended their activities to the Labor
Mid-Bucks constituency, though he was Party itself. They formed a "clandestine"
never elected. Nevertheless, this was the Bolshevik-Leninist Group in the Labor Party
only time during the prewar period that a in mid-1936. Its objective was defined as
Trotskyist had run for parliament.71 being "to disseminate in the so-called 'orga­
nized' Labor Movement the principles of the
Trotskyists, to form a wider group around
The Bolshevik-Leninists in the certain points and build up a 'militant' wing
Labor Party to advocate openly the Fourth International
and its whole program."
A second Trotskyist group in the Labor However, the Bolshevik-Leninists saw
Party in the latter part of the 1930s consisted themselves as following closely the entrist
of people who had originally gone into the policies then being advocated by Trotsky
i l p but had then changed their minds and and the International Secretariat. At the an­
decided to work within the Labor Party's nual conference of the Labor League of
Labor League of Youth ( l l y ). Bornstein and Youth at Eastertime 1936, the Trotskyists
Richardson have noted that "its original nu­ around Youth Militant had four delegates
cleus was K. F. Alexander, Roma Dewar and and the Marxist League also had four. Their
Denzil Harber—who was out of the i l p strength at the meeting was reflected in the
group almost as soon as it was formed."72 fact that Roma Dewar received ninety votes
Alexander was a Canadian, and the group for leadership of the organization, compared
was soon joined by Charles van Gelderen, a to 110 for a "reformist" and 120 for the Sta­
South African Trotskyist who had recently linist nominee.76
moved to Britain.73 The Bolshevik-Leninists in the Labor
In 1935 the l l y Trotskyist group began Party were soon joined by another small ele­
publishing a paper, Youth Militant, the first ment. This was the so-called Hyde Park
issue of which called itself "the organ of Group, organized by Jock Haston after he
people in 'various' youth groups—including had left the Communist Party over the deba­
the i l p guild." In the beginning of their par­ cle of the German c p . It existed from 1934
ticipation in the l l y the Trotskyist group through 1936 and devoted its attention prin­
worked with the Stalinists, and Roma cipally to studying and selling pamphlets by
Dewar was first elected to the National Trotsky produced by his U.S. followers.77
Council of the Labor League of Youth as
candidate of a bloc in which both the Trots­
British Trotskyists at the
kyists and Stalinists participated. The alli­
Geneva Conference
ance with the Stalinists soon ended; none­
theless, Roma Dewar remained the only Several factions of British Trotskyism were
Trotskyist on the l l y National Council.74 represented at the so-called First Interna­
The orientation of those Trotskyists who tional Conference for the Fourth Interna­
first began to work in the Labor League of tional of July 1936, which was allegedly held
Youth was summed up by John Archer: in Geneva (Genfeve), Switzerland, but in fact
"They believed that 'entry' in the Labor met in Paris.78 C. L. R. James represented
League of Youth would necessarily have a the Marxist Group in the i l p , while Denzil
short perspective. The reformists and the Harber was there for the Bolshevik-Leninist
Stalinists could not tolerate their activity, Group in the Labor Party, and two other
and they had to be alert to seize the best unidentified delegates were present.79 The

Great Britain: Early Years 447

 Groves group was not represented, report­ Marxist Group in the i l p held its meeting.
edly not having the money needed to send a It narrowly adopted a resolution introduced
delegate.80 by C. L. R. James which was "an all-embrac-
The Bolshevik-Leninist Group presented ing proposal, that the three groups should
a document entitled "The British Perspec­ fuse, and that the resulting group, which
tive/' which John Archer has maintained would not be strong enough to work com­
"contained the most developed formulation pletely in the open, would do fraction work
of the 'entrist' perspective up to that time, both in the Labor Party and in the i l p . . . .
probably drafted by Harber." This document The Labor Party would be the main field of
noted that a "boomlet" was under way in work, but no one would be asked to leave
the British economy and could be expected the i l p if they did not wish to do so. The
to continue, and that it would generate new new group would adopt, and sell, the new
militancy on the part of the labor move­ journal, which James had managed to pro­
ment. This would force the appearance of duce on his own initiative, and which called
militancy on the leaders of the unions and openly for the Fourth International." This
the Labor Party, but with inevitable disillu­ new journal was called Fight.™
sionment among many of the workers, those On the next day a "Conference of A ll the
disillusioned could be expected to turn prin­ British Bolshevik-Leninists" convened. It
cipally towards the Communist Party, received reports on the membership and
which "seems to them the revolutionary al­ strength of two of the three Trotskyist
ternative." As for the Trotskyists'role? "We groups. The Bolshevik-Leninist Group in
must go to the masses, interpreting their the Labor Party, headed by Denzil Harber
own experiences to them, until the time is and Ken Alexander, said that it had sixty
ripe to break away to form . . . the British members in London, of whom forty were
Section of the Fourth International."81 in the Labor League of Youth. Sales of its
The Geneva conference adopted a resolu­ periodical Youth Militant were reported to
tion of its British Commission, which be 800. It had had increases in membership
stressed "a most urgent necessity to effect with people coming from "the Labor Party,
in the shortest possible period of time uni­ the Marxist Group of the i l p and thirteen
fication of the three English groups. . . . The ex-communists."84 The Marxist Group in
experience inside the i l p should be brought the i l p claimed forty members in London
to a close, and the group now functioning and forty in the provinces, and had just sold
within that organization should transfer its r,8oo copies of Fight. It reported having
field of operations to the mass organiza­ some members on local trade councils. The
tions, specifically to the Labor Party and the Groves group, the Marxist League, did not
Labor League of Youth. . . . The concrete provide information about its size.85
means of effecting their departure from the The Harber-Alexander group reported
i l p and their entry into the Labor Party and that it had sought joint meetings with the
the Youth organization, as well as affecting Groves faction, but had been unsuccessful.
the unification of the forces of the Fourth It had also sought cooperation with the
International in England within the Labor Trotskyists inside the i l p on specific issues,
Party, must be left to the English comrades but that more general cooperation had
to elaborate. . . ."82 proven difficult. It add^d that "the James
resolution . . . with its insistence that the
The October 1936 Conferences and main field of work is in the Labor Party
Their Aftermath provides a basis for at least a discussion of
In October 1936 two Trotskyist conferences the possibility of fusion of all the groups."86
were held in London. On October 10 the Martin Upham has noted that at this con­

448 Great Britain: Early Years

ference, "The Marxist League's attitude was Trotskyist organization. However, a meet­
that the widest possible diffusion of Bolshe­ ing of the International Bureau in December
vik-Leninists was desirable . . . it believed criticized this move, saying that "if we stay
the time for exclusive work in the Labor outside, we shall be considered as powerless
Party was coining to an end. Growing collab­ and incurable sectarians, who fear contact
oration of the Labor Party with the govern­ with the masses, but who want to impose
ment would drive the workers left-ward, themselves on the masses as sage counsel­
possibly in the direction of a new revolu­ ors, from outside."90
tionary party comprising the left, the League This move of the International provoked
of Youth, and the i l p . . . . A concerted drive the Bolshevik-Leninist Group in the Labor
by the Bolshevik-Leninists would bring the Party, led by Harber, to suggest that the In­
creation of the new revolutionary section ternational Bureau remove recognition from
nearer."87 both the Groves group, which was distribut­
The meeting set up a Coordinating Com­ ing matereal of the non-Trotskyist Spanish
mittee "which, it was hoped, would 'serve po u m and was opposing distribution of
as a cohesive force to all the groups, with a Youth Militant within Sir Stafford Cripps'
view to organizational fusion, make ar­ Socialist League; and the Marxist Group of
rangements so that the journals should sup­ the i l p which was "moving aw ay. from
plement and not overlap or compete with Trotskyism in an ultra-left direction," and
each other, institute a plan of joint work and recognize only the Harber faction. The Bu­
produce a joint political thesis and internal reau rejected this suggestion.91
bulletin.' " 8S However, John Archer has
commented that "the Committee carried
Transformation of the Bolshevik-
out, in fact, none of these, and after its first
Leninists Into the Militant Group
meeting, the Harber Group pointed to the
underlying difficulty in a statement which The Bolshevik-Leninist Group in the Labor
asked: Did the Marxist Group still cling to Party decided in January 1937 to come out
the i l p as the main field of work while pay­ into the open within the Labor Party as the
ing lip-service to the need for more work in Militant Group. It started publication of a
the Labor Party? Fusion could not be reached monthly periodical Militant, which contin­
without agreement on a common tactic."89 ued to appear until the end of 1939. John
Meanwhile, C. L. R. James and several Archer has noted that "The Militant tried
others who were associated with the editing to present a programme of Trotskyism in
of Fight were expelled from the Independent concrete terms for workers oriented towards
Labor Party soon after the October confer­ the Labor Party. It attacked Social-Democ-
ences because of the clear call of the journal racy and Stalinism in the context of resis­
for the establishment of the Fourth Interna­ tance to the war-plans of British imperial­
tional. Soon afterward the International Sec­ ism and published news of the movement
retariat wrote the Marxist Group in the i l p , to the Fourth International. It accepted that
criticizing it for not "counter attacking" and it could not call directly for the Fourth Inter­
particularly regretting that it had not de­ national, for the reasons that the reformist
nounced the i l p ' s participation in an Octo­ bureaucrats would seize on this pretext to
ber 1936 meeting of the International Bu­ drive the group out prematurely, on an issue
reau for Revolutionary Socialist Unity, the which the workers whom it needed time to
so-called London Bureau. influence would not immediately under­
On November 15 the Marxist Group stand."92
agreed to a proposal by James that they with­ So long as the Socialist League existed,
draw from the i l p and establish an "open" the Militant Group sought to prevent its

1 Great Britain: Early Years 449

t
dissolution. After it was dissolved, they "real enemy was at home"), it did not pub­
tried to help bring into existence the new licly advocate either the establishment of a
group to replace it, the Socialist Left Federa­ new revolutionary party or a Fourth Interna­
tion. There they ran into conflict with the tional. It called for a "Third Labor Govern­
Groves group, which was also working in ment." After the m l l ' s first conference,
the Federation. The secretary of the Militant "Transport House began to watch the
Group, Starkey Jackson, reported in August League."96 (Transport House was the Labor
1937 that "the Socialist Left Federation is a Party headquarters).
small organization of about 100 members, About a month after the August 1937 con­
but is in contact with hundreds of ex-Social­ ference of the Militant Group a split oc­
ist Leaguers, and we could gain contact with curred in the organization. The splitters,
these comrades through the s l f . The plat­ who consisted principally of the Paddington
form of the s l f certainly doesn't come up to branch of the Group, and were at first led
the programme which we would advance, by a South African, Ralph Lee, formed the
but it is in no sense a final programme." Workers International League ( w i l ).97
He expressed hope that the Militant Group
could gain control of the Federation "despite
The Trotsky Defense Committee
Groves and Co." However, although the s l f
leaders had apparently at first welcomed the During the 1936-1938 period one of the ma­
Militant Group into its ranks, in November jor activities of the British Trotskyists, as
1937 the Militants were finally expelled with their colleagues in other countries, was
from the Socialist Left Federation.93 that of rallying support for Trotsky against
A national conference of the Militant the charges which were made against him
Group met in August 1937. It was reported at the Moscow Trials. For peculiar reasons
to the conference that the group had fifteen of British politics at that time, they were
branches, of which eight were in the London less successful in these efforts than were
area, the rest in Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, their French, and particularly their Ameri­
Hull, Sheffield, Leicester, and Norwich. It can comrades.
had about one hundred members "and their Immediately after the first Moscow Trial
reports give an impression of lively activ­ in August 1936, Trotsky had called for the
ity." The conference endorsed work in the establishment of an impartial international
Socialist Left Federation.94 committee to pass judgment on the charges
Late in 1937 the Militant Group estab­ which had been made against him during it.
lished the Militant Labor League as their His followers in Great Britain took up this
rival to the Socialist Left Federation. Of it, call and set to work to rally British support
Martin Upham has said that "it was a front for such a commission of inquiry.
for the Militant Group itself and at no time One of their problems was the fact that
achieved an independent existence." At its they were split into three different and quar­
first congress it claimed 150 members, and reling groups. Most of the work on the issue
it was also said that the newspaper Militant, was done by people associated with the
which it took over from the Militant Group, Marxist League. Two of its members, Harry
was reportedly being published with a run Wicks and Hilary Sumner-Boyd, were the
of 2,000 copies.95 successive secretaries^ the Defence Com­
Although the Militant Labor League ( m l l ) mittee, and Henry Sara and Hugo Dewar
took a very Leninist position with regard to regularly attended its meetings. Of the Mili­
the coming war [that is, that it would be a tant Group, Ken Alexander and Starkey
conflict between those countries with colo­ Jackson often attended its meetings, but
nies and those without them, and that the members of the Marxist Group (recently of

450 Great Britain: Early Years

 the i l p ) seldom did. Stuart Purkis, who by grave hesitations about getting involved in
then was no longer affiliated with any of the anything which was critical of the Soviet
Trotskyist factions, also took a very active Union. In the face of the growing menace
part in the work of the Defence Committee. of Hitler's aggression there was a general
By the end of November 1936 a Provi­ feeling of the need for unity of the West
sional Committee for the Defence of Leon European powers and the Soviet Union.
Trotsky had been established and a letter There was similar widespread support for
from it was published soon afterwards in the idea of unifying all possible forces inside
the Manchester Guardian and several other Britain to oppose the National Government
papers, protesting against the Norwegian and its appeasement policy—and something
government's forbidding Trotsky to make like the Trotsky Defense Committee
any public statement and calling for an in­ seemed to undermine this unity both on a
ternational commission of inquiry. This national and international level.
document was signed by H. N. Brailsford, Nonetheless the Trotskyists did what
Frank Horrabin, Conrad Noel, Fred Shaw, they could to push the cause of the Defense
Rowland Hill, Eleanor Rathbone, Garry Al- Committee. Their own publications regu­
lingham, Reg Groves, Harry Wicks and Stu­ larly carried extensive material on the sub­
art Purkis. As it turned out, Brailsford was ject, and they facilitated Trotsky's own ef­
soon to withdraw his support and Horrabin forts to place his articles on the issue in such
was only lukewarm in his. British publications as would accept them.
The Trotskyists had great difficulties in The Defence Committee itself published
rallying people outside their own ranks to a Bulletin for a short while. In February 1937
participate in the Defence Committee, or to the committee sponsored a meeting at­
come to Trotsky's support. The only promi­ tended by 600 people in Memorial Hall in
nent Labor Party figure who addressed the London which was addressed by Sidney Sil­
meetings of the committee was Sidney Sil­ verman, Socialist League leader Garry Al-
verman. lingham, and the Trotskyists C. L. R. James,
Perhaps the strongest backer of the idea of Stuart Purkis and Bert Matlow. They also
an international commission and the most tried to recruit British participants in the
consistent critic of the Moscow Trials out­ Dewey Commission, but financial con­
side of the Trotskyists' ranks was Emrys straints brought that to naught. The Trots­
Hughes, the editor of the independent left- kyists also published The Case of Leon
wing newspaper Forward. But during most Trotsky, consisting of Trotsky's submission
of the life of the Defence Committee it to the Dewey Commission. The final act of
seems to have had little direct contact with the committee was a meeting in March 1938
Hughes. at which Wicks and James spoke about the
There were several reasons for the failure work of the Dewey Commission."
of the Trotskyists' attempt to rally wide sup­
port on the Trotsky defense issue, as their
American comrades were able to do. One
was that Trotsky had little backing over the
years among British left-wing intellectuals.
Another was that with a few exceptions the
British Trotskyists themselves did not come
from the intellectual milieu. Most impor­
tant of all was the fact that in this 1936-
1938 period virtually the whole of the Brit­
ish Left, particularly the intellectuals, had

f Great Britain: Early Years 451

f
 British Trotskyism: ber 1937 the Marxist League (m l ) decided to
dissolve itself and end publication of The
From Revolutionary Red Flag. Soon afterward a majority of the
Socialist League former members of the Marxist League met
and decided to make overtures toward unity
to Revolutionary with the Marxist Group (formerly of the i l p ).
Communist Party A Joint Commission of the two groups with
three members from each was established.
It drew up a political statement which urged
establishment of "a strong centralized inde­
pendent organization . . . on the platform of
the Fourth International." Martin Upham
has noted that ''the problem of where to be
Between October 1936, when the first joint in the short term had been resolved in favor
meeting of the various Trotskyist factions of a body separate from other parties, though
took place, and July 1938, when some sem­ the new body would aspire to organize work­
blance of unity was finally established ers in the established organizations."1
among them, there were various efforts to On February 17,19 38 a Fusion Conference
bring together all British Trotskyists in a of the e x - M L and the Marxist Group took
single organization. These received exten­ place. Henry Sara presided over the meeting
sive encouragement from the International and Harry Wicks introduced the main de­
Secretariat. bate. Although the Militant Group did not
There were tactical and undoubtedly per- officially participate E. S. Jackson of that or­
sonal factors which made unification diffi­ ganization attended as an observer.
cult. The Militant Group was committed to The new faction took the name Revolu­
long-term work within the Labor Party. The tionary Socialist League ( r s l ). It became af­
Marxist League was also operating within filiated with the Bureau for the Fourth Inter­
the Labor Party but it was not at all certain national.3
that continued entrism was a good thing, During the next few months the r s l car­
and in any case, its relations with the Mili­ ried on a good deal of activity, particularly
tant Group were unhappy. The former in holding open air meetings in London,
Marxist Group of the i l p was after early 1 9 3 7 Sheffield and other cities. Its members were
a completely independent organization not also active in the Men's Guild of the Cooper­
practicing entrism of any sort. The Marxist ative Movement, and in a few trade unions.
League was more friendly disposed towards Just before the July unity conference it was
joining with the Marxist Group than with claimed that the r s l had doubled its mem­
the Militant Group. bership since its establishment five months
On February 14, 1937 there was a meeting before.4
of representatives of all three factions, a
meeting attended by Erwin Wolf (J. Braun)
of the International Secretariat. Little came The Other Trotskyist Factions
from this session beyond a statement of the The establishment of the Revolutionary So­
positions of the three organizations.1 cialist League was only one small step to­
wards unifying all of those organizations in
Britain which proclaimed their loyalty to
The First Revolutionary Socialist
Trotskyism. These groups included not only
League ( r s l )
the Militant Group but also the Workers
The first real possibility of making some International League, the Revolutionary So­
progress towards unity came when in Octo­ cialist Party, the Leninist League, a group of

452 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

Trotskyists still operating in the Indepen­ decade," did not do so. Their principal figure
dent Labor Party, and a dissident element of was Ernie Patterson.9
the Militant Group in Liverpool. Finally, there was what had been the Liv­
After the departure of those who left it to erpool branch of the Militant Group. It had
establish the Workers International League broken from the m g in 1 9 3 7 in opposition
the Militant Group continued to work to involvement in the Socialist Left Federa­
within the Militant Labor League and the tion. It was led by Don James.10
Labor Party, and to insist that "roots had
first to be sunk in the Labor Party before
independence could be achieved." Its princi­
The New Revolutionary
pal figures at this time were E. S. Jackson,
Socialist League
Denzil Harber, Lee Davis, Margaret Johns,
John Archer, and John Goffe.5
The Workers International League, origi­ The Establishment of the New RSL
nally formed by eight members of the Pad­
dington branch of the Militant Group in De­ The first step toward wider unity of the
cember 1937, had begun to publish a various factions took place in June 1938.
periodical, Workers International News, Harry Wicks, as Acting Secretary of the
which Martin Upham has called "the first r s l , presented the Militant Group with a

theoretical journal of the Trotskyist move­ proposal for a conference to which the r s l ,
ment in Britain." It was active in the Labor Militant Group, the Liverpool organiza­
League of Youth and had sought recruits tion, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the
from Militant branches outside of London. Workers International League, and the Le­
By July 1938 it reportedly had thirty ninist League would all be invited. The M ili­
members.6 tant Group replied by suggesting a unity
The Revolutionary Socialist Party was a conference of only it and the Revolutionary
largely Scottish organization which had bro­ Socialist League. This idea the r s l turned
ken away from the De Leonite Socialist La­ down.11
bor Party in the early 1930s and had subse­ However, the plans for the Founding Con­
quently evolved toward Trotskyism. It gress of the Fourth International in Septem­
published, irregularly, a monthly newspaper ber 1938 gave a certain sense of urgency to
Revolutionary Socialist, and its leading the unification of the British adherents of
figures were W. and A. Tait and Frank Mait­ the f i . As a consequence, James P. Cannon
land. The party had branches in Edinburgh, of the Socialist Workers Party of the United
Glasgow, and Yorkshire. It had applied for States was deputed in July by the Interna­
admission to the Independent Labor Party tional Secretariat to go to Britain to try to
and when rebuffed there, had written to bring the various factions together.
Trotsky and made contact with his London Cannon met with the leaders of the r s l ,
adherents.7 the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the
The Leninist League, also based in Scot­ Militant Group. He also talked with a mem­
land, was associated with the followers of bership meeting attended by all thirty peo­
Hugo Oehler in the United States and was ple who belonged at that point to the Work­
opposed to entrism. Its membership was ers International League. These discussions
principally in Glasgow.8 led to supposed agreement among the vari­
When most of the Marxist Group had left ous factions.
the u p , those group members who con­ What was called the National Conference
trolled the Clapham branch of the i l p and of Bolshevik-Leninists met in London on
its bookstore, which Martin Upham has July 30 -31, 1938. The r s l , r s p , and w i l all
called "a Trotskyist center throughout the submitted documents outlining the kind of

Great Britain: From RSL to RCP 453

organization to be established, although the of the Fourth International as the British
Militant Group did not do so.12 Section of the International. A resolution
It was finally agreed to set up a single "On the Unification of the British Section"
organization, to be known as the Revolu­ declared that "the world conference consid­
tionary Socialist League, which was to have ers the unity agreement entered into be­
a full-time secretary and was to bring out a tween the three previously separated British
new periodical merging Fight, Revolution­ groups as an adequate basis for the develop­
ary Socialist, and Workers International ment of the work of the united British orga­
News. It was also agreed that, although ma­ nization in the coming period. It endorses
jor efforts were to be concentrated for the the unity agreement and recognizes the or­
time being on work in the Labor Party, no ganization based on it as the only British
r s l member who did not want to join the section of the Fourth International. All Bol­
Labor Party would be required to do so. M ili­ shevik-Leninists, all revolutionary workers
tant would still continue to appear as the in Great Britain who desire to be enrolled
organ of the Militant Labor League and there under the banner of the Fourth Interna­
would be an r s l internal bulletin put out tional, are invited and urged to join the Brit­
every two months. ish section—the Revolutionary Socialist
A new executive was to be made up of five League."15
people named by the r s l and Militant Group Of course one significant element of Brit­
respectively, and two each by the r s p and ish Trotskyism stayed out of the new r s l .
Workers International League. It was agreed This was the Workers International League,
that the first national conference would be sometimes referred to as the "Lee Group"
held in six months, at which time a new after its first principal figure, Ralph Lee. The
unified executive would be chosen. The pro­ same resolution of the Founding Conference
visional executive would choose the dele­ had some unkind words about them:
gates to attend the Founding Conference of
. . . as far as the Lee group is concerned,
the Fourth International.13
it is necessary to point out (i) This group
In the end only the Revolutionary Social­
came into existence some months ago as
ist League, the Revolutionary Socialist Party
the result of purely personal grievances
and the Militant Group signed this Peace
which impelled Lee and his friends to an
and Unity Agreement. The Workers Interna­
organizational split. There was not then,
tional League refused to do so, "despite ap­
and there is not now, any justifiable polit­
peals from Cannon to take part, resting on
ical basis for the separate maintenance of
the argument that there could be no true
this group. (2) The leaders of this group
unity until experience forged it."
resisted all attempts of the delegation of
The new Executive Committee named
the International Secretariat to include it
Denzil Harber of the Militant Group, Frank
in the general unification. (3) The invita­
Maitland of the r s p , and C. L. R. James of
tion of the is delegation to this group to
the first r s l to be delegates to the Founding
be represented and present its point of
Conference of the Fourth International.
view at the world conference, either by
Sumner-Boyd was designated a "consulta­
delegate or letter, was disregarded; all we
tive delegate" to the conference, and he in
have is a statement, apparently addressed
fact took one of the two sets of minutes of
to the world at large, rejecting in advance
the meeting which have been published.14
any decision of the world conference not
The RSL and the Fourth International in accord with their untenable demands.16
The new Revolutionary Socialist League The resolution went on to say that "under
was accepted by the Founding Conference these circumstances, it is necessary to warn

454 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

the comrades associated with the Lee group refused any kind of Labor Party work, tried
that they are being led on a path of unprinci­ independence, and later entered the i l p . The
pled clique politics which can only land Militant Labor League was left in control
them in the mire. The members of the Lee of the r s l with official backing from the
group are invited by the world conference to International. But from 1940 it stagnated
reconsider their decisions, to come into the within the Labor Party and fell out with
unified British section, to take their place in the International over the correct line to be
the common work, with fair representation advocated against the war. These two fac­
in its leading bodies and without any repri­ tors added to a third, the contrast presented
sals of any kind."1? by the growth of the w i l , gave rise to intense
Sam Bornstein, then a member of the factionalism and the effective separation of
Workers International League, has written the r s l into three parts."20
(with Al Richardson) a rebuttal of this posi­ The Revolutionary Socialist Party contin­
tion of the International Secretariat towards gent totally rejected work within the Labor
the w i l : "The fact that the is Resolution Party and distrusted the r s l ' s general orien­
repeats these slanders does not make them tation toward the Labor Party. During and
true. The w i l membership of about thirty, after the Munich crisis it carried on effective
mostly young workers and unemployed, did antiwar agitation through street meetings
not have the material means to send a dele­ and pamphlets. The departure at about the
gate (their continuously produced publica­ same time to the United States of C. L. R.
tions during this time, amounting to three James, whom the r s p people looked upon as
times the production of all the other groups the principal leader of the r s l favoring work
together, ate up all their resources). The outside of Labor, and the intermittent publi­
statement to which the is Resolution refers cation of Workers Fight which was supposed
was entrusted in a sealed envelope to one of to be the r s l ' s "open" paper, intensified the
the English delegates (Harber) and was for suspicions of the elements from the Revolu­
the congress alone—not 'the world at large.' tionary Socialist Party.
This stuff, I'm afraid, is the product of J. P. Although a referendum in the r s p in Octo­
Cannon's factional hostility to the w i l ber unanimously endorsed its joining the
group."18 r s l , and it formally did so on December 15,

C. L. R. James and Denzil Harber were 1938, its adherence was more apparent than
elected to represent the British Section on real. At the February 1939 National Confer­
the International Executive Committee of ence of the r s l it was announced that unifi­
the Fourth International.19 cation with the r s p was still to be achieved.
It never was, most of the r s p members join­
ing the Labor Party or the Workers Interna­
The Revolutionary Socialist League
tional League.
1938-43 The old Marxist League people took the
Even the degree of unity achieved in the lead soon after establishment of the r s l in
British Trotskyist movement in 1938 did organizing the Socialist Anti-War Front
not last for long. Martin Upham has summa­ (s a w f ) in September 1938. It was for a short
rized why: "The Revolutionary Socialist while the principal organization based on
League was a failure. It did not hold together the working class carrying on agitation
and it proved unable to capitalize on war­ against the war before and right after war
time opportunities. The Marxist League broke out. The s a w f also participated in the
cadre drifted away from it to joint activities wider No Conscription League. Some other
against military measures with dissidents elements in the r s l were critical of what
inside and outside the Labor Party. The r s p they conceived to be the insufficiently revo­

Great Britain: From RSL to RCP 455

I
lutionary positions taken by the s a w f , and lations of the r s l with the International Sec­
Harry Wicks and Henry Sara were expelled retariat of the Fourth International were
from the Revolutionary Socialist League in somewhat choppy, although the League re­
mid-1939 for alleged "pacifism.'" mained the official British section during
A 1 Richardson has noted that Wicks and the 1938-1944 period. In spite of the diffi­
Hugo Dewar joined the i l p in January 1941 culties which the r s l already faced by that
and there put out a magazine, Free Expres­ time, the Emergency Conference of the
sion, which carried material by Trotsky. Fourth International, held in New York City
Dewar was the i l p parliamentary candidate in May 1940, adopted a "Resolution on the
in the Battersea Constituency in the post­ Unification of the British Section" which
war 1945 election.21 strongly supported the r s l . The 1940 confer­
The former Militant Group members ence resolution commented that "the offi­
were dominant in the Revolutionary Social­ cial British section of the Fourth Interna­
ist League. They continued to be active in tional, Militant Labor League [sicj has
the Labor Party through the Militant Labor achieved substantial progress in its work in­
League. However, in March 1940 the Na­ side the Labor Party," but added that the
tional Executive of the Labor Party declared conference "deplores the fact that no less
membership in the m l l and in the Labor than four groups claiming adherence to the
Party to be incompatible. As a consequence Fourth International exist outside the ranks
the Militant Labor League was dissolved, on of our official section in Great Britain." The
the suggestion of the Executive Committee resolution declared that "the conference
of the r s l . calls upon the Revolutionary Workers
In May 1940 it was even decided to sus­ League ( r w l ), the Workers International
pend publication of Militant on the grounds League (w i l ), the League of Labor Youth
that those associated with it might be ex­ ( l l y ) and all other groupings claiming adher­
pelled from the Labor Party. It was an­ ence to the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and
nounced that a new theoretical journal Trotsky to realize the serious need of a sin­
would take the place of Militant, but it never gle section of the Fourth International in
appeared. For some time a Bulletin of the Great Britain, and to give up their separate
British Section of the Fourth International organizations and to merge with the M ili­
was the only periodical issued by elements tant Labor League into one powerful organi­
of the Revolutionary Socialist League. zation."21 This resolution would seem to re­
Militant began to appear again in mimeo­ flect a certain degree of ignorance about the
graphed form in March 1941, and then as a actual state of British Trotskyism at that
printed newspaper in September. This time time. The attitude of the International Sec­
it was published in Glasgow, to which the retariat was subsequently modified. It
r s l had transferred its headquarters during brought increasingly strong pressure on the
the London blitz. Finally, in December r s l to merge with the Workers International

1942, responsibility for Militant was trans­ League.

ferred to a group of rank-and-file Lanark­ Throughout its existence the Revolution­
shire miners among whom the r s l had de­ ary Socialist League was plagued by bitter
veloped some influence. factionalism, leading to a series of splits.
The Revolutionary Socialist League had The first took place ^during the r s l ' s first
three national conferences. The first was in national conference in February 1939 over
February 1939, the second in September the expulsion of two members of the Isling­
1941, and then about a year later a special ton branch. The dissidents formed the Revo­
conference was held as a consequence of a lutionary Workers League ( r w l ), which put
bitter factional dispute then under way. Re­ out a periodical, Workers Fight. Although it

456 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

 had some contacts with the Shachtmanites, but not with a long-range entrist perspec­
the r w l did not adopt the Shachtmanite po­ tive, and after considerable pressure from
sitions on the USSR. At first the r w l c o n ­ the International Secretariat came around
trolled the British outlet of the U.S. Trotsky­ to support of unity with the Workers Inter­
ist publishing house, Pioneer Press, but soon national League. Its principal leaders were
lost that "franchise." Some members of the Denzil Harber and John Archer.
Revolutionary Workers League joined the All three factions had their origins in the
Workers International League, while others old Militant Group. However, their quarrels
rejoined the r s l . became very bitter and led to splits. First,
In April 1941 there was another split-off the Center/Left expelled the Right. Then
of a group from the right faction then ex­ the Center, which controlled such "appara­
isting in the r s l . The splitters established tus" as there was in the r s l , expelled the
the Socialist Workers Group but at least Left. By the latter part of 1943 there were
some of those people eventually returned to three distinct organizations. When negotia­
the r s l . About twenty people, led by Arthur tions for unity with the Workers Interna­
Cooper, joined the w i l .13 tional League began, it was first necessary
Subsequently, the Revolutionary Social­ to have a "regrouping" conference of the
ist League broke into three separate groups. three factions of the r s l , which met on Janu­
The major issues over which the factions ary 1, 1944.24
struggled were work within the Labor Party,
the Trotsky-Cannon position on how to deal
The Workers International League
with the war, and relations with the Work­
ers International League.
Origins
One faction was the Left, which strongly
opposed the position of Trotsky and James The Workers International League was by
Cannon of campaigning for military units far the most active of the Trotskyist groups
controlled by the workers, election of offi­ in Great Britain just before and during World
cers, and opposing evasion of military ser­ War II. Jock Haston, a former member of
vice by revolutionaries. Rather, the Left sup­ the Communist Party, soon emerged as its
ported "revolutionary defeatism" such as principal leader, although as we have noted
that which Lenin had favored during World it was first popularly referred to as the Lee
War I. The Left also wanted full commit­ Group. Ralph Lee returned to South Africa
ment to work in the Labor Party and was in 1940 although several other South Afri­
absolutely opposed to merger with the w i l . cans continued in the w i l , notably Ted
J. L. Robinson of Leicester and Don Mercer Grant and Ann Finkel Keen.”
of Scotland were its major figures. The w i l had its origins in a group of work­
The Right or Trotskyist Opposition ac­ ers under Haston's leadership in the Pad­
cepted the Trotsky-Cannon line on war (as dington section of London, who had joined
did the w i l }. It favored concentrating Trots­ the Trotskyist movement in 1936.2* They
kyist activity on independent organization were at first aligned with the Militant Group
outside of the Labor Party and was favorably but broke away late in 1937. By 1938 they
disposed to a merger with the w i l . Among were publishing two periodicals, Youth for
its leading figures were John Lawrence and Socialism, aimed mainly at the Labor Party
Hilda Lane. League of Youth, and Workers International
The Center shared the Left's position in N e w sy
favor of "revolutionary defeatism," al­ Martin Upham has stressed the impor­
though it made some concessions on the tance of the w i l ' s publishing activities in its
subject. It was for Labor Party participation initial period. He has described Youth for

t
1 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP 457
Socialism, the first editor of which was is at home. . . . Down with the war. . . . De­
Gerry Healy, as being "a lively newspaper, fend the Soviet Union." Jim Higgins has
given to exuberant abuse of communists and noted that "they denounced the Russo-Finn-
their fellow-travellers in the youth move­ ish war and in an article by Gerry Healy
ment." He also has noted that Workers In­ called upon the workers to stand firm in
ternational News "regularly published defence of conditions and hours." They
Trotsky, a task no other faction of the 1930s called for an end to the electoral truce which
regularly achieved." Starting in 1939 it be­ had been declared by all the principal parties
gan to emphasize contributions by its own at the beginning of the war.
members rather than by foreign Trotskyists. In June 1941 the Workers International
For seven months after the outbreak of the League launched a new paper, Socialist A p­
Second World War the w i l also put out a peal. In its first issue it presented a position
"daily handout," Workers Diary.™ on the war which was very reminiscent of
By the time of the outbreak of World War that being taken at the same time by the
II the w i l reportedly had about fifty mem­ Socialist Workers Party ip the United States.
bers. At that time they decided to send four It called for "Labor to Power on the follow­
of their members to Ireland to establish a ing programme: 1. Arming and organizing
printing press there and even possibly ar­ the workers under their own control to re­
range for radio transmissions together with sist any danger from invasion or Petainism
the i l p . Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson at home. 2. Election of Officers by Soldiers.
have noted that "the whole movement here 3. Establishment of special Officer Training
expected severe repression on the model of camps financed by the Government and
the way revolutionaries were treated during controlled by the Trade Unions, to train
the First World War, and the w i l wanted to workers to become officers. 4. Expropriation
ensure that their papers would continue to of the arms industry, the mines, banks, land
appear. It was all part of a carefully laid plan and heavy industry. 5, Workers' control of
for clandestine work, which also involved production. 6. Freedom for India and the col­
sending Ajit Roy to make contact with all onies. 7. A socialist appeal to workers in
the w i l groups in the country," Those dis­ Germany and Europe for socialist struggle
patched to Ireland were Jock Haston, against Hitler."31
Tommy Reilly, George Noseda, and John The line of the w i l during the war can be
Williams. Gerry Healy later joined them on judged by perusal of a random issue of the
his own initiative.19 group's paper, Socialist Appeal. The issue
But with one important exception the w i l of June 1943 carried front-page articles in
suffered little persecution from the British support of strikes then under way among
government in spite of its militantly anti­ aircraft manufacturing workers in Scotland,
war position. Nor did any of the other Trots­ and transport workers. It also carried a front
kyist groups. John Archer has attributed this page article with the heading "End the
fact principally to the presence of Herbert Truce—Labour to Power," and on the back
Morrison as Minister of Home Security in page a half-column article "Break the Coali­
the Churchill Government. Morrison had tion! Labour to Power on the following Pro­
been a conscientious objector in the First gramme," listing twelve points including
World War and was very much aware of the dispatch of arms to the USSR "under the
harsh mistreatment by the armed forces and control of the Trade Unions and factory
others of those who had opposed World War committees," nationalization of various in­
I. He was determined that that kind of thing dustries, arming of the workers, freedom for
would not happen again.’50 India and the colonies, and various other
With the outbreak of the war, Youth for measures.
Socialism proclaimed that "the main enemy This issue of Socialist Appeal denounced

458 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

 the dissolution of the Comintern, which had WIL Trade Union Activity
just been announced, with a banner headline
on the front page: "The 3rd International is The Workers International League was most
Buried! Long Live the 4th International!" It notable for its "industrial activity," that is,
also carried an editorial signed by Ted Grant work in the organized labor movement.
on "The Need for the International." Fi­ During its last two and a half years it made
nally, there was a full-page article entitled considerable progress in that field.
"Soviet Bureaucrats Live Like Lords," Wartime circumstances strongly favored
signed by Jock Haston, and on the front page the work of the w i l . Strikes were outlawed
were pictures of twenty-four Old Bolshe­ "for the duration," thousands of young mili­
viks, most of whom had been murdered by tary draftees were sent to work in the mines,
Stalin. and emphasis on intensified production led
The w i l engaged in bitter polemics with to a great deal of speedup. The trade union
the Communist Party. After the change in leadership associated with the Labor Party
c p g b policy following the Nazi attack on overwhelmingly supported this situation in
the Soviet Union, the w i l referred to the the name of winning the war, and generally
c p g b as "His Majesty's Communist Party," discouraged movements of protest. After
and "Their strike-breaking activities were June 1941 the Communist Party, which
denounced and a policy of industrial mili­ theretofore had been the most important op­
tancy advocated in opposition to the Stalin­ position group in the unions, was even more
ist line of class collaboration in the interest vehement in its opposition to any activities
of the 'Anti-fascist war.' " The Commu­ by workers which it interpreted as interfer­
nists, who had never ceased denouncing the ing with the production of goods for the war
Trotskyists, reciprocated by publishing a effort.
pamphlet, Clear Out Hitler’s Agents, issued The w i l jumped into this situation. Mar­
in 1942 which proclaimed that "Trotskyists tin Upham has noted that from 1942 on "it
oppose and hate the leaders of Russia. They intervened in all major industrial disputes
want to see Russia defeated and Hitler victo­ . . . and was more successful than any other
rious. . .. Hidden behind their slogan 'Work­ party in its attempt to fill the vacuum left
ers' control for Britain' is the Trotskyist aim by the communists. . . ."36
to smash workers' control in Russia."3* Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson have
The w i l at first worked largely within the listed some of the most significant of the
Labor Party. However, as a result of the vir­ w il 's participations in workers' protest
tual disappearance of activity on the part of movements. They have noted "the workers'
the constituency groups of the Labor Party control exercised by the w i l Convenor and
due to the electoral truce with the Tories and shop stewards in the Royal Ordnance fac­
other members of the coalition government tory in Nottingham, the successful sit-down
from 1940 on, the w i l went over to "open strike they led there against transfers, the
work," which was facilitated by their in­ fact that the w i l industrial organizer Roy
tense activity in the trade union move­ Tearse was engaged as advisor by the strike
ment.33 They proclaimed that "entrism" committee of the famous Vickers' Arm­
was "essentially a short term perspective of strong Strike in the autumn of 1943 . . . that
work in a milieu where favorable prospects the leader of the Tyne Apprentices' strike,
exist in a short space of time . . . such work Bill Davy, was a member of the group and
must be subordinated to the general strategy at the same time was advised in his conduct
of building the Fourth International party."34 of the strike by Tearse, Heaton Lee and Ann
The w i l also reportedly had small fac­ Keen."37
tions in the Independent Labor Party and the Early in 1942 the Workers International
cpgb .35 League held a meeting of members and sym­

Gteat Britain: Fiom RSL to RCP 459

pathizers active in various labor situations. tions went on for about a year in 1943 and
These came from Royal Ordnance Factories early t944 before the reunification was
in Enfield and Nottingham, miners in the agreed upon. Finally, on March ir - 1 2 , 1944
Northeast, and dockers from Liverpool. a unity conference was held with sixty-nine
There were also contacts with Yorkshire delegates in attendance, of whom seventeen
miners who were on strike in mid-1942. came from the Revolutionary Socialist
From 1942 on the w i l published Industrial League and fifty-two from the Workers In­
News, a periodical dealing with various la­ ternational League. This representation re­
bor situations.38 It joined with the i l p and flected the relative strength of the two
anarchists to establish organizations to co­ groups, about seventy-five members in the
ordinate protest activities among various r s l and 260 in the w i l . However, the r s l

workers' groups. These included the Mili­ delegation was split into three groups, seven
tant Miners Group, a multiunion Commit­ delegates representing the Militant group,
tee for Coordination of Militant Trade six the Trotskyist Opposition, and four from
Union Activity in London, and in Scotland the Left Fraction.
the Clyde Workers Committee. In June 1943 Martin Upham has noted the influence of
a National Confederation of Workers Com­ the w i l in the unity conference: "Voting on
mittees was organized.39 conference resolutions reflected roughly a
Largely as a result of its industrial work four to one majority for w i l policies. Indeed,
the Workers International League scored the Fusion Conference generally was a rec­
considerable success during the first four ognition of w i l ' s wartime achievement. The
and a half years of the war. It reported that main w i l leaders were all returned to the
by 1943 between 18,000 and 20,000 copies new central committee and there was no
of Socialist Appeal were being sold and that representation for the w i l minority."41
its membership had risen to 250. Jim Hig­ The delegates established the Revolution­
gins has noted that "what made this circula­ ary Communist Party. It was agreed that
tion possible, apart from fantastically hard Militant would continue to be published by
work, was the growth of militancy in indus­ those Trotskyists remaining in the Labor
try, which had been repressed by three years Party and Socialist Appeal and Workers In­
of war production. Conditions of work and ternational News would be the official pub­
safety were deteriorating and Socialist Ap­ lications of the Revolutionary Communist
peal supported all attempts by workers to Party. Jock Haston was chosen the party's
defend their conditions. Besides industrial general secretary. Jim Higgins noted that
reporting the paper carried news from mem­ "the air was full of optimism. . . . The party
bers and readers in the forces exposing con­ was launched on the expectation of rising
ditions in the detention centres as well as industrial militancy and war-weariness
in the army itself, this in a period when the leading on to revolutionary victory."41
Communists were opposing strikes, black­ According to Martin Upham, "The Fusion
legging, and allowing safety requirements to Conference was a watershed. It did not mark
fall below the minimum."40 the end of factionalism, but it redrew the
demarcation lines, w i l leaders felt that
Harber and the r s l Center adhered loyally
The Revolutionary Communist Party
to the new setup, even though they still
differed from the new party's leadership.
Unity Once Again
The Left Fraction, of course, maintained its
A bit more than a year before the end of existence. But the Right or Trotskyist Oppo­
World War II the Trotskyist forces in Great sition had some within it who were travel­
Britain were once again united. Negotia­ ling in the same direction as the Healy group

460 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

w ith in th e w il , a n d th e fu s io n b ro u g h t th e m ment is strongest, there are 152 members, of
to g e th e r w ith , in th e end , p r o fo u n d re ­ whom thirty-two are in the forces. Outside
s u l t s . " 43 London, the party has about twenty
The Left Fraction of the former r s l kept branches. A branch rarely has more than
its own identity for some time. They cen­ twenty members and sometimes has less
tered in Scotland, where they controlled the than ten, and the total number of members
Militant Scottish Miner, the successor to in the forces is unlikely to be more than a
the old Militant, and for some time refused hundred. On this basis, the total member­
to turn over the paper to the r c p . A 1Richard­ ship is probably well below a thousand." He
son has noted that they had voted against added that "sympathizers are probably more
establishing the Revolutionary Communist numerous than official members."45
Party and although joining it "were finally Morrison also offered some evidence con­
expelled in September 194s." They contin­ cerning the financing of the r c p . He noted
ued to function within the Labor Party, put­ that "The Movement's income for 1943 was
ting out a mimeographed periodical, Voice £2,6 S4- Sales of Socialist Appeal brought in
of Labour. However, by 1949 they had virtu­ £781, and it is believed that Mildred Lee
ally disappeared as an organized group.44 contributed most of her private income of
£3 So. There were a few substantial subscrip­
tions, including sums of £30 to £50, believed
The RCP Until the End of
to have come from a Cumberland mill-
World War II
owner, but the greater part of the total was
During the seventeen months between the received from branches and anonymous in­
founding of the Revolutionary Communist dividuals in amounts varying from a few
Party and the end of World War II the British shillings to £ s."46
Trotskyists continued to be very active in Summing up his assessment, Morrison
the trade union field. They also played a wrote: "The Trotskyists are attracting
modest role in the August 194s general elec­ workers whose discontent and desire to hit
tion which brought the Labor Party to power out at the employer and the Government
with an absolute majority in the House of can find no other outlet. They have achieved
Commons for the first time. a small and localized but recognizable in­
Labor Party leader Herbert Morrison, in fluence; and they are confident that the ap­
his capacity as Minister of Home Security, peal of their militant program will become
submitted a memorandum to the War Cabi­ stronger as the strain and friction insepara­
net on the Trotskyists at the time of the ble from prolonged industrial effort in­
indictment of four of their leaders in April creases. They have a closely knit core of
1944. He was obviously quite well informed, energetic leaders and a membership which
and his memorandum cast interesting light makes up in enthusiasm what it lacks in
on the state of the r c p immediately after its numbers. . . . These advantages are tempo­
establishment. rary and unless the Trotskyists can exploit
Morrison reported that the r c p had dis­ them much more rapidly than at present, it
trict committees in London, Scotland, seems unlikely that they will ever rise to a
Tyneside, Merseyside, Yorkshire, and the greater position than that of sparring part­
Midlands, but commented that those "do ners to the Communists, who would very
not act without close consultation with much like to see the Trotskyists and their
Headquarters." Regarding the number of small paper suppressed."47
members of the r c p , Morrison reported that The most dramatic industrial conflict in
"no figures of the total membership are which the r c p became involved, and which
available, but in London, where the move­ brought them extensive publicity and the

1 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP 461

i
 only persecution they suffered from the gov­ charged under that act. These facts aided
ernment during the war, was the case of organization of protests against the govern­
the apprentices in the Tyneside area. They ment's actions since the Trades Disputes
organized a massive protest against the Act had always been a bete noire to orga­
scheme of Minister of Labor Ernest Bevin to nized labor.
conscript some of the apprentices into the The r c p organized a Defence Committee
mines. Contact had been made between the to protest against the prosecution of the four
w i l and this group even before the establish­ Trotskyists and to help raise funds for their
ment of the Revolutionary Communist defense. These efforts aroused widespread
Party. In the mid-January 1944 issue of the support from non-Trotskyist sources, in­
w i l paper Socialist Appeal there appeared cluding not only the i l p but even from low-
on the front page an article entitled "Tyne er-ranking trade union officials. Under­
Lads State Their Case." standably, they got no backing from the
The introduction to this appeal by the edi­ Communists who, on the contrary, vituper-
tors of the Trotskyist paper said, "The at­ atively attacked the r c p and its indicted
tempt to lay the blame for the lack of coal leaders.
production at the door of the workers was The trial was held in June. The jury, on
the lever by which the Capitalists, through the advice of the judge, convicted all four of
Bevin, were able to take steps against Work­ the defendants of acting in furtherance of a
ing Class youth. . . . These youngsters are strike, but acquitted them of the conspiracy
undertaking a tough battle. They are show­ charges of which they had been accused. Lee
ing a spirit worthy of the best traditions of and Tearse were sentenced to twelve
the British Working Class. They will need months in jail, Haston to six months, and
every possible assistance, financial and Ann Keen was released immediately. How­
moral, in their struggle, and it is the duty of ever, Judge Wrottesiey of the Court of Ap­
the whole of the organized Working Class peal dismissed the convictions on the
to rally to their side."48 ground that the defendants could not be
Their association with the Tyneside ap­ guilty of "furtherance of a strike" since all
prentices' strike brought down on the Trots­ their actions had occurred before the strike.
kyists their only serious wartime persecu­ Pending the appeal Lee, Tearse, and Haston
tion. Early in April 1944 the London had been kept in jail, and they were not
headquarters of the r c p were raided by the released until August 24, 1944.49
Special Branch of the police, who confis­ It is clear that the British Trotskyists ex­
cated issues of Socialist Appeal. Simultane­ pected that trade union militancy and what
ously there was a police raid on the home of they saw as disillusionment on the part of
Heaton Lee and Ann Keen in Newcastle, and workers with both the trade union and Labor
other police raids on r c p leaders took place Party leadership, would continue into the
in Nottingham and Glasgow. Soon after­ postwar period. They felt that they would
wards, Heaton Lee, Ann Keen, Tony Tearse, be in an advantageous position to profit from
and Jock Haston were arrested and were that disillusionment.
charged with "conspiracy and acts in fur­ In addition to their work in the trade
therance of a strike." union field, the r c p had an essay in electoral
These charges against the r c p leaders activity, the first timethat the British Trots­
were particularly striking because they were kyists had undertaken such an effort as an
made under the Trades Disputes Act of independent party. One of the first activities
1927, passed by a Conservative government of the r c p was to offer a candidate in a parlia­
after the failure of the 1926 General Strike. mentary byelection in Neath, in South
These four were the only people ever Wales. Jock Haston was the Trotskyist can­

462 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

 didate and the party put on a major effort. It working class, the workers will be thrown
was reported to the August 1945 conference back to a period which the reformists have
of the party that "during the Neath cam­ always regarded as the first stirrings of the
paign the Party •distributed over 100,000 Labour movement never to be returned to.
leaflets. We put up 8,000 posters and sold . . . The period we are to live through will
15,000 copies of the Socialist Appeal and be the most revolutionary in the whole of
some hundreds of assorted pamphlets, 70 British history."53
indoor public meetings were held, the two The r c p document did see the possibility
outstanding ones attracting 750 and 1500 of a Labor Party electoral victory, but gave
workers respectively.. . . From having prac­ its own interpretation of this event. It said
tically no basis in Wales at the Fusion Con­ that "the Labour Party, in spite of the weak,
ference we now have three proletarian vacillating character of the leadership and
branches composed entirely of miners and the direct sabotage of a victory at the polls,
steel workers."50 may be carried to power on the greatest wave
The results could not have been as encour­ of radicalization witnessed in the history of
aging as the Trotskyites expected. The Labor the British workers, affecting all strata. . . .
Party candidate, D. J. Williams, won with In that event the advanced strata of the
30,647 votes, followed by the Welsh Nation­ workers, already highly critical of the La­
alist nominee W. Samuels, who received bour and Trade Union leadership, will exert
6,290 votes; Jock Haston came in third with the greatest pressure on the labour bureau­
1,781 votes.51 cracy to carry through revolutionary mea­
The official report to the r c p Conference sures in the interest of the working class and
in August noted that "the result, 1,781 votes against the bourgeoisie."54
for the Trotskyist programme in face of V- The r c p also saw developments favorable
Day, the chauvinism of the mass organiza­ to it within the British Communist Party.
tions, the first incursion into the territory The document commented that "experi­
by the Party—was a very fine vote."52 How­ ence will disillusion them as to the role of
ever, it is clear that the Neath results did not Stalinism in the international movement.
indicate the kind of mighty surge towards Splits of groups are on the order of the day.
Trotskyism by the British workers—even A more favorable opportunity opens up for
the miners—for which the r c p had been revolutionary work on the Communist
hoping. Party than in the whole history of the Stalin­
ist tendency.. . . With a bold revolutionary,
yet comradely approach, to the rank and file,
Orientation of the RCP
the Fourth International must win over the
The point of view of the new r c p leadership best elements in the Stalinist party."55
was made clear in an internal document of In terms of practical guidelines for its own
the party entitled "The Perspectives in Brit­ activity the r c p still clearly reflected the
ain," dated June 6, 1945 right after the end division of opinion over entrism into the
of the war in Europe but before the end of Labor Party. On the one hand the document
the war with Japan and the Labor Party vic­ proclaimed that "These factors impell us
tory of July. The document commented that forward to build the Revolutionary Commu­
"the revolt of the workers will take place on nist Party independently and openly under
the basis of a heightened consciousness on our own organizational banner. " S6 On the
the part of the broad strata of the population. other hand it suggested that the existing sit­
.. . With the end of the privileged position uation "would immediately pose anew the
of British capitalism, and in its train the task of throwing the full weight of the Party
end of the privileged position of the British at the point of attack—the Labour Party, and

1
Great Britain: From RSL to RCP 463
would pose point blank the task of illegal nificant gain being a miners' official. We
work, if necessary entry. . . . One thing is have comrades on more than 30 Trades
certain: the work of the Party fraction in the Councils, and we also have comrades on
Labour Party will assume tremendous and several District Committees of the a e u "
growing importance in the next phase." [The Amalgamated Engineering Union).
The r c p document concluded with a per­ A report was presented on the r c p ' s partic­
oration: "In the coming days the Party must ipation in the recent general election. It was
rise to the level of its historic tasks. It must noted that "during the General Election our
penetrate all strata of the toilers helping to electoral policy of giving active support to
transform their militancy and aspirations put 'Labour into Power' and criticizing the
for change, into a conscious understanding Labour programs and leadership, had won
of their historic mission. Simultaneously, us considerable contact with the Labour
in becoming a Party of the masses, we must workers. Many of our comrades had been
leam to translate our program into living allowed to present our critical policy from
reality. Learning together with the masses, Labour platforms. In one area, the new La­
we will prepare the way to build the mass bour M.P. had appeared on 5 occasions on
Bolshevik Party which will lead to the con­ our platform. Several of our party members
quest of power. " 5? had been employed as full time workers for
the lv during the election. A close and com­
radely contact has been established with the
The RCP in August 194s
Labour Party rank and file wherever our
With World War II over and the Labor Party comrades worked."
in power with the largest parliamentary ma­ The Second National Conference put
jority it was ever to receive, the Revolution­ forth the r c p ' s new political perspective, in
ary Communist Party held its Second Na­ the face of the massive Labor Party victory
tional Conference in London on August 4- which had just occurred. This resolution
6, 1945. This was the first opportunity to said that "the election of 1945 marks only
assess the effects of unification of the British the first wave of the radicalization of the
Trotskyist movement and to present a pro­ masses," and noted that "for the first time
gram for the entirely new postwar situation. in any of the important capitalist countries
Although no figures were published con­ of the West, the reformists have been re­
cerning r c p membership, it was reported turned to power with an overwhelming ma­
that it had increased 20 percent since fusion. jority," and claimed that "millions in the
The Second National Conference was at­ Labour strongholds of the last couple of de­
tended by "36 accredited delegates from cades or so, voted Labour in a critical and
branches .. . and 13 consultative delegates. skeptical frame of mind," and that "the atti­
In addition there were 160 visitors. Fraternal tude of the strata who have formed the core
greetings were brought from our French, of the militant Labour supporters in the past
Ceylonese and Italian brother parties." is one of watchfulness and waiting."
It was reported that "in the trade unions In the face of all this, "Our party will have
the Party had made great advances. Almost to reorient its agitation and propaganda
the entire membership is composed of work­ among the masses on a different axis. . . .
ers, 9S percent of whom are in trade unions. The next stage will be to concretize our tran­
A large percentage of Party members hold sitional programme and attempt to harness
shop stewards' cards and several are conven­ and clarify the inevitable insistent demands
ors of shop stewards in important engi­ of the masses for measures against the capi­
neering plants. The main advances had been talists and in the interests of the workers."
made in the mining industry. The most sig­ It added that in case of resistance to Labor

464 Great Britain: From RSL to RCP

Government measures by the capitalists British Trotskyism Since
"we will demand that strong measures must
be taken to clip the wings of these gentry; World War II:
seizure of the banks, abolition of the House The RCP and the
of Lords, monarchy, etc. At the same time,
as an undertone to the main stress of our
Healyites
agitation and propaganda, which will be pos­
itive though critical, the conceptions of
mass committees will be developed in in­
dustry and within the mass organizations
to exert organized pressure on the labour
leaders and assist them to deal with the em­
ploying class by means of workers control." The unification of the British Trotskyist
This resolution ended by saying that "at movement, achieved early in 1944 with the
each successive phase of the struggle, the establishment of the Revolutionary Com­
Trotskyists will campaign on the basis of munist Party, proved to be short-lived. The
proposed concrete measures in the interests optimism aroused among most workers by
of the masses and with the participation and the overwhelming victory of the Labor Party
initiative of the masses to solve the prob­ in the July 1945 election and the drastic
lems with which the masses are faced." reforms of the Atlee government during its
The full-page report in Socialist Appeal of early years reduced the industrial discontent
the Second National Conference of the r c p the Trotskyists had exploited during the
concluded by saying that "the Second Na­ war. Furthermore, the sharp leftward turn
tional Conference marked a great step for­ of the Communist Party in the late 1940s,
ward in the history of the British Trotskyist because of its support of the Soviet Union
movement, as of the working class. Despite in the Cold War, allowed it to again assume
our small forces in relation to the mass orga­ leadership of whatever working-class dissi-
nizations of the Labour and Communist Par­ dence there was.
ties, the growth of the Party and of the Trots­ The upshot of this situation was drastic
kyist tendency in the course of the war, reduction of the membership and influence
during which period our Party established of British Trotskyism and its division into a
itself as the revolutionary wing of the work­ number of competing groups. All of these
ing class, was a heartening sign of the change organizations continued to proclaim their
which was taking place in the advanced sec­ loyalty to the ideas and policies of Leon
tions of the working class.. .. Our comrades Trotsky although most departed either in
went back to their districts with renewed theory or strategy from the positions advo­
determination and vigour to participate in cated by the founder of the Fourth Interna­
the daily struggles of the workers and to tional.
apply the principles of our International pro­ In the decades following World War II the
grams which alone is the guide post for the Trotskyist movement in Britain was split
emancipation of our class."58 into five major groups: the "Healyites/' the
International Socialist/Socialist Workers
Party, the Militant Group, the International
Marxist Group, and the "Thomett Group."
In addition there emerged several minor fac­
tions, for the most part splinters of the major
Trotskyist organizations. As a consequence,
after a short review of the situation right

1 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 465

t
after World War II, the best way to survey one listened any more to the Socialist Ap­
subsequent British Trotskyism in this chap­ peal or to the Trotskyists."
ter and the next is to look at the evolution This Trotskyist writer concluded that "in
of the different factions of the movement. general, it can fairly be said that the Trotsky­
ists politically were ground to powder be­
tween the upper and nether millstones of
The Revolutionary Communist Party the Labor Party and Stalinism. We were not
organized or prepared, politically or men­
The Immediate Postwar Situation tally, for the blizzard which commenced to
blow in 1948 with such force as to sweep
The upsurge of the Revolutionary Commu­ away the entire organization in twelve
nist Party in membership and influence con­ months."2
tinued for a few months after the end of
World War II. One United States Trotskyist
Activities of the RCP
publication wrote several years later that
"with demobilization, old members were re­ During the four years after the war that the
turning with new members and sympathiz­ r c p continued to exist, its members engaged

ers made in the Army. By 1946, the rcp in extensive activity. As before, they con­
numbered over 500 members. The circula­ centrated considerable attention on the
tion of the Socialist Appeal sometimes trade unions, although they no longer had
reached 15,000 a fortnight and rarely the favorable conditions for their work
dropped below 10,000. The Party main­ which had existed in the last years of the
tained a monthly theoretical organ. There war.
were thirty established branches in the The 194s conference of the r c p estab­
cities in 1947. The overwhelming majority lished a National Industrial Committee of
of the members worked in factories, mines, ten people, headed by Roy Tearse, to coordi­
shipyards, and transport and were open nate the party's work in the unions.3 How­
members. But every branch had one or two ever, it was reported to the next national
members functioning as fraction members conference a year later that the committee
in the Labour Party and where possible in had not been able to meet because of lack of
the Communist Party."1 sufficient money to do so. The major prog­
However, the Trotskyists were soon faced ress in the unions reported to the 1946 con­
with circumstances which almost com­ ference was leadership of a rank-and-file
pletely undermined their influence, and construction workers campaign in London,
which threatened to completely destroy the Glasgow, and a few other cities, for general
British Trotskyist movement. On the one improvement of wages and working condi­
hand, "with the formation of the Comin- tions.4 Martin Upham has noted that "other
form and the violent turn to the Left of the disputes in which the r c p involved itself in
Stalinists all over Britain, the great indus­ the postwar years were those of the London
trial gains of the Trotskyists were melting transport workers, Glasgow binsmen, and at
away . . . the young militants whom we the Savoy Hotel."5
were weaning from the Communist Party Such trade union strength as the Rcp had
began to return to the Communist Party continued to be heavily concentrated in the
fold." On the other hand, "we had known Amalgamated Engineering Union, where a
for some time that the loyalty of the workers base had been established by the Workers
to the Labour Party was intense, but now International League before the formation
[1948] the Labour Party was passing act after of the r c p . Upham has observed that a report
act implementing its promised reforms. No to the 1947 conference of the party said that

466 Great Britain: RCP and Healyitcs

its ranks contained "eight convenors, fifty- ing its first two years or more, "it was clear
seven branch officials or committee mem­ at the 1946 conference that the r c p was
bers, nine district committee members, marking time." He added that "membership
three area committee members and thirty- at 360-70 had fallen. The party had retained
six shop stewards. There were sixty trades a national framework, and in London mem­
council delegates serving on thirty-five bership and sales of Socialist Appeal were
trades councils. In each case there was a rising. At a peak the party had twelve profes­
strong presence of a e u members."6 sionals, but after the 1946 conference the
This same organizational report to the apparatus started to be pruned under pres­
1947 conference stated that 79 percent of sure of the need to economize."12 The rela­
the members of the r c p were in unions (ex­ tive stagnation of the party undoubtedly
cluding those members who were still in the generated a malaise within its ranks which
armed forces), and that those who were not encouraged controversy and factionalism.
were either ineligible for union membership
or were housewives. Of the unionists, 35.2
Issues of Controversy Within
percent were in basic industrial unions, 18.9
British Trotskyism
percent in "industrial service, transport or
general unions, 36.3 percent in white collar In this immediate postwar period there were
or professional ones. Blue-collar member­ to emerge three controversial issues among
ship predominated in the provinces, white the British Trotskyists which continued to
collar in London."7 divide them for the next forty years. These
The r c p did not conduct much indepen­ were the "catastrophe perspective," the
dent electoral activity. In the 1945 campaign question of the nature of the Soviet Union
it generally supported Labor Party nominees and other Stalinist-dominated states, and
under the slogan "Labor to Power."8 The the ever-present problem of "entrism" in
only case in which the party seems to have the Labor Party. The first two issues were
run candidates of its own were two people being debated throughout the Fourth Inter­
who ran in municipal elections held late in national at the time; the third one was pecu­
I945 * liarly British, although not unrelated to
At the time of the Nuremberg trials of ideas circulating in the world Trotskyist
Nazi leaders, the r c p "ran a campaign . . . movement.
intended to explode the allegations of links After the war the Socialist Workers Party
with Trotsky made in Moscow between of the United States had adopted a funda­
1936 and 1938." This time they had some­ mental document predicting that very
what more success in gaining the support shortly there would be a catastrophic crisis
of intellectuals than they had had in the in the world capitalist economy, and partic­
Trotsky Defence Committee of the previous ularly in the economy of the United States,
decade. The most famous figure that they which would usher in a period of revolution­
were able to attract to the campaign was ary ferment throughout the industrial capi­
H. G. Wells, who had refused to have any­ talist world. A bit later, Michel Pablo
thing to do with the earlier committee.10 (Raptis) and others adopted a somewhat sim­
Several branches undertook to fraternize ilar "catastrophic perspective," foreseeing
with German prisoners and win them over the opening of a period of worldwide social
to Trotskyism. At least one r c p member revolution in which the Stalinist parties
was arrested in 1946 for passing out litera­ would play a major role (albeit against their
ture to inmates of a prisoner of war camp.11 will), making it necessary for the Trotsky­
However, in spite of what Martin Upham ists to try to find a place within the Stalinist
has called "frenetic activity" of the r c p dur­ movement. John Callaghan has argued that

Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 467

this stance had its origins in the orientation states. The majority of the British Trotsky­
of the Comintern in its first four congresses ists, after sharing the confusion of most of
and in the writings of Trotsky in the 1 9 3 os.13 their confreres in other parts of the world,
The British Trotskyists were divided on finally agreed that the USSR and the other
this "catastrophic perspective." The major­ Stalinist-controlled regimes were "degener­
ity did not accept it; they presented their ated" or "deformed" workers' states.
point of view in a resolution offered to the However, "a grouping within the British
Preparatory Conference of the Fourth Inter­ Trotskyist movement developed the theory
national in March 1946. This resolution ar­ that Russia and the East European states
gued that "the IV International will only were 'state capitalist.' The main theoretical
discredit itself if it refuses to recognize the elaboration was the work of Tony Cliff. . . .
inevitability of recovery and it will disorient The 'state capitalist' theory stressed that
its own cadres as well as the wide masses what was central to the class nature of a
in predicting a permanent depression and a society was not formal ownership, but con­
slow rhythm of recovery in Western Europe trol. The absence of workers' control in Rus­
when the events are going in another di­ sia was not a defeat in an otherwise progres­
rection." sive system, it was a clear indication that
The British resolution went on to note: the system was in no sense a workers'
state."16 Tony Cliff first put forward this
The argument of the comrades of the s w p
"state capitalist" analysis in a pamphlet in
which has been echoed by a minority of
1948. It was to become the fundamental the­
the English party, according to which it
oretical basis of the faction of British Trots­
is only when the working class has been
kyism which Cliff was to lead after 1950.
decisively defeated that American impe­
The third source of controversy among
rialism will give loans to aid the recovery
the British Trotskyists was whether or not
of West European capitalism, has already
they should operate principally within the
been refuted. The proletariat has not been
Labor Party. Here again a minority led by
defeated but the loans are already forth­
Gerry Healy favored entrism while the ma­
coming. Equally false is the argument
jority opposed it. The leadership of the
that economic recovery and recuperation
Fourth International also favored entrism,
can only occur if the proletariat has been
arguing that there wasn't time before the
decisively defeated. . . . History teaches
expected economic crash and revolutionary
us that capitalism, even in a period of
situation for a revolutionary party to be built
agony, recovers after a crisis, in spite of
outside of the Labor Party.17
the revolutionary possibilities, if the pro­
letariat is paralyzed or weakened by its
organizations, and is made unable to RCP Majority vs. the
profit by these possibilities.14 International Secretariat
Gerry Healy was the major exponent of During the 1945-1949 period the Revolu­
the "catastrophic perspective" within Brit­ tionary Communist Party engaged in bitter
ish Trotskyist ranks.15 He was to continue polemics with the International Secretariat
to maintain this perspective for the next of the Fourth International over a wide range
four decades. of issues, both international and national.
The issue of the nature of the Soviet These controversies were a major factor in
Union, which had split the Trotskyists of the disintegration of the r c p .
the United States at the beginning of the There were undoubtedly several reasons
war, was complicated after 1945 by the for the quarrel between the majority of the
emergence of other Stalinist-controlled r c p leadership and the International Secre­

468 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

 tariat. There was certainly disagreement rests with the leadership which has shown
over specific perspectives in Great Britain great concern, not to clarify political ques­
and the world as a whole, as well as contro­ tions, but to maintain an uncontested hold
versy over tactics to be followed by the Brit­ on the organization. Our article aims to
ish Trotskyists. Equally certainly important arouse the international organization,
personality conflicts were involved. whose intervention is indispensable in aid­
For one thing, James P. Cannon, and with ing the party to surmount this situation.
him other leaders of the Socialist Workers
Party of the United States, had a longstand­ Of course as the controversy between the
ing dislike of the leaders of the Workers In­ rcp and the is developed, it centered on a
ternational League who made up most of the number of "issues." One of these was a con­
leadership of the r c p . After Cannon's visit flicting assessment of the immediate post­
to Great Britain in 1938 he had certainly war perspectives, in Great Britain, Europe,
been the inspiration for the deprecating de­ and the world in general.
nunciation of the w i l adopted by the Found­ The International Secretariat adopted
ing Congress of the Fourth International. dogmatically the "catastrophism" of the
This continued hostility was evident after leadership of the American s w p , arguing
the war. It was intensified when the r c p that a world depression more extensive than
leaders gave some evidence of sympathy for that of the early 1930s was inevitable, and
the Morrow-Goldman opposition tendency was in fact taking place right after the end
which developed in the s w p right after the of the war, and that in any case the econo­
war.18 mies of Europe, and specifically that of
In addition, the r c p majority had a strong Great Britain, could never return to the 1938
and influential enemy after the war in Pierre level. The r c p majority leaders refuted this
Frank. The French Trotskyist leader argument, at least for the short run, pointing
emerged after World War II not only as the out that all available figures indicated that
major figure in the French affiliate of the a recovery was underway in the immediate
International, but as one of the most influ­ postwar years not only in Britain, but else­
ential figures in the International Secretar­ where in Europe. Although they did concede
iat after it returned to Paris from New York. that this recovery would only last a few
Pierre Frank had spent most of the war in years, their recognition of its existence was
Great Britain. As he himself wrote, he had regarded—and denounced—as heresy by
"been in contact with numerous militants the is.
of the party and .. . was able to get a very There was also disagreement over what
good picture of the party itself, of its leader­ was happening in Eastern Europe. The Inter­
ship as well as its membership. . . . " national Secretariat maintained that in the
Frank clearly shared Cannon's dislike of Soviet-occupied countries capitalism still
the e x -w iL leaders. His attitude towards the existed and the only circumstances under
leadership of the r c p was shown in his re­ which it would disappear would be if work­
port to the International Secretariat on the ing-class revolutions would take place
August 1945 national conference of the Rev­ there, or if those countries became part of
olutionary Communist Party. He wrote that the Soviet Union. The r c p majority on the
"without exaggerating in the least, we must other hand, pointed to the obvious facts of
say very clearly that the conference of the the nationalization of most of the econo­
r c p has shown—for anyone at all familiar mies of those nations and quite early
with workers organizations—that the party reached the conclusion that they were "de­
is facing grave difficulties. Moreover, the formed workers states," a stand which at
main responsibility for these difficulties the time the is regarded as "revisionist."

Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 469

 The Yugoslav dissidence against Stalin tional fighting, had disastrous results for the
was a further bone of contention. The is Revolutionary Communist Party. It first led
went so far as to see that development as to a split in the party, and then to its total
a confirmation of the theory of permanent disappearance.
revolution, and to predict that the Yugoslav Early in 1947 Gerry Healy officially
leadership would virtually become Trotsky­ formed an Entrist Faction, the purpose of
ist. The r c p majority was highly skeptical, which was to win a majority for entry into
pointing out that the Yugoslav leadership the Labor Party at the conference of the r c p
remained fundamentally Stalinist in its mo­ scheduled for a few months later. However,
dus operandi and arguing that the only issue he had only about 20 percent of the member­
between the Yugoslavs and Stalin was that ship behind him. Shortly afterward, Michel
of national self-determination for Yugo­ Pablo, the international secretary of the
slavia. Fourth International, intervened to indicate
Finally, there was strong disagreement be­ to the r c p majority that although they had
tween the majority of the r c p and the Inter­ a majority in the British Section they consti­
national Secretariat on the tactics which the tuted a minority in the leadership of the h
British Trotskyists should follow. From on the entrism question and all other issues
1945 on the is insisted that the British pending between the two groups. He im­
should once more undertake entrism into plied that if the r c p leadership did not follow
the Labor Party. The majority of the leader­ the entrist line they could expect the most
ship of the r c p held out for the maintenance severe consequences from the International.
of an independent Trotskyist organization, The upshot of this situation was the
pointing out that its fraction in the Labor grudging concession of the majority of the
Party had had very little success in recruit­ r c p membership to allow a division in the

ing new members and that in fact the r c p party, with the minority which favored en­
was gaining more adherents from Commu­ trism to be free to go into the Labor Party,
nist Party defectors than from the Labor with the rest of the membership continuing
Party. Among the leaders of the majority in to maintain the r c p . This was undoubtedly
this period were Jock Haston, Ted Grant, a compromise made by the majority at the
and, after some hesitation, Charles van time to avoid possible expulsion from the
Gelderen of the former w i l and John Law­ Fourth International. The split was carried
rence of the old r s l . out at the beginning of 1948.
In these controversies a minority of the The separation of the minority from the
rcp leadership, headed by Gerry Healy, Revolutionary Communist Party only
sided with the International Secretariat. served to intensify its decline. Nor did it end
Even before the is declared in favor of en­ the party's conflict with the International
trism Healy had come to support the idea, Secretariat.
and as controversy developed between the By the end of 1948 the r c p leaders gener­
r c p and is on the other issues Healy went ally had come to the conclusion that the
completely down the line with the is and only viable tactic for what remained of the
against the majority of his own party's lead­ Revolutionary Communist Party was for it
ership.20 also to enter the Labor Party. This conclu­
sion was challenged , from two quarters.
Strangely enough, the International Secre­
Split and Liquidation of the RCP
tariat—-which had so strongly favored en­
The stagnation a n d slow decline of the r c p , trism between 194s and 1947—denounced
together with its struggles with the Interna­ it as "iiquidationism."
tional Secretariat and bitter internal fac­ On the other hand, a group of low-level

470 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

officials and rank-and-file members of the ling organization within the Labour Party,
r c p formed the Open Party Faction. Among actually capitalising on the effects of c p pro­
the leaders of this group were Sam Levy, Alf paganda."14
Snobel, and Sam Bomstein. Although they With the dissolution of the Revolutionary
sought quite energetically to rally support Communist Party in 1949 and the entry of
in the party branches for maintaining the most of its remaining people into the Labor
r c p in existence, they met with only very Party, Gerry Healy laid down conditions for
limited success. At a party conference in their acceptance into The Club, the most
June 1949 the liquidation of the Revolution­ important of which was that his early en­
ary Communist Party and entry of its mem­ trants should have a majority on the execu­
bers into the Labor Party was agreed upon. tive committee of the reconstituted Trots­
The last issue of Socialist Appeal, announc­ kyist group within the Labor Party. The last
ing the dissolution of the party, came out in conference of the r c p decided to accept Hea­
July 19 4911 ly's conditions.25
This was not enough for Healy and his
followers. As John Callaghan has noted, "A l­
The Healy Group
though this hegemony was supposed to be a
temporary arrangement pending the estab­
Early Years of the Healy Group
lishment of a fully democratic regime at The
The r c p minority faction headed by Gerry Club's 1950 congress, Healy's leadership
Healy, which withdrew in 1948 to join the proved to be incompatible with any internal
Labor Party, proved to be the longest-lived dissent. Before the congress was convened
British Trotskyist group, still remaining in the executive committee of the Club began
existence almost forty years later. When a series of expulsions. Among those who left
Healy and his supporters joined the Labor of their own accord were adherents of Tony
Party, they formed within it what came to Cliff's state capitalist theory of the USSR.1/26
be known as The Club. They soon organized At first the Trotskyists of the Club hoped
a somewhat wider left-wing group within that they could assume the leadership of the
the Labor Party, the Socialist Fellowship, new Labor Party left wing which inevitably
which began to edit a periodical, Socialist began to develop after the Labor Party had
Outlook, to which, among others, several been in power for a few years. However, as
Labor Party M.P.s became contributors.22 Kendall and Young have noted, "The stem
The paper was by no means an orthodox line adopted on the Korean War lost the So­
Trotskyist publication. Betty Reid, writing cialist Fellowship all its Parliamentary sup­
in the British Communist periodical Marx­ port."27 This attitude on the Korean War
ism Today many years later, claimed that undoubtedly also helped to provoke the of­
"both the organization and journal were ficial banning of the Socialist Fellowship
dominated by prewar Trotskyists, who had group by the National Executive Commit­
succeeded in involving a number of well- tee of the Labor Party in 19 51.28 Even more
known Labor Party members," and that "the damaging to the Trotskyists' hopes was the
statement of aims of the new organization emergence of Aneurin Bevan as the major
bore a striking similarity to the aims of So­ figure in the new Labor Left after his resigna­
cialist Appeal published not long before, tion from the Atlee government.29
However, Walter Kendall and James D.
Young of the Independent Labor Party The Healyites and the Split in the
claimed that" Socialist Outlook evaded any Fourth International
serious criticism of Stalinism and acted ob­ The first reaction of Gerry Healy to the
jectively as an independent fellow-travel­ threat of a split in the Fourth International

1
Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 471
which arose in 1953 was one of great cau­ It then continued, in a tone which seemed
tion. He wrote the American Trotskyist designed to insult and incite Healy, to urge
leaders Morris Stein, Ferrell Dobbs, and Jo­ him "Do not let yourself be carried away by
seph Hansen on February 19,1953, that "the your impulsive and authoritarian tempera­
war seems to be getting very near. . . . My ment. . . . Think again and again, without
first feeling, therefore, is one of extreme consideration of false prestige, pride, etc.,
worry—are we threatened with another in­ but as a Bolshevik, Trotskyist leader."31
ternational split? If so we must avoid it at The principal figure supporting the Pab­
all costs. Our movement must not go into loite position within the British section was
the war, smashed up and divided." He ended John Lawrence. At the beginning of the
this letter advising that "it is absolutely nec­ struggle, he and his supporters controlled
essary to proceed as cautiously as possible (I both Socialist Outlook and ijts print shop.
know that you are doing your best) because In a letter to Leslie Goonewardene of the
we do not wish to have a split in our still Ceylonese Trotskyists, Gerry Healy de­
very weak international movement."30 scribed the efforts to take these away from
However, by September 1953 a split was Lawrence and his allies—which involved
clearly looming within the British Section. mobilizing shareholders of the two enter­
Healy received a letter from the Bureau of prises throughout the country, which they
the International Secretariat of the Fourth finally succeeded in doing. However, Healy
International "advising" him: noted that during the period that Lawrence
controlled the newspaper, it published a
a. To circumscribe strictly the struggle on
number of pro-Stalinist articles, including
the political plane of ideas, conducting
one by the principal British defender of Ly­
yourself as a member above all of the i e c
senko, the Soviet biologist whose theory of
and of the is who defends until the Fourth
inheritance of acquired characteristics Sta­
World Congress the majority line and the
lin had favored.31
discipline of the International, b. To cease
A letter from Gerry Healy to the British
to act as a member of the majority Ameri­
Section dated January 1, 1954, summed up
can faction and to await from it the politi­
the balance of forces emerging from this
cal line to defend, and to cease to have
struggle. This letter also cast interesting
circulated its documents in your faction
light on the extent of organization of the
in England, before you make known to
movement at that point. It noted that Healy
the is and to the i e c your eventual politi­
and his supporters had fifteen National
cal divergences, c. To abstain from any
Committee members to six for the dissi­
organizational measure in opposition to
dents; that the latter had only thirty mem­
the comrades in your section who defend,
bers in all; that Healy's followers included
as they ought, as you ought to do yourself
seven Labor Party municipal counselors,
first of all, the line and the discipline of
compared to two who had gone with the
the International, d. To reach thereon an
dissidents. It also noted that Healy's follow­
agreement with the comrades on the nor­
ers controlled the group's "industrial publi­
mal functioning of the organization, as a
cations," the Portwoikers Clarion and the
section of the International and not as an
Textile Machinery Worker.33
independent national unit. -K
The letter went on to say that the Fourth
The Labor Party Purge of
International leadership "w ill never accept
the Healyites
the organizational measures which you
have proposed against the defenders of the In 1954 the National Executive Committee
line and the discipline of the International." of the Labor Party sought to suppress Social­

472 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

ist Outlook, which had continued to appear During this period, The Club began to
in spite of the banning of the Socialist Fel­ gain something of a foothold in the trade
lowship. Morgan Philips, Secretary of the union movement. In 1955 Bob Pennington,
Labor Party, sent a letter to all trade unions, working as an organizer for The Club, estab­
constituency and local party organizations, lished contacts with workers on the Mersey­
women's sections, and to the Labor League side docks. At that time there was great dis­
of Youth that said, "I am directed to inform content among the workers there both
you that the National Executive Committee because of their working conditions and the
at its last meeting decided that persons asso­ failure of the officials of the Transport and
ciated with it, or supporting, 'Socialist Out­ General Workers Union, who were sup­
look/ are declared to be ineligible for mem­ posed to be their representatives, to give
bership in the Labor Party."34 them any leadership in trying to improve
The move against the Trotskyists might the situation. The Trotskyists were able to
be seen as the first step on the part of the mobilize the workers in a number of unoffi­
Labor Party establishment to try to get rid cial strikes and for a while to get the Mersey­
of the Bevanite opposition within the party. side dockers to withdraw from the t g w u
At the n e c meeting at which action was and affiliate with another smaller organiza­
taken against the Socialist Outlook people, tion which was more willing and able to
therefore, Aneurin Bevan "moved the refer­ deal with their problems. As a result of their
ence back of the recommendation . . . and success with the Merseyside dockers, coal
Crossman seconded it, but they were de­ miners in Yorkshire sought out the Trotsky­
feated by fifteen votes to nine." The Bevan- ists. As a consequence, The Club was able
ites then sought to mobilize the party ranks to develop also some influence among those
to oppose the move against the Trotskyists. workers 39
As a consequence, some 119 constituency
parties passed resolutions which they for­
The Club and the i$$6 CPGB Crisis
warded to the n e c opposing the move.35 Mi­
chael Foote wrote in Tribune that "the good Until 1956 the Healyite group remained
name of the Labor Party requires that this very small, with at most a few hundred
stupid, cowardly and totalitarian edict members. The events of that year marked
should be rescinded at the coming Labour the beginning of a substantial increase in
Party Conference."34 the membership and influence of the group.
The Stalinists, meanwhile, did their best As a consequence of Nikita Khrushchev's
to egg on the Labor Party establishment speech to the Twentieth Congress of the
against the Trotskyists. While the purge dis­ Soviet Communist Party, and particularly
cussion was in progress one of their periodi­ of the Hungarian uprising near the end of the
cals, World News, "carried an article dealing year, the Communist Party of Great Britain
with the character of Socialist Outlook and suffered large-scale defections, particularly
pointing out the almost hundred percent on the part of its intellectuals. A number
concentration in all managerial, editorial of those leaving the c p g b soon joined the
and business posts in the journal of prewar Trotskyists, particularly the Healy group.
leading Trotskyists."37 Among these people were Cliff Slaughter,
The banning of Socialist Outlook was not, Tom Kemp, Brian Behan (brother of the
in fact, rescinded. This proved to be only a writer Brendan Behan), lohn Daniel, Ken
minor inconvenience to the operations in Coates, and Pat Jordan.40
the Labor Party of the Trotskyists under The most notable Communist defector of
Gerry Healy's leadership. The newspaper all was Peter Fryer, who had been London
continued to appear.38 Daily Worker correspondent in Budapest

Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 473

during the Hungarian uprising and who had new group issued a May Day manifesto
quit the Communist Party when the paper which proclaimed that "a new world com­
refused to publish his dispatches, which munist movement pledged to do away with
were sympathetic to the rebels. Soon after capitalism, to defend the Soviet Union
he returned to Britain, Fryer went on a lec­ against imperialism and to support the So­
ture tour around the country under the spon­ viet workers' struggle for socialist democ­
sorship of The Club and drew audiences of racy will bring to fruition the socialist revo­
six to seven hundred people virtually every­ lution that began in October 19 17 ."44
where that he spoke.41 On November is, 1959, the s l l organized
In April 1957 Peter Fryer launched the in London what it called the National As­
publication of a weekly entitled Newsletter, sembly of Labor. It was reportedly attended
which he brought out in collaboration with by "more than 700 delegates,, observers and
the Healy group. As Stalinist writer Betty visitors. The New York Militant noted that
Reid wrote later, "Week by week old prewar 'there were 2 8 3 elected delegates represent­
Trotskyist names began to appear. A special ing factory groups, peace organizations, La­
issue dealing with the fortieth anniversary bor youth sections, co-operative groups, co­
of the Russian Revolution had a very high lonial organizations, and Communist and
proportion of contributors immediately re­ Labor party groups.' " The conference unan­
cognisable as organized Trotskyists." In De­ imously adopted a resolution introduced by
cember 19 s 8 Gerry Healy himself j oined the Gerry Healy in his capacity as national sec­
editorial board of Newletter.n retary of the s l l . This called for "an end to
Gerry Healy and The Club tried to exploit the manufacture and testing of the H-bomb
the crisis of the c p g b to the fullest. They as well as the destruction of all existing
issued an appeal to "all members of the stockpiles of atomic weapons. The strength­
Communist Party and Young Communist ening of the fight for the forty-hour week,
League," urging them to "immediately de­ higher wages, defense of jobs, and defense
mand a special Congress to repudiate the of shop stewards, against rent increases. A
leadership line on Hungary. Stay in the fight for the extension of nationalization, a
Communist Party and fight it out." Many fight against oppression in the colonies and
c p g b oppositionists did so, but lost the fight. against racialism in Britain. A fight against
However, John Callaghan has noted that the bans and proscriptions inside the entire
"most of the 1 0 , 0 0 0 who left the c p g b as the Labor movement and the trade unions."45
direct result of Hungary also left organized Callaghan has argued concerning the reso­
Marxist politics. Though Healy and Banda lutions of this Assembly that "in Leninist
of The Club visited many of the leading ex- terms, the implication that the Labor Party
c p members personally, the highest esti­ had merely deviated from a primordially so­
mate of defections to the Trotskyists is only cialist identity, was a case of spreading illu­
sions which could do nothing other than
strengthen the forces of social democracy.
Yet the group's precarious entrist existence
The Socialist Labor League
imposed a logic of maneuvre and adaptation
precisely of this sort."46
Formation of the Socialist
There were indications in the general
Labor League
press that the Socialist Labor League was to
On February 2 8 , 1959, the announcement be taken seriously. The Economist of No­
was made by the Healyites of the establish­ vember 2 2 , 1 9 5 8 , even before the s l l was
ment of the Socialist Labor League, which formally established, commented that "six
held its founding conference on May r6. The hundred members may not sound much, but

474 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

strategically placed, they can do a great deal leading "theoretician," R. Palme Dutt,
of damage. The leading lights of the move­ claiming that the s l l was financed by
ment, moreover, are practiced political and ''American imperialist gold."49
industrial agitators." A bulletin in the sum­ Meanwhile, some of the ex-Communists
mer of 1959 of the Economic League, an who had joined the Healyites right after the
employers' group, noted that "the Trotsky­ Hungarian Revolution had left their ranks.
ist record in recent months is a wholly de­ The Militant of New York noted in January
structive one. They sought to prolong the i960 that "A prominent member of this gen­
official London bus strike, they captured the eral grouping of British radical intellectuals,
leadership of the last unofficial dock strike Peter Fryer, has recently moved away from
in the Port of London. They took a leading the s l l after several years association as one
part in the pointless unofficial strike on the of its leading writers. At first he offered no
South bank site.. .. Trotskyism spells Trou­ political motivation for his shifts; then in
ble, wherever and whenever it appears, "47 statements to the press he accused the lead­
Once again the leadership of the Labor ership of the s l l of employing 'Stalinist
Party sought to get rid of the Healyites. The methods.' " 50 The i l p periodical Socialist
National Executive Committee proscribed Leader reported a few months later that
both the s l l and Newsletter, proclaiming "Fryer, all the original Editors of Labour Re­
association with them to be incompatible view and many others left in protest against
with Labor Party membership. The tone of the policies and internal regime of the s l l ."
the attack of the Labor Party establishment Among those thrown out was Brian Behan.51
on the s l l is shown by an article taking up
half of the front page of an issue of the organ
'T h'& SLL and the Young Socialists
of the Labor Party in the County of London.
Headlined "Labour's Inside Enemy—Subtle In 1959 and i960 the Socialist Labor League
and Treacherous. No Mercy for the Trotsky­ became very much involved in the Cam­
ists/' this article stated, "For far too long paign for Nuclear Disarmament (c n d ). This
we in the Labour Party, being a patient and drive, which gained substantial middle-
tolerant lot, have had to put up with a vocif­ class support as well as backing from within
erous and well-disciplined minority whose the labor movement, scored a significant
purpose seems to be the corruption of the victory when the i960 Annual Conference
Labour Party from within by an alien influ­ of the Labor Party went on record in favor of
ence. There is a group of Trotskyists at work the unilateral nuclear disarmament of Great
within the British Labour Movement. It is Britain. However, in the following year the
these people with whom the Party must Labor Party reversed itself on the issue.52
now deal." After reciting a number of the The c n d campaign put the s l l in contact
positions taken by the s l l which were not with many young people and did so at a
compatible with those of the Labor Party, very propitious moment for the League. In
the article said (in capital letters), "It is the February i960 the Labor Party decided to
duty of constituency Labour Parties to expel launch a new youth organization, the old
from membership any who are associated Labor League of Youth having been dis­
with the League or the publication."48 banded in 1955. A year after its establish­
Again, a wide range of people within the ment, the new organization, Young So­
Labor Party opposed the purge of the Trots­ cialists, reportedly had 726 branches
kyists. Michael Foote wrote in Tribune throughout the country. As Ian Birchall has
against it, and The New Statesman also ex­ written, "There was a large new pool of fresh
pressed opposition. Once again, too, the Sta­ fish, and every Trotskyist grouping in exis­
linists egged on the Labor Party n e c , their tence was getting its fishing rod ready."53

Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 475

 During the next few years the most suc­ politics. Although surpassed in size and in­
cessful "fisherman" was the Socialist Labor fluence in the 1970s by at least two of the
League. Its Young Socialists adherents were other British Trotskyist groups, the Healy-
grouped around the periodical Keep Left. An ites did succeed in maintaining a substantial
antagonist of the s l l has written that "the organizational structure and in raising very
s l l ' s belief that Russia was a degenerate substantial amounts of money. The posi­
workers' state led it to argue that Russian H- tions they took on several issues became
Bombs and even Russian nuclear tests were increasingly idiosyncratic.
somehow a gain for the working class. Their Within the world Trotskyist movement
perspective led them to see every flicker of the Socialist Labor League did not join in
the economy as an indication of impending the establishment of the United Secretariat
slump and every outburst of racialism as an of the Fourth International in 1963, but to­
omen of imminent fascism."54 gether with the French Lambertist faction
By 1962 the s l l group had gained control maintained a version of the International
of the national organization of the Young Committee of the Fourth International
Socialists, although several other Trotskyist which had been set up a decade earlier. In
groups also had some influence in it. Fac­ 1971 the s l l broke with the Lambertists as
tional fighting among the various Trotskyist well and from then on associated only with
elements led to a situation in which a few small organizations in the United
"whereas a couple of years earlier the Young States, Australia, and a handful of other
Socialists had been a place where young peo­ places. We deal with these international de­
ple could receive a first introduction to revo­ velopments elsewhere in this volume.
lutionary politics, a Young Socialists meet­ In Great Britain the Socialist Labor League
ing was now such as to frighten away for life did not participate to any great degree either
any uninitiated youth who might happen to in the student movement of the 1968-69
stray in by accident."55 period or in the anti-Vietnam War campaign
At the April 1964 annual conference of of about the same time. When they criti­
the Young Socialists, the s l l leadership cized the lack of democracy in the Vietnam­
withdrew it from the Labor Party, taking ese Communist regime and were rebuffed
most of the membership of the organization by the leaders of the Vietnam Solidarity
with them. The Labor Party then organized Committee as a consequence, they more or
a new group, Labor Party Young Socialists, less withdrew from further participation in
in which most of the other Trotskyist ele­ it.57
ments continued to operate. The older orga­ For some time the Healyites did maintain
nization remained from then on the youth some base in organized labor. Cliff Slaugh­
group of the Socialist Labor League and its ter, writing in The Newsletter, noted that
successor.56 "The Socialist Labour League worked for a
big change in its trade union work from 196 s
onward. Its members in the Young Social­
From Socialist Labor League to
ists, having brought the vast majority of that
Workers Revolutionary Party
organization out of the Labour Party at that
The middle 1960s undoubtedly marked the time, turned to the trade unions as the main
high point of the influence of the Healyite focus of work."58
faction of British Trotskyism. Henceforth Starting in 1967 they began the organiza­
they became increasingly isolated, not only tion of the All Trades Unions Alliance. A
from other Trotskyist elements—both na­ group of autoworkers in Oxford established
tionally and internationally—but from ma­ the Oxford Liaison Committee for the De­
jor trends and events in left-wing British fence of the Trade Unions in September

476 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

1967- It called for a national conference of not in the factory. Hence the split—ripping
trade unionists which met first in October out the w r p ' s trade union core."63
1968, reportedly attended by "some 630 del­ At the time of the long miners' strike in
egates and 125 visitors. . .. Represented 1984, the Healyites distinguished them­
were shop stewards committees, miners, selves by calling for a general strike in sup­
building workers, clerical workers, engi­ port of the miners. There is no indication
neers, railway workers, electricians and ap­ that any part of the labor movement took
prentices." It adopted resolutions "dealing this call seriously.64
with the speed-up plans of the bosses, rent Meanwhile, the Socialist Labor League
increases and the fight of the apprentices."59 had been converted in 1973 into the Workers
According to the New York Healyite publi­ Revolutionary Party (w r p ). In conformity
cation Bulletin, "The a t u a has made it clear with its new status as a political party the
that it is not a new trade union and rejects w r p first ran its own candidates in the gen­

all forms of break away unions. Rather it is eral election of 1974. It ran nominees in ten
dedicated to the building of an alternative constituencies, and among its candidates
revolutionary Marxist leadership within the were Vanessa Redgrave, the actress, whose
trade union movement."60 candidacy received notice from as far away
Late in 1974, a substantial part of the Hea­ as Cochabamba, Bolivia;65 and Alan Thor­
lyites' trade union members were expelled nett, the auto workers leader who was to be
from the organization. About two hundred expelled from the party later in the year.66
were thrown out in all, and "all seven Five years later, the w r p "stood sixty candi­
branches in Oxford, two in Reading, and two dates throughout Britain and placed our rev­
in Swindon have been disbanded by the Po­ olutionary socialist programme before the
litical Committee," according to Alan Thor- masses."67 In the 1979 election the party
nett, the most important figure among the ran enough candidates to be entitled to free
dissidents.61 Subsequently, Thornett estab­ television time, and Colin Redgrave, broth­
lished his own Trotskyist organization, er of Vanessa, was the w r p ' s featured
which we shall note in the next chapter. The speaker.68
departure of most of their trade unionists
did not prevent the Healyites from subse­
The s l l -w r p
quently organizing another All Trades
Unions Alliance as the Workers Revolution­
Idiosyncratic Positions of
ary Party's “industrial arm."61
the Healyites
One unfriendly source has described the
circumstances of this split-off of most of The political positions assumed by the s l l -
their trade unionists from the Healy group w r p became increasingly unorthodox dur­

thus: "When the w r p recruited its television ing the 1970s. In this connection, three is­
and film personalities, its class balance com­ sues may be mentioned: the further develop­
pletely tipped over towards the middle class, ment of the "catastrophic perspective," the
and media people at that. Under the influ­ accusations against leaders of the American
ence of their sensationalism, the whole swp, and the w r p ' s endorsement of the Lib­
group began to move to the position that the yan leader, Colonel Muammar Qadafi.
Tories, Labor, and trade union leaders were Two w r p campaigns during the 1970s re­
in a secret conspiracy to introduce fascism flected the persistence of the "catastrophic
gradually. This made the working-class nu­ perspective" which had characterized the
cleus around Thornett quite incapable of op­ Healyites since the late 1940s. In both cases
erating in the trade unions—that sort of pol­ the party kept insisting on the imminence
itics is alright for the theater queues, but of the establishment of fascism in Britain.

j Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 477

1
 Early in the decade the party press claimed f b i . When Novack came to Hansen's defense

that the leadership of the nation's trade similar charges were made against him. The
unions was working for establishment of a Healyites launched an official "investiga­
fascist corporate state. Thus, on September tion" of their own charges and developed a
6, 1972, the party newspaper insisted that "a long list of accusations against the two swp
whole section of the trade union movement leaders and their party. These charges re­
has virtually declared itself for the corporate hearsed known and suspected cases of g p u
state." On another occasion, it claimed in plants in the s w p and other Trotskyist
reference to the leaders of the Trades Union groups in the late 1930s, contacts which
Congress that "obviously men like Victor Hansen had had with the U.S. Embassy after
Feathers . . . are fully persuaded that corpo­ Trotsky's assassination, and claims of
rate state control of the economy, where "criminal negligence" of Hansen and No­
unions lose their independent role, is a good vack in handling the security arrangements
thing."69 of Trotsky.71 Very few other Trotskyist
The w r p maintained that both the Labor groups of any faction took the charges of the
government of the 1970s and its Tory suc­ Healyites seriously.
cessor were laying plans for a military-fas- A final peculiarity of the w r p ' s policies in
cist takeover in Britain. The Workers Revo­ the 1970s and afterward involved the
lutionary Party Manifesto '81 stated that group's support for the dictator of Libya,
"we warn again—the Tory plans for count­ Colonel Qadafi. A typical statement of the
er-revolution are well advanced. They began party with regard to Qadafi appeared in
immediately following the defeat of the Workers Revolutionary Party Manifesto
Heath government in February 1974 at the ’8i: "Similarly the Workers Revolutionary
hands of the miners, and they have been Party salutes the courageous struggle of Col­
gathering speed ever since. During the five onel Qadafi (sic] whose Green Book has
years of labour government the preparations guided the struggle to introduce workers'
went ahead under the benign sponsorship of control of factories, government offices and
the Labour traitors who fear total revolution the diplomatic service, and in opposing the
as much as the Tories." reactionary manoeuvres of Sadat, Beigin
According to the w r p , these plans were [sic] and Washington. We oppose implacably
speeded up with the return of the Tories to the slanderous attacks of the capitalist me­
power in 1979. The Manifesto claimed that dia on the leader of the Libyan revolution
"preparations have been made for the coun­ and the General People's Congress which
try to be divided into military sectors each are a smoke-screen for war preparations
ruled by a martial law administrator with against Libya by the Zionist-Sadat alliance.
its own pass system. They plan to isolate We stand ready to mobilize British workers
whole communities from each other and in defence of the Libyan Jamahiriya and to
starve them into submission as the Bolivian explain the teachings of the Green Book as
miners were starved into submission."70 part of the anti-imperialist struggle."71
Another sui generis campaign of the Hea­ Association between the w r p and Qadafi
lyites centered on the charges of Healy and was more than editorial. A delegation from
his associates against Joseph Hansen and the w r p as present in Tripoli at the official
George Novack, both leaders of the Socialist celebration of the eighth anniversary of Qa­
Workers Party of the United States. Hansen dafi's seizure of power on September 1,
had served as aide and bodyguard to Leon I 977 -”
Trotsky during his residence in Mexico. The One coincidence with regard to relations
Healyites charged that he had been an agent between the w r p and the Qadafi regime was
of the g p u , and had also worked with the of particular interest to other Trotskyist

478 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

groups in Britain and elsewhere. The Social­ why we are out to destroy all competitive
ist Labor League had succeeded on Septem­ parties. . . ,"79
ber 27,19 69, in launching a daily newspaper, John Callaghan has elaborated on the way
Workers Press, to be published Monday in which the personalist and authoritarian
through Friday of each week.74 A year later, nature of the Healyite group was developed.
a Saturday issue was added.75 However, on "All actual or potential challengers to his
February 14,1976, the newspaper was forced personal domination were expelled, while
to close down for financial reasons. At the the bulk of the members consisted of raw
time, the London Sunday Times asked the recruits permanently preoccupied with the
question, "What went wrong?" and an­ chores of political activism. This activism
swered it, "The money quite simply stopped insured their ignorance of Marxist theory
coming in."76 (and of the group's history) and resulted in a
Three months later, i n May 1976, the w r p high turnover rate of members such that
was able to launch a new daily newspaper, each year's intake was almost completely
The News Line. On May 7, 1976, that paper replaced by the next. This explains why the
began the w r p campaign on behalf of Qadafi clique around Healy remained in all the top
with a long and enthusiastic article about leadership positions without serious chal­
the recent May Day celebration in Tripoli. lenge, for the most part, despite the recur­
Typical of this article was the passage, "To­ ring failure of their politics to achieve the
day the great release of revolutionary energy wildly optimistic targets which they set for
that began on September 1, 1969, will roar the organization."
on non-stop till 8:30 in the evening; slogans, Callaghan adds that "Healy's technique
rhythmic, firm hand-clapping, the high for retaining control over the organization
pitched yodel that sounds like a battle cry. was simply to expel dissidents before their
. . . Then President Gaddafi arrived to an opposition could crystallize into a coherent
enormous welcome."77 tendency or faction.. . . Thus the expulsions
The British Broadcasting Corporation did of 1949 (ex-members of the r c p Majority),
a program on the relations between the r958 {Peter Cadogan, Ken Coates), 1959 (Be­
Workers Revolutionary Party and Libya han, MacIntyre, and supporters) and 1974
early in 1983, in which they accused the (Alan Thornett and supporters) all took
w r p of receiving Libyan money to finance place immediately prior to the group's next
their newspaper. They even named the conference. .. ."80
amount of money allegedly involved/8 Callaghan has also suggested that the na­
ture of the Healyite group involved much
more than mechanical expulsion of poten­
Internal Regime of the Healyites tial opponents: "In accounting for Healy's
personal sway it is necessary to account for
The Healyite group in British Trotskyism the loyalty he received from leading mem­
became highly personalist and authoritar­ bers of the group such as Tom Kemp and
ian. Quite early in his career, Gerry Healy Cliff Slaughter (the party's theoreticians),
had indicated his orientation towards that Alex Mitchell (editor of Workers Press), and
kind of politics. He wrote, "We are monopo­ Mike and Tony Banda, the wealthy Cey­
lists in the field of politics. To make a suc­ lonese supporters of Healy. Without such
cessful revolution in Britain, the working support Healy could not have remained at
class will require to do it through one party the head of the organization for so long. . . .
and one program. We are the nucleus of such The support of this leadership group (which
a party and our program is the Transitional includes a number of well-known members
program of the Fourth International. That is of Equity, the actors' union) may, in part, be

Great Britain: RCP and Healyites 479

attributable to Healy's personal charisma, loyal to Healy, with among its principal
but it is also likely to result from the convic­ figures Vanessa and Colin Redgrave and
tion that the politics of the organization are Alex Mitchell, longtime editor of News
worth defending. . . ,"ei Line.
Callaghan concluded that "the picture The quarrel between the two groups origi­
that emerges is of a group which believes nated at least as early as July i, 1985, when
itself to be the revolutionary party striving Alison Jennings, for nineteen years secretary
to preserve Marxism from adulteration . . . to Gerry Healy, wrote a letter to the Political
and the infiltration of 'bourgeois' and 'petty Committee of the w r p accusing Healy of
bourgeois' influences. Because of its convic­ having sexually exploited twenty-six young
tion in its unique role and destiny to 'make' members of the organization, who were
the socialist revolution, and because of its listed byname, and asked the Political Com­
belief in the imminence of political and eco­ mittee to "deal with" the problem, terming
nomic catastrophe, this group can tolerate it a "security risk" for the organization.84
no internal—or for that matter, external— Sometime after this incident, according to
opposition."®2 Sean Matgamma, a leader of another British
Finally, Callaghan has observed that "the group claiming adherence to Trotskyism,
theories which the w r p defends as the cen­ "Healy . . . agreed to take a back seat or
tral elements of its Leninism-Trotskyism retire, no doubt under pressure, but appar­
cannot be dismissed simply as simplifica­ ently with the agreement of some who are
tions of a 'true' Leninism-Trotskyism, now his supporters." But, Matgamma added,
though simplifications they may be. The "the Political Committee bloc that had
point is that these simplifications are so te­ pushed for his retirement then began to
naciously held and so durable because they break up. Two prominent w r p leaders,
accord with the basic thrust and spirit of Mitchell and Torrance, seem to have
the Bolshevism which dominated the early changed sides, and perhaps others did too.
Comintern and which Trotsky sought to The Political Committee reversed the deci­
preserve. . . . In this rather limited though sion that Healy would retire. A minority
important respect, the w r p really does de­ led by Banda revolted and appealed to the
fend orthodox Trotskyism. Or rather it has Central Committee, whose majority backed
petrified this doctrine and kept it from con­ them."85
tamination with empirical reality. . . ,"83 On October 19, 1985, the Central Com­
mittee of the w r p voted to expel Gerry Healy
from the organization by a vote of twenty-
The Healyites' 198$ Split
five to eleven. The charges against Healy,
In the latter half of 198s the long-standing according to the Mike Banda version of
"leadership group" of the w r p split wide News Line were "sexual abuse of female
open. Two factions emerged, each calling party members, physical violence against
itself the Workers Revolutionary Party and party members, and . . . unfounded accusa­
each publishing its own versions of News tions of involvement with the c i a against
Line and Young Socialist. In the beginning an international leader of the Trotskyist
of the split, at least, the rank and file was movement" later revealed to be David
more or less evenly divided between the two North of the Workers ^League of the United
groups. States.86
On the one hand was the w r p controlled The pro-Healy members of the Central
by Mike Banda and Cliff Slaughter, com­ Committee then called a conference which
posed of elements who had turned against passed a resolution which "rejected" Hea­
Gerry Healy. On the other side was the w r p ly's resignation and expelled Banda, Slaugh­

480 Great Britain: RCP and Healyites

ter, and their backers. That resolution la­ British Trotskyism since
belled Healy “ the outstanding leader of the
world Trotskyist movement in the postwar World War II:
period." The meeting also launched a cam­ International Socialists,
paign to raise £250,000 to relaunch a daily
i m g , Militants, and Other
News Line by January 1986.87
Meanwhile, Michael Banda, who had been Groups
Healy's closest associate for more than a
quarter of a century, launched a series of
charges against his old colleague. According
to Sean Matgamma, “Banda has: 1. De­
nounced Healy's followers such as the Re­
Although the Healyites remained the most
dgraves as people who have the attitude of
important Trotskyist group in Great Britain
religious cultists towards their 'guru' Healy.
until the mid-1960s, their relative signifi­
. .. 2. Denounced Healy for using systematic
cance and absolute size declined subse­
and routine violence and brutality against
quently. Several other major factions ap­
members of the organization. . . . 3. De­
peared, some as splits with the Healy
nounced Healy for using pressure, intimida­
tendency, others with different origins. At
tion and violence to coerce young women
least two of these, the International Social­
comrades into sexual activity with him. .. .
ists and the Militant Tendency, put forward
4. Newsline now denounces the Healy fac­
major points of dissidence with traditional
tion for having a morality of 'anything goes
Trotskyism.
for the organization.'.. . . 6. Banda describes
Healy as 'a classic case of schizoid para­
noia.'.. . . 7. Banda denounces Healy's works International Socialists
on dialectical materialism, long the bible on
which w r p members were trained, as 'an The "State Capitalist" Position
outrageous piece of charlatanism.' . . . of the IS
Banda denounces Healy for justifying the
execution of Communist Party members by Among the Trotskyist groups which entered
the violent Baathist regime in Iraq. .. ."88 the Labor Party in 1949 was what was first
Although the Banda group seized the known as the Socialist Review Group
w r p ' s property,89 lawsuits on the subject headed by Tony Cliff (Palestinian immi­
were begun. According to one unfriendly grant whose original name was Ygael
American source "the party's assets" were Gluckstein). As we have already noted, it
"valued at 2.1 million U.S. dollars in prop­ was at that time particularly characterized
erty, cash, printing machinery, films and by its belief that the Soviet Union and other
electronic equipment."90 Stalinist-controlled regimes were "state
capitalist" in nature, rather than being
"workers' states." Tony Cliff first put forth
his elaborated "state capitalist" position in
1948 in The Nature of Stalinist Russia. This
volume was reissued, with only very slight
modifications, in subsequent years under
different names. Its 1974 version was enti­
tled State Capitalism in Russia.
Cliff argued that the Soviet bureaucracy
is a new capitalist ruling class. He said that

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 481

"the Russian bureaucracy, 'owning' as it society is the history of the class struggle,
does the state and controlling the process it is clear that what does determine the
of accumulation, is the personification of place of any regime in the chain of histori­
capital in its purest form. . . . The fact that cal development are these factors which
the bureaucracy fulfills the tasks of the capi­ determine the character of the class strug­
talist class, and by doing so transforms itself gle in it. Now, the character, the methods,
into a class, makes it the purest personifica­ and the aims of the class struggle of the
tion of this class. Although different from oppressed class are dependent on the na­
the capitalist class, it is at one and the same ture of the oppressed class itself: the posi­
time the nearest to its historical essence. tion it has in the process of production,
The Russian bureaucracy as a partial nega­ the relation between its members in this
tion of the traditional capitalist class is at process, and its relations to .the owners of
the same time the truest personification of the means of production. These are not
the historical mission of this class. . .. The determined by the mode of the appropria­
most precise name for the Russian society tion or mode of recruitment of the ruling
is . . . Bureaucratic State Capitalism."1 class.3
Cliff rejected Trotsky's categorization of . , . .. [T]he big difference between the
the Soviet bureaucracy as a "caste": mode of appropriation and recruitment of
the Russian bureaucrats and that of the
It would be wrong to call the Stalinist bourgeoisie, in itself, does not at all prove
bureaucracy a caste for the following rea­ that Russia represents a non-capitalist so­
sons: while a class is a group of people ciety, a new class society of Bureaucratic
who have a definite place in the process of Collectivism. To prove this, it is neces­
production, a caste is a judicial-political sary to show that the nature of the ruled
group; the members of a caste can be class—its conditions of life and strug­
members of different classes, or in one gle—is fundamentally different in Russia
class there can be members of different from what exists, even for Shachtman, in
castes; a caste is the outcome of the rela­ capitalism.4
tive immobility of the economy—a rigid
division of labor and an immobility of the Cliff claimed that state capitalism, as
productive forces—whereas the Stalinist epitomized by the Stalinist regime, was one
bureaucracy was transformed into a rul­ stage in the evolution from capitalism to
ing class on the crest of the dynamism of socialism. He argued:
the economy.2 Seeing that state capitalism is the ex­
Cliff also opposed the "bureaucratic collec­ treme theoretical limit which capitalism
tivism" description for the Soviet Union and can reach, it necessarily is the furthest
other similar states put forward by Max away from traditional capitalism. It is the
Shachtman and his followers in the United negation of capitalism on the basis of cap­
States and elsewhere. The core of his cri­ italism itself. Similarly, seeing that a
tique of the Shachtman position was that workers' state is the lowest stage of the
new socialist society, it must necessarily
The essence of Shachtman's position is have many features in common with state
summed up in the statement that the rul­ capitalism. What distinguishes between
ers of Russia under Stalin were neither them categorically is the fundamental,
workers nor private owners of capital. the essential difference between the capi­
What is decisive, according to the Marxist talist system and the socialist system.
method, in defining the class nature of The comparison of state capitalism with
any society? As the history of all class traditional capitalism on the one hand,

482 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

 and with a workers' state on the other, paper was 350 copies.8 Birchall admitted
will show that state capitalism is a transi­ that "the Socialist Review group was,
tion stage to socialism, this side of the throughout the fifties, a purely propaganda
socialist revolution, while a workers' group; it was not able to make any meaning­
state is a transition stage to socialism the ful intervention in the class struggle." He
other side of the socialist revolution.5 added that "all members were expected to
be active in the Labour Party. Before the
John Callaghan has argued that the posi­
1951 General Election a directive was issued
tion of Tony Cliff and his followers "con­
stating: 'It is most necessary that our com­
tains very little that is specifically Trotsky­
rades become known to the working class
ist. The theory of permanent revolution, for
in their local areas as the most energetic and
example, is absent—has been trimmed to an
anti-Tory Labour Party workers.' "
allegiance to the 'theory of the impossibility
Birchall also noted that the group was not
of socialism in one country.' " However,
motivated by the "catastrophic perspective"
Callaghan quotes Duncan Hallas's recollec­
of the Healyites: "(T]here was no expecta­
tion that "the founders of the group saw
tion of imminent split, no hope of capturing
themselves as mainstream Trotskyists, dif­
the leadership of a section of the party."
fering only on unimportant questions from
They foresaw no "impending crisis." Their
the dominant group in the International, but
most notable activity during the 1950s was
belonging to the same basic tendency."6
running a member of the group, Geoff Carls-
son, for the presidency of the Amalgamated
Early Years of the International Engineering Union. He received 5,615 votes
Socialists against 57,127 for the victorious right-wing .
candidate and 19,799 for the one backed by
Other Trotskyist groups maintain that the the Communist Party.9
Cliff group's analysis led it to be "neutral"
in the Korean War, when all other Trotsky­
International Socialists in the 1960s
ist elements were supporting the North Ko­
reans. In reply to this Ian Birchall has writ­ In the early 1960s the Socialist Review
ten that "in fact, the Korean War was not group grew significantly. It took an active
the issue at the heart of the split. Rather it part in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarma­
was the shamelessly opportunist support for ment, and launched a new periodical, Inter­
Tito's Yugoslavia by the rest of the Trotsky­ national Socialism, in i960. This journal
ist movement from 1 948 onwards that high­ "welcomed the unilateralist victory at Scar­
lighted the principled differences." Further­ borough, but pointed out that the Party ma­
more, he argued, the other Trotskyist groups chine could easily reverse the decision un­
by "taking a more or less uncritical attitude less it was concretely related to the
to Yugoslavia, North Korea, or other Stalin­ industrial struggle."10
ist states" were "abandoning the very es­ With the launching of the Labor Party's
sence of Trotskyism, namely, independence new youth organization, Young Socialists,
of both Western imperialism and Sta­ the Cliff group, now known as the Interna­
linism."7 tional Socialists (is), threw themselves into
In September 1950 the Cliff group, which this new field of activity. They began to
began to edit Socialist Review, held their publish a periodical, Young Guard, particu­
"first recorded meeting." There were just larly addressed to the Young Socialists.
thirty-three members of the group at the When the Young Socialists, by then under
time, of whom nineteen were in the Labor control of the Socialist Labor League, with­
League of Youth. The first run of their news­ drew from the Labor Party, the is members

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 483

stayed with the newly reorganized Labor reasserted the notion that the transition to
Party Young Socialists. Socialism consists of the reality of the work­
On the Young Socialists, Birchall has ers in power, hence rejecting the "Third
commented: Worldism" popular among many other radi­
cal groups, including some Trotskyists, and
For is the experience in the Young Social­
more specifically rejecting the validity of
ists had produced a qualitative advance.
various types of "African Socialism," "Arab
The group had grown numerically and by
Socialism," and similar concepts.12
1964 it had topped the two hundred mark.
John Callaghan has noted that "in 1965
Even more important, the new recruits
the International Socialism group withdrew
had played a leading role in what was,
from the Labor Party believing that the time
albeit briefly, a mass movement. They
was ripe (and the is was big enough) to work
had rapidly acquired a degree of political
in the growing number of 'fragmented'
sophistication, in some ways an excessive
struggles which were then developing. Hav­
one . . . [However] Although the youth
ing never had illusions about transforming
movement was at the center of the arena
the Labor Party or of splitting it, the group
during this period, is never dropped its
made the transition to its new role without
concern with the industrial struggle.
internal schism and identified the growing
More workers were being recruited to is,
number of strikes, tenants' disputes, and an­
though they were being recruited as indi­
tiracist campaigns as the arena for indepen­
viduals on the basis of general politics
dent political work. . . ," 13
rather than on the basis of an industrial
By the end of 1967 the International So­
strategy, and most of them were too
cialists' membership had increased to about
young to have any decisive influence at
400, about double what it had been four
their place of work. But for the future they
years before.14 In that year and the next the
provided the basis for a new industrial
is people took an active part in the work
cadre."
of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, and
The is had its principal industrial base in largely as a consequence of this activity, "is
the e n v engineering firm in West London, had grown dramatically in the course of
where it had several of the shop stewards 1968." By the end of the year it claimed
and was in 1966 able to establish its first more than 1,000 members and its monthly
factory branch. However, shortly after­ publication, Labour Worker, had been con­
wards, a dispute at the plant led to the dis­ verted into a weekly, Socialist Worker,
missal of most of the is members working "with a vastly increased circulation." Bir­
there. Nevertheless, the group was able to chall added that "A number of full-time
have some involvement in strikes of con­ workers had been employed, both for the
struction workers in London and textile-ma­ paper and as regional organizers. The pace
chinery workers in Stockport.11 of growth had taken the members by sur­
During this period of the early 1960s the prise."15
International Socialists thought through
their ideas more clearly. They rejected the
notion that they were in fact the leaders Toward a Workers Party
of the working class and adopted a more %
realistic perspective. They reasserted the re­ The leaders of the is had come to the conclu­
ality of the postwar economic upswing— sion "that it was possible to embark on the
thus rejecting the "catastrophe perspec­ process of building an independent revolu­
tive"—attributing the economic prosperity tionary party." However, as Birchall noted,
to the permanent arms economy. They also "A revolutionary party has to meet criteria

484 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

of size, class composition, program and ca­ ership relied on purely organizational ma-
pacity to intervene, is in 1968 could not neuverings to silence the rebels. . . . By
begin to satisfy the requirement on any changing aspects of the is internal structure
count."16 Cliff preempted the attempt to challenge his
The first effort to bring into existence policies. The national committee of forty
such a revolutionary party was an invitation was replaced by a central committee of nine
by is "to all other revolutionary groups" for which took over its role, while the national
unification on the basis of: "Opposition to committee itself was relegated to an advi­
imperialism . . . opposition to racism in all sory function . . . the delegate system for
its forms . . . opposition to state control of conferences was gerrymandered so that dis­
trade unions . . . workers control of society tricts replaced branches as the representa­
and industry as the only alternative to fas­ tional basis of the organization, insuring
cism." Only one small group, Workers that an estimated oppositional minority of
Fight, responded to this appeal. Merger with one-third to two-fifths of the membership
it brought only internal bickering between was reduced to 15 percent of the 1975 con­
the two groups, and in December 1971 each ference delegates.19
went its own way.17 Callaghan has quoted a comment of Dun­
With the failure of its unity proposal the can Hallas, who had formerly insisted on
is began the work of forming an independent the priority of the "democratic" aspect of
Trotskyist party outside of the Labor Party. democratic centralism, as reflecting the
Its first move was a reorganization of the post-1975 view of the is leadership concern­
group's own internal structure. Hitherto it ing the question:
had been loosely organized, with its national
executive consisting of delegates from the The regime must at all times be as open
various branches. The leadership proposed and flexible as possible, consonant with
substituting for this "democratic cen­ preserving the revolutionary integrity of
tralism" an executive elected by a national the party. The qualification is important.
conference and the acceptance of the notion For unfavorable circumstances weaken
that "branches must accept directives from the ties between the party and the layers
the center, unless they fundamentally dis­ of advanced workers, and so increase the
agree with them, in which case they should problem of "factions, groups, and sects"
try to accord with them while demanding which can be an obstacle to the growth of
an open debate on the matter." inner-party democracy as Trotsky under­
Birchall has noted that these suggestions stood i t . . . it is an indispensable function
"caused the greatest internal upheaval is of the leadership . . . to understand when
had ever had. Internal documents prolifer­ to close to preserve the core of the organi­
ated and at least five factions came into exis­ zation from disintegration by unfavorable
tence. It took two stormy conferences (in outside pressures—to emphasize cen­
September and December 1968} before a tralism.20
new, democratic centralist constitution
could be agreed."18 This tendency toward more orthodox Le­
There continued to be internal tensions ninist democratic centralism led to several
largely resulting from the imposition of tra­ splits. Callaghan observes: "The i s - s w p in­
ditional Leninist democratic centralism on ternal battles intensified in the mid-1970s.
a group which had been "libertarian" in or­ In 1973 the right faction was expelled to
ganizational terms. According to John Cal­ form the Revolutionary Communist Group;
laghan, in this internal struggle Tony Cliff in 1974 Roger Protz was removed as editor
and those associated with him in the is lead­ of Socialist Workers; further expulsions in

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 485

 1975 resulted in the formation of the Work­ further these elementary sectional strug­
ers' League and Workers' Power. At the gles (which were tending to overcome the
same time the i s -s w p lost many individuals traditional constraints of trade union ac­
who had been part of its basic cadre."11 tion anyway] and make them one national
Another major problem facing the is was movement which would form the basis
the fact that the great majority of its mem­ of a new revolutionary party. The first
bers were middle-class students, not work­ national rank-and-file conference was
ers. Ian Birchall commented that "what now called in March 1974 with 500 delegates
had to be begun was a systematic transfor­ representing 300 sponsoring bodies. An
mation of the organization. Very crudely, it organizing committee was established
is possible to see three main phases in this consisting entirely of is members. At the
process: i. the membership had to be reori­ time the revolutionary optimism was
entated towards the industrial working high withinis. For the first time since the
class.. . . ii. the composition of the organiza­ 1920s an alternative to parliaraentari-
tion had to be changed by recruiting workers anism had been adumbrated which
into the organization; iii. the workers in the threatened both the trade union leader­
organization had to take over the political ship and the Labor Party.. . . The is tended
leadership."12 to make the equation between economic
and political militancy imagining that
one followed the other in a straightfor­
From International Socialists to SWP ward fashion which would transform is
into a revolutionary party.25
The upsurge in trade union militancy in the
early 1970s, which brought the fall of the
The downturn in trade union militancy
Tory government of Edward Heath and the
during the Wilson-Callaghan Labor govern­
installation of another Labor Party adminis­
ment of 1974-1979 presented the is with
tration, gave the International Socialists
serious problems. Its response to the general
their chance. They took a leading role in
rightward trend of the labor movement was
organizing the Rank and File Organizing
to launch the slogan "Steer Left," which
Committee, which led a series of unofficial
many people within and outside the group
strikes in various parts of the country. The
regarded as "sectarian." However, support­
is held several national conferences in the
ers of the "Steer Left" line argued that what
early 1970s. It also ran some candidates in
it signified was that in the face of the general
elections within important national unions,
rightward sentiment among workers, the is
notably the Transport and General Workers
should try to run against this tide.26
Union. As a consequence, by 1974 the mem­
Controversy over this new line resulted
bership had risen to some 3,900 M
in the most serious split that the is had ever
During this period, the is launched a num­
faced. About iso members of the organiza­
ber of "rank and file" newspapers. At one
tion quit or were expelled late in 1975 after
point, they had as many as fifteen of these
a factional fight. Those excluded included
publications catering to members of as
Jim Higgins, John Palmer, Granville Wil­
many unions. By the early 1980s only six of
liams, and Roger Plotz, who had been among
these survived.”
the organization's principal leaders during
John Callaghan has sketched the orienta­
the previous decade.27
tion of the is in this "rank and file" cam­
Meanwhile, in the face of declining labor
paign. He wrote:
militancy the is turned much of its attention
The is initiative in launching a rank-and- to other questions. They participated ac­
file movement was intended to politicize tively in moves to organize the unemployed;

486 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

 they were largely responsible for organizing No socialist party worth a brass farthing
the Anti-Nazi League, which confronted can be built except by the most active
street marches and demonstrations by vari­ organized involvement in working class
ous fascist-oriented groups, particularly the struggles of all kinds and active propa­
National Front. The group also became ganda to win the workers (and others) to
more involved in struggles for "women's lib­ socialism. That means building a differ­
eration" and defense of the rights of homo­ ent kind of party, a party rooted in the
sexuals.28 In 1982 the group's Central Com­ working classes and the unions and in all
mittee formally abandoned the "rank and manner of grassroots activity. It means
file" trade union orientation which it had building a party that does not say, 'vote
maintained for about a decade.19 for me and we will solve your problems'
The International Socialists had clearly but says 'you can only solve your prob­
defined themselves as a revolutionary group lems by fighting for your interests and
outside of the Labor Party. In January r977 those of other working people,' a party
they reorganized as the Socialist Workers that exists to coordinate and develop
Party. They also had their first experience those struggles and direct them towards
in running candidates in political elections. the seizure of power by the working
Late in 1976 they contested a byelection in class—and to hell with the 'constitution.'
Walsall North, where they got "1.6 percent A party that is internationalist. That is
of the poll (more than the Communist Party what the Socialist Workers Party is all
had got in that seat in October 1974), and about.33
some twenty-five recruits to the party."30
The s w p is the British affiliate of the Inter­
However, "by early 1978 it was clear that
national Socialist tendency in the world
the electoral strategy had, on balance, been
Trotskyist movement.
unsuccessful." They had by then run candi­
dates in eight byelections and "in all cases
the vote was, as expected, small . .. more­ The Militant Tendency
over, experience showed that it was difficult
to maintain those branches built around an
Origins of the Militant Group
election campaign." The s w p decided not to
run any candidates at all in the 1979 general If by the early 1980s the s w p was numeri­
election.31 cally the largest Trotskyist group in Great
As a consequence of their wide-ranging Britain, the Militant Tendency was cer­
activities during the late 1970s, the s w p had tainly the most influential element in Brit­
largely recovered the ground, at least in ish Trotskyism. It was the lineal descendant
terms of membership, which it had lost as a of the segment of the membership of the
consequence of the slowdown in industrial postwar Revolutionary Communist Party
activity and the 1975-76 split in the organi­ under the leadership of Ted Grant, which
zation. By 1980 it reported 4,100 members, had gone into the Labor Party in 1949. How­
of whom 36 percent were manual workers ever, unlike most of the other "entrist"
and 3 2 percent white-collar workers.32 Most Trotskyist groups it had persisted in its at­
other Trotskyist groups admitted in the tempt to penetrate the Labor Party and had
early 1980s that the s w p had the largest even concluded that that was the only strat­
membership of any segment of British egy appropriate to Trotskyism in a country
Trotskyism. such as Great Britain.34
In a pamphlet on the history of the Labor The Grant group had remained very
Party, Duncan Hallas summed up the posi­ small—as was true of most of the British
tion of the s w p in the early 1980s: Trotskyist factions—during the 1950s. For a

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 487

short period they had relations with Michel i960. Their members were very active in
Pablo's International faction after the 1953 the organization, and when the Healyites
split in the Fourth International. This came took most of the Young Socialists out of
about as a result of the placing in Tribune the Labor Party in 1964, the Grant group
of an advertisement for a mimeographed remained with the Labor Party in the new
magazine Fourth International being edited Labor Party Young Socialists. They fought
by a group of Cypriot supporters of Pablo in there to have the Labor Party leadership re­
London. duce the controls it exercised over the youth
Sam Bornstein and A 1 Richardson have group. Meanwhile, the Grant group had
explained what happened: "Sam Bornstein launched a monthly newspaper, Militant.
at that time not connected with any of the Henceforth they were known among them­
groups replied to the advertisement, and was selves and in the general public as the M ili­
contacted by Jacques Privert, whom he met tant Tendency.39
with John Fairhead. Fairhead and Bornstein
agreed to take over the day to day running
Expansion of the Militant Tendency
of the duplicated F. I. Bornstein contacted
Grant's group in London and arranged a The Militant Tendency was able to take
meeting with them and Pablo. It was this considerable advantage of the increasing dis­
loose amalgam of Grant's group, the Cypri­ content which arose within the Labor Party
ots, some Ceylonese students and a small during the later years of the Labor Govern­
group of West Indians who had just broken ment of Harold Wilson (1964-70). They
with Healy that agreed to work together were active in the student upsurge of 1 968-
with Bornstein as managing editor of F.L, 69, concentrating their work particularly on
later Workers International Review."3* the Labor Party student organization, the
The Cypriot and Ceylonese elements, to­ National Association of Labor Students, and
gether with some British Trotskyists from on the short-lived Revolutionary Socialist
the Left Fraction of the Revolutionary So­ Youth Federation. They did not concentrate
cialist League of the 1940s, had constituted the bulk of their propaganda and organiza­
the Committee for the Regroupment of the tional activities on the students during this
British Section of the Fourth International; period, as did some of the other radical
the faction headed by Ted Grant was the groups. They argued that the students had
International Socialist Group. Then they no real social base, and that although they
joined forces, setting up a new Revolution­ might make an important revolutionary
ary Socialist League (r s l ). At the 1957 con­ contribution they could only do so as part
gress of the Pabloite version of the Fourth of a movement basically made up of and led
International the r s l was officially recog­ by workers.
nized as the British section of that group.36 In 1972 the Militant Tendency won con­
The new Revolutionary Socialist League trol of the Labor Party Young Socialists
published two periodicals for a while, So­ [l p y s ). Partly as a result of the fact that the
cialist Fight and Workers International Re­ Labor Party did not take the Militant Ten­
view. 37 dency very seriously at that time, being
The Revolutionary Socialist League soon more worried about the International Marx­
split, some of those who broke away forming ist Group and the Heaiyites, the Labor Party
the predecessor of the International Marxist officialdom did very little to try to prevent
Group 38 Militant control of the party's youth group.
The Grant group got its first chance for Later the Militants did encounter harass­
expansion with the reestablishment of a La­ ment and obstructionism such as the clos­
bor Party youth group, Young Socialists, in ing down of some local l p y s groups, rejec­

488 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

tion of credentials of Militants at l p y s dency, and that in 1976 a third of all of the
conventions or those of l p y s representatives speeches made were delivered by members
at Labor Party annual conferences. In 1981, of the Militant group.42
for instance, between twenty and thirty del­ The Militant Tendency was also success­
egates were thus denied seats at the Labor ful in getting a number of its members
Party Annual Conference. adopted as Labor Party parliamentary candi­
The Militants in control of the l p y s went dates. In 1982 it was reported that there were
out of their way to try to avoid a direct con­ at least seven such cases.43
frontation with the Labor Party leadership. Militant influence in the Liverpool Labor
Thus, they accepted the practice that drafts Party gained particular public attention. La­
of policy documents submitted to l p y s con­ bor won control of the Liverpool city council
ferences should be drawn up by the Research in 1983, after eleven years of a Liberal Party
Department of the Labor Party rather than administration. Of the fifty-one Labor Party
by l p y s leaders. The purpose of the Militant council members, the N ew York Times re­
Tendency was not to get thrown out of the ported that fifteen belonged to the Militant
Labor Party but rather to win over as many Tendency. The Times reporter, Jon Nord-
people within the party to their point of heimer, reported that although the Militant
view as possible.40 Tendency "has been largely disavowed by
The degree of hegemony of the Militant the national Labor leaders . .. the faction's
Tendency over the Labor Party Young So­ influence here has been strengthened by less
cialists was shown in the l p y s 1979 confer­ ideological members of the local party who
ence, where its only opponents were two agree that only a radical course of action can
other small Trotskyist factions—Workers bring hope to the city."44
Action and Clause 4—and the Militant slate During the 1970s and early 1980s the Mil­
for the new executive committee received itant Tendency was able to win some influ­
200 votes against 20 votes each for the op­ ence in the trade union movement. At the
posing groups. As a consequence of its con­ 1982 conference of the Civil and Public Ser­
trol of the l p y s , the Militant Tendency from vice Association (c p s a ), a member of the
1972 on had a member of the National Exec­ Militant Tendency was elected president
utive Committee of the Labor Party.41 and several others were elected to its execu­
The Militant Tendency was also able to tive. They also had control of the Bakers
make considerable headway in the local Union, which the Militant Tendency was
constituency organizations of the Labor largely responsible for organizing. The Mili­
Party. In part this success was attributable tant Tendency in 1982 had members on the
to the decline of those same constituency national executives of the Transport and
organizations during the late 1960s and General Workers Union, the Fire Brigades
early 1970s. It was characteristic for only a Union, the National Local Government
handful of the registered Labor Party mem­ Workers Union. In the National Union of
bers in any constituency group to attend its Public Employees they had four or five ap­
meetings. pointed local officials in areas where they
As a consequence of their penetration of had a substantial membership base. They
the local Labor Party groups, the Militant held many offices in locals of various
Tendency had appreciable representation at unions.
Labor Party annual conferences. For in­ The Militants were reportedly quite frank
stance, they claimed that at the 197 s confer­ about their affiliation when running for
ence three-fourths of the Constituency La­ union office. In unions where that was the
bor Party delegates voted for resolutions custom, they usually drew up election man­
which were introduced by the Militant Ten­ ifestos which made it clear that their candi­

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 489

dates were members of the Militant Ten­ second-ranking member of the Labor Party
dency. staff began producing reports on the M ili­
By mid-1982 the Militant Tendency peo­ tant Tendency for the National Executive.47
ple claimed to be the main element in the Finally, in June 1982 the National Executive
Broad Left within and outside of the Labor Committee voted sixteen to ten to set up a
Party. They had been able to capitalize on "register of approved organizations" within
the drastic decline of and confusion within the Party, at the same time deciding that the
the Communist Party. For example, Militant Tendency could not qualify as such
whereas a decade earlier the Communists an organization. The Militant group was
had been the principal left-wing force within given three months to "list its aims, officers,
the powerful Amalgamated Engineering employees, membership and accounts." Mi­
Union, by the early 1980s the Militant Ten­ chael Foote, then leader of the Labor Party,
dency claimed to hold that position. approved the measure, calling the Militant
By mid* 1982 the Militant Tendency re­ Tendency "a secret conspiracy" which "has
ported having between 4,000 and 5,000 to be eliminated."48 This position con­
members. They claimed that their paper, trasted sharply with his opposition in previ­
Militant, had a paid circulation of some ous decades to efforts to purge Trotskyists
30,000 copies, more than the Tribune or the from the Labor Party.
Communist Party's daily newspaper, Morn­ A number of unions quickly went on rec­
ing Star.45 ord against this measure, which had to be
At the time of the Malvinas (Falkland Is­ approved by the Annual Conference of the
lands) War in April-May 1982, the Militant party. So did a large number of constituency
Tendency issued the call "No Support for Labor parties.49 A number of other groups
Junta—No Support for Tories." An editorial operating within the Labor Party also an­
in the group's newspaper argued that Argen­ nounced that they would refuse to register
tine President Galtieri had launched the in­ as "approved organizations." These in­
vasion of the islands to divert popular atten­ cluded Campaign for Labor Democracy, La­
tion from the failures of his regime. It argued bor Coordinating Committee, Labor Com­
that "given the class basis of the Argentine mittee on Ireland, Labor Abortion Rights
regime and the effect of the invasion on the Campaign, and Socialist Organizer (the last
islanders themselves, there is no hesitation also a Trotskyist group).50
in condemning the invasion that took place Although no blanket condemnation of the
on April 2nd." But it also declared itself op­ Militant Tendency was adopted at that
posed to "the jingoism and chauvinism of time, it was reported that between 1983 and
the Tory press and the Thatcher government 1985 over thirty supporters of the Militant
in Britain," and argued that "Labor must Tendency had been individually expelled
demand a general election in order that a from the Labor Party. At the 1985 Annual
Labor government can support and encour­ Conference Labor Party Leader Neil Kin-
age workers' opposition in Argentina."46 nock denounced the "implausible resolu­
tions . . . pickled into rigid dogma" which
the Militant delegates had introduced at the
Labor Party Assaults on the
conference. He also labelled the Militant
Militant Tendency
Tendency "a maggot in.the body of the Labor
In mid-1982 an effort was made by the Na­ Party." After a few weeks, the National Ex­
tional Committee of the Labor Party to carry ecutive Committee of the Labor Party
out a purge of members of the Militant Ten­ launched an "investigation" of the Liver­
dency. The move to have the n e c take such pool section of the party and of the city gov­
action had begun as early as 1977, when the ernment it controlled—and which had par­

490 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

ticularly strongly resisted the Thatcher m e n t a n d t h e c n d o b s t r u c t , r a t h e r t h a n a id ,
government's attempts to cut back on its th e s o c ia lis t c a u s e .
social welfare programs—alleging "corrup­ The Militant Tendency maintained an or­
tion, misuse of public funds, providing jobs thodox Trotskyist position on the question
for supporters, and intimidation."51 of the nature of the Soviet Union, that it and
the other Stalinist regimes were "degener­
ated workers states." However, on one other
Ideological Positions of the issue it disagreed with traditional Trots­
Militant Tendency kyism: as a general principle, it opposed the
establishment of separate revolutionary so­
The ideological orientation of the Militant cialist parties, favoring instead that Trots­
Tendency was consistent for over more than kyists should work within traditional work­
a quarter of a century. It centered on what ers' parties. They opposed the ultimate
John Callaghan has described as "econo- establishment of a one-party state, in view
mism." Ted Grant and his supporters argued of what had happened in the Soviet Union.
that world capitalism in general and British They expressed confidence that once all
capitalism in particular were undergoing a means of production and distribution were
long-run decline due to the falling rate of nationalized there would be no danger of
profit. Sooner or later this would result in a parties such as the Tories ever being able to
massive onslaught by the capitalist class convince the workers that capitalism
and its government on the living standards should be reestablished. They favored the
of the British working class. Although the ultimate nationalization of all the press,
Militant Tendency leaders' description of with access to it being granted in proportion
the details of this process varied from time to the support any particular party had
to time and was not infrequently contradic­ among the voters.5S
tory, the basic nature of the British eco­ In the international field, the Militant
nomic crisis continued to be the centerpiece Tendency maintained relations with other
of the doctrine of the Militant Tendency.52 avowedly Trotskyist groups following a
The group's political orientation was de­ "deep entrist" policy. John Callaghan re­
termined by this view of Britain's prospects. ported the founding in 1975 of an "entrist
John Callaghan has noted that "Militant's international" at a conference attended by
general perspectives . . . have stayed re­ forty-eight people from Britain, Ireland,
markably constant since the late 1960s. In Sweden, and Germany.S6The Militant Ten­
1968 Grant envisaged that a new economic dency also maintained relations with left-
crisis would lead to a leftward swing in the wing elements in the youth groups of vari­
unions and the Labor Party, and that the ous European social democratic parties.57
parliamentary wing of social democracy Despite their divergences from traditional
would split, with the right wing joining the Trotskyist positions, the Militant Tendency
Tories."*3 It was in the expectation of that continued to regard themselves as Trotsky­
eventuality, of course, that the Militant ists. Their book and magazine sales service
Tendency was so steadfast in its continuing sold Trotsky's works extensively, their pub­
policy of entrism in the Labor Party. lications continued to cite Trotsky with cer­
Because of its concentration on working tain frequency.
within the unions and the Labor Party the The Militant Tendency regarded the other
Militant Tendency did not get involved in British Trotskyist groups as "sects." Thus
"peripheral" issues. Callaghan has noted Ted Grant wrote in one pamphlet that "the
that "the Militant Tendency believes that plague of small sects, largely as a result of
the Anti-Nazi League, the women's move­ splits in other sects, has developed as a con­

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 491

!
sequence of the failure of the larger sects, Trotskyist groups in having had few if any
like the i m g , s w p and w r p to build and main­ internal controversies or splits. Callaghan
tain mass revolutionary organizations ac­ has noted that he "found no written evi­
cording to their theories and ideas. . . . The dence whatever of such fissures in the
sects all spread disillusion, cynicism and group's long history. .. ,"59
skepticism. As Marxism becomes an impor­
tant force in the working class and gains
The International Marxist Group-
support in the working class generally, the
Socialist League
sects can do less damage than they have
done in the past."58
Origins and Early Activity
The remote origins of the- International
Internal Organization of the
Marxist Group were to be found in a number
Militant Tendency
of members of the Nottingham and Mid­
Because of its deep entrist policy and its lands branch of the Communist Party, nota­
desire to avoid getting expelled from the La­ bly Ken Coates and Pat Jordan, who were
bor Party, the Militant group inevitably had expelled from the c p g b over the Soviet inva­
to function on a somewhat conspiratorial sion of Hungary in 1956. After short associa­
basis. John Callaghan has noted that "the tion with Gerry Healy's Socialist Labor
Militant's mode of operation is a concomi­ League, they joined the Revolutionary So­
tant of its 'unofficial/ quasi-clandestine sta­ cialist League of Ted Grant. However, in
tus. Contacts are made via newspaper sales; 1961 these people, described by Bornstein
only when the contact proves himself reli­ and Richardson as "Pablo and Mandel loyal­
able is he introduced to the Militant organi­ ists," withdrew from the r s l to establish
zation proper." what they called the International Group.
Callaghan added that "as with other far They returned to the r s l once again in 1964
left organizations, the Militant group's lead­ on the urging of the United Secretariat of
ership echelon is remarkably stable. These the Fourth International.
figures—Ted Grant, Peter Taaffe, Lynn Within the r s l , the former International
Walsh, Keith Dickinson, Clare Doyle, Roger Group members began to publish a periodi­
Silverman, Brian Ingham etc.—have be­ cal, The Week. This time their association
tween thirteen and twenty-seven years' ac­ with Ted Grant's group lasted for only about
tivity as Trotskyists in the Labor Party. a year, when they withdrew to establish the
These are the names which appear in the International Marxist Group (i m g ). At the
list of twenty-five shareholders in Workers 1965 Congress of the United Secretariat
International Review Publications Ltd., the (u se c), the im g was jointly recognized with
owner of Militant publications." the r s l as a sympathizing organization of
However, Callaghan noted that "it is un­ u s e c . When the Revolutionary Socialist
clear what the contribution of the ordinary League, which until then had had the status
supporter can be. . . . There is no evidence of the British section of u s e c , took this move
of discussion and debate or of the involve­ as an affront and broke off all relations with
ment of the rank and file. . . . The national the United Secretariat, that left the im g as
meetings which Militant does hold appear the only British affiliate of u s e c .60
to be organized more like rallies than confer­ Tariq Ali wrote about the early years of
ences with the audience playing a relatively the i m g that "the i m g was formally consti­
passive role." tuted in 1966) its early life was dominated
Under these circumstances the Militant by the Labor Party and its strategy premised
Tendency has been almost unique among on the emergence of a left current inside the

492 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

Labor Party which would raise the banners ing to Intercontinental Press, "The confer­
of revolt against the Wilson clique. This ence discussed the perspectives of the new
never took place despite the vicious and re- student upsurge and the current situation in
actionary policies of the Wilson adminis­ the Labour Party and the trade unions. The
tration."61 Labour parliamentary left was scored for its
The International Marxist Group received complete failure to project a militant alter­
its first impetus for rapid growth in the stu­ native to the right-wing programs of the Wil­
dent upsurge of 1967-68 and the campaign son leadership. The delegates felt that this
against the Vietnam War. It was largely re­ made the independent work of the i m g more
sponsible for organizing the Vietnam Soli­ necessary than ever. This was seen, how­
darity Campaign 61 That movement reached ever, as complementary to oppositional
its high point in a demonstration on October work inside the Labour party."66
27, 1968, in which 100,000 people partici­ The i m g finally gave up entrism into the
pated. Two leaders of the vsc, Tariq Ali and Labor Party, at least for the time being, late
Emest Tate, presented a letter at 10 Down­ in 1969. In the following year, it established
ing Street addressed to Prime Minister Har­ a youth group, the Spartacus League.67
old Wilson, which said, "Dear Harold, in the Titular leadership of the i m g was mean­
name of 75,000 workers and students, we while largely assumed by Tariq Ali, who had
demand that you stop supporting American joined early in 1968. He was successively
imperialism and start supporting the n l j in editor of periodicals sympathetic to or con­
Vietnam."63 trolled by the Group, first Black Dwarf, then
John Callaghan has noted that at least two Red Mole, and finally in 1977, Socialist
things characterized the role of the i m g in Challenge
the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. On the At the time of the 1970 election, which
one hand, it fought successfully to keep it resulted in the defeat of the Labor Govern­
a "one issue" campaign. On the other, it ment, there was a debate in the i m g as to
insisted on raising as the Campaign's major whether or not it should support the Labor
slogan, "Victory for the National Liberation Party's candidates. Pat Jordan wrote an offi­
Front."64 cial statement in Red Mole, in reply to an
Subsequently, the i m g was to insist on earlier article by Robin Blackburn urging ab­
an equally radical stance with regard to the stention, that the i m g supported Labor, but
situation in Northern Ireland. It adopted the that "our role should be to raise the level
slogan, "Victory for the i r a " and refused to of consciousness, to prepare people for the
condemn or even to criticize in any way the coming struggles and to fight any illusion
terrorist activities of the Irish Republican that the election result will solve any prob­
Army.65 lems." Jordan summed up the then current
The success of the i m g in its student and attitude of the i m g thus: "The Labour Party
antiwar activities resulted in a substantial has been 'buried' many times and yet still
increase in membership. Reporting to the exists as an obstacle in the building of a
i m g January 1969 Conference, National Sec­ revolutionary party. It won't bleed to
retary Pat Jordan said that the number of death—an executioner is needed. Only the
members had doubled within the previous working class, under revolutionary leader­
year. Without any doubt most of the new ship, can destroy the Frankenstein's mon­
recruits were young middle-class people ster it created. This article is a contribution
with little base in the trade union move­ to the discussion the left is having as to just
ment or the Labor Party. This fact was how to set about doing that."69
underlined by the decisions and attitudes of In June 1972 the majority political resolu­
that same January 1969 conference. Accord­ tion adopted by the i m g conference by a

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 493

 vote of eighty-six for, nineteen against and Party." However, the same resolution noted
twenty-three abstentions, proclaimed that that work within the Labor Party "has a
"our main theoretical task was an analysis lower priority" than that in "the trade
of the Labour Party and the struggle against unions, the antiracist and antifascist strug­
economism." It did not indicate clearly gle, the women's movement, the students,
whether this was to be done from within the and taking steps towards the creation of a
Labor Party or from the outside. At another youth organization." It was reported that
point the resolution stated that "the task 1 8 percent of the delegates were industrial
of breaking the working class from social workers, 56 percent were white-collar work­
democratic politics is not a question of ers, and 79 percent of the delegates were
exposing the nature of the leadership of the trade unionists, compared with 55 percent
Labour Party but of revealing the bank­ of the general membership of\the i m g .74
ruptcy of the entire social democratic In the 1979 general election the i m g orga­
method of struggle. " 70 nized what it called the "Socialist Unity"
In fact, the i m g had gained little ground campaign. It put up ten candidates who "ev­
either in the Labor Party or the trade unions. erywhere garnered only a handful of votes."
The only entree of any significance they had A supporter of working exclusively within
had among the organized workers had been the Labor Party claimed that "because their
a campaign around the concept of "workers' political ideas came packaged with a central
control" in the middle 1960s, in which Ken proposal to break labour movement ranks
Coates had been particularly active. After and vote for an obviously hopeless candi­
Coates split away from the i m g , it "lost its date, it is unlikely that even their propa­
influence over the militants it had done ganda work did much good. . . ," 7S
much to mobilize in the workers' control In general the i m g tended to take posi­
conferences and since 1968—when the con­ tions similar to those of the Socialist Work­
ferences were formalized as the Institute for ers Party of the United States on such issues
Workers' Control-—the i m g has played no as race relations. Thus, it supported the idea
part in that movement."71 of a separate Black Movement in Britain,
In 1977-78 the im g carried on a campaign being the only Trotskyist group in the coun­
to try to unify the various Trotskyist groups, try having that position.
except the Militant Tendency. It particu­ In the controversy within the United Sec­
larly sought to make overtures to the Social­ retariat of the Fourth International in the
ist Workers Party.71 However, there proved 1970s over the issue of support of guerrilla
to be insufficient basis of agreement for warfare, the im g sided with the European
bringing together the various Trotskyist fac­ groups against the position of the Socialist
tions. Only two small groups, Big Flame and Workers Party of the United States. As a
the Marxist Workers Group, agreed to en­ consequence a split developed in 1975-76,
gage in some joint political activities with with the formation of the League for Social­
the i m g .73 ist Action, which supported the line of the
By the time of its 1978 conference the i m g American s w p . The League dissolved in
had somewhat modified its anti-Labor Party 1981 with the end of that controversy and
position. The political resolution adopted at its members returned to the International
that time called for "the building of a left- Marxist Group/6
wing class struggle in the mass organiza­ Another small split in the i m g occurred
tions. This above all means building opposi­ as a result of the u s e c controversy of the
tions within the trade unions. . . . Where 1970s. A little group which sympathized
appropriate it also involves the work of sup­ with the Third Tendency in u s e c , which
porters of our politics inside the Labor had appeared at the Tenth World Congress

494 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

in 1974, broke away sometime later to form penetrate the Labor Party: "Briefly, it was
the International-Communist League (i - c l ). decided to make a turn toward the Labor
It associated with the Necessary Interna­ Party where a left current was developing
tional Initiative (n i i ), a kind of "opposition" {initially associated with Benn but it has
outside of the u s e c , for some time thereaf­ now gone beyond him—or rather, he has
ter.77 We have no indication of how long the lagged behind the developments). Although
i - c l continued to exist. we have retained the perspective of a turn
With the development of a further fac­ to industry in the present situation, with
tional struggle within the United Secretariat Britain in industrial decline, there is no im­
as a result of the U.S. Socialist Workers Par­ mediate perspective of fruitful work in that
ty's move away from Trotskyism in the field. . .
early 1980s, the majority of the i m g - s l sided A pamphlet published by Socialist Action
with the majority of the u s e c . There was a soon after the group returned to the Labor
minority in the British group which sup­ Party sketched its perspectives for work
ported the position of the Bames leadership within Labor: "To carry through the fight
in the United States s w p .78 for a revolutionary workers' government it
Early in 1983 the i m g decided to return to is necessary to construct a mass revolution­
an entrist policy and have its members join ary workers' party. The Labor Party has al­
the Labor Party and concentrate on work ways been dominated by a bureaucracy even
within it. The formal announcement of this during its most left-wing periods. . . . The
decision was made in the Group's newspa­ restructuring of the labor movement, and
per, Socialist Challenge, on February 25, the emergence of a mass anti-capitalist
1983. Under the heading "Final issue," it party, will therefore almost certainly take
wrote that "with next week's issue, No. 283, the route of a split in the Labor Party. Such
Socialist Challenge is ceasing publication. a split will be the political responsibility of
But don't worry! Socialist Challenge sup­ the right-wing leaders. Whether socialists
porters have decided to turn all their ener­ will win a majority in the Labor Party can­
gies towards supporting a new paper being not be predicted in advance. But the battle
launched in the Labour Party and the trade for a socialist program must be waged inside
unions called Socialist Action. Many of the the mass organizations of the working class.
«84
writers who now contribute to Socialist
Challenge will be writing for the new
paper."// 79
Nature of IMG-SL Organization
The first issue of Socialist Action carried
greetings from, among others, Tony Benn, John Callaghan has noted two characteris­
leader of the Labor Party left wing, Ken Liv­ tics of the i m g - s l as an organization. These
ingstone, the Leader of the Greater London were the very high degree of activity it re­
Council, several Labor Left members of par­ quired of its members, and its democratic
liament, including longtime Labor Left internal life.
leader Ernie Roberts.80It also announced the Speaking of the period of the 1 9 7 0 s Cal­
settingup of "Socialists for a Labor Victory," laghan noted that "the i m g activists became
within which the ex-iM G people w e re preoccupied with campaigns on Ireland, rac­
working.81 ism, feminism, Vietnam, the organization
Back within the Labor Party the Interna­ of school students, etc., aimed at immi­
tional Marxist Group changed its name to grants, women, youth and the unemployed.
Socialist League.82 Charles van Gelderen, a By 1 9 7 1 i m g had accumulated over 3 0 front
leader of the group, summarized their per­ organizations, approximately one for every
spectives in deciding once more to try to eleven members of the organization." He

1 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 495

noted sixteen different kinds of activity that to a split in the Socialist Labor League in
an i m g member would be expected to engage 1963, led by Sean Matgamna. Matgamna had
i n , both within the i m g and in its various started his political career in the Young
peripheral groups. He noted that "such ac­ Communist League, leaving it to join the
tivism leaves little time for anything else. s l l . Immediately after quitting the Socialist
lliS
Labor League, he and his followers first
In commenting on the internal organiza­ joined the Militant Group "and left after
tion of the i m g , Callaghan h a s noted that "if writing an 85-page document criticizing
the i m g was in any way sounder and more them."89
stable than the rest of the far left, it was in The Matgamna group developed close re­
respect of the organization's internal re­ lations with the Irish Workers Group, a
gime. For throughout its existence, the i m g seedbed of various radical elements in Ire­
has avoided the kind of internal disruption land.90 After spending some time in the In­
and authoritarianism which we have en­ ternational Socialists, the Matgamna group
countered elsewhere on the Trotskyist left. was expelled from the is in 1971, and estab­
From its origins in the mid-1960s to the end lished Workers Fight. In 1975 Workers Fight
of the seventies no factions were expelled merged with Workers Power (w p ), another
from the i m g ."86 element recently expelled from the is, to
Callaghan added, concerning the rights of form the International Communist League.
individual i m g members within the organi­ A year later most of the former members of
zation, that "clearly these formal rights are Workers Power withdrew again to reform
extensive. Furthermore, the i m g ' s political w p , charging the Matgamna group with be­

practice—which is relatively free from in­ ing "centrists" and "seasoned oppor­
stances of authoritarianism—shows that tunists."91
these rights are real; that in other words, the It was the International Communist
organization's political culture is genuinely League which was principally responsible
democratic."87 for launching a new periodical—and
By the mid-1980s the i m g - s l remained group—late in 197 8. According to M. North,
predominantly middle class in social com­ one of the leaders of the Socialist Organiser
position. Its influence in the trade union group, "the paper 'Socialist Organiser' first
movement was minimal in absolute terms appeared in late 1978.. . . The title began as
as well as in comparison with some of the the 'Paper of the Socialist Campaign for a
other British Trotskyist groups. An un­ Labour Victory.' Although Trotskyists were
friendly source has observed that "at present active in organizing and building the s c l v ,
they are happily ensconced in the Labor it was not a purely Trotskyist campaign, as
Party where they continue their battle it set out to organize all the 'serious' left
against their old bogies—workerism and within the Labour Party."91
economism. . . ."®B The i c l leaders were apparently impress­
ed by the progress of the Left within the
Labor Party after the party's 1979 defeat and
The Thornett Group
felt that the way was opened for a new kind
The fifth significant Trotskyist element in of campaign within the Labor Party. In one
Great Britain by the early 1980s was that of its last issues, the ici^ periodical Workers
associated with the newspaper Socialist Or­ Action had spelled this out, saying that
ganiser. It was sometimes referred to as the changes of the Labor Party structure made
Thomett Group, after its best-known trade possible the "transformation of the Labour
union figure, Alan Thomett. Party into a real instrument of the working
The remote origins of this faction go back class." It added that the 1979 Annual Con­

496 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

ference of the party "demonstrates that the alliance is still to organize the revolu­
transforming the political wing of the labor tionary left; including those who would not
movement is a possibility, and thus that it call themselves Trotskyists."96
is possible to raise the transitional demand In July 1981 the Socialist Organiser group
for a workers government in Britain, where was joined by the Workers Socialist League.
in the initial stages such a government This was the group which had been formed
would inevitably have the Labour Party as (at first under the name Workers Revolu­
its major or only component."93 tionary League) by Alan Thomett and his
Sean Matgamna has explained the strat­ supporters when they had been thrown out
egy of the Socialist Organiser group. He of the Healyite Workers Revolutionary
noted that it was established "at a national Party late in 1974. In the intervening years
conference in July 1 978 of 200 activists from it had been strongly attacked by the w r p ,
a broad spectrum of the Labour Party and and w r p star Vanessa Redgrave had gone so
trade union Left," and that "our immediate far as to sue Thornett for money she had
goal was to organize a parallel election cam­ allegedly "lent and advanced" to him.97 The
paign within the official Labour campaign. group's relations with some of the other
. . . The leaflets on Ireland, racism, women, Trotskyist groups, particularly the i m g , had
and the unions explained the political posi­ been more friendly.
tions in our 'Where We Stand.' As well as The Thomett group remained of signifi­
warning against the danger of the return of cance within British Trotskyism because of
the Tories, our campaign criticised the La­ its continuing influence among some union
bour government and argued for a commit­ groups, particularly in the auto industry. It
ment to fight for Socialist Organiser's poli­ also was of some importance because it had
tics whoever won the election." Matgamna organized an international grouping, the
concluded that "We tried to give socialists Trotskyist International Liaison Commit­
who had good reason to be disgusted with tee ( t i l c ),98 which although not one of the
the Wilson-Callaghan-Healey government a larger Fourth International factions did give
perspective of struggle against them within it contacts with the world Trotskyist move­
the vitally necessary effort to mobilize the ment which some of the other British groups
labour movement to keep the ultra-reac­ no longer had. Therefore, its adherence to
tionary Tories out."4’4 Socialist Organiser represented an addition
The Socialist Organiser group succeeded of some consequence.
in getting the support of a number of non- At the time the Workers Socialist League
Trotskyist left-wing Laborites. Thus, in its joined Socialist Organiser, it apparently
immediate postelection issue Socialist Or­ merged within so with the International
ganiser had short articles by successful La­ Communist League. It gave up its own pa­
bor Party candidates Emie Roberts, Ron per, Socialist Press, "and so continued as
Leighton, and Stuart Holland, as well as by the only paper of the enlarged organiza­
several defeated nominees including Ted tion."99 It was agreed that a new theoretical
Knight and Ken Livingstone (who two years journal would be established to complement
later was to be elected head of the Greater the more topical material contained in So­
London metropolitan council.)95 cialist Organiser.100
M. North wrote that "after the victory of The Socialist Organiser group was thus in
the Conservative Party in the 1979 elec­ some ways the most "deep entrist" of all the
tions, the work of the s c l v came to an end, British Trotskyite factions. Although there
but the Socialist Organiser group continued remained a frankly Trotskyist organized ele­
around the country. This system has been ment within it, in its public presentations
maintained since that time. . . . The aim of it seemed by ^ 8 2 to have moved farther

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 497

than any of the other larger groups from International Socialists in 1975, which pub­
taking a specifically Trotskyist line of analy­ lished a monthly newspaper, Workers
sis or appeal. Power. Its Irish "fraternal organization" was
the Irish Workers Group.104
Of somewhat more significance was the
The Smaller Trotskyist Groups
Revolutionary Communist Party (rcp ). It
In addition to the five major elements in had its origins in the Revolutionary Opposi­
British Trotskyism, there continued to exist tion within the International Socialists,
in the early 1980s several smaller groups which was expelled from the is in 1973.105
with much less influence or membership These dissidents first formed the Revolu­
than the w r p , Socialist Workers Party, Mili­ tionary Communist Group, which itself
tants, i m g - s l , and Socialist Organiser. Some split with the establishment of the Revolu­
note should be taken of these. tionary Communist Tendency, which ulti­
After late 197 s there existed a small Spar­ mately became the r c p .106 What remained
tacist element in Great Britain. In that year of the Revolutionary Communist Group
the London Spartacist Group was estab­ seems to have disappeared.
lished in the capital. Then in February 1978 The r c p published a monthly "review,"
some twenty-four members of the "Trotsky­ The Next Step. The May 1982 issue indi­
ist Faction" of Alan Thomett's Workers So­ cated the matters of particular interest to
cialist League withdrew from the w s l , and the r c p . A note reported that "for the past
soon afterward joined forces with the Lon­ two years, the next step has held major con­
don Spartacist Group to establish the Sparta­ ferences in September. The first, attended
cist League/Britain (s l / b ), "as a sympathiz­ by more than 200 people, examined various
ing organization of the international aspects of imperialism around the world.
Spartacist tendency." It claimed "close on Last year's, twice as big, concentrated on
50 members and a presence both in London the problems facing the working class in
and the Midlands."101 There is no indication Europe. This year's conference will have a
that the s l / b expanded appreciably after its wider focus, taking in developments in the
formation. It generally came to the attention world economy, the labour movement in
of other Trotskyist groups not so much by Britain and abroad, questions of women's
its visibility at public demonstrations, or in oppression and militarism and pacifism."107
the trade union movement, as by the pres­ The r c p tended to pay more attention to
ence of Spartacist hecklers at the meetings Britain's racial problems than did most of
of those other Trotskyist factions.102 the other Trotskyist groups.
The Spartacists published a monthly peri­ The r c p carried the "rank and file" ap­
odical which was first called Spartacist Brit­ proach to work in trade unions to an ex­
ain but in 1984 was changed to Workers treme. Its publication's issue of December
Hammer. They were very active in 1984-85 1981 wrote that "there is no salvation in
in support of the long coal miners' strike. trades unionism," and added that "Trade
In February 198s they published a special unions organise workers along sectional, in­
strike supplement of their newspaper which dustrial and craft lines. Trade unions reflect
called for railroaders, truck drivers, and the divisions (sectional, sexual, racial)
dockers to strike in sympathy with the which capitalism imposes on the labour
miners.10* movement. The unity of our class can only
Most of the other fringe Trotskyist groups be achieved around objectives which relate,
in Britain had few if any overseas contacts. not to a particular section, but to the inter­
An exception was the Workers Power ests of the proletariat as a whole."108
Group, originating in a small split in the When, after 1971, the International Com­

498 Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others

 mittee of the Fourth International split be­ in spite of being divided into five major fac­
tween a group led by the Healyites on the tions and several minor ones.
one hand, and one led by the Lambert group Several peculiar factors have character­
of France on the other, the Lambertists for ized British Trotskyism. One of these has
some time did not have any representation been the fact that the two largest and most
in Britain. In 1979 such a fraction was important groups are to some degree hereti­
formed, the Socialist Labor Group. It con­ cal—the Socialist Workers Party, rejecting
sisted principally of people who at different the categorization of the Stalinist regimes as
times and for different reasons had broken workers' states; and the Militant Tendency
with Gerry Healy. It was one of the smaller repudiating the basic Fourth International
elements in British Trotskyism.109 concept of organizing (sooner or later) an
Another small but persistent faction was independent revolutionary party outside
the Chartist group, established in 1970 by both the Second and Third International af­
A 1 Richardson, who broke away from the filiates.
International Marxist Group over the issue A second peculiarity of British Trots­
of its abandonment of entrism in the Labor kyism has been the fact that throughout its
party. It was made up of a dozen or more half century of history it has been faced with
young people in their teens and early twen­ the quandary of how to deal with the Labor
ties.'10 A dozen years later, the Chartist Party, the organization which the great ma­
group was still publishing its periodical, jority of the country's workers have regarded
Chartist, which on its masthead reported as "their" party. During all of this period the
that it was "published five times a year by many successive Trotskyist factions have
the Chartist Collective, which has support­ veered from "entrism" into the Labor Party
ers in the following areas: Bolton, Brighton, to "principled" opposition to such a ma­
Cambridge, Derby, Leeds, London, Oxford, neuver.
Liverpool, Preston, Stoke and Stockport. Neither of these strategies has been obvi­
Chartist is also sponsored by Clause Four ously successful. Entrism has always in­
who have three subscribers on the Editorial volved the dangers of watering down the
Collective" (e c ).111 Trotskyist program and of being absorbed
Another very small group was that into Social Democracy and ceasing to be
founded in the early 1960s by the followers Trotskyist at all. On the other hand, refusal
of the Argentine leader J. Posadas, the Revo­ to participate in the Labor Party has in­
lutionary Workers Party (Trotskyist). It had volved the risk of more or less complete
its headquarters in London, and published a isolation from the very workers whom the
periodical entitled Red Flag.111 The Revolu­ Trotskyists were trying to win over to their
tionary Workers Party (Trotskyist) was re­ cause.
ported in the early 1980s to be still in exis­
tence and still publishing its periodical.
They were working within the Labor Party.
One unfriendly observer credited them with
about a dozen members.113

Conclusion

British Trotskyism is one of the oldest

branches of the movement. By the mid
1 980s it was also one of the most influential,

Great Britain: IS, IMG, Militants, and Others 499

 Trotskyism in Greece regard to the group which put out this publi­
cation that "the basic philosophy . . . was
enunciated in its slogan 'first education,
then action.' That is, the communist move­
ment must first prepare leadership and cad­
res along the lines suggested by Marx and
During the first years of the history of Inter­ Lenin as a preliminary to revolutionary ac­
national Trotskyism one of the largest na­ tivity. Tsoulatis was not prepared to orga­
tional sections of the movement was in nize a formal party until the educational
Greece. But as happened in a number of process was completed.. . . Accordingly, the
other countries, internal dissidence and early activities of the Archeiomarxists were
quarrels of the local leadership with Trotsky limited to the formation of conspiratorial
led by the end of the 1930s to the loss to the groups the existence of each of which was
movement of most of those in Greece who kept from others. The purpose of these
had originally been attracted to it. World groups was indoctrination in Marxist-Le-
War II brought a further decimation of Greek ninist theory."1
Trotskyism at the hands of both the fascist In 1 9 2 4 , after the expulsion of its leaders
invaders of Greece and of the Communist from the Communist Party, the group
would-be "liberators" of the country. Al­ around Archives of Marxism emerged as a
though Greek Trotskyism revived modestly more formally organized political group or
after World War H, it remained a tiny move­ party under the name Archeiomarxist Orga­
ment and suffered a series of internecine nization. By this time the principal leader of
struggles and splits, in part as a reflection of the organization was Demetrious Yoto-
the schisms taking place generally within poulos, better known within the interna­
the ranks of International Trotskyism. tional Trotskyist movement by his pseud­
onym Witte. Bora in 1 9 0 1 , Yotopoulos was
a chemist by profession.2
The Archeiomarxists
In June 1 9 3 0 the Archeiomarxist Organi­
One of the first groups to respond to Leon zation applied for admission to the Interna­
Trotsky's effort to rally the scattered Left tional Left Opposition (i l o ), which had been
Opposition forces in various countries to a formally established a few weeks before. In
new international movement was the Arch- October of that year the Archeiomarxist Or­
eiomarxist Organization of Greece. This ganization held a national conference at
was a substantial group which at the time it which, among other things, it resolved to
joined the International Left Opposition was change its name to Bolshevik-Leninist Orga­
a serious rival of the Communist Party for nization of Greece3 [although it continued
control of the far left in Greece. to be referred to in both its own and Interna­
The origins of the Archeiomarxists go tional Left Opposition documents as the
back at least as far as 1919, when Francisco Archeiomarxist Organization).
Tsoulatis established the Union of Commu­ Meanwhile, Trotsky had arranged to have
nism, a "secret group" within the Socialist two representatives of the i l o visit Greece
Labor Party, which later became the Greek and to confer with the Archeiomarxist lead­
Communist Party. The Union of Commu­ ers. Subsequent to this visit, Trotsky wrote
nism was dissolved early in 1921, but later a letter (in the name of the International
in that year some of those who had led and Secretariat) addressed "To the Bolshevik-Le-
belonged to it began to publish a periodical, ninist Organization of Greece (Archio-
Archives of Marxism. Marxists [sic])." In this letter, Trotsky
Professor James Dertouzos has noted with sought to clarify his attitude towards certain

500 Greece
 positions taken by the Archeiomarxists in seek united action in the form of an agree­
their October 1930 conference. ment on each political question.. . . In other
Among other things, the Archeiomarxists words, we suggest a policy of the united
had decided to function as a political party, front under these circumstances and at the
separate from the Communist Party. On present moment."5
this point Trotsky wrote them that "in no In 19 31 the Archeiomarxist Organization
case are we ready to surrender to the Stalin­ was recognized as the official Greek section
ists the banner of the Communist Interna­ of the International Left Opposition. At that
tional, its traditions, and its proletarian time it reportedly had 2,000 members, being
core. We are fighting for the regeneration the largest i l o affiliate. In the following
of the Third International and not for the year, Demetrious Yotopoulos became a
creation of a fourth. . . . This does not, how­ member of the International Secretariat, re­
ever, exclude the possibility in one country siding in Berlin, and then after the triumph
or another where the official party is ex­ of the Nazis, when the headquarters of the
tremely weak that the Opposition will have is was transferred to Paris, he moved there
to assume, partially or totally, the functions with it.6
of an independent political party (leadership In June 1932 Leon Trotsky had an exten­
of the trade unions and strikes, organization sive conversation with several leaders of the
of demonstrations, nomination of candi­ Archeiomarxist Organization, who went to
dates)." Turkey to see him. He sent to all the sec­
Trotsky went on to say that he did not tions of the i l o a resumd of that discussion.
know enough about the Greek situation to From that resume one is able to glean con­
know whether those conditions prevailed siderable information about the status and
there. However, he added, "Even while act­ activities of Greek Trotskyism in the early
ing as a party you must consider yourself as a 1930s.
section of the Third International, regarding Trotsky's discussion with his Greek fol­
the official party as a faction, and proposing lowers indicated that the Archeiomarxists
to it unity of action in relation to the masses. claimed about 1,600 members. They were ac­
A principled statement on your part on this tive in the trade union movement, working
question would be extremely desirable."4 in both the Communist Party-controlled
Trotsky went on to warn the Archeio­ United General Confederation of Labor and
marxists to expect some dissidence and in its reformist rival, although having more
some defections when they set about func­ influence in the former. In Athens they con­
tioning as a party. But he added that "by trolled the textile workers, cement workers,
infusing its ranks with more homogeneity pretzel makers, and blacksmiths unions in
and its activity with a broader political char­ the Stalinists' confederation, although they
acter, your organization will be able to re­ had been kept entirely out of the top leader­
place one-hundredfold all possible individ­ ship of that group by the Stalinists. They also
ual desertions." controlled the cobblers, construction work­
He also had words of advice for the Archei - ers, carpenters, and barbers unions in Athens
omarxists concerning their relations with which were affiliated with the reformist con­
the other Greek organization which was federation. In addition, they had thirty-two
sympathetic to the i l o , the Spartakos "fractions" functioning in those Athens
Group. He said that "it is difficult for us to unions which they did not control. In Sa­
judge whether unification is possible at the lonika the Archeiomarxists led six of the lo­
present moment. At any rate the possibility cal unions as well as the unemployed work­
or the impossibility of unification can only ers movement/
become manifest in practice, that is, if you The Archeiomarxists were also active

Greece 501
 among the peasants. A recent party confer­ from Greece, if the people there wanted that,
ence had put forward demands for cancella­ they should be willing to support the
tion of the debts of the poor peasants, and demand.11
had drawn up a series of specific demands
for wine, tobacco, and olive oil farmers.
Separation of the Archeiomarxists
They were about to start a periodical appeal­
from Trotskyism
ing particularly to the peasants.8
The discussion disclosed that both the In 1934 the majority of the Archeiomarxists
Archeiomarxists and Trotsky felt that there withdrew from the international Trotskyist
existed a "prerevolutionary" situation in movement. They did not split over such is­
Greece in 1932. With that belief the Archei­ sues as the Archeiomarxist leaders had dis­
omarxists were actively pushing the forma­ cussed with Leon Trotsky in 1932, but
tion of "workers congresses" composed of rather over questions of internal politics
representatives of various political tenden­ within the international movement, in
cies, which would put forward basically eco­ which Trotsky and the principal Archeio­
nomic demands in the beginning but would marxist leader Demetrious Yotopoulos
hopefully work toward a revolutionary gen­ (Witte) took different and ultimately irrec­
eral strike.9 oncilable positions.
The Archeiomarxists had also had some The disagreements of Yotopoulos with
electoral activity with somewhat disap­ Trotsky appear to have centered particularly
pointing results. In 19 31 municipal elec­ on the French Turn, that is, Trotsky's in­
tions in Salonika, where they had thought structions to his French followers to enter
that they would outdraw the official Com­ the Socialist Party to operate as a faction
munist Party, they had received only 590 there. There was an element within the
votes, compared with 2,300 for the Stalin­ French League, centering on the Jewish (Yid­
ists. They attributed this largely to the offi­ dish-speaking) element in Paris, which
cial Communists' ability to get support strongly opposed the French Turn, and
among the less militant workers and to the which had within the International Secre­
fact that the official party had around it the tariat the support of Yotopoulos in their po­
aura of the Bolshevik Revolution.10 sition. In December 1933 that dissident ele­
The discussions of the Archeiomarxist ment withdrew from the French League to
leaders with Trotsky revealed certain differ­ form the Union Communiste, and to begin
ences of opinion between him and them. publication of a periodical, UInternatio­
The most notable subject of such disagree­ nale. The French group soon disappeared.
ment was the Archeiomarxist attitude to­ Long before the emergence of the Union
ward "the Macedonian Question," that is, Communiste Yotopoulos and Trotsky had
the right of Macedonia to autonomy or inde­ begun to quarrel more or less openly. In a
pendence. The Archeiomarxists argued that letter to the is, dated October 8, 1933,
for practical purposes there did not exist Trotsky wrote that he had earlier communi­
within Greece any such separate entity as cated with Yotopoulos (Witte) to try "to re­
Macedonia, since the overwhelming major­ strain Comrade Witte from further move­
ity of the population there was Greek, to ments on the path he is travelling. . . . I
a large degree people who had come from recalled to Comrade Witte that his splitting
Turkey in the early 1920s when Greece and conspiracy in the Paris League would inevi­
Turkey had exchanged ethnic Greeks for tably have an international repercussion and
ethnic Turks. Trotsky, on the other hand, would reflect badly particularly on the
argued that his Greek followers ought to Greek section."
take the position that, although they were Trotsky added that "the manner, of his
not advocating separation of Macedonia advance will make it quite obvious to the

502 Grecce
 overwhelming majority of the sections, who Political Bureau member George Vitsoris,
have carried on the struggle against Landau, which opposed Yotopoulos, the majority
Mill, Well and others, that it is a reproduc­ backed him. As a consequence, the Archeio­
tion of the struggle of these people, only in marxists abandoned the international Trots­
a worse form. . . . " kyist movement.1S Subsequently, the Ar­
Trotsky predicted in this letter that the cheiomarxist Organization became more or
struggle, if pursued, would result in Witte's less associated with the International Right
attempt to have the Greek section confront Opposition and then with the so-called Lon­
the rest of the international organization. don Bureau. It came to be viewed by at least
That, Trotsky added, "w ill inevitably lead, some of the Right Oppositionists in other
by the very logic of the situation, to the countries as their counterpart in Greece.16It
disintegration of the Greek section and its was represented at the Revolutionary So­
transformation into a national section of cialist Congress in Paris in February 1938,
Witte's."11 where the remnants of the International
In that same month, October 1933, Yoto- Right Opposition and the London Bureau
poulos abandoned his position in the Inter­ organized the International Bureau for Revo­
national Secretariat and returned to Greece lutionary Socialist Unity.17
to rally the Archeiomarxist Organization, The Archeiomarxists survived the dicta­
which then boasted some 2,000 members torship of General Metaxas, who seized
and was the largest section of the interna­ power in 1936, as well as World War II. Mi­
tional movement, behind himself and the chel Raptis insisted in 1982 that "during
positions which he had taken. As a conse­ the second Greek civil war (1947-49) what
quence, on April 5, 1934, Trotsky wrote a remained of the Archeiomarxists joined the
letter "To All Members of the Greek Section Greek Right. Today the Archeiomarxists no
of the International Communiste League longer exist."18
(Bolshevik-Leninists)." In this document he
alleged that "Comrade Witte, starting with
small and secondary questions, has set him­ The Reorganization of Greek
self sharply in opposition to our leadership Trotskyism
and to all our most important sections."’3
Trotsky rejected the assertion of the ma­ With the abandonment of the international
jority of the Central Committee of the Trotskyist movement by the Archeiomarx­
Greek section that "the struggle concerns ists it became necessary to establish a new
organization principles." He argued that or­ affiliate in Greece. This proved a difficult
ganizational problems by themselves were task. There were three small groups remain­
not sufficient to justify any split, and ing in Greece which proclaimed their loy­
claimed that the Greek leadership was de­ alty to International Trotskyism. The oldest
manding a kind of "anarchic" leadership of and most important of these was the Spar-
the international organization, but was im­ takos Group, founded in 1928 by Pantelis
posing an arbitrary rule within its own Pouliopoulis, former secretary general of the
group. He suggested the holding of a new Greek Communist Party, upon his expul­
congress of the party with delegates chosen sion from the Greek c p . With the establish­
by proportional representation, at which ment of the International Left Opposition
whatever differences of principles there in 1930 the Spartakos Group announced its
were could be debated and decisions demo­ adherence to the i l o .19The i l o recognized
cratically arrived at. Finally, he reminded the substantially larger Archeiomarxist Or­
the Greek section of its obligation to adhere ganization as its Greek section for which it
to international discipline.14 was reproached by the Spartakos Group.20 It
Although there was a faction, including was reported to Trotsky by the Archeio-

Gieece 503
marxists in 1932 that the Spartakos Group separate the two groups . . . do not justify
had about seventy-five members.21 the continuation of the separation." Such
The second element proclaiming its ad­ unification should take place "on the basis
herence to International Trotskyism after of acceptance of the Transition Program of
1934 had come into existence as the result the Fourth International and of its statutes,"
of an early split among the Archeiomarxists. and the new group should take the name
That schism had taken place sometime be­ Revolutionary Socialist Organization
fore Trotsky's talk with the Archeiomarxist (Greek Section of the Fourth International).
leaders in the spring of 1932. Referred to It ordered the establishment of a provisional
by Trotsky as "the factionists," they called joint leadership, the establishment of a joint
themselves the Unitary Group and the Le­ commission among exiles to aid in the uni­
ninist Opposition. They consisted mainly of fication process inside Greece/and the pub­
students and their leader was Michel lication of a periodical to be distributed
Raptis.22 within the country. No such unity was
Michel Raptis has noted that the Interna­ achieved among the Gr<eek Trotskyists.
tionalist Communist League was estab­ Only after World War II was a united Trots­
lished as a new Greek section of the move­ kyist group finally established in Greece.28
ment in 1936.“ This would seem to be the The Greek Trotskyists were represented
result of the merger of the Spartakos Group at the Founding Congress of the Fourth In­
and the Unitary Group. However, according ternational by Michel Raptis, as a leader of
to Pierre Naville's report to the Founding the Internationalist Communist League.29
Congress of the Fourth International there He had gone into exile in France because of
was in 1938 a second Greek affiliate of the the persecutions of the Metaxas dictator­
International, the Internationalist Commu­ ship, and was to live most of the rest of
nist Union. Both the League and the Union his life in France. In the documents of the
were reported by Naville to be "regularly founding congress, Raptis was referred to as
affiliated organizations" of the Interna­ Speros, and later was to be famous as Michel
tional.24 Pablo.30
The Internationalist Communist Union Raptis took an active part in the proceed­
would appear to have consisted of those who ings of the Founding Congress, although he
had broken away from the Archeiomarxist was still a very young man. In the debate
Organization at the time the Archeiomarx­ on the Program of the new international he
ists abandoned International Trotskyism. argued that it did not pay enough attention
That element was led by Georges Vitsoris, to the peasantry and its struggle against debt
a Politburo member who was a comedian by and governmental exploitation.31 In the dis­
profession and had met Trotsky in Prinkipo cussion of the situation in the USSR and
and later again in France,25 and by Karliaftis the need for a "political revolution" there,
Loukas (also known by his party name as Raptis argued that "we cannot stop the exis­
Kostas Kastritis).26 tence of a Soviet party, even a worker-bour­
Both of the Greek affiliates were tiny orga­ geois party."32 In connection with the reso­
nizations. Naville credited the movement lution on the coming war he argued strongly
with having only about 100 members in against any appeal to workers' patriotism.33
Greece at the time of the establishment of There is no special indication that Raptis
the Fourth International.27 spoke on the Greek Resolution.34
The Founding Congress of the Fourth In­
ternational adopted a special "Resolution Trotskyists During World War II and
on Greece." It declared that the unification the Greek Civil War
of the two Greek affiliates "is required by The Greek Trotskyists suffered heavily dur­
the fact that the differences which presently ing World War II and immediately after­

504 Greece
ward. During the Second World War they The real martyrdom of the Greek Trotsky­
were victimized first by the Metaxas regime ists took place during the civil war which
and then by the German and Italian invad­ began at the end of 1944 and continued until
ers. At the same time, they were persecuted Stalin's break with the Titoist regime in Yu­
during the world conflict and in the civil goslavia. During this period e a m and e l a s
war which followed by the Stalinists. tried to win control of the country from the
The most significant Trotskyist figure to government of King George II, who was sup­
fall victim to the Metaxas regime and then ported first by the British and then by the
to the invaders was Pantelis Pouliopoulos, Americans.
the leader of the Spartakos Group. He was Ren6 Dazy has provided many details of
arrested by the Metaxas regime in 1939 and the murders of Trotskyists during the period
fell into the hands of the Italians when they by o p l a , the secret arm of e l a s in charge of
invaded Greece. In June 1943 Pouliopoulos executing (or murdering) its real or alleged
was brought before a firing squad. It is re­ enemies. Even before the outbreak of the
counted that, knowing Italian, he harangued civil war o p l a had begun to kidnap Trotsky­
the soldiers, appealing to them as proletari­ ists or suspected Trotskyists. When mem­
ans and antifascists, whereupon the firing bers of the families of those who had disap­
squad refused to shoot him; their officers peared appealed to Someritis, the president
finally carried out the task.35 of the Greek Section of the League for the
The Greek Trotskyists were active in the Rights of Men, he intervened with Acting
underground and among other things pub­ Communist Party Secretary General
lished a periodical, The Proletarian. It took Georges Siantos. Dazy has reported that "Si-
what was by then the traditional Trotskyist antos swore to the great gods that he knew
line with regard to the Second World War, nothing about it, that it is impossible that
arguing that the participation of the Soviet the o p l a could be responsible for such kid­
Union in the conflict did not change the nappings. It could only be the action of pro­
interimperialist nature of the war. It insisted vocateurs or uncontrolled elements. Investi­
that "the Anglo-Americans wish to return gations would be made, he promised. On
state power to the Greek bourgeoisie. The December 4 the civil war began. There was
exploited will only change one yoke for an­ no further news about the disappeared
other."34 Trotskyists."38
Although the Greek Trotskyists suffered The Trotskyists who were murdered—
at the hands of the Metaxas dictatorship and sometimes after being tortured and even dis­
the Italian and German invaders, their most membered—included a wide variety of peo­
merciless persecutors were the Stalinists. ple—among them, government functionar­
Even while the Nazi-Fascist forces still oc­ ies, office workers, students, teachers,
cupied Greece, this persecution began. The workers, peasants. One of the most notable
Trotskyists in the Agrinion region formed victims was Georges Constantinidis, a law­
their own unit of e a m (National Liberation yer who had defended many of those ar­
Front), which on a national level was con­ rested during the Nazi-Fascist occupation.
trolled by the Stalinists. After this group He was one of those most brutally tortured
was organized its leaders were summoned before being murdered, because, as Dazy has
by Aris Veloukhiotis, the head of the e l a s commented, "he also had committed the
(Popular Army of National Liberation), the crime of apostasy: member of the Political
military arm of e a m , to his headquarters at Bureau of the c p g , he had joined Trots­
Agraphia, ostensibly "to coordinate activi­ kyism."39
ties." When the twenty Trotskyists in­ A 1946 report to the Central Committee
volved arrived they were immediately shot of the Greek Communist Party by Barziotas,
by the e l a s forces.37 one of the members of its Political Bureau,
said that 600 Trotskyists had been executed also provoked a major split in the ranks of
by o p l a . Rene Dazy has commented that the Internationalist Communist Party.
"the figure is manifestly exaggerated."40 In an interview in 1972 Theologos Psara-
Dazy is certainly correct, since there almost delles, one of the principal leaders of the
certainly were not that many Trotskyists in Internationalist Communist Party, indi­
all of Greece at the time—and at least some cated the cause of the split which occurred
survived. after the coup. "In the wake of the coup, the
Rodolphe Prager has gathered the names Greek section of the Fourth International
of those Trotskyists known to have died at suffered a major split, with the majority of
the hands of the Metaxas dictatorship, the its members following the spontaneist-
German and Italian invaders, and the Stalin­ bomber line, which was expressed in the
ists. He lists four executed by the dictator­ Democratic Resistance Committees. These
ship, fifteen killed by the Germans and Ital­ groups included all political tendencies, Sta­
ians, and thirty-four murdered by the linists, rightist groups, and monarchists . . .
Stalinists, including one member of the because of the type of organization they
Trotskyists' Central Committee.41 adopted, the young leaders who had left the
The Greek Trotskyists emerged from the Greek section soon found themselves in
Second World War divided into four differ­ prison and a new beginning had to be made
ent groups: e d k e (Internationalist Workers from scratch."43
Party of Greece), d e k e (Internationalist Rev­ Those remaining in the Trotskyist ranks
olutionary Party of Greece), Peripheral Inde­ made very clear their opposition to individ­
pendent Organization of Macedonia, and a ual terrorism as a weapon to fight the colo­
group which had broken away from the So­ nels' clique. The July 1968 issue of their
cialist Party. In September 1945 the Euro­ journal carried an article noting that "de­
pean Secretariat of the Fourth International spite our sympathy for all terrorist fighters
decided to try to bring about unification of as heroic and tragic victims of the dictator­
these factions into a single party. They sent ship, we categorically rejected the method
Sherry Mangan (Terence Phelan) and Michel of individual terror for strictly political rea­
Pablo to Greece for this purpose. Mangan sons. Individual terrorism substitutes the
travelled ostensibly as a journalist (being on individual, or a narrow circle, and heroic
the staff of Time-Life-Fortune) and Pablo vengeance against a person for the masses
went along as Mangan's "secretary." They and the class struggle."44
succeeded in organizing a unification con­ Refusal to resort to terrorism did not pro­
gress which met clandestinely in a moun­ tect the Trotskyists from persecution by the
tain village in July 1946, in the presence of military regime. It was reported in October
Pablo and established the Internationalist 1970 that there were more than 100 Greek
Communist Party 42 Trotskyists then in prison, many of them
having been given long terms including life
sentences.45
The International Communist Party
The Trotskyists were particularly active
During and After the Papadopoulos
among the students. Theologos Psaradelles
Dictatorship
reported in 1972 that "it must be acknowl­
The seizure of power by the Greek military edged that the students..have been the first
under leadership of Colonel Georges Papa- to be reached by the propaganda work of the
dopoulos on April 21, 1967, was a severe Greek Trotskyists. This is for the good and
blow to the Greek Trotskyists. Not only did sufficient reason that because of their higher
it drive them—along with all other civilian educational level the students who partici­
political groups—deeply underground but it pated in the mass mobilizations preceding

506 Greece
 the military coup, in particular in July 1965, the labor skates who for years collected big
were better able to understand the irrevoca­ salaries for their betrayals and whose sole
ble failure of the traditional organizations of mission was to send congratulatory tele­
the left."46 grams to the murderers of our fellow work­
The Trotskyists published an illegal mim­ ers." The proclamation set forth a seven -
eographed monthly periodical, Ergatike teen-point program for reorganizing the
Pale (Workers Struggle), more or less regu­ labor movement and presenting demands to
larly throughout the existence of the dicta­ the new government and the employers.50
torship 47 When the pressure of the regime The Trotskyists of the Internationalist
relaxed somewhat with the beginning of the Communist Party also participated in the
1970s, the Trotskyists developed a much first general election held after the end of
wider publication effort. In addition to a the dictatorship. They were unable to get
printed magazine which appeared every six authorization to run their own candidates,
weeks and was said by Psaradelles to have so they endorsed the lists of the Enomene
"served as a center of regroupment for a Aristera, the coalition organized by the
whole series of groups that arose in the pre­ Communists.Si
vious period," they also were able to get into The Internationalist Communists contin­
print a number of books. These included ued to suffer some persecution in the wake
works by Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Pierre of the fall of the dictatorship. The Kara-
Frank, and Ernest Mandel. The magazine manlis government arrested leaders of the
carried considerable material from the group on various occasions. The editor of
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ the legal edition of Ergatike Pale, Giannis
tional.4® Pelekis, who had been a political prisoner
The colonels' dictatorship fell on July 23, under the dictatorship, was twice arrested
1974, as a consequence of the Greek mili­ in the months immediately succeeding its
tary's unsuccessful effort to overthrow the overthrow.” In 1976 he was arrested once
government of Archbishop Makarios in Cy­ again, charged with "moral responsibility"
prus, which precipitated Turkish invasion for a large demonstration on May 2 5. He and
of that island. As a consequence open civil­ thirteen other defendants, including several
ian political activity was revived, and to other Trotskyists, were later acquitted by
some degree the Trotskyists of the Interna­ an Athens court.53
tionalist Communist Party were able to take The Trotskyists strongly opposed a new
advantage of that fact. constitution issued by the Karamanlis gov­
On August 10, 1974 the first legal issue of ernment. They decried its limitations on po­
Ergatike Pale appeared, as a four-page litical freedom, and its "guaranteeing capi­
weekly paper. A week later the size of the talist property and the bourgeois institu­
publication was substantially increased.49 tions of the church, the family, the educa­
They also sought to mobilize such following tional system. .. ."54
as they had in the labor'movement by estab­ In September 1977 the Internationalist
lishing the Vanguard Organizing Commit­ Communist Party merged "with another
tee. The first proclamation of this group ap­ Trotskyist group"55 to form the o k d e —Or­
pealed to the workers to form local ganization of International Communists of
Vanguard Organizing Committees "in every Greece, which continued to be affiliated
category, in every city, and in every branch with the United Secretariat. The publica­
of industry." It explained that "these groups tion of the o k d e was To Odhophragma (The
must serve as provisional leaderships that Barricade), which like its predecessor con­
can impel and direct the struggle to drive tinued to be edited by Giannis Pelekis.
out the opportunists appointed by the junta, In October 1977 Pelekis was arrested once

Greece 507

I
again, charged with "moral responsibility cades. Among these has been a group of fol­
for incidents in which members of anarchist lowers of Michel Raptis (Pablo), who broke
groups clashed with the police during pro­ with the United Secretariat in 1965. It has
tests against the deaths of three imprisoned been known as For Socialism 59 For some
leaders of the Red Army Faction in West time the group worked within the Pan Hel­
Germany." According to a statement of the lenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papan-
Political Bureau of the o k d e , "The charge is dreou, and Michel Raptis was an adviser of
based on an article written for the tenth Papandreou. Relations between For Social­
anniversary of Che Guevara's death, on pas­ ism and the Pan Hellenic Socialists were
sages from the resolutions of the Tenth reportedly broken off after the latter's vic­
World Congress of the Fourth International tory in the 1982 elections.60 The For Social­
published in Marxistike Dheltio, the theo­ ism group published a periodical of the same
retical magazine of the Greek section early name in Athens.61
in 1975, and on the leaflet issued by our The "Pabloists" in Greece were active in
organization on the day of Baader's assassi­ the Protagoras Political-Cultural Circle in
nation. . . . " Athens. This group organized a meeting of
The o k d e organized a campaign to free support for Polish Solidarity in Athens in
Pelekis and four fellow prisoners. They were January 1982, in protest against the martial
joined in this effort by "three other far-left law regime of General Jaruzelski. About
organizations—the o s e (Revolutionary So­ 5,000 people were present at the meeting,
cialist Organization), k o m (Fighting Com­ attended not only by the Pabloites but also
munist Organization), and the o p a (Group by Socialists and members of the "interior"
for a Proletarian Left). . . ."56 faction of the Communist Party of Greece.
After a new conference of the o k d e in Michel Raptis himself was a speaker at
September 1975 the organization changed this meeting. He appealed to "Athens of the
the name of its organ back to Ergatike Pale. workers, Athens of the critical intelligen­
In its first issue the new periodical com­ tsia, Athens of clear reasoning and generous
mented favorably on municipal election vic­ heart, remember the long struggles for lib­
tories by a coalition of Andreas Papan- erty and democracy, the free democracy in
dreou's Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement the hands of the citizens. Arise to honor the
and the "exterior" faction of the Commu­ Poland of Solidarity and carry your message
nists.57 to the whole nation, that today and tomor­
The o k d e was active in the 1980 cam­ row, and in the long future which will be
paign against Greek participation in n a t o . necessary, we will continue our active soli­
When one demonstration was broken up by darity with our brothers of Poland."61
the police with the resulting death of at least Other factions of International Trots­
two of the demonstrators, the o k d e issued kyism have also had Greek sections. When
a statement to the effect that "the brutal certain elements, of the old International
police attack and its tragic consequences Committee of the Fourth International re­
shows the real face of the government, a fused to join in the so-called "reunification"
government of austerity and blatant ter­ which established the United Secretariat in
rorism."58 1963, the reorganized International Com­
mittee had in its ranks a Greek affiliate. M.
Bastos represented this group at the Third
Other Greek Trotskyist Groups
Conference of the International Committee
In addition to the United Secretariat, several in April 19 66.63
other factions of International Trotskyism When the International Committee split
have had affiliates in Greece in recent de­ in the early 1970s both the "Lambertist"

508 Greece
and "Healyite" factions had Greek affiliates. ing in a conscious and scientific way the
The Greek section of the Lambertist Comite objective empirical and unconscious ne­
d'Organisation pour la Reconstruction de la cessities of history. The role of Comrade
Quatrieme Internationale (c o r q i ) was rep­ J. Posadas in the constitution of our Greek
resented at a conference of the group in Paris section, is not the force of an individual,
in mid-1980. The Moreno faction which but all the power and the historical assur­
broke away from the United Secretariat in ance of the IV International when this
1979-80 had two Greek sections: the Social­ work is concentrating its preoccupation
ist League, which published a newspaper So­ and its activities among the conscious
cialist Revolution, and the Socialist Group, centers which in united front with the
which put out its own paper, The Socialist. revolutionary tendencies of the masses,
Greek organizations affiliated with both the will decide the future course of history in
Lambertist and Moreno groups were repre­ Europe and in all the world: the sections
sented at the "World Conference of the Par­ of the International.'5”
ity Committee" organized by the two inter­
There is no information available about
national factions in October 1979.64 The
how long the Greek section of the Posadas
Healyite International Committee also con­
Fourth International continued to exist.
tinued to have a Greek affiliate.65
It may well be that there have been other
One of the earliest Greek Trotskyist
factions within Greek Trotskyism of which
groups to be organized outside of the United
we are not aware. One unfriendly source
Secretariat was that affiliated with the Posa­
wrote in 1979 that "The 'extreme Left/ the
das version of the Fourth International.
Trotskyists, are in the worst moment of
Right after the Eighth World Congress of
their existence. There are thirteen groups.
that group it was announced that the Revo­
Two are in the Pasok [the Greek Socialist
lutionary Communist Party (Trotskyist)
Party of Andreas Papandreou); the other
had been established as the Greek section
eleven are formed by less than 200 'friends.'
of the Posadas Fourth International, having
been organized only a few days after the
colonels' coup in 1967. It was publishing a
periodical, Kommunistike Pali {Commu­
nist Struggle).
The statement of the International Secre­
tariat of the Posadas group announcing the
establishment of the Greek section attrib­
uted the organization of the Greek group
directly to J. Posadas. It said in typical Posad­
as-like prose:

The most lively and most eloquent ex­

pressions of the role of the individual in
history, when this expresses the needs
which are not individual but collective
and historical, when an individual armed
with theoretical and political assurance,
based on the scientific and Marxist con­
cept is capable of concentrating and cen­
tralizing all the force, all the potency of
the International; capable of concentrat­

Greece 509
 Healyite International The International Committee continued
after 1971 to be centered on the Socialist
Committee Labor League, renamed the Workers Revolu­
tionary Party, of Great Britain. It also had
affiliates in the United States (Workers
League), Canada, Ireland, Greece, and Aus­
tralia. With the reemergence of radical poli­
Once the break between the faction of the tics in Spain in the last years of Franco, an
International Committee of the Fourth In­ affiliate of the International Committee was
ternational led by Gerry Healy and the Brit­ established there. These national sections
ish Socialist Labor League, and that led by remained small, and after the decline of the
Pierre Lambert and the French Organisation s l l in the early 1970s there was no country
Communiste Intemationaliste had been in which the international Committee af­
consummated, the Healyite group went for­ filiate was the largest of the groups pro­
ward with plans for what they called the claiming loyalty to Trotskyism.
Fourth World Conference of the Interna­ The International Committee remained
tional Committee. It met between April i - very decidedly a "Healyite" organization
15, 1972, presumably in London although until 1985. Gerry Healy did not hesitate to
the official report on the session did not intervene in the internal affairs of the na­
specify where it was held. That report noted tional sections, as he did in the case of the
that the Fourth Conference was attended by Workers League of the United States, de­
"delegates from eight countries . . . some of creeing removal of the founder and longtime
them travelling many thousands of miles," head of the organization, Tim Wohlforth..
but did not specify which national organiza­ The International Committee was also
tions were represented.1 "Healyite" in the sense that it and its na­
This meeting adopted a long manifesto. tional sections strongly endorsed and partic­
The gist of the document was that the mea­ ipated in various campaigns launched by
sures of President Richard Nixon on August Gerry Healy. In the dozen or more years
15/ 1 97 1, devaluing the U.S. dollar and in­ following the Fourth Congress of the rc it
creasing United States protectionism, had engaged in at least three major propaganda
ushered in a massive and definitive crisis crusades. During the first year or so after the
of international capitalism. This crisis was Fourth Congress particular stress was laid
characterized by trade war among the large on the importance of "Marxist philosophy"
capitalist countries and drives of the capital­ as the underpinning of any revolutionary
ists to destroy the labor movement. How­ party. Healy published a pamphlet through
ever, the antilabor offensive would be met the International Committee, In Defense of
by increasing militancy on the part of the Marxism, which was a broad attack not only
organized workers, leading in country after on his former French colleagues of the oci
country to revolutionary situations. It em­ but also on George Novack, the principal
phasized that both Social Democratic and philosophical spokesman for the Socialist
Stalinist parties would seek to short-circuit Workers Party of the United States.3
the trend toward revolution in both the The second campaign of the International
highly industrialized and the "colonial and Committee involved a^violent attack on Jo­
semi-colonial" capitalist countries, as seph Hansen (and subsequently on George
would all "revisionist" Trotskyists. The Novack, when he came to Hansen's de­
burden of leading the revolution therefore fense), alleging that Hansen had had con­
fell on the International Committee and its tacts with both the Soviet secret police and
national sections.2 the f b i when he had been a bodyguard of

510 Healyite International Committee

Leon Trotsky in Mexico. This onslaught Trotskyism in Honduras
brought negative reactions from virtually all
other factions of International Trotskyism,
who rallied to Joseph Hansen's defense.
The third campaign of the Healyite Inter­
national Committee was an extensive de­ Trotskyism did not get established in the
fense of the regime of Colonel Muammar Central American republic of Honduras un­
Qadafi of Libya. Once again, all sections of til the early 1980s. By 1982 there existed a
the International Committee joined in this small Trotskyist organization called Inde­
somewhat peculiar interpretation of the the­ pendencia Obrera, the title also of the news­
ory of "permanent revolution." paper which it published. The organization
By the early 1980s the International Com­ was part of the Morenoite tendency of Inter­
mittee was largely isolated from the other national Trotskyism, that is, the Interna­
currents of International Trotskyism. Its id­ tional Workers League (Fourth Interna­
iosyncratic positions on various issues, and tional).1 Little is known of its history.
its violent attacks on all other groups claim­
ing adherence to the Trotskyist tradition
had put it largely outside the mainstream of
the world movement.
Late in 1985 a major split developed in
the Workers Revolutionary Party of Great
Britain, with the majority led by Hastings
Banda and Cliff Slaughter expelling Gerry
Healy from the party, and he in turn expel­
ling them. This schism undoubtedly also
split the International Committee. We do
not at the time of writing have sufficient
details on the international repercussions of
the w r p split to comment on them.

Honduras 511
 Hungarian Trotskyism agement to the leadership role of the exiles:
"It is perfectly natural if communists in em­
igration take on themselves the initiative
for offering theoretical help and political sol­
idarity to the revolutionists struggling in­
side Hungary."3 Trotsky added that "it is
A Hungarian branch of International Trots­ working-class 'emigres' precisely, educated
kyism has existed on two occasions. For a by the Left Opposition, i.e. the Bolshevik-
very short period in the early 1930s there Leninists, who can constitute the best cad­
was a Hungarian Trotskyist group which res of a renascent Hungarian communist
apparently had members both in the exile party. The organ to be set up by you has
community in Paris and inside the country. its task to link up the advanced Hungarian
Then after the events of 1956, a Trotskyist workers scattered in different countries, not
group was organized again among Hungar­ only in Europe but also in America. To link
ian exiles, principally in Paris, which be­ them up not in order to tear them out of the
came the center of one of the smaller schis­ class struggle in those countries to which
matic groups of International Trotskyism. they have gone* on the contrary, to call on
After the short-lived Hungarian Commu­ them to participate in the struggle . . . to
nist regime headed by Bela Kun in 1919, the educate and temper themselves in the spirit
succeeding government of Admiral Horthy of proletarian internationalism."4
made it necessary for all Communists to A second letter was directed by Trotsky
function underground or in exile. This was to his Hungarian comrades, this time, appar­
true of the Left and Right Oppositionists as ently, to those inside Hungary. In this letter,
well as of the Stalinists. dated September 17, 1930, he started by
The principal figure in the Hungarian ex­ commenting on the fact they had reported
ile group of the early 1930s was a young man to him that the anti-Stalinist opposition
named Szilvaczi (first name unknown) who within the Hungarian Communist Party
had been a member of the Hungarian Com­ had not yet sorted itself out into Right Oppo­
munist Party. He had led in the formation sition, Left Opposition (Trotskyists), and "a
of the Left Opposition group and represented few ultralefts."5
it at the first meeting of the International Trotsky told his followers that "to draw a
Left Opposition in Paris in April 1930.1 line between ourselves and such elements
However, the group does not seem to have is absolutely necessary. This can only be
been represented at any further interna­ done on the basis of principled issues both
tional meetings of the movement. Ac­ on the Hungarian level and internationally.
cording to Rodolphe Prager, it only existed It will be absolutely necessary for you to
between 1930 and 1932 2 acquaint yourselves more closely with the
During its short life, the Hungarian Trots­ discussion which has gone on among us Bol­
kyist movement of the 1930s had some con­ shevik-Leninists, on the one hand, and
tacts with Trotsky, who seemed to take at among the rights and ultralefts, on the
least some interest in putting it on the right other.".
track both ideologically and organization­ Trotsky urged maintenance of the linkage
ally. There are records of at least two ex­ between the workers imHungary whom he
changes of correspondence between Trotsky was 'addressing and the exiles. He com­
and his Hungarian supporters. mented that "Hungarian comrades in emi­
Trotsky's first letter was addressed to the gration will presumably translate the most
Hungarian exiles. After a denunciation of important documents of this discussion for
"Bela Kunism” he gave particular encour­ you, or at least excerpts from the docu-

512 Hungary
ments, so that you be fully abreast of these with the French.9 Ultimately Varga split
matters and can take an active part in all of with his French comrades and took the lead
the work of the International Opposition."6 in establishing what he simply called The
Trotsky told his Hungarian followers that Fourth International.10
they were correct in operating indepen­ There is no evidence available indicating
dently from the Communist Party but that the League of Revolutionary Socialists
should do so as a fraction, that there was no of Hungary had actually been able to estab­
need for either a second Hungarian Commu­ lish an organization inside of Hungary.
nist Party or a Fourth International. He then
"clarified" their theoretical positions, deny­
ing that Russia had passed directly from feu­
dalism to socialism; rather he said that "it
was not feudal but capitalist relations that
played the dominant role. . . Also, he de­
nied that the New Economic Policy had in­
evitably to lead back to capitalism in the
Soviet Union, arguing that "everything de­
pends on the relation of forces," and that
"state capitalism" could only be brought to
the USSR by a civil war.7
By the later 1930s the Hungarian Trotsky­
ist group had apparently ceased to exist. It
was not reported as an organization either
affiliated with the International Secretariat
or "in contact" with the is at the Founding
Congress of the Fourth International in Sep­
tember r938.
Hungarian Trotskyism was revived, at
least in exile, after the Revolution of 1956.
Balasz Nagy (better known as Varga), who
had been secretary of the Petfifki Circle in
Budapest, was one of those who fled to
France after the defeat of the Revolution.
There he was converted to Trotskyism,
largely through the efforts of Pierre Brou6,
one of the principal leaders of the Lambertist
tendency in French Trotskyism. Varga then
set about to try to establish Trotskyist
groups among the Hungarians and other
East European exiles in France. His League
of Revolutionary Socialists of Hungary be­
came an affiliate of the Healy-Lambert Inter­
national Committee of the Fourth Interna­
tional in the 1960s.8
At the time of the split between the
French and British affiliates of the Interna­
tional Committee in 19 71-72, the League
of Revolutionary Socialists of Hungary sided

1
t Hungary 513
 Tiotskyism in Iceland tionary party in Iceland." In 1972 it began to
publish a monthly paper, Neisti (The Spark),
which had a circulation of about 1,000. Dur­
ing this period Hansson described the party
as "a centrist group, with considerable pub­
lic activity and growing internal dis­
It is not cleai whether there was a Trotskyist cussion. "
movement in Iceland before the 1970s. The This discussion intensified after what the
United States Socialist Workers Party's party, then with a membership of about
weekly newspaper Militant published an ar­ fifty, considered a major defeat in the parlia­
ticle in 1954 about a supposed split in the mentary elections of 1974. It ran candidates
Icelandic affiliate of the Fourth •Interna­ in two of the country's eight constituencies,
tional between supporters of Michel Pablo and received only 200 votes, or 6.2 percent
and the backers of the International Com­ of the total vote. This compared with 12 1
mittee of the Fourth International.1 A simi­ votes for a Maoist group, 20,924 votes for
lar report in the French journal La Verite the Peoples Alliance, and 10,345 votes for
claimed that 90 percent of the Icelandic the Social Democrats. Some of the Fylkingin
Trotskyists had stayed with the faction members had hoped to receive as many as
which formed the International Commit­ 1,000 votes.
tee.1 However, these articles gave no indica­ Controversy within the party centered
tion of the name of the supposed Icelandic principally on a Maoist faction and a small
affiliate of the International, or any other Trotskyist element. The latter in the begin­
details concerning the organization. There ning consisted of two students who had
is reason to believe that these articles were joined the Swedish section of the United
merely a ploy in the bitter conflict then wag­ Secretariat while studying at Uppsala Uni­
ing between the s w p and Lambertists on the versity in 1973. Hansson notes: "In the win­
one hand, and the elements supporting ter 1974-75 there were Icelandic Trotsky­
Pablo on the other, rather than being evi­ ists who were all members of the Fylkingin
dence of the actual existence of a Trotskyist studying in Sweden, Denmark, and West
movement in Iceland at that time. Germany. They joined the sections of the
The antecedents of recent Icelandic Trots­ Fourth International (United Secretariat) in
kyism go back to the youth organization of their countries, but at the same time they
the Stalinist party, which was known be­ organized as a secret faction of Fylkingin
tween 1939 and 1968 as the Socialist Party. along with several members who were liv­
When the Socialist Party merged with some ing in Iceland. In August-September 1975
other groups in 1968 to form the Peoples they gained a majority . . . at a congress of
Alliance, which Erlingur Hansson describes Fylkingin after a big precongress debate.
as "more like the Danish s f party than a After that Fylkingin became openly a Trots­
Stalinist party," its youth group, Fylkingin kyist organization." The Maoists withdrew
(the Youth League) refused to dissolve and to establish their own group.
continued to be active as a separate organi­ In March 1976 the Fylkingin at another
zation. congress officially applied for membership
In 1970, a congress of the Fylkingin in the United Secretariat. They were soon
changed its name to Fylkingin-barattusam- recognized as a sympathizing organization
tok sosialista (Fylkingin—Militant Socialist of u s e c .3
Organization). It also dropped the age limit The Trotskyists gained some publicity in
of thirty-five "and declared the necessity late 1976 when they demanded in the coun­
and aim of Fylkingin to found a new revolu­ try's central labor organization that mem-

514 Iccland
 bers of its executive be chosen by a system their publication, Neisti, and to carry on
of proportional representation. This brought public activities under their own name.
down on them a strong attack by Edhvardh Before the implementation of the decision
Sigurdhsson, a trade union leader of the Peo­ to enter the Peoples Alliance there was a
ples Alliance, the party which had originally split in the Trotskyists' organization in Jan­
been Stalinist.4 uary 1984. According to Central Committee
In 1978 the Fylkingin ran candidates in member Petur Tyrfingsson, the minority
the capital, Reykjavik, the largest of the group left the party "over three questions:
country's eight constituencies. They re­ [the party's) turn to industry, its turn to the
ceived 184 votes, 0.4 percent of the total in Peoples Alliance, and its decision to estab­
the capital, and 0.2 percent of the total votes lish Leninist organizational principles."7
cast in the country. They did not offer candi­ No information is available concerning the
dates in the 1983 election. In municipal numerical significance of the split, or the
elections and in parliamentary constituen­ subsequent history of those who broke
cies in which it did not offer nominees Fyl­ away.
kingin urged its supporters to vote for those Erlingur Hansson has indicated that dur­
of the Peoples Alliance. ing the struggle within the United Secretar­
In January 1984 Fylkingin decided to con­ iat in the 1970s, the Icelanders had been
duct entrist work within the Peoples A lli­ with the "Europeans." He added, in Novem­
ance. According to Hansson, "It continues ber 1984, that "in the conflict which is now
to function as a Leninist-type organization, going on we have not taken a stand on all
as a sympathizing section of the Fourth In­ issues, but those we have taken a stand on
ternational, and publishes Neisti (The we are nearer to the s w p o f the United
Spaik] eight times a year. Other activities States."8
are trade union work and solidarity work
with the revolution in Central America."5
As a result of adoption of an entrist policy
the Icelandic Trotskyists changed the name
of their group to Militant Socialist Organiza­
tion (Barattusamtok Socialista) at a congress
in the summer of 1984. In explaining their
new tactic, one of their leaders said: "The
leaders of the Peoples Alliance do not want
to organize the party very rigorously. In fact
one of their leaders stated the aim of the
organizational changes that preceded our
entrance to 'make the party an umbrella or­
ganization.' Some of the leaders have stud­
ied the organization of the French Socialist
Party [Mitterrand's party], and say they are
applying the methods which are used
there."6
The leaders of the Peoples Alliance wel­
comed the entry of the Trotskyists into their
ranks. They even offered to allow them to
come in as an organized group, but the
Trotskyists decided to join "as individuals."
They were permitted to continue to put out

Iceland 5 IS
 Trotskyism in India they studied the works of Trotsky, espe­
cially The History of Russian Revolution
and The Revolution Betrayed. They ended
by accepting Trotskyism."1
Groups proclaiming loyalty to Trots­
kyism were established in several parts of
During the nearly half-century of existence India in the middle and late 1930s. Probably
of Trotskyism in India the movement there the most important of these was that which
has experienced many of the same kinds of developed in Bengal, principally in Calcutta,
controversies and divisions which have under the leadership of Kamalesh Banerji,
plagued it in most other countries. Although with Indra Sen, Dr. P. K. Roy, and Karuna
relatively little influenced by the splits Roy among its other principal figures.2 It
within the Fourth International, Indian took the name Communist League.3
Trotskyism has been affected by the strong Another group was established in the
influence of regionalism in Indian politics United Provinces (U.P.—later Uttar
and has experienced the same kind of per- Pradesh), particularly in the city of Kanpur.
sonalistic struggles which have character­ The leader of that group was Onkar Nath
ized the movement elsewhere. Shastri, who had come out of the earlier
In addition, Indian Trotskyism has been nationalist revolutionary movement and
faced with the existence of two other Marx­ had joined the Communist Party during its
ist parties to the left of the Stalinists which Third Period.4 By 1937-38, "Shastri had a
have been regarded by most other elements group of workers at Kanpur and a few stu­
of the Indian Left as being "Trotskyist" and dents in U.P. and Bihar. He called his group
whose leaders have in fact shared at least the Revolutionary Workers Party."5
some of the ideas and positions of The Old There were two principal early Trotskyist
Man and his followers. These are the Revo­ leaders in the Gujarat region. One of these
lutionary Communist Party {r c p } and the was Chandravadan Shukla, "who worked at
Revolutionary Socialist Party (r s p ), neither Bombay and formed groups at Ahmedabad,
of which, in fact, ever belonged to the Fourth Ghav Nagar."6 The other was M. G. Purdy.
International or any of its factions. Apparently bom in England, where his name
Because of the importance of the r c p and was Murray Gow Purdy, he sometimes used
r s p in the evolution of Indian Trotskyism
the name Murgaoun Purdy Singh in India.
we shall, in the pages which follow, not con­ He had apparently moved to South Africa
fine our discussion only to those parties and when quite young, had joined the Commu­
groups which have professed loyalty to the nist Party there and, as he reported ten years
international Trotskyist movement. We later to Max Shachtman, had been converted
shall also briefly look at the two "semi- to Trotskyism in 1928. He had some activity
Trotskyist" parties as well. in the Bolshevik-Leninist League and Inter­
national Workers Club in South Africa and
finally due to persecution by local authori­
The Beginnings of Indian Trotskyism
ties decided to go to India.7
The first Trotskyist groups in India were R. N. Arya has said that before coming to
organized mainly by members of the Com­ India, Purdy had participated in the Spanish
munist Party who refused to accept the turn Civil War.8 However, Broue has noted that
of the Comintern in 1934-35 towards the Purdy made no such claim in the letter he
Popular Front, which in the case of India wrote to Shachtman in December 1938.9 In
meant supporting the Indian National Con­ any case, once arrived in India Purdy "re­
gress Party. R. N. Arya has noted that these cruited a few individuals from the Congress
people "were denounced as Trotskyists. So workers at Bombay and set up a group there.

516 India
 He chose Congress as his sphere of activ­ ers of lndia, on July 25, 1939. In it Trotsky
ity."10 The Shukla and Purdy groups oper­ dealt with the impact of the coming war on
ated under the name Mazdoor Trotskyist India and denounced the roles of both the
Party (m t p ). Indian National Congress and the Commu­
In mid-1939 Chandravadan Shukla of the nist Party. He argued that "those immense
m t p went to Calcutta to meet with some difficulties which the war will bring in its
leaders of the Revolutionary Communist wake must be utilized so as to deal a mortal
Party and discuss possible merger of the two blow to all the ruling classes. That is how
groups. Among those he met with were the oppressed classes and peoples in all
Gour Pal, Mrinal Ghosh Choudhury, and countries should act . . . "
Magadeb Bhattacharya. Although they Trotsky then added that "to realize such
agreed on the need for a new revolutionary a policy a revolutionary party, basing itself
international they apparently agreed on lit­ on the vanguard of the proletariat, is neces­
tle else. In the end, there was no merger of sary. Such a party does not yet exist in India.
the m t p and r c p , although Magadeb Bhatta­ The Fourth International offers this party its
charya did join the Trotskyist group.11 program, its experience, its collaboration.
The various Trotskyist groups worked The basic conditions for this party are com­
within the Indian National Congress, at plete independence from imperialist democ­
least to the extent of sending representatives racy, complete independence from the Sec­
to its annual meetings. They were present ond and Third Internationals, and complete
at the 1938 and 1939 Congress sessions at independence from the national Indian
Haripur and Tripura, where there was a bit­ bourgeoisie."15
ter struggle between left-wing and right- It was not until early 1942 that a nation­
wing elements in the Congress, and they wide Trotskyist party was finally estab­
were joined at these sessions by representa­ lished in India. The Ceylonese Trotskyists,
tives of the newly emerging Trotskyist some of whom had had personal contact
movement of Ceylon. The Trotskyists, un­ with the Fourth International and with
derstandably, supported the Congress left.12 some of the European Trotskyist groups
R. N. Arya has noted that in that period while studying in Britain, played a signifi­
the Indian Trotskyists had no contact with cant role in bringing together their Indian
Trotsky or the international movement. counterparts.
They did not hear about the establishment A number of Ceylonese Trotskyists had
of the Fourth International until the winter fled to India at the beginning of the Second
of 1939-40.13 World War either to avoid arrest, or after
Trotsky himself seems to have been having escaped from police custody. Several
largely unaware of the existence of groups of the Ceylonese, including Colvin de Silva
of his followers in India. He was informed and Leslie Goonewardene (who in India used
occasionally about current political trends the name K. Tilak) settled in Calcutta, and
in the subcontinent by Stanley Plastrik (us­ entered into contact with the local Trotsky­
ing the party name Sherman Stanley), a ists there. Other Ceylonese made contact
young member of the Socialist Workers with the Uttar Pradesh Trotskyist group,
Party in New York, who on his own initia­ including C. F. Shukla and R. N. Arya;
tive had taken it upon himself to leam about Philip Gunawardena contacted the Bombay
the subject and had various correspondents group, while Victor Keralasingham worked
in the Congress Socialist Party in India. He with the Trotskyists in Madras.16
had also recruited an Indian immigrant into R. N. Arya has noted that between the
the s w p in New York City.14 Ceylonese and Indian Trotskyists there was
It may have been at Plastrik's urging that "thorough discussion over programme and
Trotsky issued an Open Letter to the Work- policy," and that this "resulted in the adop­

1 India 517
t
1
i
 tion of a programme and the formation of revolution by winning the poor peasants and
a single party, Bolshevik-Leninist Party of agricultural proletariat to its side."
India. . . ." 17 By the end of 194.1 there had Arya has also noted that "the program
been established a preliminary Committee characterized the Soviet Union as a degener­
for the Formation of the Bolshevik-Leninist ated workers' state, and condemned Stalin's
Party of India. It issued an extensive docu­ policy of reaching compromise with imperi­
ment erititled "The Classes in India and alists at the expense of world revolution.
their Political Role/' which set forth an or­ The theory of Permanent Revolution was
thodox Trotskyist analysis, arguing that nei­ accepted as the party's guiding principle."21
ther the native bourgeoisie, nor the peas­ The b l p got off to a good start, with the
antry (although the latter made up 70 launching of a party publication, Spark, first
percent of the total population) could lead issued in Calcutta. Later, when police re­
the struggle against imperialism and for rev­ pression made that necessary, the periodical
olutionary change. Only the proletariat, al­ was shifted to Bombay, and its name was
though numbering only 5,000,000 people, changed to N ew Spark.Z2 They also pub­
could carry out these tasks, and it could only lished Trotsky's Open Letter to the Indian
do so under the leadership of a real revolu­ Workers ,and several other pamphlets, in­
tionary party, which once it had gained cluding one attacking Gandhi as a "utopian,
power would simultaneously carry out the reactionary and counter-revolutionary,"
tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolu­ and one opposing the Stalinists' support of
tion and the beginning of the socialization the.war as a "people's war."13
of the economy.18 During the remaining years of World War
Arya has noted that the Trotskyists "fi­ II, the Bolshevik-Leninist Party had at least
nally formed the party in 1942 when they modest influence in the trade union and stu­
were all living underground. . . ." 1P Most of dent movements of several Indian cities.
the existing local Trotskyist groups became This was the case in Calcutta and Bombay,
part of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party. Among as well as Madras, where the party estab­
its leaders were Onkar Nath Shastri, Chan- lished substantial nuclei among the tram­
dravadan Shukla, and Kamalesh Banerji. way workers and the workers of the Buck­
M. G. Purdy and his supporters did not join ingham and Carnation textile mills, as well
the group but maintained a separate party of as among students in at least two of the
their own.10 institutions of higher learning in the city.24
The b l p was recognized by the Interna­
tional Secretariat in New York as the official
The Bolshevik-Leninist Party (b l p ) Indian Section of the Fourth International,
as was indicated by an is document, "Mani­
The b l p adopted a program. R. N. Arya has festo to the Workers and Peasants of India,"
remarked that in this program, "The new dated September 26,1942 25 During much of
party noted the conflict between the imperi­ the World War II period, contact between
alists and the Indian bourgeoisie, the two Fourth International headquarters and the
partners of the bourgeois exploitative sys­ Indian Trotskyists was maintained largely
tem in India, but it was clear to them that through Ajit Roy, a leading figure in the b l p
the national bourgeoisie were incapable of who went to Britain, tistensibly to study
playing any revolutionary role, being them­ there, but in fact principally to maintain
selves closely tied to feudalists as well as liaison with the f i . After the war, Kamalesh
imperialists. They held that the working Banerji, upon being released from jail, went
class in India was strong enough to play an to Europe and became at least for a time a
independent role, and win leadership of the member of the International Secretariat.

518 India
 About three months after the establish­ was able to hold its first Ail India Confer­
ment of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party the ence at Nagpur. At that meeting it was de­
Indian National Congress Party launched its cided that the Ceylonese section of the party
Quit India Movement, calling for a civil dis­ would be separated from the Bolshevik-Le-
obedience campaign against the British un­ ninist Party. Some of the Ceylonese as­
til they gave up control of India. The Trots­ sumed the name they had used before the
kyists and other far leftists supported the war, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.28
objective of British expulsion from India but With the end of the war the Indian Trots­
did not approve of the methods used by the kyists were for a time quite optimistic about
Congress. Gour Pal has noted that the Trots­ the prospectives for the b l p i . K. Tilak (Leslie
kyists "risked their everything to transform Goonewardene) wrote in September 1945
the imperialist war into a civil war and so­ that "the young Bolshevik-Leninist Party
cialist revolution involving the workers and . . . now faces its first real chance for expan­
poor rural population in areas where they sion . .. The situation is changing and with­
worked. . . . " In doing this, he adds, "The out doubt, of all of the parties and political
Trotskyists unmistakably proved their real groups in India, the b l p i is the one which is
revolution metal and loyalty to their ide­ going to gain most in this change. . . . Only
ology." the b l p i offers a program and clear policy,
However their efforts to convert the Quit while on the other side, the name of the IVth
India movement into a revolutionary one International today has a power of attraction
brought severe reprisals upon the Bolshevik- for the revolutionary elements which comes
Leninist Party. Its preparations for its first from instinctive recognition that it is the
national - conference were disrupted, and continuer of the revolutionary traditions of
many of its principal figures were arrested, the III. . . . The Indian section of the IVth
including Kamalesh Banerji and Indra Sen.26 International faces a great opportunity, that
Others were forced to go into hiding. Perse­ of transforming itself from a small perse­
cution of b l p leaders did not end until the cuted group, with a revolutionary program,
termination of the war. into a party with sufficient cadres to turn
Governmental repression undoubtedly with confidence towards the real task of
undermined the b l p in another way. R. N. winning over the masses."29
Arya has noted that "unity, however, could In the immediate postwar years the Trots­
not last long. Shastri was arrested at Kanpur kyists made some modest progress, particu­
in September 1942 before the cadres of his larly in the organized labor movement.
party were integrated into the new Bolshe­ R. N. Arya has observed that they "entered
vik-Leninist Party. When he came out of jail trade unions at Madras, Bombay, Secundera­
in 1945 at the end of the Second World War, bad, Calcutta, and Raniganj, and Kanpur."30
he declared that he would have nothing to Gour Pal has also noted that "In the indus­
do with the 'Ceylonese/ i.e. the b l p i . His trial belt of Calcutta, b l p had developed con­
group of students stayed in the b l p i , while siderably. It controlled Khardah Jute Mills
he revived his r w p within his group of Workers Union, Bengal Fire Brigade Work­
Kanpur workers. Shukla left b l p i in 1943 ers Union, workers unions in Tittagarh Pa­
following some quarrel in a meeting of the per Mills, Bengal Paper Mills, Tribeni Tis­
cc of the b l p i in which one of the Ceylonese sues, and also the central organization,
comrades, Philip Gunawardena, slapped Paper Workers Federation. . . . b l p secured
him. He had his groups at Bombay, Ahmeda- a good hold among the coal mine workers
bad, Ghav Nagar, and a few other places."17 around Raniganj (W. Bengal) and in 1948
It was not until early 1946, several Jagdish Jha, an outstanding b l p labour leader
months after the end of the w a r, that the b l p took charge of the coal mine workers move­

India 519
ment in that area." Pal also noted that the direct rule of British imperialism, we de­
b l p i had some success among the peasant clare therefore, is being replaced by indirect
organizations of Bengal in the same period.31 rule."3*
Soon after their first conference b l p mem­
bers (and other Trotskyists and far leftists)
Entrism
were presented with an entirely new politi­
cal situation in the country. After serious The country's changed political circum­
disturbances within the Indian armed stances brought the Trotskyists of the b l p i
forces, the British Labor Government finally to reassess their strategy and tactics. They
came to the decision to negotiate Indian in­ began to think in terms of entrism. They
dependence with the country's two major first turned towards the Revolutionary
political groups, the Indian National Con­ Communist Party (r c p i ) as aij appropriate
gress and the Moslem League. Of course the field to apply an entrist strategy. As early as
upshot of these negotiations was the forma­ 1946, a (b l p i ) delegation consisting of Ajit
tion in 1947 of a Provisional Government Roy, Indra Sen, and a third person met with
headed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Sudhir Dasgupta, Tarapada Gupta, and Gour
partition of the subcontinent in the follow­ Pal of the r c p i to discuss the possible merger
ing year into India and Pakistan. of the two groups. These negotiations failed
These developments contradicted the because of the refusal of the r c p i to have the
analyses and confident predictions of the united group join the Fourth International,
Trotskyists, such as the International Secre­ and the rejection by the Trotskyists of what
tariat's statements in its 1942 "Appeal to they considered a very premature campaign
the Workers and Peasants of India" that by the r c p i to establish soviets (under the
"British imperialism will never accept the name of panchayats) throughout the
national independence of India,"31 and that country.36
"the loss of India would provoke without Two years later the b l p i leaders decided
any doubt a socialist revolution in Great upon another organization to which to apply
Britain."33 In the face of the agreements the entrist strategy. Shortly after the inde­
among the Congress, the Moslem League, pendence agreement, the Congress Socialist
and the British government, the Indian Party, which had until then operated within
Trotskyists "rejected the Independence deal the Indian National Congress as a recog­
as formal political independence, and began nized affiliate of the Congress, decided to
to prepare for the stage of socialist revo­ break away and reorganize as the Socialist
lution."34 Party. In doing so, it expressed considerable
As independence approached, the Bolshe- disillusionment with the nature of the deal
vik-Leninist Party denounced the way in which the Congress Party had struck with
which it was taking place. Their statement the British government.
read that "the direct rule of British imperial­ The Bolshevik-Leninist Party held two
ism is ending. The job of governing the coun­ conferences at which entry into the Socialist
try has been handed over to the Indian bour­ Party was considered. The first, in Madras,
geoisie, with whom the British imperialists rejected the action but suggested that advice
have entered into a partnership... . Despite be sought from the Fourth International.37
a certain improvement in the relative posi­ There is no indication that such advice was
tion of Indian capital, the volume of British forthcoming or what it was if it was re­
capital investment in India has undergone ceived. However, Gour Pal has argued that
no significant change, while the grip of im­ "The b l p i folly of 'entry tactics' must be
perialist capital over the exchange banks, traced to the Fourth International direction
insurance companies, and in shipping and to its colonial units in its resolution adopted
key positions in industry continues... . The in the World Congress in April 1946, as be­

520 India
low: 'Our sections must, furthermore, un­ and claimed that he was building a socialist
dertake systematic and patient fraction pattern of society. The state itself took a
work within the revolutionary national or­ hand in the industrialization of the country,
ganizations of those countries, with the goal established some basic industries, built ca­
of creating a Marxist revolutionary ten­ nals and tube-wells for the irrigation of
dency within them, to facilitate the leftward fields, and subsidized small industries. Gen­
development of the revolutionary national eral elections were held every five years and
elements."36 even a Communist Government was per­
A second conference of the b l p i to con­ mitted in one of the states, giving the illu­
sider entry into the Socialist Party, held in sion of growth, prosperity, stability, and de­
Calcutta, likewise rejected the idea, but by a mocracy. The political influence of the
very small margin. After further discussion Indian bourgeoisie strengthened rather than
those who had opposed the idea finally ac­ lessened. Reformist illusions spread and
cepted it. As a consequence, negotiations overtook even some of the old revolutiona­
were entered into with Jai Prakash Narayan, ries, who joined the Congress.""10
Ashoka Mehta, and others in the leadership In the face of this the hopes of the Socialist
of the Socialist Party, who finally agreed to Party were smashed. They did very badly
accept within their ranks the members of in the first postindependence elections in
the Bolshevik-Leninist Party. Such entry 1952. As a consequence of this, right after
took place in 1948.39 those elections the leaders of the Socialist
The Indian Trotskyists' first experiment Party decided to merge their organization
with entrism did not prove to be satisfac­ with a Gandhist breakaway from the Con­
tory. This was largely a result of the failure gress Party, the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party,
of the Socialist Party to develop as the b l p i headed by A. Kriplani. As a consequence,
and the leaders of the Socialist Party ex­ the Praja Socialist Party was established.
pected. As a result of that disillusionment The Trotskyists refused to go along with
the former Bolshevik-Leninist Party people this move and maintained their own organi­
were within a few years once again orga­ zation, the Socialist Party (Marxist). The for­
nized as a separate party. mer b l p i members in Calcutta had already
When the Congress Socialist Party had broken with the Socialist Party even earlier
broken away from the Indian National Con­ (19 So) and had merged with a faction of the
gress Party its leaders had hoped that it Revolutionary Communist Party to estab­
would become a major party, offering a So­ lish the Communist League, with a Bengali
cialist alternative to the increasingly con­ paper, Inquilab, as its periodical.41
servative Congress party and government. In Delhi still another Trotskyist group
This did not prove to be the case. maintained the Socialist Party (India),
R. N. Arya has sketched the conditions which published an English-language fort­
after the achievement of independence nightly paper, Socialist Appeal. The edito­
which thwarted the hopes of the Socialist rial board of the paper consisted of Hector
Party (and of the Trotskyists within it). He Abhayavardhan, Birendra Bhattacharya, and
has written that "it was a period of capitalist Sachidananda Sinha. From time to time it
reconstruction and development after un­ carried articles by members of the Socialist
precedented destruction during the Second Workers Party of the United States.42
World War. Technological revolution took
place which placed capitalism on a new foot­
The Mazdoor Communist Party
ing. India also shared this general prosperity.
Although its share could not be big enough Meanwhile there were groups proclaiming
to solve its problems, there was a visible allegiance to Trotskyism which had not be­
change. Nehru introduced five-year plans come part of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party

India 521
and so had not gone through its experience The Bolshevik Mazdoor Party was
with entrism. These included the Mazdoor strongly opposed to entrism. In April 1946,
Trotskyist Party and the Bolshevik Mazdoor its periodical Bolshevik Leninist criticized
Party. the "left petty bourgeois dream of the b lp i
The Mazdoor Trotskyist Party was the to consolidate the left forces in the Con­
group which had been organized under the gress, and asked 'is it a glimpse of its own
leadership of M. G. Purdy. It had centers of character? Is it a continuation of leaning
relative strength in the Bombay area and in towards the easy-going elements like doc­
Hyderabad. Among its leaders in the Bom­ tors, professors, and tall-talkers? . . . the
bay region, aside from Purdy, were Ru- character of the maneuver shows unmistak­
ralidhar Parija, who was active in the Engi­ able signs of a petty bourgeois leadership in
neering Workers Union; S. B. Kolpe, a a hurry to manoeuvre with tjhe leftists to
journalist and later president of the All India achieve sudden balloon-like expansion of
Union of Working Journalists; Thangappan, the b lp ."45
secretary of the Kamani Metal Industries The Bolshevik Mazdoor Party and the
Workers Union, and Shanta Ben Joshi, also Mazdoor Trotskyist Party finally merged to
an active trade unionist. Due at least in part establish the Mazdoor Communist Party.
to Purdy's influence the Mazdoor Trotskyist Before long this union broke up, however,
Pairty sought particularly to gain a following with the elements of the former Bolshevik
among and to support the untouchables and Mazdoor Party breaking away again to join
aboriginal groups.43 the Socialist Party (Marxist) after it was es­
The leaders of the Mazdoor Trotskyist tablished by those who had originally been
Party suffered the same kind of persecution in the Bolshevik-Leninist Party.46
during World War II as did the other Trots­ By the mid-1950s there thus existed three
kyist groups, and many of their leaders were groups in India claiming to be Trotskyist.
jailed until the end of the conflict. M. G. These were the Communist League of India,
Purdy was kept in prison after most of the the Socialist Party (Marxist), and the Maz­
rest were released under suspicion that he door Communist Party. None of these, ap­
had been involved in a mutiny on a Royal parently, was affiliated with either the In­
Indian Navy ship in Bombay early in 1946. ternational Secretariat of the Fourth
He was finally deported as an undesirable International or the International Commit­
alien. Leadership of his group devolved on tee of the Fourth International, the two fac­
Mallikarjun Rao of Hyderabad and S. B. tions into which International Trotskyism
Kolpe and M. D. Parija of Bombay.44 was then split.
A second group which did not join in the
formation of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party
Reunification
was the Bolshevik Mazdoor Party. It had
local units in Bombay, Madras, and some In 1955-56 moves were undertaken which
other centers. It published an English-lan­ were finally to result in the merger of the
guage periodical, Bolshevik Leninist, and a three Trotskyist parties into a single organi­
Hindi organ, Age Kadam (Forward March], zation. In the beginning the objective, un­
which continued to be published during and dertaken on the initiative of R. K. Khadilkar,
right after the war. In December 194s the an M.P. and leader of tire. Peasants and Work­
b m p absorbed a split-away group from the ers Party, was the unification of all of the
Bolshevik-Leninist Party. The b m p claimed "non-Stalinist, non-reformist groups." It
to be affiliated with the Fourth Interna­ had the support of the leader of the Revolu­
tional, although there seems to be little evi­ tionary Socialist Party, Tridib Chaudhury
dence that such was in fact the case. (also an M.P.) and of the three Trotskyist

522 India
factions. However, soon after the negotia­ The statement of policy analyzed the situ­
tions had begun Tridib Chaudhury went to ation in India since the "Independence
Goa, still under Portuguese control, to help Deal" of 1947, and showed that not a sin­
those who were fighting for annexation to gle basic problem of the masses has yet
India, and was jailed for eighteen months. been tackled by the Congress govern­
As a consequence further unity negotiations ment, nor can be solved within the ex­
were postponed until after the 1957 elec­ isting socioeconomic framework. It char­
tions. acterized the major Left, such as the p s p ,
As a result of those elections the broader s s p (Lohia), and c p i , as basically reformist

unity negotiations came to nothing. The in outlook and as major obstacles to the
Peasants and Workers Party was virtually revolutionary mobilization of the masses
wiped out in the election, with the result against capitalism. It defines the foremost
that Khadilkar joined the Congress Party organizational task facing the Indian rev­
and became a deputy minister in the Nehru olutionaries as the unification of all genu­
government. ine Marxist forces, now lying scattered
Meanwhile the Trotskyists had already in different parts of India, into a single
begun cooperating among themselves. S. B. organization, and it expresses the firm
Kolpe had begun to put out a periodical in conviction that both the objective and
Bombay, N ew Perspective, which appar­ subjective factors in the revolutionary
ently published articles by members of all process, which are now fast maturing
three groups. After the collapse of the both nationally and internationally, will
broader unity talks the three Trotskyist inexorably drive all these forces ulti­
groups sought to bring about their own uni­ mately to unite. The r w p i will strive to
fication.47 bring about a speedy consummation of
Success was finally achieved at a confer­ this process.49
ence from May 31 to June 2, 1958, at which
the Revolutionary Workers Party was estab­ The r w p i joined the International Secre­
lished. The new party was a merger of the tariat of the split Fourth International. This
Socialist Party (Marxist), the Communist was the first time since 1948 that the Indian
League, and the Mazdoor Communist Trotskyists had been affiliated internation­
Party.48 ally. Their membership in the Fourth Inter­
Delegates were present from Uttar national had lapsed when they joined the
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bombay, Gujarat, Saur- Socialist Party in 1948, and when the Social­
ashtra, Madras, Andhra Pradesh, and West ist Party (Marxist] had been established in
Bengal. The meeting adopted a program, a 1954 it did not seek affiliation with either
constitution, and a statement of policy. It of the two factions of the f i .
chose Murlidhar Parija of Bombay, who was When the three Indian Trotskyist groups
at the same time general secretary of the established their Unity Committee in 1957
United Trade Union Congress of Bombay, they were approached by Emest Mandel of
as its general secretary. S. B. Kolpe was cho­ the International Secretariat with an eye to
sen as editor of the party periodical, New their joining the is. At that time, however,
Perspective, which he had already been edit­ they turned down Mandel's overtures, since
ing for some time. Among the other leading they basically sympathized with the Inter­
trade union figures of the new party were national Committee's policies. According
Raj Narain Arya of Kanpur and Somendra to R. N. Arya, "they insisted most on unity
Kumar of Bihar. in the world movement." Perhaps as a con­
A report on the founding conference of the sequence of that desire for unity they finally
r w p published soon afterwards commented: decided to join the forces of the Intema-

India 523
tional Secretariat when the new party was fledged backing." As a consequence of this
established in 1958.50 resolution most of the former r w p leaders
and members appear to have resigned from
the r c p (k ).52
Entrism Once Again
The Revolutionary Workers Party did not
The Socialist Workers Party
last for long. Once more the Indian Trotsky­
ists attempted to carry out the entrist strat­ A new national Trotskyist party was not
egy, this time with one of the two factions established until August 1965. It was princi­
into which the Revolutionary Communist pally the group in Bombay led by S. B. Kolpe
Party was divided, that led by Sudhin who took the initiative to call a conference
Kumar. in that city which resulted in the establish­
Gour Pal has written of the beginning of ment of the Socialist Workers Party.53
this new entrist experiment: Among those attending in addition to Kolpe
were Shanta Ben Joshi, Bastant Joshi, and
In i960 the r c p |k ) held its All India Con­
Muralidhar Parija, who was elected general
ference in Howrah town, which was quite
secretary, of the new party.54 Kolpe became
a sizable gathering, since the Revolution­
editor of Marxist Outlook, the s w p ' s periodi­
ary Workers Party . . . that just merged
cal in Bombay.55 In 1967, after Gour Pal,
with it, attended the conference in
formerly a leader of the Revolutionary Com­
strength.. . . It is queer that the same Sta­
munist Party, joined the s w p , he undertook
linist position about peaceful coexistence
to help Kolpe expand the periodical from a
with capitalism and socialism in one
magazine appearing every two months to
country was accepted, although all the
"an agitation propaganda fortnightly."
members of the Revolutionary Workers
Among those who soon became members of
Party, who merged, and attended the con­
the new party there were a number of editors
ference were avowed Trotskyists, they
of political journals published in the Hindi,
were the majority of the combined party
Bengali, and Urdu languages.56
and they (r w p ) claimed that the merger
During its early years the s w p was joined
took place on the basis of an agreed pro­
by several trade union leaders in the Bom­
gram . . . Sudhin Kumar was elected party
bay, Gujarat, and West Bengal areas who had
secretary. Five cc members were elected
formerly belonged to the Communist Party
from the ex-RWP members by agreement.
of India (Marxist), the original Maoist group
In the next general election in 1962, An-
which had broken with the Communist
adi Das and Kanai Pal (ex-Rwp) were nom­
Party of India at the time of the Chinese
inated by the r c p (k ) for Assembly seats of
invasion. These included leaders of textile
Howrah Central and Santipur, respec­
workers and miners, among others. In West
tively, and both were elected.51
Bengal the party also recruited a number of
The end of this new entrist phase of Indian leaders of peasant and agricultural laborers'
Trotskyism came as a consequence of the organizations, composed of members of the
Chinese invasion of India in September 1962 c p (m ) and of the Revolutionary Socialist

and the reaction of the r c p (k ) to that event. Party, among others, who led important
The Central Committee of the party strikes of their membersin the 1968-70 pe­
adopted a resolution in which it proclaimed riod in the face of strong opposition from
that "Peking must not be allowed to develop the United Front state ministry.57
chauvinism on both sides of the border, with The Second National Conference of the
impunity, and hence, must be resisted by sw p took place in Baroda (Gujarat) early in
Nehru's army, by all means with r c p 's full- February 1968. Gour Pal has written that

524 India
"the conference finalized a draft program, to break decisively with the hypocritical
and took a unanimous stand on various na­ class collaborationist politics of their lead­
tional and international questions, and ers. Every effort must be made to extend the
elected a Central Committee, a Central Sec­ struggle to other parts of West Bengal and to
retariat, and Magan Desai as Secretary of the forge a united front of workers and peasants
party."58 in their common struggle against the bour­
Magan Desai wrote of this conference that geois state."50
"the party has pledged its defence of the At the time of the Second Conference,
property relations in the Soviet Union and Desai reported, the s w p had "functioning
other workers states, including Cuba, but units" in the states of West Bengal, Bihar,
has characterized the regimes in Soviet Rus­ Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and
sia, China, and the East European states, Kerala. He observed that "the party has built
etc., as bureaucratically degenerated work­ a substantial base in the trade union and
ers states. It has called for political revolu­ peasant movement in several states of
tions against the bureaucratic privileges and India."51
for the revival of workers' democracy in In terms of political tactics the s w p fol­
these countries." lowed various policies in the different
Desai also noted that the conference states. For instance, during the early years
adopted a resolution on "non-Congress gov­ of its work in Kerala "the s w p functioned as
ernments" in several Indian states. It part of the Marxist League of Kerala, which
"strongly criticized their opportunist multi­ included dissidents from the c p i (m ), the c p i ,
class character and has said that the so- and the Revolutionary Socialist Party. . . . "
called non-Congress governments—even However, it was announced early in 1969
the left-dominated governments in West that "Now the swp has decided to act on its
Bengal (now dismissed) and in Kerala—have own in the state." It also decided at the same
subserved the interests of the capitalist class time to establish a party youth group, the
and played the role of the defenders of bour­ Young Communists (Trotskyists}.*2
geois property relations. . . . The resolution In Bombay, on the other hand, according
has called for the creation of a united front to Gour Pal, the swp "developed very close
of workers and peasants parties and for the fraternal ties with the Maharashtra unit of
creation of new organs of mass struggle in the Revolutionary Socialist Party of India
the form of workers councils and peoples . . . and the Lai Nishan Party (a Maharashtra-
committees in West Bengal."59 based leftist party]. . . r s p , Maharashtra unit
Although the s w p condemned the collabo­ more or less fully endorses Fourth Interna­
ration of self-proclaimed revolutionary par­ tional and s w p theoretical position and pro­
ties such as the r c p and the r s p in "bour­ gram . . . s w p had in 1969 set up a coordina­
geois" governments, neither did it support tion committee of the three parties, which
the more or less spontaneous guerrilla reac­ worked for about a year, undertaking semi­
tion of the Naxalbari dissidents from the nars, demonstrations, study classes, and
Communist Party (Marxist) which arose in other activities jointly, including camps.
the late 1960s. Marxist Outlook of July 1967 f/t3
said of these movements: "We would . . . The first years of the s w p were marked, as
warn the Left c p i militants leading the Nax­ a June 1969 resolution of the party's Central
albari movement that an isolated peasant Committee proclaimed, by "a great deal of
struggle cannot succeed unless it is linked 'confusion' in left politics. But one positive
with the movements of the working class in gain is the open debate now taking place in
the neighboring plantations and in urban every left party . . . about the tactics and
areas. The immediate necessity for them is strategy of the revolutionary movement."

1
t India 525
 The Central Committee of the swp added the first week of January 1972. It was at­
that "the present 'ideological confusion' in tended by delegates from Bihar, Uttar
the working-class movement can be re­ Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Kerala, and
solved only in the process of new united Maharashtra. Livio Maitan was there repre­
struggles of workers, the rural poor, and the senting the United Secretariat of the Fourth
radical youth which will throw up a revolu­ International. The most important decision
tionary leadership guided by the experiences of the conference was to change the name
of the Fourth International, which has kept of the organization to Communist League
alive the banner of revolutionary Marxism- of India (c l i ). A new Central Committee
Leninism in spite of the betrayals of the was charged with redrafting the program of
traditional Stalinist and social-democratic ’ the party. Magan Desai was reelected Secre­
parties on a global scale."6* tary of the Communist League.^® The name
Usually the s w p did not participate in of the party's central organ was changed
electoral politics with its own candidates. from Marxist Outlook to Red Spark.69
However, in state elections in Kerala in 1 970 The most important political document
it did run one candidate for the state parlia­ adopted at the conference of the Communist
ment, M. A. Rappai, "a former sawmill League was one dealing with the emergence
worker and now a full-time unionist. . . ."6S of Bangladesh. This long document de­
The party issued an "election special" issue nounced the failure of the Communist Party
of its Malayalam-language periodical Chen- of India and Communist Party of India
krathii and the candidate conducted a walk­ (Marxist) in West Bengal to give adequate
ing tour of his constituency covering some support to the Bangladesh independence
360 miles. The s w p candidate received 362 government. It also said that the Indian gov­
votes and was not elected.66 ernment's military intervention and conse­
At the time of the revolt in East Pakistan quent war -with Pakistan resulted in "a war
in December 19 71 which brought Bangla­ between two bourgeois states," and "had its
desh into existence, the s w p West Bengal own reactionary features. The military sup­
State Committee adopted a resolution in port extended by the Indian government to
support of the movement for Bangladesh in­ the freedom struggle in Bangladesh was mo­
dependence. It began "We congratulate and tivated by the class interest of the bourgeoi­
extend our unconditional support to the .. . sie in extending its market and creating a
Liberation Forces on their heroic struggle." new sphere of investment."
Then, after charging that "the Indian rulers The c l i document also denounced the ac­
will not allow any other government than a tions of both the Soviet government in sup­
capitalist one to exist in Dacca," the state­ porting India and the Chinese regime in
ment said that "we hope that the Liberation backing Pakistan. It ended with a list of ten
Forces, remembering the mirth and jubila­ "transitional demands'' which included im­
tion of the people during 14th August 1947 mediate withdrawal of Indian troops from
. . . and the grim aftermath, will march for­ Bangladesh, immediate elections "to choose
ward to a Red Bangladesh. This will immedi­ a new Constituent Assembly to draft a so­
ately pave the way for a United Socialist cialist constitution for Bangladesh," agrar­
Bengal culmination into a Socialist Revolu­ ian reform, nationalization "of all means of
tion in the entire Indian subcontinent."67 production, including laqd," and "linking
up the struggle of the masses of West Bengal
with the struggle of East Bengal to establish
The Communist League of India
a United Socialist Bengal."70
The Third National Conference of the So­ Soon after the Communist League con­
cialist Workers Party met in Bombay during vention the government called provincial

526 India
 elections throughout the country. The c u state will be unleashed against mass organi­
issued an election manifesto on this occa­ zations despite the massive victory of the
sion. It proclaimed that "thanks to the class- Congress. .. ," ?z
collaborationist politics of the traditional On June 2.5, 1975, the government of
left parties they have destroyed the image of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, faced with a
an independent working-class challenge to deteriorating economic situation and con­
the bourgeois Congress. The masses have siderable political turbulence, proclaimed
lost faith in the bourgeois electoral pro­ an "emergency," virtually establishing a
cesses. .. . Under the circumstances, small dictatorship. At that point the United Secre­
revolutionary forces represented by parties tariat of the Fourth International issued a
like the Communist League—the Indian document entitled "Rend the State of Emer­
section of the Fourth International—can gency in India!" It noted the "attacks against
serve no positive purpose by wasting their working-class parties like the c p i (m ) . . . and
limited material resources to fight a costly the banning of several Maoist organiza­
electoral campaign setting up their own can­ tions." It did not mention any action being
didates." However, it did call on its follow­ taken by the Gandhi government against
ers to "enter the campaign in critical sup­ the Communist League, perhaps because
port of the candidates of the working-class the Trotskyist group was not of sufficient
parties. . . . " significance to have the regime move
This electoral proclamation ended by say­ against it.73
ing, "We reject the theory that socialism can An interview "with an Indian Trotskyist"
be achieved through bourgeois parliamen­ published in January 1976 stressed that the
tary processes. Socialism can be achieved proclamation of the emergency was just the
only through revolutionary mass struggles culmination of a number of other repressive
of workers and peasants who must eventu­ measures taken by the Gandhi government.
ally seize control of all means of production, It also criticized the support of the emer­
including land, factories, mines, planta­ gency by the pro-Soviet Communist Party
tions, and all credit as well as financial insti­ of India, and the collaboration of the c p i (m )
tutions, through their elected councils. The with conservative opponents of the emer­
immediate task is to combat the antidemo­ gency, in the. so-called Janata Morcha. The
cratic and repressive measures of the bour­ Indian Trotskyist then noted that "in Baroda
geois state through united struggles of work­ there was an example of a principled revolu­
ers and peasants around their immediate tionary approach, carried out by the Com­
social and economic demands, linked with munist League. . . . When processions were
the objective of an anticapitalist socialist called earlier against the emergency the
revolution in India."71 Communist League participated, but as a
After the overwhelming victory of Indira separate bloc, clearly distinguished from the
Gandhi's Congress Party in the assembly Janata Morcha, and chanting its own inde­
elections, the Communist League passed a pendent anticapitalist slogans. When the
resolution assessing the results: "The revo­ municipal elections were called in Baroda,
lutionary Marxists in India should not be the Communist League was able to field two
swept away by the seemingly spectacular candidates for municipal council, both of
sweep of the Congress at the polls. They them militant workers participating in the
should not have any illusions regarding the workers committees in their factory that
ability of the bourgeois state to overcome has been fighting against the bonus cuts."74
the present economic crisis. . . . " The reso­ The Communist League was considerably
lution warned that "there is every reason weakened during the emergency period.
to believe that repression by the bourgeois R. N. Arya has noted that both S. B. Kolpe

India 527

t
and former c l general secretary M. Rashid R. N. Arya had developed sympathy for
left the party early in 1976, and that six and contacts with the Militant Group of
months later Arya himself and Mahendra Trotskyists in Great Britain. He left the
Singh "also left the party as they felt that Communist League in 1977. However, in­
the new party had cut itself off completely stead of trying to organize a separate Trots­
from the old traditions."75 kyist organization, he decided in 1980 to
When elections were finally called in enter the Revolutionary Socialist Party.78
March 1977, putting an end to the emer­ When in January 1980 new elections re­
gency, the Communist League issued an sulted in the restoration to power of Indira
election manifesto proclaiming that "We Gandhi and her faction of the old Congress
the Trotskyists of the Communist League, Party, the c l i issued a statement warning
the Indian section of the Fourth Interna­ that the Gandhi government would proba­
tional, view this election as a main battle of bly dissolve all state governments not con­
the bourgeois parties to sidetrack the con­ trolled by the Gandhi Congress faction. The
sciousness and movement of the working statement added that "While the c l has
class and the toiling masses." It then listed never placed any political confidence in
a series of demands for ending all repressive these governments or extended its support
measures taken before and during the emer­ to them since they are capitalist govern­
gency, as well as for liberalization of labor ments administering a capitalist state, the
legislation and measures to reduce the cost c l opposes any move by Gandhi to dissolve

of living. It also called for "nationalization or oust them. The c l urges all left parties
of all means of production, transport, and and civil liberties groups and mass and class
communication without compensation un­ organizations to initiate a mass movement
der workers control," and "speedy imple­ to oppose such sinister moves. The c l also
mentation of land reforms through and un­ opposes and condemns the preventive de­
der the control of democratically elected tention ordinance and any move to enact
poor peasants committees." such draconian measures."79
The Communist League also ran one can­ The Communist League did not get
didate for parliament in the 1977 election, around to holding another national confer­
in Baroda. He was Tlaker Shah, a member ence (officially referred to as its fourth) until
of the League's Central Committee, and in November 1982. That was held at Santipur
charge of the organization's trade union ac­ in West Bengal, and there were representa­
tivities.76 tives from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Bihar
Although the c l i thus maintained a com­ as well as "good participation from West
pletely "independent" position in the 1977 Bengal."80
election, a number of those who had re­ Arya has sketched the state of Trotskyism
cently left the party did not. Arya has noted in India by the middle of 1983:
that "Trotskyists like Raj Narain Arya and
Mahendra Singh in (Uttar Pradesh], Rashid [The] Communist League still continues
in Kerala, and C. Gomez in Bombay sup­ as a small group in Baroda, Bombay, Sa-
ported the anti-Congress candidates on the mastipur (Bihar), and Calcutta. Some of
slogan of defeating the Emergency regime. those who have left c l have formed b l g
They exposed the Janata Front as an equally (Bolshevik Leninist Group) mainly cen­
bad capitalist combination but for the time tered in Bombay and Kerala. They stand
being committed to fighting the Emergency by the Fourth International, c l is the of­
rule. They kept themselves united to the ficial section of the f i . Another group of
Janata wagon and when the mass struggles Trotskyists functions at Bangalore which
of workers broke out, they were always in follows the Militant tendency of the U.K.
them."77 Labour Party. . . . U.P. Trotskyists Arya

528 India
 and Mahendra Singh have joined r s p to figures, would continue open activity until
work for the consolidation of all the forces picked up by the police. A second level of
of socialist revolution.81 less conspicuous leaders would work clan­
destinely, and a still lower group, not pub­
licly identified with the party, would take
The Revolutionary Communist Patty
over party leadership if the underground
One of the two Indian far left parties which leaders were also arrested. As expected,
is widely regarded by other leftists as being S. N. Tagore and others were jailed under
"Trotskyist" but which in fact never be­ the Defence of India Act soon after the war
longed to the Fourth International or any of began, when the r c p i came out with a state­
its factions is the Revolutionary Commu­ ment denouncing the conflict as "an imperi­
nist Party. This group was organized in Au­ alist predatory war for redistribution of the
gust 1934 by Soumeynora Nath Tagore, a colonial world, and calling on impoverished
delegate to the Sixth Congress of the Comin­ nations not to help the warmongers. . . . "86
tern in 1928 who had opposed the lurch to The r c p i strongly supported the Quit In­
the Third Period Left being urged by Stalin's dia movement launched in August 1942 by
associates. The organization originally took the Indian National Congress Party, but
the name Communist League.82 At the sought to turn it into revolutionary rather
Third Conference of the organization in than passive resistance channels. This
1938 the name was changed to Revolution­ brought even wider arrests of the leaders of
ary Communist Party of India ( r c p i ).83 the party, most of whom were not released
During its first years the Revolutionary until the end of the war.87
Communist Party carried out a wide range As independence approached after World
of organizing activities. It established War II the Revolutionary Communist Party
unions among unorganized workers and at began to organize workers and peasants
the same time worked within some of the "panchayats," embryonic soviets, in prepa­
established labor organizations, it played an ration for struggle against the new Congress-
important part in the growing student controlled government. It developed the
movement, and it had some activity among idea that on the basis of these groups—
the peasants.04 which it invited other far left political
Although originally established in reac­ groups to join and help build—an ultimate
tion against the sectarianism of the Comin­ Workers and Peasants Constituent Assem­
tern's Third Period, the r c p i was equally bly could be established to organize a Social­
opposed to the Popular Frontism which suc­ ist India.
ceeded the Third Period. The significance of On this general position there was no ma­
this in India was its strong and continuing jor dissension within the party. However, in
opposition to the Indian National Congress 1948 the r c p i split between those support­
Party. This was seen most particularly in its ing Pannalal Das Gupta, who had become
opposition to the Congress Socialist Party, party secretary general during the war and
the left-wing group formed within the Con­ had a background as an activist in terrorist
gress. The r c p i leader S. N. Tagore pub­ organizations before joining the r c p i , and
lished books denouncing both the Popular the opponents of Pannalal under the leader­
Front policy in general and the Congress ship of S. N. Tagore. The Pannalal group
Socialist Party in particular.85 extended the panchayat idea to the point of
Shortly before the outbreak of World War beginning to plan for an immediate violent
II, which it was felt would bring persecution seizure of power, and collected arms for that
of such a group as the r c p i , the party devel­ purpose. The Tagore faction regarded such
oped a three-tier leadership group, the top activities as adventurist and refused to
level of which, composed of its best-known countenance them. The r c p i National Con­

1
t
India 529
ference of April 1948 saw the party split into pects, one relating to the revolution of a
two separate groups, each using the party particular country, the immediate passing
name.89 over from the bourgeois democratic phase
This split in the r c p i marked the begin­ of the revolution to the socialist revolution.
ning of the decline of the Revolutionary The second aspect. . . is related to the inter­
Communist Party. It continued to be di­ national tasks of the revolution . . . which
vided into the r c p i [Tagore) and the r c p i makes it imperative for the first victorious
(Pannalal), the latter becoming the r c p i (Ku­ revolution to operate as the yeast of revolu­
mar) when Sudhin Kumar succeeded Panna- tion in the world arena.. . . Trotsky became
lal Das Gupta as its leader. As we have al­ the target of Stalin's vengeance only so far
ready noted, the Trotskyists merged for a as he drew the attention of the communists
short while in the early 1960s with the r c p i throughout the world to the. betrayal of
(Kumar), but abandoned the merger when it world revolution [Permanent Revolution)
endorsed the Nehru government at the time by Stalin."
of the Chinese invasion of India in 1962. Tagore also argued that " the theory of P.R.
Arya, writing in mid-198 3, has noted that is not Trotskyism. .. . Lenin was just as
"Panna Dasgupta himself became a sup­ much a champion of the P.R. as Trotsky
porter of Nehru when he was released from was, and with a much more sure grasp of
jail in the early sixties. Whatever remains of revolutionary reality. But Trotsky certainly
this group is led by its life-long secretary had done a great service to revolutionary
Sudhin Kumar, now a minister in the seven- communism by drawing out attention over
party Left Front Ministry of West Bengal." and over again to the theory of Permanent
Arya added that "the other group contin­ Revolution since Lenin died in 1924, and
ued to be led by Tagore. . . . Tagore has the sinister antirevolutionary reign of Stalin
passed away and his group is now split into started. In the face of the next diabolical
two parts. One is led by former m l a Anadi machineries of vilification and terror of Sta-
Das, and the other by Bibhuti Bhushan linocracy, he kept the banner of revolution­
Nandi. Anadi group is opposed to the Left ary communism flying in the best traditions
Front government of West Bengal. Nandi of Marx and Lenin. Therein lies Trotsky's
group supports the Left Front but is out of invaluable service in the theory of Perma­
it. Both seek to trace the path shown by nent Revolution. So far as the Theory itself
Tagore."89 is concerned, it is pure and simple revolu­
tionary Marxism."90
Whatever regard the r c p i leaders had for
The Ideological Position of the rcpi
Trotsky they did not extend to his Indian
It is clear that S. N. Tagore and those who followers. Thus, a thesis "The Post War
followed him in the r c p i felt a certain politi­ World and India" passed by the Fourth Party
cal kinship with Leon Trotsky and the Conference of the r c p i in December 1946,
movement which he organized. They be­ in which was put forward the idea of estab­
lieved in the Theory of the Permanent Revo­ lishing embryonic soviets throughout the
lution; they believed in the need for a new country, commented that "objections to our
Fourth International. However, they contin­ slogan 'from Panchayats' have been voiced
ued to have serious differences with from different quarters. The Indian Trotsky­
Trotsky, and had no great respect for those ists, who are far away from all that Trotsky
who succeeded him in the leadership of the really represents, have dubbed our slogan
Fourth International. . . . as ultra-leftism and adventurism. . . ."9l
In 1944 Tagore published a book, Perma­ In his book Tactics and Strategy of Revo­
nent Revolution, where he argued that "the lution, published in 1948 when the Bolshe­
theory of Permanent Revolution has two as­ vik-Leninist Party was entering the Socialist

530 India
Party, S. N. Tagore was even harsher to­ clearly disagreed with the Fourth Interna­
wards the Indian Trotskyists. He wrote of tional was in its analysis of the nature of
"those panicky petit-bourgeois capitulators, the Soviet state and other Stalinist regimes
who so long had paraded themselves as which had appeared after World War II. At
Trotskyists, without having anything to do its Sixth Conference the r c p i (Tagore) pro­
with the revolutionary teachings of Trotsky, claimed: "The Soviet state is no longer a
had in the past clung to Trotsky more like workers' state; it is a state of labor bureau­
religious devotees clinging to their guru, cracy. . .antagonistic to the laboring masses
than as revolutionary communists ac­ in Russia and abroad. . . . " With regard to
cepting things after critical analysis. They China, "Instead of a proletarian Socialist
moreover have chosen some mistaken tac­ State, the Stalinist 'New Democracy' in
tics of Trotsky as a justification for their China prepares the way for an anti-working-
abject capitulation, abandoning all his great class totalitarian, bureaucratic rule of the
teachings on ideological and strategic lines Stalinist party. . . ,"95
of revolution. .. ,"92 At its Seventh Congress in November
In the abstract at least the r c p i favored 1961, the r c p i (Tagore) expanded on its char­
establishment of a new revolutionary Inter­ acterization of the Stalinist states. Its reso­
national. Thus, the Fifth Congress of the lution, "Revolutionary Communism—The
r c p i (Tagore) passed a resolution in 1948 World and India," declared:
which argued that "since organizing world
revolution is possible only through a world Industrial production in Soviet Russia is
party, the development of a revolutionary not Socialist in character as will be clear
International is one of the most essential from the following: 1. The wealth pro­
tasks of the revolutionary proletariat of the duced does not go to raise the standard of
world in general, and our party in par­ living of the people, but of the bureau­
ticular."93 cracy. . . . 2. People have no democratic
At its Sixth Congress the r c p i (Tagore) voice and control in the productive sys­
in February-March i960 passed a resolution tem. . . . 3. The wage differential in the
which stated: Soviet society is on the increase. . . . 4.
Moreover, the domain of personal prop­
Our task in the international field is to
erty had been enormously extended by
work for the emergence of this revolu­
the Stalin Constitution. . . . 5. The bu­
tionary world force.. . .Tounite and work
reaucracy enjoys powers and immense
for the creation of a new International, on
privileges. 6 . .. . In the social and political
the basis of the revolutionary internation­
spheres, inequality and curtailment of
alist programme of Lenin and Trotsky... .
freedom prevail. . . . There is no freedom
The r c p i hopes for the creation of such
of opinion or the press in Stalin's Russia.96
an international by mutual exchange of
Just as in capitalist society, labor aris­
views with the Fourth Internationalist
tocracy signifies the existence of a group
groups in the countries of Europe,
of people, which though originating from
America, and China, with the Indepen­
the working class, has separated itself
dent Communist Party of Germany, the
from the working class, likewise labor bu­
Leninist Internationalist Party of France,
reaucracy signifies in Russia and in such
the Proletarian Revolutionary Party of
other countries, where proletarian revolu­
Tan Malaka in Indonesia, and other anti-
tion has been successful, the existence of
Stalinist groups in various countries, pro­
a group of persons who, their proletarian
fessing revolutionary internationalist
origin notwithstanding, have separated
policy.94
themselves from the class. . . . If all this
One significant point on which the rcpi is true, then doesn't the mere fact of the

India 531
 existence of the state-ownership of the years. However, R. N. Arya, a longtime
means of production and the system of Trotskyist leader who joined the r s p in 1980
planned economy signify that the state is without foreswearing Trotskyism, has said
a workers' state? And more so, when it is that "this group holds positions which are
clear, that the bureaucracy did not sit idle very akin to Trotskyism, and the Stalinists
with expropriating the proletariat politi­ insist that it is a Trotskyist group."
cally, but had also introduced and con­ Arya has described the origins of the r s p .
tinue to introduce profound deformities He has written that "another group of Marx-
in the economic life of the country as ist-Leninists to turn away from Stalinism
well. was the group of former revolutionaries—
The Fourth Internationalists have not, members of the Anushilan and Jugantar
while defending Trotsky's analysis of groups of national revolutionaries and of the
1934 that the Soviet Union is a degener­ Hindustan Socialist Republican Army or
ated workers state, advanced a single ar­ Association who studied Marxism-Lenin­
gument of their own by analyzing the So­ ism in the early 1930s when they were in
viet State as it is today. . . . A revolution­ jail, and decided to function independently
ary international is of utmost importance of the Communist Party and Communist
for the world proletariat. We had therefore International."99
welcomed the establishment of the Most of those ex-"terrorists" came out of
Fourth International. Though we had our jail in the late 1930s, and Tridib Chaudhury,
misgivings about the actual organiza­ the r s p secretary general, had noted that "all
tional structure and strength, we hoped of these revolutionaries would have joined
that in time . . . the initial weakness the Communist Party on coming out of jail.
would be replaced by growing strength. But the Communist International had, only
For us, what is of primary importance is a little earlier, under the instructions of the
the ideological stand of the Fourth Inter­ Soviet Russia's Communist leader, Stalin,
national. . . . Till these fundamental dif­ and in the interests of the self-defense of
ferences are ironed out, our party cannot Russia, adopted the policy of alliance and
find its way to affiliate itself with Fourth compromise with British and French Impe­
International.” rialism against Germany in Europe and with
American Imperialism against Japan in
From its analysis of the nature of the Asia. . . . Revolutionary Socialists realized
USSR and other Stalinist states, the r c p i in that behind this policy of the Communist
its 1961 resolution also drew a policy con­ International stood largely the national in­
clusion which directly conflicted with the terest of Russia. . . . This policy the revolu­
position of the Fourth International. It tionaries could not accept. . . ." 10°
stated that "in case of a war breaking out The Revolutionary Socialist Party was or­
between the Stalinist Bloc and the imperial­ ganized in March 1940. Arya has noted that
ist bloc, we support neither of the blocs.. .. "it is obvious that the revolutionaries who
Victory of Stalinism, in our opinion, will be founded r s p . . . had no idea that a Trotskyist
as great a menace to Socialism as the victory organization, Fourth International, had
of imperialism."98 come into existence in September 1938. At
that time Fourth International was confined
only to some countries of Europe and North
The Revolutionary Socialist Party
America, and consisted of small groups. . . .
The Revolutionary Socialist Party (r s p ) has But to claim that r s p rejected Trotskyism
had an even less clear orientation towards because one or two leaders of the present
Trotskyist ideas than did the r c p i for many r s p find fault with some aspect of the theory

532 India
of Permanent Revolution advanced by Indonesian Trotskyism
Trotsky is not true. Organizationally, r sp
never took any decision about Trotskyism.
It has rather invited and wooed Trotskyists
into its fold. Even those leaders who object
to Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolu­
tion . . . do not realize that what they follow For half a century there have circulated un­
as Leninism in the light of their own under­ confirmed reports of the existence of a more
standing is what Stalinists call Trotskyism, or less influential Trotskyist movement in
and that Trotskyists themselves claimed Indonesia. As early as 1938 the Comintern's
Trotskyism to be nothing more than the International Press Correspondence wrote
Marxism-Leninism of the present epoch." 101 that "the Trotskyists are developing a dis­
Over the years the Revolutionary Social­ ruptive and destructive policy which is com­
ist Party has remained the largest of the par­ bined with provocative activities. In their
ties to the left of the Stalinist Communists. daily practice they pretend to be the true
They have occasionally been able to elect followers of the c p i and those of the Comin­
a handful of members of state legislatures, tern. . . ." ‘ In this case, the Comintern peri­
particularly in Kerala and West Bengal. They odical was attacking Mohammed Hatta and
have also served at least twice in United Left Sutan Sjahrir, who were never Communists
ministries in both states. of any sort, let alone Trotskyists.
The Indonesian leader most frequently re­
ferred to as a Trotskyist or a possible Trots­
Conclusion
kyist has been Tan Malaka. One of the early
For half a century a Trotskyist movement leaders of the Communist Party of Indone­
has existed in India. The official Trotskyist sia, he reportedly opposed the Asian policies
organization has never become a major fac­ being imposed on the Comintern by Stalin
tor even on the far left of Indian politics. in the mid-1920s, and which were most
Geographically, it has been confined largely clearly reflected in the Kuomintang-cpc al­
to the provinces or states of Bengal, Gujarat, liance in China. According to Jack Brad,
Bombay, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and, for writing in the Shachtmanite periodical La­
short periods, Madras. It has had generally bor Action, "in 1926, the c p split on the
unsuccessful experiences with the entrist issue of class independence in the national­
strategy and has been plagued with the per­ ist struggle. Tan Malaka, refusing to go
sonalism and frequent party switching along with Stalinist policy, organized an in­
which seem to be endemic in Indian politics. surrection on Java and Sumatra which lasted
through 1927 but was defeated in a bloody
suppression. The party was outlawed by the
Dutch and was 'reprimanded' by Moscow
and Tan Malaka, a fugitive from ruthless
butchers of the imperialists, was expelled
from the Communist International."2
Clearly Tan Malaka continued to consider
himself a Communist. During the struggle
for Indonesian independence following
World War II he organized the Murba Party
[Proletarian Party). The avowed aim of this
party was "to organize and mobilize all revo­
lutionary powers of the Indonesian people

t
t Indonesia 533
 with the purpose of destroying the aggres­ Mandel has explained that "in 1959, the Par-
sion of the capitalists and imperialists and tai Acoma, an offspring of the c p youth, af­
laying down the foundation of a Socialist filiated with the Fourth International. It had
Society in Indonesia."3 It proclaimed that it a member of parliament, Ibnu Parna, a very
was organized "according to the principle of fine mass leader. Unfortunately, he was ar­
Democratic Centralism."4 rested in the Suharto putsch in 1965 and
The New York Times reported that Tan killed. Since that counterrevolution, we
Malaka had been executed by the Indone­ have no contact with the Partai Acoma. In
sian Republican government on April 16, emigration, some c p cadres breaking with
1949.5 The Indian weekly The Radical Hu­ both Peking and Moscow came closer to our
manist, organ of the one-time Right Opposi­ positions, but without affiliation."9
tionist M. N. Roy, in reporting the rumors
of Tan Malaka's death, referred to him as
being "described as a Trotskyist."6 Some
months later, the same periodical expressed
uncertainty as to "whether he is really a
Trotskyist, or a Titoist type of nationalist
Communist."7
The reports of the "Trotskyism" of Tan
Malaka and his followers have died hard.
They have been particularly propagated by
Stalinists of various schools. The magazine
Progressive Labor, organ of the then Maoist
Progressive Labor Party, published an article
in 1967 entitled "Who is Adam Malik?" re­
ferring to one of the leaders of Tan Malaka's
Murba Party. This article talked about "the
brazen intrigues of Adam Malik and his fel­
low Trotskyites. . . ."B
The fact is that Tan Malaka, although a
dissident and usually anti-Stalinist Com­
munist, was never a Trotskyist. Ernest Man­
del, the Belgian Trotskyist leader who kept
particularly close touch with the Fourth In­
ternational groups in Asia, has described the
status of Trotskyism in Indonesia: "There
was never a Trotskyist organization in Indo­
nesia before 1959. Tan Malaka had some
common traits with Trotskyism in his poli­
cies, but he never declared himself as such,
nor affiliated with any Trotskyist grouping.
Some of his lieutenants, like foreign minis­
ter Adam Malik, degenerated into right-
wing reformists or worse."
Although Tan Malaka was in fact not
Trotskyist in spite of his reputation for be­
ing such, there did exist for a short time a
Fourth International affiliate in Indonesia.

534 Indonesia
 International Committee On November 7-8, 1963, the s w p held a
plenum at which it expelled the Cochranite
of the Fourth faction. The International Secretariat sent a
International of the 1950s letter to this meeting. After noting that the
s w p had not yet submitted any critique of

the documents for the Fourth World Con­

gress, this letter claimed that "To build a
faction under such conditions, then to bring
it forth brusquely in the late of day and then
violently oppose it to the International lead­
For most of the decade following the split in ership becomes, frankly, an unprincipled,
the Fourth International in 1952-53 Inter­ unspeakable operation, profoundly alien to
national Trotskyism was divided into two the traditions and nature of our move­
separate organizations, one led by Michel ment."1 It ended saying, "Avoid a funda­
PablO, the post-World War II Secretary of mental political crystallization on this or
the f i , the other composed of opponents of that line before previous discussion between
"Pabloism." The anti-Pablo forces were delegations responsible to your leadership
more or less loosely joined in the Interna­ and the is or the i e c . Put above any other
tional Committee of the Fourth Interna­ consideration the unity of our International
tional. movement, the unity of your own organi­
zation."3
When the s w p leadership clearly did not
Emergence of the International
follow its advice, the is issued a "Letter from
Committee
the Bureau of the International Secretariat
Events in the last months of 1953 moved to the Leaderships of All Sections" signed
quickly towards an organic split in the by Pablo, Pierre Frank, and Emest Mandel,
Fourth International. On October 3-4 a and dated November 16, 1963. It began,
meeting was held in London of representa­ "The most revolting operation has just been
tives of the British section of the Interna­ launched against the unity of the Interna­
tional, the French majority group which had tional. The majority of the American organi­
been expelled the year before, and the Swiss zation, cynically defying the most elemen­
section. Sam Gordon of the Socialist Work­ tary rules of our international movement,
ers Party of the United States also attended and its traditions as well as its leadership
"individually." That meeting decided to set have just excluded by the decision of its
up a "provisional committee" of two repre­ plenum of November 7-8, the minority
sentatives each from the French, British, and which declares itself in agreement with the
Swiss sections. At that point, what was be­ line of the International."4
ing organized was a faction within the Inter­ After noting that Cannon and his associ­
national. The meeting declared that "the ates, as well as Healy, had until recently
delegates declare their political agreement supported the International leadership, the
on the international perspective on the char­ letter noted that "Their 100 percent about-
acter of the Soviet bureaucracy and Stalin­ face of today dates only a few months back.
ism. They decided to undertake together the How then to explain it?"
defense of Trotskyism against Pabloist revi­ The letter answered its own question: "If
sionism and the struggle against the liquida­ they now act in this way it is above all to
tion of the Fourth International." They also safeguard the personal clique regime in the
agreed to prepare documents for submission midst of their organizations that they con­
to the Fourth Congress of the International.1 sider threatened by the extension of the in­

International Committee (FI): 1950s 535

fluence of the International as a centralized type workers states which are to last for
world party.. . . Fixed on old ideas and sche­ 'centuries.'7
mas, educated in the old organizational at­
After criticizing a number of specific acts
mosphere of our movement, they really rep­
of the Pablo leadership including its support
resent politically and organizationally the
of the Cochranites, the letter said:
sectarian tendency which recoils from the
movement of the Social Democratic or Sta­ To sum up: The lines of cleavage between
linist masses or feels itself ill at ease within Pablo's revisionism and orthodox Trots­
it. They further remain profoundly resistant kyism are so deep that no compromise is
to all real integration into a centralized possible either politically or organization­
world party. . . ,"5 ally. . . . If we may offer advice to the
This letter then proceeded virtually to sections of the Fourth International from
read the s w p out of the international Trots­ our enforced position outside tKe ranks,
kyist movement. It said, "The International we think the time has come to act and to
was, remains and will remain a political act decisively. The time has come for the
movement and a principled organization. It orthodox Trotskyist majority of the
will not compromise on its principles, it Fourth International to assert their will
will never permit the expulsions effected against Pablo's usurpation of authority.
by Cannon, nor those which Bums [Gerry They should in addition safeguard the ad­
Healy) is preparing in England. With all our ministration of the affairs of the Fourth
forces we ask the i e c to stigmatize these International by removing Pablo and his
measures, to enjoin those who have taken agents from office and replacing them
them to immediately withdraw them and to with cadres who have proved in action
reintegrate forthwith the expelled members that they know how to uphold orthodox
within their organizations. Any other road Trotskyism and keep the movement on a
followed by anyone whatsoever could only correct course both politically and organi­
place them outside our movement."6 zationally.8
Meanwhile, in addition to expelling the
This appeal of the s w p was soon an­
Cochranites the s w p plenum had adopted
swered. On November 23, 1953, a "Resolu­
"A Letter to Trotskyists Throughout the
tion Forming the International Commit­
World." This document, after reciting a bit
tee" was issued from Paris over the
of the postwar history of the Fourth Interna­
signatures of Gerry Healy, Bleibtreu of the
tional "restated" the fundamental princi­
French majority, Smith of the "New
ples of Trotskyism. It then proclaimed:
Zealand" Section (apparently Farrell Dobbs
of the s w p ) and Jacques of the Swiss section.
These fundamental principles established
It proclaimed:
by Leon Trotsky retain full validity in the
increasingly complex and fluid politics 1. We affirm our solidarity with the funda­
of the world today. . . . These principles mental line of the appeal of the National
have been abandoned by Pablo. In place Committee of the Socialist Workers Party
of emphasizing the danger of a new barba­ to the Trotskyists throughout the world,
rism, he sees the drive toward socialism and particularly with the definition
as 'irreversible,' yet he does not see social­ therein of the programmatic bases of
ism coming within our generation or Trotskyism. . . . 2. We consider as having
some generations to come. Instead, he has forfeited its power the International Sec­
advanced the concept of an 'engulfing' retariat of the Pabloist usurpers, which is
wave of revolutions that give birth to devoting its activity to the revisionism of
nothing but 'deformed', that is, Stalin- Trotskyism, the liquidation of the Inter­

536 International Committee (FI): 1950$

 national and the destruction of its cadres. tional Committee were able to gain some
3. Representing the vast majority of the additional recruits. These included the ex­
Trotskyist forces of the International, iled Chinese section based in Hong Kong,13
we decide to constitute an INTER­ and the Canadian section, although the Ca­
NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE nadian group underwent a split as a conse­
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL. . . . We quence of this decision.14
call on the leadership of all the sections Of course the International Committee
of the Fourth International to establish had the support of the Socialist Workers
relations with the leadership which repre­ Party of the United States. An editorial in
sents the Trotskyist program and the ma­ The Militant said that "the organization of
jority of the forces of the International. the International Committee signifies that
Every responsible cadre, every Trotskyist the Fourth International has once again
militant concerned with the unity of the proved its historic viability. It shows that
International and the future of his na­ no force on earth, external or internal, can
tional section, must clearly and swiftly destroy it."
take a position as between the revisionist The editorial concluded: "We hail the for­
and liquidationist center of the Pabloist mation of the International Committee of
usurpers, and the International Commit­ the Fourth International. Because ,we are
tee of the Fourth International.9 compelled to remain outside the Interna­
tional organization due to the reactionary
The fourteenth plenum of the i e c of the Voorhis Law of 1940, we are all the more
Fourth International, which met December interested and concerned with the develop­
26-28, 1963, retaliated against the signers ment of the Fourth International. The Inter­
of the s w p ' s "Letter" and the resolution es­ national Committee insures the line of revo­
tablishing the International Committee. It lutionary continuity that extends from Le­
resolved: "a. To suspend from membership nin, through Trotsky, and into the future
in the International all members of the i e c victory of socialist mankind."15
who signed the split appeal which appeared
in The Militant of November 16, 1953, or
The International Committee from
the appeal of the 'Committee of the Fourth
1953 to 1963
International,' or who support the appeals,
and endeavor to rally the sections of the The International Committee of the Fourth
International on this basis, b. To suspend International did not hold full-fledged con­
from their posts in the leadership of the sec­ gresses such as those of the Pabloite group.
tions all those who signed these appeals, or Pierre Frank has noted that it "really func­
who support them and endeavor to rally the tioned not as a centralized organization but
sections of the International on this basis, as a faction with loose ties among its mem­
c. To leave the final decision on these cases bers. According to information supplied by
to the Fourth World Congress."10 comrades who took part in the International
The fourteenth plenum also decided to Committee, there were few international
recognize as official sections the minority meetings of the committee, political posi­
groups of the s w p and of the British sec­ tions often being formulated, in the form
tion.11 Finally, it replaced Gerry Healy on of documents from national sections, after
the i e c and the is with John Lawrence, and exchanges of views between the commit­
added representatives of the German and tee's sections."16
Dutch sections to the International Secre­ However, from time to time there were
tariat.12 limited meetings of representatives of the
Those who had launched the Interna­ parties and groups associated with the Inter-

International Committee (FI): 1950s 537

national Committee. For example, one such continued to be those of Argentina, Chile,
meeting took place in Paris in November and Peru.19
1955. It adopted resolutions on the so-called In April r96i s l a t o held its second meet­
Parity Commission between the Pabloites ing, in Buenos Aires, where it paid particular
and the ic, and on "Solidarity with the Alge­ attention to the phenomenon of Castroism
rian Struggle for National Liberation."'7 in Latin America. It also adopted resolutions
The nearest thing to a worldwide meeting requesting the International Committee to
of the International Committee was a world publish all documents on the subject of Cas­
Conference which met in Leeds in 1958. troism and the Cuban Revolution which had
The leading role was apparently taken by been adopted by the member groups of the
the delegates of the s w p of the United States, i c , and calling for a general discussion of the

whose principal resolution was adopted at Castroite phenomenon within the ranks of
the meeting. The Latin American delegates the International Committee.10
to the conference submitted several docu­ The position of s l a t o was later summed
ments which were critical of the attitude of up thus: " s l a t o decidedly priented itself to
the s w p within the International Commit­ the perspective that the Cuban Revolution
tee, particularly its allegedly "federal" con­ had provoked a decisive change in the rela­
cept of the nature of the Fourth Interna­ tions of forces between imperialism and the
tional, and particularly of the International masses, in favor of the latter, with a leading
Committee, and of overtures which the swp role for the agrarian revolution and the
leaders had made for reunification with the armed struggle. . . and that a petty bourgeois
International Secretariat. However, the res­ revolutionary nationalist movement on
olutions submitted by the Latin Americans continental dimensions, Castroism, had ap­
were not formally considered by the con­ peared. A correct line for the construction of
ference.18 Trotskyist revolutionary parties must take
One development within the Interna­ into account these new phenomena, in par­
tional Committee which was to have con­ ticular, guerrilla war, incorporating them in
siderable future impact on the evolution of the traditional program of Trotskyism."21
International Trotskyism was the formation After first categorizing the Cuban regime
of a Latin American organization within its as a workers state "in transition," s l a t o
ranks. This resulted from a meeting in Octo­ soon came to regard it as a "bureaucratic
ber 1954 which set up the Comite Latino- workers state." As a counterpart to this
americano del Trotskismo Ortodoxo (c la ) , definition, s l a t o advocated a "political rev­
consisting of Nahuel Moreno from the Ar­ olution" in Cuba as in other "workers
gentine POR-Palabra Obrera, Humberto Va­ states."21
lenzuela of the Chilean p o r and Hernandez s l a t o formed the core of what in the

from the Peruvian p o r . 1970s and 1980s was to be the "Morenoist"

The c l a organized in March 1957 what it tendency in International Trotskyism.
called the First Conference of Latin Ameri­ Pierre Frank has noted concerning rela­
can Orthodox Trotskyism, which estab­ tions between the ic and the is that "begin­
lished the Latin American Secretariat of Or­ ning in 19 s 6, the Twentieth Congress of the
thodox Trotskyism (s l a t o ), which contin­ c p s u and the Sino-Soviet dispute brought

ued to exist until December 1964. Starting the positions of the two groups closer on the
in 1957 s l a t o issued a more or less regular question of the crisis of Stalinism. More­
publication, Estiategia, edited by Nahuel over, on the problems of the colonial revolu­
Moreno and appearing in Buenos Aires. A l­ tion, members and sympathizers of the In­
though some other groups were nominally ternational Committee, especially those in
affiliated with s l a t o , its major affiliates North America and Latin America, under­

538 International Committee (FI): 1950s

went an experience with the Cuban revolu­ International Committee
tion that was in many respects similar to
the Fourth International's experience with of the Fourth
the Algerian revolution."23 International of the 1960s
From time to time, the International
Committee issued general statements. One
of the most significant of these was the Man­
ifesto of the International Committee of the
Fourth International (Trotskyist) on the
Hungarian Revolution, published in No­
vember 1956. It proclaimed that "the Hun­ A substantial part of the anti-Pablo Interna­
garian people, arms in hand, have revolted tional Committee of the Fourth Interna­
against the native Stalinist bureaucracy and tional (ic) which had functioned during
its Russian overlords. In the course of their most of the 1950s refused to go along with
heroic struggle, they have established work­ the "reunification" of the Fourth Interna­
ers councils in several important industrial tional which resulted in the establishment
towns." It went on to argue that "to destroy of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­
Stalinist bureaucratic oppression and coun­ national in 1963. This dissident element of
terrevolution, the Hungarian workers coun­
the ic centered on the British Socialist Labor
cil (or soviet) method of organization, which League (s l l ) of Gerry Healy and the French
as in Russia in '17, forms the basis of the Organisation Communiste Internationa­
dictatorship of the proletariat [ sic]." liste (oci) of Pierre Lambert. For something
This document appealed to the members less than a decade these two organizations
of the Communist parties to use the betrayal and a few other national groups of less con­
of the workers by their parties in the Hun­ sequence maintained their own version of
garian situation to get rid of their Stalinist the International Committee.
leaders. It also appealed to the Soviet armed
forces, calling upon them to "Remember the
revolutionary traditions of the Red Army Third Conference of the
founded by Leon Trotsky. Solidarize your­ International Committee
selves immediately with the gallant Hun­
garian fighters for socialist freedom orga­ Those groups remaining in the International
nized in their soviets."24 Committee held a conference shortly after
As negotiations progressed toward reuni­ the establishment of the United Secretariat
fication of International Trotskyism— and proclaimed their unwillingness to par­
which ultimately culminated in the estab­ ticipate in u s e c . They held their Third (and
lishment of the United Secretariat of the last) Conference in London in April 1966. It
Fourth International in 1963—the Interna­ was reported that "Delegates and observers
tional Committee split. Some of its national from ten countries attended. Delegates from
sections entered the new United Secretariat, two African countries were prevented from
others continued in existence as a rump In­ attending by passport difficulties."1
ternational Committee. This 1966 conference adopted three basic
documents: a resolution on "Rebuilding the
Fourth International/' a "Report of the
Commission on Rebuilding the Fourth In­
ternational and the Tasks of the Interna­
tional Committee," and a "Manifesto." It
also defined which national groups would

International Committee (FI): 1960s 539

 be welcome in the International Committee tional Committee to rally to the ranks of
and which ones would not. the Fourth International the militants and
Subsequently, polemics were to develop groups who are misled by the revisionist
within the ic over whether the task before leaders of the United Secretariat."4 The
it was to "rebuild" the Fourth International Fourth Conference did not take place.
or to "continue" it. Apparently the resolu­ The most important organizational deci­
tion of the 1966 conference on the subject sion of the Third Conference was to exclude
was something of a compromise. At least from the membership the Spartacist Group
the s l l leaders were later to argue that from the United States and the Voix Ou­
"while it is formally true . . . that the final vriere group from France, which had been
resolutions in some places retained the represented by "observers."5 The "Ameri­
terms 'reconstructing' and 'rebuilding/ can Commission" of the conference deliv­
what is certain is that the content of these ered a report which was unanimously
resolutions was above all the continuity of adopted by the official delegates to the meet­
the independent parties and of the f i fought ing. It recognized the American Committee
for and preserved by the ic. . . ,"2 for the Fourth International—which like the
The basic political resolution of the con­ Spartacist group had originated from a split
ference recounted the history of the "degen­ in the Socialist Workers Party in the early
eration" of the Comintern, the "betrayal" 1960s—as the United States affiliate of the
of post-World War II revolutionary possibili­ International Committee and gave it in­
ties by the Soviet leadership and the Social structions to organize as such.6 Of course,
Democrats, and the struggle within the the ic already had a French section, the oci,
Fourth International from 1952 on. It con­ which more or less automatically meant the
centrated particular attention on the alleged exclusion of Voix Ouvriere.
"revisionism and liquidationism" of the The "Manifesto of the International Com­
"Pabloites" and the United States Socialist mittee of the Fourth International" adopted
Workers Party.3 by the conference had three sections: " 1.
The organizational report also adopted by The crisis opened by the war continued. . . .
the 1966 conference proclaimed that "the 2. The bureaucracies against the revolution
London Conference reaffirms that the pro­ in Vietnam. . . . 3. Build the revolutionary
gram and method for the building of the leadership!" This last portion set forth the
revolutionary parties and the Fourth Inter­ basic orientation at that time of the ic in
national are to be found in the Transitional subdivisions under the following headings:
Program. This program remains the only "The Fourth International Fights Uncondi­
one that is capable of providing a solution tionally for: The Victory of the Vietnamese
to the problems raised by the historical cri­ Workers and Peasants. For the Defeat of U.S.
sis of revolutionary leadership." It also as­ Imperialism"; "The Fourth International
serted: "The Conference affirms that the Fights for the Unconditional Defense of the
Fourth International has not degenerated. . . Conquests of the Chinese Revolution";
the continuity of the Fourth International "The Fourth International Fights for the In­
has been fought for and maintained by the dependence of the Trade Unions From the
International Committee's actions." State"; "The Fourth International Fights for
This report also called for the holding the United Front of the-<Working Class";
within eighteen months of "the Fourth In­ "The Fourth International Fights for the
ternational Conference, whose aim will be United Socialist States of Europe"; "The
to rally all Trotskyist organizations fighting Fourth International Fights Against Slander
for the program of the Fourth International. and Repression"; and "For the Rebuilding of
This will include a struggle by the Interna­ the Fourth International."7

540 International Committee (FI): 1960s

 Interestingly enough, there was no em­ ternational Committee: the s l l of Great
phasis on or discussion of the importance of Britain, the oci of France, the League of So­
the philosophy of dialectical materialism in cial Revolutionaries of Hungary, the Partido
any of the documents adopted at the Third Obrero Revolucionario (p o r ) led by Guil­
Conference of the ic. Thus, a question lermo Lora in Bolivia, the Revolutionary
which was to be one of the pretenses for the Communist Party of Ceylon, the Liga
split in the organization half a dozen years Obrera Marxista of Mexico (l o m ), the
later seems not even to have been a subject League for a Workers Vanguard of Ireland,
of discussion at the 1966 meeting. and the Workers League of the United
Although the Healy-Lambert version of States. It maintained that the two groups
the International Committee did not hold emerging from a split in 1967 in the original
any other full-blown international confer­ Greek affiliate of the ic had been accepted as
ence after that of 1966 it did have several "sympathizing groups" rather than regular
somewhat more restricted sessions at which sections of the International Committee.11
all or most of its national sections were rep­ On the other hand, the s l l at about the same
resented. There was a meeting of the Inter­ time denied that p o r had ever been accepted
national Committee in June 1967 which as a full member of the ic and insisted that
was attended at least by representatives of the majority Greek group after the 1967 split
the British, French, and Hungarian sections, had continued as a full-fledged section of the
and its discussion centered principally on International Committee.11
the most recent Arab-Israeli war.8 In Sep­ Efforts were made to extend the scope of
tember 1967 another meeting of the ic had the Healy-Lambert ic during the years it
an agenda dealing with the situation in Cey­ existed. There was a group of Hungarian ex­
lon, work of the youth section, an "interna­ iles who formed a Hungarian section. It took
tional discussion," an assessment of prob­ the lead in 1969 in organizing a "conference
lems of the sections in Greece and the of members from Eastern European coun­
United States, and celebration of the fiftieth tries . . . which led to the formation of the
anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.9 Organizing Committee of Communist
Although other detailed information has (Trotskyist] Militants of Eastern Europe.
not been encountered concerning similar ic . . . " There is no indication given as to how
meetings subsequent to 1967, it is clear that many such East European members there
preparations were begun for another full­ were, or from which countries they came.13
blown conference of the ic and its affiliates. Attempts were also made to expand the
To this end, "In July 1970 a preconference organization into Latin America. In 1969 the
of the ic sections and groups associated with faction of the Bolivian p o r led by Guillermo
it was held, a step towards an international Lora became associated (in one way or an­
conference regrouping organizations, other) with the International Committee,
groups, and militants who base themselves and in the following year, the Mexican l o m
on the Transitional Program."10 This was was recognized as a regular section of the
the last more or less general meeting of the International Committee. Then in February
Healy-Lambert International Committee as 1971, "on the initiative of the oci, acting
a single tendency of International Trots­ on behalf of the International Committee, a
kyism. meeting was held in Europe for Latin Ameri­
Even during the existence of the Healy- can organizations and militants, with the
Lambert tendency there was some debate aim of preparing the conditions for rebuild­
about how many national affiliates it had. ing the Fourth International in Latin
The oci maintained in November 1971 that America."
there were eight regular sections in the In­ Aside fr o m the Bolivian p o r and the Mexi­

t International Committee (FI): 1960s 541

i
 can l o m , there was present at that meeting Split in the Healy-Lambert
representation of the Argentine group International Committee
known as Politica Obrera "which has pro­
claimed its loyalty to the Transitional Pro­ From its inception the Healy-Lambert Inter­
gram from its foundation, but has until re­ national Committee had a kind of bipolar
cently developed on the fringes of the inter­ characteristic. The two strongest groups in
nationally organized Trotskyist movement. the organization, the Socialist Labor League
. . The Brazilian Trotskyist Bolshevik Fac­ of Great Britain and the Organisation Com­
tion, a breakaway from the Posadas group muniste Intemationaliste of France, both
in that country, had been prevented from led by strong-willed characters tended to
sending a delegate by the military dictator­ group the other national sections of the orga­
ship. Finally delegates were reported as at­ nization around them in a more .or less satel­
tending from Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela lite fashion. The tension betweerf these two
"in an independent capacity."14 factions reached a breaking point in 19 7 1-
A long resolution was adopted which put 72.
forward the slogan of a "United Socialist It is clear that there were differences of
States of Latin America." It was maintained opinion and interpretation of the position of
at the meeting that the two countries of the the International Committee between the
region which had at that moment the most leaders of the s l l and the oci at least as early
fertile ground for the advent of a socialist as the Third Conference in 1966. However,
revolution were Bolivia and Argentina.15 these differences were compromised at that
Understandably, the International Com­ time.
mittee concentrated a good deal of its atten­ In May and June 1967 there was an ex­
tion on the rival United Secretariat of the change of long letters between the oci and
Fourth International. Aside from frequent the s l l in which they criticized one another
denunciations of u s e c in periodicals and of­ in a more or less gentlemanly fashion. The
ficial resolutions, there was at least some oci complained about the inability of the
exchange of polemical pamphlets between s l l to keep a functioning international appa­

the two groups, particularly in the earlier ratus going for the ic. The major element of
years. Gerry Healy published early in 1967 dispute between the two groups at that time
a pamphlet, Problems of the Fourth Interna­ was the concept of the oci of the necessity
tio n a lwhich centered most of its attack on to "rebuild" the Fourth International, in
the United Secretariat, and particularly on contrast with the s l l ' s contention that the
the Socialist Workers Party of the United H continued to exist in the International
States.16 The u s e c replied in kind. In the Committee, the major organization require­
same year Emest Germain (Mandel) put out ment of which was that it build new sec­
the pamphlet Marxism vs. Ultraleftism: tions in various countries.19
Key Issues in Healy's Challenge to the However, in spite of these early disagree­
Fourth International.17 ments it was not until 19 71 that matters
In spite of these polemics, an effort was came to a head between the s l l and the
launched by the ic in 1970 to recommence oci, leading to a split in the International
"discussions" with u s e c . Gerry Healy met Committee. By that time Healy and the the
on two occasions with members of the u s e c other leaders of the Socialist Labor League
concerning "the possibility of joint discus­ had come to place extraordinary importance
sion centered on outstanding political differ­ on the role of the philosophy of dialectical
ences and directed towards the holding of a materialism and on the need to propagate it
joint international conference"; u s e c and to apply it to current situations. For
turned down these overtures.18 its part, although not discarding dialectical

542 Internationa] Committee (FI): 1960s

materialism the oci leadership emphasized veloping Marxist theory through the strug­
the importance of the specific revolutionary gle against bourgeois ideology in all the
program to the success of the socialist revo­ forms it takes in the workers' movement."22
lution, and most particularly the impor­ The amendment offered by the Young So­
tance of the Transitional Program enunci­ cialists was opposed by the a j s and was not
ated by Trotsky in 1938 to this end. This voted upon at Essen but was referred to the
issue was ostensibly one of the causes of Liaison Committee elected at the Essen
the 1970-72 split. The other was differing rally. When the Liaison Committee finally
opinions concerning the role of the Bolivian met in November 1971, the Young Social­
p o r in recent and current events in that ists did not attend, so once again no defini­
country. tive vote was taken on their amendment
The situation began to reach crisis propor­ and the Liaison Committee urged the Young
tions in July 19 71 in Essen, Germany, at a Socialists to take their place on it at its next
Youth Rally officially sponsored jointly by meeting in January 19 7 2 “
the Alliance des Jeunesses por le Socialisme Meanwhile, a controversy had begun over
(a j s ) and the Young Socialists, the youth the role which the p o r had played during
groups of the oci and s l l respectively, but the ten-month regime of General J. J. Torres,
principally organized by the French group. which ended with Torres's overthrow in a
The ocr reported that some 5,000 young short civil war in August 1971. The p o r of
people from thirty-two countries attended Guillermo Lora had played an important
the meeting, including many who did not role in the "Popular Assembly" formed by
consider themselves Trotskyists, such dis­ unions, peasant organizations, and left-wing
parate groups being represented as the youth political parties during the Torres govern­
organization of the Spanish p o u m and the ment, meeting in the building of the Na­
National Students Association of the tional Congress (which had been dissolved).
United States.10 Lora and his oci supporters maintained that
The a j s , on behalf of the International the Popular Assembly was a "dual power"
Committee, had drawn up a draft resolution roughly equivalent to the Russian soviets in
for adoption by this youth assembly. It elab­ 1917, and that Lora and its other leaders had
orated at some length on the rise of revolu­ been carrying out the kind of united front
tionary possibilities in the industrial capi­ which the Trotskyists had always advo­
talist countries, as well as the developing cated; they had prepared the way for the
ones, and on the supposedly growing pres­ socialist revolution, only to be cut short by
sure for political revolution in the "workers military insurrection and the unwillingness
states/' and urged the special role to be of General Torres to arm the workers and
played by the young people in this alleged peasants. The s l l leaders strongly attacked
revolutionary wave.21 Lora and the p o r for having "supported" the
The British Young Socialists introduced Torres government and for not launching
an amendment to the a j s motion which said the slogan for his overthrow, arguing that
in part: "The continuity of the struggle for the p o r ' s attitude had been a "betrayal" of
revolutionary Marxist theory in the past, Trotskyist principles.
the struggle of the Fourth International and The documents involved in this contro­
the International Committee, was the only versy included an editorial published by
basis for the initiatives which led to this Tim Wohlforth of the U.S. Workers League
rally and for the struggle to build the inter­ on August 31, 1971, which was republished
national revolutionary youth movement. in the s l l periodical, attacking the behavior
Revolutionary youth everywhere must de­ of Lora and the p o r ; a statement by the Cen­
vote themselves above all to the task of de­ tral Committee of the oci on September 19,

International Committee (FI): 1960s 543

 19 7 1/ defending the position of the POR; and International
a statement dated October 12, 1971, signed
by Lora for the p o r , Pierre Lambert for the Revolutionary Marxist
oci, and Balasz Nagy for the League of So­ Tendency
cialist Revolutionaries of Hungary, support­
ing the p o r 's position, but saying that the
party's behavior should be carefully studied
by the 1c, and condemning "the method
used by the Workers League and the s l l ."24
Following this exchange, a document was In most of the two decades after World War
issued on October 24, 19 71, by the "major­ II probably the most outstanding, if contro­
ity" of the ic, reportedly including represen­ versial, leader of International Trotskyism
tatives of the s l l , the Workers League, the was Michel Raptis, better known as Michel
Revolutionary Communist League of Cey­ Pablo. However, even before the "reunifica­
lon, the Workers International League of tion" of a substantial part of the Fourth In­
Greece, and the League for a Workers Van­ ternational in the United Secretariat in
guard of Ireland. That document denounced 1963, Pablo had begun an ideological evolu­
actions of the oci going back as far as 1967, tion which was first to bring him to estab­
returned to repudiation of the p o r and its lish a small faction of International Trots­
behavior before and during the Torres re­ kyism and then to lead that organization
gime, and took exception to the oci's organ­ into giving up its allegiance to Trotskyism.
izing a meeting in Paris at which Stephane
Just of the oci was described as "Secretary of
Origins of Pablo's Split
the ic for the Reconstruction of the Fourth With Trotskyism
International." The document claimed that
"this is a split from the ic and its politics. Michel Pablo participated in the formation
It is a split by a minority."25 of the United Secretariat in 1963. However,
On November 24, 1971, the Central Com­ when u s e c held its first congress, he was
mittee of the oci replied to this "majority" absent, the first time since the European
document. It denied that those who had Conference of 1944 that he had not partici­
signed the October 24 statement consti­ pated in a major meeting of International
tuted a majority of the ic, and charged that Trotskyism. By the time the 196s meeting
by organizing a meeting of the five groups was held, Pablo was already outside of the
which had signed the statement, the s l l and ranks of that faction of the movement which
its allies had in fact been the ones who pro­ was led by u s e c .
voked a split in the International Commit­ The United Secretariat explained the exit
tee of the Fourth International. At consider­ of Pablo thus: "Michel Pablo, while greeting
able length it again defended the oci and the the reunification, held views on a number
p o r , and denounced the recent behavior of of points conflicting with the position of the
the Socialist Labor League.26 reunified movement . . . he has gone so far
In any case, regardless of who had been as to issue his own public factional organ/'
responsible for the final acts which consti­ and by late 1965 had been "suspended from
tuted a split in the International Commit­ leadership in the Fourth international."1
tee, that split was a fact by the end of 1971. According to Pablo's supporters the situa­
tion was somewhat more complicated.
When Pablo was finally released from prison
in Amsterdam he went to London, where he
was provided with a Moroccan passport, and

544 International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency

went to Morocco, where he worked with son of Australia, and Simon Maillet and G il­
Algerian rebels until the end of the Algerian bert Marquis of France. Some of these
War. When peace finally came he went to continued for some time to be active in their
Algiers, where he had a long conversation national sections of the United Secretariat.
with the leader of the new Algerian regime,
Ahmed Ben Bella, who ended up asking
Pablo to be his political adviser. This was Evolution of International
the first and only time that the Trotskyists Revolutionary Marxist Tendency
had ever gotten in a position of even advi­ Pablo and his associates soon established
sory leadership in a revolutionary regime. their own organization, the International
The Reunification Congress authorized Revolutionary Marxist Tendency of the
establishment of an African Bureau of the
Fourth International (Tendance Marxiste-
International, headed by Pablo. This organi­
RSvolutionnaire Internationale de la Qua-
zation began issuing a periodical, Sous le
trifeme International— t m r i q i ). This group
Drapeau du Socialisms, identified as the or­
had its first international meeting in r972
gan of the African Bureau of the Fourth In­ when it dropped the reference to the Fourth
ternational. However, u s e c soon issued a International from its name and at the same
statement that the magazine had been pub­ time proclaimed that it no longer considered
lished without the approval of the Interna­
itself "Trotskyiste." Nor did they any longer
tional, and did not reflect its views.2 claim to be the party of the world revolution.
Michel Pablo himself has stated his prin­ They were merely a Marxist tendency
cipal discrepancies with the United Secre­ which was particularly dedicated to foster­
tariat. They were: " i) My disagreement with
ing "autogestion," that is, self-government
the assessment of Maoism by the u s e c as on all levels—the workers in the factory,
evolving towards revolutionary Marxist po­
and so on, up through the various layers of
sitions, to which it was necessary to offer the economy and society.
critical support. 2} My disagreement with
By 1982 the Tendance Marxiste-R6volu-
the assessment of the Khrushchev tendency tionnaire Internationale (t m r i ) had affiliates
of the Soviet bureaucracy as a simple per­
in France, the Netherlands (where they pub­
sonal quarrel. I had maintained at the time lished a periodical, Socialisties Zelfbeheer),
that the K. tendency was more receptive to Greece (For Socialism), Cyprus (For Social­
the pressures of Soviet society than the ism), Australia, and Austria. They had indi­
other more Stalinist tendency which sought vidual members in Italy and were in the
to overthrow him. 3) My disagreement with process of forming a group in Argentina.*
the support given by the u s e c to Holden By the early 1980s t m r i had developed
Roberto against the m p jl a (in Angola). I fa­ another major divergence from the ideas of
vored support of the latter."3 u s e c : they no longer considered the Soviet
The Pabloist group subsequently de­
Union and other Communist-controlled re­
scribed what occurred to them. They said gimes to be "workers states." Rather, they
that "for having publicly defended these categorized them as "bureaucratic states."
ideas our comrades were accused by the A resolution of the Seventh International
u s e c of the period of gravely violating 'dem­
Conference of the t m r i stated their position,
ocratic centralism,' and thus putting them­ quoting with approval an hypothesis which
selves outside of the IV International."4 the Soviet Trotskyist Christian Rakovsky
There followed a purge of Pablo's support­ had put forward many years before:
ers from the apparatus of the United Secre­
tariat. These included not only Pablo him­ The total statization of the economy,
self, but Ismael Frias of Peru, Denis Ander­ brought about by the State in the hands

International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency 545

 of the bureaucracy, reinforces its material gle and of organization," as well as "the elab­
privileges and its control over the masses, oration of a transition program based on so­
transforming it insensibly into 'a large cialist autogestion, and including the strat­
class of rulers with their own internal di­ egy proposed to the working class. We think
visions, a class which grows through pru­ that the elaboration of this program requires
dent cooptation, direct or indirect (bu­ the calling together of the currents which
reaucratic promotion, system of fictitious support socialism and revolution. In the first
elections). What unites this original class place, this debate is necessary among those
is an original form of private property, who claim the tradition of the Third and
that is, possession of the power of the Fourth Internationals. "8 The United Secre­
State. . . . From the moment that the par- tariat paid little or no attention to this Open
ty-State concentrates in its hands all po­ Letter.
litical power and expropriates the masses
politically, depriving them of their coun­
cils, their committees, their self-govern­
ing communes, their parties, their free
unions, their free press, etc. . . . the
'Thermidor' is accomplished in the fol­
lowing precise and new sense: in the
anticapitalist State established by the
Revolution there begins to develop inexo­
rably the dynamic converting it into the
bureaucratic State, and not a socialist so­
ciety. During the process thus begun, the
formation of the bureaucracy of the State
is reinforced constantly, dominating the
State and through it the whole society.
. . . (T]he variant produced by history is
not that envisaged by L. Trotsky; it is
unprecedented.6

The t m r i advocated, in place of the "bu­

reaucratic State" what it called "autoges­
tion." It summarized the meaning of this in
a manifesto it produced on the occasion of
the first direct elections for the Assembly of
the European Common Market: "Socialism
is nothing other than the democratic power
of the workers and the citizens on all levels
and in all parts of society. It implies the
widest political democracy, and has nothing
to do with the ignoble caricature called 'so­
cialism' in the USSR and in the so-called
'popular democracies.' " 7
In mid-1979 the t m r i issued an "Open
Letter to the Members of the Fourth Interna­
tional." It urged that there was need "to
develop new directions, new forms of strug­

546 International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency

 International Secretariat The Question of Unity and the Fourth
World Congress
of the Fourth
International of the 1950s The Trotskyist party in Ceylon, the Lanka
Sama Samaja Party (l s s p ), sought to act as
mediator in this conflict within the Fourth
International. To this end they insisted that
all of the groups which had been represented
at the Third World Congress should also be
After the split in the Fourth International invited to send delegates to the Fourth
which took place in 1952-53 the faction World Congress. To facilitate this the l s s p
which continued to be led by Michel Pablo urged that the congress, scheduled for July
came to be generally referred to as the Inter­ 1954, be postponed. The Fourth Interna­
national Secretariat (is) in contradistinction tional loaders refused such a postponement.
to the International Committee (ic), the Perhaps due to the pressure of the l s s p the
anti-Pablo faction. The is continued to have International Executive Committee drafted
regular congresses; the International Com­ a letter which, according to the document
mittee did not. With the passage of time, the itself, was sent "to all those, without.excep­
is tended to move away from the strategy tion, who were members of the Interna­
proposed by Pablo at the beginning of the tional at the time of the Third Congress and
1950s which had provoked the split in the who by their own volition have placed
FI. themselves outside the organizational
The Pabloite leadership claimed to retain framework of the International, centralized
within its ranks the great majority of the world Party."3
sections. In a letter addressed to the Chinese Although this document was clearly par­
section the is wrote that "the following sec­ tisan (arguing, for instance, that "The i e c
tions: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bel­ has always been invested with the confi­
gium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Ceylon, dence of the vast majority of the Interna­
Chile, Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Brit­ tional"), it did urge the recipients to "submit
ain (majority), Greece, Holland, Italy, Indo­ any disputes you may have . . . to this Con­
china, Peru, Uruguay, that is, the over­ gress." It continued, "You no longer have
whelming majority have said that their confidence in the present leadership of the
organization is only the f i and condemn the International, or its organization of this
split committee."1 Congress? Offer concrete proposals as to
This claim was somewhat exaggerated. how you envisage your participation in this
The majority of the Canadian section had Congress; state the conditions of the future
gone with the International Committee, as functioning and leadership of the Interna­
had the majority of that of Great Britain. In tional which, if adopted or largely satisfied
the case of the Bolivian party a split took by the Congress, would in your opinion
place shortly after the schism in the Fourth make possible the reestablishment of the
International. Although the causes of that unity of the International."
division in the Partido Obrero Revoluciona­ To receive these proposals the i e c set up
rio were domestic rather than international, a commission "which would function prior
a faction led by Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso to the beginning of the Congress sessions.
aligned with the Pabloites, while the other, .. ." It named to this commission Leslie
led by Guillermo Lora, sympathized with Goonewardene of Ceylon, Edward of Ger­
the International Committee, although it many, Livio Maitan of Italy, Ernest Mandel,
may not have officially joined it.2 J. Posadas of Argentina, Boa of the Nether­

International Secretariat (FI) 547

lands, Dumas of the pro-Pablo French group, The Fourth Congress, meeting in July
and Serrano of the Bolivian p o r . The letter 1954, was attended by delegates from orga­
argued that "the purpose of this commission nizations in twenty-one different countries.
is to assure your participation—genuine, It dealt, understandably, with the problem
not formal—in the Congress, in order to of the split in the International and also dis­
achieve the reunification of our interna­ cussed and adopted several documents.8
tional movement, with the Congress having Most of the delegates to this congress sup­
the sovereign decision."4 ported the position which Pablo and his as­
This letter of the i e c did not serve to bring sociates had maintained in the conflict with
about the reunification of the International. those sections which formed the Interna­
It did arouse conflicting reactions among tional Committee. However, a minority,
groups which had remained with the Inter­ consisting principally of George Clarke
national Secretariat and the i e c . On the one from the Socialist Union of America, Mur­
hand, John Lawrence of Great Britain pro­ ray Dawson of the Pabloite minority from
tested, saying, "As you know, I am com­ Canada, Michele Mestre of the pro-Pablo p c i
pletely opposed to your method in this ques­ of France, and John Lawrence of the British
tion."5 The Cochranite Socialist Union of minority,, protested strongly against the
America also protested, saying that "it is compromises which Pablo had made with
with a sense of strong urgency that we call the Ceylonese l s s p . They finally walked out
upon the i e c to reverse the course and to of the meeting. Fred Feldman has noted that
reorient the entire struggle along correct "Mestre and Lawrence immediately joined
lines."6 the Communist parties in their respective
On the other hand, the Ceylonese l s s p countries."9
also protested, but from a different point of The most important resolution of the
view. It argued that "the draft appeal as it Fourth World Congress was entitled "Rise
stands can be construed as a factional docu­ and Decline of Stalinism." The draft of this
ment. . . . It is completely out of place for document, which more or less repeated Pab­
the i e c to make any such declaration. . . . " lo's position that the Stalinist parties
Therefore, Colvin R. de Silva and Leslie whether they wanted to or not were increas­
Goonewardene, member and alternate ingly being forced to take the leadership in
member of the i e c for Ceylon, refused to revolutionary movements in various parts
sign the letter.7 In the end only those groups of the world, had been severely criticized by
which stayed with the Pablo leadership were the ls s p of Ceylon. Although in the precon­
represented at the Fourth Congress. gress discussion Ernest Mandel (under the
name Ernest Germain) strongly answered
the ls s p 's criticisms. Pablo and his associ­
The Pabloite Fourth International
ates finally agreed to accept the modifica­
1953-63
tions suggested by the ls s p .10
The Fourth International faction headed by The Fifth Congress of the Pabloite faction
Michel Raptis (Pablo) held three world con­ of the International met in October 1957
gresses after the split at the end of 1953. As and was attended by "about a hundred dele­
well as these meetings there were intermit­ gates and observers from twenty-five coun­
tent negotiations for reestablishing the tries." 11 The congress's discussions centered
unity of the international Trotskyist move­ on three documents. The first of these, "Eco­
ment which culminated in the so-called Re­ nomic Perspectives and International Poli­
unification Congress of 1963 which, how­ cies," was presented by Pablo and it recog­
ever, only succeeded in partially reuniting nized for the first time (for the Trotskyists)
the forces of the Fourth International. that a major world depression was not likely

548 International Secretariat (FI)

 in the proximate future. It discussed the workers states, the USSR become the sec­
ways in which the capitalist regimes had ond world power, the revolutionary rise
prevented such a crisis, and noted that al­ throughout the world." Pierre Frank has
though revolutionary strikes in the capital­ noted that "thus it demonstrates that hence­
ist countries were not likely soon there forth there can be no danger, except in the
might be extensive economic strikes. highly improbable case of defeat in a world
This document also dealt with the econo­ war, of a restoration of capitalism in the
mies of the "workers states," noting their Soviet Union," the first time an interna­
rapid progress and suggesting the need for tional Trotskyist meeting had made this
rationalizing their economies. Pierre Frank fundamental change in the traditional "for­
has noted that "the document emphasized ward to Socialism or backward to capital­
the basic role of workers democracy not only ism " dichotomy. It claimed that the de-Sta-
as a political factor but as indispensable for Iinization launched by Khrushchev at the
development in the economic area." Twentieth Congress of the c p s u the year
Finally the economic document dealt before constituted "measures of the self-de­
with the situation in the colonial countries. fence—not self-liquidation—of the bureau­
It noted that some economic progress had cracy."14
been made there, but that relatively the co­ Frank concluded concerning this Fifth
lonial nations were falling farther behind Congress that "the discussions . . . were
the big industrial countries and argued "that broad in scope; certain points were strongly
the result of this would be a growing impov­ debated by various delegates, but there was
erishment of the colonial masses and conse­ no tendency struggle. The International had
quently the continuation of the objective largely recovered; it came out, once again
conditions that were fanning the flames of unanimously, in favor of reunification of the
colonial revolution."11 international movement."15
The second document was on "Colonial The last international meeting of the Pab­
Revolution since the End of the Second loite faction before "reunification," the
World War," introduced by Pierre Frank. It Sixth Congress, met early in 1961 with "a
"stressed the fact that [such revolutions hundred participants from about thirty
were] the dominant feature of the postwar countries." Pierre Frank noted that "be­
period, . . . [upsetting] all the perspectives cause of the fierce and bitter—and politi­
that had been made since the origin of the cally impoverished—struggle waged by the
working-class movement, even those made Posadas faction, the discussions did not
after the October Revolution. . . . The con­ allow the International to make any real
gress insisted on the necessity for the Trots­ progress in its thinking. . . . But the docu­
kyist movement, especially for the sections ments ratified by the congress were not
in the imperialist countries, to devote a large without importance."
part of its activity to aiding the colonial rev­ One of these documents, introduced by
olution."13 Ernest Mandel, reviewed the world eco­
Finally, the Fifth Congress came back to nomic situation, recounting again the
a new version of the previous meeting's means by which the capitalist countries had
document, "The Rise and Decline of Sta­ avoided a major economic crisis. Also, al­
linism," adding another part of it, "The though noting the continued advance of the
Decline and Fall of Stalinism." It was "workers states," it "refuted Khrushchev's
introduced by Ernest Mandel. The revised claim, widely believed in that period, to the
document, after tracing the rise of Sta­ effect that the USSR would rapidly surpass
linism, noted "the objective conditions of the USA on the economic plane."14
the new situation: the existence of several Livio Maitan introduced the congress doc­

I International Secretariat (FI) 549

I
i
ument on the colonial revolution. It "made and was sentenced to two years in jail,
a special study of the situation in a certain which he served.
number of colonial zones or colonial coun­ After Pablo's arrest it was decided to move
tries. A great deal of space was allotted to the the International Secretariat to Rome. The
Algerian revolution.. ., A special resolution reason for this was simple: of the three
was devoted to Cuba, retracing the revolu­ members of the Bureau of the Secretariat—
tionary process that had culminated only a Pierre Frank, Ernest Mandel, and Livio Mai-
short time before in making the island a tan—Maitan was at that time the only one
workers state, the first in the Western Hemi­ who could devote full time to the work of
sphere."17 the is. Pablo opposed this decision.19
This time Pierre Frank introduced the res­
olution on Stalinism. It recounted the "re­
forms" undertaken by Khrushchev and
"also made a study of the new contradic­
tions to which the Communist parties were
subject. It pointed out the compromise be­
tween the Chinese and Soviet leaderships
embodied in the text adopted several weeks
earlier in the Moscow conference of eighty-
one Communist and Workers parties and
concluded that this compromise could not
be a lasting one, that the Sino-Soviet crisis
would inevitably erupt again."
This was the first Fourth International
congress since 1948 at which the Lanka
Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon was not repre­
sented. The quarrel between that party and
the International which two years later
would result in the expulsion of most of the
l s s p from the International had begun.18

One of the decisions of the Sixth Congress

which was not published at the time was to
move the headquarters of the International.
Until i960 it was in Paris but it was con­
cluded that because of the return of Charles
de Gaulle to power it was no longer advis­
able to keep the headquarters there, since
the International Secretariat had been par­
ticularly active in support of the Algerian
Revolution.
In i960 the headquarters were moved to
Amsterdam, where it was thought that the
Trotskyists would be freer to operate and
where they would be nearer the European
headquarters of the Algerian revolution, Co­
logne. Ironically soon after moving there
Michel Pablo was arrested by the Dutch po­
lice for his work against the Algerian War

550 International Secretariat (FI)

 International Socialist trolled by Stalin's heirs were "state capi­
talist."
Tendency This tendency in International Trotsky­
ism maintained a more or less informal in­
ternational organization for about half a
dozen years. Disagreements over the atti­
tude to be adopted towards the Portuguese
Revolution and other issues led to a parting
A tendency of International Trotskyism of the ways between the British and United
which owed its origins, at least indirectly, States International Socialists. The former
to the 1939-40 controversy between Leon became the Socialist Workers Party of Great
Trotsky and the Shachtmanite faction of the Britain; the latter split, with a splinter group
Socialist Workers Party of the United States remaining in solidarity with the British
has been the International Socialists. It con­ sw p .
sisted of groups which agreed with the old From time to time the International So­
Shachtmanite position that ‘ the Soviet cialist Tendency has held world meetings.
Union {and subsequently other Communist One of these was held in Great Britain in
Party-controlled regimes) were no longer September 1984, and it was reported that it
"workers states," degenerated, deformed, or was attended by representatives not only
otherwise. from the British Socialist Workers Party but
A group with this point of view had also organizations in Ireland, Australia, the
emerged in British Trotskyism in the early United States, Canada, Germany, as well as
1950s. It apparently had little or no contact "comrades from France, the Netherlands,
at that time with the existing Shachtmanite Denmark, and Norway." The meeting dealt
Independent Socialist League in the United particularly with the problems of the
States. smaller is groups, which perforce could
Subsequently, the Shachtmanites them­ function as nothing more than propagandist
selves split, some entering the Socialist organizations.1 A leading feature of the
Party of the United States, others entering meeting was a talk by Tony Cliff urging the
the more orthodox Trotskyist group, the So­ smaller groups not to pose as more than they
cialist Workers Party. Some of those who really were, and to dedicate themselves to
had entered the Socialist Party remained winning converts to their ideas on an indi­
only a short time, finally pulling out to form vidual basis.2 Another such international
what came to be known as the International meeting took place in Britain in July 1985.3
Socialists. They entered into contact in the
late 1960s with their British counterpart
which had adopted the same name.
Although all of those aligned with the In­
ternational Socialist Tendency agreed that
the Communist Party—controlled regimes
were not workers states, they did not agree
on what designation should be used for
them. At least two interpretations of the
issue were used by the different groups.
Some accepted the original designation
which the Shachtmanites had used, "bu­
reaucratic collectivism"; others within the
Tendency argued that the regimes con­

International Socialist Tendency 551

 international Spartacist period, however, the future Spartacists had
developed certain tactical differences with
tendency Healy and the ic.
Subsequent to the expulsion of both
groups from the Socialist Workers Party
there were attempts by the International
Committee to get them to join forces. To
One of the more idiosyncratic currents this end, Gerry Healy met in Montreal with
within International Trotskyism has been representatives of both groups, and it was
the international Spartacist tendency [sic]. agreed that for the time being both factions
Its differentiation from other elements of would be associated with the ic .1
the movement is not only shown in the pe­ Subsequently it .was reported'by the Inter­
culiar way it chose to spell out its name national Committee that after the Montreal
but also in the fact that, in the service of meeting "discussion between the two
maintaining complete loyalty to the ideas groups and a certain amount of political ac­
of Trotsky, it gave more complete support tivity were carried out and a delegation from
during the 1970s and early 1980s to the So­ both groups was sent as observers to the
viet regime and those in Eastern Europe and International Conference." It added that "in
elsewhere associated with it than did any the intervening period Robertson and his
other tendency or group within Interna­ group published some International Com­
tional Trotskyism, with the exception of the mittee material and claimed to stand on the
Australian Socialist Workers Party, which positions of the International Committee."2
ended up totally repudiating Trotskyism. The Spartacist Group was represented at
The international Spartacist tendency the Third Conference of the International
(ist) was more or less directly a split-off from Committee in London in April 1966. James
the International Committee of the Fourth Robertson presented a substantial critique
International of the 1960s. It had its origins of the proposed program of the ic which
in a split in the Socialist Workers Party of clearly was not well received by those con­
the United States in the early 1960s. At that trolling the meeting. After a clash at the
time two groups of younger leaders and following session of the conference the Spar-
members of the s w p , most of whom had ticist Group was excluded from the Interna­
belonged previously to the Shachtmanite In­ tional Committee and the rival American
dependent Socialist League but had refused Committee for the Fourth International was
to follow it in joining the Socialist Party, recognized as the American section of the
split from the s w p . The first to be expelled ic.
was a faction led by James Robertson, and The Third Conference then adopted a
they formed what was first called the Sparta­ "Statement . . . on the Robertson Group
cist Group. Shortly afterward another fac­ . . which, among other things said, "Since
tion headed by Tiro Wohlforth was also ex­ the Spartacist group has in the past claimed
pelled from the s w p and established what it to adhere to the positions of the Interna­
first called the American Committee for the tional Committee it must be categorically
Fourth International, and which subse­ stated that the International Committee not
quently became the Workers League. only dissociates itself irpm the activities
Both the Robertson and Wohlforth groups and publications of the Spartacist group but
had been in contact with the International insists that a Marxist party can be built only
Committee, and particularly with Gerry in opposition to it. . . ."3
Healy, during their factional fight within With their expulsion from the Interna­
the Socialist Workers Party. Even in that tional Committee, the Spartacist Group,

552 international Spartacist tendency

which soon became the Spartacist League, It was not until the summer of 1979 that
was left in more or less total isolation inter­ the first international conference of the in­
nationally. It remained thus for several ternational Spartacist tendency was held, in
years. Great Britain. It was reported that "voting
It was not until the early 1970s that a New delegates attended from the Spartacist
Zealander, Bill Logan, got in touch with the League/U.S., Spartacist League of Australia/
American Spartacists and set about estab­ New Zealand, Trotzkistische Liga Deutsch-
lishing a Spartacist organization there. Lo­ lands, Spartacist League of Britain, Ligue
gan subsequently moved to Australia and Trotskyste de France, and Trotskyist League
the organization became the Spartacist of Canada. . . . Also attending were three
League of Australia and New Zealand, al­ representatives of the Revolutionary Work­
though in fact almost all of its members ers Party of Ceylon (r w p ), a small Ceylonese
were in Australia after Logan shifted his left-centrist current headed by veteran Sin­
base of operations there. By the late 1970s halese Trotskyist Edmund Samarakkody,
the ist had shifted Logan to Great Britain, and nine members of the Lega Trotskysta
where he played a major role in organizing d'ltalia, a grouping of very youthful Pabloist-
the group in that country. Logan was subse­ derived militants."
quently purged by the ist international lead­ The report on this meeting noted that the
ership.4 average age of the delegates was “ over 29"
With the outbreak of the internal conflict and "political history averaged nearly five
within the United Secretariat in 1969 the years in the ist and seven and a half years in
Spartacists saw an opportunity for possibly organized leftist politics, from a wide vari­
establishing some European organizations. ety of political backgrounds. There were for­
In 1970 James Robertson and two other Spar­ mer members of the pro-Moscow (U.S.,
tacists visited Europe and established con­ France, Austria), pro-Peking (U.S., Canada,
tacts with some disillusioned u s e c mem­ Germany) and 'Eurocommunism type (Aus­
bers. Subsequently small Spartacist groups tralia) Stalinists and of various social-demo­
were organized in Germany, France, Italy, cratic organizations. . . ."8
Great Britain, and Austria.3 The Spartacists clearly hoped to recruit
In July 1974 the Spartacist groups in the Edmund Samarakkody and his Ceylonese
United States and Australia issued a "Decla­ faction into their new international group­
ration for the Organizing of an International ing. It was noted that "the second confer­
Trotskyist Tendency." It began: "The Spar­ ence day had been allocated to discussion of
tacist League of Australia and New Zealand a proposal of fusion between the ist and the
and the Spartacist League of the United Ceylonese r w p . However, the political con­
States declare themselves to be the nucleus duct of the r w p delegates during the camp/
for the early crystalization of an interna­ conference and their abrupt departure had
tional Trotskyist tendency upon the 1966 already made the outcome a foregone con­
Declaration of Principles and dedicated to clusion." The Spartacists finally claimed
the rebirth of the Fourth International."6An that Samarakkody and his r w p were "an
"appendix" to this declaration "established encysted national left-centrist clot."9
an interim organizational structure for the An elected International Executive Com­
tendency, with the combined Central Com­ mittee was chosen at this conference.10
mittees of the full sections (initially United However, no further international confer­
States and Australia/New Zealand) consti­ ence of the group seems to have taken place
tuted as an International Executive Com­ by 1985.
mittee ( i e c ) with an International Secretar­ The international Spartacist tendency
iat as its resident executive arm."7 held distinctly different positions from

t international Spartacist tendency 553

i
i
those of other international Trotskyist fac­ International Workers
tions. With the overthrow of the Shah of
Iran and the advent of the regime of the
League (Fourth
Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, the Spartacists International)
adopted the slogan, "Down with the Shah,
Down with the Mullahs." Later in the same
year the Sparticists supported the Soviet in­
vasion of Afghanistan, their American peri­
odical Spartacist carrying the front-page
headline, "Hail Red Army," also published
in the German version of S p a r t a c is t With A faction of International Trotskyism led by
the advent of the Solidarity movement in the Argentine Hugo Bressano (better known
Poland the Spartacists denounced that labor by .his pseudonym, Nahuel Moreno) had
organization, which other Trotskyist groups been of some consequence in the movement
hailed as the embodiment of the "political since the 1950s. However, it was not until
revolution" which they had been advocat­ the early 1980s that that element of the
ing in the Stalinist states since the time of movement was formally established as a
Leon Trotsky himself. The American Spar­ major tendency within International Trots­
tacists published a pamphlet entitled Soli- kyism.
darnosc: Polish Company Union for c ia Moreno first rallied support among the
and Bankers. Latin American Trotskyists for the Interna­
In the early 1 980s the international Spar­ tional Committee during the 1950s, and
tacist tendency suffered a schism. Small subsequently for the United Secretariat of
groups from their affiliates in the United the Fourth International after 1963. Within
States, Canada, and Germany broke away to u s e c Moreno and his followers sided with

form what they called the External Ten­ the Socialist Workers Party of the United
dency (e t ) of the international Spartacist States during the 1970s, in opposition to
tendency. Although both sides engaged in a making guerrilla warfare the principal strat­
good deal of invective against each other, egy of that faction of the movement. But
the "principled" basis of this split remained Moreno was dissatisfied with the terms by
somewhat obscure. Certainly one of the is­ which that ideological conflict was ended
sues was what the dissidents saw as the and organized his own Bolshevik Tendency
overly Stalinist tilt of the ist.11 within the United Secretariat.
The Bolshevik Tendency also developed
differences with the rest of u s e c on the ques­
tion of Cuba. In December 1978 the More-
noites urged that the Castro regime should
be categorized as a "bureaucratized workers
state," rather than just a "workers state"
without any adjective, which was the
United Secretariat's position at the time.1

Break of Bolshevik Tendency with

United Secretariat
The complete break with the United Secre­
tariat by the Bolshevik Tendency (together
with the small Leninist Trotskyist Ten­

554 International Workers League (FI)

 dency) came in the August-October 1979 to the leaders of the Sandinista National
period over the issue of the attitude the Liberation Front ( f s l n ). It said:
United Secretariat should adopt towards the
To defend this revolution means to sup­
Nicaraguan Revolution. The split came
port the struggle whose vanguard is the
about as a consequence of the organization
f s l n . All activities which seek today to
in June 1979 by the Moreno forces (particu­
create divisions between the mobilized
larly from Colombia) of the so-called Sim6n
masses and the f s l n are contrary to the
Bolivar Brigade to help the last offensive of
interests of the revolution. This was the
the Sandinista rebels against the Somoza
case, specifically, with the activities of
regime.
the Simon Bolivar Brigade. This group ac­
Apparently, although a few individual
tually had a dual policy: to capitalize on
members of the Sim6n Bolivar Brigade ar­
the prestige of the f s l n , it cloaked itself
rived in time to fight during the last days of
with the Sandinista banner; but at the
the Nicaraguan civil war, most of the re­
same time, in the mass organizations its
cruits did not get there until after the San­
sectarian policy tried to separate the
dinista victory on July 19. Once there they
workers from their vanguard. According
began recruiting supporters and were partic­
to certain assertions that have appeared
ularly active in working within the trade
in the press, the activities of this group
union movement in Managua.
represented the attitude of our organiza­
On August 1 5 members of the Brigade or­
tion toward the revolution and its leader­
ganized a demonstration of some 3,000
ship. This is totally false. This group acted
workers in Managua. According to Time,
on its own.6
the workers were "discontented with the
projects of the government for construction Apparently there were some doubts
of a mixed economy, incorporating public within the u s e c majority about such a cate­
and private firms," and demanded "compen­ gorical endorsement of the Sandinista gov­
sation for the wages lost during the revolu­ ernment and condemnation of u s e c ' s Nica­
tion."2 Reportedly they carried signs with raguan affiliate. .Rouge, the periodical of the
such slogans as "The revolution is in the French section, commented that "the terms
hands of the bourgeoisie," and "Power to in which the government of Nicaragua de­
the proletariat."3 creed the expulsion of the "foreign" m ili­
The new Nicaraguan revolutionary gov­ tants constitutes a disquieting precedent."7
ernment reacted violently against this ac­ The International Marxist Group, the Brit­
tion of the Simon Bolivar Brigade. Forty non- ish section, held at the time that the Sandin-
Nicaraguans were deported from the coun­ istas were "playing a class-collaborationist
try to Panama, where they were reportedly role."8
badly beaten by the police of the regime of At the end of September a meeting of the
General Omar Torrijos before being allowed United Secretariat had the Nicaraguan situ­
to return home.4 At the same time, mem­ ation as the main topic of discussion. The
bers of the United Secretariat's "sympathiz­ majority at that meeting passed a resolution
ing" section in Nicaragua, the Liga Marxista which warned against "precipitous flight to­
Revolucionaria, were jailed.5 ward ultraleftism" and against any attempt
Soon after this incident a delegation of the "to force in an adventurous way the class
United Secretariat—consisting of Manuel struggle." It also called on each u s e c mem­
Aguilar, Jean-Pierre Beauvais, Hugo Blanco, ber in Nicaragua to work "as a loyal militant
Charles-Andre Udry, Pedro Camejo, and of the organization which led the overthrow
Barry Shephard {the last two from the Social­ of Somoza," that is, the Sandinista Front. It
ist Workers Party)—presented a statement condemned the Simon Bolivar Brigade and

International Workers League (FI) 555

ordered the Bolshevik Faction to end its ex­ and the Leninist Trotskyist Tendency con­
istence as a "public fraction." stitute a parity committee."11
Moreno and his supporters introduced a The first session of the Parity Commis­
minority motion which condemned u s e c ' s sion took place in February 1980. Among
failure to support its own section when it other moves it named Nahuel Moreno to
was suppressed by the Sandinista regime- It prepare an "anteproject" for a "thesis"
said that the Bolshevik Faction "rejects which would constitute the basic statement
these measures which violated the rules of of the new version of the Fourth Interna­
democratic centralism" and called on its tional which the participating groups pro­
members to "prevent the holding of an anti­ posed to establish. At the second meeting of
democratic world congress/' that is, the the Parity Commission a committee con­
u s e c Eleventh Congress scheduled for a few sisting of Moreno, Pierre Lambert, Christian
weeks later.9 Nemo, Stephane Just, and L. Favre was ap­
pointed to draw up a final document, based
on that of Moreno.
Negotiations With the
At the third meeting of the Parity Com­
Lambertist Tendency
mission the basic thesis was adopted for sub­
Right after this meeting of the United Secre­ mission to a world congress called for De­
tariat, representatives of the Bolshevik Fac­ cember 1980. The third session also decided
tion and the Leninist Trotskyist Tendency to issue a new trimesteral review, Corre-
had a private meeting with leaders of the spondencia International—La Verdad, to
Lambertist organization. A subsequent an­ publish documents of the Parity Commis­
nouncement of this meeting said that it en­ sion and news about the various national
dorsed the Sim6n Bolivar Brigade and all sections associated with it. It also decided
those who were trying "to help the masses that the name to be adopted at the December
develop their own organizations."10 world congress would be IV International
Subsequently, on October 29, the three (International Committee).12
groups issued a joint statement endorsing
the Simon Bolivar Brigade, lamenting that
Establishment of International
the European u s e c leaders had gone along
Workers League (Fourth International)
with the s w p ' s total endorsement of the San­
dinista regime, and arguing that "clarifica­ As had been planned, in December 1980 the
tion of positions" was required among all Parity Commission was converted into the
those who claimed to participate in the Fourth International {International Com­
Trotskyist tradition. This statement said mittee). However, the alliance between the
that the three groups "call in common upon Morenoists and the Lambertists did not last.
all organizations which support the found­ Sharp differences arose between the two
ing program of the IV International . . . to groups about details of organizing a pro­
prepare an open conference, to discuss and posed "open conference." There were also
answer these problems with the objective factional struggles between supporters of
of reuniting or reconstructing . . . all of the the two tendencies within the national sec­
world Trotskyist movement as it has been tions associated with the new international
defined above. The u s e c evidently has a group. The upshot was^that on December
place in the preparation and holding of such 1 1 , 1981, the Moreno faction broke with the
a conference. To prepare politically and or­ Lambertists and issued a call for an "Interna­
ganizationally this conference, the Organi­ tional Meeting of Consultation" for January
zation Committee for the Reconstruction of S , 198a.13
the IV International, the Bolshevik Faction The principal more or less programmatic

556 International Workers League (FI)

issue which was raised by the Morenoists In March 1985 the i w l (f i ) held its Second
preceding this split was their accusation World Congress in Paris. It was reported that
that the French p c i had followed a "Popular there were twenty-one different delegations
Front" policy in supporting election of Fran­ as well as observers from the French Lutte
cois Mitterrand, the Socialist Party presi­ Ouvriere and groups in other countries asso­
dential candidate, in 1981. However, people ciated with it. A report on the meeting said
on the Lambertist side felt that Moreno was that "the main goals of the World Congress
particularly afraid that in a united world of the i w l (f i ) were to analyze the Theses on
organization he might lose the influence he the World Political Situation prepared by
had obtained during the previous years over the international leadership and discussed
the Latin American Trotskyist groups.1* in all of the affiliate sections, review the
The International Consultative Confer­ activities of the International over the last
ence held in Bogota, Colombia, was report­ three years . .. lay out the general tactics for
edly attended by fifty people, of whom the period ahead . .. and approve a series of
twenty were full-fledged delegates. Each or­ resolutions and a Manifesto of the i w l (f i ) . "
ganization was represented by one delegate This same report summed up the "The­
and all decisions of the meeting were unani­ ses" adopted by the meeting: "there is a
mous. The meeting proclaimed the creation revolutionary situation developing through­
of the International Workers League (Fourth out the world. Massive mobilizations are
International) and declared itself the Ex­ shaking every continent. The traditional
traordinary Founding Conference of that or­ leadership of the working class and the
ganization. masses that for decades has acted to hold
An International Executive Committee of back mobilizations is losing strength. New
the new group was chosen. The representa­ revolutionary forces opposed to the Holy A l­
tion on this body by country was: Argentina liance of Washington, the Kremlin, the Vati­
three, Brazil two, and one each for Colom­ can, the Second International, the ruling
bia, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Central bourgeoisie throughout the world, and the
America, United States, Italy, Spain, and traditional left are emerging."
Portugal. A three-member Control Com­ This summary continued, "The main
mission was also established.15 tasks of revolutionary socialists, therefore,
Undoubtedly the main strength of the In­ is to build strong revolutionary parties with
ternational Workers League {Fourth Interna­ the goal of gaining mass influence and at the
tional) was in Latin America. The Argentine same time work to build a Revolutionary
Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores (sub­ United Front with those forces that are
sequently renamed Movimiento a Social- breaking with or opposed to the Holy A lli­
ismo [m a s ]) was undoubtedly one of the ance. This means finding ways to work with
largest Trotskyist national groups. The iw- those revolutionary forces willing to fight
l (f i ) also had national sections of some con­ together under a struggle program . . . "
sequence in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezu­ A number of separate resolutions were
ela, and Mexico. In mid-1982 it also had also adopted. These dealt with disarma­
affiliates in Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Pan­ ment, Nicaragua, Central America, Poland,
ama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia, South Africa, the British miners'
and Honduras. In the United States it had strike, Lebanon, New Caledonia, and the
organized a small group. Its principal Euro­ foreign debt. A new International Executive
pean affiliate was the Partido Socialista de Committee was also elected.17
ios Trabajadores of Spain, although it also
had small groups in Portugal, France, Swe­
den, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Greece.16

i International Workers League (FI) 557

i
i
 Iranian Trotskyism conian system of justice, decreed that all
women should wear Moslem clothing
which covered them from the top of their
heads to their ankles, and established loy­
alty to fundamentalist Islam as interpreted
by the high clergy as the orthodoxy of the
A Trotskyist movement developed in Iran Revolution.
for the first time in the wake of the 1979 Late in 1980 border conflicts with Iraq
Revolution. Three competing Trotskyist exploded into a major military conflict
parties soon emerged, all of which were fra­ when the Iraqi government of President Sad­
ternally represented in the United Secretar­ dam Hussein launched a full-scale invasion
iat of the Fourth International. No other fac­ of Iran with the evident hope of overthrow­
tion of International Trotskyism appears to ing the Khomeini regime. That war, which
have succeeded in establishing a group in went on for almost a decade, complicated
the country. As the Islamic theocratic re­ the Revolution and greatly increased the dif­
gime consolidated its hold on power the Ira­ ficulties of the Iranian national economy.
nian Trotskyist movement proved to be The major internal political crisis of the
short-lived, its public activities continuing Khomeini regime came in the summer of
for at most four years. 1981. In June Khomeini forced out of office
President Abu al-Hassan Bani Sadr, and
turned over power within the regime com­
Evolution of the Iranian
pletely to the mullah-dominated Islamic Re­
Revolutionary Regime
publican Party (i r p ). At the same time, the
The Shah left Iraft late in January 1979 and left-wing Moslem but anticlerical Mujahed-
the Bakhtiar government which he had left een movement, which had provided many of
in power fell shortly afterward, when sub­ the shock troops of the Revolution, declared
stantial elements of the armed forces de­ itself "at war" with the Khomeini govern­
fected. Ayatollah Khomeini, who had led ment, to which the regime replied with
the fight of Islamic fundamentalist ele­ thousand of arrests and widespread sum­
ments against the Shah's regime, first inside mary executions. Shortly afterward Bani
Iran and then from abroad, and whose voice Sadr and top leaders of the Mujahedeen fled
was known to the Moslem faithful through­ abroad to continue the fight against Kho­
out the country from taped speeches and meini from Paris, from whence he himself
appeals which had been smuggled into Iran had led the successful struggle against the
and broadcast in mosques all over the nation Shah.
as the crisis of the Shah's government inten­
sified, emerged as virtually the only leader
The Emergence of Trotskyism
of the post-Shah regime.
Although the movement against the Shah The first Trotskyist group to appear in Iran
had involved the widest range of political was the Socialist Workers Party ( h k s ). For a
tendencies—Westem-oriented liberals, pro- few months it was the only such organiza­
Soviet and pro-Maoist Stalinists, and Trots­ tion, but there soon appeared the Revolu­
kyists, as well as diverse Moslem ele­ tionary Workers Party ( h k e ), and subse­
ments—it was the orthodox Shiite funda­ quently dissidents from the h k s and h k e
mentalist Islamic current led by Khomeini joined forces to establish the Workers Unity
which quickly emerged as the dominant ele­ Party ( h v k ).
ment in the Iranian Revolution. It imposed The three groups drew their leadership
a new "Islamic republic," established a dra­ from somewhat different sources. The h k s ,

558 Iran
particularly after it split, tended to be led lectual Freedom in Iran (c a i f i ), through
by students who had returned to Iran from which it worked, as part of a general attack
Great Britain; it was aligned principally on the imperial government's left-wing op­
with the European leadership of u s e c , and ponents.4
became strongly opposed to the Khomeini The formation in Iran of the Socialist
government. The h k e was led mainly by stu­ Workers Party ( h k s ), which was in fact the
dents and young intellectuals who had re­ transformation of the Sattar League into the
turned from the United States, tended to new organization, was announced on Janu­
align itself with the Socialist Workers Party ary 22, 1979, shortly after the departure of
of the U.S., and gave critical support to the the Shah, at a news conference in the Inter­
Khomeini regime. The h v k drew its leader­ continental Hotel in Tehran. This session
ship from elements of both the older groups was attended not only by local newsmen
and had a position less hostile to Khomeini but also by correspondent, from the London
than the h k s but less friendly than the h k e . 1 Daily Mail, Swedish Broadcasting, c b s , the
At the November 1979 Eleventh Congress Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, the London
of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­ Daily Telegraph, and several other European
national, the resolution on "The World Po­ dailies. Those who spoke for the new party
litical Situation and the Tasks of the Fourth were Professor Zeyott Obrohimi of Tehran
International," devoted considerable space University; Reza Baraheni, a former pris­
to the situation in Iran. One passage in that oner of the Shah's regime just returned from
resolution proclaimed: "In the long run exile in the United States; Babak Zahraie,
there are only two possible outcomes: either "editor of the socialist opposition weekly
the establishment of the dictatorship of the Payam Daneshjoo" ■, Javad Sadeeg, a writer
proletariat in alliance with the peasantry, who had been in exile ever since the restora­
which alone can guarantee the victory of the tion of the Shah in 1953; Parvin Najafi, a
revolution, or the victory of the counterrev­ woman who was "a frequent writer for In­
olution. The main obstacle on the road to tercontinental Press/Inprecor" ■, and Neha-
the victory of the revolution is the weakness mat Jazayeri, ex-executive secretary of the
of the subjective factors, the leadership and c a if i.

class consciousness of the proletariat and Babak Zahraie summed up the demands
toiling masses. There is no revolutionary being put forward by the Socialist Workers
mass party in Iran."1 Party:
As in the statements of the Iranian Trots­
kyists in that same period there was little We demand U.S. imperialism hands off
reference to the Moslem clerical nature of the Iranian revolution. We are for nation­
the Iranian revolution in u s e c ' s document. alizing all foreign holdings, basic indus­
try, and the banks and placing them under
workers control. We demand full equality
The Socialist Workers Party— h k s
for women in Iran. Iran's oppressed na­
Before the departure of the Shah and the tionalities—the Azerbaijanis, Kurds, and
triumph of the Iranian Revolution there al­ Baluchis—should have the right to their
ready existed a Trotskyist group among Ira­ own languages and complete control of
nian exiles and expatriates, the Sat tar their own affairs. The land should belong
League, which was a sympathizing organiza­ to whoever works it. There should be easy
tion of the United Secretariat.3 On at least credit for the peasants. We are for full
one occasion, the Shah's regime distributed rights for the soldiers. We are for opening
widely a denunciation of this organization the books of the big corporations and the
and of the Committee for Artistic and Intel­ government and ending the huge expendi­

Iran 559

I
 tures for arras, turning that money over bly called for universal suffrage including
to social benefits for the people. Finally, the right to vote for high school students
we believe that to solve the problems and illiterates. It demanded "proportional
faced by the Iranian people, we need a representation on a nationwide basis. Only
workers and peasants government.5 in this way will all political groups, even
those with a relatively small percentage of
One of the first activities of the Socialist the vote nationwide, be able to make their
Workers party was the wide distribution of voices heard."7
two documents elaborating on the party's Neither of these statements dealt with
positions. One of these was entitled "Bill of the role of the Moslem clergy and other fa­
Rights for the Workers and Toilers of Iran," natical religionists in the struggle against
the other, "For a Constituent Assembly to the Shah, and in the situation following his
Decide the Issues Facing Iran!" overthrow. However, the fact was that virtu­
The first of these documents, after tracing ally from its inception the h k s came into
the roots of the current Iranian Revolution sharp conflict with these elements. At the
to the constitutional revolution of the first time of the h k s ' s first public meeting in Teh­
decade of the century, elaborated on a num­ ran on March 2, 1979, with 2,000 people
ber of the party's positions. Emphasizing the gathered to hear the Trotskyists' speeches,
need for a constituent assembly, it also ar­ they were forced to suspend the gathering
gued that "local governments must be made in the face of a threat by Islamic students,
up of representatives democratically elected and some Maoists, to break it up.8
by the organizations of the workers, peas­ At the same time the more liberal ele­
ants, white-collar workers, soldiers, univer­ ments in the entourage of Ayatollah Kho­
sity students, and high school students. The meini showed a willingness to deal with the
all-Iran government must be made up of rep­ Trotskyists as a legitimate current in the
resentatives of these organizations chosen Revolution. As a consequence, on April n ,
on an all-Iran basis with the voluntary col­ 1979, Abu al-Hassan Bani Sadr, then one
laboration of representatives of the op­ of the major spokesmen of the Khomeini
pressed nationalities." regime, engaged in a television debate with
This document also called for "unity of Babak Zahraie, editor of the weekly h k s pa­
workers and peasants and a land reform." per Kargar {Worker). It was claimed that
Under this heading it demanded that "the twenty-two million people throughout Iran
lands and property of the big landowners watched and listened to the debate. Zahraie
and the model farms must be confiscated insisted on the need for a workers and peas­
without payment of any compensation and ants government, for expropriation of for-
distributed among the poor peasants, or else eign-owned enterprises and a land reform,
be placed under the control of the agricul­ and for the introduction of a planned
tural workers in the form of cooperatives or economy.9
collective farms. The program for national­ On May 30 there was another debate be­
izing agriculture and putting it on a coopera­ tween Bani Sadr and Babak Zahraie. This
tive basis should be designed so as to remove one took place at the Teachers Institute in
any possibility of the small peasant being Tehran and was said to have been attended
expropriated and forced to join cooperatives. by 70,000 people.10
Until they recognize the possibility and In May 1979, when one of the leading cler­
need for taking another path, the small peas­ ics of the regime, Ayatollah Motahari, was
ants will continue to hold their own plots assassinated, the h k s expressed its abhor­
of land."6 rence of the deed. Its official statement
The document on the constituent assem­ claimed: "The terrorist attack on Ayatollah

560 Iran
Motahari was a counterrevolutionary act. It members of the h k s , who were arrested on
was an act against the toilers. The conse­ May 30, i 979 > and seven more who were
quences of it can only be harmful to their picked up on the following day. On August
interests. . . . Basing itself on the tradition 25, fourteen of the Trotskyists were secretly
of revolutionary Marxism, the Socialist tried by the local "Imam's Committee"
Workers Party condemns all forms of indi­ without being allowed to have a lawyer or
vidual terror as an obstacle to a conscious even to defend themselves before the "tribu­
struggle by the workers and all the oppressed nal." Twelve of those on trial were sen­
for socialism. Reaffirming this historic posi­ tenced to death, and two others to life
tion, we deplore the assassination of Ayatol­ imprisonment on charges such as "par­
lah Motahari and express our sorrow at his ticipation in anti-lslamic and anti-pop­
death."11 ular activities/' "criticism of the central
The Socialist Workers Party participated government for being undemocratic," and
in the first elections held by the post-Shah "dissemination of 'poisonous ideas.' " How­
regime, for a so-called Assembly of Experts. ever, the executions were suspended as a
Among its nominees was the only soldier to consequence of intervention of the Tehran
run in the election as well as two people authorities.14
in the province of Khuzistan who had to The International Trotskyist movement
campaign from jail.11 mounted a worldwide campaign of protest
The h k s also participated in the parlia­ against the sentences and demanded the re­
mentary elections of March 14, 1980. It was lease of the h k s members. Among those who
reported as "calling for a workers and social­ contacted the Iranian authorities on behalf
ist united front in the elections and has of the Trotskyist prisoners were political
offered to help workers committees pre­ and trade union leaders from many Euro­
senting independent candidates in the pean and Latin American countries, as well
elections." A statement by the party pro­ as from the United States and Australia.15
claimed: "By our participation in the elec­ There were also protests and demonstra­
tions and by presenting and explaining the tions within Iran, with the pro-Soviet Tudeh
action program of the toilers, which con­ Party finally coming out in defense of the
tains our program for the struggle and for Trotskyists. Ultimately, most of those ar­
solving the present crisis in the society, we rested between May 30 and June 7, 1979
will do our best to forge the militant unity were released.16
of workers and toilers, and to mobilize their It is not clear whether any of the Trotsky­
independent nationwide action."13 ists arrested in May-June 1979 were ever
During the early months of the existence executed. However, by mid-1982, two
of the HKS it was particularly active among Trotskyists, one of whom was an oil worker,
the Arab workers in the province of Khuzis­ had been killed by the Khomeini regime,
tan, the major center of the country's oil and a large number were in jail.17
industry. It was in that area that the party During this period, the h k s generated rela­
first ran into serious conflict with the Kho­ tively extensive impact. James Bill has
meini regime and the Islamic elements noted that "during 1979 (the h k s } exhibited
which were its principal support. considerably more influence and appeal in
After a series of strikes and demonstra­ Iran than did the Tudeh Party."18 However,
tions in Khuzistan the government carried in the following year, he noted that h k s re­
out an extensive roundup of workers from cruitment "in lower classes . .. has been
the oil and steel industries of the province difficult because of the strong influence of
and other political dissidents of various Shiite religious leaders among the masses."
kinds in the area. Among these were nine However, he added: "Despite this and the

Iran 561
relative newness of the organization, this schools and the massacre of militant anti-
party exhibited intellectual dynamism and imperialist students.20
a growing appeal among the intelligentsia as When Iraqi troops invaded Iran the h k s ral­
the latter became increasingly disenchanted lied to support of the Iranian cause in the
with the religious domination of the revo­ conflict. The h k s fortnightly Kargaian-e-So-
lution."19 cialist carried the party's statement which
In spite of persecution the h k s continued began: "The Iraqi Baathist regime, which
to function for some time. It became in­ has been plotting against the Iranian revolu­
creasingly critical of the Khomeini regime. tion since the overthrow of the Shah and
At the time of the first meeting of the "par­ staging various attacks, has now launched
liament" of the regime, the Islamic Consul­ an extensive military assault on our coun­
tative Assembly, in June 1980, the h k s peri­ try. . . . We demand that the' government
odical Che Bayad Kard (What Is To Be of the Islamic Republic give us arms! We
Done) attacked it as "an assembly in which demand that the army and the Revolution­
the majority of the representatives do not ary Guards give us military training!" This
represent the will of the people, but who statement ended with the slogans, "A
have been imposed upon them through the united mobilization against the military in­
force of reaction and who are pawns in the trigues of imperialism! The leaders of the
hands of the autocratic rulers." In that same Islamic republic must arm the working
article the h k s paper, although supporting people!,m
the occupation of the American Embassy By late 1981 the Iranian Socialist Workers
and the holding of its personnel as hostages, Party was frankly in favor of ousting the
questioned whether these moves were "real Khomeini regime. In an interview with a
anti-imperialism": British Trotskyist periodical a leader of the
party stated: "We are for the overthrow of
Real anti-imperialism means rebuilding the regime and for socialist revolution. It is
the national economy to benefit the toil­ possible that the civil war will provide an
ers and workers, the establishment of a opportunity for overthrowing Khomeini."
planned economy and the severing of Ir­ Although critical of the Mujahedeen, the
an's links to the world capitalist market, left-wing Islamic group which was engaged
the expropriation of all big capitalists, the in conflict with the Khomeini government
establishment of a monopoly of foreign because "they explicitly support capital­
trade, the establishment of control over ism," this h k s leader added: "We say that if
production through workers councils, they come to power by overthrowing Kho­
and a thorough revolution in the country­ meini this would open up big opportunities
side and the establishment of control over for open activity by the workers and left-
agriculture by peasants councils . . . Real wing organizations, and nationalities and so
struggle against imperialism means the on. It would also boost the chances to de­
removal of all censorship, and stopping velop a mass working class or revolutionary
the autocratic control of the clergy over organization in Iran. In that sense we would
radio and t v , the press, theater, and c in ­ fight alongside them to prevent any right-
ema; the abrogation of declaring music wing inspired military coup that the royal­
and other arts forbidden; encouraging ma­ ists outside the country might support."12
terially and morally the development of
all artistic aptitudes without clerical su­
The Revolutionary Workers
pervision; increasing the budget of the
Party ( h k e )
ministry of education; and increasing the
number of schools and higher education Within a year of the formation of the Social­
facilities not the closing down of all ist Workers Party a number of its leaders

562 Iran
and members had broken away to establish a against Bur-el-din Kianuri, the general secre­
second Iranian Trotskyist organization, the tary of the Tudeh Party and against the Tu­
Revolutionary Workers Party ( h k e ). This deh Party Central Committee."18
new organization continued to publish the Another early activity of the h k e was a
newspaper Kargar, which originally had campaign in support of the Turkomen eth­
been the organ of the Socialist Workers nic group, some of whose leaders had been
Party. The paper was officially legalized in murdered by "unknown" people. Kargar de­
April 1980.“ manded of the government the establish­
At about the same time that the h k e was ment of an official commission of inquiry
established there was also organized an asso­ into these assassinations.29 At the same
ciated youth group, the Young Socialists. Its time the h k e strongly supported the struggle
main membership was among the stu­ of the Kurdish population for self-determi-
dents.24 nation and cultural autonomy.30
The line of the h k e towards the Khomeini During the early months of 1980 the Is­
regime was substantially different from that lamic Student Organizations began to seize
of the h k s . The orientation of the h k e , which control of a number of university campuses
was led principally by people who had spent and to demand a "cultural" revolution to
their exile in the United States, is probably get rid of alleged remnants of the .Shah's
reflected by an article in Intercontinental regime still existing there. The h k e ex­
Press, a periodical of the s w p of the U.S., pressed very strong support for this move,
with which those h k e leaders were associ­ and "strongly denounced the role of the cap­
ated during their years abroad. This article, italists in creating the confrontations and
published about the time that the h k e was attempting to distort and misrepresent the
being formed, discussed the way in which intentions of the Islamic students. And the
the Moslem religion had been a focus for the socialists strongly denounced the govern­
resistance to the regime of the Shah, noted ment's order banning political groups from
that "Khomeini's popularity stems from his the campuses."31
resolute anti-Shah and anti-imperialist When, on May Day 1980, President Abu
stand," and concluded that "the people who al-Hassan Bani Sadr called his regime "a gov­
are being slandered every day in the capital­ ernment of working people," the h k e replied
ist media as religious fanatics are just work­ by listing the measures which a "real" gov­
ing people like ourselves trying to organize ernment of working people would take and
to advance their interests and win a better which "the majority of the people" wanted.
life."ls These were "a total cutting off of the influ­
One of the earliest activities of the h k e ence of U.S. imperialism through the na­
was to participate in the parliamentary elec­ tionalization of all imperialist property in
tions of March 14, 1980. The party ran eight Iran . . . a solution of the land question in
candidates in five different cities. One of the interests of the great majority of poor
these nominees in Tehran was Babak Zah­ peasants . . . the creation of the army of
raie.26In addition the new party supported a twenty million to defend the revolution . . .
number of working-class candidates who an end to the bloodshed in Kurdistan . . . the
ran as independents.27 country to be reorganized in the interests of
Soon after its establishment the h k e be­ the broad masses of deprived and oppressed
came involved in a polemic with the Stalin­ people."31
ist Tudeh Party. In addition to exchanges In spite of these somewhat critical atti­
between the Tudeh paper Mardom and tudes towards certain actions of the Kho­
Kargar, Babak Zahraie wrote to Ayatollah meini regime the h k e clearly sought to play
Mosavi Ardebil, Prosecutor of the Islamic down the importance of the clerical nature
Republic, and "brought charges for slander of the regime, or even to adapt to it, in sharp

Iran 563
contrast to the attitude of those Trotskyists began: "At present thousands of Iranian
who had remained in the Socialist Workers women are preparing to celebrate Women's
Party. There are many examples of this dur­ Day, the anniversary of the birth of Hazrat
ing the years of the existence of the Revolu­ Fatima, in a magnificent way." The state­
tionary Workers Party. ment argued that "the Iranian revolution
Thus, at the end of May 1 980 Kargar wrote has opened the way for women's emancipa­
very favorably of the work of the Islamic tion from the yoke of thousands of years of
"Imam's Committee" in a neighborhood of oppression. The revolution has demon­
Tehran to "raise production" and "defend strated that the secret of victory for women
the revolution" in that area.33 When in the in achieving their just demands lies in inde­
summer of 1980 the Revolutionary Council pendent organization and the mobilization
of the Khomeini government decreed that of women in their millions." The statement
all women had to wear Islamic dress in gov­ ended, "The h k e and Young Socialists wel­
ernment offices, Kargar carried an interview come the April 25 women's demonstration
with Mahea Hashemi (one of the Trotsky­ and call upon all militant and toiling people
ists who had been jailed the year before), in to actively take part in the preparation of
which she was asked, "If the majority in this day to make it as broad as possible."36
the society decides that women must wear The attitude of the h k e toward the upris­
Islamic dress, will the Revolutionary Work­ ing of the Mujahedeen against the clergy-
ers Party ask women to accept this?" to controlled government in June 1981 was
which she replied, "The answer is definitely markedly different from that of the h k s . Its
yes. The Revolutionary Workers Party is position was reflected in an article in Inter­
convinced that in such circumstances it will continental Press by Janice Lynn. She wrote:
quickly become clear that the question is
not whether women should or should not The Mujahedeen and groups with similar
wear Islamic dress, but that the real ques­ views have little or no confidence in the
tion is the rights of women and the struggle Iranian working class and instead join
of the entire society against American impe­ forces with the 'secular-liberal' bourgeoi­
rialism."34 sie and petty-bourgeois forces around
The h k e vehemently supported the sei­ Bani-Sadr. They support this liberal wing
zure of the U.S. Embassy and the subsequent of the bourgeois government as a lesser
holding of hostages. It adopted the "Den of evil to the ir p wing of the government.. . .
Spies" reference to the embassy which was This declaration of armed struggle against
used by Khomeini and the "students" who the government and the revolution is a
had seized the building and its occupants. It suicidal course which completely leaves
strongly opposed any compromise with the out any perspective of organizing the
United States on the issue, arguing that working class around its concerns. . . . It
those in the Khomeini regime who opposed plays right into the hands of imperialism
the continuing imprisonment of the hos­ and its counterrevolutionary agents who
tages "look more and more like an anti­ are intent on overthrowing the revo­
imperialist current devoid of any real lution.37
content."35
About a year later, in April 1981, the h k e At the time of the suppression of the Sta­
participated enthusiastically in a celebra­ linist Tudeh Party by the Khomeini regime
tion of Women's Day on the anniversary of in December 1983 the h k e protested this
the birth of Mohammed's daughter Hazrat action. In their note of protest, however,
Fatima. A statement by the party on April 22 they conceded that "the charges against
addressed to "Muslim and militant sisters" them seem completely logical and natural

564 Iran
to popular opinion and particularly to mili­ this stage of the war. It puts forward its own
tant Muslims."38 revolutionary program against the capitalist
Its continuing support, however critical, government and politicians."44
of the Khomeini regime did not prevent that In December 1982 the h k e ran four candi­
regime from indulging in extensive harass­ dates in parliamentary byelections in sev­
ment and persecution of the h k e . A s early as eral parts of the country.45 The Iranian gov­
September 1980 one of the party's principal ernment's severe persecution of the h k e
leaders, Nemat Jazayeri, was arrested by of­ continued and by the end of 1983 many of
ficials of the Central Revolutionary Com­ the party's leading figures were in jail. Babak
mittee.39 He was not released until March Zahraie had been held in prison for a year
1981, and his freeing coincided with the dis­ without the right to see visitors or receive
missal of a number of key working-class mail. Among the other h k e leaders incarcer­
figures of the h k e from their jobs in govern­ ated were Bahram Ali Atai and Mohammed
ment-seized industries.40 At the time of the Bagher Falsafe, who had been arrested in
Mujahedeen uprising in June-July 1981, March 198 2.46
when over 1,000 people were arrested and at
least 150 executed, there were at least two
The Workers Unity Party (h v k )
h k e members among those jailed.41

In April 198a Intezcontinental Press re­ The third Iranian Trotskyist party was es­
ported: "The Revolutionary Workers Party tablished at a convention in January 1981
{ h k e ) . . . has been coming under increasing attended by about sixty former members of
harassment by the Islamic Revolutionary the h k e and h k s . This was the first national
Prosecutor's office in recent weeks." Many convention of Iranian Trotskyists to be held.
copies of Kargar were confiscated on orders The new Workers Unity Party began imme­
of the prosecutor, and the printer of the pa­ diately to publish a newspaper Hemmat
per was arrested. An h k e attempt on March (Determination), edited by Mahmoud Sayra-
12 to hold a public meeting to commemo­ fiezadeh, who had been the candidate of the
rate the first nationalization of the oil indus­ h k e in the 1980 presidential election.47

try in 1951 was prevented by the prosecu­ The founding convention of the Workers
tor.42 On March 26, 1981, the Islamic Unity Party adopted a long Political Theses
Revolutionary Court declared Kargar il­ document. This was apparently the first
legal.43 such overall analysis of the role of Trots­
Nonetheless, the h k e continued its policy kyism in the Iranian Revolution to be
of "critical support" of the regime. In Au­ adopted by any of the three organizations.
gust 1982, when Iranian troops moved into This document began by analyzing at
Iraqi territory for the first time, the Central some length the evolution of the Iranian
Committee of the h k e adopted a resolution Revolution, in which particular emphasis
about the event. Among other things this was put upon the spontaneous emergence
document claimed: "Since the Islamic Re­ of "shoras" or committees among workers,
public is a capitalist regime whose point of peasants, students, and other groups during
departure is not the interests of the toilers, the first phase of the Revolution. Perhaps,
it always creates obstacles for the defense of given the nature of the leadership of the
the revolution and its extension. Therefore, Revolution which had emerged immedi­
while struggling decisively against the ag­ ately with the return to Iran of Ayatollah
gression of Saddam's army under the mili­ Khomeini, this section was most notable for
tary leadership of the Islamic Republic gov­ the fact that it made virtually no reference
ernment the proletariat continues to to the role which had been played by the
maintain its own political independence in Islamic clergy or by Khomeini himself.

Iran 565
 Rather, the document consistently refers to nal allies. . . . Confiscation of the property
the Islamic Republican government merely of the capitalists and landowners who col­
as a "capitalist" regime. The Theses then laborate with the coup plotters, and those
defined the attitude of the new Trotskyist who sabotage the economy by hoarding,
party toward the Khomeini regime (again profiteering, and cheating. Complete mo­
without mentioning the regime's leaders): nopoly of foreign trade. Nationalization and
"From a working-class viewpoint, the pres­ amalgamation of banks and insurance com­
ent bourgeois-democratic government is a panies under the control of workers and em­
'lesser evil' than a dictatorial government ployees' shoras," worker and peasant con­
which is an imperialist puppet. Until the trol of production, and extension of higher
working class is powerful enough to replace education.
the capitalist government with a govern­ The third point of the immediate program
ment of workers and peasants, it must de­ of the Theses was "the extension "and unifi­
fend this government, and especially its own cation of factory shoras. . . for recognition of
position and existence under it, against con­ shoras by the government.. . . For executive
spiracies and attacks by the imperialists." power of the shoras. For independence and
The Theses then argued that the key to a democracy of the shoras. . . ." Fourth, the
victory for a "government of workers and Theses pledged the h v k to work for "Land
peasants . . . lies in resolving the crisis of distribution under the control of peasant
leadership of the working class, that is, shoras," and the provision of credit, techni­
building the combat party of the Iranian pro­ cal help, and other aid to the peasants. Fifth,
letariat. The existing revolutionary crisis in it called for "the right of self-determination
our society . .. shows that the greatest ob­ for the oppressed nationalities."
stacle facing the growth and extension of The sixth point indicated a significant dif­
the socialist revolution is the absence of a ference from the position of the h k e : "Equal
revolutionary working-class leadership, rights for women. Priority to women in edu­
that is, a mass Leninist party." cational programs. Against the expulsion of
As the only party "armed with a political women from the work force. Against com­
program which shows the road to victory for pulsory veiling and any kind of discrimina­
the working class and all the oppressed," the tion and humiliation of women." The sev­
Theses insisted that "the central task facing enth "immediate objective" stated in the
the party is the turn towards the industrial Theses of the h v k was a demand for reestab­
working class, consistent activity in the fac­ lishment of civil liberties. The last was for
tories, full proletarianization, accumulation the placing of the Ministry of Labor "under
and training of working-class cadres, and es­ the control of workers shoras."48
tablishing roots in the working class . . . ." In the months following its establishment
Together with this was the need for "activ­ the h v k was particularly active in stressing
ity and recruitment by the Young Social­ the rights of the Kurds to self-determina-
ists." Finally, in terms of the party and its tion, and demanding an end to government
tasks the Theses stressed that it was part of military operations against the Kurds.49 It
an international organization: "Building the strongly criticized the government's mas­
Fourth International is one of the central sive arrest of members of the Mujahedeen
tasks of our party." and groups allied with it •and the execution
The Theses of the h v k put forward an of many of those arrested.50
eight-point immediate program which in­ In July 1981 the h v k paper Hemmat an­
cluded: "The unconditional, material de­ nounced the death in battle with Iraqi forces
fense of the Islamic Republic against mili­ of Samad Asari Eskandari, the youngest
tary interventions by the imperialists and member of the party's Central Committee.
the conspiracies of their internal and exter­ Only twenty years old, Eskandari, an Azer-

566 Iran
baijani, had been one of the principal found­ Trotskyism in Iraq
ers of the Young Socialist Organization, the
h v k ' s youth group.51

Final Observations on
Iranian Trotskyism There is information that a Trotskyist party
was established in Iraq in the late 1970s or
None of the three Iranian Trotskyist organi­ early 1980s by former members of the ruling
zations was able to survive for long. As the Baath Socialist Party. It was associated with
theocratic Khomeini regime tightened its the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
hold on Iran, it cracked down on all left- tional although it was not apparently an of­
wing opposition, including the Trotskyists. ficial section of u s e c . 1
As Joseph Dwyer noted early in 1983, There is little additional information
"Khomeini's government and the Revolu­ available concerning Trotskyism in Iraq.
tionary Guards have lumped them all to­ However, it is undoubtedly true that the
gether under one convenient title mono- general comments of Israeli Trotskyist
fequin (hypocrites) and waged a vicious leader Michel Warshawski concerning the
campaign in 1982 to rid Iran of them."51 By Trotskyist groups in the Arab countries
early 1985 the Twelfth World Congress of apply well to the Trotskyist element in Iraq.
the United Secretariat, although devoting He said that "in most of these countries,
some attention to the Iranian situation in the Trotskyist organizations are very small
its resolution on "The World Political Situa­ groups, of thirty, forty members, no more."
tion and the Tasks of the Fourth Interna­ Warshawski added that they were largely
tional," made no reference to any of the Ira­ involved in "establishing ourselves, pub­
nian parties which had been associated with lishing political materials, and trying to con­
U SE C .53
vince the first nucleus of cadres."2
Thus, although the advent of the Iranian
Revolution had made possible the appear­
ance for the first time of a Trotskyist move­
ment in Iran, that same revolution assured
the quick demise—or at least suppression—
of that movement. Perhaps the most inter­
esting aspect of this train of events was the
failure of the Trotskyists—both those in
Iran and in u s e c itself—to assess or deal
with the Khomeini regime in the religious
context in which that regime saw itself, and
acted. Instead of seeing the Islamic Republi­
can regime as a theocracy, fundamentally
controlled by the clergy and imposing upon
the nation a structure conforming the cler­
gy's vision of Moslem orthodoxy, the Trots­
kyists continued to try to judge it in purely
class terms, as a struggle between the bour­
geoisie and landowners on one side and the
workers and peasants on the other. They
were almost alone in this interpretation of
Iranian events after 1979.

Iraq 567

1
 Trotskyism in Ireland States but subsequently dropped out of po­
litical activity.2
Immediately upon returning to Ireland
Armstrong went to England, where he
stayed for a couple years. Patrick Trench
joined the Irish Labor Party (i l p ), where in
Ireland has never figured as a major center of November 1939 he became secretary of the
i l p ' s Pearse St. branch. Also, with the en­
strength for International Trotskyism. The
movement really did not get a foothold at couragement of Michael Price, leader of the
all there until World War II and even then Labor Party's left wing but by no means a
there were several false starts. Its various Trotskyist or even a Marxist, Trench began
factions and tendencies have been more publishing articles in the Toich, the organ
than usually plagued with the problem of of the Labor Party's Constituency Council,
relations with other political currents on of which Price was secretary.3
the Left. The partition of Ireland has meant In 1939 the emergence of Trotskyism in
that the Trotskyists have not only had to Ireland got a stimulus from the outbreak of
find a "political space" for themselves with World War II and the impact of that event
regard to relations with the Social Demo­ on British Trotskyism. Some time before, in
crats and Stalinists, but also with regard to December 1938, the Revolutionary Socialist
the nationalists of various hues and policies. League, which had just been recognized as
the British section of the recently estab­
lished Fourth International, suffered a split.
The Origins of Irish Trotskyism A group opposed to the line of entry into the
British Labor Party broke away to establish
The first exposition of Trotskyist ideas in Workers Fight. That group, together with
Ireland took place in 1935, when C. L. R. some Irishmen resident in Britain, soon
James, the West Indian who was then a joined forces with the Workers International
leader of British Trotskyism, visited the is­ League (w i l ).4
land. D. R. O'Connor Lysaght has noted that In September 1939 a number of the leaders
"he lectured on the Italian invasion of Ethio­ of w i l , fearful of persecution because of the
pia and angered the Communist Party by outbreak of the war, established an "exile"
exposing the Third International's failure to headquarters in the Irish Free State. They
oppose Italian imperialism. All that came of had contact with Patrick Trench and other
this was that he persuaded Nora Connolly Trotskyist sympathizers, and one w i l
O'Brien to write to Trotsky, who was then leader, Thomas Gerard (Gerry) Healy, con­
interned in Norway."1 tributed at least two articles to Torch.
The first real converts to Trotskyism were When the repression that they had ex­
to be among those Irishmen who went to pected in Great Britain did not materialize
Spain to fight on the Loyalist side in the most of the w i l people returned to that
Civil War. Two of those people were of par­ country. Robert Armstrong, who had come
ticular importance: Robert Armstrong, who back to Ireland with them, went to Belfast
had joined the Stalinist-controlled Interna­ where he set about building a left wing in
tional Brigade, and Patrick Trench, who had the Republican Socialist 'Party in Northern
fought with the militia of the Partido Obrero Ireland. Thomas Reilly, John Byrne, and
de Unificacion Marxista ( p o u m ). A third other former Irish Republicans who had also
Irish participant in the Spanish Civil War, come with the w i l group from Britain stayed
Geoffrey Coulter, entered into contact with in Dublin to work with Trench.
the Socialist Workers Party of the United Then in June 1940 there was a change

568 Ireland
in the editorship of Torch, which gave the Trench persuaded the Labor Party Confer­
Trotskyists even more access to that period­ ence to pass a general motion on positive
ical than had previously been the case. neutrality. . .. The next year, however, a
Among the articles which Trench contrib­ more detailed motion was defeated over­
uted to it was an obituary of Leon Trotsky. whelmingly. 1,6
Thus, by 1 941 there were two small Trots­ By 1943 the situation of the Dublin Trots­
kyist groups, without any affiliation with kyists had been seriously undermined in the
the Fourth International in Ireland. One was Irish Labor Party. For one thing, the control
in Belfast, where it worked particularly of Torch was taken over by the Labor Party's
within the Republican Socialist Party; the Administrative Council, and after October
other was in Dublin, where its members 1941 the Trotskyists no longer had access
were active in the Irish Labor Party. The to its columns. For another, the Labor Party
Belfast group tended to be considerably decided early in 1943 to limit membership
more sympathetic than that in Dublin to of branches of the party to those people who
the cause of the struggle for a united Ireland. lived in the branches' neighborhoods. The
Lysaght has noted that "in the Labor only unit to which this rule seems to have
Party, Trench's political struggles included been applied was the Pearse Street Branch,
demands for a sliding scale of.wages, for where the strength of the Trotskyists was
more measures of nationalization and concentrated/
against the removal, under clerical pressure,
of the Workers Republic as the Party's con­
stitutional aim." He added that "in practice, The Revolutionary Socialist Party
the Dublin Trotskyists were activists. They
played a big role within the opposition to Rather than trying to resist the maneuvers
the Fianna Fail Government's Trade Union of the Labor Party leadership against them,
Bill in its aim to license trade unions and the Dublin Trotskyists decided to withdraw
limit their rights of recruitment. A Council from the party. Together with the Trotsky­
of Action established in this eventually un­ ists of Northern Ireland, they established
successful fight was maintained by the the Revolutionary Socialist Party (r s p ),
Trotskyists for housing and other agita­ which as Lysaght noted was "Ireland's first
tions."5 open Trotskyist party." It was recognized as
The Dublin Trotskyists also became in­ the Irish Section of the Fourth International
volved in the controversy over Irish neutral­ at the International Conference of 1946.
ity in World War II. Within the Left there The r s p started its existence with about
were wide-ranging points of view, from eighty members, fifty in the Belfast area and
those who wanted the Irish to be "neutral thirty in the Dublin region. Early in 1944 it
in favor of Britain" to those who sought help published a document entitled "Theses on
in arms and money from the Nazis in the the National Question," which Lysaght
struggle for a united Irish republic. claimed "remains a major landmark in Irish
Lysaght has noted that "against all these Marxist theory. . . . Most relevant of all, to­
arguments, Trench (and Price) presented a day, is its insistence that the demand for
conception of Irish neutrality as a positive national unity could act as dynamic rather
war against the war. They urged that Irish than as brake on social struggles. It prophe­
Laborites should use the twenty-six county sied accurately, too, that a civil liberties agi­
state's position as a base from which to con­ tation might perform a revolutionary role."
tact anti-Axis resistance movements and Lysaght added that "from the point of view
the anticolonial movements in the lands of of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the
the democratic imperialists. In 1941, "Theses" most ominous failure was its un­

1
i Ireland 569
derestimation of the effectiveness of the op­ Trotskyism was reestablished in Ireland.
portunism of Stalinism."8 The only exception to this was the existence
The Revolutionary Socialist Party had in Belfast of a branch of the British-based
branches in three cities: Belfast, Dublin, and Socialist Labor League headed by Gerry
Cork. The last of these developed quite inde­ Healy.
pendently of the other two, by people who The person who refounded Irish Trots­
had been won over to Trotskyist ideas by kyism was Gery Lawless. He had first be­
literature of the Socialist Workers Party of come acquainted with Trotskyist ideas
the United States, which had been distrib­ while interned in the Curragh prison camp,
uted by an s w p seaman named Carroll who where he read the documents of the Fifth
worked on the ship City of Vancouver. The World Congress of the Pabloite faction of
Cork group affiliated with the r s p in 1943. the Fourth International. After being re­
During the period of the r s p there were leased Lawless went to Great Britain, where
two periodicals expressing Trotskyist ideas. he became a member of the Socialist Labor
One of these was Northern Star, published League ( s l l ). There, in 1963, he opposed the
in Belfast by the Republican Socialist Party refusal of the s l l to participate in the "unity
there, and the other was Workers' Republic, congress" which established the United Sec­
issued by the Revolutionary Socialist Party retariat of the Fourth International.
itself.9 According to Lysaght, Lawless then
The Revolutionary Socialist Party sur­ "sought to build an Irish Trotskyist group
vived only until 1947-48. It was finally tom that would not take sides in the interna­
apart by the controversy then going on in tional. . . . Trotskyist controversies. In this
the Fourth International concerning the na­ course he made strange bedfellows among
ture of the Soviet Union. One element, par­ London's Irish immigrants. First he formed
ticularly among the r s p members in Belfast, an Irish Workers Union. Then he combined
supported those in the International who with the Maoists who would constitute the
were arguing that the Soviet Union had be­ so-called Irish Communist Organization. . .
come "state capitalist." When the Second in an Irish Communist group. When this
Congress of the International went on re­ last split into Trotskyist and Stalinist parts
cord declaring the Soviet Union and other in late 1965,the former founded the Irish
Stalinist-dominated countries to be "degen­ Workers Group (i w g ), which brought Trots­
erated" or "deformed" workers' states, most kyism back to Ireland, at last."11
of those people abandoned the r s p . The fur­ The i w g established its first branch in
ther disintegration of the party was hastened Dublin in 1967. Soon afterward a branch
by the fact that its two most important fig­ was also organized in Belfast under the lead­
ures had disappeared from the scene. Patrick ership of Michael Farrell. A third branch was
Trench died early in 1948 and Robert Arm­ setup in Dundalk. In both the Irish Republic
strong left Ireland, seeking work in Great and Northern Ireland the i w g worked prin­
Britain. By August 1948 there were only two cipally within the Labor parties of the two
members of the r s p left and they decided to regions.
try to work within the Irish Labor Party and The Irish Workers Group was soon split
the Stalinist-controlled Socialist Youth.10 into warring factions. One was led by Sean
Matgamna, who had come back from Britain
with Lawless. He was soon leading a faction
From International Workers Group to
seeking Lawless's ouster from the organiza­
Movement for a Socialist Republic
tion. When the Matgamna group was de­
It was nearly two decades after the demise feated they withdrew on St. Patrick's Day
of the Revolutionary Socialist Party before 1968 to establish the League for a Workers

570 Ireland
Republic ( l w r ) headed by Patrick Healy (no lutionaries now is to pose the question of
relation to Gerry Healy). The l w r was active the democratic rights of the Irish people as
only in the Republic of Ireland, since the a whole, North and South. We have to begin
Belfast members of the old i w g soon with­ to show that the Southern state is not just a
drew to join in the formation of a new group, bystander with regard to the struggle in the
not yet clearly Trotskyist, the People's De­ North, but is actually involved in the whole
mocracy. With these splits the i w g was for process of pushing the situation there back
all practical purposes liquidated although it to what it was fifty years ago. . . . " 15
did not officially go out of existence until By 1978 the m s r claimed to be gaining
May 1 969.12 substantial influence within the Irish stu­
The League for a Workers Republic, the dent movement, m s r leader Brendan Kelly,
only remaining Trotskyist group after the in an interview with the American Trotsky­
disappearance of the i w g , also was marked ist Gerry Foley in Dublin said that "I think
by factional fighting among groups sympa­ that on the ground in the bigger universities,
thetic to the competing tendencies in inter­ revolutionists are in a much stronger posi­
national Trotskyism. Some broke away to tion now than they have been. For example,
join the Healyite International Committee. in University College, Dublin, the "Offi­
On Easter Sunday 19 71 another group sym­ cials," as well as the Labor Party, have
pathetic to the United Secretariat split ceased functioning as an organized group.
away, reportedly taking a majority of the In contrast to this, the m s r is fairly well
l w r ' s Dublin branch and some Young So­ implanted there and has a number of repre­
cialists. sentatives on the Student Union Council." 16
In January 1972 the u s e c sympathizers in
the Republic of Ireland joined with a group
The Origins of People's Democracy
from Belfast to establish the Revolutionary
Marxist Group (r m g ). It was accepted in Feb­ The r m g / m s r was largely confined to the
ruary 1974 by the Tenth World Congress of Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland the
the United Secretariat as the Irish section of rebirth of the Trotskyist movement largely
u s e c . In 1976 the r m g changed its name to came about as a result of the evolution of
Movement for a Socialist Republic ( m s r ) .13 what was originally not a Trotskyist group
The r m g / m s r took a strong position in at all, People's Democracy ( p d ).
favor of the unification of Ireland, and made People's Democracy had its origins in the
this issue the centerpiece of its propaganda. New Left of the late 1960s. Lysaght has
Thus in May 1974 the Political Committee noted that the p d ' s predecessor, the Young
of the r m g issued this statement: "The Rev­ Socialist Alliance, "was founded by the Bel­
olutionary Marxist Group calls for setting fast i w g members, most of whom had been
up a united front against repression by all in South Belfast Young Socialists, associated
Republican and socialist forces. In the last with the Northern Irish Labor Party ( n i l p ).
analysis only a mass movement can prevent The y s a was an attempt to unite l p and non-
the Loyalists, British imperialism, and its l p Socialist Youth Groups."17

collaborators from carrying on their cam­ The y s a very soon organized demonstra­
paign of aggression against the working class tions on a number of different issues includ­
of Ireland."14 ing the Vietnam War, bad housing in Belfast
In August 1977, when two m s r represen­ and Derry and the Soviet invasion of Czech­
tatives were present as fraternal delegates at oslovakia. It also participated in the first
the national convention of the U.S. Socialist civil rights march in Coalisland in the sum­
Workers Party, one of these, Anne Farrelly, mer of 1968.
commented: "The main task for Irish revo­ The y s a again participated in a civil rights

Iceland 571
march, this time in Derry, on October 5, Democracy not infrequently got into trou­
1968, and organized a march on the Belfast ble with the authorities of Northern Ireland.
City Hall on October 9. This Belfast demon­ On July 5, 1917, John McAnulty, General
stration was broken up by the police and Secretary of the p d , was arrested and charged
paramilitary groups. Then, as Mike Farrell with possessing documents "likely to be of
has written "The students were frustrated assistance to terrorists." The p d organized
and demoralized, y s a members took the ini­ a petition campaign, the petition saying in
tiative and proposed the establishment of a part, "John McAnulty's case is clearly a case
permanent Civil Rights organization. The of political harassment and we call upon the
People's Democracy was bom." Department of Foreign Affairs of the Irish
The p d was at first a loosely organized Government to press for his immediate re­
group patterned on student-worker assem­ lease."19 He was subsequently released
blies which had arisen in the uprising in without being brought to trial.
Paris earlier that year. However, Farrell On August 2, 1978, the British Army
writes, "The y s a hard-core .. . gave it a raided the p d ' s Connolly Bookshop in Bel­
leaven of tough determination and the polit­ fast, arresting McAnulty and John
ical influence of the y s a in the looser body McGeown of the m s r . After four hours the
grew rapidly." two men were released, but the entire con­
The p d refused to call off civil rights dem­ tents of the bookshop were kept by the
onstrations when Northern Ireland Prime Army authorities.20
Minister Terence O'Neill proposed a series Another p d leader, Dennis Murphy, was
of moderate reforms favoring the Catholics. sentenced la te in 19 7 8 for possession of arms
Early in 1969, when O'Neill called a general and ammunition. In his trial, he admitted
election in which he sought Catholic sup­ possessing these but argued that he had
port for a number of moderate candidates them in order to defend himself and those
of the Unionist Party (the predominantly around him in case of attack by Protestant
Protestant group favoring continued associ­ elements.21
ation with Great Britain), People's Democ­ During the 1970s People's Democracy
racy ran eight candidates against the O'Neill went through a process of political evolu­
coalition, who together received 23,000 tion. According to John McAnulty,
votes.
Meanwhile, the Young Socialist Alliance In the early organization we defined our­
had "dissolved itself into [the] p d . " As the selves as socialists without any clear idea
civil rights movement intensified p d orga­ of what that meant. . . we didn't [sic] have
nized a march to and across the border of the benefit of a developed program and a
the Irish Republic. Then in August 1969, strong foundation in political theory. We
when physical attacks were mounted by had to learn from experience and that has
Protestant elements on Catholic areas in been both our strength and our weakness.
Belfast and Derry, p d forces joined the barri­ . . . We rediscovered for ourselves the
cades which were raised in the Catholic ar­ main principle of Connolly's socialism—
eas and for a while ran Radio Free Belfast that to be a socialist in Ireland you must
and a newspaper issued by the Catholic re­ be an anti-imperialist and that most con­
sistance people. However, they soon closed sistent anti-imperialist-fighters were al­
the radio and withdrew from the paper be­ ways willing to unite in action with other
cause of political disagreements with i r a sections of the anti-imperialism move­
elements in general charge of the resistance ment and with a rounded understanding
efforts.18 of the political, social, and economic as­
As a revolutionary organization, People's pects of imperialist domination.

572 Ireland
As a consequence of their ideological evolu­ they initiated unity talks which collapsed
tion, People's Democracy clearly differenti­ over disagreements on the International and
ated themselves from i r a elements and the on the question of physical force.. . . In 1975
Communist Party: “We rejected their and 1976, the main advocates of physical
'stages theory' that reform in the North force left the pd. In 1977, negotiations began
would be followed at long intervals first by again with the m s r and ended in December
a United Ireland and then by Socialism. We 1978, in the fusion of the two organizations.
developed our own understanding of Trots­ In November 1981, the new People's De­
ky's theory of permanent revolution— mocracy affiliated to the Fourth Interna­
seeing that any movement strong enough to tional [ u s e c ]."14
defeat imperialism and establish a United The united People's Democracy contin­
Ireland would move on to win a Workers ued to center much of its attention on the
Republic."22 struggle for a united Ireland. It was particu­
During the middle 1970s People's Democ­ larly active in the campaign centering on
racy suffered a major split. McAnulty has the hunger strikes of several i r a prisoners
noted that after a general strike of Protestant in Northern Ireland in 1981 over the issue
workers brought about the downfall of a of their being treated as common prisoners
Northern Ireland government of moderate instead of political prisoners. People's De­
Protestants and Catholics, People's Democ­ mocracy published and widely distributed
racy "saw a danger of a Fascist takeover and several pamphlets on the issue, including
began to stress more and more the need for Prisoners of Partition: B-Block/Armagh and
military defence. The Loyalist takeover Internment ’71, H-Block ’81: The Same
never came, and when we began to adjust Struggle.
our political strategy to take account of the They were also active in campaigns
reality, there was a serious division in our around other issues. For instance, they put
organization and almost half the member­ out a pamphlet in the form of a special sup­
ship split away." . plement to their newspaper Socialist Re­
However, McAnulty added that "the long­ public in July 1984 entitled Nicaragua: Rev­
term results of the split were healthy. We olution on the March/ The Lessons for
were able to go back to political first princi­ Ireland. They also featured the Nicaraguan
ples and restate our program differences situation in their periodical from time to
with Republicanism—our belief that the time.25 Their newspaper also gave publicity
major force for revolution came from the to various labor conflicts in Ireland and in
activity of the masses and that the driving other countries. It likewise gave strong sup­
force within this mass struggle could only port to the campaign for legalizing divorce
be the organized power of the working in the Irish Republic and against a constitu­
class."13 tional amendment in the Republic to outlaw
abortion.26
People's Democracy was interested in
The United People's Democracy
placing their movement in the historical
The exit of the devotees of physical force framework of early revolutionary groups
from People's Democracy also facilitated and events in Ireland. To this end, they pub­
the unification of the organization with the lished, for example, a pamphlet which went
United Secretariat's supporters in the Re­ through at least two editions, D. R. O'Con­
public of Ireland. According to Lysaght, nor Lysaght's The Story of the Limerick So­
"Gradually, p d and r m g / m s r found them­ viet: The 19 19 General Strike Against Brit­
selves working together with political agree- ish Militarism.
ment on most issues. As early as 1974-75, People's Democracy also ran candidates

t Ireland 573
I
in general and local elections in both parts Northern Ireland to vote for the candidates
of Ireland. Lysaght has summed up this kind of Sinn Fein, the legal political party of the
of activity of People's Democracy in North­ IRA. However, in doing so, it clearly had
ern Ireland, The r m g / m b r in the South, and grave reservations about Sinn Fein. A front­
the united People's Democracy: page editorial in Socialist Republic urging a
vote for the i r a group ended, "The support
p d ran candidates in the 1969. N.I. general
given to Sinn Fein demonstrates clearly that
election with impressive but unsuccess­
the basis for renewing the mass struggle to
ful results. From then until 1981, it
win Irish unity and independence is matur­
tended to abstentionism. The m s r did run
ing fast. Does Sinn Fein dare give a lead? "l9
a candidate in East Limerick in the Re­
The emergence of Sinn Fein as a serious
public's 1977 general election around the
competitor in Northern Ireland elections
front paper Bottom Dog, unsuccessfully.
clearly did some electoral damage to the p d .
Our same candidate, Joe Harrington, ran
Thus, in municipal polls of May 198s p d
for the city Corporation in 1979 as an
lost its two seats in the Belfast council to
entrist member of the s l p (Socialist Labor
Sinn Fein. However, in June, Joseph Harring­
Party) and for East Limerick for the Dail
ton of p d won a seat in the Limerick city
in 1981 (H. Block) and February 1982 for
council, getting the second highest vote.30
p d . All unsuccessful. . . . In Dublin, our
In participating in elections, the p d was by
nc member, Vincent Doherty, got 1,500
no means indicating that it thought that the
votes as a pro-hunger striker candidate in
revolution could be accomplished through
1981 in North-Central. In the two 1982
the ballot box. In an essay entitled "Educa­
general elections subsequently, we spon­
tion for Socialists: Our View of Elections,"
sored the candidacy of Bernadette Mac-
Socialist Republic said, "Anyone who sees
Aliskey; in the February one, she held her
elections as bringing about change by them­
deposit. The only other candidate in the
selves is living in a dream-world, but ignor­
Dublin area was Mervyn Morrissey in the
ing them or using them simply as propa­
Dunlaughoire local election of 1979, with
ganda vehicles is irresponsible. Elections
the State Capitalism (s w n ) Dermot Byrne
properly used are a springboard for organiza­
for the s l p . . . . In Belfast, p d won two
tion and independent action by the working
council seats (John McAnulty and Fergus
class. The problem is that only class-con -
O'Hare) in the hunger strike local election
scious parties of the working class have the
of 1981. This was helped by Sinn Fein's
program to do this effectively. . . ."3I
abstentionism at the time; when they ran
The skepticism of the p d about elections
for the Assembly the next year, S.F.
did not mean that they in any way endorsed
swamped them.. . . Gregg Duff ran unsuc­
the i r a ' s reliance on armed action. In their
cessfully for p d in Shannon Town Com­
pamphlet about the hunger strike campaign,
missioner in I982.17
they wrote: "Militarism is the belief that
At the time of the election for a Northern military action represents a qualitative step
Ireland Assembly in 1982, People's Democ­ beyond mass action and that armed groups
racy and Bernadette MacAliskey joined can substitute for the masses and them­
forces to try to get all nationalist-oriented selves carry out the revolution. We in Peo­
groups in the "six counties" to boycott the ple's Democracy hold to* the Marxist belief
elections. When the Sinn Fein decided to that the actions of the masses and the orga­
run candidates, People's Democracy also nization of the working class represent the
named a few of its own, feeling that a partial key to revolutionary victory. The Irish peo­
boycott would be futile.28 ple have of course the right to use force
In the 198s British general election Peo­ against imperialism, the cause of all the
ple's Democracy urged its supporters in blood and violence, but the correct applica­

574 Ireland
tion of force is in the defense of the mass Belfast and, perhaps, Derry. They were, and
movement rather than in the operation of a the Belfast ones still are, very much into the
separate military campaign."32 'security' rubbish, "3S that is, the claims of
Gerry Healy and his followers that Joseph
Hansen and George Novack were agents of
Other Trotskyist Groups
the g p u and the f b i and implicated in the
Aside from the United Secretariat, two other murder of Trotsky.
tendencies in International Trotskyism It was the League for a Workers Republic
have had affiliates in Ireland. These are the which became the Irish section of the c o r q i
International Committee of Gerry Healy tendency of International Trotskyism. As
and the Lambertist Organization Commit­ we have already noted, this group was estab­
tee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth In­ lished under the leadership of Patrick Healy
ternational (c o r q i ). on St. Patrick's Day 19 63, and for a few years
As already noted, the Socialist Labor was the only avowedly Trotskyist group in
League (s l l ) of Great Britain maintained a Ireland. According to Lysaght,
branch in Northern Ireland during the 1950s
. . . the l w r developed its theory on the
and 1960s. It was not until 1970 that Gerry
lines of what might be called copybook
Healy and the s l l became interested in re­
Marxism. It applied the basic aphorisms
cruiting followers in the Irish Republic. For
of Marxism literally and consistently
that purpose, they sought to gain influence
without considering the context of the
in the Young Socialists, the youth group of
m ove.. . . Above all the essence of 'work-
the League for a Workers Republic. Ac­
ing-class unity' was interpreted not only
cording to the periodical of the s l l ' s U.S.
as necessitating an orientation to the or­
counterpart, the Workers League, "Led by
ange workers . . . but also to those sec­
y s National Secretary John Simmance, a spe­
tions of the said class in the twenty-six
cial recruiting team visited Dublin from
countries who were indifferent or, even,
Britain to join the Irish Young Socialists in
hostile to the demand for national unifi­
the building of their revolutionary youth
cation. . . . So it was that when, in August
movement."33
1969, the northern struggle escalated into
By the time of the split in the Interna­
warfare, the l w r responded by presenting
tional Committee between Gerry Healy and
proposals for repartitioning Northern Ire­
the s l l on one side and Lambert and c o r q i
land. Subsequently, this was justified by
on the other, Healy had an allied group in
a claim that there were two Irish 'nation­
Ireland, the League for a Workers Vanguard.
alities.'36
It had been accepted as a section of the Inter­
national Committee at the ic's 1970 precon­ The l w r joined the c o r q i sometime after
ference, and it was a signer of one of the c o r q i's split with Gerry Healy and the Brit­
major documents in the polemics between ish s l l . Until the late 1970s it appears to
the Healyites and the Lambertists, the have been confined only to the Republic of
"Statement of the International Committee Ireland. However, at the time of its seventh
(Majority)," issued on October 2.4, 19 71.34 conference in April 1979 it was announced
Apparently the s l l branches in Northern that for the first time the group had been
Ireland became part of the League for a able to establish a branch in Belfast, which
Workers Vanguard (l w v ). was represented at the conference. That
In the mid-1970s the l w v became the meeting was said to have paid attention par­
Workers League. According to Lysaght, ad­ ticularly to work in the unions, establish­
mittedly an unfriendly source, "It seemed to ment of units in enterprises, work among
disappear almost overnight, in 1978, though students, and strengthening of the group's
there is still some sort of organization in penetration in Northern Ireland.37

i Ireland 575
 In the Irish Republic parliamentary elec­ it disappeared largely as a result of the con­
tions held in 1981, at the time of the hunger flicts within the Fourth International in the
strikes of the ir a prisoners, the l w r ran Pat­ 1 940s. When it was revived almost two de­
rick Healy as a "pro-hunger strike" candi­ cades later it was still split among five of
date for the Dublin North-east constitu­ the tendencies in International Trotskyism,
ency. Although he was defeated, Healy's that is, the United Secretariat, Gerry Healy's
campaign was called by Lysaght "a nice International Committee, the c o r q i led by
try."38 Pierre Lambert, the International Socialist
It is reported that the Northern Ireland Tendency, and the British Militant Ten­
part of the l w r "disappeared in the after- dency.
math of 19 81." Lysaght has noted that "it All Irish Trotskyist factions have been
was always a very low profile, and practi­ largely peripheral to the organized labor
cally incognito body. . . . The l w r may still movement, not being able to establish any
have a Belfast branch, but it must be the significant base in it. Finally, all branches of
least exposed legal body in that city. .. ."39 Irish Trotskyism have found their relation­
Continued activity of pro-LW R elements ship with the Irish nationalist movement to
is indicated by the fact that Patrick Healy's be a particularly difficult issue to handle,
brother Seamus was elected to the Clonmel although by the early 1980s all segments
city council in the June 1985 elections. Ly­ of the movement were committed to the
saght has written about this that "I do not struggle for the unification of the island.
think he is actually a member of the l w r .
(He certainly was not in 1981.) He is how­
ever, sympathetic to Trotskyist politics."40
Two other Trotskyist groups which have
been associated with factions of British
Trotskyism have also existed in Ireland.
One is the Socialist Workers Movement,
which has shared the "state capitalist" in­
terpretation of the Soviet Union and other
Communist Party-controlled regimes with
the Independent Socialists/Socialist Work­
ers Party of Great Britain, and was repre­
sented at a meeting of the worldwide Inter­
national Socialist Tendency in London in
September 1984.41 The other group is the
one around the Militant Irish Monthly,
more or less aligned with the British Mili­
tant Tendency. Of these, Lysaght has said
that "they are bigger .. . than ourselves or
the Irish Healyites and/or Irish Lam­
bertists. " >2 Unfortunately, we have ob­
tained little further information about these
two groups.

Conclusion
Trotskyism was late in getting established
in Ireland. Even after it got its first foothold

576 Ireland
 Trotskyism in Israel first Bolshevik government 011 the grounds
that it would be harmful for both the Revo­
lution and the Jews to have a Jew in charge
of suppressing the counterrevolution.2 Sub­
sequently, Trotsky pointed out on various
occasions in the 1920s and later that Stalin
In spite of the anti-Zionist position of Trots­ used anti-Semitism as a weapon against the
kyism, from which it has never veered, it Opposition, because of the presence of sev­
established one of its earliest and longest- eral prominent Jews, including himself, in
lasting organizations in Palestine-Israel. It its leadership.3
first took root there in the pre-World War II As for political Zionism, throughout most
period, principally among Jewish immi­ of his political career Trotsky apparently
grants. That early movement virtually dis­ paid little heed to the question at all. How­
appeared in the 19SOS, but during the next ever, upon occasion, he expressed curiosity
decade and thereafter a new Trotskyist about the movement. He apparently wrote
group emerged in Israel. only one full-length article on the subject,
in the January 1, 1904, issue of Iskra *
Joseph Nedava has summed up Trotsky's
Trotsky and Zionism
attitude towards Zionism thus:
Before sketching the evolution of Trots­
To begin with, he never favored a Zionist
kyism in Palestine and Israel, note should
solution to the Jewish problem even on a
be taken of Leon Trotsky's own attitude to­
partial basis. He considered the move­
wards Zionism. He was never a Zionist and
ment as reactionary and regressive, like
seemed to regard even the fact that he was
all nationalist movements. But in 1903,
a Jew as more an accident of birth than any­
shortly after the second congress, which
thing else. At least until the very last years
brought about the breakup of the Social-
of his life he was an assimilationist and most
Democratic party, he was curious enough
of all an internationalist.
to acquaint himself with Zionism at close
Through most of his career Trotsky even
quarters; this accounts for his presence,
resisted the idea that the Jews were a sepa­
as a guest, at the Sixth Zionist Congress
rate "people" or "nation" either within
at Basel. But he was not converted to the
Czarist Russia or Soviet Russia. In the earli­
Zionist program. Many years later, in
est years of the Russian Social Democratic
1937/ when his career was at its lowest
movement he fought the attempt of the Jew­
ebb and he envisioned the catastrophe in
ish Labor Bund to gain recognition as a spe­
store for the Jewish people in Germany
cifically Jewish organization which would
and in East Europe, he once again showed
have the right to make Social Democratic
interest in Zionism. . . .5
policy on Jewish issues. Rather, he felt that
at most the Bund should be the group in The nearest that Trotsky came to conceding
the party which proselytized and carried out some validity to Zionism was in an inter­
party policy among Yiddish-speaking view he gave with a Jewish Daily Forward
workers.1 correspondent in January 1937, soon after
Of course he could not be totally oblivious arriving in Mexico. He started his discussion
to the fact of his own Jewish background. of the subject by saying that "on the Jewish
That fact intruded itself from time to time question, first of all, I can say that it cannot
in his political career. Thus, he is said to be resolved within the framework of the cap­
have turned down Lenin's suggestion that italist system, nor can it be resolved by Z i­
he become Commissar of the Interior in the onism." He later added that "the Jewish

t Israel 577
1
question will only be resolved by the social­ endorsement of the idea of all Jews "re­
ist revolution." turning" to Palestine. Shortly before his
However, in this interview, Trotsky indi­ death Trotsky confirmed this: "The attempt
cated a certain evolution in his own think­ to solve the Jewish question through the
ing, as a consequence of what was then hap­ migration of Jews to Palestine can now be
pening in Europe. He noted that "A t one seen for what it is, a tragic mockery of the
time I thought that the Jews would assimi­ Jewish people. . . ."7
late into the peoples and cultures they lived International Trotskyism maintained,
among. This was the case in Germany and both during his lifetime and afterwards,
even in America, and for this reason it was Trotsky's opposition to Zionism.
possible to make such a prediction. .. . But
now it is impossible to say this. Recent his­
Palestinian Trotskyism.
tory has taught us something about this.
The fate of the Jews has been posed as a
Trotskyism in the 1930s
burning question particularly in Germany,
and the Jews who had forgotten their ances­ The Trotskyist movement in pre-World War
try were clearly reminded of it., . .If capital­ IT Palestine in part reflected a marked in­
ism continues to survive for a long time, the crease in Jewish migration from Europe re­
Jewish question will be posed in the same sulting from the rise of the Nazis to power
way in all countries where Jews live, includ­ in Germany. In that influx, there were peo­
ing the USA." ple of the widest variety of political persua­
Trotsky then made a concession on the sions, from far left to far right. Many of them
question which until then had not been joined in Palestine, or formed there for
characteristic of him: themselves, groups which reflected the
ideas and positions which they had brought
I can say, however, that under the social­
with them.
ist order, the Jews, too, can and should
Among the new Jewish immigrants from
lead their own lives as a people, with their
Germany there arrived in 1937-38 a number
own culture, which has undergone a pro­
of people who had belonged to the Commu­
found development in recent years. The
nist Right Opposition of Heinrich Brandler
territorial question is pertinent because
and August Thalheimer. A majority of these
it is easier for a people to carry out an
quickly evolved in Palestine in a Trotskyist
economic and cultural plan when it lives
direction. However, this group tended to be
in a compact mass. . . . Under socialism
relatively isolated in the Palestinian milieu
that question will arise, and with the con­
of the time.
sent of the Jews who desire it, there might
A second element which was attracted to
be a free mass emigration, which'no one
Trotskyism in that period consisted of
would be forced to join, just as in general
members of the Chugim Marxistiim (Marx­
there will be no rule of force in the social­
ist Circle), the youth section of one of the
ist state. For if a group of Jews maintain
wings of the Left Poale Zion Party, the left-
that they wish to live under socialism in
wing labor Zionists. This group, consisting
the Jewish culture, which makes it possi­
largely of Jewish youths born in Palestine,
ble for them to live in accordance with
had by the late 1930s evol-yed towards Trots­
their own way and their own spirit, then
kyist ideas, in spite of the fact that Left Poale
why shouldn't they be able to do this?6
Zion was officially aligned with the so-
Of course, even this concession of the rele­ called London Bureau. It began to publish a
vance of "the territorial question" as part periodical, Kol Hama'amed (Class Voice).
of "the Jewish problem" was far from an By the outbreak of World War II contact had

578 Israel
 been established between them and the Ger­ mocracy; opposition to Zionism as an erro­
man exile group. neous conception of the 'solution of the Jew­
Although the British police sometimes in­ ish question' by the concentration of Jews
terfered with the publication of Kol Ha­ in Palestine; the creation of a socialist Arab-
ma'amed, it appeared in multigraphed form Jewish entity within a 'United Socialist
whenever it was possible to bring it out. Arab East.' "
Three numbers of a periodical in German, The Palestinian Trotskyists, like Leon
Gegen den Strom (Against the Stream) were Trotsky himself, were strongly anti-Zionist.
also published. The same more or less official statement of
A third major pro-Trotskyist element their position on this issue which we have
consisted of people coming from the cited declared that they felt that Zionism
Haschomer-Hazair, the Left Zionist kibbutz "was not only incapable of solving the prob­
movement. They merged with the other two lem of the Jews in the world, but it already
Trotskyist groups to form Brit Kommunis- was creating a new Jewish problem within
tim Nahapchanim (Alliance of Revolution­ the framework of the Arab East."10
ary Communists} shortly before the Second
We understood this in the following way:
World War began.
The Jewish question in modem capital­
There was a fourth pro-Trotskyist group
ism was the result on the one hand of the
which did not collaborate with the other
development of the crisis within capital­
three. It was also made up of German immi­
ism itself, and on the other of the failure
grants, who felt that the Trotskyists should
to develop a realization of the revolution­
confine themselves to studying and theoriz­
ary socialist perspective on the solution
ing rather than participating in mass organi­
of the problem. . . . The "Brit" rejected
zations or practical political activities.8
the creation of a Jewish state, which
would only be a part of the declining order
Ideological Positions of Palestinian and could only sharpen the Jewish ques­
Trotskyists tion. Furthermore, such a state could be
realized only by the expulsion of the origi­
The members of the Alliance of Revolution­
nal Arab population.. . . Zionist coloniza­
ary Communists considered themselves an
tion was by its nature from the beginning
integral part of the world Trotskyist move­
necessarily bound up with the interests of
ment, and as the Palestine Section of the
imperialism, which were directed against
Fourth International. They apparently were
the native masses. Zionist colonization
not officially so recognized by the Interna­
could succeed only in the closest agree­
tional, since no Palestinian group was re­
ment with the interests and the assis­
ported to be affiliated with or "in contact
tance of one or more great powers.11
with" the International Secretariat at the
Founding Conference of the Fourth Interna­ The practical effect of Zionism was, ac­
tional.9 cording to this Trotskyist presentation, that
The ideological position of the Palestinian it "created in Palestine a second socioeco­
Trotskyists has been more or less officially nomic sector, which was isolated from the
described thus: "the necessity of an anti- Arabic population as much as possible. The
Stalinist struggle and of the establishment Zionists drove out from their economic sec­
of a new revolutionary International and tor Arab workers and the Arab firms from
revolutionary national sections; the neces­ the market, in order to establish a pure capi­
sity of a political revolution in the Soviet talist Jewish sector, as a forerunner of the
Union for the overthrow of the bureaucratic Zionist state. As a result, the Jewish work­
rule and for the restoration of socialist de­ ing class was isolated from the Arab popula­

Isracl 579
tion and the Arab economic sector was companied Dr. Stein in these discussions
robbed of any possibility of development. was Jabra Nicola, an Arab Communist who
The so-called Trade Union (Histadrut) con­ left the party after the Molotov-Ribbentrop
tributed in an essential way to both develop­ Pact of August 1939.
ments, for it was not a real trade union The Palestinian Trotskyists during and
movement but a great economic trust in the right after the Second World War sought to
service of Zionism. . . gain some influence among the workers,
The Palestinian Trotskyists developed a both Jewish and Arab. The "Brit" issued
perspective for the Middle East which was leaflets from time to time in connection
to be continued by the Trotskyists of the with labor conflicts on the railroads, in the
region after the establishment of the State •oil companies and other firms which were
of Israel. This called for "the Socialist unifi­ owned or controlled by the British. How­
cation of the Arab East." They felt that their ever, they had only very limited success in
own task "was to propagandize and work these efforts, particularly insofar as the Arab
organizationally for these tasks within the workers were concerned.13
Jewish and Arab masses," and to create a
unified revolutionary socialist party in the
region, which the Stalinists who followed The Trotskyists and the Emergence
Kremlin diplomacy were incapable of doing. of the State of Israel
It saw as well only the political integration
of the Jewish workers in the anti-imperialist The Palestinian Trotskyists, in spite of the
and socialist struggle in the. . . "perspective fact that most of them were Jewish, re­
of a united socialist Arab East."12 mained loyal to their anti-Zionist position
and strongly opposed the emergence of the
Jewish State after World War II. In confor­
Palestinian Trotskyists During
mity with this position they campaigned,
World War II
insofar as their limited resources permitted,
During the Second World War the Palestin­ against the u n resolution to partition the
ian Trotskyists fought a kind of three-front country.
conflict: against the Zionists, the British au­ Once the State of Israel had been pro­
thorities, and the Stalinists. They continued claimed, the Trotskyists tried to defend the
to publish Kol Hama'amed in Hebrew as position of the Arabs in the new nation. A
well as material in Arabic, German, and En­ more or less official description of their posi­
glish. They established contact with some tion stated: "In this phase we concerned our­
Trotskyists in the British Army, and selves essentially with the propaganda
through them restored contacts both with against the expulsion, repression, and expro­
Trotskyist groups in Egypt and with the priation of the land and houses of the Pales­
Revolutionary Communist Party of Great tinians by the Zionist state and its becoming
Britain. They also had some liaison with the an instrument of U.S. imperialism in the
Socialist Workers Party of the United States. struggle against the developing Arab na­
Within Palestine the Trotskyists won tional revolutionary movement. As an alter­
some converts from among Stalinists and native, we proposed the following plan:
their fellow travellers. They had a number struggle for the right of the Arabs who had
of meetings with Dr. Stein, who headed a been expelled or fled to return to Palestine
Democratic Front and from the 1920s on and the creation of a Palestinian state with
had published the official organ of the Com­ full national rights for the Jews living there;
munist Party although he himself did not political integration of the Jewish workers
belong to that party. One of those who ac­ in the region; realization of both tasks

580 Israel
within the framework of the struggle for a Israeli T ro tsk y ism
UNITED ARAB SOCIALIST EA ST."14
Early History of Matzpen
Decline of the Early Trotskyist
During the late 1950s political develop­
Movement
ments began on the Israeli far left which
Before the end of the Second World War the were to give rise to the emergence of a new
Palestinian Trotskyist movement had be­ Trotskyist movement in the country. Vari­
gun to disintegrate. One reason for this was ous groups started up which were critical
a growing disagreement among its leaders of Zionism from the left, and which had
and members about the relationship be­ sympathy for revolutionary developments
tween Zionism and the establishment of So­ in a number of neighboring Arab countries,
cialism. One element felt that it was impos­ particularly the emergence of the Baath So­
sible to set up a Socialist state in a Zionist cialist regime in Iraq.
context, while others, although continuing However, it was not until the early 1960s
to be opposed to the idea of a Zionist state, that a new Trotskyist organization began to
felt that it was possible to continue the emerge in Israel. According to Michel War-
struggle for Socialism, as conceived of by shawski, "In 196a a group of Communist
the Trotskyist movement, even within the Party members was expelled from the Com­
context of such a state. munist Party because they expressed criti­
Those who felt that Zionism and Social­ cisms of the line of the Communist Party
ism were totally incompatible left the coun­ and the undemocratic internal life. They
try as soon as possible. There were three asked questions, too many questions, about
ways through which most of them left Pales­ the Soviet-Chinese conflict, they were criti­
tine (or Israel after May 1948). Some became cal about the role of the Communist Party
merchant sailors and went to sea; others in Cuba (it was right after the revolution),
joined the Jewish Army which the British the role of the Communist Party in Iraq in
had organized during the war and which the revolution of 1958. They were expelled,
fought, among other places, in Italy. The constituted Matzpen, which united quite
third group left Palestine to become repre­ quickly with the old Trotskyists," Yankel
sentatives of Zionist organizations which Taut and Jabra Nicola.18 They began to pub­
were organizing'the passage of other Jews to lish a periodical from which the group took
Palestine from Europe.15 its name, Matzpen (Compass).'9
In fact, a majority of the Palestinian Trots­ The significance for Trotskyism of the
kyists left the country either during or in rise of the Matzpen has been summed up
the years immediately following World War thus: "The new and positive factors were,
II. It has been reported that "there remained despite all serious weaknesses: 1. that it be­
a small number of comrades, who developed gan to organize independently of the Stalin­
a certain amount of activity, especially in ists the common Jewish-Arab anti-Zionist
the trade union field." This same source struggle; 2. that it created the possibility
added that "the few who remained contin­ of the existence of revolutionary socialist
ued Trotskyist propaganda, which had some forces in Israel; 3. that it spread the idea
effect among . . . c p members in ideology, of Arabic-Israeli revolutionary anti-Zionist
but for subjective and objective reasons not cooperation in the International Left; and 4.
in political organization."16 Michel Wars- that it became a basis for the new develop­
hawski has noted that the Revolutionary ment of Trotskyism in Israel."20
Communist Alliance went out of existence It was after the 1967 War that the Matzpen
"in 1947 or 1948." 17 group, which by then had taken the name

Israel 581
Israeli Socialist Organization (iso), began to publish an Arabic-language weekly, El-Mat,
grow with some rapidity. For one thing, it and requested official government authori­
began to attract a number of new recruits zation. It was September 8 before they re­
from among young recent immigrants from ceived a reply from the Haifa official in­
Europe and Latin America who had already volved to the effect that "in my authority
had contact in their native lands with vari­ according (to) point 94 of the Defence Regu­
ous far left political currents, particularly lations (Emergency), 1945, I refuse to grant
those of Guevarism and Trotskyism. Based you the requested permission certificate for
largely on those people, a distinctly Trotsky­ edition of the above-mentioned weekly."23
ist current developed within the iso.21 Government censorship of the iso's He-
Arie Bober, one of the leaders of the iso, brew-language Matzpen was severe. Fur­
in an interview with two U.S. Trotskyists thermore, freedom of movement of the orga­
early in 1970, described his organization at nization's Arab members was sometimes
that time: limited, as when Jabra Nicola was officially
informed on December 15, 1969, that he
The iso is comprised of proportional
could not leave the city limits of Haifa with­
parts, students and young intellectuals, a
out the personal permission of the local
smaller part of workers, and a still smaller
commanding general.24
number of Arabs. There are many more
Michel Warshawski has noted: "We used
Jews than Arabs. The reason is that our
to be arrested a lot when we were selling the
Arab members are much more heavily
newspapers .. . and our Arab members used
persecuted than Jewish members. . . .
to be arrested and kept in custody a week,
The iso is working on three levels. First
two weeks. But most of the repression at
is the student body, where our main pro­
that time was more social repression than
paganda emphasis is criticizing Zionist
political repression. To be a member of
policy and fighting against the persecu­
Matzpen in the late '60s and the beginning
tion of Arab students or Arab citizens of
of the '70s was to be their enemy, to be the
Israel. . . . The second level of our work
agents of the enemy of the country. To find
is in the factories. We publish a special
work was almost impossible, and it was very
leaflet for workers, and the main point of
difficult to have social relations with any­
our propaganda is trying to show that you
one, mainly the Left, the Left and so-called
cannot be a chauvinist and adhere to the
liberals were even more hostile to Matzpen
'Greater Israel' and then demand higher
than the official media and government
wages or a rising standard of living. . ..
policy."25
The third level of work is directed at
the Jewish community, especially recent
immigrants, mostly young people. A great The Israeli Lambertists
part of them came as leftists, as radicals,
Two new Trotskyist groups, one associated
as revolutionaries—but with a Jewish en­
with the Lambertist c o r q i international
tity, which is very understandable. We
current and one with the United Secretariat,
have told them, if you accept a Zionist
emerged in the early 1970s. They were
outlook then you cannot be a socialist,
formed as a consequence of splits in the Is­
and if you are a socialist you cannot be a
raeli Socialist Organization in 1970 and
Zionist. .. ,22
1972.
The iso suffered some persecution from Late in 1970 a group broke away from the
the Israeli government, particularly in con­ iso to form Avant-Guard, which later took
nection with its activities among the Arabs. the name Workers Alliance (or Workers-
For instance, early in 1968 the iso sought to League). It became affiliated with the Lam-

582 Israel
bertist Organization Committee for the Re­ ite than the r c l ." Among its leading figures
construction of the Fourth International at that time was Menahem Karmi. It was
(c o r q i ). One Israeli associated with the said that "its attitudes are not very different
United Secretariat faction has written that from the r c l ' s , although its propaganda is
"at its origin, the w a was in disaccord . . . more intensely and apparently . . . worker-
on two essential levels: divergences con­ oriented." Also, the Workers Alliance was
cerning international problems and associ­ said to proclaim even more frankly than the
ated with the divergences between the f i r c l that it was "a partner in the Palestinian

and the c o r q i ; divergences over the analysis struggle for National Liberation." Its
of the political and social reality of the State monthly organ was Voice of the Worker,
of Israel and of Zionism."26 which was published in Jerusalem in both
Another United Secretariat supporter, Mi­ Hebrew and Arabic, and was edited by Men­
chel Warshawski, explained the position of ahem Karmi. The periodical was distributed
the w a on Israel and Zionism in the follow­ chiefly among urban workers. Vanguard,
ing terms: the w a ' s theoretical organ, was published
irregularly in Hebrew and was also edited
. . . they are unable to understand that
by Menahem Karmi. It was reported that
the contradiction between the working
the Workers Alliance "tends to emphasize
class and the bourgeoisie has many as­
opposition to capitalism more than opposi­
pects that are not directly and apparently
tion to Zionism."29 The Workers Alliance
a problem of the workers' struggle against
remained affiliated with c o r q i until 1978,
the capitalists. This makes them unable
when it was excluded from that group.30
to understand nationalism, Arab nation­
alism, and Zionism. They can't see the
role of Zionism in the Arab East and the
consequent link between the Israeli revo­ The Revolutionary
lution and the development of the revolu­ Communist League
tion in the Arab East as a whole. They
In February 1972 there was a second split in
cannot understand the positive aspects of
the iso when a national assembly of the
the national liberation movement of the
organization adopted a program which has
Arab world and the revolutionary poten­
been described as being "very close to Trots­
tial that exists in those movements. . . .
kyism."31 The development of this split was
For them, nationalism is something bad,
described by Michel Warshawski: "We had a
and they will have nothing to do with it.
political discussion in the organization and
Although they say Jewish nationalism is
concluded that if the theory of permanent
bad too, they just ignore it. They say they
revolution is valid in the Arab East, it must
have to go to the Israeli workers and orga­
be valid throughout the underdeveloped
nize them for the revolution—and that's
world. When we asked the organization to
all.27
broaden its program, to be not just anti-Zi-
In 1973 the Workers Alliance suffered a onist, but to develop a general political pro­
split because it refused to take Egypt's side gram, a part of the group objected and subse­
in the Yom Kippur War. The element which quently split."
broke away formed the Palestine Commu­ According to Warshawski this split in
nist Group under the leadership of Yigal Matzpen was more serious than the earlier
Schwartz, which in April 1979 merged with one had been since the splitters included "a
the United Secretariat's Israeli affiliate.28 large minority, including a large part of the
In 1976 the Workers Alliance was de­ old leadership." Also, since those who broke
scribed as being "more orthodoxly Trotsky- away continued to use the organization's

Israel 583
 name the remaining pro-Trotskyist major­ figures of the iso, writing under the pseud­
ity began to call themselves iso (Marxist). onym of Abu Sa'd.35
A communique issued by the iso (Marx­ The Third Congress of the iso (Marxist),
ist) on March 6, 1972, explaining the divi­ held in February 1975, changed the name of
sion in the organization, claimed that those the organization to Revolutionary Commu­
who had broken away "leaned towards anar­ nist League. The congress was preceded by
chist positions." Furthermore, they had "vi­ a considerable period of discussion and po­
olated organizational discipline and under­ lemics, and in its sessions, "on all points
took a campaign of defamation (both inside where two opposing resolutions were pre­
and outside the iso) against the Trotskyist sented, the discussion time was divided
comrades in the iso." equally between the two tendencies." After
The communique ended by claiming that seven hours of debate at the congress, three
"from now on we will set ourselves to the basic documents were adopted, all of which
task, essential for the future of the socialist had been proposed by the "Revolutionary
revolution in the region, of bolstering our Communist Tendency": "The document
organization ideologically and increasing its 'The Arab Revolution, Balance Sheet and
capability of action. This will allow us to Perspectives,' prepared by the leadership of
become active participants in building the the groups supporting the Fourth Interna­
revolutionary-Marxist organization of the tional in the whole Arab region; some brief
Arab East."32 theses added to this document, to clarify
In October 1972 the iso (Marxist) held its certain points; the theses on Israeli society
first congress. The most important deci­ and the class struggle in Israel." Also, a reso­
sions of this meeting were to declare the lution on organization was unanimously
organization's loyalty to the principles of adopted by the Third Congress. It was re­
Trotskyism, and to apply for membership in ported that that document "put forward the
the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ following priorities for our political work:
tional.33 stepping up our activity in propaganda and
At the time of the Yom Kippur War in political education, directing our interven­
October 1973 the Political Bureau of the iso tion more toward the masses and no longer
(Marxist) issued a statement, the key pas­ primarily toward the student youth, gearing
sages of which were that "for us the respon­ our newspaper to this objective, and reor­
sibility for this war, like all the wars that ganizing the structures of the organi­
have gone before, falls above all on Israel: zation."36
because it has conquered territories and has At its Fourth Congress in September 1976
no intention of giving them back; because the most important document adopted by
it plunders, expels, and oppresses the Pales­ the Revolutionary Communist League was
tinian Arab people, and it has to expect that one defining its attitude towards the Pales­
the Arab masses will do all they can to re­ tine Liberation Organization (p l o ):
store the Palestinians' rights; because it has
taken on itself the role of imperialism's po­ The p l o is the framework that unifies the
liceman in the region, and its arrogant policy organizations struggling against Zionist
results in provoking even the ruling classes rule. As such the revolutionary Marxists
of the Arab East."34 support the p l o unconditionally and its
The main theoretician of the iso in its struggle against the Zionist regime. More­
early years was Jabra Nicola, who died in over we, revolutionary Marxists op­
London late in 1974. He was a veteran Arab erating under the Zionist regime itself,
member of the Communist Party until the consider ourselves an integral part of the
1 940s. After 1963 he was one of the leading p l o . . . . In the framework of the Palestin­

584 Israel
 ian liberation movement and the Na­ tional."40 The r c l (Turn) began to issue a
tional Council we will act as a well-de- periodical called Spark.41
fined political current, presenting a The Revolutionary Communist League
political proletarian alternative for Pales­ was very active in organizing protests
tinians and Jews as well, and in the wider against the Lebanese War of 198a, and in
context of the whole Arab region an alter­ the Peace Now Movement. Subsequently,
native to the actual p l o leadership.37 Michel Warshawski argued, "We were not
alone in this work, but we played a very
At its Fifth Congress in April 1979 the determinant role."
Revolutionary Communist League merged By the beginning of 1985, the r c l was said
with the Palestine Communist Group. to have "around fifty members."42
There had been discussions between the two
groups for about two years and the resolu­
tions adopted at the merger congress were
agreed upon in advance by representatives
of both. The meeting received messages of
greeting from the Lebanese section of the
United Secretariat and from the Union of
Communists in Syria, "a group that has very
broad programmatic agreement with the
rcl ."38
By the end of 1982 the Revolutionary
Communist League had branches in Tel
Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. It was led by a
Central Committee of eleven members and
published not only the Hebrew-language
Matzpen (selling 500 copies an issue) but
also a monthly in Arabic, Sharara, with a
sale of about 1500 each month. From time to
time it also published a theoretical journal,
Unamio in Arabic and International in He­
brew. Its small publishing group, Red Pages,
had by late 1982, put out more than thirty*
five pamphlets, in both Hebrew and
Arabic.39
In July 1982 the Revolutionary Commu­
nist League suffered a split. At issue appears
to have been the growing controversy which
was by then developing between the United
Secretariat and the Socialist Workers Party
of the United States. The group sympathiz­
ing with the s w p broke away to form what
they called Revolutionary Communist
League (Turn). The original r c l continued
to be regarded by the United Secretariat as
its Israeli section, while the s w p began to
refer to the r c l (Turn) as "a public faction
of the Israeli section of the Fourth Interna­

Israel 585
 Italian Trotskyism Communist Party (p c i ), at Leghorn in Janu­
ary 1921, Amadeo Bordiga emerged as its
principal leader, being one of the five mem­
bers of its executive committee and with his
followers having a majority on the central
committee. He was elected to the Interna­
Italian Trotskyism has been distinctive tional Control Commission of the Comin­
within the international movement for tern at its Third Congress.
having throughout most of its existence to However, the Third Congress provoked
deal not only with the Stalinist-Commu- Bordiga's dissidence with Comintern posi­
nists and Socialists characteristic of most tions. He opposed its general adoption of a
countries, but with a rival "left opposition" united front tactic although approving of it
group occupying more or less the same on a trade union level. Nevertheless, at the
space as Trotskyism in the national politi­ Second Enlarged Plenum of the Executive
cal spectrum. It interacted and conflicted Committee of the Communist Interna­
with this group, the followers of Amadeo tional (e c c i ) he was chosen as an alternate
Bordiga, not only in the 1930s, when Italian member of e c c i , being promoted to the e c c i
Trotskyism consisted only of a handful of Presidum soon after the Fourth Comintern
exiles, but also subsequent to World War Congress. That post was confirmed at the
II, when both groups were able to organize Fifth Congress in 1924.
on Italian soil. Bordiga's left-wing position was arousing
Italian Trotskyism has also been one of opposition both within the pci and the Com­
the few segments of the movement which intern. At the Fifth Enlarged Plenum of the
has had a serious experience with "entrism" e c c i in 192 s he was severely criticized and
in the Communist Party. However, overall was compared to Trotsky. Finally, in Janu­
Trotskyism has remained a relatively tiny ary 1926, at the p c i Congress held in Lyon,
minority within the Italian Left. France (because the party had been illegal-
ized by Mussolini), Bordiga lost control of
the party to the coalition headed by Gramsci
Bordiga and the Bordigists
and Togliatti.
Amadeo Bordiga had been a left-wing Social­ At the Sixth Plenum of the e c c i in 1936,
ist with anarchosyndicalist inclinations be­ Bordiga strongly criticized Comintern pol­
fore World War I. During the war he emerged icy. On his return to Italy he was arrested
as one of the principal spokesmen for the and imprisoned on Lipari. He was released
Left of the Italian Socialist Party (p s i ), and in 1930, but at about the same time was
was a strong supporter of the Bolshevik Rev­ expelled, together with his followers, from
olution. In December 1918 he established a the p c i , being accused of "factionalism" and
newspaper in Naples, II Soviet. In the fol­ "Trotskyism."1
lowing year, at the Bologna Congress of the Meanwhile, supporters of Bordiga among
p s i , he led a "communist-abstentionist" fac­ the Italian Communists in exile had orga­
tion which favored abstention from elec­ nized their own groupings. They were par­
toral and parliamentary activity, a position ticularly concentrated in France and Bel­
strongly opposed by Lenin in his pamphlet gium, where they worked with other
Left-Wing Communism—An Infantile Dis­ elements disenchanted with the increas­
order. Bordiga was a delegate of the p s i to ingly Stalinized Comintern.
the Second Congress of the Comintern in The Bordigists at first viewed with consid­
1920 and was coreporter on the parlia­ erable enthusiasm Leon Trotsky's efforts,
mentarism issue to the congress. after his exile from the Soviet Union, to
At the founding congress of the Italian bring together the Left Opposition Commu-

586 Italy
 nists in Europe and elsewhere. Trotsky was Trotsky was answering a letter from the
also at first attracted to them. Bordigists of June 3, 1930, which, he com­
The Bordigists published in mid-1929 an ments, "instead of dispelling misunder­
open letter to Trotsky in their periodical standings . .. increases them." He denied
Promoteo. In reply to this, and apparently that he had shifted his position since his
to the receipt from the Bordigists of a copy earlier letter to them in September 1929.
of a Platform of the Left which their faction Rather, he said, "At that time a certain
had issued in 1926 and various issues of Pro­ amount of vagueness in your position could
moteo, Trotsky wrote on September 25, have appeared as episodic, and in part even
1929, "A Letter to the Italian Left Commu­ unavoidable." It might have been explained
nists" directed to the Bordigists. This rather by Bordiga's being kept virtually under
extensive letter was extremely cordial. house arrest but, Trotsky noted "this con­
Trotsky commented at the beginning of sideration cannot cover all the others. . . .
this letter that "I am of the opinion that at Today the conservative vagueness of your
least our agreement on basic questions is position is become a more and more danger­
quite far-reaching." He added: "If I do not ous symptom."
now express myself more categorically it is Trotsky went on to lament the failure of
only because I want to leave to time and the Bordigists to participate in the organiz­
events the verification of our ideological ing meeting of the International Left Oppo­
closeness and mutual understanding. I hope sition in Paris two months earlier, and ob­
that they prove to be complete and firm." served that the Bordigists' reticence to
Trotsky wrote his correspondents that participate fully in the international group
their 1926 document had "produced a great could not be justified in terms of the Interna­
impression on me." He added that he tional Left Opposition lacking a full-fledged
thought that "it is one of the best documents program, as the Bordigists had suggested.
published by the international Opposition Rather, Trotsky said, they should partici­
and it preserves its significance in many pate in elaborating that program.
things to this very day."2 Finally, Trotsky answered their com­
For a short while the Bordigists became plaint about his dealing with a new opposi­
associated with the International Left Oppo­ tion group which had appeared within the
sition organized under Trotsky's aegis. Italian Communist Party. He suggested that
Trotsky reported in April 1930 that "in rela­ they should welcome that rallying of new
tion to the International Left Opposition the recruits to the ranks of the Left Opposition
Bordigists remain a sympathizing group."3 rather than lamenting it.5
In the following month he wrote to his Rus­ By early 19 31 Trotsky was apparently be­
sian followers that "the Italian comrades coming convinced that matters of principle
have written us that Bordiga, having ac­ differentiated him and his followers from
quainted himself with our latest publica­ the Bordigists, if not from Bordiga himself.
tions, did indeed make a statement, it In "Critical Remarks about Promoteo's Res­
seems, about his agreement with our olution on Democratic Demands," dated
views.''4 January 15, 19 31, Trotsky was apparently
But at the same time that Trotsky was convinced that the Bordigists were reverting
thus publicly claiming the adherence of Bor­ to their leader's original sin of opposition to
diga and his followers to the International parliamentarism and as a consequence were
Left Opposition, a wide divergence was in opposing any use of democratic slogans as a
fact developing between him and the Bordig­ political tactic.
ists. This was clear in a letter which Trotsky Trotsky wrote that "the Bordigists evince
wrote to the editorial board of Promoteo, an inverse parliamentary cretinism by ap­
dated June 19, 1930. parently completely reducing the problem

Italy 587

1
of democracy to the question of the national was known as the New Italian Opposition
assembly and of parliament in general. But (n o i ). It consisted principally of people who
even within the limits of the parliamentary had been closely linked with Antonio
frame of reference they are completely in Gramsci within the Italian Communist Par­
the wrong. Their antidemocratic metaphys­ ty's leadership, and were eliminated from
ics inevitably implies the tactic of boycott­ the p c i by the Comintern and its principal
ing parliament. . . . It would not be a bad Italian functionary, Palmiro Togliatti, be­
thing to ask the Bordigists outright whether cause of opposition to the leftist excesses of
they are for a boycott or for participation in the Third Period insofar as they affected the
parliament. . . ."6 Italian party.
By May 1932 Trotsky was convinced that Three figures were of most importance in
he and his followers and the Bordigists had this New Italian Opposition. Qne of these
little in common. In a document on "Who was Pietro Tresso, who also went under the
Should Attend the International Confer­ pseudonym Blasco. He had been a founding
ence," dated May 22, 1932, he wrote: "The member of the p c i and was a member of its
Italian Promoteo group was and still is an delegation to the Fourth Comintern Con­
alien body inside the Left Opposition. The gress in November 1922. He may also have
Promoteo group is bound by its own internal attended the Fifth Congress in 1924. At the
discipline with regard to the International Lyon Congress of the p c i in 1926, he was
Left and does not permit the propagation elected to the party's Central Committee.
within its ranks of our fundamental views He was charged, together with Camilla Rav-
. . . in the publications of the Bordigists era, with the job of establishing a center
themselves there are enough documents and in Rome for the underground party which
articles to prove conclusively and com­ could maintain liaison with the exile party
pletely that the Bordigists have forgotten leadership in Paris.
nothing and learned nothing and that ac­ In October 1926 the Mussolini regime
cording to their basic views they do not be­ made massive arrests of underground Com­
long to the International Left Opposition."7 munists and in the following month Tresso,
The final separation of the Bordigists from together with Ravera, Alfonso Leonetti,
the i l o came about at the "consultation" of Paolo Ravazzoli, and Ignacio Silone, were
Trotsky with followers from several coun­ named to try to reorganize the party's ranks
tries which took place during his short visit inside Italy. However, with the Fascist se­
to Denmark late in 1932. Reporting on that cret police, the Ovra, hot on their trail,
meeting Trotsky wrote: "The consultation Tresso and his wife finally fled to Switzer­
had sufficient authority in the sense of re­ land and thence to Paris, where he was soon
flecting the true views of the International a member of the Political Bureau of the p c i .9
Left. It expressed itself in favor of immediate The second member was Alfonso Leo­
liquidation of the fictitious tie between the netti, who used many aliases, including Fer-
Bordigists and the Bolshevik-Leninists. We oci, Akros, Souzo, and Saraceno, and had
hope that the national sections will express been a close collaborator with Gramsci in
their agreement with the view of the consul­ editing Oidine Nuovo in Turin, ultimately
tation and thereby transform it into a final becoming its editor-in-chief. He also was
decision."8 elected to the Central Committee of the p c i
at the Lyon Congress, and subsequently to
its Political Bureau.
The New Italian Opposition (n o i )
The third member of the New Italian Op­
The place of the Bordigists within the Inter­ position leadership was Paolo Ravazzoli, a
national Left Opposition was taken by what metallurgical worker from Milan who used

588 Italy
r
i

the pseudonyms Lino and Santina. As prin­ In the following month Tresso, Leonetti,
cipal trade union leader of the p c i under­ and Ravazzoli made contact with Alfred
ground, he had become secretary general of Rosmer, who published in the April 25,
the clandestine c g i l labor confederation. By 1930, issue of Verite an article by Leonetti
1930 he was also a member of the p c i Polit­ (under a pseudonym) strongly attacking
buro and in exile in Paris.10 Togliatti and other p c i leaders. Two weeks
With both Antonio Gramsci and Amadeo later the three wrote to Trotsky himself.
Bordiga in jail in Italy, by early i93oPalmiro As a consequence of all of this, an enlarged
Togliatti was the principal leader of the p c i , plenum of the p c i Central Committee on
and was a functionary of the Comintern in June 9 saw Tresso delivering what E. H. Carr
Moscow. Togliatti, who had for a while been has called "a defiant declaration." Leonetti
associated with Bukharin, along with An­ and Ravazzoli had already been removed
gelo Tasca, was under considerable pressure from the Central Committee, so Tresso was
from the Stalinist apparatus in the Com­ the only vote counted against a motion to
intern. expel him, Ravazzoli, and Leonetti from the
Although Togliatti partially rehabilitated pci .13
himself in September 1929 by engineering Shortly after their expulsion the three
the unanimous decision of the p c i Central leaders, together with R. Recchia, at time
Committee to expel Tasca from the party, still a candidate member of the p c i Central
he felt the need to make the p c i conform Committee, published in Veriti an "Open
more closely to the far-Left lurch of the Letter of the New Italian Opposition." Ac­
Comintern at the beginning of the Third cording to E. H. Carr this letter "denounced
Period. In December, his close ally, Luigi 'the profoundly false and opportunist' line
Longo, introduced a proposal to virtually liq­ of the party leaders, and the policies of Com­
uidate the exile operation of the party and intern. They rejected the prognosis of an
to transfer its headquarters back to Italy. immediate and inevitable transition in Italy
Leonetti, Ravazzoli, and Tresso opposed this from Fascism to the dictatorship of the pro­
strongly, and were supported by Iganzio letariat. They demanded free discussion of
Silone.11 disputed questions in the party, and the rein­
In the same vein, Togliatti had published statement of those expelled in the past for
in the January 1930 issue of Ordine Nuovo, defending Bordiga's position (though not ap­
the p c i paper, an article which called upon parently of Bordiga himself, whose expul­
the party "to pass concretely to the prepara­ sion they themselves had so recently en­
tion for armed struggle."14 dorsed); and they declared their solidarity
Upon Togliatti's return from an enlarged with the International Left Opposition."14
plenum of the Executive Committee of the There is no indication of how many other
Comintern, held in Moscow in February exiled Italian Communists joined the New
1930, there was a bitter struggle in a new Italian Opposition. However, it is certain
meeting of the Central Committee of the that there were difficulties in maintaining a
p c i , March 20-23. Togliatti issued a call functioning Italian Trotskyist organization
there for "a political mass strike" against in exile. Factional conflicts within it had
the Mussolini regime and his opponents ac­ virtually brought its extinction by 1933; an
cused him of "adventurism." However, the effort to reorganize the group in 1934 was
net result of the meeting was the expulsion shortlived.15 A report to the Second Con­
of Tresso, Leonetti, and Ravazzoli from the gress of the Fourth International in 1948
Political Bureau, of Silone from the Central noted that by the beginning of World War II
Committee, and of Amadeo Bordiga from the Italian Trotskyist exile group "had come
the party. to a state of complete decomposition."16

Italy 589
 There is also no information concerning name, Internationalist Communist League,
the degree to which the Italian Trotskyists was strongly opposed at first by Trotsky,
were able to maintain a clandestine organi­ who thought that it was a tautology. It was
zation inside Fascist Italy. According to ultimately adopted by the August 1933 ple­
Pierre Broue "There was little work—the num of the group, however.”
difficulties were immense even for an appa­ Leonetti met with Trotsky on at least two
ratus disposing of great resources—in the occasions. One was in Copenhagen in N o­
direction of Italy."17 vember 1932. The other was in 1933, while
One recruit who was to be important dur­ Trotsky was living near Royan, France,
ing the 1930s and for a short while after where Leonetti went in his capacity as a
World War II was Nicola di Bartolomeo, bet­ member of the is.M Also, on at least one
ter known under the name Fosco. He had occasion Leonetti engaged in, some ex­
been a member of the p c i since its establish­ change of letters with Trotsky concerning
ment in 19 21, had been jailed by the Musso­ the nature of the fascist regime in Italy.24
lini government between 1922 and 1926. One of Leonetti's responsibilities in the
Upon his release, Bartolomeo went to International Secretariat, at least part of the
France where he joined the Bordigists, as a time, was handling the troubled relations
consequence of which he was expelled from with the Spanish section. The Spanish oppo­
the p c i in 1928. However, he was also ex­ sitionists felt that he bore a considerable part
cluded from the Bordigist group and joined of the responsibility for the split which de­
the New Italian Opposition in I930.18 veloped between them and Trotsky and his
The three principal leaders of the n o i ap­ international movement. Ignacio Iglesias,
parently involved themselves in different one-time leader of the oppositionists in the
aspects of the international Trotskyist Asturias region, wrote that in that conflict
movement. Pierre Brou6 has noted that "Ra­ "one of those who most distinguished him­
vazzoli devoted himself to work within the self was the Italian Alfonso Leonetti—alias
Italian emigration in France, Blasco was ac­ Martin, alias Feroci, alias Akros, alias Suzo,
tive in the French League, and Leonetti in alias Guido Baracena—who changed names
the International Secretariat."19 However, like shirts, undoubtedly because he thought
this delineation of activities was not neces­ it was very Bolshevik. . . ."2S
sarily strictly adhered to. Thus, Pietro Those of the New Italian Opposition who
Tresso was one of two delegates of the Inter­ were active in the French section became
national Left Opposition—the other being involved in its internecine disputes and to
Pierre Naville—to the conference in Paris some degree at least were victims of those
organized by the London Bureau in Septem­ conflicts. Apparently that factionalism was
ber 1933, where the idea of establishing the crucial to the temporary expulsion of
Fourth International was first strongly put Tresso, Bartolomeo, and others from the
forth by the Trotskyists.20 Also, both Leo­ movement early in 1933.
netti and Tresso were present at the "con­ Trotsky himself became involved in that
sultation" organized at the time of Trotsky's incident. He wrote on April 29, 1933, that
visit to Copenhagen late in 1932.21 "I have not received any document about
During most of the 1930s Alfonso Leonet­ the exclusion of Blasco and the others. . . . I
ti was a member of the International Secre­ have not heard of any divergence in princi­
tariat. He took a very active part, and one ple. Apparently the basis of the conflict is
of considerable consequence, in that body. in the relations between the n o i and the
Broue has credited him with first proposing League. If this is correct, we must make
the new name for the International Left Op­ serious concessions to the n o i . . . . It seems
position after it had come out in favor of to me that false declarations have been made
establishing a Fourth International. That with regard to the question of the n o i and

590 Italy
erroneous measures have also been taken, The Revival of Italian Trotskyism
and that that can only profoundly offend the
sensibilities of emigr6 circles. It is necessary It was principally Nicola di Bartolomeo
to correct these mistakes. . . . ',26 The expul­ (Fosco) who was responsible for reviving
sion of Tresso and the others was cancelled Italian Trotskyism after World War II, this
by the International Secretariat.2' time in the peninsula itself. At the end of
Another Italian Trotskyist who became the Spanish Civil War Fosco had returned to
involved with the factional disputes of the France, where he was soon arrested and sent
French section was Nicola di Bartolomeo in September 1939 to the French Vemete
(Fosco). He aligned himself with the Molin- concentration camp. After the surrender of
ier-Frank faction after 1935 when they were France he was turned over to the Mussolini
in conflict with Trotsky and the Interna­ regime and was deported to the island of
tional Secretariat. He also established in Tremiti.
1934 a dissident Italian Trotskyist group In 1943 Fosco organized in Tremiti a col­
which edited a paper, La Nostia Parola 28 lective of deported Trotskyists. This was the
Early in 1936 Bartolomeo was expelled core out of which the first Trotskyist group
from France and went to Catalonia where in Italy grew. A bit later he formed in Naples
he was arrested and jailed, but was freed as a National Provisional Center for the Con­
a result of agitation by the p o u m . With the stitution of the Internationalist Communist
outbreak of the Civil War he was assigned Party (IV International), which on December
by the p o u m to handle relations with foreign 15,1943, published an appeal "To the Work­
parties and with foreigners who came to join ers of the Whole World."
the POUM ist ranks. The new Trotskyist group was concen­
In this capacity Bartolomeo was influ­ trated in southern Italy, particularly in Na­
enced by factional considerations. He ar­ ples, Bartolomeo's home city. There it soon
ranged Molinier's visit to Barcelona. He is entered into contact with foreign Trotsky­
also said to have suggested to Andres Nin ists. In 1944 sailors belonging to the Shacht-
and Juan Andrade that they invite Kurt Lan­ manite Workers Party of the United States
dau to come to the Catalan capital; and to established relations with the incipient Ital­
have advised Nin (while he was a member ian Trotskyist movement and Fosco had a
of the Catalan government] not to accept correspondence with Max Shachtman.
Leon Sedov's bid to join the p o u m militia.29 Another important foreign Trotskyist
Bartolomeo was also responsible for con­ who entered into contact with the Italians
vincing the p o u M is ts to publish articles by was Charles Van Gelderen, a British soldier
Trotsky in La Batalla and other party publi­ who belonged to the British Revolutionary
cations.30 Communist Party. He first met a group of
During World War II at least some of the Italian Socialists, who asked him to give a
exiled Italian Trotskyists were victims of talk to their local party group. Although Van
the conflict. One was Pietro Tresso, who Gelderen did not mention either Trotsky or
was jailed by the Vichy government, escaped Trotskyism in his talk, the few Trotskyists
in a Maquis operation, but then was proba­ in the group figured out from what he did
bly murdered by the Stalinists who led the say that he was one of them. A few days later
particular underground group which had he was visited by a U.S. military policeman,
originally “liberated" him.31 Others active who was a Shachtmanite and had apparently
in the prewar Italian Trotskyist movement been informed about him by the Trotskyists
dropped out after World War II. Alfonso Le­ in Van Gelderen's audience. He put Van
onetti ended up rejoining the Communist Gelderen in touch with the local Trotskyist
Party in 196 2.31 Ravazzoli was not active in group.
postwar politics.33 At that point, Nicola di Bartolomeo was

Italy 591
very active in the Socialist Party, and had a the Puglia Federation of the party had been
good deal of influence in its Naples organiza­ aligned with Bordiga. Apparently whatever
tion, where he was in charge of Socialist underground organization had continued
trade union work. Van Gelderen and a few thereafter had continued to be Bordigist.
others began to raise money for Bartolomeo Subsequent to the collapse of the Fascist
and his associates, mainly through dealing regime the Federation was still controlled
in the black market. Soon both the Shacht­ by the followers of Bordiga.36 It was again
manites and the Socialist Workers Party of Charles Van Gelderen who, although a Brit­
the United States also sent them some ish soldier, got leave and went to Foggia in
money, and the Trotskyists were able to mid-1944 to confer with Romeo Mangano,
launch a newspaper, II Militante. leader of the Puglia Federation of the p c i .
•The Italian Trotskyists' first experiment This discussion laid the basis for unification
with entrism lasted only a few months. By of the Bordigist elements of Puglia and the
the end of 194s they had taken the step— Trotskyist nucleus in the Naples area 37
which Van Gelderen thought was a mis­
take—of pulling out their members from the
The Partido Operaio Comunista
Socialist Party in spite of their growing in­
(Bolscevico-Leninista)
fluence in the organization. They also pulled
out the few members that they had in the In February 1945 the Trotskyists and the
Communist Party. They established their Bordigists of the Puglia region joined forces
own organization, the Partito Comunista In- to establish the Partito Operaio Comunista
temazionalista. (Bolscevico-Leninista). The unification of
Van Gelderen also had contacts with the the two groups was not preceded by any
Bordigists in the Naples region, and even extensive discussion of possible disagree­
had a talk with Bordiga himself, whom he ments on programmatic or theoretical is­
found exceedingly sectarian. Van Gelderen sues. The Bordigists may well have known
tried to win over some of the local Bordigists little or nothing about the positions of the
to Trotskyism, and his most important con­ Trotskyist Fourth International at the time
vert was Libero Villone, who was to be edi­ of the establishment of p o c (b - l ) Certainly
tor of the Trotskyists' periodical Bandieia the Trotskyists were anxious to establish
Rosa.34 a party with some mass base which could
In this same period there were various extend into central and northern Italy, and
people who broke away to the Left from both were more or less sure that they would be
the Communist and Socialist parties. In the able to impose their ideological orientation
Naples area, they formed a provisional orga­ and "rectify" the errors of the followers of
nization. However, the new Trotskyist Bordiga. In any case, the distinction between
group did not associate itself with this co­ the two groups which formed the p o c (b -jl)
alition.35 were never overcome.
Meanwhile, within the newly revived Almost immediately, the p o c sought rec­
Italian Communist Party, the Puglia Federa­ ognition by the Fourth International as its
tion, influenced by the tradition of Amadeo Italian section. The headquarters of the f i
Bordiga, came forth with a proclamation in was then still in the United States. At that
favor of the formation of a Fourth Interna­ point it had little direct, contact with the
tional. At that point they were clearly not European Trotskyist movement, and its
aware of the existence of the Trotskyist in­ principal source of information on the Ital­
ternational organization. ian situation was apparently Nicola di Bar­
Before the complete suppression of the p c i tolomeo, with whom Jean van Heijenoort
by the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and other officials of the International in

592 Italy
 New York were acquainted. Although the the winter of 1946-47, that conference
International Secretariat had some doubts elected a new Political Bureau and Central
about the p o c they finally ended up recog­ Committee, neither of which included any
nizing it as the Italian section of the Fourth of the Trotskyist faction of the party39
International.38 During the following year, until the Sec­
During its first phase, so long as Nicola di ond World Congress of the Fourth Interna­
Bartolomeo was its principal figure, the p o c tional at the beginning of 1948, relations
was controlled nationally by the Trotsky­ between the Mangano leadership of the p o c
ists, although the Puglia Federation operated and the is deteriorated rapidly. In the sum­
more or less autonomously, without paying mer of 1947 a delegate from the Interna­
too much attention to the activities of the tional met with the p o c Central Committee
national organization. Late in x945 the party and reportedly "understood the disaster for
issued a legal periodical for the first time. the International represented by the policy
However, in January 1946, Fosco died. of Mangano which was being represented
In April 1946 the International Confer­ under its banner."40 After that meeting the
ence of the f i was held in Paris. At that is undertook seriously to undermine the in­
meeting the p o c asked for aid in resolving fluence of Mangano within the Italian party.
the party's internal problems. As a conse­ The "Resolution on the p o c of Italy"
quence, a representative of the International passed by the Second World Congress indi­
visited Italy, but without any significant re­ cated the programmatic differences of the
sults. Subsequently, in October 1946, Ro­ Mangano leadership with the Fourth Inter­
meo Mangano was invited to attend a meet­ national. These included Mangano's insis­
ing of the International Executive tence that only the first two congresses of
Committee. At that session Mangano the Comintern were worthy of endorse­
agreed to conform to the programmatic posi­ ment, the deterioration of the Third Interna­
tion of the International in a document tional having commenced, according to
signed by him and by Bruno for the national him, with the Third Congress rather than
leadership of the p o c . the Fifth, as maintained by the Trotskyists.
Part of this agreement was that the head­ Other "heretical" positions of the p o c lead­
quarters of the party be moved to Milan, ership were insistence that both Socialist
to facilitate its work among the industrial and Communist parties were "bourgeois",
proletariat of the northern part of the coun­ the belief that the USSR was "imperialist"
try. However, lack of financial resources (on a par with the United States in that re­
(promised help from the International was gard), and rejection of the concept of "demo­
at best intermittent) and disillusionment cratic centralism."41
with internal conflicts upon the part of sev­ The Second World Congress of the Fourth
eral of those who were supposed to man International formally declared that the p o c
the new national headquarters, nullified the was no longer its Italian affiliate. It also
best intentions of the Trotskyists, both in urged the real Trotskyists in the p o c to join
the p o c and the International Secretariat. It together around a new periodical which was
was reported to the 1948 Congress of the about to appear, to lay the basis for a new
Fourth International that by late 1946 “The Italian affiliate of the f i .42
party was on the verge of ceasing all orga­
nized activity."
The Gruppi Comunisti
At that point Romeo Mangano took the
Rivoluzionari's First Two Decades
initiative to call a National Organization
Conference of the p o c over protests of the A minority of the leaders and members of
International Secretariat. Meeting during the p o c , particularly in Naples and Milan,

Italy 593
remained loyal to the Fourth International. nized by the extreme left parties and groups
Among the principal figures in this minority for the 1948 election.
were Libero Villone and Domenico Sedra, In 1 9 4 9 the Trotskyist elements which
who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. had come out of the p o c and the Socialist
In the year after the expulsion of the p o c elements headed by Maitan joined to form
from the f i , the p o c minority joined with a the Gruppi Comunisti Rivoluzionari ( g c r ).
group coming out of the Socialist Party to Maitan became Secretary of Organization of
form a new organization which ultimately the g c r . In 1 9 5 1 the g c r was accepted as
was recognized as the Italian section of the the Italian section of the f i .43
International. This was the Gruppi Comuni- With the development of the split in the
sti Rivoluzionari (Revolutionary Commu­ Fourth International in the early 1950s the
nist Group). GCR sided with the International Secretariat,
The principal recruit to Trotskyism from headed by Michel Pablo (Raptis). They also
the Socialist ranks in this period was Livio accepted the Pabloite thesis of carrying out
Maitan, who was destined to become the entrism in the Communist Party.
principal leader of Italian Trotskyism. He It was during the doctrinal conflict of the
had begun his political activity before the 1950s that Livio Maitan became one of the
end of the Fascist regime, being first associ­ principal leaders of the International Secre­
ated with the underground Partito d'Azione, tariat. By the end of the period (formation of
an independent left-wing group. Maitan, a the United Secretariat and of two dissident
native of Venice, was at the time a student elements in 1962-63), Maitan was one of
at the University of Padua. the three major figures at the head of the
In the summer of 1943 Maitan joined both International Secretariat and subsequently
the Socialist Party and its youth group, the of the United Secretariat. With the alien­
f g s . At the same time he was active in the ation of Michel Pablo from the leadership
left-wing grouping within the Socialist of the is, Maitan joined Emest Mandel and
ranks known as Iniziativa Socialista, in Pierre Frank as the trio who more or less
which, according to Maitan, there were dominated the largest faction of Interna­
some "vaguely Trotskyist elements." tional Trotskyism.
When the Socialists split in 1946 Inizia­ The acceptance of the idea of entrism in
tiva and the res went with the Partido So­ the Communist Party did not go unchal­
cialista dei Lavoratori Italiani (p s l i ), headed lenged within the g c r . Two leaders took
by Giuseppe Saragat. However, as Maitan the initiative in establishing a "Trotskyist
has written, "Very rapidly, the left realized Faction" within the organization. One of
its mistake. Very much the majority with these was Libero Villone, the other Rado.
regard to the right (Saragat) at the moment of This group held at least two national confer­
the split, it was submerged by new members ences. The second of these, in September
and became clearly the minority. In addi­ 1 9 5 S , voted to join the International Com­
tion, the greater part of the leaders them­ mittee of the Fourth International, domi­
selves became right-wingers. It is after this nated by the Socialist Workers Party of the
evolution that the majority of the f g s —of United States.
which, in the meanwhile, I had become na­ Villone and Rado had two different tacti­
tional secretary, broke with the new party cal perspectives. Villon^favored continuing
jit was in the p s l i only about one year]." the struggle against Pabloism within the
By 1948 Maitan was leader of a small "pre- ranks of the Italian section, and he died in
Trotsky ist" group, the Movimento Sociali­ the early 1970s a member of the g c r . Rado
sta di Unita Proletaria. It participated in the wanted to work outside the g c r , entered the
Democratic Popular Front which was orga­ Socialist ranks, and in the 1960s and early

594 Italy
 1970s was a leader of the left-wing dissident ing in entrism within the rci and those who
Socialist group Partito Socialista Italiano di had maintained an independent organi­
Unita Proletaria, in Trieste.44 zation.47
Livio Maitan has written about the entrist
experience of the 1950s and 1960s that "the
Latter-day g c r and Lega Comunista
g c r adopted the entrist orientation in 1951.
Rivoluzionaria
Their militants worked about all in the p ci.
More precisely, a part of the militants en­ The end of the entrist experience brought
tered the p ci, where subsequently most re­ about a major crisis within the ranks of the
cruits were made. During the whole 'entrist' Italian Trotskyists. It is Maitan's opinion
period, which ended in 1968, we maintained that the crisis arose because the decision to
an independent sector. The results of en­ end the entrist policy came at least two
trism are still the subject of debate and there years too late. As a consequence of this con­
are different points of view. Personally, I troversy "an important part of the leader­
think that during a period entrism was posi­ ship and the cadres quit to join the forma­
tive and in Italy we have had the greatest tions of the extreme left, particularly
success of any country of capitalist Europe Avanguardia Operaia."48
(I refer to the c p 's }."45 Elsewhere, Maitan has written about the
Entrism continued for half a decade after gravity of the 1968-69 crisis in Italian Trots­
the g c r became the Italian affiliate of the kyism. In 1972 he wrote that "the active
United Secretariat in 1963. During this en­ intervention of Trotskyism as an organized
trist period the traditional animosity be­ political force in the Italian situation was
tween Trotskyists and Stalinists seemed to very seriously hampered by the extremely
have been somewhat ameliorated at least grave crisis the organization suffered in the
insofar as the two tendencies in Italy were second half of 1968 and the beginning of
concerned. This was indicated by the Com­ 1969. During crucial months the organiza­
munists' willingness on various occasions tion was paralyzed, and later it was enor­
to engage in public debate with leading mously restricted, not only in relation to the
Trotskyists. For instance, in March 1962 big mass movements, but also within the
Lucio Magri, member of the Milan regional vanguard."451
secretariat of the Communist Party debated During the 1970s, the g c r rebuilt its
Maitan, at the time a member of the Interna­ ranks substantially. However, the basis on
tional Secretariat and secretary of the g c r . which it was reconstructed was largely via
A few weeks later, Maitan debated a local recruits brought into their ranks by the stu­
Communist leader in Rome and a represen­ dent revolt of the late 1960s and early
tative of the Socialist Party.46 1 970s.50 Although there was penetration of
The end of entrism in Italy came as a con­ some segments of the labor movement, the
sequence of the leftist upsurge of the later membership and leadership of the group
1960s in which the students played a most came principally from the ranks of student
important role, but which also influenced activists. Meanwhile, the g c r had changed
the labor movement. One of the groups its name to Lega Comunista Rivoluzionaria
which arose as a result of this upsurge was (l c r ).
formed by dissidents from the Communist During the 1970s and early 1980s the
and Socialist parties, and from the Mani­ considered themselves as part of
g cr - lc r

festo group of ex-P C i members which began what they frequently referred to as "the van­
to publish a periodical, La Sinestra, in 1967. guard." This consisted not only of their own
In the following year it joined with the organization, but a variety of other far left
Trotskyists, both those who had been engag­ parties and groups, including Maoists, ex-

Italy 595
Maoists, and some others not easily cata­ come a major element in the trade unions.
logued. The Trotskyists tended to picture However, it has been reported that the l c r
"the vanguard" as an alternative to the So­ had "good influence" in several factories,
cialists and Communists on the Left, to including the Fiat plant in Turin, the Alfa
measure their own performance particularly Romeo, Imperial, and Face Standard facto­
in relation to that of other "vanguard" ele­ ries in Milan, and the Italsider plant in Ta­
ments, and from time to time to seek vari­ ranto. At one time, in 1969-70, it also had
ous kinds of cooperation with those ele­ considerable influence in the labor move­
ments. ment in the southern port of Bari. This did
One can cite various examples of such not result in any long-term strength for the
cooperation. In January 1975 an anti-Viet­ Trotskyist movement in that region, and
nam War demonstration was held in Rome after 1973 a number of the Trotskyist trade
with the support of the g c r , Avanguardia union cadres from Bari were sent to work in
Operaia, Potere Operaio, Viva il Comu- Milan, Florence, and other cities.56
nismo, Il Comunista, Gruppo Gramsci, and
the Communist Party of Italy (Marxist-Le-
Other Trotskyist Groups in Italy
ninist).51 In the 1976 election the g c r collab­
orated with Proletarian Democracy, a coali­ Although the g c r - l c r has been the longest-
tion including Avanguardia Operai, Partido lived and probably largest group in Italy pro­
d'Unita Proletaria por il Comunismo, Lotta claiming loyalty to Trotskyism, it has by no
Continua, and various other far left ele­ means been the only one. Most other major
ments. The g c r ran three candidates on the elements in the world movement have had
Proletarian Democracy ticket.52 some representation in the country.
In an interview published in 1977 Maitan The oldest n o n -u sE C Trotskyist group in
sketched the importance which the Trots­ Italy was the Partido Comunista Rivoluzio-
kyists gave to their particular "vanguard" nario (Trotskyista), affiliated with the Posa­
orientation: "Beginning with the 1970 and das version of the Fourth International. At
19 71 national congresses, we worked out a least in its early years, the Italian group was
strategy for building the revolutionary party less prone than most of the Posadas parties
as the outcome of a three-part 'movement': to devote its time exclusively to the writings
gathering together the vanguard groups of J. Posadas. For example, the August 10,
around coherent platforms based on a com­ 1964, issue of its newspaper, Lotta Operaia,
mon experience in struggle; attracting the although containing one two-page article of
worker and student vanguards around this Posadas on contemporary Brazilian events,
pole; and developing the antibureaucratic was taken up largely with analysis of con­
and antireformist consciousness of those temporary Italian political developments,
working class sectors that are under the in­ including the Communist Party's "be­
fluence of the traditional parties."53 trayal" of a supposed workers movement to
There are no membership statistics avail­ occupy key factories, and the evolution of
able for the g c r / l c r . However, its strength the left-wing Socialist party, the p s i u p , with
is said to have been centered in the north, which the Posadas people apparently had
including the cities of Turin, Milan, Genoa, substantial contact. As late as 197s, the Po­
and Brescia. Its principal center in central sadas Fourth International still reported that
Italy was Rome, and in the south it had some Lotta Operaia was appearing as the organ
membership in Taranto.54 of its Italian affiliate.57 We have no further
It was not until 1973 that the g c r decided information about the evolution of the
to orient its activities towards the organized group.
labor movement.55 It certainly did not be­ At least two of the dissident Italian Trots­

596 Italy
kyist groups arose from factional controver­ Group of Italy, but the two organizations
sies within the United Secretariat during found it impossible to agree on unity terms.
the 1970s. One was the Lega Comunista. The 1976 dissidents from the g c r then
In the u s e c controversies of that period, in decided in April 1978 to reorganize as the
addition to the International Majority Ten­ Lega Trotskista d'ltalia ( l t i ). By that time
dency led by Ernest Mandel, Livio Maitan, they had entered into contact with the inter­
and Pierre Frank and the Leninist Trotskyist national Spartacist tendency [sic] and the
Tendency aligned with the Socialist Work­ l t i had fraternal delegates at the August

ers Party of the U.S., there was a Revolution­ 1979 conference of the ist in London. How­
ary Marxist Fraction, which was represented ever, controversies resulting from that en­
at the 1974 Tenth World Congress of u s e c counter led first to the formation within the
by an Italian delegate, Roberto Massari. In Lega Trotskista d'ltalia of the International­
1975 Massari led a split in the g c r / l c r to ist Proletarian Opposition, which in April
form the Lega Comunista. It took the lead in 1980 broke away from the Lega to establish
organizing outside of u s e c an "international the Grupo Operaio Rivoluzionario por la ri­
opposition" to the United Secretariat, the nascita della Quarta Internazionale.60 A l­
Necessary International Initiative (n i i ), though thereafter unaffiliated with any in­
with affiliates in Great Britain and Germany ternational alignment, the g o r did issue a
as well as Italy. As late as 1980, the Lega call for a "genuine" international Trotskyist
Comunista still existed.58 tendency.61
The second split in Italian Trotskyism re­ The Spartacist tendency originated in It­
sulting from the quarrels of the 1970s within aly in 1975. At a "European encampment"
u s e c was the formation of the Lega Social­ of the ist in July 1975, a group of Italian
ista Rivoluzionaria (l s r ). It was formed by participants who had recently broken with
Italian elements aligned with the Interna­ Roberto Massari's Revolutionary Marxist
tional Bolshevik Fraction led by the Argen­ Fraction announced the establishment of
tine Nahuel Moreno, when that group broke the Spartacist Nucleus of Italy.62 It appar­
with the United Secretariat in 1979-80. ently became part of the Lega Trotskista
However, in a congress in July 1982 the l s r d'ltalia when that was established in 1976,
decided to withdraw from the Moreno inter­ and gained control of that group. In August
national faction and to assume an indepen­ 1980, it was formally announced that the
dent position.59 l t i was becoming the Italian Sympathizing

Another Italian group which by the early Section of the ist.63

1980s was unaffiliated with any of the inter­ The Italian Spartacists were centered
national Trotskyite tendencies was the Rev­ principally in Milan. From there they issued
olutionary Workers Group for the Rebirth a monthly periodical, Spartaco, which con­
of the Fourth International (Gruppo Operaio sisted principally of translations of articles
Rivoluzionario por la rinascita della Quarta from the New York Spartacist newspaper
Internazionale— g o r ). Its origins were in a Workers Vanguard. From time to time they
split from the g c r in 1976 of people opposed organized "debate assemblies" on subjects
to participation in the Proletarian Democ­ of current interest.
racy electoral coalition of that year on the Still another international Trotskyist ten­
grounds that it was a "popular front." dency to be represented in Italy at least for
These dissidents first organized as theBol- a time was the International Trotskyist Liai­
shevik-Leninist Group for the Reconstruc­ son Committee, the so-called Thornett
tion of the Fourth International. They soon group. The Gruppo Bolscevico Leninista
established contacts with the ex-Lambertist ( g b l ) had originally been part of the Lam­
Italian organization, the Bolshevik-Leninist bertist c o r q i but broke with that group in

t
Italy 597
i
 1975 over the issue of the Lambertists' vio­ Trotskyism in Jamaica
lent denunciations of Varga and his follow­
ers at the time they broke with c o r q i . Al­
though for a while indicating some
attraction to the Spartacists, the Gruppo
Bolscevico Leninista finally ended up in
Trotskyism first appeared in the West In­
i960 joiiiing with the Workers Socialist
dian island nation of Jamaica in the form of
League of Great Britain and a few other
the Revolutionary Marxist League (r m l ), in
groups to establish the Liaison Com­
the late 1970s. However, the r m l was not
mittee.64
affiliated with any of the major tendencies
The g b l changed its name to Lega Operaia
of International Trotskyism. Its only over­
Rivoluzionaria, and by the early 1980s was
seas connection was with the Revolutionary
working more or less closely with the
Socialist League of the United States, an off­
United Secretariat's Lega Comunista Rivo­
shoot of the more or less "Shachtmanite"
luzionaria. There were some discussions be­
International Socialist dissidence of the
tween the two groups of the possibility of
Trotskyist movement.
unity, but by the end of 1983 these discus­
In one' issue of its newspaper, Foiwaid,
sions did not seem likely to result in their
the r m l proclaimed that "Our Aim is: 1 .The
proximate unification.65
creation of an independent international
revolutionary workers' party with the r m l
Conclusion as its Jamaican section. 2.The overthrow of
capitalism in Jamaica and world wide. 3.The
Trotskyism has never been a major force in
establishment of the dictatorship of the pro­
general Italian politics, or even on the Italian
letariat (working class) in Jamaica and inter­
Left. It has persisted as an element in the
nationally, leading ultimately to com­
Far Left since before the end of World War
munism."1
II. Both in the 1930s and during the forty
In the 1980 election the r m l opposed both
years after the Second World War, it pro­
of the major parties which were competing.
vided important leadership for the interna­
An electoral supplement to its periodical
tional Trotskyist movement.
was headlined "No to p n p , No to i l p ! Don't
Vote! Build the r m l , Build the Revolution­
ary Workers' Party!"2
In October 1981, the r m l held its second
congress. It was attended by two representa­
tives of the Revolutionary Socialist League
of the United States. The congress also rati­
fied "acceptance of a declaration of fusion of
the r m l and the r s l as a single international
revolutionary tendency."3

598 Jamaica
 Japanese Trotskyism Trotskyist groups until several small ones
were formed around 1956," these joined to­
gether in a congress in January 1957, to es­
tablish the Japan Revolutionary Commu­
nist League (j r c l ). It affiliated with the
Paris-based (Pablo) element of the Fourth
Militarist domination of Japan during the International.1
1930s and the complete suppression of all Soon after the establishment of the j r c l ,
political parties after 1937 help to explain they apparently got in touch with the Social­
why Trotskyism did not take root in that ist Workers Party of the United States. They
country until after World War II. About a sent the swp copies of a weekly which they
decade after the end of that conflict a small had begun to publish, Hangyakusha, as well
Trotskyist organization emerged among as of a Japanese translation of Trotsky's
Communist Party dissidents, with its base pamphlet, Stalin's Frame-Up System and
particularly in the student movement. It be­ the Moscow Trials. With these the new Japa­
came affiliated with the United Secretariat, nese Trotskyist group sent an appeal, "Send
the only international tendency which has us everything available written by Trotsky.
had any organization in Japan. There is a great hunger among the Japanese
As early as May 1949 the New York Trots­ workers and students for the work of
kyite newspaper Militant announced that Trotsky and other great Marxists."3
"the Secretariat of the Fourth International Some of the Trotskyists continued to try
has announced through its press service that to work within the Japan Communist Party.
a Trotskyist organization has recently been However, in 1958 Kyoji Nishi, one of their
formed for the first time in Japan." It added most important figures and a member of the
that "the Japanese Trotskyists have taken Kyoto Prefectural Committee of the j c p , as
the first steps with a decision to issue a well as most of the leaders of the Zenga­
regular publication . . . as well as to publish kuren, were thrown out of the Communists'
the most important works of Trotsky in the ranks. As a result, at the thirteenth national
Japanese language."1 congress of the student group the Japan Rev­
This unnamed organization apparently olutionary Communist League won a major­
did not survive. It was not until the latter ity in its leadership.4
half of the 1950s that a permanent Trotsky­ The Trotskyists continued to be domi­
ist group came into existence as the conse­ nant in the Zengakuren during most of the
quence of ferment within the Communist rest of its existence. In 1964. an "Activity
Party (j c p ). Dissension within the j c p cen­ Report from Japan Zengakuren" noted that
tered particularly on two issues, the Hungar­ "the Communist Party which accuses Zen­
ian Revolution and the attitude to be taken gakuren as Trotskyist, agent of imperialism
toward the All-Japan Federation of Student and aims at an organizational split and the
Autonomous Associations, better known as destruction of Zengakuren, has often tried
Zengakuren. At the time the student group in vain to organize a 'federation of student
was totally controlled by the Communist autonomous associations' in place of Zenga­
youth, but the j c p leadership strongly op­ kuren." The Communists had established a
posed the tendency of the Zengakuren to student group Heimingakuren, which ap­
take its own positions on political issues parently worked within Zengakuren.5
and to demonstrate some independence of In 1959 the j r c l began publishing a bulle­
the party. tin in English, Struggles in Japan. The De­
As a consequence of this controversy, al­ cember 21, 1959 issue of that periodical told
though "there had never been any organized about Trotskyist activity within the student

Japan 599

I
movement as well as theii activity within country's principal trade union organi­
the Coal • Miners Union, the country's zation.'1
largest.6 The Trotskyists established special orga­
During the 1960s the Japanese Trotskyists nizations to work among women and the
undertook an experiment in "entrism" in youth. In 1971 they began publication of a
the Japan Socialist Party. This lasted until special monthly magazine for women, Fujin
1968, when under the impulse of a wide Tsushin (Women’s Correspondence). Then,
student mobilization against the Vietnam in August 1978 a conference sponsored by
War in which the Trotskyists played some the magazine met in Tokyo to establish the
role, they broke away from the j s p and rees­ Socialist Women's Council. Fraternal dele­
tablished the open Japan Revolutionary gates attended from the j r c l and its youth
Communist League.7 group, as well as from the Socialist Workers
In this period there existed a dissident Party of the U.S. Greetings were received
group, the Kakumaru faction, led by "com­ from the United Secretariat and its affiliates
rade Kuroda," which had certain affinities in Australia and New Zealand.
with the Spartacist League of the United The Socialist Women's Council was orga­
States.9 There is no indication that that nized in part to compete with the Commu­
group broke away from the j r c l . nist Party-controlled National Mothers
In 1977 Jiro Kurosawa, a leader of the j r c l , Congress. At the time of its organization, it
described the growth of the organization was announced that "the council holds that
after its open reappearance in the late 1960s: the oppression of women is rooted in class
"We established the party and built up our society and the private property system and
apparatus in the youth radicalization, and can be eliminated only through the over­
from about 1972 to 1975 our main activity throw of capitalism. . . . By organizing
has aimed at building up our influence women in solidarity with struggles, particu­
within the working class. That is, educating larly the women's struggles taking place all
ourselves, accumulating cadres, and estab­ over Japan and Asia, they will be showing
lishing some strongholds, or if not strong­ the way forward to the day when women
holds at least a certain influence in some have a completely equal place in society."12
places."9 The youth arm of the Japan Revolutionary
By 1974 the j r c l had already claimed at Communist League was organized in 1974.
least some influence in the trade union It was the Japan Communist Youth. It was
movement. Another j r c l leader Yohichi particularly active within the student
Sakai, who was interviewed some while movement.13
later, noted that during the annual spring The Japanese Trotskyists participated in a
offensive of the unions in that year, "we number of campaigns. One of their longest-
did what was possible to intervene in the running efforts was in the struggle over the
campaign, the best example is that of the building of a new Tokyo airport at Narita, a
city of Sendai. We sought to make the project strongly opposed by the peasants of
strikes active, mobilizing the workers the area who were displaced to make way for
through meetings, picket lines, and occupa­ the new.installation. The issue was debated
tion of factories. We had success in certain from the early 1960s until at least 1978, and
unions in certain cities; but only in Sendai the Trotskyists were ameng the most active
could we have an impact on the strike on a people in agitating against the airport.
citywide level."10 One hostile (Spartacist) observer com­
By the early 1980s it was claimed that the mented on the actions of the j r c l (which he
Trotskyists constituted a significant ele­ referred to as the d y i ) in the culminating
ment in the Leftist faction in s o h y o , the demonstrations in March 1978. He reported

600 Japan
seeing on local television " d y i members "stamp out" the j r c l . The jr c l organized
smashing out the windows and bashing the a statement by "358 well-known Japanese
computers of the airport control tower. .. . intellectuals" protesting these attacks.19 No
Later I learned that the d y i had sacrificed information is available concerning the rea­
the jobs of their trade union members who sons for or seriousness of this split in the
participated in this."14 Three years later JRCL.
fourteen people, including seven ir c l mem­
bers, were given substantial jail sentences
for their activities during that demon­
stration. 15
The Japanese Trotskyists also organized
demonstrations and other efforts to protest
the military regime in South Korea. For in­
stance, the j r c l weekly Sakai Kakumei
(World Revolution) carried an article pro­
testing against the conviction by the Korean
Supreme Court of opposition leader Kim
Dae Jung, who had been kidnapped from
Japan by the Korean secret police.16
At the time of the Vietnamese invasion of
Cambodia and the overthrow of the Pol Pot
regime, the Japanese Trotskyists' Central
Committee adopted a long resolution fa­
voring the Vietnamese actions: "We support
the Vietnamese government and the new
Kampuchean government of the National
Salvation Front against the Chinese govern­
ment and the former Pol Pot regime."17 This
line, of course, was in conformity with that
of the United Secretariat.
It is not clear to what degree the Japanese
Trotskyites participated in elections. How­
ever, at the time of the 1979 municipal elec­
tions World Revolution noted that "these
militant currents, including the j r c l , were
unable to intervene in the elections as a
single, unified left current. They failed to
advance a common struggle around clearly
defined objectives."18
By 1984 the j r c l had undergone a split,
with a group breaking away to form Chu-
kaku (Revolutionary Communist League,
National Committee—Core Faction). Mem­
bers of this dissident group were reported to
have conducted a number of physical at­
tacks on members of the jr c l and its youth
group, Japan Communist Youth, and Chu-
kaku had announced that it intended to

Japan 601
 Trotskyism in Korea Trotskyism in Lebanon

Trotskyism was very late in getting estab­ Trotskyism has always been relatively weak
lished in Korea. However, by the early 1980s in the Arab countries of the Middle East. No
a group of South Korean workers who had Trotskyist organizations were established
returned from residence in Japan, where before World War II in those nations, most
they had become Trotskyists, established a of which were colonies. Subsequently, the
small section of the United Secretariat of lack of freedom to organize political parties
the Fourth International.1 We do not have other than those favored by the regimes in
any information about the name or activi­ power made it difficult to establish and
ties of that group. maintain even Stalinist Communist parties,
with the very substantial backing, financial
and otherwise, which they enjoyed from the
Soviet Union. The Trotskyists, of course,
had no such external support.
Until the outbreak of civil war in the mid­
dle 1970s Lebanon was an exception to the
pattern in most of the Arab Middle East. It
enjoyed a political pluralism and degree of
civil liberties and democracy which was al­
most unique in the region. It is not surpris­
ing, therefore, that the most substantial
Trotskyist party in the area has been that of
Lebanon.
We have no precise information as to
when the Groupe Communiste Revolution­
naire [Revolutionary Communist Group—
g c r ) was established, although it certainly

existed by the early 1970s. It was reportedly

formed by people who left the Lebanese
Communist Party.1 It seems to have been
able to function more or less freely until
the outbreak of the civil war. It published a
periodical el-Mounadil {The Militant) and
was part of the United Secretariat of the
Fourth International.1
At the time of the Yom Kippur War be­
tween Israel and its Arab neighbors in 1973,
a leader of the g c r was interviewed. He ex­
plained "the position of the g c r on the war."
He commented that "in the present war no
Marxist can remain neutral under the pre­
text that this is an interbourgeois conflict."
This unnamed g c r leader added: "Unlike
the opportunists of all stripes, we do not

602 Korea
content ourselves with expressing solidarity With the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon,
with the Arab armies against Israel. We ad­ which soon resulted in the intervention of
vance a body of transitional demands that Syrian troops in the conflict, a leader of the
allow for fueling our struggle against all the g c r was again interviewed. In the process

established powers of the Arab region, for of this discussion, the Lebanese Trotskyist
the Arab socialist revolution." noted: "Most left-wing organizations have
These "transitional demands" were "NO been founded by Christians or at least have
to the 'peaceful solution'! NO to recognition a high proportion of Christians. This is true
of the Zionist State! Total and uncondi­ of the c p , this is true of the Organization for
tional withdrawal of the Israeli army to the Communist Action in Lebanon; this is true
pre-1967 borders! NO to a cease-fire! NO to of the Trotskyist group. . . ."s
intervention of the great powers to settle At the time of Anwar el-Sadat's visit to
the conflict! Prolonged war until victory! Israel in 1978 to seek peace, the Lebanese
Arming and training of the masses) Total Trotskyists' Central Committee issued a
boycott of imperialism! Full democratic statement which expressed strong opposi­
rights for the Arab masses! Freedom of ac­ tion to Sadat's negotiations, and ended with
tion for the Palestinian resistance within a statement of the position which ought to
the Arab countries and freedom to operate be adopted by "nationalist and democratic
from them!"3 fronts in Lebanon." The points in this "posi­
On November 20,19 73 the gcr and Israeli tion" were: "Solidarity with the Palestinian
affiliates of the United Secretariat issued a resistance and defense of its right to total
joint statement on the Yom Kippur War. freedom of action; the demand that the Syr­
That document started by stating that "On ian troops now in Lebanon be concentrated
the occasion of the fourth Arab-Israeli war, along the southern border to confront the
we Jewish and Arab revolutionary Marxists, Zionist enemy; defense of democratic free­
adherents of the Fourth International in the doms and struggle against whoever tries to
Arab countries and within the Zionist state repress them; total secularization, rejection
itself, are determined to express jointly our of 'unity' at the expense of the masses, and
viewpoint, which is that of proletarian inter­ the struggle to establish the election of a
nationalism." constituent assembly, with representatives
The joint statement went on to say that selected on the basis of a nationwide elec­
"revolutionary Marxists are not neutral in tion and of a proportional vote not based on
the war between the Zionist state and the religion."6
Arab bourgeoisie. We support the struggle A few months later when the Israelis in­
of the Arab peoples against the Zionist state. vaded part of southern Lebanon, a member
. .. Revolutionary Marxists' support for the of the Executive Committee of the g c r was
war against the Zionist state in no way rep­ interviewed. He commented that the g c r
resents support to the policies of the Arab "could not just stand by as observers while
bourgeoisies. . . Zionist troops invaded southern Lebanon.
The statement ended with a series of de­ Groups of fighters belonging to our organiza­
mands: "Complete and unconditional with­ tion took part in the military effort in south­
drawal of the Israeli army from the territor­ ern Lebanon. . . . When the invasion began
ies occupied in June 1967! No to the 'peace­ the g c r , the Palestinian Liberation Front,
ful solution'! No to the betrayal of the na­ and other Lebanese far left groups issued a
tional cause of the Palestinian Arab people! common call for a mobilization against the
For a common revolutionary struggle of Israeli invasion and for the unconditional
Arab and Jewish workers! Against imperial­ withdrawal of Zionist troops. . . ."7
ism, Zionism, and the Arab bourgeoisies! With the full-scale invasion of Lebanon
Long live proletarian internationalism!"4 by the Israelis in June 1982, the Lebanese

Lebanon 603
Trotskyists participated actively in the mon Forces and to the Resisting Masses of
struggle against the invaders: "After the be­ Our Two Peoples." This called for contin­
ginning of combat our comrades occupied a ued military resistance against the Israelis
headquarters in West Beirut and mobilized and denounced all negotiations.10
on a permanent basis with the Palestinian On August 26, 1982, the g c r issued a
and progressive Lebanese forces to defend "Second Open Letter to the Leaders of the
the city. They published a number of their Fighting Lebanese Organizations." It de­
journals and organized debate meetings on nounced the negotiations of the leaders of
the problems of the struggle in Lebanon and the p l o for the evacuation of their troops
its international implications."® from the Beirut area and argued that "there
On June 15, 1982, the g c r issued an exists an objective class division in the
"Open Letter to the Lebanese Fighting Orga­ ranks of what you call the 'Islaijiic and patri­
nizations." This document started, "Com­ otic camp' " with "the bourgeois’forces who
rades, brothers, at this decisive moment in are agents of Saudian power, which is itself
the history of our national struggle when an agent of imperialism" being ready to
the Zionist army encircles Beirut, after reach an agreement with the right-wing Pha-
thousands of the sons of the Lebanese and langists, whom the document labels "fas­
Palestinian peoples have fallen in the battle cists." It reiterated earlier demands for es­
for liberty and true dignity, we have judged tablishment of a national guard and of local
it necessary to address you with all the sin­ councils.”
cerity required by the importance of the pe­ In an interview published in November
riod through which we are passing." 1982, S. Jabor, a leader of the g c r , summa­
The Open Letter presented a seven point rized the "lessons" of what had occurred
program: in Lebanon in the previous months. These
were: "First . .. that one cannot count on
i. Continue the struggle without restric­
the Soviet Union as an ally of the colonial
tions against the Zionist army of occupa­
revolution. . . . The second lesson has been
tion. . . . 2. Refuse entry of nonallied ar­
new confirmation that one cannot expect
mies which would be legal treason, or of
anything of the Arab bourgeois nationalist
the armies of imperialist States or States
regimes, however radical they may be, such
agents of imperialism. 3. Refuse all for­
as Syria. . . . The third lesson is the recogni­
mulas concocted by the USA and Saudi
tion of the validity of the theory of perma­
Arabia. . . . 4. Consider the institution of
nent revolution. This implies first the dem­
Lebanese "legality" as traitors. Establish
onstration of the tendency for all conflicts
a government of National Resistance
with imperialism to be internationalized, to
composed of the forces which had really
involve all the region. And still more impor­
fought the Zionist enemy. 5. Put into exe­
tant, this demonstrates the incapacity of all
cution the project of local councils.. . . 6.
bourgeois leaders to struggle agains imperi­
Unify the military forces and centralize
alism ."12
them in a national guard. . . . 7. Demand
When the split occurred in the p l o be­
of the anti-imperialist States and forces of
tween Yasser Arafat and his opponents, the
the world, notably the USSR and Cuba,
g c r strongly supported Arafat's enemies. At
an immediate military intervention
the fourth congress of th^ g c r in June 1983,
alongside the Lebanese-Palestinian resis­
it adopted a resolution which said that "the
tance. . . 9
duty of the Arab and international revolu­
Two weeks later the Groupe Communiste tionary forces is, today, to support the dissi­
Revolutionnaire issued another document, dent current of Fatah in the struggle to con­
an "Appeal to the Combatants of the Com­ stitute a fighting organization for the

604 Lebanon
liberation of Palestine, replacing the degen­ Lutte Ouvriere Tendency
erated bureaucratic organizations which
have abandoned this objective to seek to of International
obtain a parcel of territory under the sun Trotskyism
of American imperialism and alongside the
State of Israel. . . ." ’3
Early in 1984, at the time of an effort to
overthrow the Lebanese government of One of the smallest factions in International
President Amin Gemayel, it was reported Trotskyism has been that centering on the
that "the Revolutionary Communist Group Lutte Ouvriere group in France. Although
. . . has participated in the recent struggle to small, this tendency has had some distinc­
bring down Amin Gemayel and to force the tive things in its history and its political
withdrawal of the imperialist forces. Our position.
comrades are active in Beirut, where they The political ancestor of the present
have been engaged in defense actions along­ French Lutte Ouvriere was that element in
side the Lebanese c p , with which the g c r French Trotskyism which felt that it was
works. They have also been active in the premature to form the Fourth International
mountains to the southeast of the capital, in 1938. They continued their separate exis­
where they have been engaged in activities tence outside of the International then and
of the same type along with the Lebanese subsequently. They did not participate in
left, as well as the Palestinian resistance and the general unification of French Trots­
Druse forces."14 kyism in the last year of World War II.
Representatives of Lutte Ouvriere (then
Voix Ouvriere] participated in the 1966
Third Conference of the International Com­
mittee of the Fourth International spon­
sored particularly by the British Healyites
and the French Lambertist faction. They did
not become part of the International Com­
mittee, however. Subsequently, an element
within the United States Spartacist league
which was sympathetic with Lutte Ouvriere
broke with the Sparticists to form The
Spark, as the Lutte Ouvriere counterpart in
the United States.
In addition to the French and United
States groups, the other elements in this
tendency of International Trotskyism are
Combat Ouvrier in the French Antilles and
the African Union of Internationalist Com­
munist Workers, composed of immigrant
African workers in France. One thing which
distinguishes all of these groups from other
Trotskyist elements is their position that
the Soviet Union, because of its revolution­
ary origins, is a degenerated workers state,
but all other Communist Party-controlled
regimes remain capitalist or bourgeois.1

1
t
Lutte Ouvriere 605
 Trotskyism in Luxemburg Trotskyism in Mauritius

We have obtained very little information on The principal French-language publication

the history of the Trotskyist movement in of the United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­
the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. Since the national indicated early in 1984 the forma­
1 970s there has existed an affiliate of the tion of a party of its orientation in Mauri­
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ tius, the island republic in the Indian Ocean.
tional. That organization, the Revolution­ This was the Organisation Militante des
ary Communist League, held its sixth con­ Travailleurs (omt). it was established in Jan­
gress in December 1984 at which time it uary 1984 by dissidents from the Mouve-
resolved to change its name to Revolution­ ment Militant Mauricien (m m m ), then the
ary Socialist Party. The party also had a country's principal left-wing party. Led by
youth group, the Revolutionary Socialist Serge Rayapoule, a former member of the
Youth, and published a regular newspaper, Central .Committee of the m m m , its first
Klassenkampf.' congress declared its intention to form "a
true revolutionary party/' and said that "our
struggle is then a struggle for socialism, that
is to say, to make the island of Mauritius a
democratic Republic of the working peo­
ple." The congress proposed nationalization
of the sugar industry (providing 75 percent
of the island's exports and 25 percent of its
employment), as well as of the banks and
insurance companies, all of which should be
placed "under the control of the workers."
The o m t also organized a kind of front
group from what had been the National
Anti-Unemployment Front, the f m a s . Its
task was described as being that of "a school
of socialism for all those who belong to it,"
and "to permit its members to have an ap­
prenticeship in political struggle, and an ap­
prenticeship in true workers democracy."1

606 Mauritius
 Trotskyism in Mexico Luciano Galicia and Octavio Fernandez,
both of whom had joined the Communist
Party after being active in Communist front
organizations. They withdrew from the
party in March 1934 and joined the oci.
Later in that year the oci changed its
It was in Mexico that Leon Trotsky died
name to Liga Comunista Intemacionalista
in August 1940, the victim of an assassin's
(l c i ) and began to publish a periodical,
blow. He had received refuge there early in
Nueva International, which, among other
1937 in large part due to the efforts of his
things, carried a number of articles by
Mexican followers, who had developed an
Trotsky. A fund-raising campaign for the
organization about four years before his ar­
magazine brought contributions from the
rival.
famous painter Diego Rivera, the musician
Mexican Trotskyism long survived the
Carlos Chavez, and the novelist Jos6 Re-
death of the man who had inspired it. By the
vueltas.
1980s, although split into several competing
In the middle of 1934 the l c i held a confer­
groups, it constituted one of the most sig­
ence at which it elected an executive com­
nificant branches of International Trots­
mittee, approved statutes and drew up sev­
kyism, and one of the few which had actu­
eral theses. Soon afterwards it established
ally succeeded in electing members of the
its own front organization, the Asociaci6n
national parliament.
de Estudios y Divulgaci<5n Marxista-Lenin-
ista (Association for Marxist-Leninist Stud­
Beginnings of Mexican Trotskyism ies and Propaganda) of which Diego Rivera
became secretary general. This group orga­
The man who was principally responsible nized a number of public meetings on liter­
for establishing the first Trotskyist organi­ ary, cultural, and political subjects.
zation in Mexico was a U.S. Communist, The Liga Comunista Intemacionalista
Russell Blackwell, who used the name Rosa­ was not yet a year old when it suffered its
rio Negrete in Mexico. He had first gone to first split. There were both personal and tac­
Mexico to organize a Communist children's tical problems involved. One issue was that
organization, Pioneers. He sided with of entrism, with a group around Manuel
Trotsky in the Stalin-Trotsky struggle, and Rodriguez urging that the Mexican Trotsky­
with the establishment of the Communist ists apply the tactic Trotsky had recom­
League of America began to receive its peri­ mended several years before to his French
odical, The Militant. He began to seek con­ followers and enter the Partido Socialista de
verts, and one of the first was Manuel Izquierda, a loosely organized party which
Rodriguez, who was then active in several had been set up during the 1934 election
Communist Party front organizations and campaign to support the presidential aspira­
was on close personal terms with members tions of Colonel Adelberto Tejeda, the left-
of the party's Central Committee. wing governor of the State of Veracruz.
By early 1933 Blackwell had gathered a Another issue was that of cooperation
sufficient group to establish the Oposicion with Vincente Lombardo Toledano, then
Comunista de Izquierda (Communist Left head of the Confederacion General de
Opposition—oci). Within about a year they Obreros y Campesinos de Mexico and a
were joined by two other young teachers, strong opponent of the Stalinists in the labor
movement. Lombardo had attended a num­
M a te ria l in th is e n try d e a lin g w ith th e p eriod before
19 6 9 is adap ted fro m R o b e rt J. A le x a n d e r, Trotskyism
ber of meetings of the l c i and had suggested
in Latin America, H o o ve r In stitu tio n Press, Stan ford , that they work closely with him in orga­
1975 . nized labor, a policy which Rodriguez fa­

Mexico 607
vored but Luciano Galicia and Octavio Fer­ lishing relations with a bakers' union, the
nandez opposed. Casa del Pueblo, in the headquarters of
As a consequence of these disputes the which were offices of several other small
Liga Comunista Internacionalista broke unions.
into three groups. One was headed by Man­ Soon after the reestablishment of the l c i
uel Rodriguez, another by Galicia and Fer­ it received an urgent request for help in seek­
nandez, and the third by S. De Anda. There ing asylum in Mexico for Leon Trotsky him­
were extensive polemics among them, each self. Sometime earlier, at the request of the
denying that the others were truly Trots­ International Secretariat of the Left Opposi­
kyist. tion, Manuel Rodriguez had ascertained
It was not until the middle of 1936 that a from General Francisco Mujica (for whom
semblance of unity was reestablished Rodriguez was working at the time] that if
among the Mexican Trotskyists. Although the occasion arose, the government of Presi­
Rodriguez dropped out of political activity dent Lazaro Cardenas would be willing to
and S. De Anda continued to maintain a consider the idea of granting asylum to
small group of his own which entered into Trotsky. Mujica was one of the most influ­
contact with the Spanish Partido Obrero de ential members of the Cardenas cabinet.
Unificacion Marxista (p o u m ), the Liga Co­ When Diego Rivera received a cable in
munista Internacionalista was reestablished November 1936 from New York urging that
with a Political Bureau composed of Luciano Cardenas be immediately approached on the
Galicia, Octavio Fernandez, F61ix Ibarra (for­ asylum issue, the Political Bureau of the l c i
merly associated with Rodriguez], and decided to send Rivera and Octavio Fernan­
Diego Rivera. dez to Torre6n, in northern Mexico, where
This was the first time that Diego Rivera President Cardenas then was. Armed with a
had formally become a member of Mexican letter from General Mujica introducing
Trotskyism, let alone part of its ruling body. them and expressing his support for asylum,
Although Rivera had been expelled from the they waited upon Cardenas. The president
Communist Party in September 1928, it was immediately informed them that he would
several years after that before he announced grant Trotsky asylum on the condition that
his sympathy for and alignment with Trots­ his Mexican followers not organize his re­
kyism. Even then, although they appreci­ ception in such a way as to foment a coun-
ated his financial backing and sought to ex­ ter-demonstration in Mexico.
ploit his moral support, both the Mexican After several weeks' delay in getting for­
Trotskyists and the Americans with whom mal arrangements from the Ministry of For­
they were in more or less close contact had eign Affairs for the acceptance of Trotsky's
doubts about having Rivera as a leader or presence in Mexico, such arrangements
even a full-fledged member of the organiza­ were agreed to on December 17, 1936.
tion. His personal idiosyncracies were Trotsky arrived in Mexico a few weeks later.
many, and there was doubt about the "seri­ The condition for allowing Trotsky to
ousness" of his commitment to Trotskyism. take up residence in Mexico was that he not
The new l c i began issuing a newspaper, intervene in Mexican internal politics. As a
IV International, the first issue of which consequence, Trotsky maintained only the
appeared in September 1936, the last in De­ most formal relations, in a political sense,
cember 1937. They also began to develop with the Mexican Trotskyists. What inter­
at least a modest presence in the organized vention in their affairs took place was car­
labor movement, succeeding in organizing ried out through the Socialist Workers Party
a new Sindicato Unico de la Construccion of the United States rather than directly by
among building trades workers and estab­ Trotsky.

608 Mexico
 However, one of the major elements in and of issuing "irresponsible and adventur­
the relationship between Trotsky and his istic slogans" in the campaign against the
Mexican supporters was their provision of high cost of living. It also accused Galicia of
guards for Trotsky's home, which was for attacking the Cardenas regime "in a way
almost a year the responsibility of Octavio that was one-sided, sectarian, and in the
Fernandez. After a further split in the l c i at given circumstances, objectively reac­
the end of 1937 U.S. and German Trotsky­ tionary."
ists were brought in to augment the Mexi­ This resolution authorized Curtiss to con­
can contingent. At least some of the Mexi­ tinue his efforts to reunite the Mexican sec­
cans involved later felt that if Mexican tion and provided that in the reorganized
guards had been on duty when Ram6n Mer- group Galicia and Fernandez should only be
cader came to kill Trotsky, the assassin admitted on the condition that neither
would not have been admitted without first would hold a "leading post" for a year. Fi­
being thoroughly searched, in which case nally, the motion stipulated that Diego Ri­
the hatchet he used as a murder weapon vera should not be a member of the reconsti­
would have been discovered. tuted section but instead that "his work and
In December 1937 there was a new split in activity for the Fourth International shall
the Liga Comunista Intemacionalista. This remain under the direct control of the Inter­
time the contending leaders were Luciano national Subsecretariat."3 A few months
Galicia and Octavio Fernandez. Both per­ later, Rivera broke with the Trotskyists in
sonal rivalries and a growing propensity for order to support the opposition candidate in
Galicia to call for the use of violence (for the 1940 presidential election.
which he was privately reprimanded at least The Liga Comunista Intemacionalista
twice by Trotsky himself) figured in this was reestablished as a section of the Fourth
split. International early in 1939. It began publica­
At Trotsky's request the Socialist Work­ tion of a periodical, El Bolchevique, which
ers Party sent in James Cannon, Max carried considerable news on the Fourth In­
Shachtman, and Vincent R. Dunne to try to ternational as well as information on cur­
bring peace among the Mexican Trotskyists. rent Mexican politics and trade union ac­
When they were unsuccessful it was decided tivity.
to send in Charles Curtiss, a Los Angeles In September 1939 the l c i changed its
leader of the s w p , to stay as long as was name to Partido Obrero Intemacionalista,
necessary to reunite the Mexicans. Seccion Mexicana de la Cuarta Intemacio-
By the time of the Founding Conference of nal (p o i ). It also changed the name of its
the Fourth International in September 1938, periodical to Lucha Obrera.
unity had not yet been restored in the Mexi­ Until the death of Trotsky much of the
can section. Although Pierre Naville listed p o i ' s effort was spent on providing security

the Liga Comunista Intemacionalista as the protection for Trotsky and on editing and
International's Mexican section,1 and cred­ distributing a monthly periodical, Clave.
ited it with having fifteen members,2 in fact This had been started with the help of
no duly constituted section existed at that Charles Curtiss and was designed particu­
moment. larly to be a vehicle for the publication in
The Founding Conference of the Fourth Spanish of articles by Leon Trotsky. Octavio
International adopted a special resolution Fernandez was manager of the periodical,
"On the Mexican Question." It strongly fifteen issues of which appeared before
scolded Luciano Galicia and Octavio Fer­ Trotsky's death.
nandez, accusing them of having adopted a In addition to the p o i , a second organiza­
"third period policy in the trade union field" tion professing loyalty to Trotskyism ex-

1 Mexico 609
isted during the period before Trotsky's ist was a member of the National Council
murder. This was the group headed by Lu­ of the c n t . The Federacion Libertaria asked
ciano Galicia, which continued to use the Octavio Femindez to organize and conduct
name Liga Comunista Internacionalista. a Marxist study group which was attended
by about forty workers.
Some efforts were also made by the Trots­
Mexican Trotskyism After
kyists to gain influence in the c t m . The p o i
Trotsky's Death
paper Lucha Obrera publicized the struggle
Although at the beginning of the 1940s Mex­ of some leaders against the influence of
ican Trotskyism was reunited and obtained Lombardo Toledano and the Stalinists
more influence, particularly in organized la­ within the organization.
bor, than it had in the previous decade, re­ During this period the -Trotskyists
newed factionalism helped to bring about strongly opposed both the governments of
the virtual disappearance of the movement the ruling Partido de la Revoluci6n Mexi-
shortly afterwards. It was not until the cana and its major opponents. In the elec­
1960s that organized Trotskyism appeared tions of 1940 and 1946 it denounced both
again in Mexico, largely as a consequence of the government's nominees and those of the
the student and general youth revolt of that opposition.
period. In spite of the modest expansion of Trots­
Late in 1940 Luciano Galicia, who for two kyist influence in the labor movement a
years had been outside the Fourth Interna­ new split in the ranks of the p o i took place
tional, joined the Partido Obrero Intemacio- late in 1 94s which soon destroyed not only
nalista, of which he became a major leader. that influence but the Mexican Trotskyist
The p o i remained united for about five movement itself. Once again, the principal
years. During that period the Trotskyists leaders of the competing factions were Lu­
developed some influence in those factions ciano Galicia and Octavio Fernandez.
of the labor movement which were in com­ One s u b j e c t o f c o n t r o v e r s y w a s t h e p a r t y 's
petition with the majority central labor or­ t r a d e u n i o n p o l i c y . Galicia f a v o r e d c o n c e n ­
ganization, the Confederaci6n de Trabaja­ t r a t i o n o n t r y i n g t o p e n e t r a t e t h e c t m , while
dores de Mexico ( c t m ). The c t m had been Fernandez s u p p o r t e d c o n t i n u a t i o n o f a t ­
headed by Vicente Lombardo Toledano and te m p ts to g a in in f lu e n c e in t h e a n ti-C T M
the Stalinists still had a major role in it. fa c tio n s o f th e la b o r m o v e m e n t. There w e r e
The Trotskyists backed establishment of u n d o u b te d ly p e r s o n a l is s u e s a ls o in v o lv e d
the Confederacion Proletaria Nacional ( c p n ) in th is co n tro v e rsy .
by dissident elements of the ex-anarchosyn- Galicia continued to have a majority in
dicalist Confederacion General de Trabaja­ the leadership of the p o i . As a consequence,
dores and of the country's first national cen­ Fernandez and his supporters withdrew
tral group, the Confederacion Regional de from the party in October 1945 and estab­
Obreras Mexicanos. Subsequently, the rep­ lished the Grupo Socialista Obrero ( g s o )
resentatives of the construction and mosaic which began to publish Tribune Socialista.
workers unions in the executive of the c p n Both the p o i and the g s o sought to obtain
were members of the Partido Obrero Intem- the endorsement of the Fourth Interna­
acionalista. tional, and particularly-: of the Socialist
The p o i members were also active in the Workers Party of the United States. For a
establishment of the Federacion Libertaria while at least the f i and s w p sought to medi­
de Obreros y Campesinos, the Federal Dis­ ate between them. However, the g s o began
trict affiliate of the Confederacion Nacional to question fundamental positions of the
de Trabajadores ( c t n ). At least one Trotsky­ Trotskyist movement, particularly the

610 Mexico
definition of the Soviet Union and other mala. That guerrilla faction was led by ex-
Communist Party-controlled regimes as Lt. Marco Antonio Yon Sosa and was known
"workers states." By 1947 the Fourth Inter­ as mr -13.
national had completely repudiated the The intermediary between the Yon Sosa
Grupo Socialista Obrero. Soon thereafter the group and the Mexican p o r (t ) was Francisco
g s o went out of existence. The Partido Amado, a Guatemalan businessman who
Obrero Intemacionalista also ceased to exist after 1962 had been the agent of Fidel Castro
at about the same time. in trying to involve the Guatemalan Com­
During the 1950s there was no recognized munists in guerrilla activity. When Amado
Trotskyist organization in Mexico, al­ broke with Castro he turned to the Mexican
though several former leaders of the Mexi­ Posadas Trotskyists, some of whom he had
can Trotskyists cooperated with people known as fellow students at the Social Sci­
from the Socialist Workers Party of the ence School in Mexico City.
United States in publishing a periodical, Amado began publishing a periodical in
jQue Haceri These Mexicans included Ra­ Guatemala, Revolucidn Socialista, which
fael Galvan, a leading figure in one of the propagated Posadas Trotskyist ideas. At
country's electrical workers unions who about the same time the Mexican p o r (t )
used the pseudonym Martin Arriaga in his leader Galvan became the principal agent of
Trotskyist activities; and Felix Ibarra, a Yon Sosa in smuggling arms to the Guate­
leader of the telephone workers union. An­ malan guerrillas. Early in 1966 Amado was
other ex-member of Mexican Trotskyism, captured and killed by Guatemalan military
Fausto Davila Solis, was elected mayor of forces. Galvan was arrested at about the
the oil town of Poza Rica in 1956 on an same time and was deported to Mexico.
independent ticket, but his election was not In the meanwhile Castro, who had broken
recognized by the government. off all contact with Yon Sosa, had used the
At the end of the 1950s the foundation platform of the Tricontinental Conference
was laid for a new Trotskyist group within in Havana in January 1966 to denounce the
the Juventud Socialista, an independent stu­ activities of Posadas's Mexican followers
dent group which split in 1959 with the ma­ and the Trotskyist movement in general.
jority forming the Partido Obrero Revoluci­ Three months later Yon Sosa himself ex­
onario (Trotskista), which was accepted as pelled all Trotskyists from his organization,
the Mexican section of the Pabloite Interna­ charging them with diverting funds which
tional Secretariat at its Sixth Congress in had been raised to support his guerrilla
1961. When J. Posadas led the Latin Ameri­ movement to Posadas's Fourth Interna­
can Bureau of the Pabloite forces to launch tional.
its own version of the Fourth International, In Mexico, the p o r (t ) held a national con­
the p o r (t ) became part of that group. ference and leadership training school in
The po r (t ) continued to be principally a July 1967 which were reported to have lasted
student group, but it had a few people of the nine days. A new Central Committee and
older generation associated with it, includ­ Political Bureau were elected at that time.
ing Fausto Davila Solis, and a Sr. Galvan The party was devoting much of its energy
(not to be confused with Rafael Galvan) who to propagating the somewhat idiosyncratic
had also been active in the Trotskyist move­ ideas of J. Posadas and received considerable
ment in the 1940s. financing from the Posadas Fourth Interna­
The Mexican Posadas Trotskyist party tional.
gained temporary notoriety in the mid- The p o r (t ) played a significant role in the
1960s because of its association with one of 1968 student strike which was violently
the guerrilla groups then active in Guate­ suppressed by the government of President

Mexico 611

i
Gustavo Diaz Ordaz. A number of the p o r ( t ) periodical of u s e c , Cuaita Inteinacional,
leaders and members were jailed and the and a more topical news organ, Peispectiva
Posadas version of the Fourth International Mundial.
thereafter carried on an extensive interna­
tional campaign on behalf of their release.
The Mexican p o r (t )
Meanwhile a rival Trotskyist group had
appeared in Mexico. The minority of the Thus at the beginning of the 1 970s, two cur­
|uventud Socialista in the 1959 split had rents of International Trotskyism were rep­
formed a group which it originally called resented in Mexico. One was the Posadas
Liga Estudiantil Marxista but then renamed faction, the Partido Obrero Revolucionario
Liga Obrera Marxista ( l o m ). It became asso­ (Trotskista); the other the Grupo Comun­
ciated with the anti-Pablo faction of Interna­ ista Internacionalista (g c i ), associated with
tional Trotskyism. the United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
The l o m was represented at the 1 9 6 3 con­ tional.
gress which established the United Secretar­ The p o r (t ), although it had gained more
iat of the Fourth International. There it was notoriety in the 1960s because of its short
recognized as a "sympathizing member" of involvement with a guerrilla movement in
u s e c . It was reported to have had only about neighboring Guatemala, remained quite
twenty members at that time. At the 196 s small. However, this did not prevent it from
congress of u s e c , l o m was accepted as a feeling the crackdown on the far left which
"section."4 followed the student uprising in Mexico
The l o m succeeded in gaining some work­ City in 1968. Several months later long jail
ing-class members. In 1964-1965 there de­ terms were handed to a number of far left­
veloped a conflict, between those workers ists, and it was reported that "the most
and the students who had originally orga­ harsh jail sentences" were imposed on
nized the group. At the Eighth Congress of "workers and sympathizers of the Partido
the United Secretariat in 1965, at which Obrero Revolucionario." A particular vic­
l o m was accepted as the Mexican section of tim was Adolfo Gilly, an Argentine who had
u s e c , an attempt was made to smooth over been active for some time in the p o r (t ).£
this conflict. In the end the worker element The f o r t (t ) was in existence as late as
broke away from l o m . l o m students played 1977. Soon thereafter, it seems to have dis­
a significant role in the student strike of appeared.6
1968.
Soon after the 1968 strike a number of
The Struggles Within the gci
students of Trotskyist orientation estab­
lished the Grupo Comunista Intemacionali- The Grupo Comunista Internacionalista
sta ( g c i ), which was aligned with the United came into existence during the student
Secretariat. The g c i published two periodi­ movement of 1968 and for long it remained
cals, a Boletin Interno, principally for its an organization which had its principal
own members, and La Inteinacional, for strength in the universities, particularly
broader distribution. those of Mexico City. Among those of an
The g c i began to work closely with the older generation who became associated to
United Secretariat, and particularly with the some degree with the CQ} was Jose Revuel-
Socialist Workers Party of the United States, tas, one of the country's best-known novel­
in bringing out publications which were de­ ists. He had been associated with the Trots­
signed for distribution generally to the Span­ kyists in the 1930s but subsequently had
ish-speaking part of the world. These in­ rejoined the Communist Party ( p c m ). He
cluded a Spanish version of the general was expelled from the p c m once again in

612 Mexico
 i960 with a group who established the Liga ( p s t ) of Argentina—on the other, had a nega­
Leninista Espartaco ( l l e ), but then in 1963 tive impact on the Mexican Grupo Comun­
was also expelled from the l l e . In September ista Intemacionalista. The leadership of the
1968 he founded the Movimiento Comuni­ g c i sided principally with the Europeans,

sta Intemacionalista, and it was out of that and as a consequence in October 1972 twen-
group that there emerged a few months later ty-four members of the g c i withdrew to
the Grupo Comunista Intemacionalista.7 form a rival organization, the Juventud
Revueltas sent a greeting to the 1969 Con­ Marxista Revolucionaria ( ; m r ), which was
gress of the United Secretariat. That mes­ aligned with the s w p and the p s t .
sage indicated that he agreed with the then In June 1973 the j m r sought reunification,
current u s e c analysis o f the state of world but the g c i leaders refused. As a conse­
affairs: "The New Revolution will have a quence, the jtm r remained a separate group,
dual character. It will be both anticapitalist holding its first congress in December 1973
and antidogmatic and will embrace at once and at that time changing its name to Liga
the countries still dominated by the bour­ Socialista.
geoisie, the socialist countries, and the At a national congress of the Grupo Com­
countries of the so-called Third World."8 unista Intemacionlista in 1975 a group came
Jose Revueltas did not stay for long in the to the leadership which favored reunifica­
g c i . As the organ of the g c i ' s successor tion with the Liga Socialista. However, the
wrote more than a decade later, "The period decision in favor of reunification led to a
of closeness and coincidence between the further split in the g c i , with a group with­
forces which would found the Mexican Sec­ drawing to form still another organization
tion of the Fourth International did not last around a new newspaper, Rojo. Thus, by
long. After Revueltas left jail, the differences 1976 there existed three different groups in.
about the Leninist conception of the party— Mexico which were in one way or another
on which Revueltas inclined more for a associated with the United Secretariat.12
spontaneist conception—required that the Both the g c i and the Liga Socialists, which
efforts at party construction not continue published Bandera Roja and El Socialista,
on a common basis."41 respectively, were formally recognized as
The g c i held a national plenum in May competitive groups of u s e c . 13
197r. The fact that discussions at that meet­ In 1975 the continuing struggle within
ing centered largely on problems in the stu­ u s e c brought still another split among its

dent movement indicated that the social Mexican supporters, this time within the
base of the organization was still principally Liga Socialista. There, as the dissidence be­
in the universities.10 The prestige of Trots­ tween Nahuel Moreno and his associates
kyism was undoubtedly raised in early 1972 and the s w p of the United States led Moreno
when the Belgian Trotskyist leader Ernest early in 1976 to take the lead in establishing
Mandel gave a week-long series of lectures the Bolshevik Tendency within u s e c , the
at the Mexican National Autonomous Uni­ supporters of these two camps within the
versity in Mexico City. The g c i newspaper Mexican Liga Socialista parted company.
La Internacional announced that it would By the time this new split took place the
publish Mandel's lectures as a pamphlet.11 Liga Socialista was said to have 225 mem­
The struggle which began in 1969 be­ bers. The division, in which several mem­
tween most of the European leadership of bers of the Argentine p s t played a consider­
u s e c on the one hand, and the Socialist able role, began at a meeting of the Central
Workers Party of the United States and its Committee of the Liga in September 1975,
allies—including particularly Nahuel Mor­ where the difference between those aligned
eno's Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores with Moreno and the p s t and those aligned

Mexico 613
 with the s w p first became evident. The Mor- dacy and was able to establish the Front of
enoists seized control of the party at that the Revolutionary Left, together with a
meeting, purging the Political Committee small group of regional organizations, to
of its opponents. Both elements soon set up campaign on his behalf.18
formal factions, the Tendencia Militante of
the Morenoists and the Tendencia Bolchevi­
The Partido Revolucionario
que-Leninista of those aligned with the s w p .
de los Trabajadores
The Liga Socialista convention took place
in December 1970. The pro-Moreno major­ Meanwhile movement toward at least some
ity decreed a purge of the party and selected reunification of the Mexican Trotskyist
a new party leadership from its own ranks. movement was under way. In 1975 the
It also pushed through a resolution to break Grupo Comunista Internacionalista re­
off a ll relations with the s w p of the United united with the Rojo faction to establish the
States. As a consequence of all this, the Ten­ Liga Comunista Internacionalista ( l c i ) . A
dencia Bolchevique-Leninista proclaimed few months after the split in the Liga Social­
itself a "public faction" of the Liga, in effect ista the Morenoist faction of that group
a separate organization. Both groups contin­ joined with the l c i to give birth to the Par­
ued at least for some time to publish their tido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores
own versions of the League's paper El So- ( p r t ) . A year later a part of the Liga Obrera
cialista Marxista ( l o m ) , the group aligned with the
Shortly after the split in the Liga Sociali­ Lambertist Organizing Committee for the
sta, the Tendencia Militante faction formed Reconstruction of the Fourth International
an alliance for the 1976 general elections ( c o r q i ) , broke away and joined the p r t .19
which were then under way with the Com­ However, a split developed in the p r t in
munist Party and a small ally of the Com­ 1979. The followers of Nahuel Moreno, who
munists, the Movimiento de Organizaci6n had originally joined in establishing the Par­
Socialista. The three groups drew up a joint tido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores,
electoral manifesto, endorsed the presiden­ broke away in that year to again form their
tial candidacy of Communist Party leader own group, under the name Partido Obrero
Valentin Campa, and ran a joint list of candi­ Socialista.10
dates for senators and deputies.15 This alli­ Nevertheless, the p r t made modest prog­
ance brought a strong attack from the Ten­ ress. According to a p r t source, "The p r t
dencia Bolchevique-Leninista of the Liga was converted quickly into a pole of attrac­
Socialista.16 tion of sectors and individuals of the revolu­
In preparation for these same elections of tionary left. In approximately twelve
1976 the Central Committee of the g c i had months, it grew about 900 percent.. . . From
also sought allies for the contest. In May the student field, the militants of the p r t
r975 it announced that it would "issue two moved out to participate in important sec­
calls, one to organizations of the revolution­ tions of workers, such as the telephone, elec­
ary left to stimulate the constitution of a trical, nuclear workers, medical employees
front of the revolutionary left which will and workers in education, state employ­
permit us to set forth the position of the ment, and peasants."11
Marxists with respect to the elections and The Mexican u s e c Trqtskyists engaged in
to organize participation in said elections." a variety of different activities. The p r t par­
The other was directed to all the organiza­ ticipated extensively in a conference orga­
tions of the left to establish a national front nized to celebrate in November 1979 the
based on an anticapitalist program.17 In the 100th anniversary of Trotsky's birth.
end, the g c i also endorsed Campa's candi­ Among the speakers at this meeting were

614 Mexico
Tamara Deutscher, who had collaborated pendent. It was reported at the beginning
with her husband on the major biography of of the campaign that "among the central
Trotsky; Michel Pablo; Raymond Molinier, themes of the election campaign are work-
one of the founders of French Trotskyism; ing-class political independence, interna­
Jean van Heijenoort, one-time secretary of tionalism, and unity in action."26
Trotsky; Pierre Brou6; and Trotsky's grand­ As a legally recognized party the p r t was
son, Vsevoled Volkof. The p r t was repre­ entitled to present a fifteen-minute televi­
sented by two speakers, Cristinia Rivas and sion program every month. The first such
Carlos Martinez de la Torre.21 program was censored by the Ministry of
At the time of the establishment of mar­ Interior, a five-minute segment being cut
tial law in Poland and the outlawing of Soli­ from it. When this created a public scandal
darity by the government of General Woj- the Ministry "promised never to do it
ciech Jaruzelski, the p r t issued a strong again."27
condemnation of the action. It also called The p r t campaign was supported by some
for mass attendance at a protest rally in the elements which did not belong to the party.
center of Mexico City.23 In addition to left-wing independents at­
As a result of modest changes in the elec­ tracted by the candidacy of Rosario Ibarra,
toral law sponsored in 1977 by the adminis­ these included the small People's Revolu­
tration of President Jose Lopez Portillo, the tionary Movement, Communist Proletariat
Mexican Trotskyists were able for the first Organization, and Union of Revolutionary
time in the early 1 980s to seek registration Struggle.28
as legally recognized parties. In the case of The p r t also nominated more than four
the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabaja­ hundred candidates for the Senate and
dores, it began the campaign to gather signa­ Chamber of Deputies. In its final rally of the
tures for legal registration of the party as campaign, in Mexico City, it was reported
early as November 1977, with almost 400 that "some 50,000 Mexican toilers, young
people participating in the campaign.24 and old marched through the heart of this
This first effort was only partly success­ city."29
ful. Although the party gathered the re­ When the votes in the July 1982 election
quired 65,000 signatures, the Federal Elec­ were counted the Federal Electoral Com­
toral Commission granted the p r t only mission reported that the Partido Revoluci­
recognition in 1978 as a "political associa­ onario de los Trabajadores had obtained
tion," and ruled that its full recognition as 416,000 votes, enough to assure the perma­
a political party would depend on whether nent registration of the party. However, at
it carried out continuing activity for a year. the same time, it claimed that the party's
Finally, on June 1 x, 1981, the Federal Elec­ nominees for the Chamber of Deputies had
toral Commission granted the p r t "provi­ gotten only 308,000 votes, or r.45 percent
sional registration" as a political party. Its of the total, and thus just short of the 1.5
becoming a fully legalized party would de­ percent required to place members in the
pend upon its ability in the 1982. presidential Chamber. If the officially counted vote had
election to get at least 1.5 percent of the been over the 1.5 percent level the party
total vote.25 would have been entitled to eight members
The p r t named as its presidential candi­ in the Chamber.30 All efforts to get the Com­
date Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, a leader of the mission to change its mind failed, but even
National Front Against Repression and orga­ leaders of other Mexican far left parties
nizer of a group seeking information about maintained that the p r t had been deprived
people who had been picked up by the police of deputies through electoral fraud.31
and "disappeared." She was a political inde­ After the 1982 election the p r t continued

Mexico 615
 to carry on a wide range of activities. When, Jackson candidacy brought the p r t repri­
in September 1982, L6pez Portillo national­ mand by the United Secretariat and conflict
ized all Mexican-owned banks in the coun­ with the swp of the United States.38
try, the p r t ' s fortnightly paper Bandera So- At the time of the mid-term congressional
cialista published a statement which elections of 1985 the p r t urged that united
claimed that "economically and politically, tickets be put up by it, the independent left-
the nationalization of the banks is as impor­ wing Partido Mexicano de Trabajadores, and
tant as the nationalization of petroleum and the Partido Socialista Unificado de Mexico,
the agrarian reform of Lazaro Cardenas."32 the new party organized by the Stalinists
At the end of 1982 the p r t began publica­ some years before. However, when the other
tion of a review, La Batalla, in addition to parties did not accept this idea, the p r t ran
its regular newspaper. It carried on its mast­ its own slates in those elections.39
head the slogan "For the convergence of rev­ One distinguishing characteristic of the
olutionaries."33 The party also published for p r t (aside from its affiliation with u s e c ) was

some time La International, described as its characterization of the Mexican regime

the "Theoretical Review of the Partido Re­ of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional
volucionario de los Trabajadores."34 as "Bonapartist," a position it inherited
Building on its having run a woman for from the g c i . A document of the g c i in 1975
president, the p r t subsequently sought to had proclaimed that "to carry out the task
create a feminist organization. It was re­ of construction of capitalism in conditions
ported in mid-1983 that "the p r t thinks that of a powerful, although spontaneous, move­
it is today possible to take the first steps ment of the masses, the State had to control
toward establishing committees for the con­ the movement of the workers, not only
struction of a national organization of through repression but with more subtle
women. This organization will have the ob­ means, organizing the masses and incorpo­
jective of contributing to the general devel­ rating them in the state apparatus.. . . Thus
opment of the women's movement, while there arose . . . the Bonapartist system sui
expressing the influence of the p r t in its generis. . . ,"40
midst."35
In mid'1983 the new president, Miguel de
The Partido Obrera Socialista
la Madrid, carried out a series of interviews
with leaders of recognized parties, including When the followers of Nahuel Moreno, in­
the p r t . Later, it was reported that they had cluding about 25 percent of the Central
discussed the government's economic pol­ Committee, were expelled from the p r t in
icy, "especially the agreements signed with 1979, they first formed the Committee for
the International Monetary Fund; Mexico's the Construction of a Labor and Socialist
foreign policy, especially toward Central Party. After several months devoted to pre­
America; the question of civil and political paring documents and raising funds, this
liberties, which was specifically raised by committee organized the founding congress
the p r t . " 36 of the Partido Obrero Socialista, held on Feb­
During the United States primary cam­ ruary 9^-10, 1980.41
paign of 1984, when Jesse Jackson had a The Partido Obrero Socialista (p o s ) had
"March of Friendship" from San Ysidro, Cal­ not been in existence long enough to seek
ifornia, to Tijuana, Mexico, one of those legal recognition as a political party for the
who marched with him was Rosario Ibarra. elections of 1982. However, in those elec­
Manuel Aguilar Mora, a leader of the p r t , tions it joined the forces around the Partido
was one of five Mexicans who met with Socialista Unificado Mexicano, the organi­
Jackson in San Diego, California, after this zation which had resulted from a merger of
march.37 Expressions of p r t support for the the Communist Party and several smaller

616 Mexico
groups, which did have legal recognition, The p o s took an active part in the leader­
since this had been granted to the Commu­ ship of movements and demonstrations
nist Party in 1978. Other smaller groups in against the "austerity" policies which both
this 1982 electoral coalition were the Cor- the Lopez Portillo and de la Madrid govern­
riente Socialista and Unidad de Izquierda ments imposed on the country at the behest
Comunista. The pos was given several spots of the International Monetary Fund. They
on the list of the candidates of the p s u m . were active in the National Front in Defense
A Morenoist source wrote after the cam­ of Wages and Against the Austerity Plan,
paign that "in this coalition, our party and in the National Workers, Peasants, and
fought for and carried out a workers and People's Assembly, which were organized
peasants campaign in defense of the poor, for that purpose, and strongly supported the
in support of the Salvadorean and Central "nationwide day of protest" on October 18,
American Revolution, in support of the Pol­ 1 9 8 3 45

ish workers against the Stalinist bureau­ Late in 1982 the p o s proposed to the p r t
cracy in that country, in solidarity with Ar­ and the Liga Obrera Marxista { l o m } the for­
gentina against Imperialist aggression, and mation of a Trotskyist United Front, partic­
in support of undocumented workers in the ularly to work within the organizations car­
United States.. . . Unfortunately, the politi­ rying on the fight against the austerity
cal orientation was not carried out by the program. They also suggested an inter­
other parties of the p s u m coalition, which change of articles in the periodicals of the
. . . only raised general and national ques­ three groups to explore their agreements and
tions and forgot entirely about proletarian disagreements on various issues, looking to
internationalism."42 the possibility of eventual unification. Nei­
Two members of the p o s were elected to ther of these suggestions apparently met
the Chamber of Deputies on the p s u m with a favorable response from the other
ticket. These were Rene Rojas Ayala as a two groups, which attacked the "mono-
full member and Tonatiuh Mercado Vargas lithism" and "sectarianism" of the p o s .46
as an alternate member. Shortly after taking In 1982 a number of expulsions from the
office they broke with the rest of those p o s resulted in the formation of another Liga

elected by the p s u m to form the Revolution­ Socialista. Late in 1983 that Liga Socialista
ary Left Fraction in Congress. The party also decided to merge with the p r t .47
elected Candido Vargas Torres to the legisla­ In April 1986 the Partido Obrero Social­
ture of the State of Mexico.43 ista merged with a group in Mexico City
When asked the reason for the p o s depu­ with which it had been collaborating for sev­
ties' break with the p s u m bloc in the Cham­ eral years, an organization known by its ini­
ber, Tonatiuh Mercado explained: "After tials as n a u c o p a c , and described as "group­
the elections . .. the p s u m and other parties ing some r 0,000 residents of industrial
decided that the solution to the Mexican working-class areas of Mexico City." The
crisis lay in a 'Democratic Convergence.' new party was known as the Partido de los
This would mean an alliance between the Trabajadores Zapatistas (Zapatista Workers
left, the governing p r i , the union bureau­ Party) and published a periodical El Social­
cracy and sectors of the bourgeois opposi­ ista—La Hormiga Socialista,48
tion. . . . The p o s believes that the left and
the working class have to unite to fight
The Liga Obrera Marxista (l o m )
against bosses, land owners, the govern­
ment, and the p r i . Proposing an alliance The Liga Obrera Marxista, like the Grupo
with our adversaries is a betrayal. That's Comunista Intemacionalista, arose largely
why the Trotskyists in Congress broke with out of the student movement of 1968. Al­
the left block."44 though a handful of people had kept alive a

Mexico 617
fa c tio n o f th e e a rlie r l o m a fte r th e s p lit o f
Moroccan Trotskyism
th e m id d le 1960s, i t w a s n o t u n t i l t h e s t u ­
dent u p h e a v a l o f 1968 t h a t t h e a c t i v i t y o f i t s
m e m b e r s in th a t m o v e m e n t b eg a n to p ro ­
v id e i t w it h a s o m e w h a t la rg e r m e m b e r s h ip
a n d in flu e n c e .
By the early 1980s the United Secretariat of
However, whereas the l o m in the early
the Fourth International claimed to have an
1960s had been affiliated with the United
affiliate in Morocco.1 However, the political
Secretariat, by 1971 it was associated with
conditions in that country made it hard if
the International Committee of the Fourth
not impossible for the group to function
International, that is, the Healy-Lambert
even semilegally in the 1970s and early
faction of International Trotskyism. When
1980s. Publications of u s e c , although keep­
that tendency broke up in 19 71-7 2 the l o m
ing track of economic and political develop­
became part of the Lambert tendency, the
ments in the country, printed virtually
Organizing Committee for the Reconstruc­
nothing about the Moroccan Trotskyist
tion of the Fourth International ( c o r q i ).49
movement.
When the L6pez Portillo government
changed the law governing political parties,
the l o m sought registration as a legally rec­
ognized party. However, according to a Mor­
enoist source, "The economic crisis. . . con­
tinued and the government put an end to
the process of electoral recognition of left
political parties. As a result, organizations
such as the Marxist Workers League ( l o m ),
which had fulfilled the government's legal
requirements . .. {were] arbitrarily denied
recognition by the government."50
Thus, the l o m was not able to present its
own candidates in the 1982 elections. Nor,
apparently, did it obtain a position for its
members on the lists of other legally recog­
nized parties. It urged its members and sup­
porters to vote either for the lists of the p s u m
or for those of the p r t , showing no prefer­
ence for either party over the other in the
contest.51

618 Morocco
 Trotskyism in the Second Congress of the Communist Interna­
tional in Moscow in 1920, and was elected
Netherlands there to the Executive Committee of the
Comintern. In the following year he was
sent by the Comintern to China, where he
attended the founding congress of the Chi­
nese Communist Party in July 19 21 and met
The history of Trotskyism in the Nether* subsequently with Sun Yat-sen. After two
lands divides clearly into two parts, before years in China Sneevliet returned to the So­
and after World War II. During most of the viet Union and was sent by the Comintern
first period the Dutch Trotskyist movement to Vladivostok. In mid-1923 he returned for
was one of the largest and most important a short visit to China.
anywhere in the world. It was led by an early By the middle of 1924 Sneevliet finally
leader of the Comintern and was one of the returned to the Netherlands, where he be­
few Trotskyist groups that controlled an im­ came one of the major leaders of the Com­
portant segment of the labor movement and munist Party and head of a trade union orga­
had representatives in the country's legisla­ nization controlled by the party, the n a s .
tive bodies. In contrast, after the war the However, as a result of his support of the
Trotskyists were a minor factor even in the Left Opposition in the internal struggle
far left of Dutch politics. within the Soviet Union Sneevliet withdrew
from the Communist Party in 1927. In 1929
he set up the Revolutionary Socialist Party.1
The Origins of Dutch Trotskyism

The Early Career of Evolution of Trotsky-Sneevliet

Hendrik Sneevliet Relations

When in 1929 Trotsky began his work of Between 1929 and 1933 relations between
trying to build an international movement, Trotsky on the one hand and Sneevliet and
there were few if any avowedly Trotskyist his party on the other were not particularly
individuals or groups in the Netherlands. friendly. The issue which kept them apart
However, there was an important dissident was the insistence of Sneevliet and the Rev­
Communist group, led by Hendrik (Henri- olutionary Socialist Party that there was no
ous) Sneevliet, which was first rejected by hope of "reforming" the Comintern and its
Trotsky but later became for some years the constituent parties, and that it was neces­
Dutch affiliate of International Trotskyism. sary to establish rival Communist parties
Hendrik Sneevliet had been bom in 1883, and a new International. Until mid-1933
and before he was twenty years of age had Trotsky and his followers were insisting
joined both the railroad workers union and that they were an "opposition" faction of
the Social Democratic Party. In 19 13 he the Communist International.2
moved to Java in the Netherlands East In­ Trotsky's early attitude toward Sneevliet
dies, where he took the lead in establishing and his followers was reflected in a letter
the Social Democratic Union. After he was which he sent to the Executive Committee
expelled from the East Indies by the Dutch of the Communist League of France in June
authorities, his associates there converted 1930 protesting against an announcement
the Social Democratic Union into the Indo­ in La Verite that an article by Sneevliet
nesian Communist Party in 1920. would soon be published: "One should have
Under the name of Maring, Sneevliet rep­ thought that it wasn't even necessary to
resented the Indonesian Communists at the raise the question of collaboration with

The Netherlands 619

 Sneevliet among us. We do not break with Germany, and other similar organizations. " 7
the Communist centrists in order to enter Obviously Trotsky was not yet thinking in
into collaboration with the confusionists of terms of uniting with the Sneevliet party in
the Two-and-a-Half International."3 the same organization, but he had begun to
The editors of the English-language col­ think of the Dutch leader as a possible ally.
lection of Trotsky's writings have observed However, the combined efforts of the Trots­
that they "are unable to explain why kyists and Sneevliet were not very successful
Trotsky in 1930 called him 'one of the lead­ at the Amsterdam conference. The resolu­
ers of the Two-and-a-Half International.' tion they sponsored was defeated by a vote of
The latter was dissolved in 1923 and Sneev­ 2,000 to 6.8
liet never belonged to it. Perhaps Trotsky
used the term because Sneevliet's policies
The RSP and the NAS
in 1930 reminded him of those held by the
centrists of the Two-and-a-Half Interna­ The "mass base" upon which Sneevliet pri­
tional."4 Sneevliet's insistence on the need marily relied was the trade union group, the
for the establishment of parties outside of Nationale Axbeiders Sekretariaat ( n a s )
the Comintern might well have brought to which had originally been established in
Trotsky's mind, at that point, the group of 1893.9 Right after the First World War the
parties outside of either the Socialist or n a s had close to 50,000 members out of a

Communist Internationals which in the total of about 560,000 trade unionists in the
early 1920s made up the so-called Second- country.10 At that time its leadership was
and-a-Half International. divided between Communists and anarcho-
A year later Trotsky continued to be ada­ syndicalists. At its 1923 conference the n a s
mantly hostile to Sneevliet and his party. In voted by a narrow majority to affiliate with
a memorandum sent to the International the Red International of Labor Unions rather
Communist League in which he com­ than with the anarchosyndicalist Interna­
mented on the various anti-Stalinist Com­ tional Workingmen's Association.11
munist groups, he claimed: "The Brandler- By the time of Sneevliet's return to the
ites, Urbahns, and Sneevliet all agree that Netherlands in 1924, the n a s was "closely
our policies are sectarian."5 Later, he que­ tied to the c p h " (Communist Party). Sneev­
ried, "Is it necessary to pause at Sneevliet? liet was soon elected president of the n a s
He swears that he has nothing in common which, however, by that time only had
with the Second International. But we don't about 14,000 members. Nonetheless, the
believe in oaths. . . Can you respect political n a s was a genuine trade union group and

people who throw dust in the eyes of the gave Sneevliet a base in his struggle within
workers. .. ?"6 the Communist Party, as it was later to give
However, by early 1933, when Trotsky be­ him one within International Trotskyism.
gan to change his own position on the ques­ The growing disagreement of Sneevliet
tion of remaining an "opposition" to the and others with the Stalinization of the
Comintern, his attitude toward the Sneevliet Comintern led to efforts of the Dutch pro-
group also began to modify. When, shortly Stalinist Communist leaders who took over
after the Nazis came to power, the Comin­ the party in 1925 to try to liquidate the n a s
tern was planning a world antifascist confer­ into the Social Democratic-controlled
ence in Amsterdam, Trotsky suggested a tac­ Netherlands Verbond van Vakvereningen
tic for his followers at such a meeting. He ( n w ). The struggle led to the withdrawal of
wrote to the International Secretariat that Sneevliet and his associates from the Com­
"we will have to try to make agreements with munist ranks in 1927. Between 1926 and
organizations such as the party (and the trade 1929 the Sneevliet group centered on Klas-
unions) of Sneevliet in Holland, the s a p in senstrijd (Class Struggle), a theoretical jour­

620 The Netherlands

nal. Then, in 1929, they organized the Revo- circumstance that he is an authentic revolu­
lutionair Socialistich Partij ( r s p ) as a rival to tionary. . . ," 16 In the following month he
the Communist Party of the Netherlands.12 again wrote Frankel, urging "the mobilizing
In 1933 the r s p won its first major elec­ of all kinds of sympathizers and semi-sym-
toral victory. Sneevliet had expressed strong pathizers of our organization," and suggest­
support for sailors who mutinied on the ing that "the organization of Sneevliet could
cruiser Zeven Provincien early in the year send a special delegation on the question of
and had been jailed in consequence. How­ Rakovsky, Victor Serge, and others on the
ever, when he was elected to parliament one hand, Chen-Du-xiu on the other," refer­
shortly afterward, the government was ring to campaigns on behalf of prisoners of
forced to release him.13 By 1933 the r s p had the Stalinist and Chiang Kai-shek regimes.17
about i ;ooo members.14 In August 1933 Sneevliet met at some
length with Trotsky in France. At that time
they and Jakob Walcher decided to issue (in
The Revolutionary Socialist
one form or another) what came to be known
Workers Party
as the Declaration of the Four in favor of
the establishment of a new International.
The Establishment of a
Trotsky reported to Max Shachtman that
Dutch Section
"Sneevliet was in my home and we were in
Sneevliet had gone to Copenhagen to confer accord on everything."
with Trotsky during his visit to the Danish Trotsky also wrote Shachtman that
capital in November 1932.15 In the months Sneevliet had agreed that the Dutch r s p
that followed the dissident Dutch Commu­ would join the International Left Opposi­
nists and the Trotskyists moved increas­ tion, an event which in fact occurred on
ingly close to one another, until finally they September 2 1,19 3 3 . Trotsky added that that
joined forces. This evolution was due princi­ "means 950 members and support in the
pally to the drastic change in the position of form of a trade union organization of 23,000
Trotsky and his followers, which resulted members."18 With the affiliation of the r s p
in removing the principal barrier which had with the i c l , Sneevliet became a member of
theretofore existed between Sneevliet and the International Secretariat.19
his followers on the one hand, and Trotsky The r s p was only one of two Dutch organi­
and his on the other. zations which signed the Declaration of the
In March 1933, after the coming to power Four. The other was the Independent Social­
of Hitler and the collapse of the German ist Party (Onafhankeliji Socialistische Par­
Communist Party, Trotsky had finally come tij— o s p ). The origins of the o s p and r s p were
out in favor of the establishment of a rival quite different, and the task of merging them
party to the k p d . By the summer of that year into a single section of the international
he had gone the whole way to argue the need Trotskyist movement proved a rather diffi­
for new communist parties everywhere, and cult one.
for a Fourth International. This was the posi­ The o s p was formed as a result of a left-
tion which Sneevliet and his associates had wing schism in the Dutch Social Demo­
long held. cratic Labor Party in 1932. lt had two princi­
This rapproachement was exemplified in pal leaders, Peter J. Schmidt and Jacques De
various ways. In April 1933 Trotsky wrote Kadt. Schmidt had until 1932 always been a
Jan Frankel with regard to Sneevliet's trial Social Democrat, although editor since 1928
for support of the mutinous sailors, urging of a left-wing journal of the party, De Social­
that "the press of the Opposition must dedi­ ist. De Kadt, on the other hand, had been a
cate at least a small article to the courageous founding member of the Communist Party
conduct of Sneevliet. He has shown in this but had quit it in 1924 and had founded his

1
t The Netherlands 621
 own g^oup, the Bond van Kommunistische the Dutch party to this thoroughly con­
Strijd en Propagandeclub ( b s k p }. In 1929 the fused and centrist organization can be of
b k s p had merged into the Social Democratic any good use.14
Labor Party and De Kadt had become a coe­
This ambiguous relationship of the Dutch
ditor of De Socialist.10
section of the Trotskyist movement with
Within the o s p leadership, De Kadt was
the London Bureau was to continue so long
clearly opposed to his party's becoming part
as the r s a p continued to constitute the
of an International dominated by Trotsky
Dutch section of International Trotskyism.
and his followers. Rather, he apparently
It was, indeed, to become one of the princi­
hoped to convert the London Bureau ( i a g —
pal factors determining the ultimate with­
containing the British i l p , Norwegian Labor
drawal of the r s a p from the international
Party, s a p of Germany, and other groups)
Trotskyist movement.
into the new Fourth International. Through­
The r s a p was, in Trotskyist terms at least,
out the latter part of 1933 and the early
a party of some significance. It not only con­
months of 1934 Trotsky polemicized with
trolled the n a s trade union group but also
De Kadt, accusing him of " c e n t r is m .I n
had some influence within the Socialist
the middle of 1934 De Kadt and his support­
Democratic n w labor federation, in which
ers left the o s p , thus facilitating the unifica­
the o s p had operated.25 It was likewise ac­
tion of the o s p and the r s p .22
tive in organizations of the unemployed,
The merger of the r s p and o s p finally took
where the o s p had in 1934 been influential
place on March 3, 1935, with the formation
in a "revolt" of those without work.26
of the Revolutionair Socialistische Arbeid-
The r s a p also had a youth organization,
ers Partij (Revolutionary Socialist Workers
the Revolutionair Socialistisch Jeugd-Ver-
Party— r s a p ).23 As Trotsky wrote to James
bond (r s j v ), founded at a congress on March
Camion shortly before the unification of the
24, 1935. Although Trotsky boasted that it
two groups, it had taken place under some­
had 5,000 members, it in fact apparently had
what peculiar circumstances insofar as the
about 500.27
international Trotskyist movement was
The r s a p had some modest electoral in­
concerned:
fluence. Aside from its member of parlia­
ment, Sneevliet, it also had some represen­
The o s p , which will form the majority of
tation at other levels. In municipal elections
the membership of the new party, be­
held about four months after the formation
longed to the i a g before the amalgam­
of the party, it was reported that "the Revo­
ation and is not inclined to give up its
lutionary Socialist Workers Party made an
affiliation to this body. Therefore, our sec­
excellent showing, electing their candidates
tion of the new party will also come into
in many cities. The r s a p now commands a
this organization. At the same time, the
total of twenty seats in various municipal
leaders of the new party want to arrive at
administrations, an increase of nine over the
some sort of personal basis of unity with
last election."28
the International Communist League.
The idea is that the leaders of both groups,
Sneevliet and Schmidt, become members The Alienation.of the RSAP From
of the International Secretariat. . . . It International Trotskyism
would be absolutely false, however, for
us to make withdrawal from the i a g a The Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party
condition for the establishment of the was not to remain for long as the Dutch
new party. Further experience will soon section of the international Trotskyist
show whether the continued affiliation of movement. Within a year of the establish­

622 The Netherlands

m ent of the r s a p there were clear indica­ In this letter, dated July 15 -16 ,
tions that it was being alienated from the 1936,Trotsky was discussing a forthcoming
International. meeting of the International which the r s a p
A number of issues arose between Sneev­ had expressed certain reservations about at­
liet and his associates in the Dutch party on tending. He went over various questions
the one hand, and Trotsky and the Interna­ which the Dutch had raised. The first con­
tional Secretariat on the other. The most cerned the London Bureau:
important of these were relations with the
It seems to you superfluous to have to
London Bureau, attitudes towards the Span­
adopt a position toward the London Bu­
ish Civil War, the question of officially
reau at the conference. Under no circum­
founding the Fourth International, and the
stances can I express my agreement with
trade union policies of the Netherlands
this. The worst obstacle for us, the most
party.
malignant enemy, is the London Bureau
Even before the unification of the r s p and
and its affiliated organizations. Your car­
o s p to establish the r s a p , it was clear that
toonist, whom I always admire, recently
Trotsky had considerable disagreement
depicted the Second and Third Interna­
with the leaders of both Dutch groups on
tionals as two dogs let loose upon the
the issues which were to arise with the r s a p .
Fourth International by imperialism. Un­
For instance, he wrote Walter Held in No­
fortunately, he forgot to present the small
vember 1933 that "the trade union question,
mangy cur who scampers around our legs,
such as it exists in Holland, has not been
snarls at us, snaps at our heels and seeks
discussed. Even if it should be revealed that
by this to prevent us from finishing off
we have divergences on this question with
the big dogs. This is no subordinate
Comrade Sneevliet, it would be totally inop­
question.31
portune to take up this discussion now, be­
Many leading Dutch comrades believe
cause it would aid the opportunist elements
they can be of service to the Fourth Inter­
of the o s p against Sneevliet and his friends.
1/29 national by contact with the London Bu­
reau, that is, by collaboration with the
Similarly, in February 1935 Trotsky wrote
latter and not by means of unremitting
Sneevliet about relations with the London
struggle against it. For a great number of
Bureau ( i a g ): "The i c l must maintain for
comrades, however, contact with the
itself complete freedom of movement and
London Bureau signifies nothing but a
criticism with regard to the Amsterdam Bu­
break with the Fourth International. I
reau. That we should change our attitude
considered it absolutely necessary to
toward the i a g after the Paris conference, I,
bring to the attention of the Dutch com­
for one, consider well-nigh impossible. Shall
rades this deepgoing (sic] difference of
we have to change our minds in the future?
opinion before they adopt their final de­
The future itself will instruct us as to that.
//3 0 cision.32
These and other issues did not go away Trotsky also dealt with the question of
with the unification of the two Dutch the Spanish p o u m , a party forged by a merger
groups aligned with International Trots­ of Andres Nin and the former Trotskyist
kyism. This became clear in a long letter group there with the Right Opposition
which Trotsky wrote to the Central Com­ Bloque Obrero y Campesino led by Joaquin
mittee of the r s a p in July 1936. It dealt with Maurin: "I now come to Spain. In one of his
virtually all of the issues which were to most recent letters, Comrade Sneevliet, in
bring about a break of the r s a p with Interna­ the name of the Central Committee of the
tional Trotskyism. party, took up the defense of the Maurin-

The Netherlands 623

Nin party against my allegedly exaggerated At this point Trotsky clearly was not de­
or too sharp attacks. This appears to me to sirous of a break with Sneevliet and the
be not only unjustified but also incompre­ r s a p . He ended his letter by saying that

hensible. . . ,"33 Trotsky went on to say: "At "there are my explanations, dear comrades.
the moment when Nin's bankruptcy be­ I greatly regret that I cannot meet with you
came clear even to his own supporters, he . . . for I am certain that a personal discus­
united with the nationalist-Catalonian phi­ sion would eliminate every shadow of dis­
listine Maurin, breaking off all relations cord between us. But even without my pres­
with us by the declaration that 'the is under­ ence, the conference will surely eliminate
stands nothing of Spanish affairs / In reality, the accumulated misunderstandings and
Nin understands nothing of revolutionary create better conditions for further collabo­
policy or of Marxism."34 ration. In this spirit I extend you my hand
Trotsky then turned to the r s a p itself. He in all friendship and wish you the best of
said that "the great weakness of the Dutch success."37
party seems to me to be the lack of a program Sneevliet finally attended the conference
of action. For more than a year we have had for the Fourth International which met from
an exchange of opinions with Sneevliet on July 2 9 -3 1,19 3 6 . There he expressed strong
this score. Insofar as I may permit myself a opposition to any move to establish the
judgment, the agitation of the party seems Fourth International in the proximate fu­
to me to rest far too much upon personal ture. After the first day Sneevliet left the
improvisations, upon impressions of the day conference in protest against inclusion on
or week, and therefore bears a dispersed, di­ the agenda of the meeting of a resolution on
luted, and not a concentrated character. the trade union question.38
»3S
This resolution, which clearly was a criti­
The continued existence of the small n a s cism of the trade union policy of the r s a p ,
trade union group under r s a p control partic­ maintained that "to not have within the
ularly annoyed Trotsky: reformist unions (and thus in the factories)
all disposable forces would be the equivalent
On the trade union question too I cannot of rendering them insignificant, of compro­
share the policy of our fraternal Dutch mising the IV International." It added that
party.. . . I see no place for the n a s . When it was the obligation "of all the organiza­
the great strike wave begins in Holland, tions of the IV International. . . to intervene
which should be regarded as highly proba­ systematically and intensely in the reform­
ble if not certain, the reformist trade ist union, to consider this work as their pri­
unions will grow mightily and absorb mordial task."39
fresh elements into their ranks, and in
such a period the n a s will appear to the
masses as an incomprehensible splinter The Break Between the RSAP and
organization. In consequence, the masses the Fourth International
will also become unreceptive to the cor­
rect slogans of the r s a p and the leadership Georges Vereeken maintained that shortly
of the n a s . But if all the members of the after the conference for the Fourth Interna­
r s a p and the best n a s elements were in­ tional Trotsky decided-to break with Sneev­
side the reformist trade unions, during liet and the leadership of the r s a p . When
the impending upsurge they could be­ Erwin Wolfe, Trotsky's secretary, left Nor­
come the axis of crystallization of the left way for Brussels early in September 1936,
wing and later on the decisive force in the he was commissioned by Trotsky to under­
labor movement. . . 36 take to engineer the break under conditions

624 The Netherlands

which would be as favorable as possible for mained associated with the Fourth Interna­
the Fourth International.40 tional. A group of German Trotskyists in
Wolfe put forth his plan for undermining Antwerp and a few Flemish members of the
Sneevliet and splitting the r s a p in a letter Belgian party helped these dissidents to pub­
dated December 18, 1936, which he wrote lish a journal of their own.44
to two members of the German ikd who The dissidents established what they
were then resident in the Netherlands. Ver­ called the Bolshevik-Leninist Group, which
eeken reproduced parts of that letter: Pierre Naville reported to the founding con­
ference of the Fourth International had
[Tjhat the struggle against Sneevliet is in­
about fifty members.45 However, as the
evitable there is no doubt. But when one
Dutch Trotskyist periodical De Internatio­
has used 'tu' for so many years, one can­
nale reported in May 1972, this group "was
not suddenly and without preparation
very isolated and weak, while up until the
publicly denounce the 'Dutch muddler.'
war the r s a p continued to number in the
We must not forget that if we know of
thousands and to have real influence among
what Sneevliet is guilty, the rank and file
sections of the working class."46The Bolshe­
of the different parties don't know any­
vik-Leninist Group published a paper, De
thing. In the struggle against Sneevliet,
Enige Weg, between February 1938 and Feb­
we must above all have them on our side.
ruary 1940 47 Most of its members lived in
Rotterdam.48
(I]f this is going to the point of a defini­
tive rupture, we have to be left with some­
thing in Holland. Right now we have vir­ The Last Years of the RSAP
tually no support.. . . [W]e have to occupy
With the break between the r s a p and the
ourselves with the youth, for the older
Fourth International the Dutch party be­
people seem to be completely under the
came definitively associated with tire Lon­
influence of Sneevliet. . . . In spite of all
don Bureau. By that time the remnants of
we shall be able to do something with the
the International Communist Opposition
youth. . .. Only after we have prepared
(ico), the Right Opposition counterpart to
the ground by artillery fire will we sound
Trotsky's Left Opposition, had also joined
the assault.41
forces with the London Bureau. As a conse­
By the middle of 1937 the r s a p had defi­ quence, the periodicals of the ico and its
nitely broken with the International Secre­ affiliates reported on the activities of the
tariat. Among the issues which brought the r s a p as a "brother party."

split were the refusal of the r s a p to send its In September 1939 Jay Lovestone wrote in
youth group into the Young Social Demo­ Workers Age, the New York periodical of
crats; the refusal to merge the n a s into the the Independent Labor League (the U.S. af­
Social Democratic trade union group nw; filiate of the ico and London Bureau], about
and strong support by the r s a p for the Span­ the r s a p ' s progress in recent municipal elec­
ish p o u m in the face of continuing severe tions: "We take our hats off to our brother
criticism of the p o u m by Trotsky and the party in Holland. In the present situation it
International Secretariat.41 A resolution of is a mighty achievement for revolutionary
the founding conference of the Fourth In­ socialists to hold their own. But to score a
ternational noted "the final departure of victory in the teeth of menacing reaction,
such alien elements as Sneevliet and Ve­ to advance the cause of militant socialism
reeken."43 despite the fatal Stalinist betrayal of the
With the break of the r s a p with Interna­ principles and ideas of Marx and Lenin, is a
tional Trotskyism a small minority re­ victory of vital significance." The r s a p had

1 The Netherlands 625

1
gotten 41,000 votes, of which 17,000 had the underground period after the Nazi inva­
been cast in Rotterdam as against 7,000 in sion, some of these people objected to the
the 1935 municipal poll. The r s a p had won increasingly anti-Soviet positions of Sneev­
two seats in the Rotterdam council instead liet and his associates. They were threat­
of the one it had had before the election.45' ened with expulsion when they refused to
With the overrunning of the Netherlands distribute tracts equating Stalin and Hitler.
by the Nazis in May 1940, the r s a p was The Nazi decimation of the r s a p under­
outlawed. In the underground it established ground apparently forestalled this move.
the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg Front (m l l After the arrest and execution of most of
Front), which later changed its name to the principal leaders of the r s a p a few of the
Third Front. The orthodox Trotskyists remaining Trotskyists organized the Com­
joined this group.so Their organization had mittee van Revolutionaire Marxisten (c r m ).
disappeared when its principal leaders, Her­ Starting in June 1942 it began to publish in
man Peters and De Wilde, had been ar­ a very rudimentary form a periodical, De
rested.51 Rode October. When in the summer of 1945
In the underground, Sneevliet and his as­ it became possible to send someone to try
sociates published the periodical Spartakus. to reestablish contact with the Fourth Inter­
They also brought out a number of leaflets, national’ Max Perthus, one of the few survi­
including works by Rosa Luxemburg.5* vors of the r s a p leadership, went first to
Between February and March 1942 most Brussels and then to Paris. The provisional
of the principal leaders of the r s a p were ar­ leadership of the Fourth International then
rested by the Nazis. Eight were condemned functioning in the French capital recognized
to death: Hendrik Sneevliet; Abraham Me- the c r m as the Dutch section of the f i .57
nist, r s a p and n a s leader in Rotterdam; Wil­ The c r m changed its name to Revolution-
lem Dolleman, leader of the pro-Fourth In­ air Communistische Partij (r c p ) in Decem­
ternational group within the m l l Front; Jan ber 194s.58 It was given a consultative seat
Shriefer, a trade unionist; fan Koeslag, r s a p on the International Executive Committee
leader in Arnhem; Comelis Gerritsen {who {i e c } of the Fourth International which was
committed suicide); Jan Edel, n a s leader in elected at the first postwar conference of the
Alkmaar; and Rein Witteveen, printer of the International in Paris in March 1946. The
group's underground publications.53 These Dutch member was given the right to a voice
people {with Gerritsen's obvious exception) but not a vote in the i e c .59
were executed on April 13, 1942.54 At least During the more than six years in which
twelve other figures in the r s a p , including the r c p existed it never had more than 200
the wives of several of those who were exe­ members. Herman Pieterson has noted that
cuted, were sent to jail and concentration it became "more and more isolated in the
camps by the Nazis.55 unions through the split and downturn of
The disappearance of the leadership of the the Stalinist dominated e v c (Eenheids Vak
r s a p meant the virtual end of the party. Al­ Centrale—Unity Trades Congress) and with
though some anti-Fourth International peo­ hardly any members in the Social Demo­
ple formed the Spartakus Group, it wound cratic n w . . . . " 60
up "in a blind alley." The r s a p was not re­
vived after World War II.56
Dutch Trotskyist Entrism
In March 1952 the Dutch Trotskyists de­
Dutch Trotskyistm After the rsap
cided to change their strategy and experi­
Some of the sympathizers with the Fourth ment with "entrism." In that month it was
International had not left the r s a p . During decided that the r c p would dissolve and its

626 The Netherlands

 members enter the Netherlands Labor Party with the Flemish ex-Trotsky ist group which
{ p v d a ), the post-World War II Dutch a f f i l i ­ remained in the Belgian Socialist Party
ate of the Socialist International.6' when most of the Trotskyists were thrown
This decision was in conformity with the out of that party, to publish Links [Left).
policy then being advocated by Michel The leader of the group was Herman Drenth,
Raptis (Pablo), the secretary of the Fourth who was elected to parliament on the p v d a
International. Pieterson has commented ticket in the 1970s.66
that"the entry decision of the DutchRCP. . .
in 1952 was entirely parallel to the similar
Dutch Trotskyism Since i960
decisions of other European sections. It was
directly connected to the faction fight in The minority of Dutch Trotskyists who
the International, the Dutch decision being continued to maintain relations with the
speeded up by Pablo in order to have some international movement (its Pabloite fac­
initial success."62 As Pieterson says, the tion) went on with the publication of the
Trotskyists thereupon "disappeared as an Internal Bulletin and De Internationale,
independently visible force."63 both of which were abandoned by the group
Only about sixty of the one hundred mem­ which stayed inside the Labor Party. Pieter­
bers which the r c p had early in 1952 joined son has noted that De Internationale came
the p v d a . However, according to Pieterson, out as a "small mimeographed publication"
"In the first stage of the entry everything between 1957 and 1965, after which it was
worked well: better union work, some re­ a printed eight-page tabloid published
cruitment, and in 1954 the establishing of "more or less as a monthly through 1965-
an opposition paper by and large dominated 72."67
by the Trotskyists, Socialistisch Pei- Before the split in the Trotskyist ranks
spectiefZ'64 they had had considerable activity in the
The Trotskyists within the Labor Party Ban the Bomb movement.68 After the split
also succeeded in organizing a faction, the the group remaining loyal to Trotskyism
Social Democratisch Centrum, to which was active principally in three areas: some
they recruited a number of other Labor Party of their members continued to work within
members. In 1957 the Trotskyists estab­ the Labor Party; another group worked
lished an open theoretical review, De Inter­ within a dissident Communist group, the
nationale. Their group also published an In­ Socialistische Workers Partij (s w p ); the third
ternal Bulletin for circulation among their major field of activity was "anti-imperialist
own members.65 work, mainly solidarity work for Algeria,
In 1959-60 the leadership of the Labor and later for Cuba."69
Party mounted a campaign against the The swp had been formed by a group
Trotskyists. As a consequence the latter within the Communist Party { c p n ) which
were forced to choose between staying in resisted efforts of the c p n to merge the par­
the p v d a and giving up their factional group, ty's separate trade union group into the n v v .
the Social Democratisch Centrum, or with­ "This conflict coincided with some Yugo­
drawing from the Labor Party. A majority slav influences on the minority." They
decided to stay in the p v d a where for several formed theBrug-groop in 1958, "clearly hop­
years they were allowed to continue to pub­ ing to be reintegrated with the support of
lish Socialistisch Perspectief. In i960 this the East European parties, and after some
faction gave up all connection with the in­ rather demoralizing experiences with the re­
ternational Trotskyist movement. ality of Stalinism" established the swp.70
Between 1965 and 1967 the group which However, unable to offer any meaningful
remained within the Labor Party cooperated alternative to the c p n , the swp finally dis­

t
The Netherlands 627
solved in 1965, most of its remaining mem­ The r c b established relations with the
bers joining the Pacifist Socialist Party Proletaries Links (Proletarian Left), which
(p s p ).71 had recently been thrown out of the Pacifist
Meanwhile, the Trotskyists' numbers and Socialist Party. Proletaries Links had been
influence had declined drastically. There established in 1971 "after a resounding elec­
were perhaps fifteen members left by the toral defeat of the party, but it continued an
mid-1960s. When Michel Pablo broke with older opposition current animated by some
the United Secretariat in 1965-66, what re­ former members of the Fourth International
mained of the Dutch section joined forces and some left socialists. Some young people
with him. As Pieterson observed, "By the who became Trotskyists while in the p s p
end of the sixties Trotskyism was at an all also participated in the group.. . . The main
time low, but through the propaganda main­ planks of its platform were: reorganization
tained by the Pablo group some new people of the party, directing it to the working class,
were attracted to Trotskyism. This however elaboration of a strategy of transitional de­
did not result in significant organizational mands." The group had twenty-five percent
growth."72 of the delegates to the 19 71 p s p congress, but
In May 1972 the group around De Interna­ was expelled from the party in the following
tionale decided to abandon Pablo's Interna­ year.76
tional Revolutionary Marxist Tendency, ac­ In December 1974 the r c b and Proletaries
cusing it of "moving further and further Links merged to establish the Internationale
away from the international Trotskyist Kommunistenbond (i k b ), which became the
movement and from Bolshevism." The Dutch section of the United Secretariat. A
group resolved to join the United Secre­ few years after its establishment, it adopted
tariat.73 an "industrial" orientation as a result of
A small minority of the De Internationale which, as Pieterson reported in 1983, "now
group decided to stay with Pablo, and reorga­ we have some influence in locals and factory
nized as the Comitee van Revolutionaire branches of the most important union, the
Marxisten. It was still in existence in the Industriebond." He added that "by now
early 1980s but, according to Pieterson, it most people joining the i k b are young work­
was "even less Trotsky-minded than Pablo ers or high school students."
himself."74 For the first time in forty years a Trotsky­
In July 1972 the majority of the De Inter­ ist organization, the i k b participated in elec­
nationale group reorganized as the Revolu­ tions in the late 1970s. In 1978 it had candi­
tionair Communistiese Bond (r c b ) which dates in most important towns in that year's
was accepted as a sympathizing section of provincial and municipal elections. In 1981
u s e c . Pieterson wrote that the r c b "was it had nominees throughout the country in
largely composed of intellectuals and stu­ the general election and in the following
dents, and only a few workers without a year ran people in the Amsterdam and Rot­
strong union base. It did not participate in terdam municipal polls. In the 1981 case the
the elections, but generally called for a vote i k b received a total of 1,900 votes out of five

for either one of the two left-wing parties, million. Pieterson attributed this modest re­
p s p or c p n . It would probably be more cor­ sult principally "to the pressure to give a
rect to say that the New Left upsurge had 'useful' vote to one ofthe smaller socialist
an influence on the Trotskyists in the late parties, which are represented in most repre­
'60s than the other way round. Anyway, the sentative institutions."77
founding of the r c b , basis for the reorganiza­ By 1978 the i k b had changed its name to
tion of Trotskyism in this country, would Socialistiese Arbejders Partij (Socialist
have been unthinkable without the student Workers Party— s a p ). At the time of a series
movement in the '60s."75 of strikes by public service workers in Octo-

628 The Netherlands

ber of that year the s a p carried out "large- Trotskyism in
scale leaflet distributions." Pieterson writes
that "Where possible, the s a p members New Zealand
played an active role in the action commit­
tees and worked in particular to build soli­
darity between the public and private sec­
tors. . . . The s a p ' s proposals for working
toward a general strike of the public sector Trotskyism did not get established in New
were generally well received."™ No general Zealand until the end of the 1960s. This is
strike of public employees in fact took place. in spite of the fact that documents of the
At least one other branch of International Fourth International and its several factions
Trotskyism had at least some following in made reference as early as the beginning
the Netherlands by the middle 1980s. 1950s to "the New Zealand section." In
"Comrades . . . from the Netherlands" were those documents the New Zealand section
reported to have attended a meeting of the was in fact a euphemism for the Socialist
International Socialist Tendency in Great Workers Party of the United States, which
Britain in September I984-79 No further in­ continued to claim that under the Voorhis
formation is available about this group. Act of 1940 it could not be officially affili­
ated with any international organization.
Trotskyism came into existence in New
Conclusion
Zealand as a result of the student militancy
By the mid-1980s the Dutch Trotskyist of the 1960s. A group of students at Victoria
movement was one of the more modest na­ University in Wellington decided in 1965
tional groups in International Trotskyism. to establish a Socialist Club, which in the
In spite of the pre-World War II importance following year began a periodical, Red
of the r s a p , the movement had come close Spark. However, as George Fyson, in re­
to the point of extinction by the mid-1960s. counting the history of the first ten years
As in a number of other countries, the prac­ of New Zealand Trotskyism observed, "we
tice of "entrism" in the 1950s had at first realized that more was needed than a univer­
resulted in substantial gains, but in the end sity socialist club and a magazine with some
resulted in more confusion than advances. good articles in it. The tasks posed in fight­
Also, as had happened with the Trotskyist ing for socialism in New Zealand called for a
movement in several other nations, the revolutionary socialist political party, built
Dutch were able to capitalize, at least to a around a clear political program and analy­
modest degree, on the student uprising of sis." As a consequence, after the visit in
the latter half of the 1960s. mid-1969 of "a leader of the Fourth Interna­
tional," the Socialist Action League (s a l )
was organized by seven people in August
1959. One of the first activities of the new
group was to run a candidate in the general
election of that year.
The s a l began to publish (at first in mim­
eographed form, then in newsprint} a new
periodical, Socialist Action. They also began
to gain adherents elsewhere in the country.
In Christchurch, most of the members of
the Progressive Youth Movement, origi­
nally established by the Communist Party,
formed a local branch of the s a l in late 1969.

New Zealand 629

 Six months later a branch was also estab­ class-struggle motion and political con­
lished in Auckland. In August 1970 the first sciousness in the Union. Good working
national conference of the Socialist Action relations have been built up with those
League was held. sections of the union leadership and mili­
The membership was very young, but "we tants who are genuinely striving to build
had some important sources to leam from, a fighting union. . . . No other left-wing
particularly the international heritage organization has an organized presence in
which the Fourth International brought to the meat industry.3
us. Above all this came via Intercontinental
Press, the weekly news magazine published The electoral activity of the Socialist Ac­
in New York... . Personal contact with sec­ tion League was somewhat sporadic. It did
tions and leaders of the Fourth International have nominees in the 1969, 197s, and 1978
were also valuable. The role of one individ­ contests, but did not have them in those of
ual in particular deserves mention: that of 1972 and 1981. Johnson noted that" always
Joseph Hansen. . . ." our electoral intervention has focused on
For the first four years the Socialist Action vigorously campaigning for the election of a
League was principally involved with agita­ Labor government and explaining the need
tion around the issue of the Vietnam War. for the unions to struggle to commit the
Subsequently they also became "uncompro­ Labor Party to class-struggle policies. Most
mising defenders of the rights of Maoris and of our members are also members of the
Pacific Islanders against police harassment, Labor Party. But the main focus of our Labor
against the immigration laws, for Maori Party concentration is inside the industrial
land rights," as well as championing wom­ unions, encouraging them to act politically
en's rights, and in due time, becoming some­ in the framework of the Labor Party."
what immersed in trade union struggles.1 The s a l was particularly active among the
By the early 1980s the Socialist Action Maoris, the indigenous people of New
League had six local branches. These were in Zealand, and among the immigrant workers
Auckland, Tokorda, Hastings, Palmerston from the Pacific Islands: "The League's
North, Wellington, and Christchurch.2 At involvement in the Maori community is
that time the s a l was reported by Russell mainly through its industrial base. A large
Johnson, its national secretary, to be proportion of Socialist Action's readers are
Maori and Pacific Island workers. The first
a small organization of ioo-odd members significant recruitment of Maoris and Pa­
. . . entirely made up of working-class and cific Islanders to the League took place at
student youth who first entered politics the end of 1981 when a layer of Polynesian
in the period from the later 1960s. There youth who had earlier joined the League's
are no veterans from earlier periods or youth group, the Young Socialists, fused
other countries in our leadership, al­ with the s a l . " 4
though a former c p member from the The concern of the s a l for the cause of
195os played a role in the founding of the the Maoris was reflected in their periodical.
League. . . . Thus, the February 4, 1983, issue of Socialist
The s a l ' s main industrial activity is in Action had a lead editorial on "Why Labor
the unions associated with the meat pro­ Movement Should Support Maori Rights."5
cessing industry—New Zealand's largest A regular feature of the newspaper was the
single industry. . . . The axis of our work devotion of its last page to "News and Com­
has not been to build up a layer o f s a l ment on the Struggle for Maori Rights."
meat union officials, but to work with During the controversy within the United
whatever forces possible to strengthen Secretariat which developed in the early

630 New Zealand

1980s between the Socialist Workers Party of the League and its youth group were in­
of the United States and the majority of dustrial workers and that the party's most
u s e c , the Socialist Action League of New important political work was carried out in
Zealand tended to side with the American the two national fractions it had in the meat
swp. This led to a certain cooling of relations and food industry unions.8
between the s a l and the Australian s w p . The Socialist Action League, which was
A s early as January 1982 Russell Johnson affiliated with the United Secretariat, was
attended a National Committee Plenum of still by the early 1 980s the only active Trots­
the Australian party at which the New kyist organization in New Zealand. Russell
Zealand group's policies were severely criti­ Johnson noted that a Spartacist League
cized, and Johnson defended them.6 group, formed in 1970, had disappeared after
The international orientation of the So­ the expulsion of one of its founders, Owen
cialist Action League was reflected in its Gager, and the transfer of most of the rest of
Ninth National Conference from December the members to Australia. He also noted
27, 1984-January 1, 1985. The meeting fea­ that "The Healyites. . . have made a number
tured speeches by Mel Mason and Doug Jen­ of attempts to establish themselves here un­
ness of the American s w p , as well as Nita der the name Socialist Labor League. I think
Keig and Deb Shookal, who had been ex­ they may still have two or three members
pelled from the Australian s w p . The s a l ' s in Auckland."’
sharing of the U.S. s w p ' s belief in the cen­
trality of conflicts in Central America to the
world revolution was also reflected in its
decision to have its fractions in the unions
put primary emphasis on that issue. As Ei­
leen Morgan, in presenting the conference's
organization report, observed, "Systematic
work to deepen our workmates' understand­
ing about what is at stake in Central
America today will be the central question
our fractions take up, providing us with a
national focus for our work as revolutiona­
ries in the unions."7
Although the s a l had supported the Labor
Party in the 1984 election campaign, it was
argued at the conference that "despite the
origins of this government in the Labor
Party, and despite the organizational roots
of this party in the trade unions, the govern­
ment of David Lange and Roger Douglas is
a capitalist government, not fundamentally
different from any other." Speakers were
particularly critical of the popular enthusi­
asm raised over the Lange government's re­
fusal to allow nuclear-powered U.S. war­
ships to dock in New Zealand.
Although no figures were released at the
s a l conference concerning its membership,

Eileen Morgan did claim that the majority

New Zealand 631

 Nicaraguan Trotskyism lista de Nicaragua, the country's traditional
Stalinist party.
The name the Trotskyists finally selected
was Partido Revolucionario de los Trabaja­
dores (p r t ). The party reported that its
monthly periodical, El Socialista, was sell­
ing more than 1,000 copies and that its
There was no Trotskyist organization in members were active in the unions as well
Nicaragua until after the Sandinista Revolu­ as in the militia, and some were serving in
tion of 1 979. Immediately following the rev­ the army.
olution members of the Simon Bolivar Bri­ The Trotskyists by their own admission
gade, who had been recruited from several were in the left-wing opposition to the San­
Latin American countries by the Bolshevik dinista government. Among other proposi­
Faction (led by Nahuel Moreno) of the tions they were pushing were the distribu­
United Secretariat to participate in the San­ tion of all land to the peasants and all
dinista armed struggle, set to work to build industries to their workers. They were also
a Trotskyist party in that country. Ac­ demanding cessation of payments on the
cording to a U.S. Morenoist source, the foreign debt and repudiation of that debt.4
Nicaraguans recruited to the banner of the The Nicaraguan Trotskyists continued to
Fourth International were a group which put forward an orthodox Trotskyist pro­
"arose from a division in the f s l n which gram. They urged reconstruction of the re­
moved briefly towards Maoism at the begin­ gime on the basis of soviets, demanded ex­
ning of the decade of the '70s before defini­ propriation of virtually all means of
tively siding with Trotskyism."1 production and distribution, and illegaliza-
The new Trotskyist group, the Liga Marx­ tion of "all political parties which are not
ista Revolucionaria (l m r ), quickly came today for the unconditional military defeat
into conflict with the Sandinista leadership of the contras." Finally, they proclaimed
because of their criticisms of that leader­ that "Nicaragua needs a revolutionary party
ship, and the foreign members of the Sim6n of the workers which makes this struggle
Bolivar Brigade were arrested and deported. and this program a reality through gaining
At that point the United Secretariat offi­ the necessary support of the masses and
cially sided with the Sandinista government through the constant mobilization of the
and ordered the dissolution of the u s e c workers and peasants."5
groups in Central America. This provoked The Sandinistas apparently maintained
the split of the Bolshevik Faction with fraternal relations with at least some of
u sec .2 those national groups remaining affiliated
In 198 2 it was reported that the Liga Marx­ with u s e c . Thus, in mid-1 9 84 the Sandinista
ista Revolucionaria was publishing the Youth signed a joint declaration with the
newspaper El Socialista.3 By early 1985 the youth organization of the u s e c affiliate in
group had been legalized, but not in time to Switzerland, and this document was en­
participate in the November 1984 constit­ dorsed by u s e c youth groups in France, Bel­
uent assembly elections and not before be­ gium, the Netherlands, West Germany, and
ing required to change the proposed name of Italy.6 y
the group. They had originally wanted to
use Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores,
but the Sandinista government authorities
rejected that designation on the grounds
that it was too similar to the Partido Socia­

632 Nicaragua
 Norwegian Trotskyism bor Party. They also carried on more open
activity through a political education asso­
ciation, the Marxistik Club, which pub­
lished a journal Optakt (Revolt).3
The Trotskyist movement in Norway
does not appear to have survived the diffi­
Trotskyism in Norway got its first inspira­ cult period of the 1950s and early 1960s.
tion from German Trotskyist exiles. The As in many other countries, Trotskyism in
most important of these was Walter Held, Norway revived as a result of the youth re­
who served as Trotsky's secretary during the volt of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In
period that Trotsky was in that country. The early 1973 it was reported that a new "group
first organization of Trotsky's followers was of sympathizers of the Fourth Interna­
formed in the spring of 1937, and it began, tional," that is, of the United Secretariat,
together with the Danish Trotskyists, issu­ had been established. It was known as the
ing a periodical, Oktober, which continued Oktober-gruppe (October Group). In Febru­
to appear until September 1939.1 ary of that year it sponsored a meeting which
Trotsky sent a letter to the Norwegian was addressed by Tariq Ali, then a principal
Trotskyists which appeared in the first figure in the British u s e c affiliate, who
number of their periodical, which came out spoke on "Internationalism in Revolution­
early in 1938. After denouncing the way he ary Strategy."5
had been treated by the Labor Party govern­ In the late 1970s the Trotskyists entered
ment of Norway, Trotsky wrote that "now the youth group of the Socialistisk Vena-
I see that there are comrades in Norway of a trepartia (Socialist Left Party—sv[. How­
completely different sort. The new selection ever, in 1981 they and some other elements
of revolutionaries is doubly valuable be­ were expelled from the sv, and they there­
cause the new cadres are forming not around upon formed the Arbeidermaktsgruppe
a victorious workers' state, but around a per­ (Workers Power Group). That organization
secuted program. In the present world situa­ was estimated in 1984 to have from sixty to
tion your title Oktober is more significant seventy members.6
by far than the big dailies of the Second or By the mid-1980s, the International So­
Third International . . . I wish you the best cialist Tendency also had at least some sym­
revolutionary success."2 pathizers in Norway. They were represented
The most important figure in this early at a meeting of the Tendency in Great Brit­
Norwegian Trotskyist group was Jeannette ain in September 1984.7 No further informa­
Olsen, a former member of the Central tion is available on this group.
Committee of the Communist Party.3
Walter Held fled to Sweden in April 1940
when the Nazis invaded Norway. The Trots­
kyists played a significant role in the under­
ground resistance against the invaders. They
particularly rallied support among the uni­
versity students, and led student strikes on
several occasions. They were also active in
the trade union movement, particularly
among the building trades workers of Oslo.
After the war the Norwegian Trotskyists
carried out an entrist experience both in the
Communist Party and in the Norwegian La­

Norway 633
 Organizing Committee for to try to call an "open conference" in Europe
of all organizations which would agree with
the Reconstruction of the what it regarded as basic Trotskyist princi­
Fourth International ples. No such fully "open" conference was
held, but in August 1978 c o r q i did sponsor
(CORQI)
a European meeting attended by people from
Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzer­
land, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal,
Czechoslovakia, and Poland. There is no in­
dication that anyone except adherents of
The ramp International Committee of the c o r q i attended this session.3

Fourth International which the Healyites Available information concerning the ex­
and the Lambertists had maintained during act number of national affiliates of c o r q i is
the 1960s broke up in the early 1970s. After rather limited. At its inception it may well
their split with Gerry Healy and the Social­ have consisted of little more than the three
ist Labor League of Great Britain, Pierre member groups of the International Com­
Lambert and the oci of France in effect mittee which had opposed Gerry Healy and
"ceded" the name of the International Com­ the sl l , that is, the oci of France, the po r of
mittee to the Healyites. The Lambert fac­ Guillermo Lora in Bolivia, and the League
tion reorganized as the Organizing Commit­ of Socialist Revolutionaries of Hungary, led
tee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth by Balasz Nagy (Varga).
International, widely known by its French However, by 1980 the c o r q i claimed af­
initials as c o r q i .1 filiates in Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Por­
The actual establishment of c o r q i took tugal, Greece, Denmark, Great Britain, Ire­
place at what the Lambertists called "the land, Italy, Poland, France, and Germany in
second session of the preconference," held Europe. It also claimed sections in Algeria
July 1-4, 1972. The first session had been and Senegal in Africa.4
that of the International Committee held The history of the c o r q i ' s affiliates in
two years previously. The July 1972 meeting Latin America has been particularly epi­
proclaimed: "There is no directing center, sodic. At its inception only the p o r of Bo­
it is necessary to reconstruct the directing livia belonged; somewhat later, an old Ar­
center on the principles of democratic cen­ gentine group, Politica Obrera (p o ), also
tralism; that is the meaning of the struggle affiliated and brought with it at least a small
for the reconstruction of the Fourth Interna­ organization in Chile. In 1978-79, however,
tional." It also decided to foster the estab­ a polemic arose between the c o r q i leader­
lishment of new national sections of c o r q i , ship and that of Politica Obrera, as a result
and if possible to summon a world congress of which the p o was expelled from the inter­
for "the summer of 1973."2 This 1973 ses­ national group. In the midst of that dispute,
sion appears never to have taken place. although he apparently sympathized with
Hither at its founding session in 1972, or the position of c o r q i and not p o , Guillermo
sometime thereafter, the c o r q i established Lora pulled his faction of the Bolivian p o r
an International Bureau as its principal or­ out of c o r q i .5
gan of political leadership and an Interna­ Subsequently t h e 'c o R Q i gained an affili­
tional Secretariat as its executive organ. ate of some significance in Peru, the Partido
Also, from time to time it held international Obrero Marxista Revolucionario ( p o m r ). Its
meetings attended by delegates from its var­ representatives played a leading role in a
ious national affiliates. Latin American cadres school held in Paris
In 1976 the International Bureau decided in April 1979, with representatives present

634 CORQI
from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezu­ bly, the final one, in the crisis of both inter­
ela, Mexico, and Chile, as well as Peru. national capitalism and "the bureaucracy,"
About a year and a half later c o r q i paid that is the "caste" dominating the Stalinist
special attention to the activities of its affil­ states. The principal drawback to the vic­
iates in Brazil and Venezuela.6 tory of socialist revolution in this situation
However, the short honeymoon of c o r q i is the crisis of revolutionary leadership due
with the international faction of Nahuel to the degeneration of the Second and Third
Moreno in 1979-80 proved disastrous for Internationals, and the destruction of the
c o r q i ' s activities in Latin America. Both original Fourth International which began
groups raided each others' Latin American with the ascendancy of Pablo and the 1952,-
affiliates during that period, and the Moreno 53 split. The primordial task, therefore, is
faction came out the victors. By late 1983 the reconstruction of the Fourth Interna­
c o r q i claimed only one Latin American tional as the Party of the World Revolution,
group of any significance, that of Brazil, with and it is that task to which the c o r q i is
only tiny organizations in Argentina, Bo­ dedicated.
livia, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela.7 Although c o r q i had little or nothing
Ten years after its establishment c o r q i more to do with the International Commit­
claimed at least small affiliated groups in tee once it had broken with the Healy group,
Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, it did make overtures to the United Secretar­
Portugal, and Great Britain in Europe. They iat on several occasions. In April 1973 the
also had the Latin American groups already International Bureau of c o r q i decided to
noted. They had no affiliate in the United send a request to the United Secretariat to
States, although there was one in Canada. take part in u s e c ' s proposed Tenth Con­
Finally, c o r q i had sections in Tunisia, Alge­ gress. c o r q i received a somewhat rude reply
ria, Morocco, Senegal, and Ivory Coast in to the effect that this would be impossible
Africa. It had no Asian affiliates.8 unless the Lambertists would repudiate
Although c o r q i people are frequently re­ their "slandering" of the United Secretariat
ferred to as the "Lambertists," and there is and would agree beforehand to accept all
no doubt that the most important affiliate decisions of the Tenth Congress.9
of the group has been the oci (subsequently In 1978 there were again negotiations be­
Parti Communiste Intemationaliste) of tween c o r q i and the United Secretariat. In
France headed by Pierre Lambert, there ex­ this connection a "public debate" took place
isted nothing of the extremely personalist between the two groups with the publica­
atmosphere in c o r q i which characterized tion of their different points of view con­
the Posadas and Healyite international cerning specific issues.10 However, with the
groups. There have been other significant split of the Moreno faction from the United
leaders of stature in c o r q i in addition to Secretariat and its temporary unification
Lambert. Also c o r q i has not lent itself to with c o r q i in the so-called Parity Commis­
the kind of exceedingly idiosyncratic cam­ sion, these negotiations were abruptly
paigns launched by its major figure which ended.11 After the failure of the unity efforts
have been characteristic of both the Healy­ with the Moreno faction the Lambertists
ite International Committee and the Posadi­ assumed the name Fourth International (In­
sta Fourth International. ternational Center for Reconstruction).
The principal positions maintained by By the mid-1 980s the Fourth International
c o r q i since its incejftion can be summed up (International Center of Reconstruction) re­
thus: With the events of 1968—principally mained one of the three more or less "main­
the French general strike and the "Czech stream" currents of international Trotsky­
Spring"—there began a new period, proba­ ism. Having at its core on the largest of the

CORQI 635
national Trotskyist organizations, the Trotskyism in Panama
French Parti Communiste Internationaliste,
it had some strength in other European
countries, more penetration in Arab and
Black Africa than any other international
faction, and a scattering of followers in Latin
America. It had not moved in any striking
manner away from the traditional positions The Trotskyist movement in the Republic
of Trotskyism. of Panama went through two different
phases. During the 1930s it was one of the
earliest Latin American branches of Interna­
tional Trotskyism, but did not last for very
long. Then in" the 1970s it was revived in
Panama and this time was of longer du­
ration.
The principal organizer of the Trotskyist
movement in Panama in the 1930s was D i­
ogenes de la Rosa, a young trade union leader
of some significance. He established the Par­
tido Obrero Marxista-Leninista in 1934, For
a short while it was the principal competitor
of the Communist Party in organized labor
and other mass movements.
The Partido Obrero Marxista-Leninista
seems to have lasted only a little more than
a year. In late 193s its members joined the
Socialist Party of Panama. This move does
not appear to have been the kind of entrism
recommended by Trotsky in that period,
since the Trotskyists did not maintain any
factional existence in the Socialist Party.
Subsequently, de la Rosa became one of the
major leaders of the Socialist Party (and ulti­
mately one of the country's most distin­
guished diplomats), but he and his former
Trotskyist colleagues lost all contact with
International Trotskyism. No Panamanian
section was reported to exist at the time of
the Founding Congress of the Fourth Inter­
national.1
In 1975 the first Trotskyist organization
to exist in Panama for forty years was estab­
lished. This was the'Fra$ci6n Socialista Re­
volucionaria, formed by a group who broke
away from a guerrilla-oriented organization,
the Circulo Camilo Torres. It began to pub­
lish a newspaper, Revolucidn Socialista. In
an early statement, the group maintained
that "the revisionism and reformism of the

636 Panama
Communist parties and of the 'foquistas' Peruvian Trotskyism
(the heritage of the petty-bourgeois romanti­
cism that reduces the Cuban experience to
its purely military aspect), makes it impossi­
ble in Panama to respond in such a way as
to provide leadership for the explosions of
the class struggle."1 One Latin American country in which
By 1977 the Fraccion Socialista Revolu- Trotskyism emerged right after World War
cionaria had been converted into the Liga II was Peru. The movement there was al­
Socialista Revolucionaria (l c r —Revolu­ most unique in the variety of different expe­
tionary Socialist League) and it had become riences it went through in the subsequent
a sympathizing member of the United Secre­ forty years. It engaged in guerrilla activities
tariat of the Fourth International. It was at in the 1960s, and a decade and a half later
that time carrying on an energetic campaign participated in electoral activities and suc­
against acceptance by Panama of the Canal ceeded in placing some candidates in the
Treaty recently signed with the United national legislature. As was true in many
States.3 other countries, by the early 1980s Peruvian
At the time of the split of the Bolshevik Trotskyism was split into several compet­
Faction from the United Secretariat, the ing factions affiliated with different tenden­
Panamanian Trotskyist organization also cies in the international movement.
split. The element still loyal to u s e c was
expelled, and formed the Movimiento So­
cialista Revolucionario (m s r ).4 It was led by Early Peruvian Trotskyism
Miguel Antonio Bernal, a lawyer who was
Two elements were involved in the estab­
the legal adviser to the teachers' union, one
lishment of the first Trotskyist group in
of the most important labor groups in the
Peru. One consisted of young intellectuals,
country.5
led by Francisco Abril de Vivero. The other
Those who remained in the l s r ultimately
was a group of Communist Party textile
changed the name of their group to Partido
workers who felt that they had been be­
Socialista de los Trabajadores. It affiliated
trayed by the party and who were led by
with the International Workers League
Fdlix Zevallos and Leoncio Bueno.
(Fourth International), and was reported in
These two elements joined to publish a
1982 to be publishing a periodical, La Ver­
periodical, Cara y Sello (Facade and Real­
dad Socialista.6
ity). In August 1946 they established the
Grupo Obrero Marxista, which began to
publish Revolution. In 1947 they changed
their name to Partido Obrero Revoluciona­
rio (p o r ).
The new Peruvian Trotskyist group
showed its loyalty to International Trots­
kyism in a manifesto first issued by the
Grupo Obrero Marxista. It emphasized that
only a "proletarian revolution" could carry
out the program of the bourgeois democratic
revolution, while at the same time begin-

Material for the period before 1969 is adapted from

Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin America,
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1973,

f
1
Peru 637
 ning the process of socialist transformation The Pabloite p o r suffered a new split in
of society. i960. This was due to the attempts of J.
In 1 9s 2 a young man who for several years Posadas, head of the Latin American Bureau
was to be a major Peruvian Trotskyist leader of the International Secretariat, to interfere
joined the Partido Obrero Revolucionario. in the internal affairs of the Peruvian group.
This was Ismael Frias. Ismael Frias, at the time a member of the
In February 1953 the dictatorship of Gen­ Executive Committee of the International
eral Manuel Odria gave extensive publicity Secretariat, withdrew with his own support­
to the p o r , claiming that it was engaging ers to form still another p o r . This group
in a conspiracy to overthrow the military soon dissolved, and what remained of the
regime. The documentation published by Pabloite p o r joined the version of the Fourth
the Odria regime indicated that the Trotsky­ International established under Posadas's
ists had three branches in Lima, one in Cal­ leadership in i'962. It changed its name to
lao, and one in Arequipa. It also indicated Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotsky-
that the p o r was in more or less regular ista).
communication at that time with the The p o r (t ) participated in municipal elec­
Fourth International headquarters in Paris. tions in 1966, running candidates in the iso­
The po r split into two rival groups, both lated area of Tumbes, where it controlled a
still using the name Partido Obrero Revo­ small peasants union. Their candidates re­
lucionario, in 1956. The split in the Fourth ceived seventy-nine votes, 19 percent of the
International played a role in this division total. When the armed forces, under the
in the ranks of Peruvian Trotskyism, inten­ leadership of General Juan Velasco, over­
sifying existing disagreements on the strat­ threw the elected government of President
egy and tactics the Trotskyists should fol­ Fernando Belaunde Terry late in 1968, the
low in Peru. p o r (t ) announced its strong support for the

One faction of the p o r , of which Ismael new reformist military regime of Velasco.
Frias was the leading figure, aligned itself Meanwhile the anti-Pablo faction of Peru­
with Michel Pablo's I n t e r n a t i o n a l Secretar­ vian Trotskyism had held its first congress
iat of the Fourth International. Domesti­ in March 1957. After this meeting there was
cally it favored a policy of "entrism” into a conference of delegates of anti-Pablo par­
the Aprista Party, the country's principal ties from Peru, Chile, and Argentina which
mass party which was legalized again after established the Secretariado Latino Ameri­
the end of the Odria dictatorship and the cano del Trotskismo Ortodoxo {s l a t o }. The
election of President Manuel Prado in 1956. principal leader and inspirer of s l a t o was
There existed a left wing within the Aprista the Argentine Hugo Bressano, better known
ranks, and the Pabloite p o r felt that if the by his pseudonym of Nahuel Moreno.
Trotskyists entered the Aprista Party they Another national congress of the anti-
might be able to gain the leadership of that Pablo p o r took place in Arequipa in Novem­
opposition. However, there is no indication ber i960. It decided to try to undertake guer­
that the P O R is t a s actually were accepted rilla war activities in Peru. This decision of
into the Aprista Party. the Peruvians was ratified by a meeting of
The pro-Pablo p o r faction developed s l a t o in Buenos Aires early in 1961, and a

some trade union influence in the late promise of considerablefinancial aid for the
1950s. It controlled the union at the Fertisa Peruvians' guerrilla efforts was made; when
plant, one of the country's major chemical Moreno arrived in Peru shortly afterward,
companies, and also claimed some influence however, he brought with him only a small
in the important Miners Federation of the part of the amount of money which had orig­
Central Region. inally been promised. He did bring a particu­

638 Peru
lar concept of the kind of insurrectional ac­ from the traditional Trotskyist position but
tivities which the Peruvian Trotskyists was to significantly influence the conflict
should try to put into operation. Instead of within u s e c which began with its 1969 con­
establishing a guerrilla army, they should gress. Blanco laid particular stress on the
organize peasants to seize the holdings of importance of peasant unions in the Peru­
large landlords, and then arm the peasants vian Revolution. He saw them as incipient
to resist efforts to dislodge them from the soviets and urged that they reach out to un­
land they had seized. This approach to the dertake de facto government activities in
problem was endorsed by the anti-Pabloite their localities, such as providing health
Peruvian p o r . care, carrying out local public works proj­
In December 1961 the anti-Pablo p o r ects, and developing extension services for
merged with a small dissident group from their members. The local peasant unions
the Communist Party to form the Frente de should be joined in regional federations and
Izquierda Revolucionaria (f i r ). It became the a national confederation, which would serve
Peruvian section of the International Com­ as a kind of "alternative government" the
mittee and ultimately of the United Secre­ Russian soviets had in 1917.
tariat of the Fourth International. When the military government of General
In 1962 a group of the h r led by Hugo Velasco seized power late in 1968, the f i r
Blanco sought to carry out Moreno's strat­ expressed critical support for its efforts at
egy of rural insurrection in the La Conven- agrarian reform and its initial hostility to
ci6n Valley, in the department of Cuzco in foreign firms in the Peruvian economy.
southern Peru. Blanco had been elected
agrarian reform secretary of the Cuzco Peas­
Peruvian Trotskyism and the Velasco
ant Federation, and in that capacity led the
Military Regime
peasants of La Convenci6n in taking over
land from the local landholders. They also In the later years of the 1960s there existed
formed armed defense units and in Novem­ three tendencies among the Peruvian Trots­
ber 1962 carried out a raid on a local police kyists: the Posadas Partido Obrero Revoluc­
station. Hugo Blanco was finally captured ionario (Trotskista), the dissident group
by the police in May 1963, by which time which had broken away from the p o r earlier
virtually all of the other Trotskyists who in the decade and was headed by Ismael
had been working with him were also in jail. Frias; and the Frente de Izquierda Revolucio­
The efforts of Hugo Blanco and his col­ naria affiliated with the United Secretariat.
leagues were not completely fruitless from Each of these groups reacted differently to­
the point of view of the peasants involved. wards the seizure of power by a group of
The government of President Belaunde reformist-oriented military men late in
granted the peasants-of La Convenci6n legal 1968.
title to the pieces of land on which the land­ The p o r (t ) gave enthusiastic support to
lords had allowed them to have their homes the military government of General Juan
and to grow crops for their own use. When Velasco Alvarado. This backing was shown
a guerrilla group (this time not Trotskyist) in a mimeographed pamphlet the party is­
sought to win the support of the La Conven­ sued about the regime's agrarian reform law.
tion peasants in 1965 they received no It proclaimed that "whatever are its limita­
support. tions, conciliating and nondevelopment as­
Hugo Blanco remained in jail throughout pects, within the Plan of Development of
the rest of the 1960s. He used his time to the country, outside of the normal channels
develop a particular approach to revolution of capitalism, of private property, the new
in Peru which was substantially different law of Agrarian Reform has a central base

Peru 639

t
which justifies and impels our support: THE that the article was designed mainly to at­
LIQUIDATION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN tack Ismael Frias, since much attention was
THE HISTORY OF PERU OF THE ECO­ paid to his early participation in the party—
NOMIC, CENTRAL POLITICAL POWER without any notice that he had long ceased
OF CAPITALISM: THE OLIGARCHY."1 to belong to it.5
The Peruvian Posadistas also expressed p o k { t ) survived into the 1980s. It was re­

their support of the military regime in their ported in February 1980 that it had joined
fortnightly newspaper, Voz Obrera, the pub­ the Leftist Revolutionary Alliance (a r i),
lication and distribution of which was one formed behind the presidential candidacy of
of the principal activities of the party. Thus, Hugo Blanco in that year's election.6
in the issue marking the second year of the Ismael Frias took an even more friendly
military regime a manifesto of the p o r |t ) attitude towards the Velasco, government
was published under the headline, "On this than did f o r ( t }. In 1965 he had organized
second anniversary of the revolutionary na­ the Liga Socialista Revolucionaria as a "na­
tionalist movement of the 3rd of October, tional Marxist organization," no longer
we call for struggle in a united front of all of claiming association with International
the masses of the country." The manifesto Trotskyism. It made its first public appear­
listed a number of demands, the first of ance in March 1969. Thereafter, the party
which was: "For support of the progressive had very limited activity, Frias and others
measures of the nationalist government: becoming closely associated with the Vel­
agrarian reform, press law, industries law, asco government. He was one of the princi­
nationalization of petroleum."2 pal leaders in trying to establish a kind of
However, from time to time Voz Obrera popular mobilization group for the regime,
lamented the failure of the military regime called the Sistema Nacional de Apoyo a la
to develop a strong base of support among Movilizaci6n Social ( s i n a m o s ). Frias pro­
"the masses." In a front-page editorial in the fessed to believe that the Velasco govern­
issue of the first fortnight of May 1971, Voz ment was working toward the establish­
Obrera wrote that we urge and call on the ment of a peculiarly Peruvian type of
nationalist and revolutionary military men Socialism.7
. . . "to learn the historical security and the The Frente de Izquierda Revolucionaria
capacity of the masses . . . as part of the took a decidedly more critical position vis-
defense of the Revolutionary State which a-vis the Velasco regime. On August 20,
includes the whole country."3 A month 1969, it issued a statement saying that "the
later, in commenting on a cabinet crisis of junta's position—agrarian reform, the na­
the Velasco regime, Voz Obrera proclaimed: tionalization of Brea and Parinas, etc.—sur­
"In order to get past this very contradictory prised the people and made the regime's
stage and very large crisis, the nationalist 'revolutionary' demagogy seem credible to
movement needs the support of the broad sectors. Sections of the left as well,
masses."4 even so-called Trotskyist groups like the
For the most part p o r (t ) received little Liga Socialista Revolucionaria . . . and Voz
attention from the daily press. However, in Obrera are saying that the junta is revolu­
May 1972 the conservative paper El Com- tionary and nationalist. The orthodox Trots­
ercio carried a long article about charges kyists of the h r say thawhe junta is a bour­
which had reportedly been made by the Min­ geois regime which wants to develop the
istry of Interior of the involvement of mem­ country, but that it is not nationalist and
bers of the p o r (t ) in counterfeiting foreign still less revolutionary. From the beginning,
currency. From the context of the full-page we said that it was bonapartist . . . " 8
exposition of the subject it would appear One major reason for the critical attitude

640 Peru
of the f ir toward the military regime was the "centrist" Marxist organization Van-
undoubtedly the fact that for two years that guardia Revolucionaria. Finally, in 1 971,
regime continued to imprison the principal Napuri took the leadership in a split in Van-
leader of the h r , Hugo Blanco. He was not guardia Revolucionaria which resulted in
released until December 22, 1970.9 Blanco establishment of p o r m , as a Trotskyist orga­
was again arrested four months later and nization.
was held for a short while.10 Subsequently, In June 1972, Napuri described the activi­
he was deported to Mexico by the Velasco ties of p o r m : "We are working on the front
regime. of the sugar workers; among the proletariat
Interviewed soon after arrival in Mexico, working in factories or industries; among
Hugo Blanco gave his assessment of the bank employees and fishermen; and on the
"revolutionary" Peruvian military regime: mass fronts of the petit-bourgeoisie, espe­
"We are struggling for socialism. It would cially among students. And, throughout the
be utopian to expect a bourgeois military trade unions, we are trying to organize a
regime to achieve it. We urged the masses union current that will be an alternative to
to seize control of their own destiny. From the currents we regard as faltering or coun­
this point of departure, we demonstrate to terrevolutionary. "
the masses that no matter how progressive According to Napuri, p o r m was not
the bourgeois laws might be they will inevi­ friendly disposed towards the Velasco re­
tably serve the interests of the capitalists, gime: "What we have to do is explain the
not those of the workers."11 conditions under which a Marxist vanguard
has to carry out its daily job, and relate to
the masses, taking into account the fact that
Proliferation and Partial Reunification Velasco's nationalist, petit-bourgeois ad­
of Peruvian Trotskyism ministration is a more enlightened govern­
ment than the bourgeoisie could have pro­
During the first part of the 1970s the Peru­ vided, and that it possesses enormous
vian Trotskyists split further into a number power. . . . Since petit-bourgeois national­
of quarreling factions. At least one of those ism is the greatest obstacle to the advance­
originated from elements of the Peruvian far ment of proletarian and socialist trends, the
left which had not hitherto been Trotsky­ struggle against this government and its res­
ists; most of the rest resulted from splits olutions must be a constant, relentless
within the Frente de Izquierda Revolucio- struggle. . . ." n
naria. p o r m suffered at least some persecution

The first new group to appear was the by the Velasco regime. Early in 1973 Ricardo
Partido Obrero Marxista Revolucionario Napuri was among several Trotskyists of
(p o r m ), which was established in 1971. It various groups who were jailed by the
was organized and led by Ricardo Napuri, a regime.13
one-time army officer who had spent ten In 1973 p o r m became the Peruvian affili­
years in Argentina, where he had had con­ ate of the Lambertist Organizing Commit­
tact with Silvio Frondizi, an independent tee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth In­
Marxist, and had been converted to Marx­ ternational (c o r q i ).14
ism. Returning to Peru, he had become ac­ At least half a dozen other factions ap­
tive in the Fidelista-oriented Rebel Apra peared in the 1970s. Most of these emerged
which later took the name Movimiento de out of the Frente de Izquierda Revoluciona­
Izquierda Revolucionaria (m i r ). However, ria, affiliated with the United Secretariat,
he became disillusioned in Castroism and and the controversies which took place
became a leader of what he later qualified as within u s e c during the 1970s undoubtedly

Peru 641
 played at least some role in the splits of the was established, which was later trans­
f i r . For instance, Hugo Blanco sided with formed into the Unification Commission.
the s w p of the United States in that contro­ Finally, in August 1978, the Organizing
versy, opposing a general "guerrilla war" Commission for the Unified Party was es­
line for the Trotskyist movement in Latin tablished.19
America. He was joint author with Peter Meanwhile, in November 1977 unity had
Camejo and Joseph Hansen of the s w p and been achieved between the Partido Social­
Anibal Lorenzo and Nahuel Moreno of the ista de los Trabajadores and the Partido So­
Argentine p s t , of one of the major docu­ cialista Intemacionalista. They launched a
ments to emerge from that struggle, "Argen­ new periodical, La Verdad, to take the place
tina and Bolivia—the Balance Sheet," which of the p s t ' s Palabra Socialista, and the p s i ' s
was submitted to the International Execu­ Obrero Intemacionalista. The-first issue of
tive Committee of u s e c in December the new periodical called for "unity of all
197a.1S the workers and peasants organizations, and
The different Trotskyist factions active in of the socialist parties, to present united
Peru during the 1970s included the Frente workers candidates and win the majority in
de la Izquierda Revolucionaria-Fourth In­ the constituent assembly, forcing the gov­
ternational, FiR-Combate, the Grupo Com- ernment to resign."70
bate Socialista, Circulos Natalia Sedova, Then on October 8, 1978, five different
Partido Socialista Intemacionalista, and the Trotskyist groups were united in the Partido
Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores. The Revolucionario de los Trabajadores ( p r t —
last of these was led for a time by Hugo Revolutionary Workers Party) which began
Blanco.16 publication of a new periodical, Combate
Another group which existed in the 1970s Socialista, to take the place of another one,
and early 1980s was the Liga Comunista. Revolution which the five groups involved
This was associated with the International had been publishing jointly for several
Committee of the Fourth International, months.
headed by Gerry Healy of Great Britain. Two Four of the groups which joined to form
leaders of the group, Sergio Barrios and Jose the p r t were the Frente de Izquierda Revo­
Carlos Balldn, were jailed by the Velasco lucionaria, the f i r - i v (FiR-Fourth Interna­
government in 1975.17 tional), the Grupo Combate Socialista, and
Although it clearly was one of the small­ the Circulos Natalia Sedova. In addition, a
est groups in the Peruvian far left, the Healy­ part of the Partido Socialista de las Trabaja­
ite organization continued to exist through dores ( p s t ) led by Hugo Blanco joined the
the 1970s and early 1980s. By 1982 it was unification move. The new party sought rec­
called the Liga Obrera Socialista (l o s ) and ognition as the Peruvian section of the
was publishing a weekly periodical, Prensa United Secretariat.31
Obrera. At the time of the Argentine inva­ The majority of the p s t which had not
sion of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) the joined in the establishment of the p r t and
l o s was active in trying to mobilize the Pe­ still remained a sympathizing organization
ruvian workers behind the Argentines and of the United Secretariat merged about the
to provoke worker boycotts of British trade same time with another fragment of the old
with Peru.18 f i r , the F i R - P a r t i d o de -Obreros y Campe-

In 1976 efforts began to be made to unite sinos ( f i r - p o c ). This merged group contin­
at least those Trotskyist organizations ued to use the p s t ' s name, and published a
which were associated with or had sympa­ newspaper, Bandera Socialista, which had
thy for the United Secretariat. In that year been the name of the f i r - p o c ' s paper.22
the Trotskyist Coordination Commission The p s t , as it remained after the defection

642 Peru
of the Hugo Blanco faction, was the Peru­ ticipated in elections for municipal posts,
vian affiliate of the Bolshevik Tendency (b t ) with some degree of success.
in the United Secretariat, headed by the Ar­ In the 1970s and early 1980s there were
gentine Nahuel Moreno. The p s t left the four principal groups of Peruvian unions.
United Secretariat with the b t late in 1979. The oldest was the Confederaci6n de Traba­
When the Bolshevik Tendency and the Lam­ jadores del Peru ( c t p ), established in the
bertist c o r q i took steps towards fusion in 1 940s and controlled in the 1970s and 1980s
1979-80, their respective Peruvian affili­ by the Partido Aprista Peruano, a party asso­
ates, the p s t and the p o m r , also began nego­ ciated with the Socialist International. The
tiations concerning unification. However, second was the Confederacion General de
when the two international groups broke Trabajadores del Peru (c g t p ), founded
apart again late in 1981 negotiations in Peru shortly after the 1968 military coup by the
ended, although not before there was a cer­ pro-Moscow Communist Party and at first
tain realignment of forces between the two favored by the military regime. Third was
groups. the Confederacion de Trabajadores Revolu-
The split in the Fourth International {In­ cionarios del Peru (c t r p ), established under
ternational Committee] which had been set the aegis of the Velasco regime. Finally,
up by the Moreno and Lambert factions of there was a substantial group of independent
International Trotskyism, provoked a con­ unions including particularly the Miners
troversy within the Lambertist group in and Metal Workers Union and the Teachers
Peru, the p o m r . The founder and longtime Union.
general secretary of the p o m r , Ricardo Na­ Generally, the Trotskyists did not try to
puri, favored continuation of negotiations work within the Apristas c t p or the govern­
for unity with the Morenoist Partido Sociali­ ment's c t r p . They at first sought to act par­
sta de los Trabajadores. However, a majority ticularly within the Communists' confeder­
of the leadership opposed the continuation ation, but also were very active among the
of negotiations. In November 1981 Napuri members of the independent unions.14
resigned from p o m r . A substantial portion Although the Peruvian Trotskyists did
of the p o m r membership supported Napuri, not come to national leadership in any major
and the party was split.23 Subsequently, the labor organization, they had significant fol­
Napuri faction of p o m r did merge with the lowing on a local level in a number of impor­
p s t , and the merged group ultimately used tant unions. It was reported in 1983 that
the name Partido Socialista de los Trabaja­ they had elected officials among the miners,
dores. It was the Peruvian section of the bank workers, metal workers, building
International Workers League (Fourth Inter­ trades, teachers, and fishermen, as well as
national), founded in January 1982. in local neighborhood groups and in the uni­
versities.15
The p r t had at least some influence in the
Mass and Parliamentary Activity of
country's largest peasant organization, the
Peruvian Trotskyists
Confederaci6n Campesina del Peru ( c c p ).
By the late 1970s the various Trotskyist Thus, at the congress of that group in July
groups in Peru had developed an appreciable 1982, Hugo Blanco was reelected to the na­
amount of influence in the labor and peasant tional executive committee of that group,
movements. They also participated in the and was named as Secretary of Human
1978 and 1980 elections and for the first Rights of the organization. It was reported
time succeeded in electing members of both by the United Secretariat that "in that Con­
the 1978 constitutional convention and the gress, the p r t had, for the first time, a politi­
regular parliament. In 1983 they again par­ cal role in this Confederacion, with the pre­

Peru 643
 sentation of documents and the participa­ When the constituent assembly finally
tion of peasant militants of the p r t i n the met the Trotskyist deputies joined in pres­
debates and commissions."16 enting what came to be known as "the red
The various Trotskyist groups were active motion" to the body. This resolution pro­
in the electoral field. Three elections were claimed: "The Constitutional Assembly as­
of particular importance, those of a constit­ sumes all legislative and executive powers
uent assembly in 1978, for president and a of the nation to apply an emergency plan
regular congress in 1980, and for municipal based essentially on full exercise of demo­
offices in 1983. cratic liberties, reemployment of discharged
In each of these elections, some of the workers, urgent measures to resolve the eco­
Trotskyist groups participated in coalitions. nomic crisis based on nonpayment of the
In 1978 there were two such alliances of the foreign debt, general increase of wages, and
Peruvian far left. One was the Union Demo- grant of land free of cost to the peasants."32
cratica Popular (u d p ) which included Maoist Needless to say, this resolution was not
parties, as well as two Trotskyist groups— passed, and the government of General Mo­
the HR-Fourth International and the f i r - rales Bermudez remained in power until
Combate. It had as its electoral slogan "a rev­ after the 1980 elections held under the con­
olutionary people's government."27 stitution written by the assembly.
The other far left coalition was the Frente In the 1980 elections the Trotskyist
Obrero Campesino Estudiantil del ■Peru groups which had participated in the f o c e p
(f o c e p ]. It was described by Intercontinental tried to keep together that coalition. When
Press as being "based on three Peruvian that failed they sought to mount another
Trotskyist organizations, Blanco's party, the coalition including some non-Trotskyist
p s t the f i r - p o c and the p o m r . It also in­ groups. Finally, however, the campaign was
cludes a number of trade union, peasant, waged by a joint slate state of the three major
student and shantytown dwellers' organiza­ Trotskyist groups: p r t , p s t , and p o m r .
tions, as well as independent socialists. f o c e p broke up when it was abandoned

. . . "28 The f o c e p came in third in the elec­ by some of the non-Trotskyist groups and
tion, getting 12. percent of the total vote.2* individuals who had originally belonged to
Among the Trotskyists elected to the con­ it. That element, headed by Bernardo Led­
stituent assembly were Hugo Blanco and En­ esma, first joined a coalition named Left
rique Fernandez of the p s t , and Ricardo Na- Unity (ur) with the pre-Moscow Commu­
puri, Magda Benavides and Heman Cuentas nists and the Revolutionary Socialist Party
of the p o m r .30 of ex-General Leonidas Rodriguez.
During this campaign the Trotskyists pro­ The Trotskyists then organized the Revo­
fessed not to have any faith in the constit­ lutionary Left Alliance (a r i ), which was
uent assembly. In an electoral proclamation, composed of "a wide range of Trotskyist,
the p s t said that "if we are participating in centrist, and Maoist forces, and was backed
the elections despite knowing that they are by unions and other mass organizations." It
a farce, it is precisely in order to use them put forward Hugo Blanco as its presidential
in the service of the mass struggle and the candidate, under the slogan, "For a worker
building of the Partido Socialista de los Tra­ government—without bosses or generals."
bajadores. . . . In electoral periods the masses However, the Partido Socialista de los Tra­
have their attention focused not only on bajadores ( p s t ) stayed out of the a r i coali­
their particular sectoral interests, but also tion. Shortly before the deadline for filing
on general political problems.. . . Thus now candidacies for the May 1980 election, a r i
is the best time to talk about our political fell completely apart. As a consequence, the
program. . . ."3l p r t continued the campaign of Hugo Blanco

644 Peru
on its own, and was backed by the other two The p s t , affiliated with the Moreno cur­
Trotskyist groups, the p s t and p o m r , both rent of International Trotskyism "decided
of which were given spots on the p r t ticket to give critical support to the United Left
for members of the senate and chamber of candidates" in the municipal elections in
deputies.33 Lima. "They called on people to vote for the
Hugo Blanco came in fourth among fifteen United Left but they issued systematic and
presidential candidates. He received public criticisms of the leadership of the
160,173 votes, compared to 1,870,874 cast United Left and its program."38 Subsequent
for the winner, ex-President Fernando Be- to the election the p s t newspaper Bandera
launde Terry. The Trotskyist ticket won Socialista proposed the formation of "a gov­
two members of the Senate and three in the ernment of the iu and the c g t p as an alterna­
Chamber of Deputies.34 A Trotskyist source tive to the present government and to a p r a
noted that although the vote was substan­ and other employer variants."39
tially lower than two years before, "Hugo In some cities outside of the national capi­
Blanco and the p r t outran all other left par­ tal the Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores
ties in the Lima metropolitan area and in ran its own candidates. They elected mayors
much of southern Peru. In Moquegua Prov­ in the city of Tarapoto and in the mining
ince, a stronghold of the militant copper town of Cuajones, as well as electing a num­
miners union, the Trotskyists received 18 ber of municipal councilmen.40
percent of the vote, and in Tacna Province In the general election of 1985 the p s t ran
. . . the p r t received 15 percent."35 Ricardo Napuri as its candidate for presi­
The handful of Trotskyist senators and dent. With him it nominated Magda Bena­
deputies could hardly play a decisive role in vides, a bank union leader, for first vice pres­
the national parliament, but from time to ident and Enrique Fernandez, described as a
time they, and particularly Hugo Blanco, "metal worker leader" for second vice presi­
provoked strong reactions inside congress dent.41 The p s t ticket received only a very
and outside of it. Thus, in August 1983 small percentage of the total vote, which
Blanco was suspended from his seat until tended to be polarized between the nomin­
the end of its current session in December ees of the Aprista Party and the United Left.
"for having used the parliamentary rostrum There is no information available con­
to accuse General Clemente Noel, military cerning the position of the Lambertist p o m r
chief of the Ayacucho region, of murder."36 in the December 1983 municipal elections.
During the 1983 municipal elections However, it attacked the United Left as a
three main groups faced one another: the "popular front" and four months after the
forces backing President Belaunde (his Ac- elections it participated in a conference "of
cion Popular and the Partido Popular Cristi- trade union and political leaders" who es­
ano}; the Aprista Party; and a leftist alliance, tablished a "provisional political coordinat­
the United Left. The Trotskyist parties had ing committee" the objective of which was
to decide whether to support the United "to structure a class movement oriented to­
Left, particularly in Lima where it was wards formation of a workers party indepen­
strongest, or to go it alone. dent of the bourgeoisie,"42
The United Left was "composed essen­ The United Secretariat's p r t ran its own
tially of the Peruvian Communist Party, the lists of candidates in Lima in the December
Peruvian Democratic Union (u d p ), the p c r 1983 municipal poll. The results were disas­
(Maoists), the u n i r (Maoists), the p s r (party trous and provoked a new split in the organi­
of General Leonidas Rodriguez)."37 lt won in zation. One unfriendly source noted that
Lima, although the Aprista Party won the "As a result, they were almost wiped off the
elections in most of the rest of the country. electoral map. They were accused of being

1 Peru 645
1
divisive and sectarian since the overwhelm­ ing Path). An offshoot of the original Maoist
ing majority of the masses decided to vote party of Peru, this group, composed largely
for the United Left and rejected any kinds of of students and professionals, established
divisions within the left."43 guerrilla bases in central Peru, particularly
The p r t election defeat provoked an in ­ in the vicinity of Ayacucho. Although pro­
tense "se lf-c ritic ism " in the party, w h ich fessing to represent the Indian peasants, it
dealt not only w ith the party's p o licy in the often tyrannized over and terrorized peas­
1983 election, but with the line it had fol­ ants under its control.
lowed ever since its establishment in 1978. Hugo Blanco defined the attitude of the
This document read in part: "We think that u s e c Trotskyists toward the Sendero Lumi­
our error is not only in the fact of not having noso in an interview in early 1984:
retired our candidates to give critical sup­
We consider Sendero to be revolutionar­
port to the iu . We feel that this error has
ies, even though we do not agree with
been more important and more profound.
their methods. We try to defend their
Practically since its foundation, our party
rights. Of course, we understand that the
has followed a dogmatic and sectarian line,
people will have to respond to violence
steadily juxtaposing the defense of revolu­
with violence. But this must be the prod­
tionary positions and the construction of
uct of mass consciousness, not of pater­
the party to the practice of the united front.
nalistic actions by a group that appoints
itself the representative of all the peas­
The document then "recognized the er­
ants. . . .
ror" of not having joined the United Left
The peasants themselves must decide
when it was first established "as the united
what they must or must not do. It is up
cadre of the left." It then said that "the iu is
to the people in any given sector to make
the core of the united front of the workers
that decision. That is why we so deeply
and the Peruvian people.. . . Affirming this,
disagree with Sendero's methods. Some
our party publicly pledges to work unitedly
sectors of the left are sympathetic to
and loyally in that core and to push forward
Sendero but critical of certain nonessen­
its rank and file committees."44
tial aspects of its methods. This attitude
This "self-criticism" and the subsequent
flows from frustration with the generally
request of the p r t to enter the United Left
reformist course the left has taken and its
(with the apparent support of the United
inability to project an alternative. .. 46
Secretariat) provoked violent internal con­
troversy. This struggle culminated in March
1984 in a split, when two separate "con­
gresses of the p r t " were held by those sup­
porting the self-criticism on the one hand,
led by Hugo Blanco, and those opposed to
the change in line, on the other.45

Trotskyites and the Sendero

Luminoso
A new phenomenon on the Peruvian far left
which appeared in the early 1980s was the
so-called "Sendero Luminoso," officially
the Partido Comunista del Peru-Sendero
Luminoso (Communist Party of Peru-Shin­

646 Peru
 Polish Trotskyism to admit the possibility that Comrade
Trotsky could be excluded from the ranks
of the Russian Communist Party and the
Communist International." The Polish c p
reiterated its support for Trotsky after Le­
nin's death: "After the death of Lenin, there
A small Trotskyist movement existed in Po­ is need for such a man. . .. The eyes of the
land during the 1930s. Its ranks were drawn masses are turning to Trotsky."2
principally from Jewish former members of A few months later, when Zinoviev gave
the Communist Party and it did not survive his opening presidential address to the Fifth
Nazi invasion of World War II and the subse­ Congress of the Comintern, he announced
quent subjugation of the country by the Sta­ that a special commission of the congress
linists. Perhaps the most important fact would be established to look into the state
about Polish Trotskyism, from a historical of the Polish party. It was headed by Stalin
point of view, is that one of its leaders was himself, and the vice chairman of the com­
Isaac Deutscher, who after World War II mission was Molotov, Stalin's most indefat­
wrote the classic three-volume biography of igable assistant. Most other members of the
Leon Trotsky. commission were Poles opposed to the then
current party leadership. In his report on the
work of the commission, Stalin commented
Polish Communists and Trotsky
(in a prescient manner) that the Polish c p
in the 1920s
leaders "wish a combat in which there are
Some of the leaders of the Polish Commu­ no victim s.. . . History knows no struggles
nist Party of the 1920s had had more or less without victims."3
close associations with Trotsky before the Rene Dazy has noted that as a conse­
19 17 revolutions. Thus, Stanislaw Lapinski, quence of the Fifth Congress of the Comin­
at the time a leader of the Left Polish Social­ tern the Polish party leadership was "rigor­
ist Party, worked with Trotsky in 19 15 -16 ously purged." However, after the
in Paris, where they jointly edited an anti­ successors to the "three Ws" who had domi­
war newspaper, Rushe Slovo.1 nated the party until then—Adolf Warski,
The Polish Communist Party was one of Wera Kostrzewa, and Maximilien Waleki—
the national groups outside of the Soviet themselves showed recalcitrance to Comin­
Union in which Trotsky received strongest tern dictation they were ousted in turn, and
support in the early phases of the struggles the three Ws were restored to the Polish
within the c p s u in the 1920s. As early as leadership by the Comintern.4
December 192.3, even before the death of They were still in charge at the time of
Lenin, the Central Committee of the Polish the coup d'etat of Marshal Joseph Pilsudski
Party sent a letter to the Soviet Party in May 1926, which overthrew the parlia­
through Comintern channels protesting mentary regime which had existed since the
against increasingly violent attacks on establishment of the Polish Republic in
Trotsky already being made by the Stalin- 1919. The first reaction of the Communist
Zinoviev-Kamenev "first troika": "For our leadership was to support Pilsudski's coup,
Party, for the whole Communist Interna­ although they quickly changed their minds
tional, for all the world proletarian revolu­ and denounced Pilsudski as "aspiring to a
tion, the name of Comrade Trotsky is asso­ dictatorship."5
ciated in an indissoluble fashion with the These events resulted in the Comintern's
victory of the Soviet Revolution, with the organizing a special subcommission in July
Red Army, with communism . . . We refuse 1926, to investigate the behavior of the Pol­

Poland 647
ish Party leadership. Trotsky was still on they judiciously refused an invitation to go
the e c c i and was granted ten minutes to to Moscow to discuss the issue.
speak on the issue. In that speech Trotsky Within the opposition a group more
defined the Pilsudski regime as "fascist" and clearly aligned with Trotsky and his ideas
accused the three Ws of having been swept began to emerge. This was due at least in
up by the petty bourgeois support for Pilsud­ part to the fact that Trotsky's ideas began to
ski when they first supported the coup. He circulate fairly widely in Polish Communist
also denounced the Comintern's frequent circles via the Bulletin of the Opposition
changes in the leadership of the Polish party. and several of Trotsky's pamphlets, particu­
There is no indication that he remembered larly those dealing with the problem of the
the support the three Ws had given him in rise of Naziism in Germany.9
the first phases of his struggle with Stalin.6 The break of the Trotsky-sympathizers
In spite of the growing Stalinization of the within the Polish Communist Party came
Comintern and of the Polish Communist in 1932. Early in 1932 Isaac Deutscher pub­
Party, there continued to exist within the lished an article entitled "The Danger of
Polish party some lingering sympathy for Barbarism Over Europe" in a Yiddish-lan-
Trotsky. M. K. Dziewanowski has noted guage periodical, Literarishe Tribune,
that "the defeated leader's pronouncement which was closely associated with the Com­
had a certain grandeur and brilliance which munist Party. Writing under the pseudonym
made his teachings attractive to the intellec­ Krakowski he argued that "the Marxist sec­
tual strata of the movement. Criticism of tor of the German workers in the present
Comintern strategy and daily practice also correlation of forces in the country is not
appealed to Polish members because Stalin's capable by itself of repelling the offensive of
hand had weighed heavily on the c p p . . . . Hitlerite barbarism." Similarly, the Social
Consequently, pro-Trotsky sympathies Democratic Party "is at the present moment
were still lingering by the late twenties. interested in the struggle against Hit­
From time to time these sentiments would lerism," but "is not capable of conducting
find some outlet in the party press and inter­ that struggle independently." Therefore,
nal debates, but in each case the leadership Deutscher concluded, the German Commu­
managed to keep the statements within nists and Social Democrats should join
bounds. . . ."7 forces to confront the Nazi menace.10
M. K. Dziewanowski has described what
happened next: "This reasoning was then
Emergence and Development of
in flagrant contradiction to the party's, and
Polish Trotskyism
parallel to that of Trotsky. The author was
It was 1930 before an opposition began to asked to admit that he had committed a
take shape within the Polish Communist breach of discipline, but was not yet re­
Party. According to Dziewanowski, "The quired to renounce his views. Deutscher,
platform of the opposition was broadly for­ however, bluntly refused to comply. A group
mulated in order to unite all its hetero­ of other Polish party members declared their
geneous elements, which included some solidarity with Deutscher, and they were all
sympathizers of Trotsky, Brandler, and expelled as agents of 'social-fascism' at the
Bukharin. Isaac Deutscher, Pawel Mine, and Sixth Party Congress in.,1932."11
Abe Flug were among the most active lead­ Soon after emergence of the Polish Left
ers of this revolt."8 The new opposition ap­ Opposition Trotsky sent them a "greeting"
pealed to the Comintern for support against dated August 31, 1932. In this document he
the authoritarian rule of the dominant fac­ discussed the reasons why, in spite of the
tion led by Lenski (Julian Leszcyski), but tradition of Rosa Luxemburg in the Polish

648 Poland
party, it had taken so long for an opposition ing some of his writings. As a member of
to appear. He observed that "the explanation the Marxist Student Group he recruited to
for this fact has its roots to a large extent in Trotskyism Walter Nelz, and together they
the extremely difficult conditions in which founded the first Opposition group in Swit­
the Polish Communist Party has been zerland in r93i. However, in the following
placed, fighting under illegal conditions and year, the death of his father brought Ehrlich
at the same time under the direct observa­ to return to Poland, where he got in touch
tion of the Stalinist general staff. Thus Pol­ with Stockfisch and other Polish opposi­
ish Bolshevik-Leninists must operate in an tionists, including Isaac Deutscher.16
atmosphere of double illegality: one flows The Polish Left Opposition soon entered
from Pilsudski, the other . .. from Stalin. into contact with Trotsky and the Interna­
»|I2 tional Secretariat. The first person to do so
The Left Opposition, which took the was Solomon Ehrlich. Subsequently, Hersz-
name Bolshevik-Leninists, included a few Mendl Sztokficz visited Paris and had an
old-time leaders. The most significant of interview with Trotsky. During that meet­
these was Hersz-Mendl Sztokfisz (Stock- ing Stockfisch and Trotsky had a long dis­
fisch}. He had begun his political career as cussion, among other things, about whether
an anarchist but subsequently had joined the Polish regime of Marshal Josef Pilsudski
the Jewish Labor Bund. He had participated was "Bonapartist" or fascist. Stockfisch ap­
in the Russian Revolution of 1905, and had parently took the position that one could
known Trotsky as early as 1914. After years not correctly qualify the Pilsudski govern­
of exile in Paris he returned to Russia after ment as being fascist, as Trotsky had done.17
the first revolution in 19 17 and participated
in the Bolshevik Revolution. He had joined
Polish Trotskyism and the
the Red Army and became a member of the
French Turn
Bolshevik Party in 1919. Returning to Po­
land, Stockfisch became a member of the One of the principal issues which caused
Polish Communists' revolutionary military controversy within Polish Trotskyism dur­
committee in 1920 and was in charge of ing its short history was that of the French
preparations for an armed insurrection in Turn. It caused considerable discussion
Warsaw.13 He was arrested and was sen­ within the Polish group, and some between
tenced to death, "miraculously" escaping some of its leaders and Trotsky and the In­
execution.14 Stockfisch escaped to the So­ ternational Secretariat.
viet Union where he worked with the Com­ The Polish Trotskyists were at first resis­
munist International. Returning to Poland tant to Trotsky's suggestion that they enter
at the end of the 1920s, he soon afterward the Polish Socialist parties. Pierre Broue has
became one of the organizers of the Left described their attitude as being "divided
Opposition.15 between hostility and reticence." He added
Most of the leaders and members of the that "The discussion is long and sharp; it
Left Opposition were younger people, how­ ends, without scission, at the beginning of
ever. They included Isaac Deutscher, Solo­ 1934 with approval of the Turn and of the
mon Ehrlich, and Stefan Lamed. Ehrlich has orientation towards the IV International, a
been called the "moving spirit" of the group. conclusion which was formalized by the af­
Although bom in Poland, he had emigrated filiation, until then suspended, with the l c i .
n 18
for a number of years to Palestine, and joined
the Communist Party there. Then he went Since the great majority of the Polish
to Switzerland to study in Zurich, and there Trotskysts were Jewish and Yiddish-speak­
he was won over to Trotsky's ideas by read­ ing, they joined the Bund, the anti-Zionist

i
Poland <149
 Yiddish-speaking Jewish organization the Socialist parties, they also maintained
which was the largest party among the Pol­ their own organization. Their Central Com­
ish Jewish proletariat. However some of the mittee continued to function, and the en­
Trotskyists who had a Polish education forcement of discipline within the group
went into the Polish Socialist Party (p p s ), was largely a matter of ideological convic­
the country's largest Socialist party. The tion and personal relations. Of course, the
Trotskyists were offered a seat on the War­ complete illegality of their organization also
saw Regional Committee of the p p s , and Ste­ tended to discourage dissidence within it.
fan Lamed was designated by the Central This does not mean that there were not
Committee of the Bolshevik-Leninists to polemical discussions within the group.
take that seat. There were at least three subjects in addi­
The Polish Trotskyists were not able to tion to entrism which were vigorously de­
put out a regular periodical. Their attempt bated: whether the Pilsudski regime and its
to publish a legal newspaper was suppressed successors were fascist, whether the Polish
by the police. They did put out some pam­ Trotskyists should declare themselves a
phlets, including one on the Moscow Trials party, and whether they should support the
written by Isaac Deutscher, which was pub­ immediate proclamation of the Fourth In­
lished with the help of the pps .19 ternational.
Once the Polish Trotskyists had under­ Although the Trotskyists were not a sig­
taken the entrist policy, on at least two occa­ nificant element in the leadership of the
sions Trotsky offered them advice. In one trade union movement, they did have some
letter, dated July 16, 1935, he urged them to influence in a few local unions, almost all
concentrate particularly on relations with of them groups of Jewish workers. The Com­
the supposed left-wing elements within the munists also had very little trade union sup­
Polish Socialist Party, foreseeing a split in port in this period, the labor movement be­
that organization and predicting that if the ing largely dominated by the Socialist
Polish regime were to outlaw the p p s , "only parties.
the revolutionary elements of the old party The Trotskyists remained a quite small
would survive in illegality."20 group. It was reported at the Founding Con­
In another letter, five months later, he ference of the Fourth International that the
suggested that because of the long traditions Polish group had about 350 members which
of the p p s and the Bund the Trotskyist ele­ Stefan Lamed has reported to be approxi­
ments "could not exert influence by discus­ mately correct, adding that with sympathiz­
sions, articles, etc." Rather, he suggested ers they perhaps had a thousand people.**
that they concentrate on the youth of the
two groups, organizing study sessions "on
Polish Trotskyists at Fourth
the history of the October Revolution, on
International Founding Conference
that of Bolshevism, the Communist Interna­
tional (particularly the last twelve years}, on The Polish Trotskyists had two delegates
the victory of Hitler in Germany, on the at the Founding Conference of the Fourth
situation in France, etc." He added that "our International, Hersz-Mendl Sztokfisz and
people certainly enjoy great superiority over Stefan Lamed. Both men were members of
the members of the p p s and of the Bund, in the Central Committee of the Polish Bolshe-
accomplishing systematic work of educa­ vik-Leninists, were refugees from the Polish
tion, of molding intellectually the youths in military regime, and were then living in
our spirit without running directly the risk Paris. The Polish group could not have af­
of being accused of fractional activity."21 forded to send people all the way from War­
Although the Polish Trotskyists entered saw specifically to attend the meeting.

650 Poland
Sztokfisz and Lamed had arrived in Paris in tion was overridden, with only the two Poles
March 1938, and had entered into contact and Yvan Craipeau voting against the imme­
with Rudolf Klement, who was making the diate establishment of the Fourth Interna­
plans for the conference but was assassi­ tional17 The Polish delegates made it clear
nated by Stalinist agents before it was held.13 that their opposition to the proclamation of
The Poles played an active and rather dis­ the International did not mean any disloy­
sident role in the Founding Conference. alty to the movement. They announced
They objected to the passage in the Transi­ after the vote that they would "respect loy­
tional Program adopted by the conference ally the discipline of the IVth International
which claimed that strikes which resulted and apply as best they could the decisions
in workers occupying factories had revolu­ of the world congress."28
tionary significance. Sztokfisz argued that The Founding Conference had a special
in Poland such strikes had on various occa­ Polish Commission. Two proposed resolu­
sions been expressions of workers' despera­ tions were submitted to the Commission.29
tion rather than of their revolutionary The motion which was finally adopted
ardor;w however, their proposal to amend urged the Polish Trotskyists to take advan­
the Program was defeated with only the two tage of the fact that the Comintern had just
Polish delegates voting for i t 2S dissolved the Polish Communist Party. To
The Polish delegates, however, strongly that end it urged withdrawal of the Trotsky­
supported Trotsky's position and that of the ists from activity within the Bund, the for­
majority of the delegates to the conference mation of an "independent" organization,
insofar as the characterization of the Soviet and "elaboration of a political platform in­
Union as still being a workers state was con­ cluding the slogans and tasks which the Pol­
cerned. Sztokficz labelled Yvan Craipeau's ish Bolshevik Leninists propose in their
proposed amendment to the Transition Pro­ country."30
gram, which would have claimed that a new
ruling class had emerged in the USSR, as
Demise of Polish Trotskyism
"non-Marxist."16
The most important opposition position The Second World War destroyed Polish
taken by the Poles was their objection to the Trotskyism. Stefan Lamed has written:
formal proclamation of the Fourth Interna­ "The movement was physically wiped out
tional. Both delegates argued that the three by the Nazis. I also know of some victims
previous internationals had all been pro­ of the Soviet occupation. There was no exile
claimed in periods when the workers and movement to speak of. A few individuals,
revolutionary movements were on the up­ like myself, survived because, tracked by
swing, and their establishment had thrown the police, we had to flee the country."31
terror into the capitalist ruling class. In con­ Reiner Tosstorff has brought to our atten­
trast, in 1938 there was a conservative and tion the fact that a Trotskyist group func­
reactionary trend which would mean that tioned in the Warsaw ghetto before the up­
the proclamation of a new revolutionary in­ rising in which the ghetto was wiped out.
ternational would have little impact. This He has written: "I came recently across the
was particularly the case, they argued, be­ Trotskyist group in the Warsaw ghetto. . . .
cause of the exceedingly small size of the The group published two journals between
groups and parties making up the Interna­ 1940 and 1941 in Polish: Czerwony
tional. Unlike each of its three predecessors, sztandar [Red Flag] and Przegad Marksis-
the Fourth International had no major na­ towski (Marxist Tribune]."i%There is no in­
tional working-class or revolutionary group dication that any of the members of that
associated with it. However, their opposi­ group survived the war.

Poland 651
 With the development of the opposition have developed any Polish group during the
movement within Stalinist Poland in the Solidarity period. In October 1981 it began
1960s and thereafter, the international to publish a Polish version of Inpiecoi called
Trotskyist movement generally expressed Inpiekor, which appeared every two months
great sympathy with the dissidents. A l­ for some years thereafter. Among other
though they particularly indicated backing things, it carried articles by several of the
for the dissident intellectual group ko r , and intellectuals associated with Solidarity, in­
professed to see similarities between its po­ cluding Jacek Kuron and Adam Michnik.36
sition and that of International Trotskyism,
there is no indication that the kor people
considered themselves Trotskyists or that
they were in direct contact with any branch
of International Trotskyism.
The only avowedly Trotskyist group was
established among exiles on the initiative of
the Hungarian Trotskyist Balasz Nagy
(Varga). This was the Revolutionary Labor
League of Poland, which in the early 1980s
was said to be affiliated with Varga's splinter
group known simply as The Fourth Interna­
tional.33
The Vargaites claimed that some of their
people had been involved in Solidarity, in­
cluding "a trade union leader elected in a
mining firm with more than 1,000 work­
ers." With regard to imprisoned solidarity
militants, in July 1984 the Vargaites' Span­
ish periodical reported: "Among the Work­
ers, there are the Trotskyists, militants of
our Polish section (l o r p ). Although they are
few and in spite of the extremely hard condi­
tions of their detention, for instance in one
of the hardest prisons of the country, in
Strzelce Opolski, they have shown all their
energy not only to defend the other workers,
the ideals of the free union Solidarnosc, but
to propagate the ideas and program of the IV
International."3’'
Another group which appeared during this
same period has also been labelled Trotsky­
ist by the British dissident Socialist Orga­
nizer group, This was the Polish Socialist
Party of Labor, organized by Edmund Ba-
luka, who had been a leader of the Szczecin
shipyard workers' strikes in 1970-71. He
was put on trial by the Jaruzelski regime in
198 3.35
The United Secretariat does not appear to

652 Poland
 Trotskyism in Portugal March 1975. Both were defeated. In April
1975 elections for a constituent assembly
were held, and it met for a year or more after
that, establishing the framework for a new
regime to succeed the fascistic Salazar-Cae-
tano dictatorship.
Trotskyism first appeared in Portugal in the During the first fifteen months or more of
final phase of the corporative state dictator­ the revolutionary regime the m f a worked
ship which had been established by Antonio most closely with the Communist Party,
Salazar in the late 19203 and continued un­ which at the time of the fall of the Caetano
der his successor Marcelo Caetano, and regime had the best-organized cadre of all
which was finally overthrown by a military groups which had opposed the dictatorship.
coup on April 25, 1974. The appearance of As a result of this close collaboration, the
Trotskyism was an indirect consequence of Communists came to control most of the
the student unrest of the late 1960s and early country's newspapers as well as the new
1970s. labor movement which came into existence
In the late 1960s student associations after the overthrow of Caetano. A Trade
were established at Lisbon and Coimbra uni­ Union Unity Law passed early in 1975
versities and in some high schools. Hernan­ "froze c p control of the union structure."2
do dos Santos, a leader of the Alian?a Socia­ In the April 1975 elections it was the So­
lista da Juventude after the anti-Caetano cialist Party which received the overwhelm­
coup, said in an interview in mid-1975 that ingly largest vote, 37 percent. The Commu­
"It was out of the student movement that nists got only about a third of what the
most of the left-wing groups grew, including Socialists received. But before the election
the Trotskyist organizations. The Trotsky­ both Socialists and Communists had signed
ist movement played a very important role an agreement with the m f a which guaran­
in organizing the student movement—espe­ teed that the m f a would continue as the
cially in the secondary schools in Lisbon. dominant element in the government re­
They initiated the student associations and gardless of who would win the election, at
the student newspapers in the schools."1 least until the completion of the new consti­
With the overthrow of Caetano began a tution.
period of about a year and a half which the After the April election the Communists
Trotskyists of Portugal and outside of the continued to have the i n s i d e track with the
country agreed was "prerevolutionary." M F A - d o m in a t e d government. This was
There were several key events during this shown in July 1975 when a group of Com­
period. munist-led printers seized control of Repub-
The dominant political element after lica, one of the few Socialist Party dailies in
April 1974 was the Armed Forces Move­ Lisbon, a n d refused to allow t h e Socialist
ment ( m f a ), composed of those military of­ editors to determine the policy of the paper
ficers who had carried out the overthrow of or even enter the premises. Soldiers were
the Caetano regime and who provided the sent to assure control of the paper by the
presidents, prime ministers, and other key Communist-led printers.
officials of the various "provisional" govern­ The Socialists organized massive demon­
ments which came thereafter. strations in which hundreds of thousands of
There were two attempts by more conser­ workers participated to protest the seizure
vative-minded officers to overthrow the rev­ of their paper. They finally withdrew from
olutionary regime during the period under the fifth provisional government which was
consideration, those of September 1974 and then in power. In August 1975 there was a

1
Portugal 653
 1

new shakeup in the m f a and in the govern­ movement at the time of its February 1974
ment, in which officers more allied with the meeting.
Socialists than with the Communists came About these two organizations, Gerry Fo­
out ahead. As a consequence the Socialists ley, Joseph Hansen, and George Novack
joined the new sixth provisional govern­ wrote in October 1975: "Both groups began
ment and the Communists had a very sec­ as very small nuclei in the underground
ondary role in it. struggle against the Caetano dictatorship.
Finally, on November 25-26 1975 a new They have played an active role in the ongo­
crisis developed. The government dismissed ing revolutionary events in Portugal. As a
General Otelo de Carvalho, a close c p sym­ consequence, despite some errors, they have
pathizer, as commander of the Lisbon garri­ recruited and become recognized as a dis­
son. As a consequence, military elements tinctive revolutionary current. In our opin­
sympathetic with the Communists and ap­ ion, the two groups would gain'considerably
parently in concert with them attempted to by uniting their forces on a principled
seize power, taking over military airbases basis."4
around Lisbon, seizing radio stations and What Foley, Hansen, and Novack did not
other places. When there was a strong reac­ specifically indicate was that the two Portu­
tion from military forces loyal to the govern­ guese organizations were aligned with dif­
ment, the Communists quickly shifted their ferent factions in the struggle then under­
position, withdrawing their support from way within the United Secretariat. The l c i
the attempted coup. Thereafter, although was associated with the "Majority Ten­
the Communists remained in the govern­ dency" centered on Mandel, Frank, and Mai­
ment for some time, there was no longer any tan, the p r t was more or less aligned with
possibility that they could seize power in the u s e c faction organized around the So­
alliance with friendly military men.3 cialist Workers Party of the United States.
It was against the background of these During at least the first year and a half
events that the Trotskyist movement had after the overthrow of Caetano, a third Por­
its baptism of fire in Portugal. From its in­ tuguese group had contact and more or less
ception it was a divided movement. At least close association with another faction of In­
three different factions of the international ternational Trotskyism, that is, the Interna­
Trotskyist movement had affiliates or tional Socialists (is). The group with which
groups sympathetic to them in this early the is tendency formed links was the Partido
period. Revolucionario do Proletariado/Brigadas
Revolucionarias (p r p - b r , or more usually re­
ferred to as p r p ). The p r p has been described
The Emergence of Trotskyist Parties
as "An armed guerrilla force against Cae­
At the time of the fall of the Caetano dicta­ tano formed from a split with the p c p in
torship, in April 1974, there existed two 1971. p r p formed as a political wing . . . in
groups in Portugal which declared their loy­ September 1973. Led by Senhora Isabel do
alty to International Trotskyism. One was Carmo its politics have a mix of the Guevara
the Liga Comunista Internacionalista (l c i ), and classical Left Communism of the '20s."5
which had already contacted the United Sec­ Relationships of the international tenden­
retariat of the Fourth International and had cies with their counterpart groups in Portu­
been accepted as a sympathizing organiza­ gal served to stimulate factionalism on an
tion at the February 1974 congress of u s e c . international level. Strong divergences
The other organization, the Partido Revo­ within u s e c over Portuguese issues consid­
lucionario dos Trabalhadores (p r t ) was ap­ erably intensified the existing schism
parently not known to the international within that body. Emerging differences of

654 Portugal
opinion over Portugal were a major factor in ple," that sort of thing. The reformists of
a split between the British and United States the Socialist Party and the c p emphasized
members of the International Socialist Ten­ support to the Armed Forces Movement.7
dency.
The p r t supported the candidates of the
Liga Comunista Intemacionalista in the
The u sec Parties April 197s election for a constituent assem­
bly.8 During the campaign the l c i called for
The two groups associated with u s e c coop­
formation of a "workers government." One
erated on a number of occasions. In April
of its leaders, Adelino Fortunato, elaborated
1975 both groups participated in a public
on this call: "We are opposed to the capital­
debate in which the Socialist Party was also
ist Ministers remaining in the government.
represented. This meeting was sponsored by
the Alian$a Socialista da Juventude (a s t ), the .. . We propose a workers government in
which all the organizations of the working
youth group of the p r t . Gerry Foley of the
class would be represented (the rural associ­
s w p reported that at this meeting the repre­
ations, factory associations, unions, etc.) in
sentative of the l c i Bernardo de Souza, ex­
order to offer a real guarantee that the inter­
plained that the a s ; and p r t "were united
ests of the masses will be upheld. . . ."9
with the l c i in their support of the Fourth
International and, as Trotskyists, repre­ The l c i was the only one of the twelve
legally recognized parties participating in
sented the revolutionary traditions of the
the April 1975 election which refused to
workers movement and May Day."6
sign a "pact-platform" to be included in the
Both groups participated in the resistance
new constitution by the yet-to-be elected
against the March 1975 coup attempt by
constitutional assembly presented to them
right-wing military officers. It was reported
by the m f a . The essence of this document
in Intercontinental Press that the Liga Com­
was stated by the official spokesman for the
unista Intemacionalista
m f a : "It is obvious . .. that we are not pre­

. . . issued a leaflet on the day of the pared to yield on the essential points, one of
attempted coup. . . . It called for the for­ which is institutionalization of the m f a ."
mation of armed workers pickets in the Although the l c i attended the meeting of
factories; for assemblies of soldiers and party representatives with the m f a at which
sailors to remove reactionary officers and the pact-platform was adopted, they refused
work with the elected workers commis­ to accept the document. Subsequently, in
sions; for the expropriation and public their election meetings they expressed their
trial of all capitalists implicated in the opposition to the deal which the other par­
coup; and for the immediate dissolution ties had agreed to with the military
of the repressive security police and the leaders.10
Republican National Guard, sections of In the months following the April 1975
which had participated in the coup at­ election, serious divergences developed be­
tempt. The p r t .. . ran off a new issue of tween the positions of the l c i and the p r t
its fortnightly newspaper Combate So­ as well as between their respective backers
cialista. .. . The newspaper's demands, within the United Secretariat. One issue
featured on the front page, were similar over which this split developed was the dep­
to those of the l c i . . . . rivation of the Socialist Party of control of
The Trotskyists were the only ones to the newspaper Republica by the papers'
put forward a program of concrete de­ printers under leadership of Communists
mands. . .. The Maoists, for example, and their allies in June 1975—a move sup­
simply talked about "unity of the peo­ ported by the military. The l c i not only

Portugal 655
 supported this action but cooperated with sion of this coalition. It issued a statement
moves to prevent demonstrations of the So­ in Combate Socialista: "The p r t believes
cialists in Lisbon against seizure of their those organizations that had signed the
paper. There they joined with Communists Pact-Program . . . have so capitulated to a
and some extreme leftists in building barri­ bourgeois government, the supporter of the
cades across streets down which the Social­ antilabor 'battle for production.' " It ap­
ist demonstrators were scheduled to march. pealed to the l c i "to denounce this popular
In Oporto and other cities the l c i partici­ front yourselves," and "to continue to com­
pated alongside the Communists in coun- bine forces with us in the task of unifying
ter-demonstrations against those organized the revolutionary Marxist forces in a solid
by the Socialists.11 Revolutionary Workers Party. . . ," 16
The actions of the l c i were endorsed by The l c i continued to be part of f u r for at
the "Majority Tendency" in u s e c but were least a year. It presumably was involved in
strongly denounced by leaders of the U.S. the abortive coup d'etat of November 25-
Socialist Workers Party.12 The p r t , sup­ 2.6, 1975, but it did not go along with p u r ' s
ported at the time by the U.S. Trotskyists, support of Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho in the
apparently did not join the l c i on the Repub- 1976 presidential election.
lica issue. The l c i and p r t joined in naming their
A few weeks later, in August 1975, an­ own nominee in the 1976 election: Arleta
other question divided the l c i and p r t . A Vieira, a one-time member of the under­
number of the groups to the left of the Portu­ ground Communist Party who had run as a
guese Communist Party (p c p ) formed an alli­ p r t candidate in legislative elections in

ance with the p c p and the pro-Communist April 1975. Disaster overtook the candi­
faction of the m f a , establishing the People's dacy. As Gerry Foley explains "The Trotsky­
United Front (f u p ). In a statement explain­ ist groups were taken by surprise when some
ing its participation in this front the l c i newspapers proved that Vieira da Silva had
noted that it had certain disagreements with not spent three years in prison on political
points in the front agreement, but that it charges as she said. . . . Objectively, this er­
considered it a move "to halt and defeat the ror was the result of the weakness of the
current offensive of capitalist reaction."13 small, young Trotskyist groups that have
Only three days after the formation of the had to assume political responsibilities far
front the Communist Party was expelled beyond their organizational strength. . . ." 17
from it by the other constituent members
"after p cp leader Cunhal had called for a
The Partido Revolucionario
compromise with the sp ."14The other mem­
do Proletariado
bers of the group continued as the Front for
Revolutionary Unity (fu r ), which published During this same period the Partido Revo­
its program early in September: "It includes lucionario do Proletariado maintained a far
a denunciation of the Constituent Assembly left position. It was described as having
elections as part of a 'reactionary bourgeois "formed the c r t s m s , embryonic 'soviets' in
offensive' and demands 'the dissolution of the Lisbon region.. . . " It also had "consider­
the Constituent Assembly and opposing its able support from sections of the c o p c o m , "
bourgeois character.' It points out the road a faction of the m r a . ‘%
for a massive offensive to defeat the Social Representatives of the "embryonic sovi­
Democracy and to crush fascism . . . and for ets" were brought together at a two-day con­
national independence from imperialism. gress in Lisbon in April 1 97 s . It was claimed
„is that there were delegates present from 150
The prt did n o t p a rticip a te in e ith e r v e r ­ "factories and organizations," as well as

656 Portugal
from thirty-six "army units." The aim of the The f u r , including p r p , supported the
conference "was to deepen and unify the presidential candidacy of General Otelo Sa-
struggle for workers' control in the factories, raiva de Carvalho in 1976. He was an officer
and to form a network of powerful revolu­ who had headed the Army's "security
tionary workers' councils. It also aims to forces" as well as being commander of the
form soldiers' committees to fight for an end Lisbon military region for some months.
to officers' decorations and privileges."19 Among his actions in that period was the
The main base for these "workers commis­ prevention of reassertion of Socialist Party
sions" controlled by the p r p was the ship­ control over Republica. His ouster as Lisbon
yard workers of Setenave and Llanave, said commander had sparked the November 25-
to be the world's largest shipyards.20 The 26 coup attempt.24
p r p abstained in the constituent assembly The issue of whether or not to continue
election of April 1975 21 to support the p r p provoked a split in the
The p r p was one of the two largest ele­ ranks of the International Socialist Ten­
ments in the Frente de Unidade Revolucio­ dency of International Trotskyism. The
naria, established in August 1975. In the British is "criticized the p r p for the slogan
months following the establishment of the 'Unite, Organize, Arm' which was used in
f u r , the p r p , together with the Movimento the fall of 19 7S’ Only a party with power in
de Esquerda Socialista, a Communist fel­ the working class can call for arming. With
low-travelling split-off from the Socialist soviets at an embryonic level and with no
Party, argued "that an insurrection was nec­ revolutionary party, the call for arming for
essary to avoid the danger of another Chile. insurrection was . . . premature in October
But they expected it only after some weeks 1975 ----------"

of building support for it in the factories."12 The American is group, on the other hand,
They did not have those "some weeks" be­ continued to support the p r p for some time:
fore the attempted coup of November 25- "they admitted the p r p was weak 'theoreti­
26. cally' on party building but that 'in practice'
A U.S. source friendly to the p r p reported it had built a party. It did this, they argued,
in October that "in the last month, the through taking key initiatives to build the
United Revolutionary Front which was revolution. . . . Disagreement over the p r p
formed in August has developed as a leading began to chill relations between the two
force in the working class. Within the Front,
the Proletarian Revolutionary Party-Revo­
lutionary Brigades (p k p -b k ) is leading the po­
litical Jfight for arming workers and taking The Partido Socialista Revolucionario
power... . The basic conditions for a work­
ers' insurrection to seize power are rapidly For several years after the November 1975
developing in Portugal. The greatest test of events the l c i and p r t continued to exist as
the revolution is at hand: creating the pow­ separate parties, although cooperating from
erful network of workers' commissions, mi­ time to time as in the 1976 election cam­
litias, or councils that can seize the paign. The l c i held several congresses dur­
power."23 ing this period.
The groups belonging to the f u r , includ­ The Third Congress of the l c i was held in
ing the p r p , only joined the November 1975 January 1976. It reviewed the events leading
coup after they became convinced that the to the November 25-26 crisis and called for
Communist Party was supporting it; Soon the l c i to concentrate on building up the
after they threw their support to the move­ "workers commissions" which had ap­
ment the p c p withdrew its backing. peared more or less spontaneously during

Portugal 657
 the previous year and a half. It also went on Heitor de Sousa and Antonio Gomes, signed
record as favoring unification with the p r t .16 an official agreement with Carvalho on a
The Fourth Congress of the l c i was held program for the campaign.30
in February 1977. It was reported that "the At the time of the 1983 parliamentary
approximately 100 delegates present election the p s r urged the need for an alli­
adopted various documents unanimously or ance of the Socialist and Communist parties
by majority vote. These dealt with the polit­ and criticized strongly the refusal of both of
ical situation and the building of the organi­ those groups to join forces.31 It also urged
zation, work in the factories, work among establishment of a united bloc of all parties
student youth, work among women, the in­ and groups to the left of the Socialists and
ternational situation, and the fusion with Communists. An editorial in the party
the Partido Revolucionario dos Trabalha­ newspaper, Combate Opeiario, insisted on
dores. .. . The Congress also adopted new "the necessity of convergence of all revolu­
statutes and elected a new leadership."17 tionary organizations, without exclusions
With the ending of the decade-long split and without sectarianism, in a Front of
within the ranks of the United Secretariat Unity in Action, in the struggles of today,
in the late 1970s the l c i and p r t were finally the elections of tomorrow, the class strug­
united as the Partido Socialista Revolucio­ gles of the day after tomorrow. There is no
nario (p s r ). The united party participated in time to lose."3*
the December 1979 parliamentary election As the presidential election of 1985 ap­
which overall was won by forces of the Cen­ proached the p s r again urged unity around
ter-Right. a left candidate. Its Executive Committee in
A meeting of the Executive Committee of July 1984 issued a statement to the effect
the p s r on the night of the election issued a that "for preparation of a VIABLE ALTER­
statement boasting that "the p s r was the NATIVE CANDIDACY IN 1985, a working
only party that more than doubled its votes class candidate originating from discussions
compared to the 1976 election results, and deliberations of trade union delegates,
showing a 127 percent growth. This result Workers Commissions, activists in the
can be understood only in line with the real struggle against austerity and repression,
impact of our campaign." The p s r ran 352 the p s r places all of its forces at the service
candidates throughout the country. During of public discussion of launching a unitary
the campaign they had the right to sixty- working class candidacy."33
five minutes on television and twelve hours In 1982 the United Secretariat claimed
on various radio stations, and it was reported that the p s r was the second largest Portu­
that "having profited from this unique occa­ guese political group to the left of the Com­
sion the p s r is now trying to consolidate munist Party. The largest such element was
itself on a national scale. . . ,"18 the Uniao Democratica Popular, a former
Parliamentary elections were again held Maoist group. The p s r was said to be active
in October 1980, in which the Center-Right in both existing trade union organizations,
was once more generally victorious. The p sr the Communists' Confederacao Geral dos
again felt that it did well in this poll. It Trabalhadores (c g t p ) and the Socialists'
received about one percent of the total vote, Uniao Geral dos Trabalhadores.34
compared with 0.65 percent the year From time to time the Trade Union Com­
before.29 mittee of the p s r organized meetings of its
About two months after the 1980 parlia­ trade union activists, to which sympathiz­
mentary elections there was a presidential ers were also sometimes invited. Early in
poll. In this campaign the p s r supported ex­ 1983 such sessions were held in Lisbon, Set-
general Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho. Early in ubal, Oporto, and Aveiro in preparation for
November two representatives of the p s r , a forthcoming congress of the c g t p . These

658 Portugal
meetings stressed the themes of "labor Posadista Fourth
unity" and "trade union democracy."35
International
The Partido Operario de Unidade
Socialista
Meanwhile, another Trotskyist party had
come into existence in Portugal, an affiliate One of the most idiosyncratic and unortho­
of the Lambertists' Organizing Committee dox factions of International Trotskyism to
for the Reconstruction of the Fourth Inter­ develop following the splintering of the orig­
national. This had been formed as the result inal Fourth International in the 1950s was
of a split in the Socialist Party in 1977- that led and completely dominated by the
In January 1977 there was a purge of left- Argentine Homero Cristali, generally
wing elements from the Socialist Party. At known by his pen name, J. Posadas. It was
that time, the National Secretariat of the s p more or less active during the twenty years
denounced what it called "Trotskyist infil­ before his death in 1981, and at least some
tration" of the party and named in particular of the national "sections" of the Posadas
tyso deputies, Aires Rodrigues and Carmel- version of the Fourth International survived
inda Pereira, as leading "infiltrators."36 his demise.
Soon afterwards a party known as the Par­ The Posadista Fourth International had
tido Operario de Unidade Socialista {p o u s } its origins in the Latin American Bureau
was founded by those expelled from the So­ which Posadas had organized for the Inter­
cialist ranks. The party ran candidates in national Secretariat faction of the f i during
both the 1979 and 1980 elections, in both the 1950s. When negotiations for reunifica­
cases their slates being headed by Aires Ro­ tion of the International Secretariat and the
drigues and Carmelinda Pereira. In 1979 the International Committee (which ultimately
p o u s got about 0.2 percent of the vote and led to the establishment of the United Secre­
in 1980 it received 1.4 percent, and in some tariat) got seriously underway, Posadas and
districts received the fourth largest total.37 the Latin American Bureau refused to go
The Lambertists also participated in the De­ along with these negotiations. Instead, they
cember 1980 presidential election. They ran established their own version of the Fourth
Aires Rodrigues as the p o u s candidate.38 International.
The Partido Operario de Unidade Social­ The Posadistas first general international
ista had as its official organ the biweekly gathering after the Emergency Conference
newspaper O Militante Socialista. In 1982 which established their group as a separate
it carried on a strong campaign against con­ faction they called the Seventh Congress of
stitutional modifications which were being the Fourth International. It met in March
carried out by the conservative government, 1964. A post-congress comunique noted
to retreat to some degree from the national­ that it had been held "in Europe," without
izations of firms and the agrarian reform further elaboration, and that "delegates rep­
which had been carried out after the failure resenting thirteen countries of Africa, Eu­
of the second military coup of March 1975. rope, and Latin America" attended and that
It also regularly carried official news of the the congress lasted ten days.
Provisional International Secretariat of the There were seven items on the agenda of
International Center for Reconstruction of the Posadista Seventh Congress. Four dif­
the Fourth International, and of its national ferent people delivered reports to the meet­
affiliates, especially that in neighboring ing on the various agenda items, with Posa­
Spain.39 das himself giving the opening address and
the organizational report. The communi­

Posadista Fourth International 659

que noted the adoption of the following res­ gress the organization held its First School
olutions: "Political Resolution; Manifesto of World Cadres and it was reported that
of the Congress for the ist of May . . . Reso­ forty-two people participated in either the
lution on the capitulators, Livio Maitan, congress or the school. Of the seventeen
Michel Pablo, E. Germain, and Pierre sections of the Posadista Fourth Interna­
Frank; Resolution on the Program of Tran- tional in 1967, nine were reported as being
sition for the Political Revolution; Resolu­ in Latin America, six in Europe, and two in
tion on the Program of Transition between Africa.4
the preparation of the atomic war by impe­ Again, the communique issued on the oc­
rialism, the atomic war itself, the simulta­ casion of this congress gave some indication
neous Socialist Revolution, and the period of the activity of the Posadas version of the
of immediate socialist reconstruction of all Fourth International in the -period since its
humanity."1 previous meeting. It reported that fifteen na­
The communique on the Seventh Con­ tional periodicals, in addition to Revista
gress also reported on the activities of the Marxista Latinoamexicana and a European
various sections of the Posadista organiza­ review in Italian, were being published. Also
tion since the establishment of the interna­ eighteen pamphlets on a variety of subjects,
tional faction as a separate organization: and one hundred "bulletins" in eight differ­
"The Congress confirmed that only a year ent languages had been issued. Special note
and a half after the reorganization of the was taken of a document on "Function and
European and African sections, of the con­ Structure of the IV International" which
stitution of new sections, these have rein­ was proclaimed to be the "only document
forced themselves and maintain their bi­ which continues the texts of the masters of
weekly or monthly publications in a regular Marxism, Marx, Engels, Lenin, and
way and have continued dynamic and devel­ Trotsky," and which "organizes the func­
oping activity in the struggle of the Euro­ tioning in this stage of the IV International
pean proletariat, gaining authority and posi­ and of its revolutionary organs. "s
tions in it. Particularly, the Congress points The tenor of the discussion at the Eighth
out the activity of the Spanish section, Congress is reflected in the communique's
which in spite of the repression of Franco, comment that "the sections of the IV Inter­
develops regular and growing activity."2 national have been and are harmonized in
At that time, the "regularly appearing pe­ thought and in the objectives of the anti­
riodicals" were reported as coming out in imperialist and anticapitalist World United
Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bel­ Front, in support of the Political Revolution
gium (two, one in French, one in Flemish), in China and in Cuba, support of the prole­
Great Britain, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Italy, tarian revolution, the world socialist revo­
France, Spain, and Algeria. In addition, the lution."6
Posadista Fourth International was itself is­ At this Eighth Congress only Posadas and
suing two periodicals in Spanish, Cuarta In­ two other delegates, identified as comrades
ternational and Revista Marxista Latino- Arroyo and Ramirez, delivered reports on
americana, both of which were published in the various items on the agenda. In each case
Montevideo, Uruguay.3 the reports were "adopted as resolutions"
The Eighth World Congress of the Posa­ by the congress. One Taf these "resolutions"
das group was held in Europe in April 1967. was an extended criticism by Posadas of the
A communique issued afterwards indicated reports of comrades Arroyo and Ramirez.7
that thirteen of the seventeen existing sec­ At the cadre school held right after the
tions were represented with four not being congress, five courses were given, all by J.
able to send delegates "because of repres­ Posadas. These were "Dialectical Material­
sion and clandestinity." Right after the con­ ism, Historical Materialism, Marxism:

660 Posadista Fourth International

Their Fundamentals," "What Is and What gan of the International Secretariat of the IV
Remains of Capitalism," "History of the La­ International," coming out of Montevideo,
bor Movement and of the IV International," Uruguay, but with editions also in Argen­
"Construction, Structure, and Future of the tina, Mexico, Bolivia, and Spain. Also, the
Workers States/' and "Analysis of the European Marxist Review appeared in En­
Atomic War, Its Consequences, and the glish, Italian, and French as the "Organ of
Tasks for the Post-Atomic War."8 the European Bureau of the IV Interna­
By 1 971 the Posadas version of the Fourth tional."9
International still claimed seventeen par­ The Tenth (and presumably last) Congress
ties, each of which issued a periodical. A of the Posadas version of the Fourth Interna­
pamphlet published in Santiago, Chile, in tional took place in July 1975. It is interest­
June 1 971 gave the list of the Posadista par­ ing to note that the session was officially
ties and their respective periodicals as the called the "X World Congress of the Trots­
following: kyist-Posadista International." No informa­
tion is available concerning how many na­
Algeria: Goupe IV Internationale, clandes­
tional groups were represented. It is clear
tine, Revolution Socialiste
from Posadas's own discussion at the meet­
Argentina: Partido Obrero (Trotskista), also
ing that the organization and its national
clandestine, Voz Proletaria
sections were having difficulties. At one
Belgium: Parti Ouvrier Revolutionnaire
point Posadas urged: "Among the objectives
(Trotskiste), Lutte Ouvriere
which all the sections must have, from the
Bolivia: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
French to the Greek section, Mexican—is to
(Trotskista), Lucha Obrera.
regularize the publications, have good texts,
Brazil: Partido Operario Revolucionario
raise political capacity, organize, elevate,
(Trotskista), clandestine, Frente Operaria
and educate new leaders. . . ," 10 At another
Cuba: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
point Posadas indicated that the publica­
(Trotskista), Voz Proletaria
tions of the International itself were no
Ecuador: Partido Comunista Revoluciona­
longer appearing regularly: "A t the same
rio (Trotskista), Lucha Comunista
time that we salute with all our Communist
France: Parti Communiste Revolutionnaire
love the decision of the Latin American sec­
(Trotskiste), Lutte Communiste
tions, the decision of the Latin American
Germany: Grupe IV Internationale, Arbeiter
Bureau to publish Revista Marxista, we pro­
Stimme
pose as a resolution: that the sections of
Great Britain: Revolutionary Workers Party
each continent, in various countries, under­
(Trotskyist), Red Flag
take to publish Revista Marxista. . . . Pub­
Greece: Revolutionary Communist Party,
lishing the regular periodical . . . there is
clandestine, Kommonisti Kipali
solution for all the present deficiencies.
Italy: Partito Communista Rivoluzionario nil
(Trotskista), Lotta Operaia
One difficulty faced by the Posadas Fourth
Mexico: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
International was that of maintaining a via­
(Trotskista), illegal, Voz Obrera
ble headquarters for the movement. Until
Middle East: Revolution Socialiste was the
1965 it was based in Uruguay. In October of
"organ of Arab and Persian militants"
that year the Montevideo police raided the
Peru: Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trots­
headquarters of the Posadas party there and
kista), Vox Obrera
broke up a meeting of the Posadas Fourth
Uruguay: Partido Obrero Revolucionario
International.12 From then on it was very
(Trotskista), Frente Obrero
difficult for the Posadas group to maintain
It was also noted that the Revista Marx­ a solid base of operations. There is some
ista Latinoamericana appeared as the "Or­ indication that until the fall of the Allende

Posadista Fourth International 661

regime they may have functioned out of San­ confidence in themselves, that is the
tiago, Chile. Thereafter Posadas seems to same as Trotsky and all our teachers,
have spent most of his time in Europe—and Marx, Engels, and Lenin, to construct the
where Posadas was, the headquarters of his ranks and leading cadres of the IV Interna­
Fourth International was also. tional. . .. The role of Comrade J. Posadas,
Posadas died in Italy some time in 19 8 1.13 like that of Trotsky . . . is that of assuring
With him certainly died his version of the the continuity of Marxism, applying it
Fourth International. However, some of the creatively and scientifically in this stage
Posadas national groups continued to func­ of history, building the conscious leader­
tion. Thus, there continued to appear in Bra­ ship group.15
zil Frente Operaria, which was identified on
its masthead as the "spokesman for Posadi­ Similarly, mpst of the activity of the sec­
sta thought in Brazil." Six of the eight pages tions of the Posadas Fourth International
of its September 1983 issue were taken up was centered on getting out as regularly as
with old articles by Posadas, while half of possible newspapers and other documents
the four pages of the May 1984 issue were which were largely devoted to propagating
also taken up by Posadas's writings.14 the ideas of J. Posadas. For example, the is­
sue of Voz Obrera, organ of the Partido
Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista) of Peru,
The Posadas Cult of Personality for the second fortnight of October 1969,
devoted half its space to a long article by
From the inception of the Posadas Fourth
Posadas, the other half dealing with a public
International it was more or less completely
meeting the party was arranging.16 Like­
dominated by J. Posadas. We have already
wise, the May 30, 1972, issue of Frente
noted his predominant role in the various
Obrero, organ of the Uruguayan Partido
world congresses of the group, and that in
Obrero Revolucionario {Trotskista}, devoted
its later phases what had started tiut as "The
four and a half of its eight pages to a resolu­
Fourth International" was officially trans­
tion of the International Secretariat "based
formed into "The Trotskyist-Posadista
on the ideas and thought of Comrade jf. Posa­
Fourth International."
das," and to an article by Posadas.17 The
The publications of the Posadas version of
issue of Voz Obrera, organ of the Mexican
the Fourth International were largely filled
Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista),
with the writings of Posadas himself. They
for the first fortnight of April 1975 carried
were also fulsome in their praise of Posadas.
no less than four articles by Posadas, taking
Typical is the introduction to a pamphlet
up five of its eight pages.18
by Posadas published in commemoration of
Although Posadas's published criticisms
Trotsky on the twenty-seventh anniversary
of two of the reporters to the 1967 World
of his assassination:
Congress would seem to indicate that at that
It was and is the theoretical, political, and time there were still some people in the
organizational capacity of J. Posadas, to leadership of the Posadista Fourth Interna­
understand the forms of the Revolution tional who did not totally accept all of his
in this stage of history, to comprehend ideas and interpretations of reality, such dis-
profoundly the nature of the mass move­ sidence certainly did not persist. Indeed, Po­
ments, to understand the stage of final sadas developed a concept of the organiza­
settling of accounts, based on the confi­ tional nature of the Fourth International
dence, on the indestructible revolution­ which varied substantially from that which
ary capacity of the masses, and the revolu­ Trotsky had supposedly defended.
tionary will based on assurance and Posadas developed a peculiarly elitist con­

662 Posadista Fourth International

 cept of "democratic centralism." He com­ spoke prodigiously. He had a tortured
mented in a speech which was adopted as a method of expression which at times bor­
resolution of the plenum of his International dered on incomprehensibility. In his talks
Secretariat in February 1966 that "the orga­ and publications he would weave together
nization of the Party and of the International recent or current events in the most diver­
must permit that the elements which are gent parts of the world, to reach conclusions
most capable, most developed, or which can about the progress of the revolution.
develop themselves most, because this is A whole volume would be necessary to
the unequal and combined development of trace all the ideas and interpretations which
mankind, can influence the Party, and carry Posadas advanced during this period. Note
it along, elevate it consciously to the objec­ can be taken of a few of them which strongly
tives of the necessity of history . . . without differentiated his "line" from that of the
all having to reach the same scientific com­ orthodox elements in International Trots­
prehension of the whole of history, of soci­ kyism.
ety, and of socialism."19 One of the first questions on which Posa­
Posadas elaborated on how this worked das and his followers adopted a position that
out in practice: "for example, the Party re­ was drastically different from that of other
ceives an article, reads it, discusses it, is groups claiming loyalty to Trotskyism was
harmonized. . . . In the International, when that of atomic war. Particularly during the
Vietnam began, there were three interpreta­ early years of the Posadas Fourth Interna­
tions, two of them erroneous. It was neces­ tional, he and it were proclaiming the inevi­
sary to write immediately. An Italian com­ tability of the outbreak of atomic war in the
rade wrote an article, an Uruguayan another, very near future, and arguing that this was
and Comrade Posadas wrote another. The the supreme opportunity for the forces of
comrades needed to write and they wrote. the world revolution.
When they read the article by Posadas they This was a theme of the Seventh World
fell into line, and activity went forward."20 Congress of the Posadista group. In his "R e­
Speaking at the 1975 Tenth World Con­ port on Organization" which was adopted
gress of his group Posadas again defined this as a resolution of that congress Posadas said,
concept of organization by commenting on "We are preparing ourselves for a stage in
the meeting: "There was not a single dis­ which before the atomic war we shall strug­
pute. It is the most homogeneous Congress, gle for power, during the atomic war we
not because we put disputes aside, but be­ shall struggle for power and we shall be in
cause there was no room for disputes." He power, and immediately after the atomic
went on to add that "if the movement is not war we shall be in power. There is no begin­
monolithic and centralizedly monolithic, it ning, there is an end to atomic war, because
leaves the condition open to insecurity, to atomic war is simultaneous revolution in
doubt, to preoccupation with irrelevant the whole world; not as a chain reaction,
problems or secondary problems: then it dis­ simultaneous. Simultaneity doesn't mean
tracts attention. . . ."2l the same day and the same hour. Great his­
Understandably, with such a monolithic toric events should not be measured by
form of organization, this version of the hours or days, but by periods.. . . The work­
Fourth International became totally identi­ ing class alone will maintain itself, will im­
fied with the ideas and versions of current mediately have to seek its cohesion and cen­
reality which were being expressed at any tralization. . . ,"22
given time by J. Posadas. During the approxi­ Two years later, at an Amplified Meeting
mately twenty years of existence of his of the International Secretariat in February
Fourth International, Posadas wrote and 1966, a manifesto written by Posadas was

Posadista Fourth International 663

adopted which was even more specific about production and planning as the justification
the coincidence of atomic war and the vic­ for this definition, as did most other Trots­
tory of the world revolution: kyists. They also took the traditional posi­
tion of the Trotskyist movement about the
After destruction commences, the masses
need to defend the Soviet Union and other
are going to emerge in all countries—in a
supposedly workers states.
short time, in a few hours. Capitalism
But Posadas went far beyond this. He was
cannot defend itself in an atomic war ex­
quite openhanded in christening a variety of
cept by putting itself in caves and at­
other regimes "workers states," sometimes
tempting to destroy all that it can. The
with clarifying adjectives. At one point in
masses, in contrast, are going to come
1967 the International Secretariat of the Po­
out, will have to come out, because it
sadas group proclaimed that "if the data
is the only way to survive, defeating the
which has been sent us is verified, Syria is a
enemy. There is going to be a chainlike
Workers State. . . The Secretariat also
social reaction, and the preparation for
declared that "the International must follow
the war, the days which precede it, will
closely the evolution of a series of countries
signify also a preparation for the masses.
of Africa [and] Asia, which are developing
It is necessary to foresee that everywhere
into Workers States, such as Syria, Egypt,
there will be a collapse of the power of
Iraq, Mali, Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, etc.,
capitalism. The apparatus of capitalism,
to determine when they pass into being
police, army, will not be able to resist,
Workers States."15
will flee, will attempt to save themselves
Late in 1974 Posadas was willing to accept
individually. . . . It will be necessary to
the new regime established in Ethiopia after
organize the workers' power immedi­
the ouster of Haile Selassie as a workers
ately, even on a limited basis, without
state. Speaking to a World Cadres School he
waiting to control a whole country or
claimed that:
even all of a city. . .
The definition by Posadas and his follow­ One of the most notable, most determin­
ers of which regimes were "workers states" ing things about this stage in history, is
also differed markedly from that of other that any backward country, like those of
factions of International Trotskyism. Before Latin America, Asia, or Africa, which
the splintering of the Fourth International wishes to overcome economic, social, sci­
there had been general agreement that the entific backwardness in which capitalism
Soviet Union, the countries overrun by the maintains them, immediately assumes
Soviet Army at the end of World War II, forms of a Workers State. They statize,
Yugoslavia, Albania, Outer Mongolia, plan, raise the unions to the. role of direc­
North Korea, North Vietnam, and China tion of society, and raise women to partic­
were "workers states." Subsequently, the ipation in society. All, from Dahomey to
Socialist Workers Party of the U.S. baptized Ethiopia. Ethiopia lived backwardness.
the Castro regime with that title, a decision The generals, the military who lived sup­
which was more or less reluctantly agreed porting the Negus, killing, lived in separa­
to by the rest of the United Secretariat, al­ tion from the rest of the world. Those
though not by all of the other factions of same military pass frOrp the opprobrium
International Trotskyism. which Ethiopia signified, to a Workers
Posadas and his followers accepted those State. It is not yet constructed, but in their
same regimes as being "workers states," in­ heads now is the Workers State. They pass
cluding Cuba, as well as accepting the exis­ from being assassins to defend the Work­
tence of generally nationalized means of ers State.26

664 Posadista Fourth International

 Posadas frequently made grotesquely ex­ real entry into social reality, to survive it
aggerated claims about the influence of his calls for the creation of a closed micro­
version of the Fourth International. In one cosm, around a "leadership," or a "leader"
of his many discourses on atomic war, he to whom it voluntarily attributes all its
wrote: "Until six months ago the Chinese dreams of power, assurance and success,
totally ignored this question. Today, they which it cannot itself assume in the real
put this conclusion at the center of their class combat.29
analysis, taking complete phrases from the
It is difficult to quarrel with this assessment
articles of Posadas."27 In the Posadas Fourth
of Posadas.
International's 1970 May Day Manifesto it
was claimed that "in the next phase, the
pressure of the masses is going to lead to the
organization and development of a con­
sciously revolutionary leadership in the
Communist Parties. Imperialism is helpless
to contain this process. To the contrary, it
is constantly accelerated by the authority
and influence of Posadas and of the Fourth
International in the Communist
movement."18
Upon the death of J. Posadas, his one-time
ally and subsequent antagonist, Michel
Raptis (Pablo), wrote an obituary. After pay­
ing tribute to the contribution which Posa­
das had made in the late 1940s and the 1950s
in spreading the Trotskyist movement in
Latin America, Raptis commented on Posa­
das's role as head of his own schismatic
Trotskyist movement:

This perception of revolutionary dyna­

mism of our epoch took him impercepti­
bly to a veritable delirium, expression
without nuances of an eccentric volunta­
rism. . . . He became thus the preacher of
the "permanent revolution" simultane­
ously and everywhere, to the point of giv­
ing it an interplanetary dimension, . . .
[Llost in the confusion of his thoughts and
his desires, [Posadas] saw himself equal
and superior to the greatest thinkers and
captains of the world revolution. Imper­
ceptibly, his enterprise took on truly gro­
tesque dimensions. . . . "Posadism"
evolved into a caricature. However, that
is not unique in the international labor
movement, particularly in the interna­
tional revolutionary left. Often lacking

1 Posadista Fourth International 665

1
 Trotskyism in copies of their platform.3 The l i t was
aligned with the United Secretariat of the
Puerto Rico Fourth International.4
After the Reagan government came to
power in the United States in 1981 the
Puerto Rican Trotskyists complained on a
number of occasions of being harassed by
During two different periods, in the 1930s both the Puerto Rican police and FBI agents
and then in the :970s and 1980s, Trotskyist on the island.5
parties have existed in Puerto Rico. In both When the p s p at its Third Congress in
cases they operated completely independent October 1982 adopted a new platform end­
of the Trotskyist movement in the United ing its self-designation as-, a "vanguard
States. party, " the Liga Intemacionalista de los Tra­
The first Trotskyist group in Puerto Rico bajadores published an attack on this move
was the Partido Comunista Independiente, in La Verdad.6
established in 1934 by Communist leaders
who objected to intervention in the Puerto
Rican c p by the c p of the United States. The
party continued to exist at least until 1939,
when it was reported that it was bringing
out a publication entitled Chispa (SparA).
Pierre Naville reported to the Fourth Inter­
national Founding Conference the existence
of the Puerto Rican section, although he
gave no indication of its name or number of
members.1
The first step in the reestablishment of a
Trotskyist movement in Puerto Rico, after
a lapse of almost thirty-five years, came
with the organization late in 1974 of the
Liga de Juventud Comunista |l j c —League
of Communist Youth). It was an organiza­
tion principally of students, although it as­
pired to win some support in the labor move­
ment by distributing leaflets to workers of
the Water and Power Authority who went
on strike a few weeks after the group was
established.2
By 1976 the l j c had been converted into
the Liga Intemacionalista de los Trabaja­
dores (l i t — Internationalist Workers
League). In that year's general election cam­
paign it gave "critical support" to the candi­
dates of the Partido Socialista Puertorri-
queno (p s p ), a Fidelista-oriented party. At
one mass meeting of the p s p ' s campaign,
the l i t reported selling 200 copies of their
periodical, La Verdad, and distributing 800

666 Puerto Rico

 Trotskyism in Romania tice." He argued that "the most urgent task
is to form ideologically well educated cad­
res. . . . In particular, we must study the
history of the Romanian labor movement
from a Marxist point of view, work which
has never been undertaken in Romania; and
Probably one of the shortest-lived national elaborate an analysis and perspective for Ro­
Trotskyist groups was that of Romania, mania, in close connection with the interna­
which existed for a few years in the 1930s. tional situation."
Leon Trotsky had in November 1935 ex­ In particular, Komer stressed that it was
pressed the hope that the Unified Socialist necessary "to sharply differentiate ourselves
Party of Romania would "soon recognize from all other tendencies, above all the 'U n i­
the need to join the great work of construc­ tarians' who create great confusion, notably
tion of the IV International." That party had by their centrist position ('total unity') to­
been established two years before by a wards the new International."2
merger of the Independent Socialist Party Within a short time after establishing the
and a faction which broke away from the Bolshevik Leninist Group, Barta, his wife
Romanian Socialist Party, a Second Interna­ Louise, and Nicolas Spoulber, another lead­
tionalist group. The Unified Socialist Party ing figure in the Romanian Bolshevik Lenin­
was at the time associated with the London ist Group, emigrated to France. There Barta
Bureau. It never did join the International was first active in the Parti Ouvrier Intema­
Trotskyist movement.* tionaliste and subsequently founded the dis­
In the meantime, however, a small Bol­ sident Trotskyist group in France which ul­
shevik Leninist Group had been established timately became Lutte Ouvriere.3 It was
in April 1935, apparently by some young reported at the Founding Conference of the
former Communist Party members. David Fourth International in September 1938 that
Komer, writing under his pseudonym Barta, the Romanian Bolshevik Leninist Group
informed the International Secretariat that was still "in contact" with the International
the group was "very young, struggle with Secretariat/
great difficulties (illegally)," and that they There is no indication that any attempt
"suffer the full might of the Stalinist appara­ was made to revive the Trotskyist move­
tus which creates around us an insupport­ ment in Romania after the Second World
able atmosphere seeking to undermine us War.
by all means: calumnies, menaces, injuries
('Hitler's agents/ 'provocateurs,' 'syphlit-
ics'!J."
Komer reported that the group had pub­
lished and circulated clandestinely several
documents of the international movement.
These included "The Fourth International
and War," "The Fourth International and
the USSR," Trotsky's "Open Letter to the
French Workers," and his article "Who De­
fends the USSR and Who Aids Hitler?"
Komer also reported that "our group has
grown numerically and been purified." He
added that "we are organized in cells which
are working regularly in education and prac­

1 Romania 667
j
 South African Trotskyism According to Tony Southall, the first
Trotskyist group to be established was the
Lenin Club, which was founded in Cape
Town in 1933 "basically by Yiddish-speak­
ing comrades who were expelled from a Sta­
linist front organization called Geserd. They
The earliest, longest-lasting and most in­ were joined by a previously established
fluential of the African Trotskyist move­ study group, the Marxist Educational
ments was that of South Africa. Its organiza­ League conducted by Trotskyists expelled
tional history began in the early 1930s and from the c p and by a small Trotskyist fac­
continued for more than twenty years. For tion from the Independent Labor Party."
a short period, the Trotskyists had at least Southall added that its composition was
some influence in the organized labor "largely white and petty bourgeois and it
movement. engaged mainly in educational work. The
After the mid-1950s organized Trotskyist organization 'went public'in May 1934 with
groups in South Africa led a fitful existence. a May Day Manifesto."3
However, the influence of at least some According to Pierre Brou6, this May Day
Trotskyist ideas persisted even among peo­ Manifesto, "opposed unity of black and
ple and groups who did not necessarily con­ white workers to the slogan advanced by the
sider themselves Trotskyists, and those c p s a from the beginning of the 'third period'
who had gotten their political education in of a 'black republic,' explaining that the lat­
the Trotskyist movement played major ter sought to make the backward peasants
roles in non-European organizations fight­ the vanguard of the revolution." Broue
ing against the expansion and intensifi­ added that "it underscored the clash of inter­
cation of white racism throughout the ests between . . . 'the bourgeoisie of the
country. Boers' and British imperialism, and insisted
on the development of the legal activities of
the revolutionary organization."4
Beginning of
The Lenin Club carried out extensive ac­
South African Trotskyism
tivities to propagate Trotskyist ideas. Ed­
South African Trotskyism was established ward Roux, a not particularly friendly ob­
as a consequence of purges in the South Afri­ server, commented that "lectures and
can Communist Party carried out on the debates at the Lenin Club drew large au­
orders of the Stalin-dominated Communist diences."5 They attracted some members of
International, commencing as early as 1930. the Coloured (racially mixed) community,
Both Left and Right Oppositionists were ex­ and some of these were active in the Col­
pelled in those purges, and the purges served oured Unemployment League, which re­
to reduce the c p , which had made consider­ portedly had 30,000 members at that time.6
able progress in organized labor and the rural Although there were "unifying factors" in
black community during the first six years the Lenin Club its leaders "were divided on
after its establishment in 1922, to an iso­ many of the issues which had once racked
lated and almost impotent sect.1 the c p s a . They argued inside the Club as
One of the first of the supporters of Trotsky they had once argued-un the ranks of the
to be expelled from the South African Com­ Communist Party about the role of the Afri­
munist ranks, Frank Glass, found his way kaner and about the land question. They had
some years later to China. There he worked differences on trade union matters, on the
with the Chinese Trotskyist movement for nature of the coming war, and on the struc­
many years under the name Li Fu Jen.2 ture of the new party."7

668 South Africa

 Trotsky's Advice to situation in prerevolutionary and revolu­
His South African Followers tionary Russia.
With regard to the black republic issue,
The Lenin Club soon established contacts Trotsky said that no revolution in South
both with the Paris headquarters of the in­ Africa would be possible without full partic­
ternational Trotskyist movement and with ipation of the blacks. Furthermore, the post­
the Communist League of America. As a revolutionary "South African republic will
consequence, when the Lenin Club suffered emerge first of all as a 'black' republic; this
a split within about a year of its establish­ does not exclude, of course, either full equal­
ment both factions in the split sent docu­ ity for the whites or brotherly relations be­
ments to Trotsky explaining their points of tween the two races—depending mainly on
view on the road to revolution in South Af­ the conduct of the whites. But it is entirely
rica. Unfortunately, copies of neither docu­ obvious that the predominant majority of
ment survive. It seems likely that Trotsky the population, liberated from slavish de­
did not receive one of these documents, but pendence, will put a certain imprint on the
did get that of the faction which was soon state."
to establish the Workers' Party of South Af­ More specifically, Trotsky was critical of
rica.® He sent back a fairly extensive critique the terms in which his South African friends
of that thesis. Also, Ruth Fischer, then a rejected the Stalinists' black republic idea:
member of the International Secretariat,
When the theses say that the slogan of a
published in the Internal Bulletin of the Left
"black republic" is equally harmful for
Opposition in May 193s a commentary on
the revolutionary cause as is the the slo­
the Workers' Party of South Africa docu­
gan of a "South Africa for the whites,"
ment. From Trotsky's reply and Fischer's
then we cannot agree with the form of the
note one can get some idea of the nature of
statement. Whereas in the latter there is
the "Theses."
the case of supporting complete oppres­
Trotsky started his comments by congrat­
sion, in the former there is the case of tak­
ulating his South African supporters for
ing the first steps toward liberation. .. .
their "serious study of both the economic
We must accept decisively and without
and political conditions of South Africa, as
any reservations the complete and uncon­
well as of the literature of Marxism and Le­
ditional right of the blacks to indepen­
ninism, particularly that of the Bolshevik-
dence. . . . It is possible that after the vic­
Leninists." He then professed to great igno­
tory the blacks will find it unnecessary
rance of South African conditions, but added
to form a separate black state in South
that he did have "to express [his] disagree­
Africa. Certainly we will not force them
ment with certain aspects of the draft
to establish a separate state. But let them
theses."
make this decision freely, on the basis of
Trotsky's observations centered essen­
their own experience. . . . The proletarian
tially on three questions: the nature of the
revolutionaries must never forget the
South African Trotskyists' rejection of the
right of the oppressed nationalities to self-
slogan of a "black republic" being put for­
determination, including full separation,
ward by the Stalinists; the relationship of
and the duty of the proletariat of the op­
the agrarian and "national" (race) questions
pressing nation to defend this right with
among the blacks; and the absolute neces­
arms in hand, if necessary.9
sity to repudiate all racial chauvinism on
the part of white workers. In making his At about the same time, Trotsky was giv­
arguments, Trotsky frequently employed ing advice to his U.S. followers which was
parallels he saw in South Africa with the much the same as these comments to the

1 South Africa 669

1
 South Africans, with regard to the attitude gans of the agrarian revolution, in order that,
to be assumed towards the U.S. Stalinists' step by step, on the basis of the experience
slogan of "self-determination in the Black of the struggle, the peasantry may be
Belt." However, subsequently Hosea Jaffe, a brought to the necessary political and na­
leader of the South African Trotskyists in tional conclusions."
the 1930s, was to suggest that Trotsky in At two points Trotsky warned against any
his discussion of the "right of separation" concessions to white chauvinism in order
may not adequately have understood the is­ to win over white workers:
sue in its South African context, and so mis­ To push aside or to weaken the national
understood the basis of the South African slogans with the object of not antagoniz­
Trotskyists' position. Drawing a false anal­ ing the white chauvinists in the ranks of
ogy with the situation in Czarist Russia, the working class would be, of course,
Trotsky did not realize that in South Africa criminal opportunism, which is abso­
separation "might in fact imply a partition lutely alien to the authors and supporters
of South Africa on a racial basis, pushing the of the theses. This flows quite clearly
blacks into the poorest areas," and that the from the text of the theses, which is per­
blacks sought "not 'self-determination' but meated with the spirit of revolutionary
unity."10 internationalism. . . .
Trotsky advised his South African friends The proletariat of the country consists
that it was not enough merely to say, as of backward black pariahs and a privi­
they did in their theses, that "we must not leged, arrogant caste of whites. . . . In any
compete with the African National Con­ case, the worst crime on the part of the
gress [ a n c ) in nationalist slogans in order to revolutionaries would be to give the
win the native, masses." Rather, he sug­ smallest concessions to the privileges and
gested to them the need to defend the a n c prejudices of the whites. Whoever gives
"when it is being attacked by the white op­ his little finger to the devil of chauvinism
pressors," to "place the progressive over the is lost.11
reactionary tendencies in the program of the
Congress," to expose the inability of the Pierre Broue has cited Hosea Jaffe as main­
Congress to achieve its goals "because of taining that "this text of Trotsky marked
its superficial, conciliatory policy," and the the starting point of a long and rich discus­
possibility for "separate episodic agree­ sion within all the South African antiracist
ments with the Congress . . . within the and anti-imperialist organizations, in which
framework of strictly defined practical men and women took part who would be
tasks, with the retention of full and com­ among the founders and inspirers of organi­
plete independence of our own organization zations such as the All-African Convention
and freedom of political criticism." {1936}, the National Liberation League
For lack of sufficient knowledge to the (1938), the Non-European United Front
contrary, Trotsky accepted the South Afri­ (*9391 tbe Non-European Unity Movement
cans' insistence that for the time being "the [1943), etc." Broue added that "M. Jaffe in
agrarian and not the national demands must effect considers that the program of the lib­
be put in the first place, insofar as the blacks eration movement of South Africa had been
are concerned." However, he observed that elaborated starting with the fundamental
"this extreme political backwardness was ideas expressed by Trotsky in this text."12
also expressed" in the blacks' lack of na­
tional self-consciousness. At the same time, South African Trotskyists'
he felt very sharply the land and fiscal bond­ Mistaken!?) Interpretations of Reality
age. Given these conditions "propaganda Tony Southall has argued that the South
can and must first of all flow from the slo­ African Trotskyists had two basic miscon­

670 South Africa

ceptions about their country which have tional or color oppression spring from the
survived since the 1930s and help to account same root." In that same year, the Fourth
for the lack of a continuing Trotskyist International Organization of South Africa
movement in South Africa: the failure to (f i o s a ), the rival of the w p s a , also stated that
see the compatibility of apartheid with con­ "it will be short-sighted not to see . . . that
tinuing capitalist economic development of in the coming period the bourgeoisie will be
the country, and the consequent misconcep­ forced to make greater and greater cuts in
tions of the role of the white workers in the the cost of maintaining the white labor aris­
revolution; and exaggerated emphasis on tocracy." Other quotes could be found in the
the role of rural blacks as the major source same genre as late as the 1960s.14
of revolutionary ardor and organization. Fur­ Southall cited the second erroneous posi­
thermore, the theses commented on by tion of the South African Trotskyists as be­
Trotsky "overestimate the part likely to be ing contained in the 1934 document's claim
played by the white proletariat in the South that" the principal question surrounding the
African revolution. This error is based on an native problem is the agrarian question. . . .
inaccurate assessment of the likely develop­ Our main slogan must be: land to the na­
ments affecting their wages and conditions tives with each entitled to as much land as
and a mistaken analysis of segregation and he can cultivate." Commenting on Trots­
apartheid as fetters on the development of ky's observations on the need to bring the
capitalism in South Africa. These mistakes peasants to "the necessary political and na­
lead particularly to a devaluation of the key tional conclusions," he observed that they
importance of the national question."13 "were never built upon by the South African
The South African Trotskyists apparently comrades. . . . Rather most of them clung
believed that the exigencies of the econom­ throughout the following thirty years to the
ics of South African capitalism would notion which was already outdated in 1934,
sooner or later (and rather sooner than later} that the agrarian question was the 'alpha
force an end to the relatively privileged posi­ and omega of the struggle'. . . . They paid
tion of the white workers. Southall has little heed to the rapidly growing incorpora­
quoted Ruth Fischer's commentary on the tion of the blacks in the urban labor force."
1934 document: "The theses state the fol­ Southall ended these comments by saying
lowing: with the rationalization of indus­ that these "errors" constituted "a first class
trial methods, evening up progresses, conse­ example, in an unfortunately negative sense
quently indigenous workers draw nearer in of the need for and potential value of a revo­
salaries to the white workers. This is sug­ lutionary international. Without doubt had
gested as a permanent tendency." In Octo­ our movement had the means by which to
ber 1938, the Workers' Party of South Africa bring the insights of Trotsky and Fischer
wrote in its periodical: "White workers' in­ to bear then the history of its subsequent
terests are the same as those of the black interventions would have been substan­
man. . . . It is time for the white workers to tially different. . . . But from 1935 until the
realize that the whiplash that is now di­ 1960s there took place absolutely no politi­
rected against the Natives will one day be cal discussion at the international level of
directed against their own backs. . . . Their the problems of the South African revolu­
interests are ultimately identical with those tion. . . ." 1S
of the natives."
As late as 194s a leading Trotskyist and
Trotskyism in Cape Province
former w p s a leader, B. M. Kies, commented
that "the European worker must ultimately After the split in the Lenin Club in 1934 two
become the ally of the non-European op­ organizations emerged, the Workers' Party
pressed, for economic exploitation and na­ of South Africa ( w p s a ), and what was first

South Africa 671

called the Communist League of South Af­ opposed 'on principle') were in a clear major­
rica ( c l s a ). According to Charles van Gel­ ity and this is established by the fact that
deren, a participant in the Lenin Club and they retained possession of the premises and
the split, “The overt reason for the split was apparatus."10
the 'French Turn.' The group led by Burlak In any case, it is clear that the Interna­
took much the same line as Oehler in the tional Secretariat did not think that the split
United States but there was also an underly­ was justified. In the is minutes of May 22,
ing reason—open work or what Burlak 1935, it was noted that that body did not
called 'semi-legal' work."16It was those who consider the differences between the two
opposed the French Tum and who urged a groups was sufficient to explain the schism
semiclandestine existence for the group in the South African Trotskyists' ranks.21
who formed the w p s a and their opponents Nevertheless, the existence-of two separate
who established the c l s a . Trotskyist organizations in'South Africa
There were also other issues which split continued for about five years. The persis­
the two groups. The Workers' Party people tence of two groups, although only one was
(or Spartacists as they were sometimes a formal Trotskyist organization, continued
called) argued that "all the forces of Capital­ for about a decade longer.
ism . . . will join hands in the counterrevolu­ According to Hirson, "The leaders of the
tionary struggle against any anti-imperialist Cape Town groups . . . were white—but not
struggle on the part of the Native workers necessarily Jewish—but they were able to
and peasants"; while the Communist win over Coloured and African leaders, and
League people, according to Baruch Hirson, it was these latter who became leaders of
"believed that Afrikaner nationalists might the Non-European Unity Movement after
be won to an anti-imperialist position in the 1943. This included Goolam Gool, I. B. Ta-
event of war being declared, and that this bata, and others who had an extensive fol­
would bring appreciable sections of the Afri­ lowing in the Cape Province."22 The Cape
kaner workers into the revolutionary Town Trotskyists sometimes got involved
camp."17 in internal quarrels in the various non-Euro­
The two groups also disagreed over the pean groups. Thus late in 1938, when there
land question. The Workers' Party argued was a split in the largely Colored National
that "the Native Problem is mainly the Liberation League, one of the factions was
Agrarian Problem," and could be resolved headed by Goolam Gool, and Spark carried
only by giving the blacks the land. The Com­ vituperative arguments supporting that fac­
munist League saw no such land hunger tion—so vituperative that they were finally
among the blacks, and thought that the apologized for by some members of the
problems of the Africans came from "the Workers' Party.
oppressive and unendurable role they oc­ The Trotskyists also sometimes collabo­
cupy in the economic structure" of the rated with other political tendencies in their
country.18 work among the non-European groups. H. S.
Pierre Broudhas claimed that the majority and R. E. Simons have noted that "Commu­
of the Lenin Club went with the Workers' nists, Trotskyists, and members of every ra­
Party at the time of the split.19However, van cial group sat together at the Non-European
Gelderen has written that "Broue is wrong United Front Conference in Cape Town on
when he claims that those who formed the 8 April 1939. C. van Gelderen represented
Workers Party were in the majority. This the Fourth International; B. Kies, the New
was not initially the case. The supporters of Era Fellowship, a students' society allegedly
the 'French Turn' and entry of the American under Trotskyist influence. . . .'/23
Trotskyists into the s p (which Burlak also Between 1934 and 1939 the Workers'

672 South Africa

Party of South Africa appears to have been in the 1960s. . . . It is certain that they con­
the more active of the two groups. It pub­ tinued right through this period to meet to­
lished a mimeographed monthly periodical, gether and to discuss tactics within the
Spark, on a regular basis between May 1935 movement and even wider political ques­
and June 1939, each issue containing sixteen tions. But they existed as a leadership clique
to twenty pages. According to Southhall, and not as a visible political tendency
Spark "dealt with the whole range of inter­ within the movement. Nor did they attempt
national questions of the period—producing to use their positions in the movement to
especially substantial amounts of Trotsky's advance Trotskyist politics."
material. On South Africa its essentially Thus, in spite of the leading role of Trots­
'commentary' articles on Trades Union kyists in one of the major non-European or­
Struggles and on development of the All- ganizations of South Africa of the 1940s and
African Convention suggest a lack of much 1950s, Trotskyism as a movement did not
direct involvement, although the w p s a did particularly benefit from that role. Indeed,
have three comrades at the second national the Trotskyist organization to which the
delegate meeting of the latter in June 1936." leaders had once belonged apparently did
The w p s a did have some colored and African not even continue in existence. The Trots­
members during this period. kyists had "submerged themselves" in the
In June 1939 Spark announced that it was n e u m , without establishing themselves as

closing down, blaming this move on a new Trotskyists in that group.25

press law and expected persecution in the The other faction to emerge from the Le­
impending war, and saying that it was going nin Club, the Communist League of South
to "cease publication rather than submit to Africa, changed its name sometime after
the enemy." 1935 to the Fourth International Organiza­
More significant than the closing of the tion of South Africa ( f i o s a ). It continued
newspaper was the fact that the Workers' public activity as a Trotskyist group for con­
Party of South Africa appears to have ceased siderably longer than did the w p s a . It contin­
to function as an organization: "In fact those ued to publish a periodical, Workers’ Voice,
of its cadre who remained active after 1939 of which Charles van Gelderen was the first
seem to have become exclusively involved editor.26
in the leadership of the Unity Movement As Edward Roux has noted, "This section
(first conference 1943)." Southall noted that of Trotskyists gained considerable influence
the only evidence of continued activity of among the younger generation of Coloured
the w p s a as an organization after 1939 was teachers and university students in the
an election manifesto, of unnamed date, Cape. Dr. Goolam Gool and a number of
signed on behalf of the Workers' Party by students played a prominent part in propa­
Leon Szur.24 ganda. . . ”v The f i o s a recruited some
Concerning e x-w P SA members' participa­ members in Port Elizabeth, although its
tion in the Non-European Unity Movement, principal base continued to be Cape Town.
Southall noted that "the fact that Trotsky­ Members of the f i o s a were also active in
ists . . . here for the first time took part in the 1940s in the Non-European Unity Move­
leading positions in a mass movement of ment, and were particularly influential in
the nonwhite population must be noted as a the Anti Colored Affairs Department, one of
potentially enormous step forward for the the groups making up the n e u m . The h o s a
movement.'' Former Lenin Club members, people were rather more critical of the lib­
including I. B. Tabata, Ali Fataar, Jane Gool, eral reformist line of the n e u m than were
and Dora Taylor "actually maintained lead­ the former w p s a leaders.28
ership of the n e u m until its disintegration The f i o s a had some significance in an­

South Africa 673

other connection. Several of its leaders mi­ 1930s onward. It was also the one part of the
grated to Great Britain, where they became country in which the Trotskyists developed
active in and leaders of different factions of some influence in the organized labor move­
British Trotskyism.251 ment, notably among African workers.
The f i o s a continued its connection with Hirson has described the early Trotskyist
the Fourth International. It was represented movement in Johannesburg: "In Johannes­
at the Second Congress of the International burg two or more groups appeared in the
in 1948 and that meeting accepted a resolu­ early 1930s, made up of persons expelled
tion in favor of reunification of the South from the c p . Some were black, but most
African Trotskyist movement. That resolu­ were white—and this included people like
tion read: Ralph Lee and his wife Millie, Ted Grant
and others who later went to g b and helped
The World Congress records that the
revive the Trotskyist group there. Lee tried
f i o s a (Fourth International Organization
his hand at organizing African workers, but
in South Africa) which is based on the
was not oversuccessful. Then along came
programmatic positions of the IVth Inter­
Max Gordon from Cape Town, and with the
national has sought to realize unity in
assistance of some very capable Africans got
South Africa through fusion with the
a trade union movement off the ground."32
Workers' Party, which has not been possi­
In the 1920s the Communists had orga­
ble so far. In the absence of a program­
nized a number of African workers unions
matic base sufficient to justify the exis­
in the Johannesburg area, including a Non-
tence of two groups in South Africa, the
European Trade Union Federation. But,
World Congress charges the International
"this body disintegrated, as did also a num­
Executive Committee with establishing
ber of its component unions during the pe­
one united section in South Africa and,
riod 1930-33, partly in consequence of the
towards that end, gives it the power to
severe depression of those years and partly
disaffiliate if necessary the organization
as a result of the unfortunate policy pursued
which will not apply its decisions and to
by the Communist Party, which controlled
reconstitute the South African section of
them."
the IVth International.30
One of the unions involved was the Na­
Whether this resolution reflected the fact tive Laundry Workers' Union, which broke
that there really still were two functioning away from Communist control, "but dwin­
Trotskyist organizations in South Africa, or dled away until it was taken in hand by Max
was perhaps based on inadequate informa­ Gordon, who reorganized it and then went
tion, is not clear. In any case, there is no ahead to organize other Native unions."
indication that such unification as the mo­ Roux observed that "Gordon's contribu­
tion ordered in fact took place. The f i o s a tion to African trade unions was consider­
itself appears to have gone out of existence able. Though adhering to a Trotskyist politi­
in 1954, as a result "of its failure to build cal group he was nevertheless able to
any mass base independent of its activity subordinate matters of doctrine to the prac­
in the n e u m or to break out of its being tical necessities and. compromises involved
composed overwhelmingly of intellec­ in organizing African workers. He trained a
tuals."31 number of African tjrade union leaders,
among them D. Koza, a man of considerable
organizing ability and perspicacity. The
The Johannesburg Trotskyists
most important and stable of the unions or­
Johannesburg was another center of Trots­ ganized by Gordon was among the commer­
kyist activity and organization from the cial employees, workers in the department

674 South Africa

 stores, warehouses, etc. He also reorganized the organization with that same name. The
the African bakers and printing workers."33 South African w i l , like its predecessor, ac­
Hirson has claimed that by 1939 there tively sought to stimulate the growth of Af­
were 20,000 members of the unions which rican trade unions.
Max Gordon had organized.34 At one time Hirson has told the story of what hap­
Gordon was secretary of four different pened to the w i l : "The group collapsed in
unions. They organized a Joint Committee 1946 and individuals who had been mem­
in 1938, and it was soon joined by three bers {like myself) worked in small group­
other unions, those of dairy, chemical, and ings, including a Johannesburg branch of the
general workers. According to Roux, "The Unity Movement. We were active in these
last grew to be an enormous body, claiming groups and some of us helped launch the
10,000 members in 19 4 1."35 movement in the 1960s which led eventu­
However, by that time Max Gordon had ally to imprisonment, and in my case to
been interned by the South African govern­ exile in Great Britain after a nine-year stay
ment in 1940 for almost a year. Upon his in jail."40
release he undertook organizing activity for After 1948 it became increasingly difficult
African unions in the Port Elizabeth area, for professed revolutionaries like the Trots­
but he was finally forced by police harass­ kyists to carry on any open activity in South
ment to abandon trade union and political Africa. In that year the Nationalist Party,
activities.36 dedicated to the most extreme kind of racial
Gordon had originally been a member of segregation and apartheid, came to power
the Lenin Club and then of the f i o s a in Cape and the Nationalist government became in­
Town. He had gone to Johannesburg to help creasingly repressive towards even mild op­
the efforts of the Trotskyists in that area.37 position among all elements of the popula­
With the outbreak of World War II, the tion, and particularly to any element
Johannesburg Trotskyist movement had vir­ seeking to end the system of racial op­
tually gone out of existence. However, the pression.
Cape Town f i o s a soon sent Hosea Jaffe to One repressive measure was an "anti-Red
try to establish a branch of that organization Bill," which Hirson has noted "outlawed all
there, an effort which had only very modest movements which followed Marx, Engels,
success, and the Johannesburg branch soon Lenin, and Trotsky." He added that after
broke its connection with the Cape Town that there were only "a number of 'clubs,'
organization.38 organized by Coloureds . . . in Cape Town
Tony Southall has noted that this Johan­ to continue propagating the ideas of Trots­
nesburg organization called itself the Social­ kyism."41
ist Workers League and proclaimed that it In 1957 a Socialist League of Africa was
was "a section of the f i " {Fourth Interna­ formed by people of Trotskyist inclination
tional). It published a paper in English and who left the Non-European Unity Move­
Afrikaans, Socialist Action/Socialistiese ment (n e u m ) in Johannesburg. They issued
Aksie. In August 1939 it signed a joint proc­ a long publication attacking the policies of
lamation with the Cape Town f i o s a entitled I. B. Tabata, a major n e u m leader and former
"Manifesto Against Imperialist War."39 Trotskyist figure. Some of these people
In 19 41-43 a new Trotskyist group, the joined the Communist-dominated a n c , but
Workers International League (w i l ), w a s within it carried on active criticism of a n c
founded in Johannesburg. A key role in es­ collaboration with Liberal elements. Sou­
tablishing that organization was played by thall has noted that the " s l a merged in 1962
Ralph Lee, who had returned home from with three other groups and some individu­
Great Britain, where he had been active in als to form the National Committee for Lib­

South Africa 675

eration, the majority of whom were eventu­ United Secretariat in 1965, he was elected
ally imprisoned or fled the country after the by that gathering to the International Execu­
police caught up with their sabotage activ­ tive Committee of u s e c .43
ities."42 Tabata may have been responsible for the
portion of the Eighth Congress resolution on
"The Progress and Problems of the African
Trotskyists in the
Revolution" dealing with South Africa,
Non-European Unity Movement and
which said:
the International
The formation of a united front of forces
By the middle 1950s there was no longer
struggling against apartheid and imperial­
any affiliate of International Trotskyism in
ism remains a primary necessity.. . . Rev­
South Africa. However, there were a few
olutionary Marxists are partisans of that
ind ivid ual affiliated with one or another of
kind of united front and offer their active
the factions of the protest movement
support to all those who actually struggle,
against apartheid, who had contact with one
no matter what their specific orientation
or another faction of the Fourth Interna­
may be. They support in particular the
tional after i960.
vanguard sectors of the South African
One of these was Dr. Neville Alexander,
movement which are closest to the line
a leader of the n e u m , who travelled abroad
of the permanent revolution, and which
in i960 at which time he had contact with
have already succeeded, thanks to stub­
the Pabloite International Secretariat in Eu­
born and courageous struggle, in gaining
rope and the Trotskyist organization then
real mass influence, especially among the
in existence in Australia. Southall has ob­
peasants {above all a p d u s a , the African
served that "he returned convinced that the
People's Democratic Union of Southern
leadership of the n e u m was failing to seize
Africa) and the other organizations affili­
the opportunities presented by the new situ­
ated to the n e u m (Non-European Unity
ation." But it seems that the strongest in­
Movement).44
fluences on him became the examples of
Cuba and the ongoing struggles in Algeria Southall has maintained that although
and Vietnam. Alexander and some people Tabata remained a member of the Interna­
associated with him were expelled from the tional Executive Committee of u s e c until
n e u m in April 1 9 6 1 and founded what came the Tenth Congress in 1974, he did so "w ith­
to be called the National Liberation Front out ever making a political report of his ac­
of South Africa [n l f ), a group oriented not tivities or that of his organization and with­
towards mass organization but towards out ever making any attempt to carry the
guerrilla war. It proclaimed "that the South line of the f i into his movement." To con­
African revolution has to advance in the firm this charge, Southall said that "Unity
form of guerrilla warfare. . . that the typical Movement members in Zambia for instance
guerrilla will be an agrarian revolutionary had never seen any of our publications dur­
fighting to free the land." In 1963 Alexander ing the whole of his tenure on the i e c . This
and ten other leaders of the n l f were ar­ despite the fact that Lusaka was Tabata's
rested, putting an effective end to that orga­ main base throughout the period." Southall
nization. concluded that this >was potentially ex­
Another n e u m leader to make contact tremely dangerous to ourselves politically
with the international Trotskyist move­ because it was precisely at this time that
ment in the early 1960s was I. B. Tabata, a Tabata was behaving in an increasingly dic­
member of the original Lenin Club. A l­ tatorial and corrupt method inside his own
though it is not clear whether Tabata was movement. The discredit into which he
present at the Eighth World Congress of the thus came could through his tenuous associ­

676 South Africa

ation with us have rubbed off onto our­ rica into the 1980s. As Charles van Gelderen
selves."45 has observed, "Most of the non-Stalinist
The United Secretariat's Ninth Congress a n c groups (including sections of the Black

in 1969, in its "Resolution on New Rise of Consciousness movement), bear unmistak­

the World Revolution," had a short passage able evidence of this pervading influence. A
dealing with South Africa that reflected the recently published journal, Free Anzania,
general orientation of the congress towards had a quotation from Trotsky on its cover
the endorsement of guerrilla warfare. After and inside Trotsky's article on 'Trade union­
noting "a current increasingly inclined to ism in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay' al­
guerrilla struggle in the antiapartheid move­ though without acknowledging the author­
ment in South Africa," and social changes ship. . . . The current antagonism to the
which had taken place in South Africa, the United Democratic Front by several of the
resolution stated: "This can only increase black trade unions and which has led to a
the importance of the South African revolu­ split in the Media Workers of South Africa
tion, the only one which can base itself on has led to discussions about 'Popular Front'
a mass of workers and peasants who have vs. 'United Front' and undoubtedly Trotsky­
been proletarianized and largely detribalized ist influence is playing a part in this dia­
in the crucible of capitalist exploitation and logue."49
apartheid oppression. The historic role of all There is also some indication that the
the armed struggles now in progress on the Morenoist tendency in International Trots­
African continent, which are slowly moving kyism, the International Workers League
southward, is to prepare, facilitate, and spur (Fourth International), and particularly its
the outbreak of the South African revolu­ U.S. affiliate, the Internationalist Workers
tion, beginning with guerrilla warfare."46 Party, was seeking to establish some con­
The Tenth Congress of u s e c in 1974 made tacts with South Africans in the mid-1980s.
only passing reference in the "General Polit­ Frank Puo, a representative of the Anzanian
ical Resolution" which had the support of People's Organization (a z a p o ), an organiza­
the majority, to "a revolutionary crisis in all tion deriving from the Black Consciousness
of Southern Africa," but dealt not at all with Movement of the late 1970s, was inter­
the specific situation in South Africa.47 The viewed by Working Class Opposition in
resolution on "The World Political Situa­ mid-1985. Puo noted that Trotsky "was one
tion and the Immediate Tasks of the Fourth of those that we have studied." He also ob­
Internations," offered by the minority Le- served that "there are several organizations
ninist-Trotskyist Faction in opposition to that we feel share ideological perspectives
the "General Political Resolution" had no and with whom we feel we could work
reference at all to South Africa or even closely. . . . At this time we cannot say this
Southern Africa.48 There is no indication movement or that movement, but in as far
that u s e c or any other faction of Interna­ as the Internationalist Workers Party is con­
tional Trotskyism had sustained contact cerned, we have found very close under­
with any elements in South Africa after standings or parallels of analyzing the situa­
1974 - tion for achieving our goal which is the
socialist state in South Africa and this is
one movement that we can associate very
The Continuing Influence of
strongly with."50 However, there is no indi­
Trotskyist Ideas
cation that any formal relationship had been
Although Trotskyism had apparently ceased established at that time between a z a p o and
to exist as an organized movement, there is the Morenoists.
some indication that Trotskyist ideas con­
tinued to have some influence in South Af­

South Africa 677

 Spanish Trotskyism Revolution" as beginning virtually with the
onset of the decade of the 1 930s and continu­
Until the Formation ing until the final victory of Franco's armies
of the p o u m nine years later. The process began early in
1930 when King Alfonso XIII asked for and
obtained the resignation of the military dic­
tator General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who
had controlled the government since seizing
Spain was one of the few countries in which
power in a pzonunciamiento of the armed
the Trotskyist movement had an opportu­
forces seven years before.
nity during the 1930s to participate in an
Primo de Rivera was succeeded by Gen­
ongoing revolution. A priori, the opportuni­
eral Damaso Berenguer. In the eyes of both
ties for the movement seemed exceptionally
the King and Berenguer himself, his admin­
favorable. It was faced during most of the
istration was seen as a transitional one lead­
period with a very small and weak official
ing to the restoration of a constitutional
Communist Party, while its own leaders
monarchy. To this end Berenguer called
were among the most distinguished figures
elections for a new constitutional assembly.
among the people who had established the
However, before those elections could be
Communist movement there in the early
held Berenguer was forced to resign because
1 920s. Furthermore, Trotsky himself took a
of rising resistance from both the civilian
very active interest in Spanish develop­
politicians and elements of the armed
ments during most of the decade.
forces.
But, long before the victory of Franco in
Berenguer was succeeded by Admiral Juan
the Civil War had resulted in the suppres­
Bautista Aznar who, rather than proceeding
sion for almost two generations of any revo­
with the constituent assembly elections,
lutionary or even democratic movement in
called municipal elections. When, on April
the Iberian Peninsula, Spain had become a
14 ,19 3 r, these elections produced triumphs
disaster area for International Trotskyism.
of Republicans in most of the major cities,
Largely due to Trotsky's efforts to impose
Alfonso X n i abdicated and fled to Paris
upon his Spanish followers policies and tac­
where he remained until his death several
tics to which they were opposed, the official
years later.
Trotskyist movement had virtually disap­
A republic was proclaimed, constituent
peared in Spain before the outbreak of the
assembly elections, this time to write a re­
Civil War. In spite of attempts at the begin­
publican constitution, were held and they
ning of that conflict to reestablish relations
produced a majority of left-wing Republi­
between Trotsky and his erstwhile follow­
cans and Socialists, who dominated the gov­
ers, these efforts proved fruitless. As a conse­
ernment for about two years. Left Republi­
quence, during the most significant Euro­
can Manuel Azana served as prime minister,
pean social conflict of the interwar period,
and leading Socialists, including trade union
a struggle in which Trotsky's ex-followers
leader Francisco Largo Caballero and Inda-
played a significant if secondary role, by
lecio Prieto, served in the cabinet. However,
1939 official Trotskyism in Spain amounted
the conservative Republican Alcala Zamora
to not more than a couple dozen people,
continued in the post qf president which he
some of whom were not even Spaniards.
had assumed at the time of King Alfonso's
departure.
Spanish Developments The 19 3 1-3 3 period resulted in disillu­
During the 1930's sionment for practically every element in
Trotskyist writers including Trotsky him­ Spanish politics. The anarchist labor move­
self have usually pictured "The Spanish ment, the Confederation Nacional del Tra-

678 Spain: Before POUM

bajo ( c n t ), which had been favorably dis­ the c e d a did enter the cabinet, the Social­
posed toward the Republic, was very ists—together with the Catalan Left Na­
unhappy with what it deemed to be the use tionalists, the Workers and Peasants Bloc in
of governmental power by Socialist Minister Catalonia, the tiny Trotskyist group, and
of Labor Largo Caballero to strengthen the at the last moment the communists—did
rival Unidn General de Trabajadores ( u g t ), attempt an uprising. In Catalonia, regional
of which he was chief; the c n t soon came President Luis Companys proclaimed the
under the control of the Federacion Anar- "independence" of the region but surrend­
quista Iberica (f a i ), which organized several ered to the military at its first show of force.
abortive uprisings. The Socialists were in­ In Madrid and most other cities of central
creasingly disillusioned by their inability to and southern Spain, the "uprising" was con­
get through the parliament (Cortes) funda­ fined to a general strike. Only in the north­
mental reforms which they favored. The ern region of Asturias did a major insurrec­
Left Republicans were increasingly alarmed tion take place. The "Workers Alliance,"
by unrest and turbulence characteristic of composed of the Socialists, the u g t , the
that period, the worst phase of the Great Trotskyists, the Communists, and the c n t
Depression. (this being the only area in which the anar­
On the Right there was strong resentment chists participated in the uprising), seized
at the anticlerical measures of the Republi­ power throughout most of the region. It took
can government, and at the very mild at­ almost two weeks for the Army—princi­
tempt at agrarian reform by the Azana re­ pally with the use of Moorish and Foreign
gime. The Right also became increasingly Legionnaire troops led by General Francisco
frightened at what they conceived to be the Franco—to suppress the Asturias revolt.
"Bolshevism" of both the Socialist and An­ Tens of thousands of trade unionists and
archist branches of the labor movement. members of left parties were arrested follow­
New elections were held late in 1933 and ing the October 1934 revolt. Many of these
these provided a victory for the Right, were sentenced to death although in most
largely as a result of the fact that the anar­ cases these sentences were commuted. But
chists followed their traditional policy of by early 1936 there were still an estimated
boycotting the elections (as they had not 30,000 people in jail as a consequence of the
done in 1931). The two major right-wing 1934 revolt.
forces were the Radical Party of Alejandro In the face of this situation virtually the
Lerroux, who became prime minister, and whole of the Spanish Left became united
the Confederacion Espanola de Derechas behind one basic idea—amnesty for those
Aut6nomas ( c e d a ), led by Jos6 Maria Gil jailed after October 1934. When elections
Robles. More or less aligned with these two were called once again in February 1936,
groups was the still tiny Falange Espanola, virtually all Left groups—the Left Republi­
the fascist party headed by Jos6 Antonio can parties, Socialists, Communists, Cata­
Primo de Rivera, son of the ex-dictator. lan Left, Workers Party of Marxist Unity
The Radicals dominated the government, (Partido Obrero de Unification Marxists—
with the tolerance of the c e d a , for approxi­ p o u m ), Partido Sindicalista—joined forces

mately a year. However, by mid-1934 the in an alliance which was popularly referred
ceda was increasingly demanding entry to as the Popular Front. This time, the anar­
into the government. On the other hand, the chists voted in large numbers for the left
forces of the Left, particularly the Socialist unity candidates.
Party, looked upon the c e d a as "fascists" From February until July 1936 a weak gov­
and threatened revolutionary action if the ernment consisting only of Left Republican
c e d a was admitted to the regime. parties remained in office. The Socialists re­
When at the beginning of October 1934 fused to join the cabinet, and Francisco

Spain: Before POUM 679

Largo Caballero, leader of the strong (but not Youth and within the u g t , although Prieto
dominant} left wing of the party predicted continued to control the party machinery.
imminent revolution. Indeed, there was a Within the anarchist ranks there was a
prerevolutionary atmosphere in Spain dur­ sharp divergence during most of this period
ing much of this period. between the "syndicalists," led particularly
The denouement of this situation was the by Angel Pestana and Juan Peiro, who were
uprising by the principal leaders of the opposed to sacrificing the union movement
armed forces, with the backing of the right- to will-o'-the-wisp insurrectional attempts,
wing parties, the Roman Catholic Church and the f a i , more simon-pure anarchists
(except in the Basque provinces), and the who believed strongly in the "power of the
major agricultural, industrial, and banking deed" and hence insurrections whenever
interests. This took place between July 17 - and wherever possible. The f a i dominated
i9» 1936, and was the commencement of the the c n t from 1932 on and threw out the so-
Civil War. called "Treintista" unions under syndicalist
leadership. The two elements of the c n t
were not reunited until May 1936.
Participating Groups in Communists of all kinds were a distinctly
The “ Spanish Revolution” minority element in the Spain of 1930-36.
The Communist Party had been established
Throughout the period between the fall of in 19 19-20 by three groups. The Socialist
Alfonso XIII on April 14, 1931, and the out­ Youth first broke with the p s o e and formed
break of the Civil War on July 17, 1936, a Communist Party ( p c o e }j a few months
the overwhelmingly predominant political later some adult p s o e leaders broke to form
forces on the far left were the Socialist Party a second Communist Party. Under Comin­
(Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol—p s o e ), tern insistence the two parties united.1 A
and the anarchist movement. For almost third element, centering on Catalonia, con­
fifty years they had contested control over sisted of young people who were active in
the trade unions and over the leadership of the anarchist trade union movement and
the movement for fundamental social sought to get it to align with the Comintern.
change in Spain. The anarchists (c n t - f a i ) The best-known figures in this group were
were predominant in Catalonia in the north­ Joaquin Maurin and Andrds Nin.
east, rural Andalusia in the south, and rural Like most national Communist parties,
Arag6n in the northeast. They were on a par that of Spain was very factionalized in the
with the Socialists in the Valencia region 1 92.0s. By the early 1930s there were three
and inferior to them in most of the rest of recognized groups within Spanish Commu­
the country. The Socialists clearly predomi­ nism. Until shortly before the outbreak of
nated in Madrid, the Basque provinces, the Civil War the largest and most influen­
Asturias, and the cities in most of central, tial of these was the Workers and Peasants
southern, and western Spain. Bloc/Iberian Communist Federation ( b o c —
Neither the Socialists nor the anarchists Bloque Obrero-Campesino/Federacion Co-
were monolithic in composition or organi­ munist Iberica). This group, headed by Joa­
zation. In the p s o e during the 1930s there quin Maurin, had its principal strength in
were clearly three defined factions—the Catalonia, where it had originated as the
Left, led after 1933 by Largo Caballero, the Catalan-Balearic Islands Federation of the
Center headed by Indalecio Prieto, and the Communist Party. It also had some follow­
Right led by Julian Besteiro. In the years just ing in nearby Aragon and Valencia.
before the Civil War the Left tended to grow The b o c was the second force in the Cata­
rapidly, particularly among the Socialist lan trade union movement (although far sur­

680 Spain: Before POUM

passed by the c n t factions) as well as among Henri Lacroix. He was a housepainter from
the organized workers of the Valencia area. the Basque area who had belonged to the
The b o c was generally aligned with the In­ Basque Federation of the Spanish Commu­
ternational Right Opposition, although not nist Party. Between 1925 and 1927 he re­
officially affiliated with it.1 sided in the Soviet Union, where he may
The official Communist Party of Spain have known Trotsky, but by 1929 he was
had virtually no following in Catalonia, the active among Spanish Communist exiles in
most industrialized part of the peninsula. Belgium and Luxemburg.
It did have some organization in Madrid, A month or two before the fall of the
Andalusia, and Asturias. At the beginning Primo de Rivera regime in January 1930,
of the decade it was led by Jos€ Bullejos, Garcia Lavid established the first groups of
under whose leadership the Communist Spanish Trotskyites. In December 1929 the
Party set up its own tiny trade union group, Trotskyist exiles in Belgium and Luxem­
in conformity with the "Third Period" dual burg undertook a campaign to raise funds
unionism line of the Comintern at that for the publication of the first Spanish Trots­
time. In 193a the Comintern executed a kyist periodical, Contra la Corriente.3
purge in the Spanish party, replacing Bulle- Among the early recruits to this group
jos's coterie with a group headed by Jos6 was Julian G6mez, who usually used the
Diaz and including Dolores Ibarruri (later name Julian Gorkin. As an exiled Spanish
to become famous as "La Pasionaria") and Communist he had been active in the
Jesus Hernandez. With the adoption of the French Communist Party. However, in No­
Popular Front line by the Comintern, the vember 1929 he was expelled from the
official Spanish party began to gain some French party because of the publication in
ground, particularly among the Socialist Madrid of a translation by him of a pamphlet
Youth. Shortly before the outbreak of the of Trotsky's, by a publishing house, Cenit,
Civil War, the Socialist Youth and Commu­ established by another dissident Spanish
nist Youth merged to form the United So­ Communist, Juan Andrade. Gorkin was to
cialist Youth, which was affiliated to the remain a member of the Spanish Trotskyist
Young Communist International. group until June 1931. During this period
The third element in Spanish Commu­ he contributed more or less regularly to La
nism in the early 1930s was the Left Opposi­ Verite4
tion, the subject of most of the rest of this Meanwhile, Garcia Lavid had begun to
chapter. correspond with political friends in Spain,
urging the need to establish a Left Opposi­
tion group within the country. Among those
The Spanish Left Opposition
to whom he wrote was Juan Andrade, one of
the Socialist Youth leaders who had estab­
Origins
lished the first Spanish Communist Party in
The first group of Spanish supporters of 1919 and who for a number of years had been
Trotsky was organized among Communists editor of the Communist Party's central or­
who had been driven into exile in Western gan until purged in the process of "Bolshevi-
Europe during the Primo de Rivera regime. zation" of the Spanish party.s
These people rallied around the French Andrade later wrote about the beginning
Trotskyist paper La Veiiti soon after it was of his work as a Trotskyist: "Once Lacroix
established in mid-1929. and I agreed on our points of view about the
The principal figure among these exiled crisis in the Russian c p and in the Interna­
Trotskyist sympathizers was Francisco tional, I began to write letters "to sound
Garcia Lavid, who also went under the name out" various comrades and friends with

Spain: Before POUM 681

whom I had remained in contact in spite of became an affiliate of the c n t . He spent
having left the Party. Almost all to whom I seven months in jail in 1920 during an anti-
wrote indicated agreement on the necessity c n t lockout in Barcelona, and soon after

of forming an opposition group, but princi­ being released was made a member of the
pally against the policy of the Spanish c p . " 6 secretariat of the National Committee of
Meanwhile, on February 28, 1930, the the c n t .
First National Conference of the Spanish In April 1921 Nin was named, together
Communist Opposition met in Liege, Bel­ with Maurin, Hilari Arlandis, and Jesus Iba­
gium, with representatives of Spanish exiles nez, to the c n t delegation to the First Con­
from Belgium, Luxemburg, and France. Ac­ gress of the Red International of Trade
cording to Garcia Lavid, all of the Spanish Unions ( r i l u ) to be held in Moscow in July.
Communist exiles in Luxemburg had agreed At that congress Nin was elected to the Ex­
to join the Opposition, as well as most of ecutive Committee of the r i l u , and as a
those in Belgium. They set up a Commis­ consequence took up residence in Moscow,*
sion of Diffusion and Propaganda which set However, the c n t , although it had voted
about sending out "circulars, pamphlets, pe­ in 1919 to join the Communist Interna­
riodicals, reviews, and books. . . . " The tional, and in 19 21 sent a delegation to the
Commission also "published a manifesto r i l u congress, did not decide to remain in

which has been amply distributed and well the Communist movement. In part, at least
received by the Spanish workers, in Spain because of the Kronstadt Rebellion, the c n t
and abroad. . . . " Garcia Lavid concluded: voted in June 1921 to disaffiliate from the
"The results have been rapid and excellent. Comintern.10 Subsequently, it was to be­
The bureaucrats have lost their serenity, come the major group in an international
they have vituperated us, predicted our rapid anarchosyndicalist trade union group, the
end, calumniated, denounced, and expelled International Workingmen's Association,
us. .. ." 7 established in 1922.
In June 1930 the first issue of Contra la Nin as a member of the Soviet Commu­
Corriente appeared in Liege, as the first peri­ nist Party and a member of the Moscow
odical of the Spanish Left Opposition, It car­ Soviet, continued to play an active role in
ried a greeting from Leon Trotsky. Appar­ the r i l u . He travelled abroad for the organi­
ently only two or three numbers of the zation, to France, Italy, Austria, the Nether­
periodical saw the light of day.8 lands, and elsewhere. For a short while in
1926 he served as First Secretary of the r i l u
during the period of illness of its permanent
The Early Activity of Andr6s Nin
secretary, A. Lozovsky.11
The Spanish Left Oppositionists were soon With the intensification of the conflict
joined by the man who was undoubtedly the within the Soviet Party Nin clearly took his
best known of all of them, Andres {or, in place alongside Trotsky and his supporters.
Catalan, Andreu) Nin. Bom in a provincial He became a member of the International
Catalan town in 1892, Andres Nin had his Commission of the Opposition Center of
first political experience as a Catalan N a­ Moscow, together with Kharitonov, Karl Ra­
tionalist, but in 19 13 joined the Socialist dek, Fritz Wolf, Victor Serge, and the Bulgar­
Party. At first a teacher, then a travelling ian Stepanov.11 At thfe Sixth Congress of the
salesman, Nin wrote extensively for the So­ Comintern he came but clearly in support
cialist press. He was jailed during the gen­ of the positions of Trotsky; as a conse­
eral strike of August 1917, and soon after quence, he lost his position in the r i l u and
organized the Union of the Free Professions was expelled from the Soviet Communist
(Sindicato de Profesiones Liberales), which Party.

682 Spain: Before POUM

 During Trotsky's internal exile in Alma rors.' He refused to give this declaration
Ata, Nin kept in touch with him through and then was expelled. The Catalan Fed­
correspondence apparently delivered eration, having declared its solidarity
through individuals who were able to visit with him, was expelled in a bloc. . . ,1<s
Trotsky. In these letters Nin informed I don't know whether you know that I
Trotsky of current developments both am bound to him by a very old friendship.
within the Soviet Party and in the Comin­ Maurin is very close to us and I am sure
tern, with particular reference to various op­ that he will end up in a short time by
positionist elements both in the USSR and declaring himself for the Opposition.
outside.13 That would be an acquisition of great
Finally, after being kept for more than a value, for as I have told you, he is very
year under close g p u vigilance, Nin, his well thought of and honest. We could
wife, and two daughters were deported from spoil everything if we were to attack him
the USSR in the summer of 1930.14 He ar­ in a manner that was too unjustified.17
rived home in Barcelona in the middle of
September after a short stay in Paris, where For the next year, until the open break
he briefly served as a member of the Interna­ between the two groups in June 19 31, the
tional Secretariat of the Trotskyist Catalan Left Oppositionists worked largely
movement.15 within the Catalan-Balearic Federation and
the Workers and Peasants Bloc which had
been established with the merger of the Fed­
Nin, Trotsky, and the Maurin Group eration and the small Catalan Communist
Upon his return to Catalonia, Nin was virtu­ Party headed by Jordi Arquer. This collabo­
ration caused several rather acrid exchanges
ally the only member of the Left Opposition
in that region. At that point it seemed logi­ between Nin and Trotsky. When Nin in­
formed Trotsky that he had become a mem­
cal to him to try to work within the Catalan-
Balearic Communist Federation headed by ber of the leadership of the Catalan Federa­
tion, Trotsky wrote back that this action
Joaquin Maurin. This decision undoubtedly
derived in part from Nin's old friendship "disorients me a great deal. . . . " He then
posed some rhetorical questions: "What has
with Maurin, but it was also apparently due
to the fact that for some months Nin felt happened in the Federation? Have its chiefs
changed? Has the disposition of their spirit
that there was a real chance of winning the
Catalan-Balearic Communist Federation in been modified under the influence of the
republican upset and of a general and sudden
toto to the International Left Opposition.
change of heart? Have they lost hope of rec­
A few weeks after arriving in Barcelona,
onciliation with the bureaucracy of the ci?.
Nin explained to Trotsky the Communist
. . . " Trotsky went on to predict that the
situation, particularly in Catalonia, as he
then saw it. He commented on the official Maurin group "w ill not be capable of passing
the test of the revolution, and will suffer a
party that "its authority is nil." About the
defeat at the first opportunity."18
Maurin group he said:
Trotsky was also unhappy with Nin's evi­
Until very recently, it belonged to the of­ dent sympathy for Alfred Rosmer in the
ficial party. Its most prominent leader is struggle which had developed between him
Maurin. On his arrival in Spain, the Cen­ and Raymond Molinier in the French sec­
tral Committee, which has never re­ tion. Nin's biographer has noted that "his
garded this comrade favorably . . . asked sympathies . .. were for Alfred Rosmer, and
him to make a declaration against 'Trots­ like him, he did not share the confidence
kyism' and to renounce his 'former er­ which Trotsky had placed in Raymond Mol-

Spain: Before POUM 683

inier, who would be strongly criticized by tral Committee statements on particular
Andr£s Nin and the Spanish Communist situations or events.24
Opposition a few months later. . . "l9 The first issue of Comunismo carried
three documents, a "Project for the Political
Platform of the o c e , " a "Project for the
Formal Establishment of the
Trade Union Thesis of the o c e , " and a "Proj­
Opposition in Spain
ect for an Agrarian Thesis." These were de­
In his correspondence with Nin, Trotsky signed as fundamental statements of the
kept insisting on the need for the establish­ Spanish Trotskyists and were to be dis­
ment of a national Spanish Left Opposition cussed among and perhaps modified by
group, even if it were a tiny one. This did them.
not transpire until the final break between The political platform called for "reunifi­
Nin and the Maurin group in Catalonia. Al­ cation" of the three branches of Spanish
though that break had been underway for Communism at a national conference. It an­
some time, it came out into the open on June alyzed the origins of the split within the
8 - 9 , 1931. Maurin and Nin were invited to Comintern, and denounced the Stalinist
give talks on their political positions on suc­ leadership of the ci. It proclaimed that "the
cessive evenings, before the Ateneo of Ma­ International cannot be the monopoly of one
drid. Francesco Bonamusa notes that "from fraction based on the bureaucracy, but must
the time they both publicly expounded their be the party of the world revolution of the
contradictory opinions, they ceased collabo­ proletariat. . . the opposition doesn't try to
rating, and even greeting one another.. . ."20 create a force opposed to the International
After several false starts the Trotskyists but to struggle at whatever cost to reestab­
who had returned home after the fall of lish the principles which defined it when it
Primo de Rivera finally succeeded in launch­ was constituted."25
ing a periodical, Comunismo. Its first num­ The trade union document similarly fol­
ber was dated May 15, 1931, and it was pub­ lowed the line of the International Left Op­
lished in the northern city of Oviedo, due to position. It opposed the efforts of the official
the initiative of Jose Loredo Aparicio, the Communist Party to form its own trade
leader of the small Trotskyist nucleus in union central in competition with the c n t
that Asturian city.21 It carried on its mast­ and the u g t . 1*
head the names of Andres Nin, Henri La­ The project for an agrarian thesis pre­
croix (Francisco Garcia Lavid), Esteban Bil­ sented an extensive analysis of the rural sit­
bao, Fersen (Enrique Fernandez Sendon), uation in various parts of the country. It also
Loredo Aparicio, Julian Gorkin, L. Siem called for different kinds of basic reforms
(Luis Rastrollo), and Juan Andrade.21 Its ap­ corresponding to the different situations of
pearance was made possible by a contribu­ the peasantry in the several regions. Al­
tion from the French section.13 though calling for the ultimate collectiviza­
Comunismo regularly carried serious tion of the land "starting from the funda­
analyses of the current Spanish political sit­ mental principle of the industrialization of
uation. It also featured historical back­ the countryside," it called in the proximate
ground material, such as an article on Ale­ future for programs designed to meet the
jandro Lerroux, studies of regional immediate needs of the small landholder
nationalisms in Spain, and accounts of the and landless agricultural laborer17
factional struggles in the Soviet Communist Less than a month after the appearance of
Party in the 1920s. Finally, it published doc­ the first issue of Comunismo, on June 7, the
uments of the Spanish Trotskyist move­ Oposicion Comunista de Espana ( o c e ) , as
ment, such as congress resolutions and Cen­ the Spanish Trotskyists called themselves,

684 Spain: Before POUM

held its Second National Conference in Ma­ by the International Secretariat and particu­
drid. Henri Lacroix reviewed the progress of larly by Raymond Molinier, failed to materi­
the organization since its establishment in alize, Nin reported on November 7, 19 31, to
Liege the year before/ while other delegates Trotsky that "the governor's persecution of
reported on the state of the organization in El Soviet allowed us to suspend publication
various parts of Spain. Nin spoke for Cata­ in an 'honorable' manner.. . ."2SI Trotsky re­
lonia, Loredo Aparicio for Asturias, Esteban plied sharply to this, that "I find this manner
Bilbao for the Basque provinces, and Luis of posing the question incorrect in principle.
Rastrollo for Estremadura. . . . To cease publishing a paper without re­
The Second Conference ratified the sev­ placing it with an illegal publication simply
eral basic documents setting forth the o c e ' s signifies desertion. .. ."30
position. It also elected an Executive Com­ Trotsky from time to time offered opin­
mittee to take the place of the Provisional ions and advice on the practical political
Committee which had been functioning un­ situation in Spain—advice which his fol­
til then. The Executive Committee con­ lowers there did not appreciate. Francesco
sisted of Henri Lacroix as Secretary General, Bonamusa has noted that some of Trotsky's
as well as- Enrique Fernandez Sendon observations were "removed from all politi­
(Fersen), Juan Andrade, Agustin Lafuente, cal reality, especially that of Catalonia."31
Rodolfo Usano, and perhaps Luis Ras­ Pelai Pages has noted with regard to Trots­
trollo28 ky's observations on Spain that "Trotsky
never undertook a profound analysis of
Spanish society, or studied the social and
The o ce
economic infrastructure of social classes.
He began with a more or less standardized
Growing Differences Between
characterization from Marxist theory . . .
Trotsky and the OCE
and from this characterized the other ten­
The o c e was formally established after its dencies prevailing in the Spanish labor
Second Congress as a national organization, movement: Socialism, anarchism, Stalin­
as Trotsky had urged. Soon afterward, a Cat­ ism, etc.. . ,"31 Increasingly this tendency of
alan Federation of the organization was es­ Trotsky to judge Spanish events in terms of
tablished, something else on which Trotsky a general schema rather than of the peculiar
had insisted. However, in spite of these steps conditions prevalent in the country was to
relations between Trotsky and his Spanish alienate his followers to the point of bring­
followers became increasingly tense. This ing most of them ultimately to leave the
was particularly the case between Nin and ranks of International Trotskyism.
Trotsky, but at least until mid-1932 virtu­ In the 19 3 1-3 2 period, differing views on
ally all of the other Spanish Trotskyists events in the international movement were
tended to align themselves with Nin, not also a cause of dissension between Trotsky
Trotsky. Different assessments of the situa­ and the Spanish Trotskyists. The issue of
tion in Spain, as well as disagreements about Raymond Molinier continued to be a source
developments within the International Sec­ of trouble. Although Molinier and Pierre
retariat as a whole, contributed to the fric­ Frank visited Spain on behalf of the Interna­
tion between Trotsky and his Spanish fol­ tional Secretariat, and Nin and other Span­
lowers. ish leaders had a good impression of Moli­
One issue about which there was contro­ nier at that time, they subsequently changed
versy was the fate of El Soviet, a periodical their views once again: Molinier made a
established by the o c e in Barcelona. When number of promises, particularly concern­
financial help for the periodical, promised ing financial aid to the Spanish group, which

Spain: Before POUM 685

i
i
he did not keep. On November 7, 1931, Nin the democratic revolution." It predicted
wrote Trotsky that "these promises re­ that the Left Republican-Socialist govern­
mained thin air, and our economic situation ment would soon be displaced by a right-
became grave. The one directly culpable for wing one led by Alejandro Lerroux. How­
all this is Comrade Molinier who acted with ever, the resolution argued that although
unjustifiable irresponsibility. Truly a con­ "the democratic revolution could only be
scious saboteur of the Opposition could not completed by the establishment of the dicta­
have done better than Molinier."33 torship of the proletariat," the time was not
Nin {and the other Spanish Trotskyist yet ripe for such an event.
leaders) also had disagreements with Trots­ The o c e resolution argued that five things
ky's handling of the crisis among his Ger­ were required to make the proletarian revo­
man followers. In the introduction to an ex­ lution possible. These were, "the demoral­
cerpt of the Nin-Trotsky correspondence ization of the enemy class," tiie elimination
which Trotsky himself published, he noted of Socialist influence among the peasants
that "Nin accused the International Opposi­ and most of the workers, the winning over
tion of having a false policy towards of the most of the petty bourgeoisie, the
Landau."34 establishment of something analogous to
soviets, and "the creation of a great Commu­
nist Party." In the meanwhile, emphasis
The Third Conference of the OCE
must be placed on the conquest of demo­
The Third National Conference of the Or- cratic freedoms.36
ganizaci6n Comunista de Izquierda took The suggestion that the o c e should con­
place in Madrid, from March 26 to March sider the possibility of naming its own can­
28, 1932. It was attended by about thirty didates in the next general elections gener­
delegates, a majority of them from Madrid ated considerable controversy in the
but with representation also from Old Cas­ conference. Andres Nin and Molina y Fa-
tile and Le6n, Catalonia, Asturias, the brega from Catalonia introduced the motion
Basque provinces and Navarre, Galicia, and in favor of such action, but Juan Andrade
Andalusia.35 In addition to hearing reports and Henri Lacroix opposed it, arguing that
from Secretary General Henri Lacroix and to offer candidates separate from those of
from the various provincial delegations, the the official Communist Party would be to
conference devoted most of its seven ses­ change the o c e from an "opposition" to a
sions to a discussion of programmatic docu­ rival party to the Partido Comunista de Es-
ments which were to have a profound effect pafta. The motion, nonetheless, was passed
on the future of the organization. by a majority of the delegates.37
Three of these documents were of greatest The motion on "the international situa­
importance. These were "The Spanish Polit­ tion" was drawn up and adopted largely as
ical Situation and the Mission of the Com­ a justification of the decision of the Third
munists," a resolution on electoral partici­ Conference to change the name of the o c e
pation, and a "Thesis on the International to Izquierda Comunista de Espana (Seccion
Situation and Communism." Espanola de la Oposici6n Comunista Inter­
The first general political resolution national). Although not proposing the full
traced events since the end of the Primo de establishment of a second Communist party
Rivera dictatorship, condemned the perse­ in Spain or a rival to the Comintern on an
cutions of the labor movement by the gov­ international level, the resolution was very
ernment of the Republic, and "came to the critical of the "opposition" role which Inter­
conclusion—so often cited—of the practical national Trotskyism had maintained until
incapacity of the bourgeoisie to carry out that point:

686 Spain: Before POUM

 The traditional attitude of the Opposition arate and rival organization. It and the
is completely insufficient in present cir­ electoral resolution aroused strong protest
cumstances and by persisting in it the from Trotsky.
Opposition will not succeed in being a The first public evidence of the attitude
political solution in decisive moments. of Trotsky and those closely associated with
Because the partial reforms obtained in him came from the German section. It is­
the International do not modify substan­ sued a "Letter of the German Opposition to
tially the nature of Stalinism. . . . Main­ All Members of the Spanish Opposition"
taining this point of view in a consequent which was published by the International
manner would result in the working class Secretariat in January 1933. That document
being deprived of the policy of the Opposi­ accused the Spanish Trotskyists of seeking
tion until the total reform of the ci had to set up a "second party" and a "Fourth
been attained, while at the same time International," and emphasized that that
postponing—if not making impossible— was against the "line" of the International
the reform of the c i . . . It is necessary that Left Opposition. It added that the Spaniards
the Opposition present, in addition to its were thus following the same mistaken
criticisms, the living example of its course as Rosmer in France and Landau in
policy. Germany.40 The Germans emphasized that
the Communist Party was still "our" party
Pelai Pages has paraphrased the resolution's and the Comintern "our" International.41
concept of how this should be done: "This That the Germans were speaking for
can only be achieved if, in addition to link­ Trotsky became clear in a document sub-
ing itself intimately with the Communist mitted.by Trotsky himself to the February
International and marching together in ev­ 1933 preconference of the International Op­
erything possible, the Opposition is con­ position. In that document Trotsky wrote:
verted into an active force which puts into
practice its own policy, without waiting for On the question of faction or indepen­
the International to accept it."38 dent party, the Spanish Section at its last
The Spanish Trotskyists also asked for the conference took an ambiguous position,
urgent summoning of a conference of the to say the least, by declaring itself in favor
International Left Opposition. It urged that of setting up its own list of candidates at
both the current affiliates of the Interna­ parliamentary and other elections. This
tional Secretariat and the dissident groups decision, which is contrary to the policy
of Rosmer and Landau be permitted to at­ of the Left Opposition and was in no way
tend, the dissidents being there to present prepared for in practice, remained a pla-
their points of view, not necessarily as vot­ tonic but nonetheless harmful demon­
ing delegates. At the same time it refused to stration. On the road to alienation from
accept the insistence of the International the Bolshevik Leninists, the leaders of the
Secretariat's representatives at the Spanish Spanish Opposition went so far as to con­
conference, Raymond Molinier and Pierre sider it possible to change the name of
Frank, that it go on record against Rosmer their organization. By assuming the name
and Landau.39 of 'Left Communists'—an obviously false
Clearly the international resolution, to­ name from the standpoint of theory—the
gether with the change in the name of the Spanish comrades put themselves into
organization, seemed to move sharply away contradiction with the International Left
from the concept of Trotskyism as an "oppo­ Opposition and at the same time ap­
sition" to the official Communist Interna­ proached the name taken by the Lenin­
tional and toward its being a completely sep­ bund, the Rosmer group, etc. No serious

Spain: Before POUM 687

 revolutionary will believe that such an mittee of New Castile and the National
important step was taken by accident, Youth Committee." In fact Lacroix's group
without a political reason. At the same seems to have consisted only of himself and
time, no Marxist will approve a policy six other members of the local Madrid orga­
that does not openly declare its aims on nization of the i c e : G. Munis, Ernesto Tojo,
principled questions, but takes refuge in Evaristo Gil, Jose Maria Landezabal, Petra
diplomacy and maneuver.42 Pastor, and "Roberto."45
Lacroix made use of funds which he had
The irony of this position of Trotsky is received for the i c e in his capacity as Secre­
that within a matter of a few months of tary General to publish his "Bulletin." He
the publication of this document he himself also refused to give the new Executive Com­
came out in favor of the establishment of a mittee of the organization the list of sub­
Fourth International. The significance of the scribers to the periodical Comunismo.*6
controversy is that it deepened the widening It is by no means clear why Lacroix origi­
gulf between Trotsky and the great majority nally refused to continue as Secretary Gen­
of his Spanish followers. eral of the Spanish Trotskyist organization.
After the November 1932 Central Commit­
tee meeting he began to justify his break
The Case of Henri Lacroix
with the majority of his comrades by arguing
Another event of the Third Conference of that he had been opposed to changing the
the Spanish Trotskyists which was to cause name of the organization, to its agreement
very considerable trouble was its decision to run its own candidates in some cases,
to give Secretary General Henri Lacroix and to its position vis-a-vis the International
(Francisco Garcia Lavid), on his own re­ Secretariat.47
quest, a three-month leave of absence "for The International Secretariat, the French
reasons of health. "'w In fact, the retirement section and Trotsky himself tended to align
of Lacroix from the leadership of the group themselves more or less openly with La­
was to set off its most serious internal divi­ croix. They all insisted on regarding the situ­
sion. This controversy served to widen even ation as a serious factional struggle in spite
further the breach between Trotsky and his of the fact that virtually the whole of the
Spanish followers. Spanish Trotskyist organization was aligned
When the three-month leave was up La­ against Lacroix and with the leadership
croix refused to return to his post as Secre­ headed by Andres Nin.
tary General. As a consequence, in Novem­ Thus, the French section, after accusing
ber 1932 there was a meeting of the Central their Spanish counterparts of four "errone­
Committee of the i c e which, when Lacroix ous tendencies" (towards forming a second
again refused to return to his post, named party, lack of perspective on the Spanish
a new Executive Committee consisting of Revolution, ignoring the problems of the In­
Andres Nin as Secretary General and L. ternational Left Opposition, and "lack of
Fersen (Enrique Fernandez Sendon), Josep precise policy" on trade union and agrarian
Metge, Narciso Molina y Fabrega, and Er- matters) made proposals to "solve" the
gino Goni (pseudonym of Francesco de Spanish problem. According to Pelai Pages,
Cabo) as Administrative Secretary. It was these suggestions were "the opening of an
also decided to move the headquarters of the ample political discussion, on the basis of a
i c e from Madrid to Barcelona.44 letter from the International Opposition to
Soon after this meeting Lacroix began all members of the Spanish Opposition; the
publication of what he called an "Internal publication of an Internal Bulletin to assure
Discussion Bulletin of the Regional Com­ discussion, the constitution of an intema-

688 Spain: Before POUM

tional commission of three members to par­ its points of view if it doesn't want to enter
ticipate directly in the discussion, and an into violation of international discipline.
enlarged meeting of the is with the collabo­ The position which should be adopted as the
ration of representatives of the different cur­ result of discussion, is thus transformed into
rents which had become manifest in the an ultimatum."51 The resolution ended by
Spanish section."48 congratulating the international movement
The attitude of the International Secretar­ for having come around to the point of view
iat, with Trotsky's approval, was much the on the relationship of the Opposition to the
same. Over the protests of the Spanish Cen­ Comintern which the Spanish section had
tral Committee, the is invited a representa­ adopted, and been severely criticized for,
tive of the Lacroix group—as well as of the some months previously.51
Central Committee—to attend the precon­ The Spanish section refused to act toward
ference of the international organization in the Lacroix group as the preconference had
Paris in February 1933.49 instructed it to do. Instead, it sent detailed
The preconference itself went on record proof of how Lacroix had used funds of the
against the Spanish Central Committee. It organization for his own factional purposes.
ordered the Spanish organization to cancel In March, the Central Committee received
the disciplinary measures—dissolving the letters of support for this position from re­
National Youth Committee and suspending gional groups in Asturias, Valencia, Estrem-
the New Castile Regional Committee— adura, Salamanca, Old Castile, and the
which had been taken against the Lacroix Basque country. Finally, in June 1933 Co-
group. It also condemned the policies of the munismo published this notice: "The orga­
Central Committee of the Spanish organi­ nization is informed that its ex-secretary
zation.50 general Henri Lacroix (Francisco Garcia
The Central Committee was represented Lavid) has been expelled from our ranks for
at the Paris meeting by Fersen, who pre­ misuse of funds."53
sented a resolution on behalf of the Spanish After being expelled from the Trotskyist
organization. This resolution agreed to the ranks, Garcia Lavid unsuccessfully sought
publication of an internal bulletin open to admission to the Communist Party. He was
all members, and promised that no one finally admitted to the Socialist Party. He
would be expelled from the Spanish organi­ was a political commissar in the Republican
zation until its next national conference. Army during the Civil War, and shortly be­
However, it refused to cancel the disciplin­ fore the end of the conflict was hanged a few
ary measures against Lacroix, and opposed meters from the French border by elements
the "Bolshevik-Leninist Left Communist of the Communist Party's Lister Brigade.54
Opposition" designation which the Interna­ Of the other members of the Lacroix
tional Secretariat wanted to have all sec­ group, G. Munis remained i n the i c e . Tojo
tions use as being "totally exotic" in the dropped out of politics entirely, and Gomila
Spanish context. ended up during the Civil War as a member
This resolution also attacked the proce­ of the fascist Falange.55
dures of the International Secretariat. It
claimed that "nothing is presented for dis­
Further Polemics
cussion, approval has only been asked of the
Spanish Section, which has been formulat­ The expulsion of Henri Lacroix did not end
ing criticisms of your leadership which it the dissidence between the i c e on the one
continues to think are justified. . .." Thus, hand and the International Secretariat and
the Spanish section "w ill be faced with the Trotsky on the other. For one thing, the In­
necessity of renouncing without discussion ternational Secretariat continued to work

Spain: Before POUM 689

 behind the back of the Central Committee condemning the position of the Spanish
of its Spanish affiliate, maintaining a corre­ Central Committee, to which the letter re­
spondence with two people who had at first plied sharply. This exchange was followed
supported Lacroix but were no longer mem­ by a letter from Trotsky which Pierre Broug
bers of the organization: Arlen, a profes­ calls a "declaration of internal war on the
sional soldier, and Mariano Vela. It sought majority of the Spanish section."62
"their point of view on questions of the in­ Trotsky opened this letter with the com­
ternational organization."56Trotsky and the ment that "the recent letters and documents
is also apparently used these two to circulate coming from the Central Committee of the
documents critical of the leaders of the Spanish section, led by Comrade Nin, pro­
Spanish section among its membership.57 voke a feeling that can only be termed indig­
Meanwhile, Trotsky had published ex­ nation. . . . Only people devoid of any inner
cerpts from his correspondence with Nin. discipline could write this way, especially
He prefaced these with an introduction with respect to the organization—which in
which said among other things that "Com ­ their deepest convictions they judge to be
rade Andr6s Nin, who has been in perma­ foreign and hostile."*3 After noting that the
nent conflict with the International Opposi­ position of the Spanish section had been
tion and the leaders of all the other sections, unanimously rejected by the recent precon­
denies, at the same time, the existence of ference of the is, Trotsky attacked at length
theoretical or political differences."58 A l­ the position of Nin with regard to Rosmer
though the Spanish Central Committee had and Landau, claiming that as a member of
sent the International Secretariat a letter ex­ the International Bureau he had shared re­
plaining that "most of the problems with sponsibility in the treatment of those two
which that correspondence deals have been dissident leaders. At least, Trotsky argued,
completely overcome," and requested that Nin should have said that "We have made
this letter be published along with the corre­ such and such an error. . . . "
spondence, the International Secretariat Trotsky then charged that Nin's behavior
never published the letter from the Spanish had greatly damaged the Spanish section:
organization.59 "Now, as a result of the radically incorrect
In May or June of 1933 the Central Com­ policy of Comrade Nin, the Spanish section
mittee of i c e sent a long letter to the plenum is growing not stronger, but weaker."64 Fi­
of the International Secretariat which, after nally, in a postscript about the reply of the
being postponed for some time, finally met Spaniards to the letter of Shachtman and
in August. It criticized the is for not having Frank, he denied hiding behind them in or­
supported the i c e against Lacroix even after der to attack the Spanish section, saying, "I
it was in full possession of the documenta­ have many times expressed myself, I hope
tion on the subject.60 It then went on to a unequivocally, on the 'politics' of N in."65
general accusation against the International Andres Nin did not reply personally to
Secretariat: "Support of indiscipline, of a this attack by Trotsky. Rather, the answer
struggle without principles, of individuals came from the Central Committee of the
who don't belong to the organization for rea­ Spanish section, which argued that the posi­
sons of personal convenience and fear of tions attacked by Trotsky "are not those of
compromising themselves (the case of Ar­ a particular comrade^ior of a camarilla, but
len), giving them participation in internal those of the Spanish Communist Opposi­
discussions; that is the policy of the is to­ tion." It accused Trotsky of wanting "to
ward our section."61 eliminate Nin, laden with blame, in order
Shortly afterward, Max Shachtman and to form a section of docile puppets, without
Pierre Frank wrote a letter for the IS, strongly any regard to quality or background, and to

690 Spain: Before POUM

say 'The Spanish section has finally found a secondary but very active role in the orga­
the right path' . . . and everything else that nization and conduct of the Alianza Obrera
is usual in these cases." (Workers Alliance). Nin signed the agree­
The Spanish letter said that Trotsky's let­ ment forming the first such group in Cata­
ter was "a sum of empty verbalisms." It lonia and served on its Executive Com­
went on to add that "however great his tal­ mittee. The Asturian Trotskyists also
ents and his political experience, those can participated in the leadership of the Alianza
produce only lamentable documents when Obrera there, while in Estremadura they
they attempt to justify the unjustifiable and were the principal group taking the initia­
to defend the indefensible." It ended by say­ tive in establishing such an organization.
ing to Trotsky that "the maximum responsi­ These were alliances of most of the trade
bility falls upon you" for the dissidences unions and labor-based political groups, ex­
between him and his Spanish followers.66 cept the c n t -f a i .
The position of the national ic e leadership With the revolution of October 1934 the
had the virtually unanimous support of the Trotskyists were also part of the movement.
membership. In July and August the various They helped organize a workers militia
regional groups, including that of Madrid, group in Catalonia, which never got to go
where Lacroix had formerly had his base, into action, and in Asturias, where the tem­
endorsed the positions taken by the Central porary success of the revolution was greatest
Committee of the i c e .47 and the struggle lasted longest, the principal
Trotskyists of the region played significant
roles in the conflict.69
The Partido Obrero de
It is significant to note that with the estab­
Unificacidn Marxista
lishments of the Alianzas Obreras, the Span­
ish Trotskyists gave up their insistence on
The Controversy Over Entrism
the need for establishing soviets analogous
and the POUM
to those of the Russian Revolution. Pelai
For some time after this exchange relations Pages has noted the explanation of Fersen in
remained relatively calm between i c e on August 1934 that "in Spain soviets had not
the one hand, and Trotsky and the Interna­ arisen because here there 'exist powerful or­
tional Secretariat on the other. Although the ganizations which have the great masses un­
Spanish section did not send a delegate to der their discipline,' and that these organiza­
the August 1933 Plenum of the Interna­ tions have not renounced 'the control of
tional Secretariat, it did send a letter to the their movement to create another base of
meeting setting forth its points of view. It struggle. Like it or not, this is a fact from
endorsed the change in orientation of the which one must begin.' " 70
international movement which was soon to Many years later, Ignacio Iglesias, a major
result in the call for a Fourth International Trotskyist leader in the Asturias region, re­
and urged that the movement take the name iterated the thinking of the Spanish Trots­
International Communist League. It also kyists about the “ soviets" issue. After not­
urged the reorganization of the International ing that "For Trotsky, the establishment in
Secretariat and its transfer from Paris to our country of soviets was, then, essential.
Brussels.68 There is no revolution without soviets, he
During the next year or more, marked in says and repeats. . . . " Iglesias observed that
Spain by the right-wing electoral victory in in Russia soviets had appeared exactly be­
November 1933 and culminating in the cause of the lack of a trade union tradition.
abortive revolutionary effort of part of the Iglesias added, "in Spain the situation was
Left in October 1934, the Trotskyists played different since the workers were very orga­

Spain: Before POUM 691

nized, particularly unionized. . . . The Span­ to the 'new course,' absolute condemnation
ish worker, then, was fully represented by of the erroneous policy of the is on this ques­
his union or his party. . . ." 7l tion, and constitution of an organized group
The defeat of the October 1934 Revolu­ in the interior of the i c l grouping all the
tion brought all of the Marxist groups to a adversaries of the policy of the is and of the
realization of the need for greater unity, both turn." This position was adopted unani­
on the trade union and political party levels, mously.75
in order to be able to fight what they all saw Ignacio Iglesias regarded the refusal of the
as a drift towards fascism in Spain. This Spanish Trotskyists to follow the French
feeling was particularly strong in Catalonia, Turn to be the definitive break between
where starting early in 1935 a series of con­ them and Trotsky: "In September 1934
versations was held among the local organi­ there was therefore practically formalized
zations of the Socialist and Communist par­ the break of the Spanish Trotskyists with
ties, together with the b o c of Joaquin Trotsky. The discrepancies existing on dif­
Maurin, the i c e , and two regional parties, ferent questions had produced an undoubt­
the Union Socialista de Catalunya and the edly tense situation, which reached its cul­
Parti Catala Proletari, to explore the possi­ mination due to the decision suddenly
bility of merging them into a single party. adopted by the old founder of the Red Army
These conversations proceeded through to oblige his followers to enter the socialist
June 1935, although by that time only three parties with the really illusory purpose of
parties were still involved: the b o c of taking from them the working masses nec­
Maurin, the i c e , and the Parti Catala Prole­ essary to create new bolshevik parties and
tari.72 Finally, the last of these also with­ give life to the IV International. . . Z'76
drew from further discussions. It was in the After the October 1934 Revolution, when
end only the Izquierda Comunista Espanol L. Fersen was jailed in Madrid where he had
and the Bloque Obrero y Campesino which long conversations with Socialist Party fel­
reached agreement on the formation of a low prisoners, he wrote a letter to the Execu­
new party, the Partido Obrero de Unifi­ tive Committee saying that he had changed
cation Marxista (p o u m ), which came into his mind and urging entry into the Socialist
formal existence at the end of September Party.77 However, after publication of the
I 935 -73 letter in the i c e ' s internal bulletin and ex­
Meanwhile, international Trotskyism tensive discussion of the issue, "a strong
had entered into the period of the "French majority of the organization pronounced it­
Turn," that is, "entrism" into the Socialist self against, and for an independent organi­
parties in various countries. Clearly this was zation. Our National Executive Committee
not the tactic adopted by the Spanish Trots­ took a position unanimously against this
kyists, and disagreements over the issue led proposition" (that of the is).78
close to a final break with Trotsky and the Subsequently, wrote Andrade, as negotia­
international movement. tions for unity in Catalonia progressed the
In a letter addressed to A. Gonzalez, a National Executive Committee passed a res­
member of the U.S. Trotskyist group who olution endorsing unification there with the
was particularly concerned with the move­ b o c but providing that elsewhere in Spain

ment in Latin America, Juan Andrade ex­ the i c e members should enter the Socialist
plained the evolution of the thinking of the Party. This idea was strongly rejected by the
Spanish section on entrism.74 He noted that Madrid group: "The majority of our organi­
at a plenum of the i c e on September 15, zation accepted this position, and the Na­
I 934/ "the point of view expressed . . . can tional Executive Committee itself, adopting
be summed up as follows: total opposition the opinion thus expressed by the majority

692 Spain: Before POUM

of the militants, declared itself favorable to the Trotskyists under the conditions in
a new party throughout all of Spain." which Trotsky wanted them to enter the
Andrade noted that after that decision, p s o e . Jean Rous, sent by the International

Fersen, Esteban Bilbao, Munis, "and two Secretariat to report on the formation of
others" in Madrid decided to enter the So­ p o u m , later recognized this: "It is necessary

cialist Party on their own. They were fol­ however, to note that the s p will not tolerate
lowed "by six to eight isolated comrades the b -l fraction (flags flying). Hence the ne­
in the provinces. . . . Their departure only cessity for underground work."63
constituted an unimportant incident."79 Andres Nin answered the International
The International Secretariat, presumably Secretariat in very energetic terms in the
seconded by Trotsky, strongly opposed the name of the Executive Committee of i c e .
decision to form p o u m . In a letter dated July Saying that he was not surprised at the is
1935 / the is wrote to the Executive Commit­ attitude since he knew that that body was
tee of i c e that this would amount to "your accustomed to treating its affiliates like
absorption by the Workers and Peasants "pawns on a chess board," Nin noted that
Bloc." It added that "if you had at least had the idea of all i c e members entering the new
the right to form fractions and had entered p o u m was not what the Executive Commit­

with your flag and your own ideas, the ques­ tee of i c e had proposed, but since "it is only
tion might have been judged differently." the instrument of the organization, it did
However, the agreement reached by i c e was nothing to impose upon it the methods of
declared "totally unacceptable."80 bureaucratic centralism to which you are
The is letter attacked the fact that the habituated, and it will dedicate all its efforts
program agreed upon by i c e did not have any to the rigorous execution of the decisions
specific call for the formation of the Fourth taken by the near-unanimity of the mili­
International, and allowed p o u m to belong tants."44
to the London Bureau. It went on to say Nin went on to say that it is "absolutely
that "our fraction could have played a very impossible to reopen the discussion as you
different role if it had openly entered with propose." Were this done the members
its Bolshevik-Leninist flag into the Spanish would abandon the organization. Further­
Socialist Party, which is the traditional more, the is had been kept fully aware of the
party of the Spanish working class." It progress of negotiations with b o c , and had
warned that without the i c e members inside objected only when they had been com­
the Socialist Left there was great danger of pleted. He denied that i c e was being "ab­
its being attracted to the Stalinists.81 sorbed" by b o c :
The is demanded that further negotiations
with the b o c be suspended and a new discus­ The fusion is carried out on the basis of
sion be undertaken within the i c e . It also a program elaborated in common as the
suggested that there be a rapprochement result of a discussion which lasted for
with Fersen and the others who had entered months and which contains all our funda­
the Socialist Party and offered to serve as mental principles: affirmation of the in­
intermediary for that purpose.82 ternational character of the proletarian
In their insistence that the Spanish Trots­ revolution, condemnation of the theory
kyists enter the Socialist Party Trotsky and of socialism in one country and of the
the International Secretariat, aside from democratic dictatorship of the proletariat
wishing to brush aside the almost unani­ and the peasantry, defense of the USSR
mous wishes of the Spaniards, overlooked but with the absolute right to criticize all
another essential fact about the situation: the errors of the Soviet leadership, affir­
Spanish Socialists would not have admitted mation of the failure of the II and the

Spain: Before POUM 693

 Ill Internationals and of the necessity of was an abortion." In a letter to Victor Alba
reestablishing the unity of the interna­ on February 29, 1972, about this same issue,
tional labor movement on a new basis. Maurin said that "the major theme was: in­
What more do you want? You should have ternational independence, no contacts with
congratulated us for the victory obtained Trotsky. Nin agreed."88
in bringing an organization long charac­
terized by confusion to accept our funda­
Extent and Strength of Trotskyists as
mental principles.
an Independent Group
Nin also totally rejected the is suggestion With the formation of p o u m the Spanish
that the Trotskyists form a distinct fraction Trotskyists disappeared, at least for the time
within the new party. He asked, "What being, as an independent group. Before trac­
would be the objective of a fraction in a ing the further history of the Spanish Trots­
party in which we had contributed to the kyists both inside and outside of the p o u m ,
elaboration of the program without forget­ it is useful to look at how extensive an orga­
ting a single one of our principles? In the nization they had during the 1930-35 pe­
past, we have accepted the fraction as a riod, when o c e and i c e had existed.
lesser evil. In terms of the principles, au­ Stephen Schwartz has noted the contro­
thentic Bolshevism rejects it."85 versy over the membership of i c e : "Accu­
Finally, Nin said that the entry of the rately gauging the founding numbers of the
p o u m into the London Bureau was at the p o u m is difficult. Documents indicate a b o c

suggestion of the Spanish Trotskyists, not membership of some 5,000, while Munis
of the b o c . He added that they were going claims the i c e had 2,000 members in 1932.
into the London Bureau for the purpose of However, Victor Alba, a b o c and p o u m
propagating Trotskyist ideas, "just as the member avers the i c e ' s figures were radi­
Bolshevik-Leninists have done who entered cally padded, and that the Trotskyists' ranks
the sections of the II International."86 never rose above 200. A recent work by the
In letters written many years later JOaqum Catalan historian Pelai Pages suggests a me­
Maurin presented the unification of the b o c dian for the i c e at 7-800, apparently a just
and i c e in quite a different light from that estimate."89
which Nin had portrayed it in 1935. Writing During their five years as a separate politi­
toBrou£ on May 18,1972, Maurin said, "The cal organization the Spanish Trotskyites
only concession which the b o c made to the had established regional federations and lo­
i c e was the change in the name of its cal groups in widely scattered parts of Spain.
party."97 He added that "I never evolved in One of the most important of these was al­
1 934-35 towards positions defended by ways in Madrid. A number of the leading
Trotsky and the Trotskyists. In the first Trotskyist figures of the period lived in Ma­
place, I read the books which Trotsky pub­ drid, including Juan Andrade, Enrique Fer­
lished, but not the Trotskyist periodicals. nandez Sendon, Henri Lacroix, Luis Garcia
That Trotsky, the Trotskyists, and I coin­ Palacios, and the Mexican, G. Munis. At
cided in the criticism of Stalinism was natu­ various times, the Madrid group recruited
ral. From that, to say that I had evolved small units of disaffected Communist Party
towards Trotskyism was far off the path." members. The Madri(J Trotskyists had at
Insofar as possible affiliation of p o u m least some very modest trade union influ­
with the international Trotskyist move­ ence; thus Henri Lacroix was for a while a
ment was concerned, "Never was there dis­ member of the executive of the c n t painters
cussed in the conversations the fusion of the union, Garcia Palacios edited publications
b o c and the International i c e , which for us of the u g t bank clerks union, and Emilio

694 Spain: Before POUM

 Freire was vice president of the Shoemakers There were several groups and some scat­
Section of the Leather Workers Union of the tered members of the Opposition who made
u g t . The Madrid Trotskyists had a head­ up its Galician Federation. These included
quarters which was the major center of the organized units in La Coruna (the regional
publications of the national group.90 capital), El Ferrol, Santiago de Compostela,
The Trotskyists also had groups in other and several smaller towns—it is known that
parts of Castile. In December 19 31 they or­ in 1932 there were twelve members in Mari­
ganized the Castile-Le6n Federation, at a nos, ten in Hombre, and twelve in Puente-
meeting attended by delegates from Za­ deume. Since with the outbreak of the Civil
mora, Leon, Palencia, and Salamanca. There War Galicia fell almost immediately into
were also at least individual members in the hands of the military insurrectionists,
several smaller towns of the region.91 virtually all Galician Oppositionists were
From November 19 31 onward the Trots­ murdered by the rebels in the first days of
kyists also had an organization in Catalonia. the rebellion.96
It was particularly centered in Barcelona, Estreraadura was one of the major centers
where Nin, Josep Metge, Narciso Molina y of strength of the Spanish Trotskyists. Par­
Fabrega, Francesco de Cabo, and other lead­ ticularly in and near the city of Llerena,
ing figures lived and worked. There were where they led important peasant strikes in
also at least small Trotskyist groups in other 1932 and 1933, the Trotskyists had a rela­
towns in the province of Barcelona as well as tively substantial following. At the out­
in that of Gerona. Pelai Pages has estimated break of the Civil War p o u m had 230 mem­
that there were nearly 100 members in the bers in the Llerena region, virtually all of
ic e Catalan Federation on the eve of the whom, presumably, had come from i c e .
establishment of the poum .91 There were smaller groups in several other
In the Asturias region the Trotskyists had Estremadura areas, Luis Rastrollo, a mem­
small groups in Oviedo, Gijon, and Sama de ber of the National Executive of i c e , was the
Langreo. Particularly in Oviedo individual principal Trotskyist leader in Estrema­
members of the group had influence in a few dura.97 Here, too, most of the Trotskyists
of the c n t and u g t unions. Apparently no perished in the first weeks of the Civil War.
regional federation was established there, One of the weakest areas of the country in
individual liaison with the national head­ terms of Trotskyism was Andalusia. There
quarters being maintained by Josd Loredo were small groups in Sevilla, Algeciras, and
Aparicio in Oviedo, Armando Alonso in Gi­ Cadiz, but it seems doubtful that there were
jon, and Ignacio Iglesias from Sama de more than one hundred members in all that
Langreo.93 part of southern Spain. Apparently no re­
In the Basque country there existed the gional federation existed in Andalusia.98
Basque-Navarre Federation, founded in De­ The Trotskyists appear also to have been
cember 1931, with groups in Vizcaya, Na­ weak in the southeastern coastal regions of
varre, Alava, and Santander. One of their Spain, that is, Valencia, Albacete, and Mur­
most outstanding figures was Esteban Bil­ cia. The one town in which they apparently
bao, who had been one of the founders of the had some importance was the port of Sa-
Communist Party in the city of Bilbao. One gunto, where it is known that they partici­
major center of the Trotskyists was in the pated in formation of the local Alianza
town of Astilleros, where they had consider­ Obrera early in 1934."
able influence in the local c n t Oil Workers Jean Rous, who was sent to Spain by the
Union 94 Victor Alba has claimed that for a International Secretariat at the time of the
time the mayor of Astilleros was a Trots­ formation of p o u m , presented his estimates
kyist.95 of the number of ic e members in various

Spain: Before POUM 695

parts of the country at the time of the merger Spanish Trotskyism Just
with b o c . According to him there were
about twenty members in Barcelona, 150 in Before and During the
Madrid, and 400 in Estremadura, where he Civil War
noted that they had "real mass influence"
in the Llerena region. Rous reported a group
of twenty members in Sevilla; three groups,
with a total of forty members in Asturias; a
unit of ten in Bilbao and one of twenty in
Salamanca "exercising strong trade union Once the p o u m had been formed, Trotsky
influence." He credited the Trotskyist unit wrote that "insofar as it may depend on in­
in Astilleros with twelve to twenty mem­ ternational factors, we must; do everything
bers, and noted the existence of a group in to aid this party to gain in power and in
Gijon. Finally, he said that in Galicia there authority. That is possible only along the
were "other small groups of two or three path of consequent and intransigent Marx­
comrades" in Orenza, Santiago de Compo­ ism ."1 However, only a few months later
stela, and Lugo.100 It seems likely that Rous Trotsky was bitterly attacking not just
p o u m , but most particularly its ex-Trotsky-
underestimated i c e membership. Certainly,
Victor Alba's estimate of 200 in all of Spain ist leaders.
considerably understates the size of i c e .101
The Break of Trotsky
With the p o u m

Soon after the formation of p o u m new na­

tional elections were called, and the new
party had to decide what position to adopt
towards them. It was this issue which pro­
voked the definitive split between Trotsky
and the ex-Trotskyists in the p o u m .
All other parties of the Left in Spain
formed an electoral alliance which was pop­
ularly referred to as the Popular Front. Dur­
ing the discussion leading up to this p o u m
advocated formation of a "national labor al­
liance" of all of the labor-based parties.
However, when a broader agreement among
most of those parties and the middle-class
republican and regionalist parties was
agreed to p o u m had to decide whether or not
to join that alliance.
At a meeting of the Central Committee
of p o u m on January s, 1936, Andres Nin
gave a report and introduced a resolution
approving p o u m ' s affiliation with what the
resolution called "the labor-republican
front." The resolution argued that in order
to get its message adequately before the
workers and the public in general it was

696 Spain: Civil War Period

important for the party to have representa­ insisted that it was the POUM ist decision to
tion in parliament. This would be absolutely become part of the Popular Front, if only
impossible if p o u m were to run independent temporarily, that marked the final break be­
candidates against those of the united Left, tween Trotsky and his erstwhile Spanish
and in addition such p o u m candidacies followers.5
might in some instances throw the election On various occasions, Trotsky was to re­
to rightist nominees. fer to the p o u m participation in the electoral
Although the resolution stressed that it coalition of February 1936 as a "betrayal."
did not consider the election results "deci­ He apparently never knew about, or ignored,
sive for the general course of politics," these that fact that p o u m regarded the Popular
elections were nonetheless "highly politi­ Front as purely an electoral alliance, involv­
cal/' because they would resolve above all ing no postelection commitments for the
"the question of amnesty." The overween­ party. Nor did he ever take public note of
ing issue from the point of view of the work­ the fact that on March 8, 1936, Maurin, the
ers, p o u m claimed, w a s that of gaining free­ only p o u m candidate elected in February,
dom for the 30,000 prisoners still held in announced that p o u m was withdrawing
jail as a consequence of the October 1934 from the Popular Front. According to
uprising. This resolution was unanimously Maurin, "The main task of the proletariat
adopted by the Central Committee of p o u m . today . . . is to concentrate on extraparlia­
Shortly thereafter, the old Trotskyist Juan mentary activities. It is prevented from do­
Andrade signed the document of adhesion ing so by its alliance with the petty bour­
of the p o u m to the Popular Front.2 geoisie."6
This action of his ex-followers in p o u m Trotsky's continuing bitterness was re­
brought a blistering attack from Trotsky. In flected in a "letter to a Spanish comrade"
an "open letter" which appeared in the U.S. published in N ew Militant, May a, 1936. At
Trotskyist periodical New Militant on Feb­ the end of this epistle, in listing the "tasks"
ruary 15, 1936, entitled "The Treachery of of the "Spanish supporters of the Fourth In­
the p o u m , " Trotsky charged that "The for­ ternational," Trotsky noted as the first task,
mer Spanish 'Left Communists' have turned "To condemn and denounce mercilessly be­
into a mere 'tail' of the left bourgeoisie. It fore the masses the policy of a l l the leaders
is hard to conceive of a more ignominious participating in the Popular Front." Their
downfall!"3 After noting that Andrade had second "task" was "To grasp in full the
recently sent him a book with a handwritten wretchedness of the leadership of the 'Work­
dedication to Trotsky as his "leader and ers Party of Marxist Unification' and espe­
teacher," Trotsky proclaimed that "that cially of the former 'Left Communists'—
compels me at present to announce all the Andres Nin, Andrade, etc.—and to portray
more decisively in public that I never taught them clearly before the eyes of all the ad­
anybody political betrayal. And Andrade's vanced workers." Task four was "To join
conduct is nothing else than betrayal of the the Socialist Party and the United Youth in
proletariat for the sake of an alliance with order to work there as a fraction in the spirit
the bourgeoisie.'' He ended this blast by sug­ of Bolshevism."7
gesting that "in Spain genuine revolution­
ists will mercilessly expose the betrayal of
The poum During the First Months of
Maurin, Nin, Andrade, and their associates,
the Civil War
and lay the foundation for the Spanish sec­
tion of the Fourth International!"4 On July 17, 1936, the Spanish Army in Mo­
Pierre Broue, one of the principal histori­ rocco seized control there, under leadership
ographers of the Trotskyist movement, has of General Francisco Franco. During the

Spain: Civil War Period 697

 next two days the military insurrection of factories, public utilities and railroads,
spread to the rest of the Spanish Republic. while in many regions the agricultural
The revolt succeeded largely in those areas workers seized control of the farms on
in which the civil authorities were unwill­ which they worked.8
ing to supply arms to members of the two The p o u m participated fully in both the
major union groups and the left-wing politi­ military struggle and in the dual organs of
cal parties. Where the workers were able to power which were established in various
obtain arms the uprising was suppressed, parts of Republican Spain. They were partic­
sometimes after severe fighting. ularly significant in Catalonia and also had
After the first week the military rebels a role of some importance in Madrid, Valen­
had succeeded in gaining control of most cia, and in Asturias. The p o u m grew very
of Andalusia in the south, including Cadiz, rapidly during the first months of the Civil
Sevilla, and Granada. They also were suc­ War. Its membership rose from 6,000 to
cessful in Galicia in the west, and in Le6n, 30,000 and its press expanded dramatically.
Old Castile, and Navarre, centering on the It soon had daily papers, in Barcelona, Ma­
city of Burgos, in the north central parts drid, and Lerida, as well as weeklies in vari­
of the country. Finally, they succeeded in ous cities in Catalonia and elsewhere. It
dominating the western half of Aragon, in­ opened headquarters, organized special
cluding the cities of Zaragoza and Huesca, as groups of women; the youth group fuventud
well as the island of Majorca in the Balearic Comunista Ib6rica (j c i ) expanded rapidly
Islands off the Catalan coast. and had its own press, including a daily
In all other parts of Spain the revolt was newspaper in Lerida. The PO U M ists had im­
overcome by armed civilians, principally portant militia columns on the Arag6n
workers, supported here and there by ele­ front, and in Madrid as well.9
ments of the police. Thus virtually the However, p o u m suffered some serious
whole Mediterranean coast, including Cata­ casualties during the July struggle. Joaquin
lonia, the Valencia region, Albacete, and Maurin, secretary general of p o u m , was cap­
Malaga, remained in the hands of the Repub­ tured by the military insurrectionists in
lic. So did half of Estremadura, along the Galicia, where he had gone on an organizing
Portuguese frontier, New Castile (Madrid tour, and spent the war in jail. Manuel Fer­
and Toledo), the north coast along the Bay of nandez Sendon, p o u m (ex-iCE) leader in La
Biscay, including Asturias, Santander, and Coruna, and Luis Estrella, Galician regional
two Basque provinces. In the last of these secretary of p o u m (also ex-iCE), were both
areas the relatively conservative Basque Na­ shot by the rebels during the first days of the
tionalist Party supported the Republic be­ revolt.10 A few weeks later p o u m units in
cause of its promise to grant autonomy to the Estremadura region, which were almost
the region, a promise fulfilled soon after the entirely of i c e origin, were destroyed when
outbreak of the war. the rebels conquered that region.
Although most of the country stayed in In the Basque region, although the leader­
the hands of the Republic at least tempo­ ship of the Republican forces was princi­
rarily, a social revolution occurred within pally in the hands of the Basque National­
the Republican area. The union groups and ists, Jose Luis Arenillas, ex-Trotskyist and
parties which had fought for the Republic member of the Central* Committee of p o u m ,
set up de facto authorities on a municipal organized the first militia column which left
and sometimes on a regional level (in Cata­ Bilbao to confront the military rebels. A
lonia, Valencia, Asturias) alongside the of­ medical doctor by profession, he became
ficial organs of the Republic. At the same head of the Medical Corps of the Basque
time the workers unions took over control Army and military health inspector of the

698 Spain: Civil War Period

 Republic's Army of the North. In August tirely negative and even noxious from the
1937 he was captured by the Franco forces, point of view of the development of the revo­
and was executed in March 1938.“ lutionary process."15 However, as Brou6 has
The principal importance of p o u m was noted many years later, "Juan Andrade, in
in Catalonia. There it participated in the recalling it, insisted above all on the conse­
Central Committee of Antifascist Militia, quences which would according to him have
the regional dual power established right followed from the refusal of governmental
after the suppression of the rebellion, and collaboration: isolation of the p o u m , facili­
p o u m took over virtual control of the city tating the Stalinist efforts for their suppres­
of Lerida.11 When, in September 1936, the sion, the loss of rights and material advan­
Central Committee was abolished and rep­ tages for the militiamen—the 'possession'
resentatives of the groups which had be­ of militia being of the criterion for 'recogni­
longed to it joined the official Catalan gov­ tion' of an antifascist party—the danger of
ernment, Andres Nin became Catalan being forced quickly into illegality in a situ­
Minister of Justice. ation on which the p o u m felt that it was for
During the period before p o u m entered it and for the revolution more than ever vital
the official government of Catalonia Nin to be able to address the masses."16
and some other p o u m leaders frequently From the beginning, p o u m was subject to
spoke in terms of Trotsky's ideas of perma­ unrelenting opposition from the official
nent revolution. An example of this was An- Communists. In Catalonia, after the first
drds Nin's speech at a meeting of p o u m in days of the Civil War they were represented
Barcelona on September 6, 1936: "The by the Partido Socialista Unificado de Cata­
working class of Catalonia and the working lonia (p s u c ),. the-result of a merger of the
class of Spain doesn't struggle for the demo­ local federations of the Socialist and Com­
cratic republic . . . all these concrete objec­ munist parties and the Union Socialista de
tives of the democratic revolution have not Catalunya and the Parti Catala Proletari.
been carried out by the liberal bourgeoisie The p s u c was affiliated with the Com­
. .. but by the working class, which has re­ intern.17
solved them in a few days, with arms in its The p s u c , objected to the presence of the
hands, . . . The working class has resolved p o u m in the Catalan government. But until

all the fundamental problems of the demo­ the Soviet Union began substantial ship­
cratic revolution. . .. On July 19, comrades, ments of arms to the Republic the p s u c ,
Spanish feudalism, clericalism, and milita­ whose popular support was quite limited,
rism were destroyed . . . as well as the capi­ had very little leverage. However, Soviet aid
talist economy."13 began in October when a Soviet consul, An-
The idea of p o u m entering the official gov­ tonov-Ovsenko {an ex-Trotskyist), appeared
ernment of Catalonia provoked some oppo­ in Barcelona. By December, p s u c , with the
sition within the party. The leaders of the direct help of Antonov-Ovsenko, had suc­
j c i did not favor the idea, and Narciso Mo­ ceeded in provoking a "crisis" in the Catalan
lina y Fabrega also opposed it. However, regime which resulted in the ouster of the
when the vote was taken in the p o u m Cen­ p o u m from the government. Thereafter,

tral Committee, entry into the government PSUC mounted an unceasing and scurrilous
was supported unanimously—any contin­ campaign against p o u m , increasingly pic­
ued strong opposition to the idea might well turing them as "allies of Franco."18
have resulted in a split.14 The objectives of the Stalinists in their
In retrospect, Juan Andrade wrote in La attacks on p o u m were quite clear. They at­
Batalla that th e p o u m ' s experience of "col­ tacked it not only because it was a dissident
laboration" in government had been "en­ Communist movement but also because in

Spain: Civil War Period 699

 the beginning they did not feel strong The culmination of the persecution of the
enough to attack the other much more pow­ was a public trial in October 1938
p o u M ists
erful groups which stood in the way of the of the principal leaders of the party—except
Stalinists' gaining complete dominance for Andres Nin, who had been murdered by
within not only Catalonia but the whole of Stalinist-controlled paramilitary elements.
Republican Spain. These two groups were The p o u M ists usually referred to this trial
the CNT-FAl and the left-wing Socialists led as "The Moscow Trial in Barcelona." Most
by Francisco Largo Caballero. of the more serious charges—of conspiracy
At the time of the exit of p o u m from the with the Franco forces, etc.—were dropped,
government of Catalonia on December 16, but the p o u m leaders were nonetheless
Pravda made quite clear the meaning of the "convicted" of less serious ones and were
Stalinists' success in forcing p o u m out: "In sentenced to long periods in-prison. How­
Catalonia has begun the elimination of the ever, when Franco's troops were about to
Trotskyites and anarchosyndicalists; it will overrun Barcelona they succeeded in getting
be carried to completion with the same en­ out of prison, and most of the p o u m leaders
ergy as was used in the USSR." Thereafter were able to get to France.20
the Stalinists continued their drive to to­
tally destroy p o u m . The party was virtually
P O U M ist Internal Politics and
outlawed in Madrid after the establishment
the c n t - f a i
of the Junta of Defense there when the
Franco forces came to the gates of the city, During this period there existed sharply di­
the Junta largely dominated by the Commu­ vergent tendencies within p o u m . At one ex­
nists. Juan Andrade wrote in La Batalla treme were the Madrid group of the party
about the significance of the Madrid situa­ made up almost totally of e x -iC E members,
tion: "The plan is general for all Spain, and which had pictures of Trotsky in their head­
in Barcelona as in Madrid it is carried out in quarters and carried his portrait in a parade
stages: first against us, .because we are greeting the arrival of Soviet ambassador Ro­
judged weaker, then against the c n t . . . ."** senberg in the Spanish capital. At the other
The growing persecution of p o u m and an­ extreme was the Valencia regional section
archists in Catalonia reached a climax early headed by Luis Portela, which openly sup­
in May 1937 when the Communist-led po­ ported the idea of the Popular Front, was
lice attempted to seize some of the key posts critical of the "Trotskyites and Trotsky
still held by the c n t . This provoked three sympathizers" in p o u m ' s ranks and contin­
days of street fighting, "the May Days," ued to urge the merger of all "M arxist" par­
which ended only after intervention of the ties even as the Stalinist persecution of
c n t members of the Spanish government, p o u m intensified. The p o u m in Catalonia

who appealed to their followers to lay down was somewhat in the center between these
their arms. When the anarchists agreed to extremes, and ex-Trotskyists and e x-B O C
do so, p o u m had little choice but to do the members working reasonably well to­
same. gether.21
Shortly after the end of the May Days During the difficult months between Sep­
most of the top leaders of p o u m were ar­ tember 1936 and May 1937, the p o u m lead­
rested and the party was outlawed. Because ers were virtually unanimous in their con­
of his refusal to authorize these actions, viction that the only hope for saving the
Francisco Largo Caballero, leader of the So­ revolutionary conquests, particularly in the
cialist u g t , was forced out as prime minister Catalan-Aragon-Levante region, was for the
of the Republican government, which from c n t - f a i to assume leadership in the resis­

then on was dominated by pro-Stalinist ele­ tance to the attempts of the Stalinists,
ments. backed by the middle-class parties and one

700 Spain: Civi] War Period

faction of the Socialists, to destroy those force, have precious lessons to Ieam from
conquests. They spent much of their time Spanish events."
and energy in trying to explain to the c n t - Finally, Andrade argued that "the most
f a i leaders what was going on and getting imperious necessity is the constitution of a
them to act against it. Clearly the anarchist revolutionary front between the two most
leaders did not wake up until it was too late. advanced proletarian organizations: p o u m
Only about two weeks before the May and the f a i . . . . The difficulties which our
Days, Andrade explained in La Revolution revolution present to the rapid development
Espagnole, the French-language bulletin of of a great party of masses which assumes
p o u m , the party's position with regard to effective direction of the struggle, can be
the c n t - f a i . He wrote: resolved in great part by the establishment
of the revolutionary front between organiza­
One can say that the future course of the
tions."21
Spanish revolution depends absolutely on
the attitude which the c n t and the f a i
adopt and the capacity that their leaders Trotsky and the Ex-Trotskyists of
show to orient the masses they influence. p o u m During the Civil War

The existing possibility for the revolu­

At the beginning of the Civil War there
tionary Marxist party (p o u m ) to convert
seemed to exist a possibility of a rapproche­
itself into a great party of masses which
ment between Trotsky and his ex-followers
acquires hegemony in the revolution is
in p o u m . Broue has noted that "Trotsky did
limited by the existence of anarchism,
not forget the past disagreements, the inci­
with all its history of great struggles and
dents with Nin, the signature of an electoral
sacrifices. The worker presently disen­
program with the left parties. But the revolu­
chanted with the democratic tendencies
tionary situation which had just been cre­
of the Socialists and the Communists has
ated in Spain demanded audacity and great
more inclination to join a powerful orga­
efforts to advance on the path of revolution­
nization like the c n t and the f a i , that
ary organizations. As it was, the p o u m , ac­
externally adopt radical positions even if
cording to him, could be won over, if it was
they don't come to translate them into
aided, and become a powerful factor, both
action, than to enter a minority party
for the victory of the proletarian revolution
which is faced with all kinds of material
in Spain, and for the construction of the IV
difficulties. The workers already in the
International."23
c n t do not, in general, feel the need to
In pursuance of this hope the Interna­
abandon it to enter the revolutionary
tional Secretariat dispatched one of its
Marxist party, because, comparing the
members, Jean Rous, to Barcelona, where he
strongly revolutionary positions of the
arrived on August 5. His contacts with Nin
c n t - f a i with the simple democratic ones
and others were "cordial." The p o u m lead­
of socialism and Stalinism, they believe
ers suggested that Trotsky come to Cata­
that in the tactics and policy of their orga­
lonia, and agreed in the meanwhile to accept
nization is the guarantee of a consequent
articles by him for publication in La Batalla.
development of the revolution toward a
They also accepted the is offer of "political,
socialist economic structure.
material, and technical support."
Andrade then delivered a sidesweep at When Trotsky was informed of these pro­
Trotsky and his followers, without naming posals he wrote a letter to Rous, which ap­
them: "In this sense, all those who have parently was never received by him, wel­
a narrowly sectarian, schematic conception coming them. He told Rous that it was
that a minority with a correct policy can necessary to "forget past disagreements"
convert itself rapidly into a determining and sincerely to seek means of working to­

Spain: Civil War Period 701

 gether. "He extended his hand to Nin and all the peasants, fall into indifference . . .
Andrade, while counselling them particu­ audacious social reforms represent the
larly to seek the support of the anarchist strongest weapon in the civil war and the
combatants, whose role was decisive in the fundamental condition for the victory over
war and the revolution."24 fascism."25
But soon after the outbreak of the Spanish In these comments Trotsky ignored the
Civil War Trotsky was immersed in the per­ "social reforms," not to mention social rev­
sonal problems arising from Soviet pressure olution, which had taken place at the onset
on the Norwegian government, which re­ of the Civil War, and that p o u m ' s problem
sulted in his being placed virtually under was one of trying to resist as efficaciously
house arrest for several months before he as possible the onslaught on these reforms—
was allowed to go to Mexico. Also, his atten­ in which the anarchists had had the leading
tion was largely concentrated on the prob­ role in much of Spain—launched by the Sta­
lem of defending himself against the charges linists.
made against him in the Moscow Trials. He Shortly thereafter, in a letter written to
found it very difficult to keep abreast of U.S. Trotskyist Harold Isaacs, Trotsky went
Spanish events, and was unable to corre­ further; "It is necessary to open up an impla­
spond with the people there. cable campaign against the bloc with the
By the time Trotsky was again able to bourgeoisie, and for a socialist program. It is
comment publicly on Spanish affairs, early necessary to denounce the Stalinist, Social­
in 1937, p o u m had already had its short and ist, and Anarchist leaders precisely because
unhappy experience in the government of of their bloc with the bourgeoisie.. . . It is a
Catalonia, and the Stalinists were mounting question of marshalling the masses against
increasingly intensive pressure for p o u m ' s their leaders, who are leading the revolution
total suppression. Trotsky's comments on to complete destruction. . . . " Then, after
the situation gave p o u m little support. commenting on the growth of p o u m mem­
On February 19, 1937, Trotsky gave an bership, he added, "But 20,000, or even
interview in Mexico to a correspondent of 10,000, with a clear, decisive, aggressive pol­
the Hevas news agency. In it, after citing icy, can win the masses in a short time, just
" p o u m ' s error" of participating in the Febru­ as the Bolsheviks won the masses in eight
ary 1936 election coalition, Trotsky com­ months."26
mented that "the leadership of the p o u m Late in March 1937 La Lutte Ouvriere,
committed the second error of entering the a French Trotskyist periodical, carried an
Catalan coalition government; in order to article by Trotsky criticizing its publication
fight hand in hand with the other parties of a translation of an article from The Span­
at the front, there is no need to take upon ish Revolution, p o u m ' s English-language
oneself any responsibility for the false gov­ periodical: "I can't conceal from you that
ernmental policies of these parties. Without your solidarity not with the struggle of the
weakening the military front for a moment, workers of the p o u m but with the policy of
it is necessary to know how to rally the its leadership seems to me not merely an
masses politically under the revolutionary error but crime against which I shall pub­
banner." licly protest with all my strength."
After noting the Stalinists' slogan of "first Trotsky then turned to denouncing p o u m
military victory and then social reform," and the policies it had followed. He asked,
Trotsky said, "I consider this formula fatal "How and why did Nin come to be minister
for the Spanish revolution. Not seeing the of that 'bourgeois nonrepublic'? Did he
radical differences between the two pro­ openly recognize his error, which to tell the
grams in reality, the toiling masses, above truth was a betrayal? Instead of playing the

702 Spain: Civil War Period

vaudeville role of minister of the bourgeois led against the Soviet bureaucracy, it was
nonrepublic, it was necessary to mobilize Nin who was right. He tried to defend the
the workers, courageously, openly, for the independence of the Spanish proletariat
purpose of driving out the bourgeois minis­ from the diplomatic machinations and in­
ters and making it possible to replace the trigues of the clique that holds power in
Socialist and Stalinist ministers. Instead of Moscow. He did not want the p o u m to
this unrelenting work in and through the become a tool in the hands of Stalin. He
masses, they write ambiguous articles on refused to cooperate with the g p u against
the necessity of taking a position for the the interests of the Spanish people. This
workers state." was his only crime. And for this crime he
After labelling Nin "the Spanish Martov," paid with his life.27
Trotsky concluded with a blanket indict­
ment of his former Spanish followers:
The International Secretariat
For six years Nin had made nothing but and the p o u m
mistakes. He has flirted with ideas and During the period in which Trotsky was
eluded difficulties. He has impeded the more or less out of contact with Spanish
creation of a revolutionary party in Spain. affairs, and was unable to comment upon
All the leaders who have followed him them, relations between the ex-Trotskyists
share the same responsibility. For six of p o u m and the International Secretariat
years they have done everything possible deteriorated rapidly. This was partly the re­
to subject this energetic and heroic prole­ sult of feuds among foreign Trotskyists who
tariat of Spain to the most terrible defeats, came to Spain, and partly of disagreements
and in spite of everything the ambiguity of the International Secretariat with policies
continues. They do not break the vicious followed by p o u m .
circle. They accommodate themselves to At the time of the outbreak of the Spanish
it and then, to make up for it, they write Civil War there was already resident in Bar­
articles on the proletarian revolution. celona an Italian Trotskyist leader, Nicola
Such wretchedness! And you reproduce di Bartolomeo, who went by the party name
that with your approbation instead of Fosco. He had been expelled from France
flaying the Menshevik traitors who cover early in 1936, had fled to Catalonia, been
themselves with quasi-Bolshevik for­ arrested, and then been freed due to inter­
mulas. vention by p o u m leaders. He had been
It was not until after the murder of Andres charged by the pouMists with dealing with
Nin by the Stalinists that Trotsky relented, foreign sympathizers who came to Spain
at least a little, in his denunciations of him with the outbreak of the war..
and his party. As we have noted, within three weeks of
the outbreak of the war the International
The members of the p o u m fought hero­ Secretariat dispatched Jean Rous as its repre­
ically against the fascists on all fronts in sentative in Spain. In spite of preliminary
Spain. Nin is an old and incorruptible rev­ success in developing a rapprochement with
olutionary. He defended the interests of the ex-Trotskyist leaders of p o u m , this suc­
the Spanish and Catalan peoples against cess did not last long. Rous's position was
the agents of the Soviet bureaucracy. That soon complicated by the arrival of Raymond
was why the g p u got rid of h im .. . . Quite Molinier who, an ally of Fosco, came for
apart from the differences of opinion that the purposes of fostering his own factional
separate me from the p o u m , I must ac­ interests within the International. Rous fi­
knowledge that in the struggle that Nin nally insisted that Molinier return to France

Spain: Civil War Period 703

so as to avoid rupturing the efforts to estab­ larly Nin, to obtain permission for Trotsky
lish better relations between the p o u M is ts to come to Catalonia. Although there was
and Trotsky, with whom Molinier was then some opposition to the idea within the Exec­
feuding. utive Committee of the p o u m , that body did
On Fosco's recommendation, Andres Nin authorize him to make a formal proposal to
invited Kurt Landau to come to Barcelona. the Catalan cabinet. He did so shortly before
Landau took a strongly anti-Trotskyist posi­ the p o u M is ts were forced out of the govern­
tion. He discouraged Nin from accepting an ment, but, aside from Nin's vote, it was
offer of Leon Sedov, Trotsky's son, to come unanimously rejected. Victor Alba h a s re­
to Spain to join the p o u m militia. Broue has ported that Soviet Consul General Antonov-
noted, generally, that "the Bolshevik-Lenin­ Ovsenko threatened Catalan President Luis
ist elements arriving from abroad compli­ Companys that if Trotsky w;ere admitted,
cated the task of the representative of the Spain would receive no more arms aid from
IS; often sectarians, they offered summary the Soviet Union.30
judgments on the p o u m , repeating the se­ Although the problem? involving foreign
vere appreciations of Trotsky . . . read les­ Trotskyists were an impediment to real rap-
sons to the militants of p o u m about their proachment between the International Sec­
combat and their party." retariat and the pouMist ex-Trotskyists,
The Belgian Trotskyists who arrived with Broue has noted that "the incidents which
a letter from Victor Serge wanting nothing multiplied are significant of a much more
to do with those from the French p o i . For profound phenomenon, as is attested to by
their part, the Italian Trotskyists who came the letters and reports of Jean Rous from
brought with them their own disputes. Barcelona and Moulin from Madrid; the en­
All of this aroused resistance within try of the p o u m in the Economic Council,
p o u m itself. Old-time b o c members, partic­ the progressive integration of the Central
ularly the very anti-Trotskyist ones from Militia Committee into the orbit of the Ge-
Valencia, protested against the supposed in­ neralidad, seemed to them disquieting in­
fluence of foreign Trotskyists within the dications of an orientation towards a policy
p o u m in Catalonia.28 of the Popular Front, and brought a resur­
Julian Gorkin expressed the unhappiness gence of the old distrust and ancient quar­
of the p o u m leaders with representatives of rels." An effort by Juan Andrade to get p o u m
the International Secretariat who were sent to consult with the is about the issue of
to Spain. Writing in La Batalla on April 26, entering the Catalan government was
1937, he commented that "the representa­ turned down by the other p o u m leaders:
tive today of the Fourth International in "Others, on the contrary, pushed to cut as
Spain, within two hours of arriving, and a quickly as possible all compromising con­
quarter of an hour of talking with us, drew nections" with the International Secre­
from his pocket a program prepared a priori, tariat.31
giving us advice concerning the tactic that Once p o u m had entered the Catalan gov­
we ought to apply. Courteously, we advised ernment, virtually all hope of friendly rela­
him to take a walk through Barcelona and tions between p o u m and the is disappeared.
to study a little better the situation. This Yet the complete break of the p o u m leaders
citizen . . . is the perfect symbol of Trots­ with the International->Secretariat and with
kyism: of a sectarian doctrinairism, of a Trotsky himself did not lessen the vehe­
great sufficiency, certain that he possessed mence with which the Stalinists continued
the revolutionary philosopher's stone."19 to attack the p o u M i s t s as "Trotskyistes."
The s itu a tio n w a s fu rth e r c o m p lica te d b y Typical was an article of Mikhail Koltzov,
th e in a b ilit y o f th e poum lead ers, p a rticu -. Pravda's correspondent in Spain who, writ­

704 Spain: Civil War Period

ing about p o u m in January 1937, claimed after May 1937 illegally) during much of the
that "Trotsky still manages to find some rest of the war.33 In April 1937 the Bolshe­
collaborators. But the kind of men that go vik-Leninists once more applied for admis­
with him are already well known; all omi­ sion to p o u m . Again they were turned
nous and criminal elements; all scums of down.34
humanity come to his call for infamous and Not only did p o u m not allow the entry of
criminal actions. These men find him, and the "Bolshevik-Leninists" into their ranks,
he finds them."32 they expelled a number of people for alleg­
edly being Trotskyists. These expulsions
took place not only behind the lines, but
Reorganization of "Official"
also from the p o u m militia units on the Ara­
Spanish Trotskyism
gon front.35 Paul Thalmann, a Swiss Trots­
During the Civil War the handful of "loyal­ kyist who fought with the p o u m militia,
ist" Trotskyists in Spain attempted to rees­ even alleged many years later that the
tablish their organization. As the friendly p o u M is ts had executed some Trotskyists.34
relations between the International Secre­ At the time of the May Days the Bolshe­
tariat and the p o u m leadership which devel­ vik-Leninists issued a pamphlet calling on
oped immediately after the outbreak of the the rebellious workers to continue their
war began to cool, the first move seems to struggle until they had seized power once
have been taken in August 1936 to bring again. Reportedly this pamphlet was widely
together in an organization some of the for­ distributed among the workers on the barri­
eign Trotskyists who were there by that cades.37
time. Writing about a year after the May 1937
It was not until October 1936, with the events, U.S. Trotskyist Felix Morrow put
return to Spain of G. Munis from Mexico, forth what may be presumed was the official
bringing with him a small shipment of arms Trotskyist analysis of what should have
from that country, that a formal Trotskyist been the policy of p o u m , c n t , and other
group was reestablished. It consisted at that Spanish revolutionaries at the time of those
point principally of foreigners, with a few events. He wrote that "the specific conjunc­
Spaniards as well. ture in May 1937 was sufficiently favorable
In November, the reestablished Trotsky­ to enable a workers' Spain to establish its
ist group officially asked to be admitted to internal regime and to prepare to resist im ­
p o u m as an organized faction. Andres Nin perialism by spreading the revolution to
replied that the party would not admit any France and Belgium and then wage revolu­
organized faction, and that the Trotskyists tionary war against Germany and Italy, un­
would only be admitted in any case if they der conditions which would precipitate the
would repudiate the attacks by then being revolution in the fascist countries. This is
made on p o u m by the International Secre­ the only perspective of the revolution in Eu­
tariat. rope in this period before the next war,
In February 1937 the new Trotskyist whether the revolution begins with Spain or
group issued the first number of the Boletin France. Whoever does not accept this per­
de la Seccidn Bolchevique-Leninista de Es- spective, rejects the socialist revolution."38
pdna (Iva International). On April 5, 1937, Morrow also argued that in the period fol­
there appeared the first number of Voz Le- lowing the May Days, "Only the small
ninista, which carried the legend "Organ of forces of the Bolshevik-Leninists . .. work­
the Bolshevik-Leninist Section of Spain {For ing under the three-fold illegality of the
the IV International)." Voz Leninista con­ state, the Stalinist and the c n t - p o u m leader­
tinued to appear rather precariously (and ship, clearly pointed the road for the work­

i
t Spain: Civil War Period 705
 ers. Not only the ultimate road of the work­ that almost half of the French proletarian
ers' state but the immediate task of organizations are under the thumb of the
defending the democratic rights of the work­ Stalinists and the rest are swayed by the
ers. That the c n t masses could be aroused socialists. . .. How could a civil war
was shown by the protection they accorded waged against the socialists and the Sta­
Bolshevik-Leninists distributing illegal linists of Spain in the face of the terrific
leaflets. . . ,"i9 danger of a fascist breakthrough at that,
The German Trotskyist periodical Unser fire the socialist- and communist-minded
Wort echoed Morrow's argument a year workers of France to the extent of having
later, saying, "Once again, a revolutionary them lay down an ultimatum to their own
party had a magnificent opportunity to join bourgeoisie demanding arms for the anar­
the rising revolutionary movement, to drive chist workers of Catalonia?*'
it forward and lead it to victory. But while
the leading anarchists placed themselves G. Munis, in his history of the Spanish
right from the start on the other side of the Revolution, which first appeared in 1948,
barricades, the p o u m joined the movement repeated almost verbatim Morrow's per­
only to hold it back. In this manner victory spective of the revolutionary potential
was presented to the Stalinist hangmen."'10 throughout Europe had the Catalan workers
The anarchosyndicalists, in reply to the seized power in the May Days.42
Trotskyist argument about the events of Erwin Wolf was sent by the is as its special
May 1937, stressed the utopian nature of the delegate to Spain to establish contact with
argument. One anarchosyndicalist writer, the Bolshevik-Leninists after the May Days.
known as "Senex" and described by Burnett He reported back that the p o u m was in great
Bolleten as "one of the principal foreign de­ disarray, and that the official Trotskyists
fenders of anarchosyndicalist policy during themselves were much split, and tended to
the May events," replied specifically to Mor­ be very sectarian and abstract in their ap­
row's arguments: "That the workers sup­ peals to the workers. His efforts to rebuild a
ported by the c n t units stood a good chance Trotskyist movement bore little fruit.
of victory in the case of this new civil war, Shortly before Wolf was going to return to
can be readily granted. But this would be a France at the end of July, he was arrested—
Pyrrhic victory at best, for it is clear that a he was never heard of again, one of the many
civil war behind the front lines resulting casualties of the "Stalinist terror against all
in the demoralization of the front and the those whom they could not reduce to ser­
withdrawal of the troops for the participa­ vility."43
tion in this new civil war would open wide Like the principal leaders of p o u m , those
the gates to the triumphant sweep of the of the Bolshevik-Leninists were also put on
fascists." trial by the Juan Negrin government. They
Senex also ridiculed Morrow's argument were charged with a great variety of political
that a c n t - p o u m victory in Catalonia would offenses, including illegal publication of Voz
have been the spark to light the European Leninista, participation in the May events,
social revolution: struggle against a united workers front to
overthrow the Negrin government. They
No one with the least knowledge of the were also accused of plotting "the assassina­
situation will say th at. . . the French and tion of Negrin, Indalecio Prieto, Juan Ca-
British masses of people were ready to go morera, La Pasionaria, and others, sabotage
to war for the sake of Spain. . . . In order and disruption in the rearguard to favor the
to do full justice to the profundity of such victory of Franco, espionage for the enemy,
a statement, one has only to bear in mind and, as an experiment, assassination of a

706 Spain: Civil War Period

Russian captain." The prosecutor asked for ful that they amounted to more than two or
the death penalty for G. Munis, as well as three dozen, including a few who were still
two associates, Fernandez and Carlini. working within p o u m . They had small
Munis was severely tortured. Munis noted groups in Barcelona, Madrid, and at the Ara-
many years later that "if he didn't see his g6n front.
wish fulfilled that was due principally to his
not finding in us, as in the Moscow Trials,
Conclusion
complacent capitulators."”
At the time of the uprising in Madrid in There can be little doubt about the fact that
March 1939 against the Communist-domi- Leon Trotsky focused on Spanish events be­
nated government of Negrin, the interna­ tween 1930 and 1939 through the spectacles
tional Trotskyist movement threw its sup­ of the Russian Revolution of 19 17. He had
port behind the Negrin government and the almost no personal contact with his follow­
attempt by at least some elements of the ers in Spain except through correspondence,
Communist Party to resist the new Defense and had never been a particularly close stu­
Junta set up by General Miaja with the sup­ dent of Spain or its labor and revolutionary
port of the anarchists, Socialists and Repub­ movements. Therefore, in judging Spanish
licans. Their analysis was that this was a events, personalities, and groups,, he fell
coup engineered by the British in particular, back upon his general theoretical schema
to bring an end to the Civil War, and that it patterned after his view of Russian events
in fact had the connivance of Stalin who, after February 19 17. The consequence was
already engaged in negotiations with the that Trotsky's advice and instructions to his
Nazis, was anxious to have the Spanish con­ Spanish followers seemed increasingly un­
flict liquidated. realistic and irrelevant.47
Brou6 has expressed doubt as to whether Trotsky seemed to ignore to an amazing
there were any Trotskyists left in Spain by degree the hold which the traditional trade
that time.45 However, Ignacio Iglesias, a one­ unions and political organizations had on
time i c e and p o u m leader, has cited a pam­ the loyalty and imagination of the workers
phlet of the time published by the French of Spain. This was particularly the case with
Trotskyists and written by a Pole, Borten, regard to the anarchosyndicalists of the c n t .
who wrote under the name of Casanova, Usually Trotsky referred to the cm istas
which would seem to indicate that there only in passing, and seemed to regard them
were still a few, and to state their position. more or less as a carbon copy of the Menshe­
Borten-Casanova wrote, "Although we hold viks, particularly during the Civil War.
the Communist leaders responsible for the This led him to postulate from 1930 on
pronunciamiento, we declare that the duty the need for establishing soviets in Spain.
of all honorable workers—and of the Bolshe­ For some years his Spanish followers went
vik-Leninists who have the pretension of along with this notion, but L. Fersen un­
being their vanguard—is to struggle with doubtedly spoke for the great majority of
arms in hand alongside the workers and them when he finally pointed out that Span­
Communist militants. . . . We cannot re­ ish and Russian conditions were fundamen­
main neutral in the conflict which bloodies tally different. The soviets had arisen in
Madrid at this moment. We take sides. We Russia largely because of the absence of
are with the Communist combatants well-established trade unions and mass-
against the traitors of the Defense Junta."46 based workers parties; whereas in Spain
Certainly, the official Trotskyists were a there existed strong trade unions and politi­
tiny handful during the Civil War. Although cal organizations with which several genera­
no accurate figures are available, it is doubt­ tions of workers had been affiliated, and

Spain: Civil War Period 707

 which both exerted discipline over their quandary of having to support the continua­
own followers, and were not at all ready to tion of the war under circumstances which
get out of the way to make room for some (given the growing Communist Party influ­
new type of workers organization. ence) probably meant their own utter exter­
The Spanish Trotskyists saw in the Alian- mination even if victory went to the anti-
zas Obreras an indigenously Spanish form Franco forces.
of united front of the workers organizations Ignacio Iglesias has noted Trotsky's grave
which could both fight immediate political error in disregarding the importance of the
and economic battles and be the fount of rev­ issue of winning the Civil War to the great
olution and of postrevolutionary reorganiza­ majority of all working-class unions and par­
tion of Spanish society. As a consequence, ties in Republican Spain:
the Spanish Trotskyists came overtly to re­
It was not just a question of preventing
pudiate the idea of soviets, an institution to
greater evils, but also and above all of not
which Trotsky was to remain loyal until the
having useless confrontations with the
end of his life (and his orthodox followers for
working-class masses, for whom, in the
nearly a half century after that).
end, one fact was more important than all
Trotsky's utter rejection of political
political considerations: the war, that is
"class collaboration," again with its roots in
to say, the struggle against the troops of
the history of the Russian Revolution, led
the enemy Army. Some people forgot a
him to other violent quarrels with his (by
particular circumstance: a war was going
then) ex-followers just before and during the
on and for the majority, the principal is­
Civil War. It led him to denounce p o u m
sue was to win it. To affirm, as Trotsky
unmercifully for participating in even a lim­
wrote more than once, that from the mo­
ited way in the electoral coalition of 1936,
ment that the workers and peasants were
ignoring completely the fact that almost
not absolute masters of their destiny, they
without exception the labor movement as
had little to choose between Franco and
well as the country's revolutionaries sup­
Largo Caballero was an aberration which
ported that coalition as the means for ob­
was undoubtedly the fruit of the purest
taining amnesty for those jailed after the
and most sterile schematism.48
October 1934 Revolution. Also, he appar­
ently totally ignored the fact (or was igno­ Trotsky also seemed to ignore the fact
rant of it) that p o u m had withdrawn from that the Bolsheviks could make great prog­
the coalition a few weeks after the election, ress in winning the adherence of the peas-
a fact announced by Joaquin Maurin in the ants by a call for agrarian reform, but in
Chamber of Deputies. Spain the peasants under anarchist and So­
Again, seeing through the prism of the cialist leadership had seized the land in the
Russian Revolution led Leon Trotsky to de­ first days of the Civil War. Similarly, he
mand of his former comrades in Spain that seemed to give no recognition to the fact
they behave during the Civil War as the Bol­ that the workers in Catalonia and many
sheviks had behaved in Russia in 19 17. But other parts of Republican Spain had seized
the conditions of the two countries were control of their factories, railroads, and utili­
entirely different. ties the day the military revolt had been
Trotsky seemed to ignore the fact that suppressed. -5
whereas the Bolsheviks could win a vast To a large degree, therefore, the workers
following in agitation against an increas­ organizations in Spain—whether anarchists
ingly unpopular war, the p o u m , the anar­ of the c n t - b a x , P O U M ists or left-wing Cabal­
chists, and others on the far left in Spain lero Socialists—were faced with the prob­
between 1936 and 1939 were faced with the lem of how to defend the revolutionary con­

708 Spain: Civil War Period

quests they had made during the first days cratic centralism." This was clear in at least
and weeks of the Civil War. Their choices two regards.
were difficult in the extreme. They may One issue which perturbed Trotsky's rela­
have erred from time to time, although it tions with his Spanish followers virtually
is by no means clear that alternate choices from the beginning was their doubts about
would have brought any better results for Trotsky's and the is's treatment of other
them. But in any case, Trotsky tended to sections of the movement, particularly
regard errors of judgment—if that is what those of France and Germany. Related to
they were—as "betrayal." this was the handling of the Spanish Trots­
This was particularly the case with regard kyist themselves by the International Secre­
to p o u m , led during the early months of the tariat and Trotsky.
Civil War by Andres Nin. In retrospect, it It seems clear that in the Molinier-
may have been a mistake for p o u m to enter Rosmer dispute in the French movement
the Catalan government in September 1936. Andres Nin's sympathy was with the latter.
But in utterly condemning that decision, He never became convinced, apparently,
Trotsky certainly gave no weight to the fact that that quarrel had any other cause than
that to have stayed apart from the Catalan personal conflict between the two men, and
government would have been for p o u m to he trusted Rosmer whom he had known for
isolate itself totally from the c n t - f a i under many years much more than Molinier,
circumstances in which the c n t - f a i was the whom he did not know at all at the time the
principal bulwark of the revolution in Cata­ dispute developed. He clearly thought that
lonia. Trotsky seemed not at all to recognize Trotsky and the International Secretariat
the need for p o u m to maintain a relationship had mishandled the whole affair. He had the
with the c n t - f a i which might permit it to same suspicion about the treatment of Kurt
influence the thinking and actions of the Landau and his group in the German move­
anarchists, not only to defend the revolu­ ment.
tion, but to defend the very existence of When Nin and the other Spanish Trotsky­
p o u m itself in the face of the onslaught of ist leaders did have personal contact with
the Stalinists. Raymond Molinier their suspicions seemed
The p o u m , led largely by Trotsky's ex­ to them to be confirmed. He came to Spain
comrades, was not at all in the position of for the first time, made very considerable
the Bolsheviks of 1917. Rather than being promises about financial aid to the strug­
able to lead a crusade against an unpopular gling organization there, and then did not
war and for yeamed-for reforms, it had to keep those promises. On his second visit he
find ways to defend a revolution which had tried to get them to take positions to which
already occurred—in the face of overwhelm­ they were almost all opposed.
ing pressures from other supposed "Marxist- This attitude of the Spaniards clearly net­
Leninists" against it—-and to do so without tled Trotsky. Years later he continued to
endangering the prosecution of a war the chastise them for it. It seemed clear that he
winning of which everyone (including thought that once he and the International
Trotsky) agreed was the sine qua non for Secretariat had made their decisions on the
revolution of any kind. They may have made matter, that should have been the end of all
errors in judgment, but they were certainly discussion about it.
not "betraying" the revolution. Furthermore, Trotsky and the Interna­
Another alienating aspect of Trotsky's tional Secretariat, suspicious of Nin, clearly
viewing Spain and the behavior of his Span­ sought to undermine him even when it was
ish followers in the light of the Bolshevik clear that he spoke for virtually the whole
Revolution was his emphasis on "demo­ Spanish leadership. They insisted on regard-

Spain: Civil War Period 709

 ing Henri Lacroix as representing a "fac­ Trotskyism in Spain
tion" in his quarrels with the leadership
when in fact he spoke only for himself and at After the Civil War
most half a dozen others. The International
Secretariat also sought to foster the Fersen
group after he had entered the Socialist Party
and broken with ic e , as well as to deal with
people who had quit the movement, on a Spanish Trotskyism was all but completely
par with the elected leaders of ic e . destroyed as a result of the final victory of
The same adherence to his view of demo­ the Franco forces in the Civil War. A quarter
cratic centralism provided the issue over of a century was to pass before a serious
which Trotsky's followers finally broke beginning would be made in rebuilding a
with him. When he decided on the "French movement within Spain. During that period
Turn" he presumed that it was to be carried the handful of Spanish Trotskyist exiles
out by any group of his followers that he quarreled bitterly among themselves and
wanted to do so. In the Spanish case he not split into several rival factions.
only completely swept aside the fact that It was the 1960s before organizations be­
the i c e leaders and members were almost gan to develop in Spain and among the ex­
unanimous in opposition to the tactic, but iles out of which would be bom a new Span­
also the fact that the Spanish Socialist Party ish Trotskyist movement. It came fully
was very different from that of France. into existence in the 1970s, but in the form
Whereas the French party allowed formal of several rival groups owing allegiance to
factional groupings within its ranks, that of different factions of the international
Spain did not. The Trotskyists would not movement.
have been admitted to the p s o e if they had
tried to go in, as the International Secretariat
Aftermath of the Franco Victory
described it, "with their flags flying."
To greatly understate the case, Leon Two prominent Spanish Trotskyists suc­
Trotsky did not show himself at his best in ceeded in escaping from Barcelona, where
dealing with his Spanish followers. Cer­ they had been held by the Stalinists in the
tainly the totality of the blame for the ulti­ Monjuic Prison for some months before the
mate break between them did not rest on capture of the Catalan capital by Franco's
his shoulders, but most of it did. His dogma­ forces. They passed through the lines of the
tism, his lack of knowledge about the situa­ Franco forces and evaded French border pa­
tion, his ultimate insistence on obedience trols to get into that country. These two
on the part of his supporters all created a men were Manuel Fernandez Grandizo, bet­
gulf which proved unbridgeable. But perhaps ter known as Grandizo Munis, and Jaime
had Leon Trotsky acted differently in this Fernandez Rodriguez, subsequently known
case, he would not have been Leon Trotsky. as J. Costa.
The first public notice of the escape of the
Spanish Trotskyists appeared in an inter­
view with Munis in the French Trotskyist
paper, La Lutte Ouvriere in its issues of Feb­
ruary 24 and March 3, 1939. Subsequently,
in August, Munis sent a report on the situa­
tion of his Spanish followers to Trotsky.1
In the spring of 1940 Munis, a Mexican by
birth, left for America, and in his native land

710 Spain: After the Civil War

had a meeting with Trotsky. He then went sometimes republished in the U.S. Trotsky­
to New York, where he participated in the ist periodical Fourth International/
May 1940 Emergency Conference of the
Fourth International.2
The Munis Dissidence
Munis presented a report to this confer­
ence. He told his comrades that "after the Meanwhile, Munis and those associated
declaration of war, political work of the with him began to have increasing differ­
Spanish Bolsheviks has been almost totally ences with the Fourth International head­
suspended. All our comrades are incarcer­ quarters in New York, and with its principal
ated in concentration camps and labor bri­ backer, the U.S. Socialist Workers Party.
gades, and very few are in liberty. The possi­ These originated from Munis's criticisms of
bilities of political contact among them are the behavior of the U.S. Trotskyist leaders
very rare. Each group must work indepen­ during the so-called "Minneapolis Trials."
dently and discuss the problems which are Both Munis's criticism and the defense by
presented to them."3 James Cannon of the position of the s w p
Munis professed to be very optimistic leaders in that trial were subsequently pub­
about the future of the Trotskyist move­ lished by the s w p . Stephen Schwartz argues
ment in Franco Spain: "In Spain itself con­ that Munis had the backing of Trotsky's
tacts have begun to be established. We al­ widow, Natalia Sedova, in his criticisms of
ready have contacts in Madrid and the s w p leaders.8
Barcelona, for example, with comrades who The Minneapolis Trial issue was only the
have been imprisoned or detained in the beginning of the Munis-Peret group's dissi­
concentration camps of Franco. In Madrid, dence from the Fourth International. More
all the comrades who have not been arrested fundamentally, Munis had begun to have
have renewed their activity. . . ."4 doubts about whether the USSR was any
Soon after his return to Mexico, Munis longer a "workers state." Discussion over
spoke at the funeral of Leon Trotsky in Au­ this issue continued after the war, during
gust 1940. Thereafter he sought to reestab­ 1946 and 1947, in the International Infor­
lish the Spanish Trotskyist movement mation Bulletin of the s w p and in other
among exiles in Mexico. In this effort, he Trotskyist publications. Among these was
was aided by Benjamin Peret, the French Revolution, an organ published by Munis in
surrealist poet, who had also fled to Mexico. Paris.
Together, they attempted to publish a peri­ Stephen Schwartz has noted that "the for­
odical, de Julio, only two issues of which mal break was announced by the editorial
appeared.5 board of Revolution, the Munisite organ in
After the fall of France the Fourth Interna­ France, in a declaration dated November
tional's headquarters in New York found it 1948." In that statement Munis claimed:
very difficult to maintain contact with "Without a rapid and energetic reaction by
Trotskyist groups in occupied Europe. Per­ the groups and sections the IV International
haps principally as a consequence of this, will be converted into a miserable p o u m or
the Munis group in Mexico remained the other."9
only official Spanish affiliate of the Fourth The conflict between the Munis group
International.6 and the leadership of the Fourth Interna­
When it became too expensive to main­ tional came clearly into the open at the Sec­
tain 19 de Julio, the Spanish Trotskyists in ond Congress of the International early in
Mexico began to publish a mimeographed 1948. The International Secretariat's report
organ, Contra la Corriente. Articles ap­ to the congress, delineated the basis of this
pearing in it during the next few years were conflict.

Spain: After the Civil War 711

 The International Secretariat reported in 1957, they returned to France. There
that the Munis group Munis began publishing a new periodical,
Alaima, and laid the foundations for a new
has revealed two sorts of divergence: on
organization called Fomento Obrero Revo­
the political level these comrades proceed
lucionario.13
from a completely false analysis of the
With the gradual relaxation of the Franco
USSR and of state capitalism. But what is
dictatorship in the late 1960s and early
still worse is that their conclusions are
1970s, Munis was able to establish a small
completely sectarian. Thus, for example,
organization in Spain, although he contin­
they reject as inadmissible the tactic of
ued to live in France. In 1983, according to
united front with the Stalinist parties.
Stephen Schwartz, who for several years was
They reject furthermore certain vital
closely associated with Munis,
parts of our transition program (national­
ization, government of the traditional The Spanish group really has only a
workers parties); starting from the same shadow existence today, limited to two
sectarian concept, Comrade Munis has or three members from around fifty in
launched an attack against the whole pol­ the mid-1970s, after Franco's death. The
icy of the International during the war, Spanish f o r group benefitted highly both
and particularly against the British and from the prestige attached to Munis's
American Trotskyists . . . "on the organi­ book, which was republished in Paris in
zation level, they have launched a violent the 1960s, and from the personal prestige
attack against the administration of the and activity of people on the scene in Bar­
International, its methods of functioning, celona. This was all wasted. The predict­
and particularly against the procedure for able differences that emerged between the
preparation of the World Congress. . . .10 old Munis cadre in Paris and the younger
personnel in Barcelona were utilized to
Stephen Schwartz has noted that at this
justify, in essence, nothing more or less
1948 congress "the Munis forces blocked
than a series of purges. And ugly purges
with Shachtman, whose Workers Party par­
at that. . . .
ticipated in the deliberations from an oppo­
The f o r does not claim to be Trotskyist,
sitional perspective." He has also noted that
but it has not ever renounced its origins
"the 1948 World Congress saw the consum­
in the h. It has basically left unexamined
mation of the split" of the Munis group from
the contradiction between its 'ancestors,'
the Fourth International.11
Trotskyism and its general 'ultraleft­
By 1949 the Munis group was calling itself
ism'—opposition to unions, to national
the Grupo Comunista Intemacionalista de
liberation, and to nationalization.14
Espana. In that year, it published a procla­
mation signed by, among others, Esteban The f o r d id became an international orga­
Bilbao, Peret, J. Costa, A. Rodriguez, R. nization. We note this aspect of its history
Montero, and Munis, which accused the in another chapter.
Fourth International of illegitimately dis­
criminating against the Spanish (Mexican)
Spanish Trotskyist Exile Groups
group.12
in France
After a tramway strike in Barcelona in A

1931 Munis and Costa went back to Spain. The Spanish Trotskyists who had remained
They apparently had little success in organ­ in France in 1939 established two different
izing an underground movement, but they groups. One of these was the Grupo Comun­
were arrested late in 1952 and were sen­ ista Espanol de la Cuarta Intemacional,
tenced to ten years imprisonment. Released which was associated with the French p o i ,

712 Spain: After the Civil War

the more or less "official" French Trotskyist ship of the Socialist Workers Party of the
faction. The other element established the United States, Sebastian Garcia and others
Grupo Bolchevique-Leninista por la Recon- did return to p o u m at that point. Garcia
S t r u c c i 6 n de la Cuarta International, which remained in p o u m until the formation, in
was associated with Molinier's dissident the later 1970s of the Spanish party associ­
Parti Communiste Intemationaliste ( p c i ). ated with the Lambertist faction of Interna­
Some ex-Trotskyist elements left the tional Trotskyism.17
ranks of the Partido Obrero de Unification
Marxista (p o u m ) exiles soon after the end
"Pre-Trotskyist" Groups
of the Civil War. In 1939 Sebastian Garcia
(better known at the time by his pseudonym By the early and middle 1960s important
Damien) organized a Committee for the economic, social, and political changes were
Congress of the p o u m , urging the sum­ taking place in Franco Spain. The economic
moning of a congress of the party to discuss development and particularly industrializa­
the policies which it had followed during tion of the country had made substantial
the Civil War. The exiled leadership of progress, as a consequence of which the ur­
p o u m refused to hold such a congress, how­ ban working class was much larger than it
ever, and Damien and his associates were had been at the end of the Civil War, and
expelled from the party. Damien joined the was much more widely dispersed geographi­
French p c i and the Spanish Trotskyist group cally. In addition, many hundreds of thou­
associated with it. sands of Spanish workers had gone to work
At the time of the unification of the two in West European countries where they had
French Trotskyist groups in 1943 the two contact with various left-wing political
Spanish factions which had been aligned groups.
with the p o i and p c i also joined forces under At the same time, a new generation had
the name Grupo Trotskista Espanol { g t e ). grown up which had not known the turbu­
The g t e published i n Bordeaux a newspaper, lence of the early 19 30s or the bitterness of
Lucha de Classes, and another periodical, 19 the Civil War. This younger generation was
de Julio, the latter being edited by Sebastian increasingly critical of the oppressiveness
Garcia.15 and conservatism of the Franco regime. Fi­
Sebastian Garcia (Damien) was the Span­ nally, there had commenced at least some
ish representative at the International Con­ degree of relaxation of the dictatorship,
ference of the Fourth International in Paris which intensified in the years just preceding
in March 1946. He was arrested along with the death of the dictator.
other delegates to that meeting and was held It was against this background that there
by the police for two days. At a subsequent came into existence both among the exiles
public meeting held to protest the French and inside Spain certain new left-wing
government's attack on the International groups which Jose Gutierrez Alvarez has
Conference, Garcia spoke on behalf of the called "pre-Trotskyst."18 These were Marx­
Spanish section of the Fourth Interna­ ist or Marxist-Leninist groups but were not
tional.16 clearly aligned with any of the existing in­
There was at least some opposition among ternational currents of political opinion and
the Spanish Trotskyists to the turn which action.
Fourth International policy took under the One of the most important of these groups
direction of Michel Pablo in the early 1950s. was the Frente de Liberaci6n Popular ( f l p ),
Although there is no indication that any which was organized in the early 1960s "in
Spanish group associated with the dissident the wake of the Cuban and Algerian events."
International Committee under the leader­ It had within its ranks both non-Stalinist

i Spain: After the Civil War 713

I
i
 Marxists and extreme left-wing Christians. pressed support for Ernest Mandel's ideas
It saw itself as being to the left of the Com­ about the industrialized countries and those
munists, and looked with sympathy on such of the Peruvian Trotskyist leader Hugo
groups as the psu of France and p s i u p of Italy, Blanco on agrarian matters. The first issue
left-wing splinters of the Socialist parties of of Accidn Comunista developed a number
those countries. A number of people started of ideas very similar to resolutions of the
their political activities and careers in the u s e c of some years previous." A group of a c

f l p who were later to be leaders of such members inside Spain published in 19 6 7-

diverse groups as the Socialists, official 68 a mimeographed periodical Vanguardia
Communists, Catalan Nationalists, and Comunista, which proclaimed loyalty to
even the centrist party of Prime Minister "the tradition of revolutionary Marxism,
Suarez, organized after the death of General continued by Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg,
Franco. Gramsci, and particularly by Trotsky in his
The f l p splintered in 1968, giving rise to struggle against Stalinism, and presently en­
many different groups. One of these was the riched by contributions. of Ernest Mandel,
"Comunismo" Group, which was an imme­ Hugo Blanco, and others."21
diate forebear of one of the principal Trots­ In spite of these apparent links with Trots­
kyist organizations to appear in the 1970s. kyism, the leaders of a c "refused to enter
It published a periodical Comunismo and the IV International" {that is, u s e c ) in
was said to have had about thirty members 19 71.22 Nevertheless, "at the beginning of
in Madrid, Barcelona, and the North. the seventies, the u s e c still hoped to win
Jose Gutierrez Alvarez has said of the the a c for its future section. . . .',23 Shortly
Comunismo Group that "its initial posi­ before it disappeared, a c in early 1977
tions were considerably removed from ha­ showed some continuing adherence to
bitual Trotskyism . . . were radically leftist. Trotskyist ideas. Thus, it proclaimed that
It believed in the possibility of an immediate "the construction of socialism in one coun­
revolution and saw the moderate policy of try is today, more than ever, a reactionary
the p c e (Spanish Communist Party) as the utopia. For, the proletariat's vocation is in­
principal obstacle to its development. It re­ ternational, its presence and action over­
fused to work in the mass movement on the flows national limits: the proletariat doesn't
pretext that it was made up of reformists. have a fatherland."24
. . . it also saw the national question as Finally, the remnants of p o u m consti­
'bourgeois' and its actions in public meet­ tuted, in a sense, a "pre-Trotskyist" organi­
ings and demonstrations were quite vi­ zation in the 1970s, since some elements of
olent."19 the new Trotskyist movement were to come
Another pre-Trotskyist group was Accion out of that group. The p o u m was revived
Comunista (a c ), which was formed in 1964- inside Spain in 1975 but by the early 1980s
6$ by some of the Marxist elements in the had all but disappeared, some of its re­
flp, "especially its exterior Federation, maining leaders and members returning to
formed by people exiled to France, Belgium, residence abroad, others dropping out of ac­
Germany, and Switzerland after the strikes tive politics.25
of 1962." These included some members of
the youth organization of the p o u m and
The Posadista Partido Obrero
some people who had belonged to the Span­
Revolucionario (Trotskista)
ish Communist Party ( p c e ).70
"Some of those who were to found a c The first avowedly Trotskyist group which
published in 1963 two numbers of a periodi­ was established in this period seems to have
cal called Revolucidn Socialista, which ex­ been one affiliated with the wing of the in-

714 Spain: After the Civil War

 temational movement headed by J. Posadas. In mid-1967 it was reported that in Janu­
Soon after the organization of the Posadas ary of that year the European Bureau of the
version of the Fourth International the Bu­ Posadas Fourth International had organized
reau of its International Secretariat sent a cadres school "in a city of Spain with the
greetings to "the Spanish section." This doc­ participation of thirty comrades." The
ument began, "We greet, with true emotion, school was reported as lasting seven days,
your decision to begin the constitution of and to have included courses in Marxist phi­
the Spanish Section of the Fourth Interna­ losophy and economics, history of the labor
tional. . . Later on the greeting com­ movement, the Fourth International and the
mented that "the Spanish section of the IV Workers State, present state of the World
International that you are constituting and Revolution, and Europe and Spain.30
the immediate steps you will give with the Four years later, the p o r (t ) was still in
appearance of the periodical, will reinforce existence. It was reported that it was by then
the dynamics of the leap which the Interna­ publishing its periodical, Lucha Obrera,
tional has taken in Europe. .. ."26 clandestinely inside Spain.31 At late as 1978
Although this first document addressed the Posadistas claimed that their periodical
to the Posadas party in Spain did not identify Lucha Obrera was still appearing.32
it by name, an issue of the Posadas version For practical purposes, the p o r (t ). disap­
of Cuarta International about a year later peared as a functioning organization during
carried a proclamation by the Spanish group, the 1 970s. Jose Gutierrez Alvarez, who has
identified as the Partido Obrero Revolucio­ been aligned with the United Secretariat,
nario (Trotskista), concerning a strike which has noted that "its history, although a bit
had recently taken place in Asturias. The ridiculous, does not remove the fact that it
same issue noted that the Spanish party had had a certain importance in its early years.
an official organ, Lucha Obrera, which was There participated in it some important
being published in Brussels and edited by M. leaders—four at least—of the present l c r .
Fernandez.17 . . . " Gutierrez Alvarez added: "This group
In the following year, 1964, the Seventh disappeared or was almost extinguished in
World Congress of the Posadas version of the seventies, although even today, very
the Fourth International adopted a resolu­ sporadically, its propaganda is seen, even
tion concerning the arrest of a number of without its maintaining any known degree
members of its Spanish section by the of militancy."33
Franco regime. It accused the Stalinist Com­
munist Party of Spain of turning in both
The United Secretariat in Spain
Trotskyist and Maoist trade unionists and
activists to Franco authorities so as to re­ The second avowedly Trotskyist group to be
move their competition.28 organized was the Liga Comunista Revolu­
The same issue of Cuarta International cionaria (l c r ), which was established in
which reported the details of the Seventh 1971 as the Spanish section of the United
Congress carried an appeal by the p o r (t ) on Secretariat. It was set up by members of the
the occasion of another strike in the Astu­ Comunismo Group, which had split from
rias region. It called for workers to demand the fl p in 1968.34
"workers control of production, nationaliza­ Some of the Comunismo Group people
tion of large industries and banks, workers had gone to France, where they had made
and peasants alliance; occupation, distribu­ contact with the exiled leaders of p o u m .
tion and collectivization of the land; demo­ They tended to be alienated by what they
cratic rights of unionization, of the press, of deemed a patronizing attitude on the part
workers parties. . . ,”19 of the pouM ists. Some of them then made

Spain: After the Civil War 715

contact with the Ligue Communiste in Paris the Franco regime—the Central Nacional
and were converted to Trotskyism. Upon Sindicalista ( c n s ) —which persisted as the
their return to Spain in 1970 they took the only legal workers organization for several
first steps towards establishing the Liga years after the dictator's death. In July 1975
Comunista Revolucionaria.35 they both called upon the workers to boy­
The early l c r , which consisted of "a few cott c n s elections, although in fact about 8 $
dozen militants" apparently bore the stamp percent of the workers participated in those
of its origin. A more or less authorized state­ elections.
ment by the party commented half a dozen The l c and l c r seem to have had some­
years later that "with many features in com­ what different orientations with regard to
mon with ultraleftism, the l c r had some what should take the place of the c n s . Early
characteristics of its own, especially a sys­ in 1977 an unidentified leader of the l c
tematic defence of the class independence noted that "independent trade union organi­
of the proletariat and of the self-organization zation must develop, so we call on the work­
of the movement of the masses; for the first ers to join the u g t and c n t . Right now we
time in the thirty-five years of dictatorship work in the u g t , which is the biggest union
an organization in the Spanish state as­ with the best possibilities for growth . . . We
sumed the revolutionary Marxist program, also propose a u g t - c n t alliance as a step
Trotskyist, of the IV International." toward a congress that would unify the two
This same source noted that "the first l c r federations."38
was an immature organization, with very The u g t {Union General de Trabajadores},
precarious relations with the working class, the traditional Socialist Party dominated
which had barely begun to understand a se­ union group, was reviving rapidly in the late
ries of problems of the revolution in the 19 70s. The c n t , the traditional anarchosyn-
Spanish state. Practically everything re­ dicalist union group, with its principal
mained to be done."36 strength in Catalonia and Aragon, in fact did
The Liga Comunista Revolucionaria was not once again become a major trade union
scarcely a year old when it suffered a major federation after the end of the Franco
split. Almost half of its members broke regime.
away to form the Liga Comunista (l c ). The The other principal illegal trade union
issues involved were those of the contro­ group in the late 1970s was the Comisiones
versy then raging within u s e c over guerrilla Obrcras (ccoo), which was largely domi­
warfare and related questions. The l c r con­ nated by the Communist Party. The l c r
tinued to be aligned with the "Europeans" appears to have been more oriented toward
who constituted the majority in u s e c , the the ccoo than toward either the u g t or c n t .
l c joined the faction headed by the Socialist The official statement of the position of
Workers Party of the United States.37 the l c r early in 1977, previously cited,
This split continued for about six years. noted the organization's position on the
Both the Liga Comunista and the Liga Com­ trade union question. It observed "the pres­
unista Revolucionaria were officially "sym ­ ent struggle of the l c r for reinforcing the
pathizing organizations" of the United Sec­ Comisiones Obreras and for the construc­
retariat. During this period the two tion of the Single Workers Union. The ca­
organizations followed somewhat different pacity of the ccoo to’organize a wide labor
tactics on several issues. This was particu­ vanguard during the last fifteen years of
larly the case with regard to trade union struggle against the dictator has converted
activity and electoral participation. it into the organic protagonist of the rebirth
Both the l c and l c r expressed total oppo­ of the labor movement . . . "39
sition to the "trade union" organization of The two Trotskyist groups also took dif­

716 Spain: After the Civil War

ferent attitudes toward the first elections achieve legal recognition as a political party
called by the post-Franco regime in 1977. before the 1977 election, it subsequently
The Liga Comunista favored abstention continued efforts to achieve that recogni­
from the elections; the l c r participated in tion. Finally, after intervention with the
them in alliance with several other far left electoral authorities on behalf of the l c r
organizations. by leaders of the Socialist and Communist
The position of the l c was stated by the parties, the Liga Comunista Revolucionaria
unidentified leader of the group interviewed was officially recognized.43
early in 1977: "In the present circumstances In March 1977 a youth organization of the
the mass movement is systematically going l c r , the Federacion de Juventudes Comun-

beyond each one of the frauds of the reform. istas Revolucionarias (fjtcrJ, was established
Given the current relationship of class at a congress in Madrid. It was reported as
forces, we believe revolutionists should take having 2,000 members, of whom 40 percent
a position in favor of boycotting the elec­ were in the Basque provinces.44 By 1984 the
tions to the Francoist Cortes, Suarez's ficti­ f j c r was reported to have local groups in

tious parliament. This should be an active thirteen different cities. It was publishing a
boycott calling for a freely elected Constit­ magazine, Barricada, which published arti­
uent Cortes. .. ."40 cles in Catalan and Basque as well as in
An article by Gerry Foley in Interconti­ Spanish.45
nental Press on June 20, 1977, explained the Although at the time of the 1972 split
l c r ' s position on that year's elections: "The the two factions of the u s e c in Spain were
Trotskyists of the Liga Comunista Revoluc­ roughly equal in size, there seems little
ionaria . . . have tried to use the elections to doubt that during the six years that the split
offer a revolutionary alternative to the s p lasted, the l c r became substantially larger
and c p campaigns. . . . The l c r is running than its rival. A few months before reunifi­
candidates on the ticket of the Frente por la cation, the supporters of the l c credited the
Unidad de los Trabajadores. . . . This coali­ Liga Comunista Revolucionaria with about
tion also includes the Organizacion de Iz­ 3,500 members "in all the Spanish state," of
quierda Comunista . . . as well as Acci6n whom 60 percent were wage earners and 32
Comunista. In Catalonia, it includes the percent were women.46
p o u m .. . and members of the Movimiento One major gain in membership for the l c r
Comunista. The l c r is by far the largest came in its merger with a faction of the
group."41 Basque nationalist movement, the so-called
A statement by the Political Bureau of e t a ( v i ). The e t a had been the guerrilla or

the l c r after the election analyzed the re­ terrorist wing of Basque nationalism. At its
sults, including those of its own revolution­ fifth congress in 1967 "there were presented
ary coalition: "A ll in all, we think that the a series of positions of a Marxist-Leninist
40,000 votes obtained—an average of 0.5 type, some positions of an internationalist
percent in the provinces where we ran candi­ character, and a willingness to place the
dates—clearly show the usefulness of enter­ working class in the center of its strategy
ing the electoral arena.. . . The gains consti­ was expressed."47
tute a strong basis of support for the At that time the leadership of the move­
struggles of the coming months and for ad­ ment continued to be ideologically quite
vancing an alternative line to the policy of heterogeneous. It was not until the arrest of
social and constitutional pacts, the policy most of the top leadership of the e t a in the
the reformist workers leadership are going spring of 1969 that a provisional leadership
to push."42 assumed control which stressed the need for
Although the l c r .had been unable to mass mobilization rather than "military"

Spain: After the Civil War 717

 action. As a consequence when the Sixth healed. The impetus for reunification seems
Congress of the organization met in Septem­ to have come particularly from the l c r . Late
ber 1 970, the military wing refused to partic­ in 1976 an l c source noted that the l c r was
ipate, and the e t a split into two factions, urging unity because both groups belonged
labelled e t a { v ), made up of the military fac­ to u s e c , but added that " l c , however, does
tion and e t a ( v i ), consisting of Trotskyist- not see this operation as immediate, only as
leaning Marxist-Leninists.48 necessary in the abstract."52
The pro-Trotskyist element o f e t a de­ However, the Liga Comunista at its
fined the nationalist struggle of the Basque Fourth Congress, October 29-November 1,
provinces as being part of the working-class 1977, agreed to seek immediate reunifica­
conflict with capitalism. It continued to tion with the l c r . Its resolution said that
support the idea of a Basque constituent as­ "the congress analyzed the history of our
sembly which would proclaim the sover­ party's relations with the l c r . The clear con­
eignty o f Euzkadi, but then would join in an clusion drawn was to recognize that no po­
Iberian federation in a "free union." litical 01 organizational justification had
Jos6 Iriarte of e t a ( v i ) defended this posi­ ever existed for maintaining such a divi­
tion, arguing that "in equal circumstances, sion. . . , " 53
in principle, large states resulting from free On December 17 -18 , 1977, there was a
and voluntary union are more favorable than joint meeting of the central committees of
small separated states, with greater dangers the l c and l c r , which agreed to seek reuni­
of economic strangulation, bureaucratic de­ fication. The meeting planned a unity con­
formation because of defense problems, in­ gress in March 1978.54
ternal weakness, etc." He added that "we A few elements of the l c r and l c did not
are in any case for those solutions which join in the reunified l c r . Jose Gutierrez Alv­
permit and favor stable and specific coexis­ arez has noted that those who stayed outside
tence among the peoples, on the basis of of it were "a very small fraction which
absolute equality in national rights."49 evolved toward Lambertism and another
Finally, the e t a ( v i ) people accused their still smaller one which under the leadership
former colleagues of weakening not only the of 'Selva,' former leader of the l c , created
struggle for a sovereign Euzkadi, but that a diffuse ultraleftist group which tried to
against a return to a Franco-type dictator­ construct something Hke the Vth Interna­
ship throughout Spain, by their continued tional, but which survived only as a small
use of terrorism. The military e t a .not only group of friends."55
alienated large parts of the Basque working In the new dispute within the United Sec­
class, but strengthened those people in the retariat in the early 1980s, which originated
Spanish Army and elsewhere who were for with the turn of the Socialist Workers Party
a return to a regime such as that of Franco.50 of the United States away from Trotskyism,
About three years after the split in the the l c r was strongly in favor of the u s e c
e t a , the e t a (v i ) faction held its seventh Con­ majority. They expressed skepticism about
gress, late in 1973. At the same time, the the kind of "new international" which the
l c r held its Third Congress. The meetings swp professed to be seeking to form.56
decided to merge the two organizations, The reunited l c r carried out its trade
forming the l c r - e t a (v i ). In the following union activity principally in the Comisi­
year the l c r - e t a ( v i ) absorbed another group, ones Obreras. According to Gutierrez Al­
the Fraccion Bolchevique-Leninista, a small varez, the l c r
Barcelona-based organization with mainly a
working-class membership.51 animates together with left tendencies of
At the end of 1977 and beginning of 1978 the c p , with the m c e [Movimiento Com­
the split in u s e c ranks in Spain was finally unista de Espana, ex-Maoist|, and other

718 Spain: After the Civil War

 smaller groups, an important Left Current The l c r after its reunification in 1978 also
which is the majority in some parts of participated in general elections, on a Spain-
Asturias and Euzkadi; and in Catalonia, wide, regional, and municipal level, being
where the f c c [Partido Comunista de Ca- the only Trotskyist group to do so consis­
taluna, formed by a leftist split in the tently. Elections for the national Cortes
p s u c ] is the majority force in the unions. were held in 1979 and 1983; regional elec­
The l c r has representation in the highest tions were held in Euzkadi and Catalonia in
trade union levels; in general, the Re­ 1979 and 1980, and in Andalusia and Galicia
gional Federation is rare in which, among in 1981; municipal polls took place in 1979
twenty to thirty members of Executives and 1981.
there is no representation of the l c r , In the X979 parliamentary elections the
which, to be sure, rarely surpasses half a l c r received less than half the 100,000 votes

dozen people.57 it had received two years earlier 61 However,

a few weeks later the party did quite well in
Of the Comisiones Obreras, Gutierrez municipal elections. They elected twenty-
Alvarez has said that they "can in no way six municipal counselors and one local
be considered as nothing more than a 'trans­ mayor, most of their victories coming in the
mission belt' for the c p —the u g t is that for Basque provinces.61 However, in 1982 the
the p s o e —but is a much broader movement, l c r received only about 30,000 votes in the

with profound traditions of internal democ­ elections for the Cortes.63

racy. . . . Only in very isolated cases—in As­ In 1984 the l c r ran candidates in the re­
turias, Euzkadi, and Navarre—have there gional elections of Catalonia. They did not
been cases,of expulsion—of majorities. That invest very much effort in the campaign,
is to say that the 'Eurocommunists,' when sensing that there was a disenchantment
they see themselves overrun by a leftist ma­ among the workers in the electoral
jority have reacted by expelling not only the process.64
Trotskyists. .. ,"se As their experience within the Commu­
At the Third Congress of the Comisiones nist-dominated trade union group, the cco o
Obreras in June 1984, the l c r , with the sup­ indicates, the contacts of the l c r with the
port of representatives of the Movimiento official Spanish Communists were not in
Comunista, was able for the first time to the traditional mold of Trotskyist-Stalinist
elect a member of the Executive Commis­ relations. This fact was highlighted when
sion of the organization, Joaquin Nieto. Ri­ the l c r was invited to send a delegate to
val lists of candidates from the ranks of the deliver a greeting to the Ninth Congress of
Communist Party received twenty-six and the Spanish Communist Party in April 1978.
fourteen positions respectively, another list The l c r representative advocated joint ac­
of delegates to the left of the Communists tion of the workers parties against the re­
received eight posts. According to Combate, gime of Prime Minister Suarez and sug­
organ of the l c r , the vote of one more dele­ gested that the Spanish Communists urge
gate would have given the l c r two seats in their Soviet comrades to rehabilitate
the Executive.59 Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, and other vic­
For some time the l c r also worked inside tims of the Moscow Trials, and themselves
the unions of the u g t , where they "acquired take the lead in rehabilitating the reputation
certain importance between 1977 and r98o, of Andres Nin.6S
being almost the majority in Alava, Pam­ Five years later Jose Gutierrez Alvarez
plona, and Vendrell (Tarragona). However, commented on this new relationship be­
continuous expulsions have modified this tween Spanish Trotskyists and (ex?) Stalin­
influence which at present is quite re­ ists. He noted that "in the presentation of
duced. '/<0 my biography of Trotsky at which there

Spain: After the Civil Wat 719

1
 were old Stalinist leaders . . . all entoned Comunismo Group, as did the l c r . Soon
their 'mea culpa' although, obviously, they after the formation of the l c r , an element
tried to justify themselves with various ex­ broke away under the leadership of one of
planations."66 the principal figures of the Comunismo
Gutierrez Alvarez has noted that "since Group to establish the Organizaci6n Trots­
the IV Congress in 1980, the l c r has carried kista Espanola ( o t e ). It reportedly gained
out an important political rectification some recruits from both the l c r and l c , and
which other Trotskyist groups consider as even from the Communist Party, before the
'revisionism.' This is abandonment of the o t e itself split in 1974.70

conception of a revolutionary labor party Meanwhile, a group of Spanish Trotsky­

based on its own growth. Now it supports: ists aligned with Lambert had been working
a) favoring the largest leftist groups—on a within p o u m since its reestablishment in­
class basis—to prepare the ground for b) a side Spain in 1975. They broke with p o u m
party of all revolutionaries. This has been over the 1977 parliamentary elections, op­
made concrete in the electoral field by the posing the party's participation in a coali­
disappearance of the initials in a good num­ tion which included the l c r . 71 They appar­
ber of coalitions with independents and peo­ ently joined with the remnants of the o t e
ple of other parties. Thus, for example, the to establish in 1979 the Partido Obrero So­
c u t (Unitary Candidate of the Workers) has cialista Intemacionalista ( p o s i ).
won more than fifty municipal counselors On October 31-November 2, 1980, a
in Andalucia, with two mayors . . . whose "unification congress" was held involving
activities have continually gotten headlines the p o s i and dissidents from the u s e c affili­
in the daily press."67 ates. At the founding congress of the p o s i ,
Soon after its establishment the l c r began the "Fourth Congress of the l c " and the
to publish a periodical, Combate. During "State Conference of the Public Fraction of
the period of the l c r - l c split, both groups the l c r , " had previously agreed to unifica­
put out papers with that name.68In the early tion with the p o s i . Some forty-three dele­
1980s the l c r also undertook publication gates attended the 1980 congress; the new
of a Spanish-language version of the United group kept the name p o s i and decided to
Secretariat's magazine, Inprecor. It carried issue a party newspaper, Combate So­
articles which also appeared in the "interna­ cialista.72
tional" edition of Inprecor, published in The p o s i held its third Congress between
Paris, and articles originating in Spain 69 April 30 and May 2, 1982. Among those ad­
dressing the meeting were Pierre Lambert,
who brought greetings from the Provisional
Other Trotskyist Groups
International Secretariat and the French p c i ,
and fraternal delegates from five other Lam­
The Lambertists
bertist parties. The meeting called for a
The faction of international Trotskyism united struggle against the Suarez govern­
headed by the French leader Pierre Lambert ment then in power, and for establishment
has had representation in Spain virtually of a Socialist-Communist administration. It
since the beginning of the revival of the also adopted resolutions supporting the
movement in that country. Like t h e u s e c work of the International Reconstruction
element, its origins were to b e found in the Center of the Fourth International, and sup­
Comunismo Group of the late 1960s and porting the struggle of Solidarity in Poland.73
early 1970s. The p o s i did not win legal recognition for
The first Lambertist group in Spain origi­ electoral purposes at that time. It did have
nated in the Fraccion Trotsquista of the candidates in some districts in the October

720 Spain: After the Civil War

1982 election, which brought to power the chy. For democracy and respect for the
Socialist Party government of Prime Minis­ popular will, the p o s i will concentrate its
ter Felipe Gonzalez. They ran under the la­ efforts to achieve that all executive and
bel Liga Comunista. legislative powers pass into the hands of
An article in Combate Socialista about the representatives of the people, which
those elections noted a number of the par­ supposes the proclamation of the Sover­
ty's principal leaders at that time. Among eign Cortes and of the Republic. The Sov­
these were Sebastian Garcia, president of ereign Cortes must thus proclaim the self-
the party and former P O U M is t; Jos£ Sargas, determination of the nationalities, the
one-time honorary president of the Socialist right of independence of Euzkadi.7S
Party of Catalonia; Joaquin Villanueva, vet­
The p o s i worked both within the u g t and
eran of the guerrilla struggle against the
the c c o o . Right after the end of the Franco
Franco regime; Manuel Gross-Mier, a leader
in the October 1934 revolution and a leading regime, it also worked within the c n t , but
came to the conclusion that the c n t was too
p o u M i s t military commander during the
small and weak to be worth much trouble
Civil War; Ildefonso Gomez, secretary of the
The p o s i had its principal centers of
p o s i and former secretary general of the
strength in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and
Young Socialists; Felipe Alegria, former sec­
Valencia. However, by 1982, it also'had at
retary general of the Liga Comunista; and
least small groups in most of the other im­
Angel Tubau, a founding member of the l c r
portant cities.76It finally gained legal recog­
and the l c .74
nition as a political party early in 1984.77
With the victory of the Socialists in the
1982 elections the p o s : became increasingly
strong in its condemnation of the policies The “ Vaigaites"
followed by the Gonzalez government. The
Political Resolution of the Fourth Congress Not only was the Lambertist faction of in­
of the organization in April 1983 synthe­ ternational Trotskyism represented in Spam
sized this campaign against the Socialist in the 1970s and 1980s; so was its offshoot
Party administration: the Varga faction. The principal figure in
founding the Organizaci6n Trotskyista Es-
Felipe Gonzalez forms a government of panola, known as "Alfonso," broke with
the Popular Front type against the ad­ Lambert in 1974 at the time of the interna­
vance towards the revolutionary crisis to tional split in the ranks of the Lambertist
defend the Franquista monarchy and all faction. He established the Partido Obrero
of its institutions, that is to say, the bour­ Revolucionario de Espana (p o r e ).78
geois State as it is, trying to contain and Early in 1977 a more or less official state­
detain the movement of the masses. . , . ment of p o r e said that the party "sums up
Submitting itself to the Crown and fi­ and concentrates its principal tasks, postu­
nancial capital, the political plan of the lating that to take over direction of the pro­
government seeks to repress the most ele­ letariat and to bring it to power, it is neces­
mental rights and democratic liberties, sary to convert the fall of the fascist
maintaining and reinforcing the disposi­ dictatorship into the beginning of the Span­
tions of national oppression, of exploita­ ish proletarian revolution, and to then ex­
tion of the masses. tend it to all of Europe. This revolutionary
The p o s i affirms its willingness to raise process is prepared by a frontal combat to
the banner of democracy against all impo­ take from the c p the direction of the labor
sition, against submission of the leaders movement, thus provoking its beginning."79
of the p s o e and of the p c e to the Monar­ Gutierrez Alvarez reported in 1983 that

Spain: After the Civil War 721

 the Varga group had always been confined which 'without revolutionary theory there
largely to the Tarrasa area in Catalonia. He can be no revolutionary movement.' " It
also claimed that it was "surviving but in­ added that "the struggle against revisionism
creasingly weak."80 The p o r e published a within the Marxist movement is the essence
newspaper, La Aurora.tl of the development of the theory of Marxism
The p o r e evinced strong opposition to the while capitalism still exists.. . . The highest
Socialist Party government of Felipe Gonza­ point achieved in this struggle is the investi­
lez, which came to power late in 1982. It gation and publication by the International
proposed the formation of a leftist united Committee of the Fourth International, of
front under the old name Alianza Obrera to the complicity of the leaders of the Ameri­
combat the Gonzalez regime and get the can swp—Hansen and Novack—with the
workers to break with it. The party newspa­ Stalinist g p u which in 194a,and in Coyoa-
per La Aurora explained in July 1984 that can assassinated Trotsky. . . ."8S
"in the first place, we propose to the organi­ This same statement claimed that "the
zations which, although oscillating, show program of the l o c is based on the theory
certain opposition to the Government. of permanent revolution, as developed by
These are the p s t , the l c r , the m c , the p o s i Trotsky and proved in the policy of Lenin
which, although minority organizations, and the Bolshevik party in the Russian Rev­
might represent through the formation of an olution of October, beginning of the world
a l i a n z a o b r e r a , the means through which revolution." It added that "in the center of
the mobilization of the workers might ad­ the political activity of the l o c is the cam­
vance and enormously increase their politi­ paign to demonstrate before the masses and
cal weight. If in the beginning we do not the members of the Stalinist party that the
extend this proposal to the p c e it is because independent mobilization of the masses can
we see how far we are from an agreement do away with the regime and that, in conse­
of this type although that should not bar a quence, it is necessary to demand of the
common struggle."82 There is no indication leaderships of the ccoo, the u g t and the
that any of the other parties paid any atten­ c n t that they call the General Strike and

tion to the overtures of p o r e . abolish the regime. . . ."86

Shortly afterward, p o r e called for the Gutierrez Alvarez has noted that the Hea­
preparation of the general strike against the lyite group "never surpassed one hundred or
Gonzalez regime.83 its Catalan concentration."87 The newspa­
per of the l o c was Prensa Obrera. It also
published the theoretical journal Marx/smo
The Healyites
and its youth group, Juventud Revoluciona­
The International Committee of the Fourth ria Socialista, put out Joven Revoluciona­
International, headed by Gerry Healy, also rio.m There is no indication of how long or
has had its supporters in Spain. They first how regularly these periodicals appeared.
appeared within the Organizaci6n Trots­
kista Espanola.84 Elements of that group
The Spartacists
founded the Liga Obrera Comunista ( l o c )
on December 23, 1973, and in May 1974, Even a Spartacist faction appeared in Spain.
during the International Conference of Hea­ There clearly was nonsuch group in 1977,
ly's International Committee, the l o c was when a U.S. Spartacist periodical pro­
accepted as its Spanish section. claimed: "The prerevolutionary crisis in
A more or less official statement early in Spain cries out for the intervention of an
1977 of the l o c ' s position argued that it authentic Trotskyist party. . . ." s9However,
"defended the thesis of Lenin according to by the early 1980s it was reported (by an

722 Spain: After the Civil War

unfriendly source) that "the 'Spartacists' seventy-five villages in La Coruna province
have made their appearance—two or three in Galicia, it surpassed the vote received by
North Americans who speak Spanish—with the Communist Party. Virtually everywhere
an organ which is printed in the U.S.A. for that there was competition between p s t and
the Spaniards. It attempts to differentiate l c r candidates, the p s t reported that it had

itself from the other Trotskyist groups by done considerably better than its fellow
ferociously criticizing Solidarity."90 Trotskyist rival.93
It should be noted that the l c r opponents
of the p s t claimed that the Moreno group
The Morenoists
only received 60,000 votes.94
Concerning the origins of the Spanish group
aligned with the Nahuel Moreno-led faction
of International Trotskyism, Gutierrez Al­
varez has noted that they "arose about 197s
in a group in Madrid which split from the
l c r . Together with exiled Morenistas they

carried out entrism in the p s o e until 1978,

when they entered the l c r to do the same
there. They left there—together with a
dozen Lambertists—a year later at the time
of the debate over the Nicaraguan revo­
lution."91
The Moreno group established the Partido
Socialista de los Trabajadores ( p s t ). That
party took a particularly active part in the
general election of 1982: "During its cam­
paign the p s t demanded a reduction of the
work week to thirty-five hours without a
reduction in pay. . . . It called for the expro­
priation of all banks, lands, and industries
threatening to lay off workers without any
indemnization, and placing them under
workers' control. The p s t pressed for the
passage of a law to set the minimum
monthly wage at 45,000 pesetas [$352] and
explained the necessity of forming a govern­
ment of workers without capitalists or gen­
erals."91
It seems clear that the p s t did better in
those elections than any of the other Trots­
kyist groups in Spain. It claimed to have
received 300,490 votes for its candidates for
senator, and 104,605 for its nominees for
deputies, although it did not elect anyone to
the Cortes. It ran some 470 candidates in
all, of whom 178 were women. In some areas
it received more votes than the right-wing
Fuerza Nueva party, and in others, including

Spain: After the Civil War 723

 Swedish Trotskyism were used to instill a vulgar anti-Trotskyism
in most of those who became involved in
anti-imperialist activities. The first small
Trotskyist group . . . was treated as an 'old
fossil swimming against the current.' " 2
The Trotskyists drew their original re­
Trotskyism first appeared in Sweden soon cruits from the Social Democrats, Commu­
after the Second World War. Anton Schou nists, and Maoists as well as from people
Madsen has noted its early history: "An In­ active in the anti-Vietnam campaign. At its
ternational Bulletin of the Fourth Interna­ inception, the group had about sixty
tional refers to 'Swedish comrades' as far members.3
back as 1946. The Bulletin Interieuz du Sec­ Trotskyism began to be seen in a different
retariat Internationale de la IVe Internatio­ light by some of the far left in Sweden as
nale, Mai 1949 speaks of a Swedish group. a result of the participation of the French
In 19s o a Trotskyist paper was published in Trotskyists in the May 1968 insurrection.
Sweden, called Internationalen, Organ for As reported later in Intercontinental Press,
Revolutionara Socialister (Marxistisk Tide- "Trotskyism was no longer to be found sim­
skrift) (Fjarde Internationalen), or The Inter­ ply in history books but out fighting in the
national, Organ of Revolutionary Socialists front lines on the barricades in Paris!"
(Marxist Periodical} (Fourth International). In the latter part of 1970 the Revolu­
The name of the editor was Bertil Safstrom." tionara Marxister merged with a dissident
Madsen added that "this group for a period group from the k f m l in the city of Lund to
until probably 1949 worked inside another form the Revolutionara Marxisters Forbund
left-wing organization, called the Left So­ (League of Revolutionary Marxists— r m f ).
cialists. The Danish Trotskyist paper, Det However, this precipitated a split in the
N y Arbejderblad, No. 3, May 1951 brings a Trotskyists ranks and the formation of the
short article on 'The Trotskyists and the rival Kommunistiska Arbetagrupper (Com­
Dockers Strike in Sweden.' The article talks munist Labor Groups— k a s ), which appar­
about the Revolutionare Socialistiska Pariet ently was quite short-lived, many of the
with branches in Stockholm, Goteborg, and members of the k a s ultimately returning to
other cities." the r m f .4
According to Madsen the Trotskyist party The Trotskyists continued for several
ran a mass meeting in October 1951 at­ years to have sharp polemics with groups
tended by 1,000 people. At that point, the growing out of the Stalinist tradition, partic­
Social Democratic newspaper Morgentid- ularly the k f m l . This apparently consumed
ningen was calling for a ban on the r s p . 1 much of the time and energies of the group.
Trotskyism revived in Sweden with the It was not until 1972 that the r m f began
Revolutionara Marxister (Revolutionary what they called a "new course," which was
Marxists— r m ), associated with the United ratified at the organization's Third Congress
Secretariat, which was established in the in January 1973.
process of the campaign against the Vietnam On this new direction of the group's activ­
War. However, that anti-U.S. intervention ities the r m f ' s periodical Mullvaden re­
movement was to a large extent dominated ported that: x
by pro-Maoist elements, particularly the
Kommunistiska Forbundet Marxist-Leni- The point of departure for the 'new
nistema (k f m l }. A s the Swedish Trotskyists course' was a report to the convention
themselves subsequently admitted, the on the economic and political situation
k f m l "acquired a stability and weight that today. The thesis presented in this report

724 Sweden
 was that we are facing a period of eco­ nalen was "Chinese Troops Out of Viet­
nomic and social struggles. Naturally, nam," and the Political Bureau of the League
this period will not be a smooth one. . . . strongly attacked the Chinese incursion.7
Out of the contradiction between what The Swedish Trotskyists also carried on
the working masses demand and what campaigns in defense of Soviet dissidents.
cannot be granted by this society, the sta­ Thus, in December 1976 lnternationalen
bility of the Social Democracy will find carried an interview with the exiled Leonid
itself challenged. . . . Thus the 'new Phyushch, who was touring Sweden as a
course' grew out of reports and contribu­ guest of the local affiliate of Amnesty Inter­
tions to the convention that involve an national.® In February of the following year,
initial reacquisition of the strategical con­ it helped organize a demonstration in Lund
cepts that were used in, for instance, the "calling for democratic rights in East Europe
first four congresses of the Third Interna­ and the USSR."9
tional or that are part of the 'Transitional The k a f also devoted considerable atten­
Program' of the Fourth International. tion to domestic issues. Early in 1977 Inter-
nationalen launched a suggestion for a na­
The major political resolution of the tionwide general strike in protest against
Third Congress was said by Mullvaden to "the offensive against the living standards
be "a contribution to the process of working of the workers in which the Swedish em­
out a communist program, that is, a single ployers were said to be engaged."10
program that takes up various phases of poli­ The Trotskyists were particularly active
tics and organizational activity and their in the campaign against nuclear power, and
forms, as well as possible demands and slo­ in the nationwide referendum on the issue
gans that can be actively raised by the in March 1980. They supported Proposition
masses in their independent organs of dual Three in that referendum, which called "for
power and that, during the revolutionary sit­ the six reactors now under construction be­
uation, can be transformed into the expro­ ing dismantled in a maximum of ten years.
priation of the bourgeoisie by the working It also says that no more reactors should be
class!" fueled and bars uranium mining in
It was reported that of the delegates to Sweden."11
the rmf's Third Congress, 37 percent were In 1981 the u s e c affiliate in Sweden
workers, 50 percent were students, and that changed its name to Socialist Party. By the
75 percent were males. "The overwhelming early 1980s they had established at least a
majority were very young—fifteen to thirty modest base in the trade union movement.
years old. No less than 63 percent had been In the major Volvo automobile plant union,
recruited from the ranks of other left-wing they had succeeded in getting 40 percent of
organizations. . . ."5 the vote for a list of candidates which they
The r m f subsequently changed its name supported. They claimed about 700 mem­
to Kommunistiska Arbetarforbundet (Com­ bers and had begun to participate in elec­
munist Workers League— k a f ] , and adopted tions.12
lnternationalen (The International) for the At the time of the Argentine invasion of
name of its journal. The League carried on a the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) and the re­
number of different propaganda and organi­ sulting war with Great Britain, the Swedish
zational campaigns. So long as the Vietnam Socialist Party adopted a position rather dif­
conflict went on, it continued to devote a ferent from that of most Trotskyist groups
good deal of its energy to that issue.6 Later, which generally aligned themselves with
in 1979, at the time of the Chinese invasion Argentina in the conflict. lnternationalen,
of Vietnam, the main headline in Internatio- the party's paper, editorialized: "This is a

Sweden 725
1
j
 barbaric farce involving two rotten regimes Trotskyism in
trying to save their own skins by stirring up
nationalist sentiment. The only standpoint Switzerland
the British and Argentine workers can take
is that their own regime's defeat is the lesser
evil. . . . The British war preparations must
be stopped immediately! The Argentine
troops must be withdrawn from the islands Swiss Trotskyism has gone through two, or
right now! The question of the status of the perhaps three definite periods in its history.
islands can only be solved through negotia­ It has never been a major element either in
tions."13 general national politics, the politics of the
The Swedish Trotskyists took an active Left, or the trade union movement. How­
part in the United Secretariat. It was re­ ever, like the movement in' many other
ported that "a clear majority sided with the countries Trotskyism in Switzerland has
international majority at the 1974 congress. been a persistent political tendency, unlike
The same is true over disputed questions at the Right Opposition of the 1930s, or the
the 1979 world congress." Maoists and other protoanarchist groups of
It was reported in 1984 that "the section's the 1960s and thereafter. Thus, the history
main areas of activity are trade union work, of Swiss Trotskyism extends over more than
international solidarity activities, antiracist half a century.
work and women's solidarity."1,1 One of the
important national leaders of the Socialist
The Early Swiss Trotskyist
Party was Gote Kilden, head of the Union
Movement
Opposition, organized to challenge the lead­
ership of the union of workers in the Volvo The origins of the Trotskyist movement in
auto factory in Goteborg, the country's Switzerland are to be found in the spring
largest industrial enterprise.15 of 19 31, when a Left Opposition developed
By the early 1 980's several factions of In­ within the Communist element in the
ternational Trotskyism in addition to u s e c Marxist Students Group in Zurich.1 One of
also had groups in Sweden. One of these the two principal figures in this very first
was the Socialistiska Forbundet, which was phase of Swiss Trotskyism was the Polish
affiliated with the Morenoist International student Solomon Ehrlich, a one-time mem­
Workers League (Fourth International) and ber of the Communist Party of Palestine
consisted mainly of former members of the who was studying in Zurich and had been
Socialist Party.16 The Posadas version of the won over to Trotsky's ideas by reading some
Fourth International also claimed an affili­ of his publications. He won to Trotsky's the­
ate in Sweden, at least in the 1970s, which ories a young Swiss student, Walter Nelz,
published a periodical, Kommunistik who for most of the 1930s remained the
Kamp.'7 The Lambertist c o r q i also had a principal Trotskyist leader in the country.2
small group, thelntemationela Socialister.18 It was not until September 1933 that a
Very little information is available on these formal Trotskyist organization, Marxist-
groups. ische Aktion der Schweiz ( m a s ), was estab­
lished. It brought together a number of peo­
ple who since 19 31 had broken away from
the Swiss Communist Party or had been ex­
pelled from it. Its members were principally
in Zurich, Basel, and Schaffhausen.3
Although their national organization was

726 Switzerland
only established in the latter part of 1933, sibility of holding such a session in Switzer­
the Swiss Trotskyites were in touch with land. He wrote his attorney, Gerald Rosen­
Trotsky and the International Secretariat thal, that "all the conditions indicate
considerably before then. Thus, Trotsky Switzerland as a country where it would be
took particular note of the fact that circum­ possible to have a trial without hindrance."9
stances had made it impossible for his Swiss The "trial" was ultimately held in Mexico.
followers to be represented at the "consulta­ Walter Nelz was consulted on this ques­
tion" which took place on the occasion of tion, and was also Trotsky's confidant and
his visit to Copenhagen in November 1932/’ attorney in libel suits which Trotsky
When Trotsky adopted the tactic of en­ brought in Switzerland against a number of
trism in the Second International Socialist Stalinist dignitaries, including Georgi Dimi­
parties, his Swiss followers followed his trov, head of the Comintern; Jules Humbert-
lead. Jan Frankel and the International Sec­ Droz, then head of the Swiss Communist
retariat apparently convinced them to fol­ Party, the editors of the organ of the Execu­
low that line. It has been said that Swiss tive Committee of the Comintern (e c c i ).
police reports indicated that the Trotskyists Communist International, and of various
developed extensive influence within the other Comintern publications. The Swiss
Socialist Youth in this period. These reports courts ultimately found in favor of Trotsky
also noted that a German Trotskyist exile, and awarded him damages of 10,000 Swiss
Hans Freund (known also as Moulin), a stu­ francs.10
dent in Genfeve, was one of the most impor­ Although they had their own publication,
tant figures in the Swiss movement in this the Swiss Trotskyists, most of whom were
period.5 With the outbreak of the Spanish German-speaking, also collaborated with
Civil War, Freund went to Barcelona in Au­ publication efforts of other German-speak­
gust 1936, and after the "May Days" there ing colleagues. Thus, in his conversation
in May 1937, was assassinated b y the g p u .6 with leaders of the U.S. Socialist Workers
Trotsky himself wrote on July 28, 1935 Party in Mexico in March 1938 Trotsky
about the Swiss Trotskyists that "in Swit­ noted that "The German sections of Swit­
zerland our group publishes an independent zerland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia have
sheet Trotz Alledem {In Spite of Every­ established a theoretical monthly, Der Ein­
thing). Yet, at the same time, the majority zige Weg . . .
of the group is inside the sp, gathers the left The Swiss Trotskyists of the 1930s had
opposition there, and tries successfully to more or less close relations with the Interna­
take over the leadership .. . internal faction tional Secretariat. There was a representa­
work plus an independent paper outside the tive of the Marxist Action of Zurich at the
party."7 1936 international Trotskyist conference. A
Jean-Frangois Marquis has noted that the Swiss delegate from Basel also participated
Trotskyists worked within the Socialist in the youth meeting which took place soon
Party in two cantons, Zurich "where they after that is meeting.12
were rapidly excluded," and Basel. He has Although there were apparently no Swiss
also reported that their periodical Trotz delegates to the Founding Conference of the
Alledem appeared for four years, between Fourth International in September 1938,
1935 and I 939-8 there was recognition there of the affiliation
With the onset of the Moscow Trials and of the Swiss group with the international
of Trotsky's wish to mount a "countertrial" movement. Marxistische Aktion was offi­
to prove the inaccuracy and perniciousness cially reported to be a "fraternal" member
of the charges made against him during of the group.13 International Secretary Pierre
those Stalinist purges, he thought of the pos­ Naville reported to the meeting the exis­

Switzerland 727
 tence of the Swiss affiliate, but did not pro­ Nelz was sentenced to two years in jail,
vide any figures as to how many members Steiger and Dorizzi to one year each, and
it had, as he did with most of the other others were given shorter sentences. They
sections.14 It is clear that the m a s remained were convicted of "exhortation and instiga­
quite small during the 1930s. Marquis esti­ tion of violation of military discipline."18
mates that "it never consisted of more than It was 1943 before there was any renewal
two dozen militants."15 of activity among the Swiss Trotskyists and
With the seizure of Austria by the Nazis even then it had to be "semi-legal." The m a s
in March 1938, the dissident Austrian Trots­ was finally able in the summer of 1945 to
kyist leader, Josef Frey, fled to Switzerland. reestablish contacts with the Fourth Inter­
He soon gained considerable influence national. In October of the same year a
within the small Swiss Trotskyist group, as member of m a s was accepted into the Euro­
a consequence of which, according to Ro­ pean Executive Committee which was by
dolphe Prager, the relations of the m a s with that time functioning in Paris.19 After the
the International Secretariat were consider­ First International Conference of the f i in
ably disturbed. This situation continued for March 1946, Heinrich Buchbinder of the
several years.16 Swiss group became a member of the new
With the outbreak of World War II, the International Executive Committee.20
publication of Trotz Alledem was appar­
ently suspended, but its place was taken by
Proletarische Aktion
the sporadically appearing underground pe­
riodical Informations briefe fur revolu­
Establishment of
tionare Politik, three issues of which ap­
Proletarische Aktion
peared between December 1939 and April
1940. It was edited by Josef Steiger, Walter During the last years of World War II the
Nelz, and Rene Dorizzi, a Trotskyist from Swiss Trotskyist movement reached a low
Geneve, and about six hundred copies were point. Marquis has commented that it con­
distributed. sisted "essentially of four persons." This
Jean-Francjois Marquis has said of this pe­ tiny group engaged in a great deal of soul
riodical, and of the general attitude of m a s searching and "internal discussion," re­
during this period: "This bulletin, published sulting in the year and a half before February
and distributed clandestinely, continued to 1945 in the exchange of some 800 typewrit­
defend a revolutionary Marxist position ten pages of "internal texts and contribu­
with regard to the Swiss and international tions" by the members of m a s .21
situations. This was shown by the mainte­ Some of the old-timers drifted away from
nance of a firm revolutionary antimilitarist the movement. Walter Nelz lapsed into in­
position which refused all support to na­ activity. Dorizzi quit the Trotskyists to join,
tional defense and all confidence in the in Zurich, the Socialist youth group, s a j (So­
bourgeoisie in defending Switzerland cialistische Arbeit-jugend), and became bit­
against an eventual menace from Nazi terly anti-Trotskyist. However, those who
Germany."17 remained still continued to have some con­
The publication of this underground peri­ tacts both among the Communists and
odical brought severe reprisals from the among members of the s a j . By early 1945
Swiss government. In June 1940 sixteen they had organized a number of "formation
Trotskyists were arrested. They were appar­ courses," in which individual m a s members
ently held without trial until March 1942, expounded to small groups of three to five
when thirteen of them, including Walter people basic Trotskyist ideas and doctrines.
Nelz, Josef Steiger, and Rene Dorizzi were As Marquis has noted, "in this period the
brought before a military court in Luzem. m a s concentrated on the work of individual

728 Switzerland
contacts, of formation and of internal de­ hicle for resuming open political activity.
bate, but judged that the hour was prema­ They were firmly determined to control the
ture for public appearance."22 group if it was at all possible to do so. Thus,
It was exactly at that point, early in 1945, a meeting of m a s on October 18, 1946, re­
that the Swiss Trotskyists were presented solved that "the editorship of PA must be
with a new chance to expand, at least mod­ composed in its majority of us, or we shall
estly, their influence and membership. A retire from it." As Marquis has commented,
group of young people, including Othmar " m a s had decided to go forward to take con­
Hauser, Kurt Hiltebrand, and Walter Kem, trol of the PA and not be paralyzed any
had recently broken away from the Freie longer by debates with the old responsible
Jfugend, a public group which had been estab­ editors."25
lished by the outlawed Communist Party The conclusive step in assuring m a s con­
during the war. This group, together with trol of PA was the establishment of a formal
Dorizzi, began late in 1945 to publish anew organization, also called Proletarische Ak­
left-wing periodical, Proletarische Aktion tion, at a meeting on November 18,1946. Hil­
|p a ). tebrand and Hauser did not participate in that
The Trotskyists of m a s immediately ap­ session. Of the seven that did, Alfred Fischer,
proached the group putting out the new pa­ Walter Hasler, Josef Steiger, Heinrich Buch-
per. However, their former comrade, Do­ binder, and Rudolf Stettler were certainly
rizzi, was very strongly opposed to allowing members of m a s . Marquis was not sure
the Trotskyists to participate in the periodi­ whether Walter Kem and Emst Vollen-
ca] and the activities surrounding it, as a weider, who also attended, were members of
consequence of which none of the material m a s or not. As he commented: "That assem­

the Trotskyists sent for inclusion in the first bly marks then the definitive taking of con­
issue of PA in fact appeared. trol by m a s of PA. It marks the beginning of a
By the time of the appearance of the sec­ new stage in the development of PA ."16
ond issue, however, the m a s ' s work of indoc­ Until that time the p a group was centered
trination of members of the Freie Jugend had solely in Zurich. However, in the spring of
paid off. Starting with issue number two, the 1947 m a s members in the cities of Winter­
Trotskyists were "able to participate fully in thur and Basel established local organiza­
the elaboration of the periodical."23 tions of Proletarische Aktion in those two
In the spring of 1946 another block in the places. Five members established the group
way of total Trotskyist control of p a devel­ in Winterthur, and seven that of Basel.27
oped. Kurt Hiltebrand and Othmar Hauser p a thus became in some sense a "na­

developed ideological and organizational tional" organization. In the years following

differences with m a s . These centered on two the founding meeting of November 1946 the
issues: the validity oi revolutionaries work­ group held two national conferences. The
ing within the trade union movement first met in Zurich on June 29,1947. There is
{which, of course, the Trotskyists upheld), no indication of how many people attended
and the Trotskyist categorization of the So­ that meeting, but Marquis noted that it
viet Union as a "degenerated workers state" adopted a nine-point resolution "which
(which Hiltebrand in particular rejected, ar­ presents a synthetic panorama of the Swiss
guing that the USSR was "capitalist"). How­ situation as well as an explanation of the
ever, this conflict ended when Hiltebrand necessity for constructing a new revolution­
retired from the periodical in May 1946, and ary party in Switzerland and in the world."
Hauser greatly reduced his activity in the The second national conference of p a was
group at about the same time.14 held in Winterthur on June 12, 1949. That
By that time Proletarische Aktion had be­ meeting formally adopted the title Proletar­
come for the Trotskyists their principal ve­ ische Aktion der Schweiz for the group.

Switzerland 729
 This second meeting also received a report point of view adopted by m a s right after the
on the growth of the organization: "Proletar­ war. This position was shared by the Social­
ische Aktion has developed during the ist Workers Party of the United States, the
scarcely two and a half years of its existence French Trotskyites, and the Fourth Interna­
from a small group of less than a dozen com­ tional in general. The m a s maintained that
rades to a large propagandist group. Reverses "the Second World War had not terminated
have not been lacking; many of the com­ and in all likelihood it would be continued
rades who were formerly in the front rank in the form of a confrontation between, on
have become fatigued . . . But if one consid­ the one hand, all the imperialist powers, and
ers the situation .. . we can have, in view of on the other, the Soviet Union . . . "30
our state of development, justified hope in In addition, as time went on a more or less
the future."29 natural division of labor developed between
During this same period, m a s controlled the two groups. The p a spoke up principally
another organization in addition to p a . This on Swiss issues and m a s dealt particularly
was the Socialistischer Arbeiter Jugend (s a j ). with international problems and relations
This was the name of the Socialist Party's with the Fourth International.31
youth group, into which members of the In view of its lingering fear of government
m a s had infiltrated. In November 1947 the persecution m a s sought to limit this possi­
national leadership of the s a j expelled the bility. Thus, an internal document of m a s
Karl Liebknecht branch in Zurich, the presi­ in 1948 noted that " p a is an organization
dent of which was a member of m a s . Those which appears in a legal manner. . . . The
expelled were supported by the s a j branch revolutionary critique and propaganda of p a ,
in Schaffhausen. Together, the Zurich and both in the interior and the exterior must
Schaffhausen groups formed their own as a consequence be submitted to certain
youth organization, which also used the limits."32
name Sozialistische Arbeiter Jugend. They In order to assure continued control of
were joined subsequently by a group from Proletarische Aktion by m a s , the members
Basel. The Trotskyists' s a j published for of the latter formed a fraction within p a .
some years, with more or less regularity, a According to a m a s internal document of
periodical, Gegen den Strom.29 1946, "They are submitted . . . to the disci­
pline of m a s and carry out their fraction
work under the control of the leadership of
The MAS and Proletarische Aktion
m a s . " This same document said that the

During most of its existences Proletarische m a s members in p a had to concern them­

Aktion was the legal "front" for the clandes­ selves with four things: "to conserve effec­
tine Trotskyist group Marxistische Aktion tive control of that organization," and con­
der Schweiz, which was affiliated with the sequently to limit recruiting to p a so as not
Fourth International. There were undoubt­ to endanger m a s control of it; to train politi­
edly several reasons for m a s maintaining cally new p a members; to recruit new mem­
this two-tiered level of activity. One was bers for m a s ; and constantly to critique p a
certainly the experience of governmental policy, so as to avoid "left centrist devia­
persecution during World War II and the fear tions from the correct proletarian and revo­
that with the adoption of rather severe legis­ lutionary line."33 v..
lation "for the protection of the State" after The previously cited 1948 m a s internal
the war, they might at any time be again document stated that " p a is an instrument
subject to such action by the government. of m a s . " At the same time it warned against
Even more important, according to Jean- "mechanical" application of m a s policy in
Fran?ois Marquis, was the "catastrophic" such a way as to arouse resentment on the

730 Switzerland
part of non-Trotskyist leaders and members permit it to group around itself a significant
of the group that they were being "manipu­ number of workers desirous of carrying out
lated."34 a more combative policy. . . . "
Finally, Marquis concluded that "after a
short period of relative growth, and above
The Nature and Activities of
all of geographic expansion, p a rapidly at­
Proletarische Aktion
tained a level which it could not surpass."36
Jean-Frangois Marquis has made a detailed Much of the activity of p a centered on
analysis of the relatively limited amount of publication and distribution of Proletar­
information available about the member­ ische Aktion. Marquis concluded that the
ship and activities of Proletarische Aktion. more or less regular number of copies
He reached certain general conclusions printed was about 1,000. It appeared in dif­
about them. He noted that "the first undeni­ ferent forms between 1945 and 1949—in the
able fact is that after the foundation o f p a at beginning as a mimeographed publication,
the end of '46, until 1949 there was without subsequently as a printed periodical. Al­
question a geographical extension of this or­ though the larger part of the space was taken
ganization. From Zurich it extended to Win­ up with Swiss events and issues, almost 40
terthur, second industrial center of the can­ percent dealt with international ques­
ton, and to Basel, second industrial city in tions.37
Switzerland . . , outside of this region, this The members of p a were also active in the
organization is totally absent." trade union movement. They first had the
His second conclusion was that " p a re­ perspective of organizing "opposition"
mained a very small organization." It grew groups in trade unions throughout the labor
from seven members in 1946 to twenty-nine movement. They were successful in pene­
in 1949, which represented "a certain trating only a very limited number of organi­
growth." He estimated that there were by zations. These were principally the Metal
1949 some nine to fifteen members in Zu­ Workers Federation, particularly in Schaff­
rich, eleven in Winterthur, three in Schaff­ hausen, and the Construction Workers. The
hausen, and "a minimum of half a dozen in latter union was the only one in which they
Basel." He added, "One can certainly add had enough strength, or individuals of suf­
between thirty and forty sympathizers, and ficient influence, to have representation at
at most two dozen youths organized in the union national congresses.38
s a j , " and that " p a represents in the labor

movement a very minority current, which

had, at a high maximum, one hundred Subsequent History of
persons."35 Proletarische Aktion
Another conclusion Marquis reached was
that "its strong working-class base can As we have noted, the apogee of influences
never be denied: between 1947 and 1949 and activity of the Proletarische Aktion was
about two thirds of its members and sympa­ in 1949. The organization continued to exist
thizers were unionized. Also, it was always for a number of years after that.
true that between 27 and 29 percent of mem­ A conference of the p a in Zurich in March
bers and sympathizers of p a were also mem­ 1950 decided for the first time to carry on
bers of the s p or l p [the Communist Party], an electoral campaign in municipal elec­
with those belonging to the s p being more tions on April 15. Running under the name
numerous." However, its representation in "Socialist Labor List," the p a candidates re­
the unions and traditional parties "was not ceived only 6 11 votes, or 1,9 percent. This
sufficient to give it sufficient credibility to was a great disappointment to the p a mem­

Switzerland 731
 bers, who had hopes of electing some candi­ number of important disaffected Commu­
dates. nists who left the p s d t , and organized some
However, the periodical Proletarische A k­ public debates with them. However, those
tion, in its issue of December 1950, people ended up joining the Socialists rather
launched a call for “ a real socialist workers than becoming Trotskyists.'*0
party." To this end a conference met on Jan­ The Trotskyists became very active in the
uary 13, 1951, and adopted "a very long po­ effort, launched in 1958, to call a referen­
litical platform for the foundation of this dum on the question of banning the atomic
new organization." Also, the p a entered into bomb in Switzerland. One of its principal
discussion with several other leftist groups figures was Heinrich Buchbinder. When the
concerning the possibility of forming a referendum was finally held in 1962 it re­
united far left organization. To this end, it ceived the support of 35 perce.nt of the vot­
negotiated with groups in Genfeve and Basel, ers. However, as Marquis has noted, activity
but nothing came of these discussions.39 around this issue "did not leave much room
The call of p a for a new far left party was for the s a b as such." As a consequence, by
followed up on June 17, 19 s i, with a meet­ the time the ban-the-bomb campaign was
ing which established a new organization, completed "the s a b virtually did not exist
the Sozialistische Arbeiter Konferenz ( s a k ). as an organization any longer."41 Although
In conformity with this change of name of a Swiss became a member of the United
the political organization, the name of the Secretariat when it was established in 1963,
periodical was also changed. From the first there did not in fact exist a functioning
number of 195 2 it was known as Das Arbei- Trotskyist organization in Switzerland at
terwort. that time.41 Half a decade was to pass before
In April 1953 the s a k changed its name Swiss Trotskyism would be revived.
once again, to Sozialistische Arbeiterbundes
( s a b ). This new group decided to launch a
Origins and Early History of Ligue
campaign for a legal minimum wage. To
Marxiste Revolutionnaire
that end it succeeded in bringing about refer­
enda on the issue in the cantons of Zurich Unlike the m a s , which had largely been con­
and Basel. About 36 percent of the voters centrated in the German-speaking parts of
favored the initiative in Zurich, where it Switzerland, the revived Trotskyist move­
was supported only by s a b ; in Basel, where ment originated in the French-speaking re­
it also had the backing of the Communist gion. Subsequently, it was to spread
Party (officially the Swiss Party of Labor— throughout the country.
p s d t ), it received 40 percent of the votes. The events of 1968 gave rise to the new
As Marquis has noted, "these efforts did Swiss Trotskyist movement, which found
not permit this organization at any time to its original support mainly among student
become the third party of the Swiss labor youth. Two occurrences, the May uprising
movement, the tendency being rather to­ in France and the August invasion of
wards stagnation, then to a slow decline, Czechoslovakia by the forces of the Warsaw
which is explained in the first place by the Pact, provided the issues around which a
general political context of the 'sos, very new Trotskyist movement was bom in
unfavorable to the labor movement." Switzerland. -s..

The fortunes of s a b seemed to revive Writing several years later, some of those
slightly at the time of the Khrushchev who participated in the founding of the new
speech to the twentieth congress of the c p s u movement noted that,these two events
and the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. At raised serious questions in the minds of
that time s a b established contact with a some of the younger members of the p s d t

732 Switzerland
affiliate in the canton of Vaud, known lo­ accused the young dissidents of formulating
cally a s p o p . They were already deeply con­ the "abstract and sterile schemas of Trots­
cerned with such questions as "how to kyite doctrinaires, cut off from the people
struggle against imperialism, how to pro­ and from reality."44
vide concrete a id to the struggles of the peo­ This attitude of the p s d t leadership con­
ples of Indochina, what is the value of the firmed the growing suspicion of the young
policy of pacific coexistence, what is the rebels that they could not bring about any
significance of the Sino-Soviet conflict?" changes within the Stalinist ranks. By then
However, "to all of these questions the numbering about forty people, mainly
events of May '68 in France and those of among the youth, they made one more effort
Czechoslovakia in that same year, added a to circularize the p s d t membership setting
much more profound question . . . [sic] had forth their position on various issues. Then,
the French Communist Party betrayed the in October 1969, the leadership of p o p de­
hopes of May and with what value could creed the expulsion of five of the principal
one credit the Socialist model of the USSR dissidents, denouncing them as "excited
which needed tanks to impose itself?" youngsters who want to launch a South
These questions brought this group of young American guerrilla in the forests of Jura."
Communists in Vaud "to question funda­ Soon after the expulsion of the five "ring­
mentally the traditional political field." leaders," the other members of the faction
They soon found a new set of answers to withdrew from p o p . Thus, "The Ligue Mar­
their questions. "For the great majority of xiste Revolutionnaire was created."45
us, the discovery at this point of the answers The new organization quickly entered
to and analyses of all these questions made into contact with the United Secretariat of
by the revolutionary Marxists, by the Trots­ the Fourth International and its affiliates in
kyist movement, opened at last a way out. neighboring countries, particularly France.
Feverishly fighting against the revulsion Early in 1970 something of a cause celebre
which "Trotskyism" inspired in us, revul­ was aroused by the arrest of French Trotsky­
sion with which we were inoculated by the ist leader Hubert Krivine, and two l m r lead­
long association with Stalinism, we re­ ers, teachers in Lausanne, Bernard Bachelard
learned with stupor the history of the labor and Olivier Parriaux.46Later in that year the
movement, beyond the formal Stalinist l m r organized a public discussion in Lau­

version."43 sanne of the Chinese Cultural Revolution,

The young dissidents, although still "an presided over by Charles-Andre Udry, mem­
ultra minority," organized a tendency ber of the Politburo of the l m r , and with
within the p o p of Vaud. They held extensive Livio Maitan, member of the United Secre­
discussions among themselves of "the tariat as the main speaker.47
whole policy of the p s d t , " and finally in July The Ligue Marxiste Revolutionnaire held
1969 decided to publish a series of docu­ its first national congress in April 19 71. It
ments for circulation within the party "on was reported that "about 150" delegates at­
the trade union question, immigrant work­ tended, from Lausanne, Vevey, Nyon, Neu-
ers, the Czech affair, the Socialist party, and chitel, and Bem-Jura. During the congress a
the 'popular front.' " group in Geneve joined, becoming the Ge-
They hoped to stimulate a general debate nfeve section of the young organization.
on these issues within the Communist There were "about twenty observers" also
ranks. However, the secretary general of the present from Zurich and Fribourg in Ger-
p s d t , Jean Vincent, refused to allow any man-speaking Switzerland.
such general discussion. In a circular ad­ This congress adopted the statutes of the
dressed to the party in Vaud and Geneve he organization. Apparently much of the dis­

Switzerland 733
 cussion on this issue centered on whether trade union movement in Switzerland.
there was a need for a centralized form of Other subjects of debate and resolution in­
organization. This probably reflected the cluded that of provincial localism, the rela­
strong historical influence of Swiss federal­ tions of Switzerland with the European Eco­
ism on all of the country's political organiza­ nomic Community, and ways to combat
tions including the Socialist and Commu­ Swiss military preparedness.51
nist parties. Reporting on this discussion,
the l m r ' s paper later noted, "The question
From Ligue Marxiste Revolutionnaire
of centralizing the l m r organizationally is
to Parti Socialist Ouvrier
only a consequence of the need for centraliz­
ing it politically. This political need is In February 1976 the l m r held its Third Con­
rooted in a basic understanding of the func­ gress. It adopted a Thesis on the Political
tion of the revolutionary party." Situation of Switzerland which first
There was considerable discussion at the sketched the economic crisis in Switzerland
congress of work within the organized labor and in the capitalist wotid in general which
movement. Undoubtedly reflecting the so­ had commenced in 1973-74, and then ana­
cial composition of the group, "the congress lyzed the political changes provoked by this
concluded that the organization's current crisis. It paid particular attention to the "re­
main area of work in building the revolu­ formist" parties, among which it included
tionary party is the university and high- not only the Socialist Party and Party of
school arena. To guide this activity, it set a Labor (p s d t ) but also several small splinter
line of 'struggle against the class groups; it also sketched the situation of the
university.' " 4B "revolutionary Left."
Within six months of its first congress the This document, in its discussion of "Our
l m r had established a branch in Zurich, the Central Political Task," launched a call for
country's largest industrial city and center "a new orientation in the labor movement:
of Germanophone Switzerland. It had also Unity in Action!" It called for the formation
achieved the status of a "sympathizing orga­ on a local basis of a variety of different rank
nization" of the United Secretariat.49 and file committees to foster a more m ili­
In May 1973 the Revolutionary Marxist tant attitude among the workers. It ended
League held its second congress. It was re­ with a paragraph underscoring the role of
ported in Intercontinental Press subse­ the Fourth International in the allegedly ris­
quently that the meeting dealt with two ba­ ing tide of militancy in Europe, and of the
sic things: " 1. The political situation and Swiss section within the International.52
the current tasks of the l m r , and 2. The At the time of the Third Congress the
problems of national organizational struc­ Revolutionary Marxist League had local sec­
ture in the light of the organization's growth tions in twenty-one towns and- cities in
during the last two years—from French- French, German, and Italian Switzerland.53
speaking to German-speaking Switzerland The question of unity in the labor move­
{geographical extension), and from students ment and the Left, toward instilling greater
to Swiss and immigrant—Italian and Span­ militancy in the Swiss working class, was
ish—workers (social implantation)."50 again a major question at the l m r ' s Fourth
The second congress of the l m r was pre­ Congress in 1978. Thfe. main resolution of
sented with a number of documents, includ­ that meeting once more stressed what the
ing one analyzing the Swiss economic situa­ League had emphasized since its incep­
tion and the labor movement and the tion—the need to end the "labor peace" and
supposed perspectives for Marxist revolu­ class collaboration which had been charac­
tionaries. A second analysis dealt with the teristic of the country virtually since the

734 Switzerland
end of the World War II. The resolution em­ victorious on a coalition ticket of the s a p
phasized particularly the need to involve and the Greens. At the same time they
workers loyal to the Socialist Party and be­ elected new city counselors in Chiasso, La-
longing to its trade union group in militant Chaux-de-Fonds, and Bern, as well as in­
struggles wherever possible. creasing their representation in Zug and
The Revolutionary Marxist League, Biel. In some cases the successful s a p candi­
which late in 1980 became the Socialist dates ran on lists of their own party, in other
Workers Party {Socialistische Arbeiterpar- instances as nominees in a coalition. How­
tei—s a p ) engaged in a wide variety of differ­ ever, s a p had not been able to elect anyone
ent activities. From time to time it became in Vaud and Geneve, where their member­
involved in elections. The major document ship was largest, because in those cases at
of its Fourth Congress explained that "while least 7 percent of the total vote was neces­
the l m r does not present candidates in elec­ sary for election.59
tions, it is nonetheless ready to call for a Jo Lang, Trotskyist member of the city
vote, according to tactical conditions, for council of Zug, explained how he functioned
organizations of the labor movement, from as a Trotskyist member of that body: "My
the point of view that they express a mini­ role . . . is radical opposition (often with
mum of opposition by the workers to the some left-wingers of the s p with whom I
bourgeoisie."54 collaborate quite intensively). Because the
In conformity with this line, l m r sup­ bourgeois parties have a majority, it's al­
ported a Socialist Party candidate in Zurich most impossible to win a vote." He added
cantonal elections early in 1977.55 In the that "Last year I intervened about seventy
following year the l m r itself ran candidates times, about thirty different subjects."40
in cantonal elections in Neuchatel where The l m r / s a p developed a vigorous period­
they received an average of 10.6 percent of ical press. The first publication to appear
the total vote.56 was the French-language newspaper. La
l m r / s a p participated in the 1975, 197 9, Breche. By the early 1980s La Breche was
1983, and 1985 elections. They ran candi­ appearing in Lausanne every two weeks, a
dates in twelve cantons. They had their best German fortnightly paper Bresche was ap­
showing in the town of Bellevaux in Vaud pearing in Zurich, and an Italian language
(Waadt) canton, where they received 7 per­ paper Rosso was coming out monthly in Lu­
cent of the total vote in 1983. Overall, they gano. In addition a magazine Maulwurf was
received 0.4 percent in 1975, 0.4 percent being published in Basel by the youth orga­
again in 1979, and 0.6 percent in 1983, get­ nization of the Swiss Trotskyists. Together
ting a total of 12,594 votes in the last of with the Spanish Liga Comunista Revoluci­
these years.57 onaria, the l m r / s a p also published a periodi­
The s a p did not win members in any can­ cal in Spanish, Rojo, apparently to be read
tonal assemblies until 1985. However, Jo by Spanish migrants in Switzerland.
Lang, a leader of s a p in Zug, reported early Over the years the l m r / s a p put out a more
in 1984 that "we have real possibilities in or less constant stream of pamphlets. Some
the cantons of Basel, Fribourg, Zug, Ticino, of these were made up of resolutions of their
and Bern." The Trotskyists did elect mem­ various congresses. Others dealt with spe­
bers of city councils in Zug, Biel, and Chur, cific issues and campaigns with which the
as part of a coalition in those towns.58 Trotskyists were concerned at various
In March 1985 s a p elected its first can­ times. They and the group's periodical indi­
tonal deputy from the Baden district of the cate the range of their activities.
canton of Aargau, the seat of the Brown The Swiss Trotskyists were continuously
Bovery Co. Hansruedi Bolliger of s a p was concerned with and carried on campaigns

Switzerland 735
 concerning international issues. Thus, in Understandably, the Swiss Trotskyists
1 97$ the l m r issued a pamphlet, Sieg fiiz were actively concerned with issues directly
Indochina, on the conflict in the three coun­ affecting the workers. Thus, the l m r partici­
tries of that area.61 A few years later, in Octo­ pated in 1976 in an unsuccessful popular
ber 1982, the Socialist Workers Party issued initiative to establish by law the forty hour
a pamphlet, Guene et Revolution au Salva­ week.71 Six years later, in November 1982,
dor,62 At about the same time, La Bieche the Socialist Workers Party joined with the
carried major articles on the Salvadorean sit­ p s d t and several smaller left-wing groups

uation in two issues,63 and Rosso had an in urging the principal Swiss trade union
article on the subject.64 Maulwurf also ran group, the uss, to launch another campaign
an article on the same theme 65 for a popular referendum on the issue.72
The Swiss Trotskyists strongly supported The l m r / s a p press carried, substantial
the Solidarity movement in Poland. Thus, news on trade union activity although there
shortly before the declaration of martial law is no indication that the Trotskyists were of
in Poland La Breche carried on its last page significant influence in thp organized labor
the appeal of Solidarity to the unions and movement. In June 1984 the party organized
workers parties in the West.66 Two months a conference of its trade union activists at
later Bresche had an article on the repercus­ which the attendance was reported to have
sions in East Germany of Solidarity and its been about one hundred. It discussed partic­
suppression. Rosso carried an article in N o­ ular problems presented to the union move­
vember 1962 on Solidarity preparations for ment by "new technology."73
a general strike.67 In 1976 the l m r published a pamphlet
A constant issue of concern and agitation against certain proposals for "co-participa-
of the l m r - s a p was that of the rights and tion" along the West German model which
interests of immigrant workers in Switzer­ had been put forward by some workers
land. As a consequence of the long post- groups. It offered, in contrast, the slogans,
World War II prosperity in Switzerland, large "Direct action in the class struggle for con­
numbers of workers, particularly from Italy trol of production by the workers" and
and Spain, migrated at least temporarily to "Struggle for socialist planning. . . ," 74
that country. As a pamphlet put out by the In 1979 l m r published a pamphlet on the
s a p in 1981 stated, "Our Party since its printing industry and the growing crisis in it
founding in 19 69 has given particular impor­ due to technological changcs. Among other
tance to the struggle for the rights of the things it called for unification of the unions
immigrant."68 in the industry, and a struggle for a reduced
Women's rights were also a frequent pre­ work week as steps towards dealing with
occupation of the Swiss Trotskyists of the the problem.75
1970s and 1980s. On at least two occasions In 1980 s a p launched a campaign to have
they took an active part in campaigns for a popular initiative for the establishment of
popular initiative (referenda) on these is­ state-run vocational training schools, with
sues. One of these, in October 1978, was room for at least 10,000 students. It pub­
for "the rights of motherhood/'69 and the lished an extensive pamphlet outlining the
second early in 1980 was one on "equal need for such a program, and some exchange
rights for men and women."70In its Novem­ of correspondence on the issue which it had
ber 1982 issue Rosso carried an article had with some trade union organizations.76
sketching the participation of s a p in the
struggle for a law legalizing abortion and Other Trotskyist Groups
providing government financial aid to those The l m r / s a p existed after 1969 virtually free
women seeking one. of competition from any other group in

736 Switzerland
Switzerland claiming affiliation with Inter­ Swiss Trotskyism was different from what
national Trotskyism. Jacques Schneider of it had previously been in several respects: it
s a p wrote late in 1982 that "our organiza­ began being stronger in the French-speaking
tion is the affiliate of the United Secretariat. parts of the country rather than in the Ger­
There are no other national organizations man ones, it succeeded in expanding into
claiming loyalty to Trotskyism. It seems three different linguistic areas, and its social
that, in the latest period, a small group of base was different, being particularly strong
Lambertist activitists has started in Gendve. among students and middle-class young
It does not seem to have any activity beyond people instead of being mainly proletarian.
that city."77 There is no precise information concern­
The name of the Lambertist group in Swit­ ing the number of people who have been
zerland was the Groupe Trotskyste de Su­ active in the Swiss Trotskyist movement.
isse. It held its first congress in June 1981. There is indication that at the time of its
It published a newspaper, Action Socialiste, expansion after World War II it had consider­
which concentrated much of its attention ably less than one hundred members. The
on the development of a left-wing in the revived movement after the late 1980s cer­
Swiss Socialist Party. The Groupe Trots­ tainly had a substantially larger member­
kyste was particularly active in the Univer­ ship than that, although exactly how much
sity of Geneve, where it was in 1984 running larger is not clear. Soon after changing its
a Fourth International forum.78 name to Socialist Workers Party the group
In 1984 another small dissident group ap­ reported in early 1981 that it had locals in
peared as the result of a minor split in s a p . eighteen towns and cities, most of them in
Four members of the party who had de­ German-speaking Switzerland although at
nounced its policies of supporting Polish least four were in French-speaking areas and
Solidarity and calling for withdrawal of mis­ one in the Italian-speaking region of
siles from both East and West Germany, and Lugano.80
had criticized its allegedly tepid support for Trotskyism in Switzerland has never de­
Central American revolutionaries, were ex­ veloped significant influence in the orga­
pelled. They immediately announced for­ nized labor movement. It has certainly not
mation of a new group, Spartacist, which been able to challenge Socialist Party con­
affiliated with the international Spartacist trol of the principal trade union organiza­
tendency, (sic). The new group was appar­ tion, or the Socialist Party's very strong
ently centered in Schaffhausen.79 dominance in the country's political left; or
for that matter, to dislodge the Stalinists'
p s d t from its status as the largest and most
Conclusion
influential element on the far left.
Swiss Trotskyism has had what might be Swiss Trotskyism seems to have suffered
called an intermittent history. Although it only marginally from the impact of the vari­
began to establish a base in German-speak­ ous splits within the international move­
ing parts of the country before World War ment. At the time of the original split in
II, it was all but exterminated by internal the Fourth International in. the early 1980s,
dissension and government persecution dur­ what Swiss Trotskyist movement there was
ing that war. Revived for a few years, again stayed with the International Secretariat.
principally in German-speaking parts of the When the movement revived in the late
country, and with principally a working- 1960s it was from its inception allied with
class membership, once again it virtually the United Secretariat, and no other interna­
ceased to exist by the end of the 1 9s os. When tional Trotskyist group appears to have
it was revived once more in the late 1960s, gained any real foothold in the country.

Switzerland 737
 Trotskyist International Tunisian Trotskyism
Liaison Committee

The only Trotskyist tendency to appear in

The Trotskyist International Liaison Com­ Tunisia has been one which has been associ­
mittee was formed as a consequence of a ated with the United Secretariat of the
split in the Healyite International Commit­ Fourth International. In January 1980 the
tee of the Fourth International. In 1974 the group, then known as the Groupe Revolu­
British affiliate of the Healyite group, the tionnaire des Travailleurs (g r t ), joined with
Workers Revolutionary Party, expelled a the French Ligue .Communiste Revolu­
large part of its trade union base. Led by tionnaire to denounce French support for
Alan Thornett, a figure of some importance the Bourgiba regime in Tunisia. Then a year
among the auto workers, those who were later, when the Bourgiba government began
expelled set up their own organization in a policy of "liberalization," allowing the le­
Great Britain. galization of opposition parties, relaxing
The Thornett group also sought contacts controls over the labor movement and re­
in other countries. From these contacts moving from office some of the most unpop­
there emerged the Trotskyist International ular, of the leaders of the government party,
Liaison Committee. By 198a it was said to the Trotskyists, now the Groupe Marxiste
have affiliates in Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Revolutionnaire (g m r ) insisted that these
Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and the actions were being taken "on instructions
United States, as well as Great Britain. With of imperialism" and warned of their severe
the exception of the British group the na­ limitations.1
tional affiliates remained small, even in Shortly afterward g m r published in the
terms of Trotskyist organizations.1 first issue of its periodical Mal-Amal a call
for the formation of a labor party in Tunisia.
It said that because of the circumstances of
the moment, "This party of workers cannot
be a revolutionary party.. . . But it must not
be a reformist party.. . . We are today having
preliminary discussions on this initiative
which we propose. Revolutionary militants
and the trade union vanguard must discuss
it."1
At the time of the first contested election
in two decades, in November 1981, no such
labor party had appeared. The Groupe Mar­
xiste Revolutionnaire called for its support­
ers to abstain after they were unable to orga­
nize "lists of workers unity and indepen­
dence which would have undertaken a cam­
paign around fundamental demands of the
working class." They rejected giving sup­
port to candidates of the Communist Party
of Tunisia (p c t ) because of "its policy of

738 Trotskyist International Liaison Committee

c la s s c o l l a b o r a t i o n , " a d d in g t h a t " a c a l l fo r Trotskyism in Turkey
a p c t v o t e c o u ld o n l y s o w i l l u s i o n s a b o u t
th e n a t u r e o f t h e r e g i m e ."3
After a week of rioting over government-
decreed price increases in late December
1983 and early January 1984, the Tunisian Information on the possible existence of a
Trotskyists, by then renamed Groupe R6vo- Trotskyist organization of some kind in
lutionnaire des Travailleurs and described Turkey is scanty. In the early 1980s the
as a "sympathizing organization" of u s e c , Trotskyist International Liaison Commit­
issued a proclamation dated January 6,1984. tee did claim to have a Turkish group associ­
It was headed with the statement "The Gov­ ated with it.1 Also, in December 1982 it was
ernment has retreated, the struggle must announced that three people—Sadi Ozansu,
continue!" It called for immediate raising Orhan Dilber, and Ahmet Mohittin Kar-
of the state of emergency decreed by the kin—had been sentenced to jail for eight
government, freeing of all those jailed dur­ years for "attempting to create a Trotskyist
ing the riots, and dissolution of the political organization." Sadi Ozansu, a university
police. It also called for freezing prices of all faculty member, had previously been con­
goods of prime necessity, and for the end of demned to a period in jail for having trans­
the government's austerity program.* lated Emest Mandel's Introduction to
Marxism.1

Turkey 739
 United Secretariat of clusion that the Parity Commission was a
bad idea. After some exchange of correspon­
the Fourth International: dence they succeeded in convincing Gerry
Its Origins Healy. The French affiliate of the Interna­
tional Committee had been opposed to the
Commission from the beginning.
The only leading figure in the Interna­
tional Committee who remained convinced
The split in the Fourth International which that the exchange of documents between
took place in 1952-5 3 had hardly been con­ the Pabloites and the International Com­
summated when steps began to be taken mittee through the vehicle of a Parity Com­
which, in the eyes of some of the people mission was the best possible’way of getting
involved, were designed to try to reestablish the ic points of view presented to the leaders
the unity of the international Trotskyist of the possibly sympathetic groups which
movement. A leading role in this process still remained in the Pabloite organiza­
was taken by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party tion—particularly the Ceylonese—was
(l s s p ) of Ceylon which, although staying in Peng Shu-tse, the exiled leader of the Chi­
the International Secretariat of the Fourth nese Trotskyists. He had closer contacts
International of the Pabloites, shared many with the l s s p than did his European and U.S.
of the views of the rival group organized in colleagues. Peng continued to fight for the
the International Committee of the Fourth maintenance of the Parity Commission.
International. It was to take a decade before After about a year and a half of discussion,
even partial reunification was to prove pos­ a meeting of the International Committee
sible, and even then the process was to be in Paris on November 7-8, 1955 decided to
far from complete. withdraw from the Parity Commission. The
decision was taken by a vote of five to one,
with the French, British, Swiss, German,
The First Parity Commission
and Dutch sections voting in favor of with­
Leslie Goonewardene of the l s s p had meet­ drawal and only the Chinese delegate oppos­
ings with Gerry Healy of the International ing the idea.2 Further efforts of Peng Shu-tse
Committee, apparently soon after the to change his colleagues' minds were to no
Fourth World Congress of the Pabloites, in avail.3
July 1954. Out of this discussion came the In 1957 there were further discussions
decision to establish a Parity Commission looking to the possible reunion of the two
of the two groups. As Fred Feldman has factions of international Trotskyism. Pierre
noted, "To Goonewardene, this was a step Frank has noted in discussing the Interna­
toward reunification, but for Healy, the Par­ tional Secretariat's Fifth World Congress
ity Commission was intended to win over that "in the course of preparing for the con­
the Ceylonese and thus place the onus of gress, an attempt at rapprochement with the
blame for the continuation of the split on International Committee was made, with a
Pablo."1 view to reunification. . . But, "This at­
This Parity Commission soon became a tempt at rapprochement failed, mainly be­
bone of contention within the International cause distrust on the'organizational level
Committee. Although they had gone along persisted."4 Some controversy continued on
with its establishment, the leaders of the whether the British Section of the ic or the
Socialist Workers Party (often referred to in Socialist Workers Party was more responsi­
the relevant documents as "the New ble for the failure of this attempt at reunifi­
Zealand section") quickly came to the con­ cation.5

740 USEC: Origins

 The 1962-63 Parity Commission by the meeting, with the addition of a pro­
and Its Results viso that "the Parity Committee agrees to
work for the calling of a preliminary interna­
The last attempt to try to reunite the Fourth tional congress during the summer of 1964.
International of the Pablo followers and the The purpose of this congress would be to
International Committee, which was par­ establish the political policies and the rela­
tially successful, began in February 1962. In tionship of forces between the various ten­
that month the National Committee of the dencies so that discussion can proceed to­
Socialist Labor League, Healy-directed Brit­ wards a definitive solution of the interna­
ish affiliate of the International Committee, tional crisis."
passed a motion calling for "the ic to ap­ The International Secretariat resolution
proach the is with a view to the setting up was one passed by the Twenty-third Plenum
of a subcommittee consisting of three mem­ of its International Executive Committee
bers from the International Committee and which had taken place a few days before.
the International Secretariat. The purpose The resolution expressed "its strong belief
of this committee would be to arrange an that the political and organizational condi­
exchange of internal material on interna­ tions exist for a successful reunification. It
tional problems among all the sections af­ appeals to all the Trotskyists in order that
filiated to both the sections. It is to be hoped they be equal to their responsibilities and
that such a step would encourage discus­ help the world movement to progress with
sion, and the subcommittee could arrange reunified forces in the historical period of
for the regular publication of an interna­ world revolution in March which will see in
tional bulletin dealing with this. Eventu­ the coming years the progressive integration
ally, the subcommittee would prepare a of our cadres in the mass revolutionary
summary report on the area of agreement forces in all the continents."7
and differences between the two bodies." Several subsequent meetings of the Parity
This resolution was unanimously ac­ Committee were held. It was clear from the
cepted by the ic and agreed to by the Interna­ start that different elements involved in the
tional Secretariat. The first meeting of the Parity Committee exercise had different ob­
so-called Parity Committee took place on jectives. The majority leadership in the In­
September 2, 1962.6 ternational Secretariat—headed particu­
This first meeting agreed to invite all na­ larly by Ernest Mandel, Pierre Frank, and
tional sections of both organizations to par­ Livio Maitan—were anxious to reunite as
ticipate in the discussion which was being much of the world Trotskyist movement as
launched, and to invite the Posadas group, possible, as soon as possible. One minority
which had already broken away from the of the International Secretariat which was
International Secretariat, to also take part. against reunification had already broken
It agreed to hold meetings every month and away from the is under the leadership of J.
to organize joint activities particularly Posadas before the Parity Committee was
around the question of getting the Soviet even established. A second element of the
leaders to "rehabilitate" Trotsky, and the is headed by Michel Pablo, who was by that
issue of the Angolan revolution then in prog­ time in the employ of the new Algerian gov­
ress. The meeting also urged the end of all ernment of Ben Bella, had its reservations
factional activity within both groups. about the unity drive and formed its own
In addition, the September 2, 1962 Parity tendency within the International Secre­
Committee meeting had before it two sets tariat.
of proposals, from the ic and the is. The There were also differences of opinion and
former was more or less what was adopted objectives within the International Com­

1
t USEC: Origins 741
 mittee. These apparently became clear at a The Reunification Congress adopted the
meeting of the rc in January 1963. On the resolutions which had been previously ap­
one hand the Socialist Workers Party of the proved. However, the faction of the Interna­
United States shared the is majority's objec­ tional Secretariat led by Michel Pablo pre­
tive of rapid reunification of the world sented a minority resolution for discussion.
movement, bringing together as many ele­ Representatives of his tendency were
ments as were willing to participate in the elected as a minority in the new Interna­
process. On the other hand another group, tional Executive Committee chosen by the
composed principally of the British and meeting.
French sections of the International Com­ A full day of the congress was devoted
mittee, felt that the first thing necessary to discussion of the Algerian Revolution,
was a thorough discussion of the causes of concerning which Pablo presented a report.
the original split and a repudiation of "Pab- As Pierre Frank has noted, "The congress
loism" which they felt had been responsible. was unanimous in seeing important possi­
Possible reunification could only take place bilities for the development of the Algerian
after an extensive period of discussion. revolution towards a socialist revolution, as
These different points of view proved ir­ had happened in Cuba, and decided to do its
reconcilable, at least on the side of the Inter­ utmost to mobilize the International and its
national Committee. As a consequence sections in support of the Algerian revo­
there was a conference of the prounification lution."9
elements of the ic in March 1963—which The major document adopted by the re­
Joseph Hansen claimed included not only unification congress was entitled "Dynam­
the s w p but also the Argentine, Austrian, ics of World Revolution Today." This seven-
Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, and Japanese teen-page document presented the basic
sections—and agreed to join with the Inter­ orientation of the majority element in Inter­
national Secretariat's sections in mounting national Trotskyism in 1963.
a reunification congress, which took place The statement started by noting that "the
in June 1963.8 classical schema of world revolution as­
The so-called "reunification congress" sumed that the victory of socialism would
only reunified part of the international occur first in the most industrially devel­
Trotskyist movement. There were impor­ oped countries, setting an example for the
tant elements from both the International less developed." However, the resolution
Secretariat forces and those of the Interna­ noted, "The revolution followed a more de­
tional Committee which did not participate vious path than even its greatest theoreti­
in this process. cians had expected. . . . " As a consequence,
"A ll the victorious revolutions after 1917,
including the establishment of workers'
The Congress of Reunification
states through revolutionary upheavals in
The majority faction in the International Yugoslavia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba, thus
Secretariat, and the prounification part of took place in relatively backward countries,
the International Committee each held a while the possibility of early revolutionary
congress which discussed the problems and victory in the imperialist countries was
possibilities of unity of the Trotskyist postponed."10 ^...
movement. Both meetings approved docu­ Following this general line of thought the
ments which subsequently were to be resolution claimed that "it is important to
adopted by the Reunification Congress.of recognize that the three main forces of world
the Fourth International which was held in revolution—the colonial revolution, the po­
June 1963. litical revolution in the degenerated or de­

742 USEC: Origins

formed workers' states, and the proletarian nists have had to borrow from its arsenal,
revolution in the imperialist countries— though in a partial, one-sided or distorted
form a dialectical unity. Each force influ­ w ay."13
ences the others and receives in return pow­ Admitting that the f i and its sections re­
erful impulses or brakes on its own devel­ mained relatively small, the resolution as­
opment."11 serted that
After reviewing each of these aspects of
The world Trotskyist movement has
the world revolution, the resolution argued:
given much consideration to the problem
The most probable variant in the next few of setting out with small forces to win the
years is, therefore, the following: the colo­ working class and organize it into a party
nial revolution will continue, involving capable of challenging the rule of the capi­
new countries and deepening its social talist class. The over-all principle on
character as more workers' states appear. which it has proceeded on the organiza­
It will not lead directly to the overthrow tional level is .. . that a revolutionist
of capitalism in the imperialist centers must not permit himself to be separated
but it will play a powerful role in building from his class under any circumstances.
a new world revolutionary leadership as . . . They . . . belong to the big organiza­
is already clear from the emergence of tions of the masses whether they be na­
Castroist currents. The pressure of the tionalistic, cultural or political in charac­
masses in the workers' states will con­ ter. Insofar as possible, they advance the
tinue, with a tendency toward increasing ideas and the program of Trotskyism
mass action and the possible beginning among the members of these organiza­
of political revolution in several workers' tions and seek to recruit from them.14
states. Both these developments will fa­ They have no choice but to practice
vorably influence the resurgence of mass 'entryism'; that is, to participate as an
militancy among the proletariat in the integrated component in the internal life
imperialist countries, reinforcing a ten­ of the mass movement. .. . The purpose
dency stemming directly from the socio­ of 'entryism' is not to construct a 'pres­
economic mechanism of advanced capi­ sure group/ as some critics have charged,
talism and the slowing down of its rate of but to build a mass revolutionary Marxist
expansion.12 party in the real conditions that must be
faced in a number of countries . . . for a
In its discussion of the basic issue which
certain stage of work, no particular alter­
had split the Fourth International a decade
native remains open. Owing to national
earlier, "entrism sui generis," this basic doc­
peculiarities, the tactic has many vari­
ument of the reunification congress would
ants. It must be applied with great flexi­
seem to have been closer to the "Pabloite"
bility and without dogmatism of any
position of 1952-53 than to that of Pablo's
kind. The norm for those engaging in it is
opponents, although it was somewhat less
to maintain a sector of open public work,
explicit than Pablo had been. This discus­
including their own Trotskyist publi­
sion started with the claim that the Fourth
cation.15
International, "In its programmatic declara­
tions and in its participation in the class The document also contained a gesture in
struggle on a world-wide scale . . . has the direction of the "anti-Pablo" position
proved itself to be the legitimate heir and which had been that of the International
continuator of the great tradition of revolu­ Committee: "The building of an alternative
tionary Marxism. Events have proved it leadership of the working class, i.e., of new
right on so many points that even its antago­ revolutionary mass parties, remains the cen­

USEC: Origins 743

tral task of our epoch. The problem is not world revolution. . . . " Presumably the con­
that of repeating over and over again this clusive argument on the issue was "that Fi­
elementary truth, but of explaining con­ del Castro, as a result of his own experience
cretely how it is to be done. In fact, the in a living revolution, today stresses the
building of revolutionary mass parties com­ decisive importance of building Marxist-
bines three concrete processes: the process Leninist parties in all countries."17
of defending and constantly enriching the The Latin American parties of the Interna­
Marxist revolutionary program; of building, tional Committee, which had been grouped
educating and hardening a revolutionary together in the Latin American Secretariat
Marxist cadre; and of winning mass influ­ of Orthodox Trotskyism, did not immedi­
ence for this cadre. These three processes ately join the United Secretariat. However,
are dialectically intertwined. . . ," 16 "once the reunification was consummated,
The resolution also reflected the close as­ our tendency, s l a t o , characterized it as pos­
sociation elements of the United Secretariat itive, gave it critical support and began a
either had or hoped to develop with the Al­ process of discussions and negotiations.. . .
gerian and Cuban revolutionary regimes. Only in December 1964, when the discus­
Noting that "in previous decades" failure sions and negotiations which we had carried
to develop a revolutionary party before the on for more than a year culminated, our
outbreak of revolution "would signify cer­ tendency, s l a t o , headed by Palabra Obrera,
tain defeat for the revolution/' it went on to transformed its critical support of reunifi­
say that "because of a series of new factors, cation into formal entry into the Fourth In­
however, this is no longer necessarily the ternational headed by the United Secre­
case. The example of the Soviet Union, the tariat."18
existence of workers' states from whom ma­
terial aid can be obtained, and the relative
Conclusion
weakening of world capitalism, have made
it possible for revolutions in some instances During the early 1950s the Fourth Interna­
to achieve partial successes . .. and even to tional suffered a major split, dividing it into
go as far as the establishment of a workers two organizationally distinct groups. The
state. Revolutionary Marxists in such coun­ major policy issue at the heart of this schism
tries face extremely difficult questions, " but was the old question of "entrism," which
" . . . no choice is open to them in such had been a cause of controversy even when
situations but to participate completely and Leon Trotsky was still alive, but an entrism
wholeheartedly in the revolution and to of a rather different type, which in most
build the party in the very process of the European and many Asiatic countries would
revolution itself." have meant the virtual disappearance of any
Finally, the resolution reiterated that open Trotskyist organization. This policy
"only an International based on democratic was posited on a new perspective of a revolu­
centralism, permitting different tendencies tionary process of "several centuries" dur­
to confront each other democratically while ing which leadership would be in the hands
uniting them in action, can allow experi­ of Stalinist parties and of Stalinist-type bu­
ences from all corners of the world to be­ reaucracies in countries in which the revo­
come properly weighed and translated into lution triumphed—leaving the Trotskyists,
revolutionary tasks on a worldscale.. . .The supposedly, no alternative but to work for
necessity to build a strong, democratically their ideas within those parties and regimes.
centralized International is underscored all Undoubtedly organizational and personal is­
the more by the present dialectical relation­ sues also played important parts in 1952-53
ship between the three main sectors of the in the split in the Fourth International.

744 USEC: Origins

 A decade later, through the device of sus­ The Trajectory of The
pending more or less indefinitely any further
discussion of the causes of the split, and United Secretariat
including elements from the positions of
both factions in a new position statement,
unity of major elements of both sides was
achieved. However, important parts of both
international factions stayed out of the After June 1963, the United Secretariat
United Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ (u s e c ) of the Fourth International remained
tional, so that "reunification" in fact re­ the largest of the groups purporting to be,
sulted in there being three international fac­ and to speak for, the international Trotsky­
tion instead of two. ist movement. It had sections in more coun­
tries than did any of its rivals. Its total mem­
bership probably exceeded that of any of the
other groups, or perhaps of all of them put
together.
The United Secretariat may be said to
have represented "orthodox" Trotskyism
after 1963. During most of the next two de­
cades it included in its leadership more of
the older generation of people whose role as
important figures in the movement dated
back to the days when Trotsky himself was
its chief, or at least to the end of World War
II, than did any of the other factions of the
movement. Also, in the realm of ideas it
tended to stick closer to the basic notions
put forward by Trotsky than did most of its
rivals.
The United Secretariat, which had been
formed by bringing together two factions of
the movement, continued to be the scene of
conflicts between or among different "ten­
dencies." On at least two occasions more or
less significant groups broke away to form
their own versions of international Trots­
kyism.

The 1965 World Congress

What was labelled the "Second World Con­
gress Since Reunification and the Eighth
World Congress" met in December 1965.1
Pierre Frank has noted that in the two and
a half years between the Reunification Con­
gress and that of December 196 s, the United
Secretariat had been active in a variety of
fields. Among these were campaigns to de­

1
USEC: Trajectory 745
fend Polish dissidents, particularly two talist world, noting its long period of pros­
young intellectuals, Modzelewski and perity but predicting that this was about to
Kuron, who issued "the first programmatic come to an end. It concluded: "Whatever the
document of the antibureaucratic revolu­ stopgap solutions, the imperialist economy
tion to come out of a workers state since the will continue to face the dilemma: either a
days of Trotsky and the Left Opposition." It grave crisis of overproduction, or mounting
likewise publicized "left-wing" dissent inflation in the coming years." Further­
within other "workers states," including more, it argued, the people of the Asian and
the USSR itself, Czechoslovakia, and Yugo­ Latin American countries had shared little
slavia. in the benefits of the boom then drawing to
The United Secretariat also maintained a an end.
constant campaign in defense of the Cuban The economies of the "workers states"
Revolution, as well as extensive efforts on were pictured as having "continued to prog­
behalf of the Peruvian Trotskyist leader ress at annual rates of growth considerably
Hugo Blanco, perhaps saving him from exe­ above those of the imperialist countries on
cution through attention they were able to the average, experiencing difficulties but no
direct toward his case. Finally, u s e c and its recessions and thus showing the intrinsic
national sections energetically supported superiority of a planned economy founded
the Vietnamese revolution and opposed on the nationalization of the means of pro­
growing U.S. intervention there.2 duction. . . At the same time these coun­
The December 1965 World Congress was tries had experienced "the slowing down in
attended by more than sixty people from growth of national revenue . .. due to the
twenty-five countries. According to Frank continuing agricultural crisis and . . . diffi­
it demonstrated "that the reunification had culties in industry ascribable to the innu­
been effectively consolidated, the centrifu­ merable brakes characteristic of bureau­
gal forces having been largely overcome. cratic management."5
The organization was able to turn most of The resolution then turned to the Viet-
the forces outward and implement its poli­ man War: "The American aggression
cies under more normal conditions."3 against Vietnam constitutes the first open
One party that had played a major role in imperialist attack against the territory of a
the postwar Fourth International but which workers state since the end of the Korean
was not represented at the 196s congress war. . . and adding that this showed up
was the Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon. "the completely illusory nature of the Khru-
During the previous year it had decided to shchevist concepts of 'peaceful coexistence'
enter the coalition government of Mrs. and 'peaceful collaboration' with American
Bandaranaike, and as a consequence was of­ imperialism." It argued that the Vietnam
ficially read out of the United Secretariat.4 War "shows that despite the existence of
Several documents were adopted by the nuclear arms and the threat this represents
Second Congress After Reunification. The to mankind, the fate of the world in which
most significant of these was the general we live will be decided by force in the inter­
political resolution entitled, "The Interna­ national class struggle between the reac­
tional Situation and the Tasks of the Revo­ tionary rulers of the dying capitalist system
lutionary Marxists." In addition, resolu­ and the drive of the masses of humanity
tions dealing with revolution in Africa, the toward scientific economic planning and
situation in Western Europe, and the Sino- the classless social order of the future." Fi­
Soviet conflict were discussed and passed. nally, this part of the resolution severely
The general political resolution began criticized both the Soviet and Chinese lead­
with an analysis of the economy of the capi­ ers for their "refusing sufficient aid to the

746 USEC: Trajectory

Democratic Republic of Vietnam and to the to the resolution: "the entire evolution in
National Front for Liberation in South Viet­ recent years, the successive divisions, more
nam. . . ,"6 and more apparent within the bureaucracy,
A section of the resolution dealing with the rapid disappearance of illusions and the
"Colonial Revolution" noted that since the continued improvements in the position of
last congress, it had spread "into a series the masses, the increase in direct struggles,
of countries (particularly Southern Arabia, all foster the revival of the mass movement
Syria, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and a rise in political interest. . . . The cre­
Guatemala, a number of countries in black ation of a new Soviet section of the Fourth
Africa)," but that it had also "unquestion­ International, the rebirth of a Bolshevik-Le­
ably suffered a series of grave defeats {Brazil, ninist organization in the USSR, will play
the Congo, Indonesia)." Each of these cases an important role in this rebirth of revolu­
was discussed, with particular attention be­ tionary consciousness among the Soviet
ing given to that of the Dominican Re­ proletariat."10
public/ A section on the Sino-Soviet crisis noted
One passage in this resolution's discus­ in a cursory fashion the evolution of a vari­
sion of the colonial situation foreshadowed ety of tendencies among the Communist
a controversy which was to break out in parties. A longish segment devoted to the
u s e c before its next congress and was to situation in the United States noted the par­
last for a decade: "The victory of the Cuban ticular importance of the growing antiwar
Revolution touched off a movement among movement and of the black drive for "equal­
the revolutionary vanguard in Latin ity and emancipation." Without specifically
America essentially based on constructing mentioning the swp, it endorsed the posi­
small nuclei of guerrilla fighters, isolated tion of the Socialist Workers Party: "Under
from the masses, as a substitute for building these circumstances, black nationalism
a new revolutionary leadership. The van­ plays a most progressive role in the dynam­
guard paid a heavy price for these adventur­ ics of social struggle and has revolutionary
istic experiences, which appeared in the Fi- implications."11
delista current itself, through the useless This principal resolution of the 1965 con­
sacrifice of the most devoted and dynamic gress ended with a section on "Our Tasks."
elements. But little by little a more mature These were:
conception of armed struggle displaced this
putschist tendency, a conception fusing (i) . . . to strengthen the straggle against
guerrilla struggle, armed mass struggle, and the imperialist aggression in Vietnam and
the organization of the masses in pursuit of for the Vietnamese Revolution. . . . (2)
economic demands."8 The unconditional defense of all the
Special attention in the general political workers states, beginning with the Soviet
resolution was given to "The Soviet Bureau­ Union and the People's Republic of
cracy." It noted the growth of "interest China, against imperialism. . . . (3) De­
groups" among the bureaucracy, that so far fense of the revolutionary conquests of
de-Stalinization had not resulted in "a wave Algeria against both imperialist pressure
of revolutionary action in the Soviet Union" and domestic reaction. (4) Defense of rev­
because "the masses are still affected by po­ olutionary movements under way such
litical apathy, skepticism, and cynicism as those in the Congo, Santo Domingo,
concerning socialist theory, a mood from Venezuela, etc., against imperialist inter­
which they are freeing themselves but grad­ vention. {5) Support to the movement for
ually."9 unilateral nuclear disarmament in the
There was reason for optimism, according imperialist countries. . . . (6) Support to

USEC: Trajectory 747

 the efforts to achieve a positive outcome the editorial introduction in the Interna­
to the crisis shaking the international tional Socialist Review to the documents of
Communist movement. . . . [7) The the Congress: "The aim of the document is
Fourth International attaches particular not to find 'reasons' for supporting one side
importance to the working and student or the other, but to ascertain the truth of the
youth, who stand in the vanguard today situation, the basic cause of the dispute and
in a number of countries. . . .12 its major ramifications. In the process it
The 196s congress resolution on "The emerges very clearly that the position of the
Progress and Problems of the African Revo­ Fourth International is independent. Never­
lution, " carried at least some discussion of theless, as between Peking and Moscow, the
the situation in virtually all of the African Trotskyist movement leans to the side of
countries. It divided them into "Colonial the Chinese."15
Africa," "Neo-Colonial Africa," and "Africa Michel Pablo, for the first time since the
in Revolutionary Transformation" (Mali, European Conference of 1944, did not partic­
Guinea, Ghana, Egypt, and Algeria). There ipate in the 1965 congress. By the time it
was a particularly long discussion of the evo­ was held he was already outside of the ranks
lution of the Algerian Revolution.13 of the faction of International Trotskyism
The resolution on "The Evolution of Cap­ led by the United Secretariat.
italism in Western Europe," passed by the
1965 congress, is of most interest for its dis­ The Factional Conflict of the 1970s
cussion of strategy in its section on "Our
Tasks": The Beginning of the
the central task of revolutionary Marxists 1969-79 Struggle
during the entire coming period, insofar During the preliminaries leading up to the
as it is objectively determined by the suc­ 1969 congress of the United Secretariat
cession of phases of capitalist prosperity there began a controversy within the organi­
and more or less limited recessions, con­ zation which was to last about a decade,
tinues to be the one already indicated: to and at one point threatened to bring about a
prepare, to justify, to coordinate, to widen major splintering of u s e c . There are several
and to generalize the struggles of the pro­ elements of this controversy which are of
letariat in defense of immediate material particular interest.
interests . . . and against the integration One element was the fact that the lineup
of the workers movement into the bour­ in the 1969-79 struggle was roughly the
geois state apparatus. . . . Success in these same as that of the 1950s between the Inter­
tasks involves maintaining the orienta­ national Secretariat and the International
tion of integrating our militants in the Committee. On the one side were "the Euro­
mass movement while at the same time peans," led particularly by Pierre Frank, Er­
maintaining an independent sector. nest Mandel, and Livio Maitan; and on the
[Consequently,] Entrist work will con­ other were the Socialist Workers Party of
tinue to be applied in the c p s in France the United States and its allies, particularly
and Italy, in the Labor Party in Great Brit­ in Canada, Australia, and Latin America. It
ain, in the s p in Austria, in the s f p in is not clear whether'this alignment was
Denmark . . . [in West Germany and Bel­ more or less accidental or whether it in fact
gium] A modification in tactics . . . is had its roots in long-standing political and
called for. . . .‘4 personal differences between the two
The resolution of the 1965 u s e c Congress groups.
on the Sino-Soviet dispute is summed up by Another factor of interest was the appar­

748 USEC: Trajectory

ent reversal of roles which took place during The general political resolution, entitled
the controversy which centered basically on "Resolution on New Rise of the World Rev­
the role of guerrilla warfare in bringing olution," argued that there was a "new revo­
about the Revolution. It had been the s w p lutionary upsurge" then under way. It reiter­
which had first rushed to the enthusiastic ated the analysis of four years earlier that
support of Castro and had been the first to the long economic boom in the capitalist
proclaim Cuba a "workers state." The Euro­ world was drawing to a close, and that after a
peans more or less followed the s w p ' s lead long period of quiescence, the revolutionary
in this. But in the 1969-79 controversy it movement was on the march once again in
was the European leaders who enthusiasti­ the "imperialist" countries. This was indi­
cally picked up the idea, which Castro had cated not only by the student-worker upris­
pushed between 1966 and 1968, that guer­ ing in France in May 1968, but by the general
rilla war was the only acceptable road to the upsurge of student radicalization in the capi­
Revolution (a notion he had abandoned by talist countries, the widespread movement
the time this fight in u s e c began). On the against the Vietnam War, and by the increas­
other hand, it was the s w p leaders who re­ ing militancy of the black struggle in the
sisted the generalization of the guerrilla United States.
warfare idea. The basic argument of this resolution is
The controversy in the United Secretariat best summed up in the following passages:
began in November 1968 when a majority
The new revolutionary upsurge in West­
of its leadership voted to submit to the forth­
ern Europe does not mean that the colo­
coming world congress a "Draft Resolution
nial revolution has lost its importance.
on Latin America." Joseph Hansen took up
. . . This new revolutionary rise means
the cudgels for the swp in opposition to this
that essentially proletarian forces and
document, charging: "Instead of drawing a
vanguard political currents carrying on
balance sheet. .. the draft resolution simply
the traditions of revolutionary Marxism
proposes a continental tactic or strategy of
and workers democracy will be in the
technical preparation of and engagement in
thick of the fight, that their methods of
rural guerrilla war for a prolonged period."16
intervening, of action, and organization
will draw much closer to the Leninist
Controversy at the USEC norm of proletarian revolutions. . . . This
Ninth Congress will have a profound influence on the
course and the forms both of the colonial
The first major clash between the two ten­
revolution and the political revolution in
dencies occurred at the Ninth Congress
the bureaucratically deformed or degener­
(Third Congress Since Reunification) in
ated workers states. The same course will
April 1969. This meeting was attended by
arouse the American proletariat, whose
about one hundred "delegates and observ­
entry on the scene will be the decisive
ers" from thirty some countries.17
factor in preventing nuclear war from be­
As usual, the Ninth Congress adopted a
ing unleashed by imperialism. . . . It will
number of basic documents. These included
greatly favor the construction of the
the general political resolution, and special
Fourth International. . . ,18
ones dealing with the Cultural Revolution
in China, "worldwide youth radicaliza- There was extensive debate over the reso­
tion," and the situation in Latin America. It lution on the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
was over this last document that the princi­ The document finally passed by a margin
pal clash took place between the two ten­ of three to one was a more or less general
dencies represented at the congress. analysis of the "contradictions" within the

USEC: Trajectory 749

 Chinese Communist regime, resulting in tensified penetration by "imperialist corpo­
the Great Cultural Revolution, which was rations" into the Latin American economy;
declared to be essentially a conflict within that because of their close association with
the ruling bureaucracy.19Two minority res­ these corporations, the native industrialist
olutions urged endorsement of the Maoists class was unable and unwilling to fight im­
and of the anti-Maoists led by Liu Shao-chi perialism; that all reformist movements in
respectively.20 the region were bankrupt. It held that the
There also developed some controversy "betrayal" of established trade union leader­
over the youth resolution. Joseph Hansen ships and severe persecution of those leaders
later summed up this document saying that who were not traitors, and the increased
it dealt with "how the revolt of the youth readiness of the United States to use force
had swept many countries, and how we as against the Revolution in Latin America dic­
Trotskyists had become engaged in this tated what the line of the Fourth Interna­
movement in many countries. . . . From tional ought to be in the area.
this, we had drawn the conclusion that the This resolution proclaimed that "the fun­
main task facing the world Trotskyist move­ damental perspective, the only realistic per­
ment in the immediate period following the spective for Latin America is that of an
congress was to turn all its resources, insofar armed struggle which may last for long
as they are available, to our main task, to­ years. This is why the technical preparation
ward becoming preoccupied with this field cannot be conceived merely as one of the
of work, that is, among the radicalizing aspects of the revolutionary work, but as the
youth. . . . This is the first time that the fundamental aspect on a continental scale,
Trotskyist movement has proposed a series and one of the fundamental aspects in coun­
of transitional slogans for this field."21 tries where the minimum conditions have
Some of the French delegates argued not yet been met."
against the resolution. Hansen reported that The resolution discarded the possibility
"another argument against the document of alternative ways to power:
was that it was noninterventionist, that it
was sort of propagandistic and did not pro­ Revolutionary Marxists cannot conclude
pose direct intervention in struggles, how to . .. that the 'classical' variant calling for
intervene precisely. This was raised by some a progressive rise and broadening of the
of the French comrades and was really part mass movement and its structuring and
of their position that the document was not reenforcement through traditional orga­
thoroughly enough worked out. But I also nization forms before it reaches the armed
think that their argument that the docu­ struggle has been revalidated. . . . In real­
ment was not interventionist was probably ity, the adversary is in nowise ready to
related to their feeling that the main axis allow a mass revolutionary movement to
of work in the immediate period should be organize more or less legally or normally.
preparation for guerrilla war and engage­
ment in it where possible."22 The exceptional variant of an explosive
crisis involving the breaking up or paraly­
sis of the state apparatus and a mass mobi­
Controversy Over the
lization so impetuous that it could pre­
Latin American Resolution
vent or neutralize recourse to repression
The principal controversy, and the clearest as a decisive measure, cannot be categori­
alignment of the congress along tendency or cally excluded but a strategy on a conti­
factional lines, came over the resolution on nental scale cannot be based on excep­
Latin America. This document maintained tional phenomena. . . .
a variety of propositions: that there was in­ Even in the case of countries where

750 USEC: Trajectory

 large mobilizations and class conflicts in delegates. However, one element among the
the cities may occur first, civil war will Argentines, that led by Nahuel Moreno, was
take manifold forms of armed struggle, in opposed.15 The principal argument against
which the principal axis for a whole pe­ the majority position on Latin America was
riod will be rural guerrilla warfare, the presented by Hansen. One can gather from
term having primarily a geographical-mil­ some of his subsequent writings the nature
itary meaning and not necessarily imply­ of the arguments which Hansen made at the
ing an exclusively peasant composition 1969 congress.
of the fighting detachments. . . . In this First of all, he argued that the majority
sense, armed struggle in Latin America at the congress was confusing strategy and
means fundamentally guerrilla warfare.13 tactics, and in doing so were turning their
backs on traditional Trotskyist positions.
To deal with objections that there didn't He wrote that "what is primary in revolu­
seem to be a place in such analysis and pre­ tionary strategy, the minority maintained,
scription for the Leninist type of party, the is building a combat party; resorting to guer­
resolution said: rilla warfare should be regarded as a second­
While it is necessary to reject the sche­ ary, tactical question."26
matic and paralyzing conception ac­ Second, Hansen argued that the majority
cording to which everything hinges on at the congress were mistaken in thinking
the preliminary existence of a genuine that in advocating a generalized strategy of
party with all its traditional structures guerrilla warfare in Latin America, they
. . . the two following fundamental facts were following the Castroite lead. Later,
must, however, never be lost sight of: (a) Hansen wrote that "at the world congress
The existence and functioning of a revolu­ the majority counted on the Cubans contin­
tionary party, far from being an outworn uing to do what they had done in the case of
schema of outmoded Marxists, corre­ the guerrilla front opened by Che Guevara
sponds to the concrete and eluctable in Bolivia. This was a hazardous calculation,
needs of the development of the armed the minority maintained, because the full
struggle. ...(b ) The revolutionists must consequences of the defeat of Che had yet
struggle for the most favorable variant: to be measured. In particular the Cubans
acting in such a way that when the armed might be in the process of reassessing their
struggle begins, if there is not already a line in Latin America in view of the repeated
genuine party, completely structured, setbacks that had been experienced. If the
with a large mass influence (a very unreal­ Cubans were to undertake a reorientation,
istic perspective in almost all of the Latin the minority pointed out, then the resources
American countries] in existence, there is available to the small groups still commit­
at least solid nuclei of a political organiza­ ted to carrying out the old line would be­
tion, coordinated on a national scale.. . 24 come even more limited. To plunge ahead
despite this change in the situation would
Joseph Hansen noted subsequently that prove to be exceedingly ill-advised."27
"the vote on this resolution was two to one In the third place, Hansen and the minor­
in favor of the comrades who favored the ity at the congress argued that the adoption
guerrilla war strategy. One-third of the dele­ of such a position on Latin America was
gates were against it." He concluded that "ultra-leftism," and would make it hard to
the majority for this point of view was pro­ avoid generalizing the arguments of the ma­
vided particularly by the youthful French jority resolution to cover much of the rest,
delegates "heavily influenced by the whole if not all, of the world. Later Hansen wrote
general aura surrounding Che Guevara.. . ." that "Comrade Maitan is vexed at my con­
and the largest part of the Latin American clusion that the course prescribed by him

USEC: Trajectory 751

and made official in the Latin American res­ the majority at the December 1972 plenum
olution represents a concession to ultra-left- also organized, taking first the name i e c Ma­
ism. I stated further—and I see no reason to jority Tendency, and then changing it to In­
change this opinion: 'Consistent applica­ ternational Majority Tendency (i m t ).
tion of the course charted by Comrade Mai­ Subsequently, the lines between the two
tan would prove disastrous for the Fourth groups hardened. Leslie Evans has noted
International. The line could hardly be con­ that "later in 1973 the l t t came to the con­
fined to Latin America or even the colonial clusion that the i m t was in fact functioning
world generally, for the same ultraleft tend­ as a secret faction, deciding its positions
encies to which the adaptation has been through prior caucus meetings before bring­
made are operative in the imperialist cen­ ing them into the leading bodies of the Inter­
ters. Fostering an ultraleft course in Latin national, carrying on its own internal dis­
America would surely be paralleled by per­ cussion outside the regular "channels of
missiveness toward ultraleftism, if not international communication, etc. This
worse, in the imperialist centers. In fact, posed the danger that the faction body that
there is evidence that this has already been controlled the majority vote in the leading
occurring in the quite different context of committees was beginning to regard itself as
conditions in Britain.' "I8 the 'real' International, where all important
discussions and decisions were made, while
the elected leadership bodies of the Interna­
Extension of the Factional Struggle
tional were becoming simply a forum for the
The factional fight which had broken out presentation of previously decided ques­
before and during the 1969 World Congress tions pushed through by a bloc vote. . . .
continued in the years that followed. How­ Such a situation could even lead to a split
ever, until a December 1972 plenum of the in the International."
International Executive Committee the two As a consequence, the l t t decided to
contending groups had no formal tendency transform itself from a "tendency" to a "fac­
organizations. At that meeting a document tion," taking the name Leninist-Trotskyist
entitled "Argentina and Bolivia—the Bal­ Faction (l t f ). According to Evans, the pur­
ance Sheet," which discussed the failure of pose of this change was "to exercise some
guerrilla activities in those two countries, discipline over its own adherents in order to
was submitted over the signatures of Han­ forestall any ill-considered actions from its
sen and Peter Camejo of the s w p , Hugo own side in the dispute."19
Blanco of Peru, and Anibal Lorenzo and Na­
huel Moreno of the Argentine Partido So­
The 1974 World Congress
cialista de los Trabajadores. This document
did not serve to change the minds or posi­ The factional struggle in the United Secre­
tions of the majority in the United Secretar­ tariat continued during the Tenth World
iat leadership. Congress, which met in February 1974. Han­
Shortly after the December 1972 i e c sen noted that "a notable feature of the con­
meeting, those who had submitted the docu­ gress was its size. About 250 persons were
ment on Bolivia and Argentina issued a call present, representing organizations in forty-
for the formal establishment of an interna­ one countries. . . . The growth was ac­
tional tendency opposed to the position on counted for in part by the appearance of new
guerrilla warfare. At a meeting in Santiago, groups in countries where Trotskyist ideas
Chile in March 1973, such a group, the Le- were previously little known. . .
ninist-Trotskyist Tendency (l t t ) was orga­ Virtually all of the motions discussed at
nized. Meanwhile, the groups supporting the congress were bitterly debated between

752 USEC: Trajectory

the two major factions, with a much smaller tion included a call for a "modernization"
group known as the Mezhrayonka Ten­ of the Transitional Program.
dency, also contributing to the controversy. The orientation and content of the
It is sufficient here to discuss the arguments counter proposal presented by the Leninist
over two of the motions which were de­ Trotskyist Faction was basically different
bated, that is, the general political resolu­ from that of the majority. It was defeated at
tion and one dealing with Latin America. the congress by a vote of 118 to 147, with
In both cases competing positions were put four abstentions and one not voting.
forward by the International Majority Ten­ The l t f draft started with a discussion of
dency and the Leninist Trotskyist Faction. the world oil crisis, noting the havoc that it
The General Political Resolution which had caused in Europe, Japan and the colonial
was submitted by the i m t . was adopted by and semi-colonial countries. It urged that
the congress with 142 votes, against 124 in the Trotskyists take advantage of the crisis
opposition, and four abstentions.31 It started to push not only their old "transitional slo­
with a discussion of the end of the long pe­ gan" of a sliding wage scale to keep up with
riod of prosperity in the capitalist economy, inflation, but add the additional slogan of a
and the overall decline in the relative posi­ "sliding hours" system to take care of the
tion of United States "imperialism." It then growing unemployment situation.
underscored the continuation of the "revo­ A major part of the l t f draft stressed that
lutionary rise" then supposedly under way "the World Revolution Resumes Its Mam
in Western Europe and Japan, and the pros­ Course," after a "long detour" through guer­
pects for the same kind of development in rilla war and peasant revolt based on the
North America. Chinese and Cuban models. It stressed "the
The resolution then noted the alleged city reasserting its hegemony over the coun­
growth of the role of proletarian elements tryside." Although it didn't "reject guerrilla
in the revolutionary politics of the colonial warfare under all circumstances," the docu­
and semi-colonial countries. This was fol­ ment said that the Fourth International
lowed by a discussion of the continuing cri­ "views the utilization of guerrilla warfare as
sis in the "workers states," their moves to­ a tactical question to be weighed in the light
ward reintroduction of the market, at the of concrete situations that may arise in the
alleged expense of the workers, but also course of struggle. What the Fourth Interna­
stressed the relative immobilism in the So­ tional does oppose under all circumstances
viet Union. It professed to see a forthcoming is the view that a small group can bypass
intermingling of the socialist revolution in the arduous task of constructing a Leninist-
Western Europe and the antibureaucratic type party by substituting for the masses in
revolution in Eastern Europe and the Soviet armed struggle."31
Union. The draft then went on to stress the need
Much emphasis was given in this resolu­ of the proletariat for "allies" in carrying out
tion to the appearance of a "new mass van­ the revolution. These included the move­
guard on a world scale" for the first time ments for national liberation (even in Eu­
since the founding of the Comintern, and rope and the United States), rebellious
on the need for the Trotskyists to acquire youth, and the women's movement.
leadership of this element. In this connec­ The draft included a considerable critique
tion, it speculated on the danger that right of the Cuban situation. It criticized the "re­
turns in the policies of the Chinese and Cu­ treat" by the Castro forces vis-a-vis the So­
ban leaderships might destroy this new viet Union. It also commented that "it must
mass vanguard. In listing the tasks of the be acknowledged that the Cuban revolution
International in the next period, the resolu­ has not realized its initial potentialities in

USEC: Trajectory 753

 helping to resolve the crisis of proletarian tion of the basic correctness of the Ninth
leadership internationally. In serious re­ Congress position on guerrilla warfare in
spects the Cuban leaders have fallen back, Latin America. It then listed among the ele­
while dangerous bureaucratic tendencies ments of the "primary duty of revolutionary
continue to gather headway."33 Marxists/' that they should "continually
The l f t document contained a long sec­ warn the masses against any illusion that
tion on the Vietnam War. It stressed the they can escape armed confrontation by ex­
effect of the war on undermining United tending their democratic or economic strug­
States society. gles. It is precisely the stepping up of the
The section of the l t f draft which most mobilization that makes armed confronta­
emphasized the differences with the Inter­ tion inevitable in the short run, in the pres­
national Majority Tendency was that enti­ ent social, economic and political condi­
tled "Maturing of Subjective Conditions for tions in Latin America." It called on the
Revolution." It stressed that "the subjective Latin American sections "to untiringly pop­
conditions required for transcending the ularize the necessity for the general arming
prerevolutionary period of agitation, propa­ of the workers and poor peasants in self-
ganda and organization have not changed defense bodies that can develop into work­
qualitatively since 1938. No party adhering ers, peasants and people's militias."
to the Fourth International has as yet won a It stressed specific moves to be taken to
majority of the working class or of its mili­ launch the "armed struggle." One was "not
tant vanguard. The Fourth International to rest content with general and abstract
still stands at the stage in which the pri­ propaganda in this area, but to undertake
mary task is the accumulation of cadres." initial pilot projects, to enter into prelimi­
From this fact, the draft concluded that nary actions that are carefully calculated for
"the framework of tasks is set by the frank the effect they can have in raising the level
and clear-sighted recognition that the cen­ of consciousness of the masses, increasing
tral problems facing the Fourth Interna­ their combativity, and their will and capac­
tional are those associated with the growth ity for arming themselves." Another task
of small revolutionary propaganda organiza­ was that of "forming armed detachments of
tions and not those faced by seasoned revo­ the party. . . ."3S
lutionary parties of the masses about to take The Leninist Trotskyist Faction alterna­
power." tive draft on Latin America was defeated by
The draft condemned shortcuts to the a vote of 118 to 143, with six abstentions
Revolution. It particularly denounced the and three not voting. It stressed that, al­
emphasis on guerrilla war: "The last world though the Trotskyists had traditionally
congress, it must now be acknowledged, emphasized the need for the use of violence
took an incorrect position in relation to in the Revolution, they had always stressed
guerrilla warfare by adopting an orientation that it would be mass violence: "It is the
which called on the sections of the Fourth mobilization and organization of tens of
International in Latin America to prepare millions of people. The concept is one of
for and to engage in it as a strategic line."34 immense boldness—a perspective of or­
There was also strong controversy over ganizing the masses by the millions. . . . By
the specific question of Latin America, what strategy is this aiftx to be achieved? It
which was also embodied in two competing is through the construction of a mass revolu­
documents. The i m t resolution on the sub­ tionary party, an instrument interlocked
ject was adopted by a vote of 142 to 125, with the masses and thereby in position to
with one abstention and two not voting.35 provide them with leadership at each stage
The i m t resolution began with the asser­ of the struggle."37

754 USEC: Trajectory

 However, the l t f draft claimed that the pend further discussion on the issues voted
im t document "revises the Trotskyist posi­ on at the congress for one year, to maintain
tion. It reaffirms the guerrilla orientation discussion in a monthly international dis­
adopted at the 1969 congress. At the same cussion bulletin on the Chinese Cultural
time it seeks to make that orientation more Revolution, youth radicalization, the wom­
palatable.. . . What is referred to in the reso­ en's movement, the Middle East, Vietnam,
lution . . . is not armed struggle as initiated and Eastern Europe. It was also agreed to
and carried out by the majority of the popu­ hold the next congress within two years.
lation but violent actions initiated and car­ Another part of the agreement between
ried out by small groups. Such actions are the two factions introduced an innovation
supposed to serve as examples to the in the Fourth International. It gave recogni­
masses." The i m t proposal put "emphasis tion to the fact that rival "sections" repre­
on the action of miniscule groups. In reality senting the two factions had come into exis­
that is all the resolution deals with—the tence. Although it instructed the i e c to use
action of miniscule groups isolated from the all its influence to bring about a merger of
masses." these groups, it also provided that "at the
The l t f draft also argued that the blanket congress, Fourth Internationalist groups al­
endorsement of guerrilla war for Latin ready existing separately were recognized
America by the majority, if valid for that regardless of their size as sympathizing
region, ought logically to be expanded groups; but this exceptional measure was
throughout the world. It argued that "if it is not to be regarded as a precedent."39
true that the bourgeoisie will grant conces­ The Eleventh Congress did not in fact take
sions in face of small mobilizations, as the place until November 1979. During the
resolution states elsewhere, but will seek to intervening period a number of events tran­
smash big mobilizations, doesn't that hold spired which ultimately brought the con­
for Western Europe and for the United flict between the i m t and l t f to an end, but
States?"38 which also resulted in a substantial split in
Finally, the l t f document claimed that the United Secretariat.
the acceptance of the guerrilla line by the One relatively minor development fol­
Fourth International had been due largely to lowing the 1974 World Congress was the
the influx of young people into the Fourth breaking away from u s e c of the Third Ten­
International who were inspired by the Chi­ dency, which had stood apart from both the
nese, Vietnam, and Cuban revolutions, but i m t and l t f at the congress, and had been
not by the Russian one. Furthermore, it said, led by an Italian Roberto Massari. Soon after
a number of old-timers who should have the Tenth Congress Massari split the Italian
known better had acquiesced to the young­ affiliate to form the Lega Comunista. He
sters. then took the lead in establishing the Neces­
sary International Initiative (n ii), a kind of
"opposition" to u s e c conceived of as having
Denouement of the Factional Conflict
a role similar to that of the Left Opposition
of 1970s
to the Comintern in the early 1930s. A Third
Hansen noted after the Tenth Congress that Tendency faction in Great Britain, and the
there had been extensive negotiations be­ Spartacusbund, which had earlier broken
tween the i m t and l t f before the meeting away from the German u s e c affiliate, were
to assure its orderly procedure, and that among the groups participating in the n i i .40
there had also been accord between the two We have no information concerning how
groups concerning the policy to be followed long the n i i continued in existence.
after the congress. It had been agreed to sus­ One of the most significant events of the

USEC: Trajectory 755

period after the Tenth Congress was a split reunification of the two groups. The l t f fa­
in the Leninist Trotskyist Faction which vored such discussions, the i m t opposed
took place in February 1976. At that time them.
several of the Latin American sections Finally, the old "organizational issue"
which had been associated with the l t p also was raised. The l t f complained that
broke away from it in disagreement with u s e c was attempting to interfere in the in­

the l t f ' s position on the developments in ternal affairs of various sections to a degree
Portugal following the 1974 revolution not provided for in the Statutes of the inter­
there. They formed the Bolshevik Ten­ national organization, and that in some of
dency. The principal figure of this Tendency the European sections it was beginning to
was Hugo Bressano, more generally known purge leaders of the Leninist Trotskyist
by his party name, Nahuel Moreno, the Faction.43
main leader of the Argentine Partido Social­ However, at a point at which, if previous
ista de los Trabajadores.41 Before the Elev­ experiences of the Fourth International were
enth Congress, the Bolshevik Tendency was to give any indication, a complete split be­
to abandon the United Secretariat and estab­ tween the two factions seemed a possibility
lish its own separate branch of International if not a likelihood, the situation suddenly
Trotskyism. changed. In part, at least, this was due to
Meanwhile, in August 197$ the l t f Steer­ increasing differences which were tending
ing Committee issued a call for the dissolu­ to develop within both the i m t and the l t f .
tion of both factions, saying that "if there In part, too, it was undoubtedly due to a
are guarantees for a full, free and democratic reassessment by the European leaders of the
discussion, there is no need for a factional issue which had been the cause of the origi­
structure. . . . While ideological tendencies nal differences in u s e c , the endorsement of
are still called for because of the political guerrilla warfare as the basic strategy of the
differences, there would be no objective organization, at least in Latin America.
need to maintain the factions in order to In December 1976, the Steering Commit­
have the necessary discussion. . . ." This tee of the i m t published a document of "self
suggestion was turned down at the time by criticism," the key paragraph of which was
the International Majority Tendency.42 the following: "At the Ninth World Con­
A number of new issues of dispute be­ gress we paid the price for this lack of sys­
tween the two factions subsequently arose. tematic analysis of the Cuban revolution.
These included the attitude to be taken to­ On the basis of rapid and hasty generaliza­
ward the Portuguese Revolution, where the tions, we did not clearly oppose the incor­
international leadership of the i m t favored rect lessons drawn from the Cuban revolu­
an alliance with the left wing of the Armed tion by the great majority of the Latin
Forces Movement (m f a ), and the l t f urged American vanguard. Even though what had
the Portuguese Trotskyists to have nothing really happened in Cuba provided us the
to do with the m f a and to issue a call for necessary means, we did not adequately
a Socialist-Communist government instead combat the idea—which cost so many
of one dominated by the military. deaths and defeats in Latin America—that
Another source of disagreement was the a few dozen or a few hundred revolutionaries
relations between the United Secretariat (no matter how courageous and capable) iso­
and the Lambertist international tendency, lated from the rest of the society could set
the Organizing Committee for the Recon­ in motion a historic process leading to a
struction of the Fourth International socialist revolution."44
(c o r q i ). c o r q i approached the u s e c for dis­ A few months later, in August 1977, the
cussions with a view to the possibility of Steering Committee of the Leninist Trots­

756 USEC: Trajectory

kyist Faction proclaimed the unilateral dis­ dency was Nahuel Moreno. A veteran of the
solution of its group. Three months after Trotskyist movement, he had led a split in
that, the i m t also dissolved. Subsequently, the u s e c affiliate in Argentina, the Partido
leaders of the two groups worked together to Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (p r t ),
draft the major documents for the Eleventh when that group opted for guerrilla warfare
Congress of the u s e c .45 in 19 68. His faction had merged with a splin­
The definitive end of this long contro­ ter from the Argentine Socialist Party to
versy came at the Eleventh Congress, with form the Partido Socialista de los Trabaja­
the adoption of a new resolution on Latin dores, which during the 1970s was one of
America. It was passed with a vote of ninety- the world's numerically strongest Trotsky­
four in favor, eleven against, 3.5 abstentions, ist parties.
and 4. $ not voting.46The key portion of that Because of his alignment against the u s e c
resolution read, "The Fourth International majority's general endorsement of the guer­
promoted an incorrect political orientation rilla war strategy for Latin America, Mor­
in Latin America for several years. . . . As a eno's group was given only "sympathizer"
result of this erroneous line, many of the status in the u s e c in its 1969 congress. Even
cadres and parties of the Fourth Interna­ though the p r t had withdrawn from the
tional were politically disarmed in face of Trotskyist movement, the 1974 congress
the widespread, but false, idea that a small again refused to recognize the p s t as its full-
group of courageous and capable revolution­ fledged Argentine section. However, Mor­
aries could set in motion a process leading to eno and the p s t had several other Latin
a socialist revolution. The process of rooting American sections of the u s e c aligned with
our parties in the working class and op­ them.
pressed masses was hindered. The line that The document issued by leaders of the
was followed . . . led to adventurist actions u s e c ' s affiliates in Argentina, Venezuela,

and losses from our own ranks. . . ."47 Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay in February
1976, announcing the launching of the Bol­
shevik Tendency attacked both the i m t and
The Morenoist Split in the
the l t f . Its arguments against the i m t
United Secretariat
started with a general indictment of its pol­
Before the ending of the conflict within the icy since the Ninth World Congress in 1969.
United Secretariat between the Interna­ It categorized as "ultra-leftist" both the en­
tional Majority Tendency and the Leninist dorsement of guerrilla warfare as certain in
Trotskyist Faction, a new split had devel­ Latin America, and the orientation of the
oped. As a consequence of that new struggle United Secretariat after the 1974 congress
a division of some consequence took place toward a new "broad vanguard" which sup­
in the u s e c shortly before the Eleventh Con­ posedly had appeared since the 1960s.
gress. More specifically, the Bolshevik Ten­
Two elements were involved in this new dency statement argued that the error of the
division in the ranks of International Trots­ i m t orientation had been most clearly dem­

kyism. One of these was the Bolshevik Ten­ onstrated in the Portuguese Revolution.
dency, the other was a new Leninist Trots­ There the i m t supporters sought to recruit
kyist Tendency made up principally of principally among various far-left groups
dissidents from the United Secretariat's af­ which appeared instead of among the fol­
filiate in France.48 The Bolshevik Tendency lowers of the mass Socialist and Communist
was the more important element in the 1979 parties. They also followed the other far-left
split. groups in "tailing" the Communists, partic­
The principal figure in the Bolshevik Ten­ ularly in the unsuccessful coup of Novem­

t USEC: Trajectory 757

i
i
 ber 1975 in which the Communists cooper­ lenges to the fundamental tenets of Interna­
ated with some officers of the Armed Forces tional Trotskyism.
Movement. The Eleventh World Congress (fifth since
The Bolshevik Tendency accused the l t f , reunification) met in Belgium between No­
and particularly the U.S. Socialist Workers vember 17-25, 1979. It was reported that
Party, of being "reformists." On the specific delegates were present "representing sec­
issue of the Portuguese Revolution it at­ tions and sympathizing organizations in for­
tacked the "reformists" for allegedly align­ ty-eight countries in Europe, Asia, America,
ing too closely with the Socialist Party.451 Oceania, the Caribbean and North and
Another accusation against the s w p South America. There were about 200 peo­
proved to be curious in the light of what ple in attendance. "S2
occurred a few years later. It was that "they Mary-Alice Waters, a leader of the s w p ,
show the most eager interest in Lambertism said that "the large majority vote for the
with which any union will be difficult in European resolution also indicated a series
view of the degree of ossification its sectari­ of differences over the tasks of our move­
anism has reached. . . ."5t> ment in Europe, which had emerged during
Subsequent to establishment of the Bol­ the i m t - l t f factional struggle, had been re­
shevik Tendency, which later took the solved. The resolution of the long internal
name Bolshevik Faction, it continued to struggle in the International and the dissolu­
quarrel with both of the other elements of tion of the two major factions represented a
the United Secretariat. In a "Declaration major victory. .. .',53
and Platform of the Bolshevik Faction" pub­ Although there was clearly debate and
lished in July 1979, for instance, it said con­ controversy during this World Congress,
cerning the i m t that "before, it joined forces there did not exist the kind of hard and fast
with a leftism of a radicalized vanguard in factional divisions which had marked the
which students were preponderant. Now Ninth and Tenth congresses. Most of the
they submit to the pressure of Euro Commu­ resolutions adopted by the meeting were
nism and a trade union and middle class passed with very substantial majorities.
vanguard which serve as transmission belts For example, the vote on the major politi­
for a liberal ideology and public opinion of cal resolution, "The World Political Situa­
the imperialist countries.. . . This capitula­ tion and the Tasks of the Fourth Interna­
tion is what has made possible the conver­ tional," introduced by Emest Mandel, was
gence between the e x -i M T and the leaders of ninety-two in favor, seven against, 11.5 ab­
the s w p , what is to say, the e x -L T F ."sl staining and 2.5 not voting. The major inno­
vation in this document was "the turn to
industry" which was proclaimed the most
The United Secretariat After the
important "immediate task" of u s e c ,- on
Morenoist Split
this there was a separate vote of ninety-five
For a short while after the exit of Nahuel for, nine against, 6.5 abstentions and 2.5 not
Moreno and his faction unity seemed more voting.54 Perhaps even more significantly,
or less to reign within u s e c , as w a s demon­ the "Resolution on Latin America," which
strated at the Eleventh World Congress, in repudiated u s e c ' s ten-year-long strategy po­
November 1979. In the early 1980s still an­ sition in that area, was* passed ninety-four
other factional struggle began within the or­ to eleven, with 3.5 abstentions and 4.5 not
ganization, however. From an ideological voting.5S
and programmatic point of view this was A number of other resolutions were
the most serious controversy in the move­ passed by the Eleventh World Congress.
ment's history, involving as it did chal­ These included documents on women's lib­

758 USEC: Trajectory

eration, the situation in Europe, problems ary government for the purpose of carrying
of winning youth to the Revolution, as well out the bourgeois revolution (establishment
as resolutions on Nicaragua and Indochina. of a republic and political democracy, and
Finally, there were two resolutions dis­ enactment of agrarian reform), after which
cussing the Trotskyists' position on Social­ the workers party would enter into a long
ism and Democracy which we have cited period of opposition until capitalism ma­
earlier in this volume.54 tured and socialist revolutionary forces de­
During 1981 there began another major veloped the capacity to carry out the social­
controversy between the principal European ist revolution.58
figures in the United Secretariat and leaders Doug Jenness replied, arguing that Lenin
of the United States Socialist Workers Party. never foresaw a long period of capitalist
These exchanges involved extensive repudi­ democratic revolution after overthrow of
ation by swp leaders of some of the basic the czarist regime. He also maintained that
tenets of Trotskyism, and defense of Trots­ Lenin had been right in advocating a work­
kyist theories by some of the European lead­ ers and peasants government which at the
ers. The most important documents were beginning would include all the peasants,
by Doug Jenness, editor of The Militant, and and subsequently only the poorer peasants
by Ernest Mandel, and appeared in the "In­ as social conflicts developed in the country­
ternational Socialist Review" supplement side. He claimed that that is what had hap­
of The Militant, and in Quatrieme Interna­ pened in 19 17 -18 .
tionale, the publication of the United Secre­ Jenness insisted that Trotsky had been
tariat. wrong in arguing that it wasn't possible to
This controversy began with an article by work with the peasants, and that he. had
Doug Jenness entitled "Our Political Conti­ largely ignored their revolutionary poten­
nuity With Bolshevism." In that piece Jen­ tial. He added that Trotsky had also been
ness argued that Lenin had always advo­ wrong in his position towards World War I,
cated combining the bourgeois and when he had held the slogan "neither vic­
proletarian revolutions in Russia. He main­ tory nor defeat" instead of the revolutionary
tained that in prerevolutionary Russia there defeatism of Lenin, and in not supporting
were only two trends in the Socialist revolu­ Lenin's concept of a vanguard party. In gen­
tionary movement: that of the Mensheviks, eral, Jenness argued, Lenin had been right
who favored collaboration with the demo­ and Trotsky wrong.59
cratic bourgeois reformists, and the Bolshe­ In Mandel's rebuttal to Jenness's second
viks led by Lenin, who favored rapid conver­ article he claimed that Jenness had quoted
sion of the bourgeois democratic revolution Lenin out of context. He also reiterated his
into the proletarian one. In essence, without earlier argument that Lenin had changed his
saying so explicitly, he was arguing that the position, accepting Trotsky's ideas on the
"permanent revolution" concept was one permanent revolution with the adoption of
Lenin had always supported.57 the Bolshevik Party's April Theses in 1917.
Ernest Mandel rebutted Jenness's article, He also rebutted Jenness's claim that the
arguing that there were in fact three strands regime established on November 7, 1917
in the prerevolutionary Russian Socialist had really been the kind of "workers and
movement: the Menshevik position, that of peasants government" which Lenin had ad­
Lenin, and that of Trotsky. Both Lenin and vocated before the April Theses, saying that
Trotsky, he said, were opposed to alliance it was in fact the "dictatorship of the prole­
with bourgeois parties in the prerevolution­ tariat with the support of the peasantry"
ary period. However, Lenin favored Socialist which Trotsky had always argued for.
participation in the provisional revolution­ In this article Mandel indicated the cur­

USEC: Trajectory 759

 rent relevance of the somewhat esoteric ar­ of the Permanent Revolution and the No­
gument over Russian revolutionary history. tion of a Workers and Farmers Govern­
He raised some fundamental questions ment," "Socialist Democracy and Dictator­
about the future of the Trotskyist move­ ship of the Proletariat" (a modification of
ment. He asked whether what he conceived the revolution presented to but not fully
of as the abandonment of the permanent adopted by the 1979 congress, to which we
revolution thesis of Trotsky by the s w p pres­ referred at length earlier in this volume), and
aged the s w p ' s abandonment also of Trots­ "The Present Stage of Building the Fourth
ky's position in favor of a "political revolu­ International." In the discussion of these
tion" in the Communist Party-controlled documents there were two "declared ten­
states. In his peroration, Mandel said that dencies," one centering on the majority of
"our polemic has only one purpose: to save the outgoing leadership of u s e c , the other
the Socialist Workers party for revolution­ led by the Socialist Workers Party of the
ary Marxism, for the American revolution, U.S. The Australian s w p , which withdrew
for the world revolution. But it will only be from the ranks of International Trotskyism
saved if it stops in time the march of certain a few months later, generally stood alone at
of its leaders towards a rupture with Trots­ the congress, presenting positions strongly
kyism ."60 critical of both the majority and of the s w p -
There were other polemics between the U.S. and its allies.
Europeans and the s w p . These centered on Five new sections were accepted by the
greetings for an s w p fraternal delegate to a congress—those of Brazil, Uruguay, Ecua­
congress of the French affiliate of u s e c , criti­ dor, Senegal, and Iceland. It was reported
cism by P'eng Shu-tze of the position of the that the United Secretariat "is today present
s w p on Cuba/1 and disagreements over the in some sixty countries." There were about
position to be assumed with regard to the two hundred "delegates, fraternal delegates,
Solidarity movement in Poland and its sup­ observers, and invited guests."
pression by the Polish government, among One of the most serious organizational
other things.61 issues was that concerning the United
A new turn in the controversy was the States, where a large-scale purge of sympa­
speech by Jack Barnes, secretary of the swp thizers with the u s e c majority and support­
before the congress of the Young Socialist ers of traditional Trotskyist positions had
Alliance in December 1982 , where he de­ recently taken place. Three organizations
nounced most of those claiming to be Trots­ had been established by those expelled or
kyists as in fact being "sectarians." This who had resigned as a consequence of the
speech is discussed in some detail in another expulsions. Delegates from three groups—
chapter. This controversy was probably one the Socialist Workers Party, the Fourth In­
of the factors explaining the length of time ternationalist Tendency (f i t ), and Socialist
between the Eleventh World Congress of Action (s a )— were seated at the congress,
u s e c in 1979 and the twelfth one in 1985 . which resolved that the s w p should permit
Certainly the issues raised in Barres's speech return of the f i t and s a members to its
impinged directly and indirectly on the ranks; pending that outcome, the two
Twelfth World Congress. groups, along with the s w p , should be recog­
The basic resolutions of the Twelfth nized by the u s e c as affiliated to it. It also
World Congress dealt with "The World Situ­ was noted that the North Star Network,
ation," “The Lessons and the Perspectives headed by ex-swp leader Peter Camejo, was
of the Revolution in Central America," "Po­ no longer associated with the United Secre­
litical Revolution and Counter-revolution tariat.
in Poland," "The Relevance of the Theory Similar steps were taken by the congress

760 USEC: Trajectory

with regard to Canada, where a split similar U.S. Trotskyism: From
to that in the U.S. s w p had taken place. "For­
mal relations were established" by the con­ the Cannonite Faction to
gress with Gauche Socialiste in Quebec and the Workers Party
the Alliance for Socialist Action in An­
glophone Canada.
In the debates on programmatic issues
during the congress, the f i t and s a of the
United States and the two new Canadian
groups were aligned with the majority,
which basically defended the traditional po­ The Trotskyist movement in the United
sitions of International Trotskyism. The So­ States may be said to have had its origins
cialist Workers Party and its Canadian coun­ in the Sixth Congress of the Communist
terpart, on the other hand, were aligned with International in Moscow in the late summer
the minority which challenged those tradi­ of r928. It was there that James P. Cannon
tional positions.63 first encountered the documents which
Trotsky had prepared to justify himself and
attack his c p s u opponents, and Cannon was
Conclusion "converted" on the spot to Trotskyism.
The United Secretariat of the Fourth Inter­ That conversion was the acom from which
national, established at the so-called Reuni­ the U.S. Trotskyist oak grew.
fication Congress of 1963, continued to be
for the next two decades the largest group Cannon and Early U.S. Trotskyism
claiming the heritage of the original Fourth
International. It suffered two major splits,
The Cannonite Faction in the
and by the early 1980s was threatened by
Communist Party
a third which might prove to be the most
damaging of all, resulting from a challenge James Cannon was a veteran of the factional
to the basic principles of International wars which had characterized the Commu­
Trotskyism. nist Party, USA, during its first decade. He
had been a member of the Industrial Work­
ers of the World (:ww) before World War I,
and had joined the Socialist Party during the
war because of its antiwar position. He soon
became active in the left wing of the Social­
ist Party which ultimately gave birth to the
Communist Party—or several communist
parties, which were finally united on in­
structions received from the fledgling Com­
munist International.
Many years later Max Shactman wrote of
Cannon's role in the Communist Party that
"he was known as an excellent orator, a very
smooth writer, an exceedingly intelligent
and shrewd politician."1 He added that
"Cannon was a native revolutionist, so to
speak—a very able man. He had a very
strong and effective feeling for the American

t
t United States: Cannon to Workers Party 761
 working class and the American labor move­ having the casting vote. The Comintern rep­
ment, for American problems. . . ."2 resentative in question was Gusev, or
Cannon's first major factional fight was Green, a Russian who was frankly aligned
conducted together with Jay Lovestone and with the Ruthenberg-Lovestone group.
Charles Ruthenberg as a leader of the so- It was this order which gave rise to a split
called "liquidators." Their faction favored in the Foster-Cannon faction. Foster wanted
ending the underground status of the Com­ to resist the Comintern's instructions, but
munist Party at first decreed by the Third Cannon was opposed to this, arguing that it
International, and bringing the party out was futile to try to fight the Communist
into the open as a legal organization. At first International. Thereafter, three factions ex­
securing the establishment of a legal "front" isted in the party: the Ruthenberg-Love-
organization, the Workers Party, late in stone group, the Fosterites, and the Can-
1 921, they finally took their case to Moscow nonites.5
to the Fourth Congress of the Comintern in Shachtman later indicated the basic rea­
1922, and there with, according to Cannon, son why Cannon, together, with almost all
the support of Lenin and Trotsky (whom the leaders of the U.S. Communist Party,
Cannon met for the first time}, they got the were totally unwilling to challenge the
endorsement of the International for merg­ Comintern's decision: "the authority—not
ing the underground organization with the just the formal authority, not just the au­
Workers Party.3 thority of the first—of the leaders of the
Within a year, however, realignment International in those days is unimaginable
within the party had brought new factions, to any one of our time. . . . A comrade like
and this time Cannon was the joint leader myself, and Communists much more prom­
with William Z. Foster, the trade unionist inent in the United States than I was, could
who had recently joined the Communists' not but feel his own terrible inadequacy as
ranks, of a faction opposed to that led by compared with these enormous figures,
Ruthenberg and Lovestone. According to these great leaders of the Russian Revolu­
Cannon, the Foster-Cannon group, which tion. This may sound—probably does—a lit­
had its main strength outside New York tle lyrical and dithyrambic, but it is true.
City, was the "trade union, proletarian fac­ That's how we felt. That's how we felt."6
tion" and was backed by "the great bulk— Each of the factions had its power base.
practically all—of the trade unionists, expe­ The Ruthenberg-Lovestoneites had control
rienced American workers, militants and of the party machinery as such; the Fos­
the more Americanized foreigners." Their terites "occupied the whole territory of
opponents, on the other hand, according to trade union work." The Cannonites' strong­
Cannon, "had most of the intellectuals and hold was in the International Labor Defense,
the less-assimilated foreign-bom workers. which they ran "virtually as we pleased,"
The typical leaders of their faction, includ­ according to Cannon.7 Until the death of
ing the typical second-line leaders, were Ruthenberg all four factional leaders were
City College boys, young intellectuals with­ always members of the Political Committee
out experience in the class struggle."4 of the party.8
Until the 1925 convention of the Commu­ Albert Glotzer has noted that by 1928
nist Party the Foster-Cannon faction con­ there was a growing feeling of futility within
trolled the party. However, at that conven­ the Cannon faction about the possibility of
tion there arrived a cable from the gaining control of the party because of con­
Comintern ordering that they elect a Polit­ sistent support of the Lovestoneites by the
buro on which there were even numbers of Comintern.’ Cannon also commented that
the two factions, with a ci representative "each time we went to Moscow full of con­

762 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

fidence that this time we were going to get esting circumstance, which rather foreshad­
some help, some support, because we were ows what was to follow, that I never took
on the right line, because our proposals were part in any of these campaigns. I voted for
correct. And each time we were disap­ the stereotyped resolutions, I regret to say,
pointed, cruelly disappointed. The Comin­ but I never made a single speech or wrote a
tern invariably supported the petty-bour- single article against Trotskyism. That was
geois faction against us." He added that the not because I was a Trotskyist. . . . I refused
Comintern showed that "they wanted to to take part in the campaigns only because
break up this bloc" of the Foster and Cannon I didn't understand the issues."13 He did not
groups against the Lovestoneites, "and they speak at the Central Committee Plenum in
were especially anxious, for some reason or February 1928 which formally condemned
other, to break up our group—the Cannon Trotsky and his followers.14
group."10 At the Sixth Congress Cannon was as­
Max Shachtman summed up the position signed to the program commission. He
of the Cannon faction by 1928 thus: "From noted later that "that turned out to be a
its birth, the Cannon faction never had a bad mistake—putting me on the program
distinguishing program of its own, never commission." It was members of that com­
played an independent role, never had a mission who, by some oversight of the man­
meaningful solution for the factionalism agers of the congress, received copies of
that incessantly corroded the party but Trotsky's critique "The Draft Program of
whose roots it did not even begin to under­ the Communist International: A Criticism
stand. If, as a small minority, it nevertheless of Fundamentals."
had the support of a number of excellent Cannon, together with Maurice Spector,
militants, it won them not because of any a member of the Canadian delegation, read
of its virtues in principle or program—in the document. Cannon recounted that "we
general it had none that anyone, its let the caucus meetings and the Congress
spokesmen included, could ever define— sessions go to the devil while we read and
but because of the out-and-out vices that studied this document. Then I know what I
marked the leadership and program of the had to do, and so did he. Our doubts had
Foster and Lovestone factions. . . been resolved. It was as clear as daylight that
Marxist truth was on the side of Trotsky.
We made a compact there and then—Spec­
Cannon at the Sixth Congress
tor and I—that we would come back home
It was under these circumstances that Can­ and begin a struggle under the banner of
non went to the Sixth Congress of the Com­ Trotskyism."15
intern in August 1928, as part of the U.S.
delegation, representing his faction. He fi­
Expulsion of the Trotskyists
nally went in spite of the fact that he at first
resisted the idea, feeling it would be futile.11 Cannon succeeded in smuggling a copy of
Cannon knew little about the details of the Trotsky document out of Moscow and
the struggle which had been taking place in getting it home to New York. However, it
the Soviet party, and in this he was typical was not easy to build up a pro-Trotsky fac­
of the leadership of the c p u s a . In his history tion in the U.S. Communist Party. Trotsky
of U.S. Trotskyism Cannon noted the rou­ had been condemned as a heretic by the
tine condemnations of Trotsky and his col­ Comintern and by all of its parties, includ­
leagues by the American party, after their ing that of the United States; to support
final defeat in the USSR. However, he noted Trotsky was to join him in heresy, and to
that "looking back on it now, it is an inter­ assure one's expulsion from the party. Thus

United States: Cannon to Workers Party 763

t
 the process of gaining recruits had to be con­ (Chicago) and a member of the Central Com­
fined to surreptitiously showing the copy of mittee.21
the Trotsky document to trusted comrades The activities of Cannon, Shachtman, and
and seeking to win their allegiance to it, and Abem could not long remain secret within
to what would now be a frankly pro-Trotsky the party. The Fosterites, who had been
faction. aligned with the Cannonites against the
Cannon recounted that his first convert, Lovestone majority, were the first to take
once he had returned home, was his lifelong fright. After unsuccessfully confronting
companion, Rose Karsner. The second and Cannon and the others with the rumors of
third were Max Shachtman and Martin Ab- their Trotskyism the Fosterites finally
ern, long-time close associates of Cannon in broke up their joint caucus with Cannon
his caucus.16 It was Cannon and these three and his followers.22
who then set about trying to recruit further Finally, the Fosterites—fearful of them­
converts to their "subversion." selves being tarred with the "Trotskyite"
Shachtman had been a leader of the Com­ brush—brought formal charges against Can­
munists' youth group, the Young Workers non and his associates, and they were put
League (y w l ). He had attended the Fifth Ple­ on trial before the Political Committee and
num of the Communist International in Central Control Commission of the c p u s a .
1925 and the Seventh Plenum in 1927 as the Before the trial was over, one hundred peo­
y w l member of the U.S. Communist Party ple attended.
delegation to those meetings.17 At the Sev­ At first, Cannon and the others "stone­
enth Plenum Gregory Zinoviev was re­ walled," not denying their Trotskyism but
moved as head of the Comintern, as a result challenging in cross-examination the source
of the defeat of the United Opposition in of the charges made by the Foster people.
the struggle within the Soviet Communist "Finally," as Cannon later wrote, "when we
Party. There Shachtman met Vuijo Vuyo- tired of this, and since the report was spread­
vitch, the Yugoslav youth who was a secre­ ing throughout the party of what was going
tary of the Young Communist International, on, we decided to strike. I read to a hushed
a Zinovievist who tried unsuccessfully to and somewhat terrified audience of party
win Shachtman over to support of the functionaries a statement wherein we de­
United Opposition.18 At the time of his ex­ clared ourselves 100 percent in support of
pulsion, Shachtman was editor of Labor De­ Trotsky and the Russian Opposition on all
fender, the periodical of the International the principled questions, and announced our
Labor Defense.19 He also was largely respon­ determination to fight along that line to the
sible for editing the Daily Worker, the par­ end." As a consequence, "we were expelled
ty's daily newspaper then published in by the joint meeting of the Central Control
Chicago.10 Commission and the Political Com­
Of Martin Abem, Shachtman wrote that mittee."23
"Abern as a very young man was one of the Max Shachtman noted that "the entire
most active leading people in the Socialist Communist Party was astounded, not to say
Party in Minnesota. He came from Minne­ stupefied and even incredulous, at hearing
apolis, from a poor family, made his living that Cannon had come forward as a sup­
as a newsboy for years, was picked up during porter of the Russian Opposition. The an­
the war for deportation . . . he was saved at nouncement came as a bombshell, not only
the last minute by a court order procured by to opponents but to supporters. There was
his attorney.. . ." Abem had been one of the nothing in the past position or conduct of
principal Communist youth leaders and in the faction that offered the slightest indica­
192,8 was leader of the party's District 8 tion of the announcement. . . ."M

764 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

 Jay Lovestone, who was still secretary that he should go along with the expulsion
general of the Communist Party, hastened of Cannon, because he, Hathaway, knew
to carry out the purge of Trotsky's followers from his Moscow contacts that Jay Love­
in the c p u s a . Irving Howe and Lewis Coser stone, against whom the Cannonites had
have noted that "the viciousness of the cam­ fought for so long, would soon be removed
paign which developed against them sur­ from the leadership of the c p u s a and control
passed anything before known in the Ameri­ would pass into the hands of the Foster-
can radical movement. Jack Stachel, chief Cannon factions. When Glotzer refused to
assistant in Lovestone's less savory projects, follow Hathaway's advice, he and Swabeck
planned and led a raid upon the private were expelled and soon became part of the
apartments of the Trotskyist leaders, rifled new Trotskyist organization.27
their files.. . .Trotskyist newspaper vendors Albert Glotzer was one of the principal
were attacked by party agents and savagely figures in the Communist youth in Chicago.
beaten. Cannon's meetings were disrupted Of Ame Swabeck, Shachtman wrote that
and his women comrades publicly called "he was active in District 8 in Chicago. He
whores."15 was a district organizer. He was very active
Sometimes the campaign of the c p u s a in the Chicago Federation of Labor as a dele­
leadership proved to be counterproductive. gate to the Chicago Federation from the
The party chiefs took the position that Painters Union. . . . He comes from Den­
"those who are not for us are against us," mark originally, from the valley of Swa­
and every unit of the party was forced to beck." He had been a secondary leader in
pass resolutions endorsing the action the 1919 Seattle general strike and had been
against Cannon and his associates. Anyone a Cannonite since I9i5-28
who refused to vote in favor of these resolu­
tions without discussion was summarily ex­
Establishment of the Communist
pelled. As a consequence of this tactic, the
League of America
newly organized Trotskyists received an im­
portant group of recruits in Minneapolis, The task of organizing a Trotskyist move­
consisting of people who were not originally ment in the United States was not an easy
favorable to Trotsky's ideas, but refused to one. Cannon, Shachtman, Abem, and sev­
condemn them and the Cannonites without eral of their other associates had been em­
knowing the arguments of Cannon, Shacht­ ployees of the Communist Party, directly or
man, and Abern, and so were themselves indirectly, and with their expulsion their
expelled.26 For many years the Minneapolis salaries ceased—without even back pay.
group remained one of the strongest units They had no headquarters, no "apparatus"
of the Trotskyist movement in the United of any kind. However, within weeks of being
States. expelled they began to publish a newspaper,
In Chicago, too, the tactics of the party The Militant, the first issue of which was
leadership won recruits for the new Trotsky­ dated November 1928 and which began pub­
ist movement. Two of the most important lication of the famous Trotsky documents
were Albert Glotzer and Ame Swabeck. as well as announcing the establishment of
During a meeting of the Foster and Cannon a new political group.
factions in the city to decide what action to The first printer of The Militant was Joe
take in the face of what had happened to Cannata, an ex-member of the iww, who
Cannon, Glotzer was approached by Clar­ suggested the name for the paper. He also
ence Hathaway, who had been a student at extended credit. The group got financial
the Lenin School in Moscow, sent by the help from other unexpected sources, includ­
Cannonite faction. Hathaway told Glotzer ing Antoinette Konikow and a group of

1
{ United States: Cannon to Workers Party 765
Trotsky sympathizers in Boston who had Middle West, but the tour served to put him
been expelled some time earlier. Max East­ in personal contact with his followers, con­
man also gave $200 toward getting the paper solidate the new local Trotskyist groups,
started.29 and perhaps to recruit a few new members.
Expulsion from the c p u s a made it much In at least a few instances new adherents
more difficult to approach those remaining were won because of revulsion against the
in the party. However, Cannon noted that strong-arm tactics used by the c p leadership
they soon "discovered" a group of Hungari­ to try to break up Trotskyist meetings in
ans who had been expelled shortly before various cities.
and had developed sympathy for Trotsky's In February 1929, on the occasion of the
position. He commented that "they cer­ c p ' s Ninth Convention, the Trotskyists first

tainly looked like an army of a million peo­ presented theii program, ostensibly as a fac­
ple to us." There was also a group of Italian tional document. Cannon noted that "our
followers of Amadeo Bordiga who "worked platform began with our declaration of prin­
with us for a while."30 ciples on an international scale, our view of
Most recruiting to the new group neces­ the Russian question, our position on the
sarily had to be on an individual basis. Can­ great theoretical questions at the bottom of
non noted that "we began an energetic corre­ the fight in the Russian party—the question
spondence; wherever we knew anybody, or of socialism in one country. From there our
whenever we heard of somebody who was platform proceeded to national questions,
interested, we would write him a long let­ to the trade union questions in the United
ter."31 To a modest degree this recruiting States, to the detailed problems of party or­
was successful. Cannon noted that "com­ ganizations, etc."34
rades with whom we had been in contact Finally, by the spring of 1929, the Trotsky­
came to our banner in Chicago, Minneapo­ ists had recruited enough people to under­
lis, Kansas City, Philadelphia—not big take their first national convention. It met
groups as a rule. . . . In some places single in Chicago, in May, with thirty-one dele­
individuals took up our fight alone. In New gates and seventeen alternates, representing
York we picked up a few here and there— about one hundred members.35 The meeting
individuals. Cleveland, St. Louis and the went off without a hitch in spite of Commu­
mine fields of Southern Illinois. This was nist Party threats to break it up; the Trotsky­
about the range of our organizational con­ ists had brought in a number of coal miners
tact in the first period."31 from southern Illinois and had the volunteer
The Trotskyists were presented a peculiar services of a group of iww members to pro­
opportunity to present their views to a con­ tect the Trotskyists' right to freedom of
siderable number of Communist Party lead­ speech. The Communists did not seek to
ers when they asked for and received permis­ carry out their threats.36
sion to speak on December 17 to the plenum As a consequence of this meeting the first
of the Central Committee of the party to U.S. Trotskyist organization—and one of
appeal their expulsion. Lovestone permitted the first such groups anywhere outside the
this in the hope of snaring some of his Fos- USSR—was established. It was given the ti­
terite rivals as "Trotskyite conciliators." tle Communist League of America, Left Op­
Cannon made a two-hour speech to the position of the Commuftist Party. Cannon
meeting.33 However, he does not mention noted somewhat grandiloquently that "we
how many, if any, recruits they received as went from that conference with the confi­
a result. dent assurance that the whole future devel­
Cannon also soon went on a "national opment of the regenerated Communist
tour." In fact, his itinerary included only movement in America, up to the time the
some New England cities and a few in the proletariat takes power and begins organiz­

766 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

ing the socialist society, would trace its ori­ completely apart from the Comintern and
gin to that first National Conference of the its national sections, plagued all opposition
American Trotskyists at Chicago in May Communist groups during the early 1930s.
1929."37 Although the Trotskyists were to change
their position on this issue a few years later,
at the time the Communist League (Opposi­
Ideological Position of the CLA
tion) was established it proclaimed itself a
James P. Cannon has sketched the principal Communist "opposition," not a separate
elements of the ideological program of the party.
first U.S. Trotskyist' organization at the time Cannon explained and defended this posi­
of its foundation. This program involved tion by saying that "the real vanguard of the
four basic elements: their attitude on "the proletariat consists of those tens of thou­
Russian question," their orientation toward sands of workers who have been awakened
organized labor, their stand as a "Commu­ by the Russian revolution. They are still
nist opposition," and their position in trying loyal to the Comintern and to the Commu­
to recruit new members. nist Party. . . . It is impossible even to get a
There were those in the organization and hearing from these people unless you place
many more outside it who might have yourself on the ground of the party, and
joined the Communist League (Opposition) strive not to destroy but to reform it, de­
who wanted to repudiate the Soviet Union. manding readmission to the party with dem­
This issue, as Cannon summed it up in "its ocratic rights."40
barest essentials," was "whether we should The meaning of the "oppositionist"
continue to support the Soviet state, the So­ stance of the Trotskyists in this period was
viet Union, despite the fact that the direc­ summed up well in The Militant's report
tion of it had fallen into the hands of a con­ on the Second National Conference of the
servative, bureaucratic caste." In answer, League. It said that "there was unanimous
Cannon said, "we took a firm stand in favor agreement that our platform is correct, i.e.,
of supporting the Soviet Union; of not over­ that our orientation is directly upon the
turning it, but of trying to reform it through Communist movement, of which the Com­
the instrumentality of the party and the intern, and in the United States, the official
Comintern. "3S party is the center, as the only historically
The second issue, concerning the c l a ' s progressive force, to which our appeal, de­
approach to organized labor, was particu­ spite the blunders and mistakes of its bu­
larly provoked by the twist in the Comin­ reaucratic leadership, is addressed for the
tern line imposed by Stalin, calling for each purpose of reestablishing its Marxian foun­
national Communist Party to withdraw its dation."41
trade union supporters from existing labor Cannon summed up the situation saying
movements to establish its own "Red" trade that "we solved the problem correctly by
union organizations. Cannon noted that declaring ourselves a faction of the party and
"our first National Conference took a firm the Comintern. . . . Experience has richly
stand against that policy, and declared in demonstrated the correctness of this deci­
favor of operating with the existing labor sion. . . . The overwhelming majority of our
movement, confining independent union­ members in the first five years of our exis­
ism to the unorganized field."39 tence came from the c p . Thus we built the
The third issue, whether to continue to foundations of a regenerated Communist
regard themselves as integral members of movement. . . ,"42
the world Communist movement formally The fourth basic decision taken by the
separated from its ranks through no fault of Trotskyists at their inception concerned the
their own, or to establish a frankly new party question of where they would principally

United States: Cannon to Workers Party 767

concentrate their attention in terms of seek­ Trotskyists in the United States and else­
ing recruits. Of course, this issue was closely where found it difficult to differentiate their
associated with the question of whether own positions from those which Stalin was
they were an "opposition" Communist following both in the USSR and abroad.
group or a completely separate organization. Consequently, the Trotskyists found it dif­
The decision was to concentrate on trying ficult to recruit further adherents from
to win over people in the Communist Party Communist ranks.
and its periphery.43 Some of those people who did come from
the c p u s a came for what the Trotskyists
regarded as the wrong reasons. These were,
The "Dog Days"
according to Cannon, "a lot of dilettan­
Cannon is authority for the statement that tish petty-bourgeois-minded people who
the period between 1929 and 1933 consti­ couldn't stand any kind of discipline, who
tuted the "dog days" of Trotskyism in the had either left the c p or been expelled from
United States.44 Not only was the member­ it .. .. Many of the newcomers made a fetish
ship small, and the financial resources ex­ of democracy. They . . . desired an organiza­
ceedingly limited, but the Communist tion withput any authority or discipline or
League (Opposition) suffered from consider­ centralization whatever."46
able ideological confusion on the part of The Trotskyists had some successes in
many who might otherwise have been re­ this dog-days period. They succeeded in es­
cruited to its ranks. tablishing, particularly in New York City, a
Shachtman later noted that the Trotsky­ few youth groups which began publication
ists in the beginning had few people active of a newspaper, Young Spartacus, under the
in the trade unions. "Most of our activity editorship of Emanuel Geltman. The Second
was of a propaganda type, self-education, of National Conference of the Communist
classes, of meetings which were in a manner League adopted a document, "Theses on the
of speaking larger classes—public meetings Youth Question," which called for bringing
which were large classes."45 these Spartacus Youth clubs into a national
With the ascension of Stalin to full power organization and named a National Youth
in the Soviet Union and the Comintern he Committee to act as the provisional execu­
had executed a drastic "left turn," both in tive of that organization.47
Soviet policy and in the policies of the Inter­ Aside from the work of assuring regular
national. Within the USSR Stalin carried out publication of their periodicals, the Trotsky­
a drastic program of rapid agricultural col- ists spent much of their time during these
lectivization and veered the first Five Year years getting thoroughly acquainted with
Plan toward rapid accumulation of heavy the ideas of their leader. This was a matter
capital goods, while at the same time almost not only of individual study but of innumer­
completely substituting the planning mech­ able small meetings to discuss and debate
anism for operating a market economy. Trotsky's ideas and positions. They felt that
Within the International he launched the what Cannon called "the vanguard of the
"Third Period" of superheated revolution­ vanguard" had to be thoroughly acquainted
ary rhetoric combined with extreme isola­ with the theories and the notions of strategy
tion of the Communist parties from all other and tactics of the man whom they regarded
groups on the left. as the true representative of the Great Bol­
To many who might have joined the shevik Revolution.
Trotskyists' ranks it appeared that Stalin During this period of introversion the
was applying the policies which had been Trotskyists did little to seek to develop even
advocated by Trotsky. In practical terms the modest influence in the labor movement.

768 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

Thus, unlike the Lovestoneites, they had no sition. A new National Committee, con­
role in the organizing campaign and strikes sisting of Martin Abem, James Cannon, Vin­
which revived the International Ladies Gar­ cent Dunne, Albert Glotzer, Hugo Oehler,
ment Workers Union in New York City in Mas Shachtman, Carl Skoglund, Maurice
the early months of the New Deal in 1933, Spector, and Ame Swabeck, was elected.
even though their headquarters were close The session was capped by a dinner at which
to the union's most important mass "a total of 150 plates were set and every
meetings.'18 place filled with comrades who came to give
The state of affairs in the Communist their enthusiastic indorsement." Some
League can be gauged from the report in The $207.13 was collected at the dinner "for the
Militant concerning the Second National future work of the League."49
Conference of the organization in Septem­ Albert Glotzer has recorded that when he
ber 19 31. It noted that delegations were pres­ visited Trotsky a few weeks after this sec­
ent from branches in Toronto, Boston, New ond conference of the c l a , "I informed him
York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Kan­ that the League had approximately 200
sas City, and Minneapolis and that other members, of which 165 were dues paying.
branches in Montreal, New Haven, and . . . I was able to report that the official jour­
Richmond had not been able to afford to nal of the League, The Militant, although no
send delegates. This report commented on longer a weekly paper, had a printing of
difficulties that had been overcome since 3,000 copies of which 2,000 copies circu­
the first conference almost two years before, lated around the country."50
noting that "it cannot be denied that since
the first conference, that is, during the early
First Factionalism in the
period following it, a certain organizational
Trotskyist Ranks
slump set in which naturally also had its
political repercussions. The center became Although Cannon was unquestionably the
greatly weakened, the necessary means for senior figure in the ranks of the Trotskyist
carrying on the work were seriously cur­ organization, there was considerable discon­
tailed and naturally the obstacles in the way tent with his leadership. Cannon's attention
contained elements of friction. One of the to his duties was sometimes sporadic. Mail
blows was expressed in the inability to con­ went unanswered, and the newspaper some­
tinue the weekly publication of the Militant times did not get mailed out on time. Also,
which had begun in November 1928.. . . Yet Cannon opposed moves to convert The Mili­
the great vitality of the organization, the tant from a biweekly to a weekly, and for
power of the Left Opposition platform made the Greek-speaking Trotskyists and the
it possible to weather this period with only youth to publish their own periodicals. Late
minor disorganization in a few branches. So in 1929 Cannon disappeared entirely from
much so that capitulations or actual loss of group activities for three months, and when
membership during these trying difficulties he returned he offered no explanation for his
were exceedingly rare within our ranks." It absence.
was noted that "the branches of Boston, As a consequence of growing unhappiness
Philadelphia and St. Louis, which had wit­ about the way in which he was conducting
nessed particular difficulties, were reestab­ the League's affairs, the first anti-Cannon
lished." faction was formed. This occurred in late
The second conference dealt with a Politi­ 1929 or early 1930, and the group was
cal Report submitted by Shachtman, a trade headed by Shachtman, Abem, and Glotzer
union discussion led by Ame Swabeck, and (then of Chicago). They finally decided early
relations with the International Left Oppo­ in 1930 to send Shachtman to Europe to

t
United States: Cannon to Workers Party 769
 make personal contact with Trotsky and ex­ early years of the Trotskyist movement. He
plain to him this unsatisfactory state of af­ commented that "the American Trotskyist
fairs. movement was bom with two distinct ad­
This division in the ranks was only the vantages."52 One of these was that it was
first of several such crises that were to de­ formed only in 1928, by which time Trotsky
velop between Cannon and the group cen­ had clearly developed his distinctive ideo­
tering on Shachtman; this was to culminate logical position. The other was "one derived
a decade later in a definitive split between from the acknowledged leader of the organi­
the two elements. On this occasion the zation . . . in our case from Cannon. We have
schism was soon healed, although in 1934 listened to many attempts to ignore or deny
the Shachtman-Abem-Glotzer group again this fact but we never heard one of any
organized a bloc against Cannon. This new merit."53
split was ended unilaterally when Shacht­ This advantage, according to Shachtman,
man once again mended fences with was that "Cannon gave the American Trots­
Cannon.51 kyist movement a personal link with the
There were undoubtedly several reasons preceding revolutionary movements and
for the early development of this division therewith helped to preserve the continuity
within U.S. Trotskyist ranks. One was cer­ of the movement, a factor disdained by the
tainly organizational, in the sense that then dilettante and inordinately worshipped by
and later Cannon was to seem sporadically the bureaucrat but nevertheless regarded as
uninterested in routine work, which com­ highly important and precious by any re­
plicated the problems of maintaining a sta­ sponsible militant."
ble organization. Shachtman noted that Caiinon had been a
In addition, there were undoubtedly per­ significant younger leader of the iww before
sonality clashes. Cannon was substantially World War I, had been one of the first sup­
older than his critics. He was exceedingly porters of the Bolshevik Revolution, had led
proud of his working-class background and the fight against "illegality" and had been
tended to see his opponents—both in the the first chairman of the legal Communist
days of the Communist Party and in the Party. Furthermore, "from the beginning of
Trotskyist movement—as "New York in­ the movement, he was outstanding and
tellectuals, " resenting what he conceived to steady in his insistence that the organiza­
be their lack of knowledge of the "reality" of tion would never amount to much unless it
U.S. working-class life. There was certainly oriented itself primarily and mainly toward
some truth in Cannon's analysis: Shacht­ the proletariat, unless it rooted itself strong
man, at least, had an intellectual brilliance and deep in the organized labor movement,
and capacity for theoretical exegesis and de­ unless it became itself an overwhelmingly
bate which Cannon lacked. In addition, proletarian movement."54
Shachtman had a caustic wit which he un­ Shachtman argued that while Cannon
doubtedly turned against Cannon when "left far behind him the prejudices which
they disagreed. However, it was not until most Wobblies carried as their distinguish­
*939-4° that any serious differences in prin­ ing badge, he did not (or could not) free him­
ciple developed between the two groups. self in reality from the worst of them—that
corroding contempt for theory."55 Shacht­
man claimed that in the Trotskyist move­
The Role of fames P. Cannon
ment "they expected their leaders to show
Many years later, when he was long out of a respect for Marxian theory that would be
the official Trotskyist movement, Shacht­ manifested in a knowledge of its historical
man tried to assess Cannon's role in the development and an ability to employ that

770 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

knowledge in dealing with problems of the pelled from the Soviet Union and began the
day. Cannon had neither the knowledge nor first stage of his last exile by setting up resi­
the ability, as was well known to all his old dence on the island of Prinkipo, in Turkey.
friends and critics, but above all to himself. Once Trotsky was out of the Soviet Union
„S6
his U.S. followers sought to establish con­
As a consequence of this situation, tact. Cannon noted that "I wrote him a let­
Shachtman claimed that "Cannon choked ter; we soon received an answer," and added
off the potential for political development that "thereafter, except for the time he was
in literally dozens of comrades who came interned in Norway, until the day of his
under his influence by instilling in them a death, we were never without the most inti­
disdainful attitude toward 'theory' and 'the- mate contact with the founder and inspirer
orizers' and 'intellectuals' in general. His of our movement. "S8Trotsky's reply to Can­
insistence on a proletarian orientation for non's first letter arrived before the founding
the movement—so incontestably right in convention of the Communist League of
and of itself, now as much as at the begin­ America in May 1929. Cannon noted that
ning—was subverted to the denigration of "his answer, as all of his letters, as all of
'theorizers' and people 'abnormally' con­ his articles, was permeated with political
cerned with analyzing political and theoreti­ wisdom. His friendly advice helped us in
cal problems."57 solving our problems."59
Whether or not all of Shachtman's stric­ Shachtman was only the first American
tures on Cannon were entirely correct, it is Trotskyist to see Trotsky in Turkey. Among
clear that in many of his speeches and public those who made the pilgrimage was Albert
papers Cannon did tend to denounce "theo­ Glotzer, who went about a year after Shacht­
rizers" and "intellectuals." It is also almost man's visit. He ended up staying for two
certainly true that the perceptions of both months, while Trotsky worked on his His­
Cannon and Shachtman (and others) con­ tory of the Russian Revolution, for which
cerning the respective role of the intellec­ he was under contract with an American
tual and ideological leader and the organiza­ publisher.60
tional chieftain were important sources of
friction both in these early factional con­
The Weisbord Group
flicts in the Communist League and in sub­
sequently internal struggles within the During these years a second group in the
ranks of U.S. Trotskyism. United States sought affiliation with Inter­
national Trotskyism. This was the Commu­
nist League of Struggle, headed by Albert
The Evolution of U.S. Trotskyism
Weisbord. Weisbord had been a Communist
Party trade union leader of some importance
The First Contacts with Trotsky
in the 1920s. He was a Harvard graduate
Max Shachtman's trip to Prinkipo early in who had undertaken to organize the textile
1930 was the first personal contact which workers in the large Botany Mills plants in
his American followers had with Leon Passaic and Garfield, New Jersey. In the win­
Trotsky, although there had been some pre­ ter of 1925-26 the union which Weisbord
vious correspondence. At the time of the had established called a strike. Weisbord had
expulsion of the Trotskyists from the c p u s a been jailed, all strike meetings had been
They were unable to establish any direct banned, and Socialist leader Norman
contact with the Russian leader, since he Thomas had made a famous speech on the
was in internal exile in Soviet Central Asia. strikers' behalf in Garfield which had
However, early in 1929 Trotsky was ex­ brought his arrest, too. Finally, mainly due

United States: Cannon to Workers Party 771

 to Thomas's influence Weisbord was re­ ing to take a Marxist position toward past
leased; but the strike had been broken.61 events in other countries you take an oppor­
Two years later, Weisbord organized the Na­ tunist position toward future events in your
tional Textile Workers Union, the second of own country. I believe that without a radical
the "dual unions" established by the Com­ revision of your position on the central ques­
munists on directives from the Communist tion of the party, en effective rapproche­
International.62 However, in 1929 Weisbord ment between your organization and the In­
was expelled from the Communist Party. ternational Left Opposition cannot be
Although he apparently had some sympathy realized."64 Trotsky then cited another sub­
for Trotsky and his ideas, and the Commu­ ject of disagreement: "Up to now your group
nist League of America was already in exis­ has rejected our definition of the interna­
tence, Weisbord did not join th e c l a but tional Stalinist faction as bureaucratic cen-
organized his own group. For several years trism."65 He weint on to chastise Weisbord
he sought to prove to Trotsky that the Com­ and his friends for their attitude toward the
munist League of Struggle was more Trots­ Communist League. "To a considerable de­
kyist than the c l a . gree your criticism of the American League
The first exchange of correspondence be­ starts from wrong premises.. . . At the same
tween Weisbord and Trotsky appears to time you give your criticism a character so
have occurred in late 19 31. In reply to a immoderate, exaggerated and embittered
letter from Weisbord, Trotsky sent a copy of that we are forced to view you as an ideologi­
his letter to the National Executive Com­ cal trend not in the camp of the Interna­
mittee of the c l a . Trotsky wrote; "I cannot tional Opposition but of its adversaries, if
adopt your standpoint. Your criticism of the not of its open enemies."66
American League seems to me one-sided, Insofar as the Weisbord criticism that the
artificial and terribly exaggerated. You c l a was not sufficiently involved in mass

throw the League and the right wing to­ work was concerned, Trotsky rejoined, "Let
gether, which shows that you utterly disre­ us admit for a minute that the American
gard the fitness of things. You make fun of League lacks this or that possibility for mass
the publishing activity of the League and work. I agree that your group would be able
counterpose your 'mass action' to it. Have to complement the work of the American
you any mass activity behind you? Before League in that respect. But mass work must
one turns to the masses, one must construct be carried out on the basis of definite princi­
a principled basis. One begins as a propa­ ples and methods. Until the necessary una­
ganda group and develops in the direction of nimity on a number of fundamental ques­
mass action."63 tions is attained, disputes on 'mass work'
Weisbord persisted. In May 1932 he vis­ will inevitably remain fruitless. " s? Finally,
ited Trotsky and they had "several talks." Trotsky told Weisbord that "you must keep
In a subsequent letter written to the c l s at clearly in mind that the road to the Inter­
Weisbord's request, Trotsky indicated the national Left Opposition leads through
principal issues he thought separated that the American League; a second road does
organization from International Trots­ not exist. Unification with the American
kyism. Trotsky first mentioned the issue of League is possible only on the basis of the
working for the formation of a labor party in unity of principles and -5methods, which
the United States, a position which Trotsky must be formulated theoretically and veri­
opposed at that time. He wrote that "on the fied by experience."68
question of the labor party your organization Negotiations did take place between the
is very close to Lovestone's, which is notori­ Communist League of America and the
ously opportunistic... . while taking or try­ Communist League of Struggle. However,

772 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

these discussions were suspended by the couraged not only the Trotskyists but the
c l a in October 1932, and there is no indica­ Communists and Lovestoneites to try to
tion that they were renewed.63 Weisbord fi­ fish in the s p ' s troubled waters. At the same
nally gave up Marxism-Leninism altogether time other new radical groups were ap­
and became an American Federation of La­ pearing, the most significant of which, from
bor organizer.70 the Trotskyists' point of view, was the
American Workers Party, which A. ].
Muste's Conference for Progressive Labor
The “Turn to the Masses"
Action had set about establishing.
During 1933 the Communist League of The change in orientation of the Trotsky­
America substantially changed its orienta­ ists was reflected in various ways. For one
tion. Instead of talking largely to them­ thing, they began to publish The Militant
selves, and seeking to recruit on an individ­ three times a week. For another, they orga­
ual basis from the Communist Party, they nized national tours for several party lead­
began to seek to propagate their ideas and to ers, including Cannon, Shachtman, and
recruit new members to their ranks on a Hugo Oehler. In addition, they now began
much wider basis. There were several rea­ to try to establish contacts with elements
sons for this change. One was Trotsky's de­ in the Socialist Party and Young People's
cision,, after the collapse of the German Socialist League as well as within the Mus-
Communist Party in the face of the advent teite group and even with the Lovestoneites.
to power of the Nazi regime, that the Com­ The earliest serious involvement of the
intern and its national parties could not be Trotskyists in organized labor took place in
reformed. Trotsky's new orientation meant New York City, where in the latter part of
that the Trotskyist groups should no longer 1933 there was a recrudescence of the Hotel
consider themselves "oppositions" but and Restaurant Workers Union. The Trots­
rather full-fledged rivals and competitors of kyists had one member in that union who,
the national Communist parties, and that "after years of isolation .. . suddenly found
they should work toward establishing an al­ himself an influential figure."71 Another
ternative to the existing Stalinist-controlled member of the Communist League, B. J.
International—a new and "genuine" Com­ Field, described by Cannon as "a man of
munist International. many intellectual accomplishments," was
The renewed militancy of the organized sent into the union. Through his ability to
labor movement, starting in the early speak French he assumed leadership of a
months of the New Deal, was another factor group of French chefs who were the union's
contributing to the change in outlook and backbone. Through their influence he was
practice of the Trotskyists. For the first time chosen as union secretary.
they saw an opportunity to assume some Field had been an early member of the
role in leading the workers, who were rush­ Communist League. In 1932 he had been
ing to organize both in the old unions of the expelled from the c l a because, by Trotsky's
American Federation of Labor and in more description of the case, "he disturbs the
or less spontaneous new groups established unity of the organization and threatens its
outside the a f l . ability to act."71 He had then gone to Prin­
Developments within other elements of kipo and stayed with Trotsky for some time.
the radical movement also stimulated the Trotsky clearly valued his capacities as an
Trotskyists to change their strategy and tac­ economist and statistician and had circu­
tics. On the one hand, the outbreak of vio­ lated throughout the International Left Op­
lent factionalism within the Socialist Party position a document of Field's which
(still the largest of the radical groups) en­ Trotsky described as being "an evaluation

United States: Cannon to Workers Party 773

of the immediate cyclical tendencies of the their challenging Jay Lovestone to a debate
world market."73 on whether there was need for a new Inter­
There had been some exchange of corre­ national, Cannon arguing in favor, while
spondence between the c l a leadership and Lovestone supported the need to "reform
Trotsky concerning the latter's friendly and unify the Communist International."
treatment of Field.74 However, at the end of The debate, held on March 5, 1934, was at­
1932 Field and his wife, Esther, had been tended by more than a thousand people, "the
the only Americans present at the informal biggest audience that we had ever spoken to
conference of Trotsky with his followers on a political issue since our expulsion,"
during his short visit to Copenhagen.75 according to Cannon.80
Upon Field's return to the United States he
was readmitted to the League and became
an economic writer for The Militant.76 The Minneapolis Strikes
Early in 1934 the Hotel and Restaurant
Workers Union declared a general strike of Although the New York hotel workers'
its members in New York City hotels and strike, the Trotskyists' debut in trade union
restaurants. Field led this strike, but the activity, did not result in any lasting gain in
Trotskyists soon became upset by his failure Trotskyist influence in organized labor, a
to consult with the League on his conduct series of walkouts of teamsters in Minneap­
of the walkout. After remonstrating with olis a few weeks later gave the Communist
him various times, the National Committee League its first real foothold in the trade
of the League finally expelled him from its union movement. This activity began with
ranks once again, while the strike was still a strike in unionized coal yards, led by a
under way. The strike was finally resolved group of Trotskyites who were working
on a basis not very satisfactory to the there, which was quickly won by the work­
union.77 ers. This success triggered a rapid general
Once out of the Communist League, Field organizing campaign among the teamsters
establish an organization of his own, the of the city, led by an Organizing Committee
League for a Revolutionary Workers Party. made up in large part of members of the
It established fraternal contacts with a group Communist League.
of disaffected Canadian Trotskyists and for Once they had a large percentage of the
a while maintained a kind of international city's teamsters organized, the Trotskyists
organization.78 The Fieldites continued to and their colleagues in the Organizing Com­
consider themselves as being broadly mittee began planning for a general strike to
aligned with Trotskyism. At the time of the force the employers to recognize the union,
expulsion of the Trotskyists from the Social­ Local S74 of the International Brotherhood
ist Party in 1937 the Fieldite paper Labor of Teamsters. They established a strike
Front commented that "as for the position headquarters, equipped not only with a
of the l r w p , our policy remains what it has kitchen to serve the strikers and their fami­
been: to approach such groups as the Trots­ lies but a dispensary staffed with a doctor
kyites, with whom we have many things and nurses to take care of strikers who might
politically in common, with a view to prac­ get hurt on the picket line.
tical collaboration and political discussion The first general teamsters strike took
in order to test the possibilities of political place in May and lasted only six days. It
agreement and of organizational merger."79 was finally settled on the basis of employer
The Fieldites did not survive World War II. recognition of the union, although no eco­
One notable event reflecting the new ori­ nomic gains were made at that time, a fact
entation of the Trotskyists after 1933 was which provoked strident Communist Party

774 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

 attacks on the Trotskyist leaders for having to the strike was the issuance of a special
"betrayed" the workers. newspaper for the occasion, the Daily Orga­
However, the May general strike was only nize1. Although it was distributed to anyone
a prelude to a much more serious walkout who asked for it, those taking copies were
two months later. When the newly recog­ asked for a contribution and this income
nized union presented collective bargaining largely financed the strike.
demands, the Citizens Alliance, an open- After five weeks the strike was finally
shop employers' organization of long stand­ ended with "a settlement which was a sub­
ing, began to encourage resistance to the stantial victory for the union." This walk­
union's demands. On the other hand, the out established the leadership of the Trots­
union, and particularly the Trotskyists of kyists in Local 574 of the Teamsters as well
the Organizing Committee, mobilized the as assuring them for nearly a decade of a
backing of the Central Labor Union of the leading place in the organized labor move­
local a f l to support the teamsters in their ment in Minneapolis. This leadership, ironi­
demands and in a new walkout should it cally, was to be the major cause for the per­
occur. secution and prosecution of national
The second teamsters' general strike in Trotskyist leaders by the Roosevelt govern­
Minneapolis began on July 16, 1934. This ment during World War II.81
time the walkout lasted five weeks and be­
came a fundamental showdown between
the city's organized labor movement and the The Workers Party of the
open shop employers who had long domi­ United States
nated Minneapolis. The leadership of the
Communist League of America became very The Formation of the Workers Party
much involved in this walkout. In addition
to giving it wide publicity in The Militant As part of its "turn towards the masses,"
and through other media, Max Shachtman instead of concentrating its attention solely
and a sympathizer, Herbert Solow, were on recruiting individuals from the Commu­
brought in to handle press relations on the nist Party, the Communist League devel­
spot. Albert Goldman was brought up from oped contacts with, among other groups, the
Chicago to serve as a general counsel for the Conference for Progressive Labor Action,
strikers, and Hugo Oehler came from New which early in 19 3 4 had been converted into
York to organize the unemployed in support the American Workers Party. Shortly, these
of the walkout. James Cannon was on hand contacts developed into serious discussions
to give general political advice to the Trots­ of the possibility of merging the two groups.
kyist strike leaders. The Conference for Progressive Labor Ac­
Several of these people as well as the tion was headed by a former Presbyterian
Trotskyists among the strike leaders partici­ minister, A. J. Muste, a pacifist of socialist
pated in the negotiations with mediators orientation. In the 1920s and early 1930s
sent in by the federal government as well as Muste had established and run the Brook-
with state officials. When Governor Floyd wood Labor College in Westchester County,
Olson finally declared martial law, Cannon New York, an institution for training union
and Shachtman were immediately arrested officials and organizers which had enjoyed
and after being held overnight were "exiled" the support principally of unions under the
to St. Paul, across the Mississippi River, influence of the Socialist Party. The Confer­
whence they continued to confer each eve­ ence for Progressive Labor Action was first
ning with strike leaders. established as an arm of Brookwood, to coor­
Another aid which the Trotskyists gave dinate and give direction to practical train­

United States: Cannon to Workers Party 775

ing in the field for those who had studied at The American Workers Party (a w p ) had
the college. been established by the Musteites early in
Muste and those who were closest to him 1934. Among other things, it called in its
began in the early 1930s to develop their program for establishment of a new Interna­
own political perspective. Unhappy with tional, a position similar to that the Trots­
both the Socialist and Communist parties, kyists had recently adopted. It was also
they developed the thesis that there was highly critical of both the U.S. Socialist and
need for a third radical party standing some­ Communist parties and the internationals
where between the two major radical to which they were affiliated.8'* However,
groups. This orientation brought them into the a w p was a heterogeneous movement. It
particularly close contact with the Trots­ included elements such as Louis Budenz
kyists. and Arnold Johnson, who were leaning to­
Clearly, so long as the Trotskyist self-per­ ward the Communist Party and joined it
ception was that of being "opposition" soon after the merger with the Trotskyists.
Communists, they had little sympathy for There were trade union elements recruited
the orientation of the Musteites. However, in the Auto-Lite strike and in the process
once Leon Trotsky had decided that his fol­ of the Musteites' organization of a move­
lowers should give up the idea of trying to ment of the unemployed. There were such
reform the Comintern and its parties and try people as James Burnham, who were at the
instead to establish a completely separate moment in agreement with the Trotskyists
movement, there was ground for discussion on most issues. There were also some trade
with Muste and his followers. This was par­ union officials such as J. B. S. Hardman
ticularly true after Trotsky proclaimed "the (J. B. Salutsky), editor of Advance, the
French Turn/' that is, the policy of entering newspaper of the Amalgamated Clothing
socialist parties in various countries to cap­ Workers, who were more socialist than Bol­
ture them if that was feasible and in any shevik.
case to recruit as many new supporters from In spite of the different elements within
their ranks as possible. the a w p , the Trotskyists were anxious to
There is a difference of opinion among merge with it. They made such an offer in
Trotskyists who participated in the merger the summer of 1934. Then after the conclu­
with the Musteites as to whether this was sion of the Minneapolis teamsters' strike
seen by Trotsky's American followers as an they set out in earnest to bring about a
application of the French Turn. Cannon merger. Cannon has noted that "we called
clearly said of the French Turn that "we on them to unite with us to form a new
translated it for America as an injunction to party to conquer the world. We reopened
hasten the amalgamation with the Ameri­ negotiations with a letter of September 7,
can Workers Party."92Albert Glotser, on the requesting the a w p to take a positive stand
other hand, has argued that the merger with in favor of unification and appoint a com­
the a w p was not seen as an application of mittee to discuss with us the program and
the French Turn, but rather was entered into the organization details. This time we re­
on the quite practical grounds that it would ceived a prompt reply from the American
double the Trotskyists' membership and Workers Party."85
that both groups had had somewhat similar The Trotskyists were* more interested in
experiences in leading segments of the re­ getting a "correct" program for the new
viving organized labor movement, the c l a party than in the organizational arrange­
in Minneapolis and the Musteites in an im­ ments within the new group. On the latter
portant auto workers' strike at the Auto- point they proposed parity, both in the new
Lite plant in Toledo, Ohio.®3 national committee and in the principal ex­

776 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

ecutive posts in the new organization, for majority." After a short discussion the con­
people coming from the Communist League vention unanimously endorsed merger with
and the a w p . After a number of bargaining the a w p .87
sessions in which Muste, J. B. Salutsky, Sid­ Labor Action noted that most of the de­
ney Hook, and James Burnham, among oth­ bate at the a w p convention preceding unity
ers, participated for the Musteites, and Can­ had dealt with the Declaration of Principles
non, Shachtman, Martin Abem, and Hugo of the new Workers Party. It also noted that
Oehier for the c l a , agreement was reached. "Because the a w p had no youth organiza­
It was decided that each organization would tion, it was decided that while youth mem­
hold its own national convention to ratify bers of the party were to be placed on the
the new program and constitution of the executive committee of the Spartacus
Workers Party, and then a joint convention Youth League {to become subsequently the
should meet formally to establish the party. youth organization of the new party] it
The first sessions were held from November would not be carried out on the 50-50 ba­
26-30, 1934, and the founding convention sis."88 Another article in Labor Action re­
of the Workers Party met on December 1 - ported on the convention of the Spartacus
2, I934-86 Youth League which met just after that of
After the unification convention one the Workers Party. Some thirty-eight dele­
more issue of each of the old groups' newspa­ gates were in attendance, representing 250
pers, The Militant and Labor Action, was "young workers," coming from New York,
published, each with the slogan "For the San Francisco, Chicago, Youngstown, De­
Workers Party of the United States." Each troit, Philadelphia, and Canada. The article
gave details on the convention of the c l a noted that "fraternal delegates from the for­
and the a w p and of the unity convention mer a w p attended the convention and took
and announced that the two publications an active part in the deliberations."89
would be succeeded by The N ew Militant.
The Militant, in its account of the c l a
Program of the Workers Party
convention, noted that Ante Swabeck had
reported existence of twenty-one branches The name of Leon Trotsky was not men­
"in the major industrial centers from the tioned in the Declaration of Principles and
Atlantic to the Pacific." There were forty- Constitution of the Workers Party of the
three delegates and "the composition of the U.S. On all essential issues, however, the
delegates was overwhelmingly proletarian, program of the new party conformed to the
many being deeply rooted in the trade union ideas then held by the Trotskyists. It pro­
movement." The convention was princi­ claimed that "The Workers Party of the U.S.
pally concerned with Cannon's report on is founded on the great principles of revolu­
"the international question, primarily the tionary theory and practice stated by Marx
recent Plenum of the International League and Lenin and tested by the experience of
to which he was a delegate and the so-called the class struggle on an international scale,
'French question/ " and with Shachtman's above all in the Russian Revolution of 19 17
report on negotiations with the American (the 'October Revolution')."90
Workers Party for unity. Although debate The new party was to be "Bolshevik" in
on the Cannon report took two days and organizational terms. The founding docu­
"a minority of comrades maintained that it ment proclaimed that "every member is ob­
was neither necessary nor correct to enter ligated to observe discipline in action. The
the French Socialist Party," the motion to administration of the party is centralized.
endorse the resolution of the international Lower units are subordinate to the higher
plenum was passed by "an overwhelming units. The National Committee as the rep­

I United States: Cannon to Workers Party 777

 resentative of the entire organization, same fundamental program as our own, and
elected at the Convention, has full authority to cooperate with them in the elaboration of
to act for the party and to enforce discipline a complete world program and the speediest
of subordinate units."91 possible establishment of the New Interna­
The Declaration of Principles proclaimed tional."95
the need for the workers to "take power and
put an end to the destructive course of capi­
talist dictatorship." It further proclaimed
that "the fundamental mass instrument of
this struggle for power, forged in the course
of united actions of the workers, will be the
Workers' Councils (Soviets)."92 Further­
more, "the revolutionary party likewise of
necessity leads the working class in the con­
solidation of its power after the victory, in
the organization of socialist economy, in the
suppression of internal counter-revolution-
ary enemies, and in wars of the workers'
states against capitalist states. The role of
the party as the leader of the class continues
until all forms of class organization, includ­
ing the state and the party, are finally dis­
solved in the classless society."93
The Workers Party also adopted the Trots­
kyist position on the USSR. It proclaimed,
"the Soviet Union is a workers' state, prod­
uct of the Russian revolution and beacon
light of inspiration to the workers of the
entire world.. . . The unconditional defense
of the Soviet Union against capitalist attack
is an elementary duty of every worker. . ..
Fundamentally this real defense of the So­
viet Union depends not upon the League of
Nations, non-aggression pacts, or any such
measures, but upon successful workers' rev­
olutions in other countries."94
Finally, the Trotskyist line on the need
for a new International was proclaimed in
the founding document of the Workers
Party. It read, "A new, i.e., a Fourth, Interna­
tional, based on the theoretic and strategic
principles laid down by Marx and Lenin,
representing the historic continuity of the
international revolutionary movement, and
applying these basic principles to the histor­
ical realities of the present stage of capitalist
decline, must be built." It pledged to cooper­
ate with any parties "which stand on the

778 United States: Cannon to Workers Party

 U.S. Trotskyism: The Cannon proceeding on to California where
the Trotskyists were beginning to gain some
French Turn in the strength.
United States The Workers Party also took some steps
to try to take advantage of the momentum
created by the unification of the c l a and
a w p to try to bring other Marxist-Leninist

groups into their merged organization. To

this end, they sent a letter signed by A. J.
Muste to the U.S. Proletarian Party, point­
The Workers Party of the U.S. had hardly ing out the establishment of the w p and ask­
been formed when a deep schism developed. ing for "a serious objective discussion on
This division centered on the French Turn, this urgent question of further unification
or specifically on the possibility that the of the revolutionary forces, thus providing
Workers Party might seek to enter the U.S. added impetus to the building of the new
Socialist Party. Both Cannon and Shacht­ revolutionary party and the new interna­
man favored such a move when the opportu­ tional."1
nity presented itself, while the opposition The Proletarian Party was established fif­
was led principally by Hugo Oehler and teen years before when the Michigan organi­
Thomas Stamm, both members of the Polit­ zation which had been part of the left wing
ical Committee of the Workers Party, and of the Socialist Party refused to join either
for a while by Muste, the party's national of the two original Communist groups, the
secretary. Communist Party and Communist Labor
Party, and remained independent. It pro­
claimed itself communist, supported the So­
Early Activities of the Workers Party
viet Union, but had certain peculiar ideas of
In the meantime, the Workers Party had got­ its own which kept it separated from the
ten off to what appeared to be a very good rest of the radical movement. There is no
start. Soon after it was established, National evidence that it gave any more friendly re­
Chairman Cannon and National Secretary ception to the overtures of the Workers
Muste took off across the country on an Party for unification than it had given to the
organizing tour. Cannon reported that "we Lovestoneites' proposals a couple of years
were received with enthusiasm along the before.
way. One could notice in the radical labor Meanwhile, the Workers Party had an­
movement a general spirit of appreciation of nounced a "Program of Action" soon after
the fact that a process of unification had it was established. This called, among other
begun after the long period of disintegration things, for doubling the party membership
and splits."1 within six months, raising a $5,000 "Party
The Cannon-Muste tour lasted about two Foundation Fund" within sixty days, build­
months. They traveled together through the ing the paid circulation of the New Militant
East and Middle West, ending this phase of to 10,000 and that of the party's "theoreti­
their trip in Minneapolis where they re­ cal" magazine, New International, to 6,000.
ceived a particularly enthusiastic reception They also proclaimed their intention to send
from th e ex-C L A leaders and rank and file, district organizers to at least five parts of
still basking in the afterglow of their victo­ the country, to "organize a national Party
ries in the local labor movement. From Min­ educational system" (including the first se­
neapolis Cannon and Muste went in differ­ mester of a resident school in New York], to
ent directions, Muste heading south and publish one "popular agitational pamphlet"

i
United States: The French Turn 779
each month; and to "launch an organization unanimously favored the idea—since the
of the Left-progressive wing in the trade Socialists would not have admitted them—
unions."3 the Cannon-Shachtman position had in
There is no question but that the Workers practice to be somewhat equivocal.
Party's reach exceeded its grasp in this am­ James Cannon has noted that he and
bitious program; in spite of the initial enthu­ Shachtman suggested that the w p ' s empha­
siasm which accompanied the establish­ sis on events in the Socialist Party be ex­
ment of the organization. Undoubtedly one pressed in three ways:
of the reasons why this was the case was the
(1) By numerous articles in our press ana­
early onset of factional fighting within the
lyzing the developments in the Socialist
party.
Party addressing ourselves to the Left
Wing workers, offering thertt advice and
The Oehlerite Split criticism in a friendly way. . . . [2) By in­
structing our members to establish per­
The French Turn problem first came into
sonal contacts among the Left Socialists,
the open at an Active Workers Conference
and try to get them interested in ques­
of the Workers Party held in Pittsburgh in
tions of principle, political discussions,
March 1935. This was supposed to be a
joint meetings with us, etc. {3) Form
meeting of "party activists . . . come to a
Trotskyist fractions in the Socialist Party.
central place to discuss practical work, re­
Send in a group—30 or 40 members—to
port on experiences, get acquainted with one
join the Socialist Party, and work inside
another, etc."4 However, those opposed to
it in the interests of the Bolshevik educa­
the French Turn insisted on bringing up that
tion of the Left Wing.*
issue at the meeting, with strong support
from Joseph Zack Komfedder, a long-time The result of the June plenum were
Stalinist who had recently come over to the summed up by N ew Militant. An article
Trotskyists because of opposition to Stalin's entitled "Plenum of N. C. of W. P. Spikes
abandonment of the sectarianism of the False Rumors/' began, "The June Plenum of
Comintern's Third Period. Muste opposed the National Committee of the w p took note
the raising of political issues at the Active of rumors to the effect that there are leaders
Workers Conference and was supported by and members of the wp who advocate that
Cannon and Shachtman. Cannon noted that the w p should join or merge with the Social­
"he pushed them back a little bit at Pitts­ ist Party." It then went on in bold print to
burgh, but we settled nothing."5 say, "Occasionally it is necessary to take
The next serious quarrel over the French account of rumor and gossip, no matter how
Turn issue came at the June 193 s Plenum absurd and irresponsible it may be, simply
of the Workers Party. At that meeting Muste because it is so persistent. Solely on this
aligned himself with Oehler and Martin Ab- ground, the Plenum hereby states that all
ern, who also opposed the idea of entering such reports are absolutely without founda­
the Socialist Party. They sought firm com­ tion, that no leaders or members of the w p
mitment of the Workers Party against the advocate or have advocated any such
French Turn in principle and against entry program."7
into the U.S. Socialist Party in particular. The Cannon-Shachtman group had a mi­
In contrast, the Cannon-Shachtman group nority at the June 1935 plenum, but the fac­
urged "major attention to the Left Wing and tional struggle continued. The Oehler-
all developments in the Socialist Party." Stamm group was by no means uninterested
However, given the fact that the Trotskyists in the struggle then going on within the
could not have been admitted to the Social­ Socialist Party and the possibility that the
ist Party at that moment even if they had Trotskyists could recruit substantial num-

780 United States: The French Turn

beis of members as a result. However, their zation, the Revolutionary Workers League
approach to the problem of recruiting within of the U.S. As the Trotskyists had been an
the s p was different from that of Cannon and "opposition" to the official Communist
Shachtman. Party, the Oehlerites became a left wing
The Oehler-Stamm group sought to bring "opposition" to the official Trotskyites, de­
substantial numbers of Left Wing Socialists voting most of their energies, at least in their
out of their party; hopefully as an organized early years, to trying to win converts from
group, which would merge with the Work­ their ranks.
ers Party. To this end they entered into nego­ Sidney Lens has noted that at its inception
tiations with a number of members of the the Revolutionary Workers League had
far left Revolutionary Policy Committee in about two hundred members.
the Socialist Party, looking toward a possi­
Clearly the r w l misjudged its potential,
ble merger of that group with the Trotsky­
yet it was made up of a remarkably com­
ists. When Oehler and Stamm reported
petent group of people. Dozens of r w l
these talks to the Political Committee of the
members who later drifted away became
w p , a negotiating committee was officially
immensely successful in the outside
established, headed by Cannon and from
world. Two became editors of Fortune
which Oehler and Stamm were excluded.
magazine. My good friend Joe Fox became
In due time Oehler and Stamm found that
head of a large cafeteria union in New
Cannon had not been urging the Socialists
York; another ex-comrade is still vice
to quit their party but rather to continue to
president of a national union with almost
fight within it. So Oehler and Stamm again
half a million members; a sympathizer
made contact with the Revolutionary Policy
from Southern Illinois who briefly joined
Committee people, which led to nothing in
the r w l became the secretary-treasurer
terms of merger but did result in Oehler and
of another good-sized national union. At
Stamm being brought up on charges before
least half a dozen became college profes­
the Control Commission of the Workers
sors, an equal number well-to-do busi­
Party. At that point, they were censured.®
nessmen, one a top civil servant in New
The final showdown on this issue came
York___ 10
at a new plenum in October 1935. There, a
demand of the Oehler-Stamm group that For some time the r w l was able to develop
they be permitted to publish their own fac­ a modest base in the rapidly growing trade
tional organ was rejected in a resolution union movement. They were involved in
written by Max Shachtman. The Plenum organizing department store workers in
also passed a motion by Muste—who had New York, the unemployed in New Jersey,
by then abandoned his alliance with Oehler taxi drivers in Washington, D.C., and the
and Stamm—which gave Oehler and Stamm auto workers in New York where for some
"a stem warning to cease and desist from years an r w l member was head of Local 2 0 5
further violations of party discipline. They of the u a w . Lens has noted that "The r w l ,
disregarded the warning and continued with too, had a rank-and-file base from which to
systematic violations of party discipline," start and we developed good personal rela­
according to James Cannon, who added that tions with many of the noncommunist offi­
"on that ground they were expelled from the cials in the u a w —men like Dick Franken­
party shortly after the October Plenum."9 stein, a national vice president. . .
However, as Lens noted, the sectarianism
of the Oehlerites ultimately lost them what­
Later Evolution oi Oehlerites
ever trade union influence they had ac­
Once out of the Workers Party, the Oehler- quired. Typical was the case described by
Stamm group established their own organi­ Lens of Local 205. He noted that "the other

United States: The French Turn 781

 side of this purist attitude was a growing cialist program and sponsorship; Build a
tension between the r w l leadership, which new Marxist Party in Spain; Create Soviets;
insisted on further 'politicalization'—that Nationalize Industry and Banks; Workers
is, raising the issue of a six-hour day, worker Control of Production; Land to the Peasants;
control of production, and so on—and etc."’“ These indicated not only the extreme
Ziggy," the head of Local 205. Lens added left position of the group but also its ig­
that "a middle ground could have been norance of the real revolution which had
found, perhaps, but it wasn't and the recrim­ occurred [under Anarchist influence) in Loy­
inations became ever sharper until Ziggy alist Spain, particularly in Catalonia and Ar­
resigned from the League, leaving us with agon, in the early period of the Civil War.15
nothing but a memory for our efforts."12 The Oehlerites succeeded in getting to­
Among the principal figures in the League gether a species of International of their
was Russell Blackwell, who went under the own, "The International Contact Commis­
name of Rosario Negrete. When the Civil sion." It consisted not only of the Revolu­
War broke out in Spain, the Oehlerites de­ tionary Workers League of the U.S.A., but
cided to send Negrete to Spain. There he also of the Central Committee of the Red
worked for some time with the left wing of Front of Greater Germany, and the Leninist
the Partido Obrero de Unificaci6n Marxista League of Scotland.16 This commission is­
(p o u m ), and sent back glowing reports of sued a publication called International
his successes with them. As a result, Hugo News.
Oehler himself decided to go to Spain. The Oehlerites continued to maintain a
Oehler soon became disenchanted with the Trotskyist position on most essential mat­
situation and started to return home. How­ ters, including the question of the nature of
ever, he was arrested by police controlled by the Soviet Union. At the time of the Nazi
the Communist Party and was allowed to attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941
leave Spain only after intervention by the their newspaper, The Fighting Worker, de­
U.S. Embassy. Negrete had an even harder clared that "the workers of the world must
time getting out of Spain, spending some come to the aid of the Soviet Union in its
time in a Spanish g p u dungeon. He too fi­ revolutionary war of defense against imperi­
nally got out as the result of U.S. Embassy alism and its fascist agents who hope to
intervention.13 make a colony out of the Soviet Union."
The Oehlerites' position on the Spanish This same article speculated on the possibil­
Civil War exemplifies their general orienta­ ity of "a semi-truce" between Britain and
tion in their first years. At the time the So­ Germany, and even that Britain "will even,
cialist Party was trying to recruit volunteers despite any promises, come to the aid of
to fight in the Loyalist army in a so-called Germany, to accomplish the overthrow of
Debs Column, the Revolutionary Workers the Soviet Union." The article observed that
League issued "an Open Letter to the "it is now clear that the Red Army seizures
Friends of the Debs Column." In it they of Baltic areas were d e f e n s i v e steps against
stated that "the column is going to defend an Imperialist attack under German lead­
at the same time the Peoples Front capitalist ership."17
government. . . . The Debs column when it A month later the Revolutionary Workers
places itself at the disposal of the People's League announced, in connection with the
Front Government, becomes a tool in the indictment of the leaders of the Socialist
hands of one section of capitalism against Workers Party, that it "has written to the
another section.” The letter ended with a s w p and offered its full support in this strug­

series of slogans, all printed in capital let­ gle." The announcement called for "a broad
ters, which demanded "Break with the So­ united front whose main task will be to mo­

782 United States: The French Turn

bilize the aggressive support of the broad formed the Leninist League in 1937 and con­
masses."18 tinued to exist until the early 1950s. Ac­
The Oehlerites themselves were ex­ cording to Marlen, it successively gave up
pecting to be persecuted by the Roosevelt allegiance to Trotsky, Lenin, and finally
administration, and they prepared to go un­ Marx, whom Marlen eventually came to re­
derground. Sidney Lens has noted that "we gard as a "German Nationalist and anti-
rented a room on Huron Street where we Semite."21 Max Shachtman concluded con­
stored files. Oehler moved to Denver where cerning the Marlenites that "one must be a
he kept his address a secret, even from me. blood relation of the immediate family, or
And a couple of other comrades went into at least related to it by marriage, in order to
hiding, for both personal and political rea­ qualify for membership. This has the unfor­
sons." Lens added that "it was all unneces­ tunate effect of somewhat reducing the
sary, however, for there were no arrests or arena of recruitment, but it does guarantee
convictions of radicals after Pearl Harbor. against contamination."23
The only problem we in the r w i . had to Others who broke away from the Oehler­
contend with was the periodic refusal of the ites to form small groups included Dave At­
Post Office to mail our paper, the Fighting kins, who joined forces with a group of Ital-
Worker. Even that was rectified, how­ ian-Americans who were followers of
ever."19 Amadeo Bordiga; and Karl Mienov, who
The Oehlerites continued in existence un­ maintained that the Spanish Civil War was
til some time after World War II. In their an imperialist struggle on both sides. The
decade-long career they suffered a number Atkins group continued for some time after
of splits. In 1938 Thomas Stamm, coleader World War II.24
of the group, broke away to form a Revolu­
tionary Workers League of his own. The
The Turn Toward the Socialist Party
principal source of his dissidence, appar­
ently, was a belief that the Oehlerites were The culmination of Trotsky's French Turn
too much oriented toward being an Opposi­ insofar as the Trotskyists of the United
tion to the Trotskyists, centering their at­ States was concerned was their entry into
tention as a result on events in Europe and the Socialist Party in mid-1936. This did not
trying too little to get involved in problems take place without considerable travail on
and movements in the United States. The both sides.
Stammites had small groups in Detroit, Chi­ The Socialist Party had been experiencing
cago, Philadelphia, New York, and one or increased convulsion and factionalism for
two other cities.20 about four years. The leadership which had
In 1940 Stamm sought to bring together been running the party since the split with
with his group some dissident Socialist La­ the Communists in 19 19-20 was challenged
bor Party people as well as the Fieldites and in the early 19 3os by a group of younger men
others. When this move failed, his organiza­ and women who differed with their elders
tion, known by then as the Revolt Group, on a number of issues.
went out of existence. An effort by Stamm The "Militants," as the young left wingers
and a handful of friends to negotiate condi­ were called, were much more sympathetic
tions for reentry into the Revolutionary to the Soviet Union than were the leaders of
Workers League in 1946, in response to an the Old Guard, who after the early 1920s
"Open Letter to All Revolutionists" by the had developed an unrelenting aversion to
Oehlerites, failed.21 the USSR. Along with this more sympa­
Another group to break away was a small thetic view of the Soviet Union went a
element headed by George Marlen. They greater willingness on the part of the Mili­

United States: The French Turn 783

 tants to engage in some kinds of joint activi­ By late 193s the conflict had come to the
ties with the official Communists and the verge of split. Two rival organizations were
schismatic Communist groups, including established in New York City, the largest
the Trotskyites. Another issue between the center of Socialist membership, and in the
two socialist groups concerned the trade spring of 1936 there were actually primary
union movement. The Militants were in­ elections within the Socialist Party {then a
creasingly critical of the old-time socialist "legal" party in New York State) to choose
leaders in the garment trades and other delegates to the national convention—elec­
unions, and at the same time were much tions won by the Militants. Finally, at the
more interested than the Old Guard in try­ Cleveland convention in June 1936 the Old
ing to gain influence among the many inde­ Guard walked out to form its own organiza­
pendent unions which arose outside the tion, the Social Democratic Federation.
American Federation of Labor early in the So long as serious efforts were being made
New Deal. Finally, the Militants and the to maintain the unity of the Socialist Party,
Old Guard differed fundamentally—al­ the possibility of the Trotskyists being ac­
though this did not become completely clear cepted in its midst was virtually nonexis­
until after the Old Guard left the party—on tent. Although a few individual dissident
the attitude to be assumed toward the New Communists—Herbert Zam and Ben Git-
Deal. The Militants saw their party as the low from the ranks of the Lovestoneites, and
left-wing opposition to the New Deal, while Albert Goldman, a Trotskyist—were ac­
the Old Guard increasingly sought to be­ cepted as members, mass entry of the Trots­
come the left wing of the New Deal. kyists was impossible. However, in the lat­
The Militants tended to rally around Nor­ ter phases of the Militant-Old Guard
man Thomas, the only new figure of na­ struggle Norman Thomas developed the no­
tional importance to appear in the Socialist tion of the Socialist Party becoming an "all-
Party in the wake of the Communist defec­ inclusive" party. The exact meaning of this
tions of the post-World War I period. was unclear, but it certainly involved the
Thomas was not basically concerned with idea of welcoming those who had broken
the fine points of ideology and exegesis with the official Communist movement and
which the Militants raised against the Old were willing to come into the Socialist Party
Guard but he was interested in trying to to help build it into the major force in the
orient the party toward the major problems left wing of U.S. politics.25 Although
of the U.S. economy, society, and politics, Thomas had probably not thought in terms
an effort which he saw as being hampered of merging with whole organizations such
by the innate caution and sometimes en-' as the Workers Party, by the spring of 1936
trenched interests of the Old Guard. he was willing to consider the idea, as were
The conflict first reached national atten­ his Militant associates.
tion at the 1932 convention of the Socialist This radical new twist in the French Turn
Party, at which Thomas and the Militants met some resistance within the Workers
sought to displace Old Guard leader Morris Party. Even after the exit of the Oehlerites, a
Hillquit as national chairman. Although group in the w p leadership strongly opposed
this effort failed, the Militant ranks grew entry into the Socialist Party. This was par­
rapidly thereafter—and an even further-left ticularly true of A. J. Muste and others from
group, the Revolutionary Policy Committee the old American Workers Party. By the
(r p c ), appeared. In the 1934 convention of time of the merger of the a w p and the Com­
the party a new Declaration of Principles, a munist League, Trotsky had already called
confusing hodgepodge of revolutionary rhet­ for ending the French Turn in France, and
oric and modifying reservations, was pushed the AW Pers then expressed their opposition
through by the Militants and the r p c . to any merger with the Socialist Party in the

784 United States: The French Turn

United States. They wangled an agreement ence. In many states and cities the s p was so
from the Trotskyists to concentrate efforts inadequately organized that the Trotskyists
on building up the Workers Party as an alter­ would become the Socialist Party as far as
native to both the Socialist and Communist those areas were concerned."30
parties, and that no move would be taken to Trotsky finally sent a cable to Rose Kars-
liquidate the Workers Party into the s p . The ner, Cannon's companion, on January 24,
Musteites in the Workers Party were sup­ 1936: "Personally in favor of entry—Leo."
ported by an older Trotskyist element He followed with detailed instructions to
headed by Martin Abem and others.2* the American Trotskyist leaders, warning
Although there was considerable internal them to work cautiously once they were in
debate in the Workers Party, the faction fa­ the Socialist Party and to get very much
voring entry into the Socialist Party, led by involved in the s p ' s organization and cam­
Cannon and Shachtman, gradually gained paigns. He warned that "the greatest endur­
ground. For one thing, Trotsky favored the ance, a calm, friendly tone is indispensable.
step, although it is not clear that he "or­ Naturally, the tone can and will change
dered" it. Shachtman insisted later that when you already have the necessary points
Trotsky approved the entry into the s p once of support and when big political questions
it had occurred, but did not direct that his come upon the order of the day."31
followers take the step.27 On the other hand, A Workers Party convention in March
Muste insisted that Abern had received a 1936 finally decided in favor of entry into
cable from Trotsky while the debate was the Socialist ranks. Cannon later com­
still under way indicating that entry into mented that "the minority, which was a
the Socialist Party was in conformity with very small minority by then, accepted the
the international Trotskyist line.23 decision. There was nothing else they could
It is clear that letters were exchanged by do."32
Cannon and Shachtman with Trotsky be­ Meanwhile, negotiations had been under
fore the decision to enter the Socialist Party way between the Trotskyists and leaders of
was taken. Cannon and Shachtman warned the Socialist Party. Herbert Zam, an ex-
that without the Trotskyites being in their Lovestoneite who had entered the Socialist
ranks after the split with the Old Guard, Party some time before, played a key role in
"there is not merely a potential, but a very establishing these contacts. He aided Can­
real danger that the bulk of the leftward non in arranging meetings with a number of
movement in the Socialist Party would be Militant leaders, including Gus Tyler, Mur­
swallowed up, and consequently, vitiated ray Baron, Andrew Biemiller, and Paul
and destroyed by Stalinists."29 Porter.33
M. S. Venkataramani has paraphrased Sidney Hook was the principal intermedi­
other arguments by Cannon and Shachtman ary in arranging a meeting between the
in their correspondence with Trotsky: Trotskyist leaders and Norman Thomas. In
"Once inside the Socialist Party, Cannon his own discussions with Thomas, Hook ap­
and Shachtman asserted, the Trotskyists parently laid particular stress on the impor­
had nothing much to worry about. Their tance of a group of intellectuals in the Trots­
trained and resolute cadres were more than kyist periphery, including Louis Hacker,
a match for the so-called militants. With the Charles Yale Harrison, Max Eastman, John
exit of the old guard, the s p bureaucracy Dos Passos, and Lionel Trilling, who would
would be weak and inexperienced. The Par­ be attracted to the Socialist Party if it were
ty's loose structure would enable the Trots­ to admit the Trotskyists.34
kyists to maintain their own publications In retrospect, Thomas was to admit that
and thus carry on their propaganda without the most serious single political mistake he
a break and, indeed, to a much larger audi­ made as leader of the Socialist Party was to

United States: The French Turn 785

 support the admission of the Trotskyists to their admission. It was decided that the
its ranks 3S However, in the months before Workers Party would dissolve as a separate
it happened, Thomas favored the move. In organization, that its periodicals, The N ew
February 1936 he wrote Arthur McDowell, Militant and N ew International, would
then state secretary of the Illinois Socialist cease publication, and that the members of
Party: "As for the Workers' Party, I should the Workers Party would be accepted "as
like most of them in as individuals. I think individuals" into the various branches and
they would strengthen us in Minneapolis, locals of the Socialist Party. As a conse­
but we in New York are very much afraid of quence, the last issue of The N ew Militant
taking them as a group with their loyalty to as the organ of the Workers Party was pub­
Trotsky and to the Trotskyite organization, lished in June 1936. It announced the w p 's
their genius for controversy and faction and dissolution and the entry of its members
their bitter opposition to other groups. If into the Socialist Party and proclaimed, "We
they'd come as individuals it would be an­ enter the Socialist Party as we are, with our
other matter."36 In June Thomas wrote a ideas."40
group of Pennsylvania Socialists that "if
some former members of the Workers' Party
The Trotskyists in the Socialist Party
will accept . . . the Socialist Declaration of
Principles, the Socialist Platform, the So­ There is no doubt that the Trotskyists went
cialist Constitution, the Socialist discipline into the Socialist Party in 1936 with the
. . . honestly it seems to me in this crisis we intention of capturing it if they could, or
have room for them. But I have warned our leaving it again with as many new recruits
comrades in New York to be cautious and as possible. They certainly had no intention
careful in their examination of each individ­ of really dissolving their organization in the
ual and in deciding whether or not to receive Socialist ranks.
them into the Party."37 The Political Bureau of the Workers Party
Actual negotiations for entry of the Work­ continued to meet in New York City each
ers Party members into the s p were con­ Monday night to plan the strategy within
ducted between Cannon and Shachtman on the Socialist Party.'*1 In the individual
one hand and Norman Thomas on the other. branches and locals of the s p the Trotskyites
Details were then negotiated between the threw themselves energetically into Social­
two Trotskyist leaders and Jack Altman, ist activities. There was some disagreement
Herbert Zam and Gus Tyler for the Socialist among ex-members of the Workers Party as
Party.38 to just what their role should be within the
These negotiations were all "informal" in s p . Some of them, like Albert Glotzer {who

the sense that, at least on the Socialist Party had at first opposed entry into the s p , felt
side, they were never officially authorized that once inside Socialist ranks they should
by the National Executive Committee or get as deeply involved as possible in day-
any other official body. Max Shachtman has to-day work rather than concentrating on
suggested that the reason for this somewhat factional activity. At one point Glotzer went
peculiar method of negotiation was the de­ to Mexico to confer with Trotsky on this
sire of the Socialists not to recognize the issue. However, he found that although
Workers Party as a group of equal status to Trotsky was upset by the way his followers
the Socialist Party, and fear that a formal were behaving, his concern was the reverse
fusion of the two parties might alienate of Glotzer's. He was afraid they were becom­
many Socialist members and sympa­ ing so involved in the Socialist Party that
thizers.39 they were in danger of losing their separate
In any case, the Trotskyists had to pay a identity.42
considerable price, at least temporarily, for At the other extreme to Glotzer was A. J.

786 United States: The French Turn

Muste, who like Glotzer had originally op­ where the Socialists were also weak in 1936.
posed entry into the Socialist Party. Muste The ex-Workers Party people had a majority
continued to think it was a bad idea. In jfune or close to it in the Socialist ranks once they
1936/ when Trotsky was still living in Nor­ joined them. For all practical purposes, the
way, Muste made a trip to Europe, where he Trotskyist youth became the Young Peoples
spent a week with Trotsky. Trotsky tried Socialist League in Chicago. Albert Glotzer
unsuccessfully to convince Muste of the va­ and other Trotskyists were soon elected to
lidity of the French Turn. Muste then went the party's city committee.4*
to Holland and Belgium where he conferred Chicago was important to the Trotskyists
with Trotskyist leaders, and in July he at­ for another reason. There Albert Goldman,
tended an international Trotskyist meeting a Trotskyist who had entered the Socialist
in Paris where breaking up the Socialist par­ Party shortly before the Workers Party was
ties and taking their militants who would formed, had established a mimeographed
constitute the new revolutionary interna­ bulletin, Socialist Appeal, which was an of­
tional were extensively discussed. This ficial publication of the Socialist Party of
meeting completely alienated Muste from Illinois before entry of the Workers Party
Trotskyism, and when he returned home he people. Cannon noted that "as soon as our
again became a Presbyterian minister and party became oriented toward entry into the
abandoned partisan political activity.43 Socialist Party, we reestablished collabora­
The Trotskyists were not entirely happy tion so effectively that when we gave up
with the kind of reception they received our press in response to the demand of the
from the Socialist Party leaders when they leaders of the Socialist Party, we already had
joined the sp . They felt they "weren't treated an agreement with Goldman that the Social­
as equals," and they particularly resented ist Appeal. . . would become an official or­
not being invited to join the editorial boards gan of the Trotskyist faction."47
of the Socialist Call and other party publica­ Another center of major Trotskyist infil­
tions.44 tration was California. The heads of the So­
The Trotskyists had considerable success cialist Party there, Glenn and Cary Trimble,
in winning control of local and state organi­ were sympathetic to the Trotskyists, who
zations of the Socialist Party. In Minnesota, were reinforced soon after they entered the
where they had one of their principal centers sp by Cannon, who moved to California "for
of strength and the Socialists had only a his health." By the end of 1936 the state
small organization, the Trotskyists immedi­ Socialist Party had launched a weekly news­
ately took control of the s p in Minneapolis paper, Labor Action, with Cannon as editor.
and in the state. In the 1936 election Vincent Several years later, Cannon wrote that "La­
Dunne, the Trotskyist leader, was the only bor Action was published under the aus­
statewide Socialist Party candidate, running pices of the Socialist Party of California, but
for secretary of state. The Minnesota Social­ if it was not a Trotskyist agitational paper,
ist platform proclaimed that the Socialists I will never be able to make one. We tried
were not running a full slate against the our best to utilize it in that sense."48
Farmer Labor Party ( r t p ) , but were running In February 1937 the Trotskyists openly
Dunne so that workers who voted for the f l p reorganized as a faction of the Socialist
to keep out the Republicans and Democrats Party. This action took place at a national
"can register their vote for the Socialist Socialist Appeal Conference in Chicago.
Party of Minnesota," and added that "only Cannon wrote that
a revolutionary Socialist Party can in reality
champion the immediate and ultimate Socialist Party members were invited
needs of the toilers."45 from all parts of the country to come to
The Trotskyists also did well in Chicago, Chicago to discuss ways and means of

United States: The French Turn 787

 advancing the interests of the party. Ev­ Benjamin Stolberg, and Louis Hacker.52
erybody was welcome regardless of his "Natives," as the Trotskyists called those
background or his factional alignment. who belonged to the Socialist Party before
The sole condition was that he agree with they joined it, helped extensively in this
the program of the Socialist Appeal, campaign. Norman Thomas spoke at one of
which happened to coincide with the pro­ its major meetings in Chicago, while Roy
gram of the Fourth International. . .. On Burt, national secretary of the party, spoke
that basis and in that form we constituted along with Max Shachtman in New York
in Chicago in the early winter of 1937 City. The s p also published a pamphlet by
what amounted in effect to a new nation­ Francis Heisler, a Trotskyist, on the issue.53
wide Left Wing in the Socialist Party.45 Another advantage Cannon saw in Trots­
kyist membership was their ability to push
Frank Trager, the National Labor Secre­ their point of view on the Spanish Civil War.
tary of the Socialist Party and a member of He wrote that "we fought to clarify the af­
the Clarity Caucus faction, wrote Norman fairs taking place in Spain and to educate
Thomas that some one hundred people were the cadres of the American party on the
present at the Appeal Conference, about 25 meaning pf those events. Our entry into the
percent of whom had not belonged to the Socialist Party facilitated this campaign,
Workers Party. Of the resolutions passed at gave us an audience right at hand inside of
the conference, Trager noted that "we what was then our own party."54
would agree with very few of them."50 Finally, membership in the Socialist Party
Cannon argued that aside from gaining a helped the Trotskyists to establish contacts
substantial number of new members, the with the labor movement. Cannon noted
Trotskyists made three major gains by their that they were able particularly to establish
passage through the Socialist Party. First, contacts and a modicum of influence among
wide support for the Trotsky Defense Com­ the maritime workers of California, where
mittee was mobilized to counter charges they organized "the first nucleus of a Trots­
made against Trotsky during the Moscow kyist fraction, "5S and among the auto­
Trials. As Cannon put it, "We were then in workers, "where up to then, we had never
the most favorable situation as members of had anything more than an occasional
the Socialist Party—and, therefore, sur­ contact."56
rounded to a certain extent with the protec­
tive coloration of a half-way respectable
The Stalinists and the French Turn
party—and we couldn't be isolated as a
small group of 'Trotskyists.' . . ."51 The So­ The Stalinists commented extensively and
cialist Call, official organ of the Socialist vituperatively about the presence of the
Party, noted formation of the American Trotskyists in the Socialist Party. They
Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky wept many crocodile tears, "warning" the
in November 1936. It listed "among the Socialists of the dire consequences which
membership" of the group Norman would result from their association with
Thomas, John Dewey, Freda Kirchwey, Su­ people whom Earl Browder, in a speech in
zanne La Follette, Devere Allen, Edmund Madison Square Garden, called "the first
Wilson, Louis Adamic, Professor E. A. Ross, line attack of fascism among the masses."S7
Joseph Wood Krutch, H. M. Kallen, James Typical of the line of attack of the official
T. Farrell, Professor William H. Kilpatrick, Communists during this period was an arti­
Max Eastman, Sidney Hook, Inez Haynes cle by Clarence Hathaway entitled "Trots­
Irwin, James Rorty, Professor Paul Brissen- kyism in the United States," which ap­
den, Vincent R. Dunne, John Chamberlain, peared in The Communist in March 1937.

788 United States: The French Turn

He wrote that "with Trotsky carrying on his Stalinist diatribes against the Trotskyists:
poisonous propaganda freely from Mexico "The Trotskyists must be driven out! There
and giving guidance to his followers here, is no room for scabs, splitters and assassins
now firmly entrenched in the Socialist in the labor movement! The People's
Party, much harm is being done to the So­ Front—the Farmer-Labor Party—uniting all
cialist Party itself and through it to the workers and honest progressives, must be
whole labor movement. Trotskyism has be­ pushed forward with ever greater vigor as
come a serious menace against which the the weapon of the masses against reaction
whole labor movement, and in the first and its Trotskyist agents. " S9
place, the Socialists must be alarmed." Ha­
thaway also had some friendly advice for the
Growing Resistance to Trotskyists in
Socialists: "Though most of the Socialist
the Socialist Party
Party members are not Trotskyists and even
opposed to Trotskyism, they are without The "natives" in the Socialist Party grew
inner organization for the defense, of the increasingly restive with the presence of the
party and without courageous leaders who Trotskyists in their midst. However, it was
will boldly take up the fight for socialism about a year before they mobilized to take
and against counter-revolution. The result definitive action to get rid of the Russian
has been disastrous for the party. The party leader's supporters.
has been thrown into a deep crisis that will After the defection of the Old Guard, the
be fatal unless the poisonous cancer of Militants split into two rival groups. The
Trotskyism is cut clearly at the coming So­ more moderate element continued to call
cialist convention," itself the Militants, and was in control of the
Furthermore, the Daily Worker editor party in New York City. The other element,
claimed, the Socialist Party itself was being known as the Clarity Caucus or Zam-Tyler
"infected" by Trotskyism. He claimed that Caucus (after its leaders Herbert Zam and
"already one sees Norman Thomas and Gus Tyler), dominated the national party
other leaders defending Trotskyism, excus­ organization and was the only element con­
ing the assassins of Kirov, defending the con­ fronting the Trotskyists in the Young Peo­
fused allies of fascism, joining with Trotsky ples Socialist League. Norman Thomas
in attacking the Soviet Union." Hathaway tended to be more closely associated with
professed to see even the nature of Thomas's the Militants than with the Clarityites. The
1936 presidential campaign, in which he had Militants and Clarityites differed for several
run as a left opponent of the New Deal when months on the tactics to be used to confront
the Communists were in effect supporting the Trotskyists. The Militants were con­
Roosevelt, as a result of Trotskyist influ­ vinced much earlier than the Clarityites
ence. "The narrow, sectarian policy foisted that it was necessary to get rid of Trotsky's
on the party during the election campaign, followers, the Zam-Tyler Caucus tried
undoubtedly reflecting Trotskyist influ­ longer to combat them through presenting
ence, resulted in discrediting the party an alternative left-wing program rather than
among the broad masses of workers." With by taking measures to exclude them from
touching "solicitude" for the Socialists' dire the party.
fate, Hathaway noted once more "our advice "Native" Socialist leaders in various parts
when in the most comradely way we warned of the country soon began to organize to
them against the Trotskyists/' adding that seek the expulsion of the Trotskyists. Jack
"Trotskyism has nothing in common with Altman, New York City leader of the Mili­
Socialism and has no place in the Socialist tants, Devere Allen, leader of the s p in Con­
ranks."58 His peroration was typical of the necticut, and Paul Porter in Milwaukee

United States: The French Turn 789

 were among these. Allen and Porter estab­ sponse to Thomas's letter, Lillian Symes
lished a Committee of Correspondence to sent a warning. "You are being counted
organize the campaign.60 upon to maintain an 'all-inclusive' party in
Norman Thomas early became concerned which the wpers can function as a unit,
with the impact of the Trotskyists on the without national discipline, until they gain
Socialist Party. The evolution of his attitude control. Then they will introduce 'demo­
reflects that of many of the "natives." In a cratic centralism' and crack down on you—
memorandum he directed to Militant lead­ and all other dissenters—without mercy. As
ers Max Delson, Murray Gross, Murray Jim Cannon put it to us—"Hoan will save
Baron, Hal Siegel, and Jack Altman as early our necks for us. The National Office can't
as August 1936, he asked, "How are we go­ crack down on us without antagonizing
ing to keep our very definite and construc­ Hoan. Give us another year in which to
tive line and avoid a dangerous isolationism, work freely and Thomas will be in an impos­
such as that into which the Trotskyites fell sible position."66 (Daniel Hoan was the So­
and into which I fear they may lead us?" He cialist mayor of Milwaukee.)
expressed particular concern about the y f s l , In a move to curb the factionalism threat­
saying, "They are giving the impression of ening to tear the Socialist Party apart, the
being hard to get along with, and of being "natives" supported the calling of a special
pure and simple Trotskyites. I don't want to national convention in March 1937. Fearing
exclude them as Trotskyites, but they ought that this might result in moves to expell
not to exclude some of us who are not Trots­ them/the Trotskyists sought to head off this
kyites."61 eventuality. Cannon later wrote that "we
By December 1936 Thomas was writing felt that we hadn't yet had time enough to
California s p secretary Glen Trimble about educate and win over the maximum number
a leaflet on the Spanish Civil War published of Socialist workers and Socialist youth who
by that unit. "I meant to say that the tone were capable of becoming revolutionists.
of the leaflet was Trotskyist and was hurt­ We needed about six months more time.
ful. . . . I know the immense harm that can Therefore our strategy was to delay the
be done . . . by public abuse, or what looks showdown at this convention."67
like public abuse, of the leaders in a cause They sought a preconvention meeting
that we must support."62 In January 1937 with Thomas and leaders of the Militant and
Thomas wrote David Lasser, Socialist head Clarity factions. As a result, Cannon and
of the unemployed workers' organization, Vincent Dunne of Minneapolis were ap­
the Workers Alliance, of his opposition to pointed to speak for the Trotskyists, and
those in the Socialist Party who "let the they held a series of meetings in New York,
Communist Party make its decisions for it including one at Thomas's home, with
simply by opposing everything the Commu­ Thomas, Gus Tyler, Jack Altman, and Mur­
nist Party favors. This tendency, to some ray Baron. Cannon subsequently claimed
extent correctly, is attributed to Trotskyist that Thomas "solemnly agreed with us
elements in the Party."63 there that no proposal should be made at the
By early February 1937 Thomas was ask­ convention to suppress internal organs—the
ing Clarityite Lillian Symes for her opinion Socialist Appeal in particular—or to expel
of the condition created by the Trotskyists anybody for his opinions*-Norman Thomas
in California and requested a confidential made the agreement, but he didn't keep
report on the matter.64About the same time
he wrote Paul Porter in Wisconsin for his The ex-Workers Party members were not
opinion of the way the Trotskyists were be­ eligible for election to the March 1937 con­
having in neighboring Minnesota.65 In re­ vention since they had not been members

790 United States: The French Turn

of the Socialist Party long enough. However, reelection in the 1937 election. At a city
"natives" who belonged to the Socialist Ap­ membership meeting where the issue was
peal caucus had substantial representation. debated, Thomas argued in favor of this pol­
In the face of the move to ban factional pub­ icy, while Shachtman was its principal op­
lications (which in effect meant those of the ponent.
Trotskyists), many of the delegates wanted Soon after, Trotsky intervened, telling the
immediately to split with the Socialist American Trotskyists that he thought they
Party. However, the ex-Workers Party lead­ had gotten everything from the Socialist
ers convinced them not to do so at that Party that they could and that they should
time.69 withdraw. They had begun to reach this con­
Hie March 1937 convention presented clusion themselves. Trotsky argued that
the Trotskyists with difficult decisions. they were bound by Socialist Party disci­
Cannon wrote that "for the second time we pline so long as they stayed in the s p , and so
were deprived of our press. We still hesitated were hampered in their propaganda activi­
to bring things to a head because in addition ties, and therefore should get out.73
to our general unreadiness the work of the One important factor which certainly in­
Trotsky Defense Committee was still un­ fluenced the thinking of both Trotsky and
completed and we were afraid of jeopardiz­ his U.S. followers was that the presence of
ing it by a premature split."70 There were the Trotskyists in the Socialist Party had
extensive discussions within Trotskyist largely served its purpose insofar as giving
ranks. Both Cannon and Shachtman ad­ "protective covering" for the Trotsky De­
dressed a left wing caucus in New York fense Committee was concerned. For seven
where they stressed the slogan "Deeper into days, beginning on April 10, 1937, the Com­
the s p ." Shachtman was sanguine at that mission of Inquiry headed by John Dewey
time about the Trotskyists' ability to take held its sessions in Mexico City, taking
over the Socialist Party if they could stay in Trotsky's testimony, and he and the Ameri­
it some time longer.71 can Trotskyist leaders were equally sure
The Trotskyists continued to carry on that the resulting Report of the Commission
their factional struggle even though de­ would vindicate Trotsky and declare him
prived of their publications. Cannon de­ innocent of the charges made against him at
scribed their tactics: "We worked out a sys­ the first Moscow Trial and in accompanying
tem of multi-copied personal letters and Stalinist propaganda.74
branch resolutions. An ostensibly personal In any case, by June Trotsky was urging
letter, evaluating the convention, was his U.S. followers in the strongest terms to
signed by one comrade and addressed to an­ carry out a split in the Socialist Party. He
other. The letter was then mimeographed wrote James Burnham, Cannon, Albert
and discreetly distributed in the branches. Glotzer, and Weber on June 15, 1937, that
Every time an issue arose . . . a resolution "The coincidence of all these factors prom­
would be introduced in a New York branch ises to open an extremely favorable situa­
by an individual comrade, then mimeo­ tion for our activity during the coming fall.
graphed and sent to our faction groups all It would be criminal to meet this new situa­
over the country as a basis for their own tion as prisoners of Thomas, Trager, Tyler
resolutions on the question."72 and Co. So, we must again appear on the
An issue which helped trigger the move scene as an independent party. It seems to
to expel the Trotskyists arose in New York me here that the anniversary of the October
City. The majority of the "natives" there revolution is the deadline for the establish­
decided not to run a candidate against Mayor ment of our complete political indepen­
Fiorello La Guardia, who was running for dence."75

United States: The French Turn 791

 Some of the Trotskyist leaders "thought procedure of disaffiliating from the Socialist
that this new course recommended by Party." As a result, on July 26, 1937, the
Trotsky was wrong." They included Max City Executive Committee of Local New
Shachtman, James Burnham, and Ame Swa­ York of the Socialist Party voted nine to
beck, who were all then in New York. Can­ two, with one abstention, to prefer charges
non, who was living and working in Califor­ "for carrying on an organized conspiracy to
nia, immediately accepted Trotsky's violate discipline of the Socialist Party"
position. After negotiations between the against the principal Appeal Tendency lead­
two groups, it was agreed that they would ers in New York City, citing these and other
be "oriented toward a split."76 actions against them.78
On August 9,193 7, the City Central Com­
mittee of Local New York took action on
Formation of the Socialist
these charges, expelling fifty-two leading
Workers Party
members of the Appeal faction. The vote
Meanwhile, pressure for expelling the Trots­ was forty-eight to two, with eighteen people
kyists from the Socialist Party was mount­ not voting, and it was taken after four hours
ing among the "natives." Upon returning of discussion.79 Those expelled included
from a two months' trip to Europe in July people who had entered from the Workers
1937, Norman Thomas reached the conclu­ Party, including Shachtman, Martin Abem,
sion that the party had to get rid of the Trots­ James Bumham, Emmanuel Garret (Em­
kyists. He wrote a letter late that month to manuel Geltman), Felix Marrow, Ernest Mc­
a number of people who had written him Kinney, George Novack, and John G.
about the Trotskyist problem. Wright. They also included a number of "na­
tive" Socialists, such as Alex Retzkin,
Trotskyism in the sense of supreme loy­
Christian Neilson, and Hal Draper.80
alty to a group or cause outside the Social­
These expulsions were only the beginning
ist Party is today our primary trouble;
of the exit of the Trotskyists from the Social­
while we have it in the Party we cannot
ist Party. Shortly afterward, Cannon was re­
come effectively to grips with other prob­
ported to have told the National Executive
lems. . . . I know that we shall not have a
Committee of the s p that "we got what we
Socialist Party at all unless very soon we
wanted out of joining the party for a while,
can find ways of ridding ourselves of those
our aims were accomplished, and now good­
who use the Socialist Party for essentially
bye. We're going to take with us a lot of your
Communist ends and whose real alle­
folks."81
giance is outside the Party—to Stalin, to
At the April 1938 National Convention of
Trotsky, or to groups connected with
the Socialist Party the National Secretary
them .. . . The issue is loyalty, and that we
reported that the state charters of the Social­
must have even at the cost of temporary
ist organizations of California, Indiana,
reduction in our numbers.77
Ohio, and Minnesota had been revoked to
Probably as a result of Trotsky's instruc­ prevent the Trotskyists from taking them
tions the Trotskyists in the Socialist Party out of the party.81 Cannon claimed that by
provoked their own expulsion. They began the time the purging of the Trotskyists was
openly to circulate the Bulletin of the Fourth completed, the T rotsky movement in the
International preparatory group and to ex­ United States had more than twice as many
press their support for establishment of the members as it had before entering the So­
Fourth International. In late July they held cialist Party.83
a "plenum" of the Appeal Tendency and Right after the expulsion, the Trotskyists
reportedly "discussed methods, time and began to issue Socialist Appeal in New York

792 United States: The French Turn

as an eight-page tabloid weekly. Soon after­ U.S. Trotskyism: The
ward they established a "National Commit­
tee of the Expelled Branches."84 The Trots­ Shachtmanite Split
kyists also organized their version of a
convention of the Socialist Party youth
group, the Young People's Socialist League,
in September 1937. Ernest Erber, who had
been chairman of the y p s l when it was asso­
ciated with the Socialist Party, was elected
chairman of the Young People's Socialist The most serious split which U.S. Trots­
League-Fourth International. Hal Draper, kyism had so far experienced began to de­
also a "native" socialist, was chosen as na­ velop in mid-1939 and reached its climax
tional secretary of the new y p s l . Some ex- during and after the Socialist Workers Party
Clarityite Yipsels, such as Irving Howe and special convention in April 1940. It gave rise
Herman Benson, did not join the Trotskyists to a schismatic Trotskyist group which was
until shortly before the September conven­ a major element in the U.S. far left for al­
tion of the y p s l .85 Finally, the National most two decades and in attenuated form
Committee of Expelled Branches called a continued into the 1980s.
national convention to meet in Chicago on The split in the s w p which took place in
December 31, 1937-Ianuary 1, 1938. Can­ 1939-40 involved, as leaders of the rival fac­
non noted that the National Committee's tions, the two men who had been the princi­
work, in the meanwhile, had been done "un­ pal leaders of U.S. Trotskyism since the es­
der the closest cooperation and even under tablishment of the movement, both of
the supervision of Comrade Trotsky." He whom were major figures in the Fourth In­
added that "in the midst of all his troubles, ternational: James P. Cannon and Max
and the preparation of all his material on Shachtman. Their rivalry in this conflict
the Moscow trial, he had time to write us had some roots in personality differences
frequently and to show that he had a very and disagreements dating from the start of
close and sensitive understanding of our the movement, but also involved theoretical
problem. He did everything he could to help and ideological differences which then con­
us."84 stituted major issues in world Marxism-
The founding convention of the Socialist Leninism and continued to do so more than
Workers Party, in Chicago, put an end to the four decades later. The 1939-40 split was
U.S. experiment with the French Turn. In also of major significance in the history of
retrospect, Cannon claimed that "Our International Trotskyism because it was
'round trip' through the Socialist Party had marked by the last great controversy in
resulted in gains all along the line. We which Trotsky was involved, he being a
formed the Socialist Worker's Party in Chi­ leading protagonist of one side in the con­
cago on New Year's Day and began once flict.
again an independent struggle with good
prospects and good hopes."87
Background of the 1939-40 Split
From the establishment of the Communist
League of America in 1928, Cannon had
been the national secretary of the U.S. Trots­
kyist movement. Virtually from the begin­
ning there had been unhappiness among
other leaders about the way he conducted

United States: The Shachtmanite Split 793

 the organization's business, and as early as as a rule—and they did the writing. . . .'a
1929 an anti-Cannon faction was formed for These differences were to play a significant
the first time. No split evolved in the Trots­ role in the 1939-40 split.
kyist ranks at that time. However, in subse­
quent years Cannon and Shachtman tended
to attract different kinds of supporters and The Russian Question
associates and to do different kinds of work
in the organization. The former was a good The basic controversy behind the split was
organizer and worked particularly well with the nature of the Soviet Union. Deriving
working-class members and trade unionists from disagreements over that question were
that the Trotskyists were able to attract to the immediate issues of "unconditional de­
their ranks. On the other hand, he had little fense of the Soviet Union," and the rele­
capacity for theoretical discussion or dispu- vance of that "unconditional defense" pos­
tation. Shachtman, in contrast, was the in­ ture to the party's attitude toward Soviet
tellectual leader of the Trotskyist ranks un­ moves into Central Europe and Finland in
til 1940. He was an expert at Marxist- late 1939.
Lenmist-Trotskyist theorizing and exegesis, What by 1939 had become the "tradi­
a major asset in leadership of a radical orga­ tional" or "orthodox" position of the Trots­
nization in that period. He was a witty ora­ kyists was that of Trotsky himself. He had
tor, with particular capacity to ridicule his argued first that the rise of Stalin to power
or his organization's opponents. However, had represented a "Thermidorean reaction"
he also had the tendency to be long-winded. within the Rusian Revolution, the triumph
George Novack has recited a "witticism" of those opposed to further advances. Then
which he says was prevalent in the 1930s: he had come around to admitting that a
"Stalin expects to create socialism in one "caste" of bureaucrats had seized power in
country, the Austro-Marxists in one city (Vi­ the Soviet Union under Stalin and that it
enna), and Shachtman in one speech."1 He was therefore necessary to have a "political
tended to gather the party's intellectuals, revolution" against the Stalinist regime.
particularly after the merger with the Mus- At the same time Trotsky argued that the
teites and the "raid" on the Socialist Party. "social relations" of the Soviet regime re­
Trotsky had regard for both men, but for mained sound. In Problems of Development
different reasons. He obviously respected of the USSR he wrote that "the character of
Shachtman's ability as a theorist and writer, the social regime is determined first of all
sufficiently to make him his literary execu­ by the property relations. The nationaliza­
tor. However, he clearly counted much tion of land, of the means of industrial pro­
more on the less imaginative and innovative duction and exchange, with the monopoly
Cannon to manage the organization of his of foreign trade in the hands of the state,
American followers along the lines that he constitute the bases of the social order in
indicated were the correct ones. the u s s r . . . . By these property relations,
Cannon described the different roles lying at the basis of the class relations, is
which he and Shachtman had before the determined for us the nature of the Soviet
split: "Shachtman and Burnham . . . did Union as a proletarian state."1
practically all the literary work. There was Although this had been written in I93r,
a division of labor between them and me, Trotsky had not fundamentally altered his
whereby I took care of the organizational position eight years later. The Soviet Union
and trade union direction, administration remained a "degenerated workers state" for
and finances—and all the rest of the chores him. He was absolutely unwilling to con­
that intellectuals don't like to bother with cede that the "bureaucratic caste" consti­

794 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

tuted a new ruling class in the Marxist sense of the Fourth International, to which both
of that phrase. Shachtman and Geltman were delegates,
Disagreement with Trotsky's position Geltman tried to convince Shachtman of
was apparently first expressed within the the validity of the notion. Shachtman re­
United States Trotskyist ranks as early as fused to be convinced at that time. In fact,
1937 by Joseph Friedman, who was better he opposed the bureaucratic collectivist idea
known by his party name, Joseph Carter, very strongly, as was his wont when he was
then one of the important but less publi­ against any idea or group. Indeed, according
cized leaders of the swp. Carter is described to Geltman, the vehemence of Shachtman's
by Emanuel Geltman and Albert Glotzer as opposition was strongest just before he was
a person who could not make a public finally convinced of the validity of the bu­
speech or write an article, even getting phys­ reaucratic collectivism argument.9
ically ill when he tried to do so, but who Thirty years later Shachtman told the au­
was a thinker and theorizer who was persua­ thor what line of thought brought him fi­
sive in personal conversation. He had con­ nally to side with Carter, Bumham, and
siderable influence on some of the other Geltman on the issue of bureaucratic collec­
Trotskyist leaders.4 tivism. In considering the Trotskyist posi­
Carter apparently first won over James tion of "unconditional support" of the So­
Bumham and Emanuel Geltman to his point viet Union, the thought came to him that
of view. Together, these three raised the is­ if Soviet expansionism were to encompass
sue officially within the party. They posed Mexico, the Stalinists would certainly kill
the question that if the USSR was no longer Trotsky and all of his followers in that coun­
a workers' state, and was certainly not a try. It then struck him also that if the United
capitalist one, it had to be something else, States should ever fall under Stalinist con­
and they asked what that something else trol, he too would be among the earliest
was.5 people to be shot as a result of the Soviet
The idea that there had arisen in the So­ policies to which he had been offering "un­
viet Union a new ruling class was not an conditional support." This idea brought him
entirely novel one at that time. An Italian up short and began to make him question
ex-Communist and ex-Trotskyist who went not only the "unconditional support" posi­
under the name Bruno R. (Bruno Rizzi)6had tion, but the nature of the Soviet regime
put forth this notion in a pamphlet which itself, and the absurdity of Trotskyist back­
was circulating at about this time. Emanuel ing for a regime which, wherever its influ­
Geltman insists that although the s w p lead­ ence expanded, would have the murder of
ers were aware of the existence of this pam­ Trotskyists as one of its first orders of
phlet, none of the three who first raised the business.10
issue in the party had read it, and he is sure
that Joseph Carter did not get the idea from
The Beginnings of the Schism
the Bruno R. document.7 However, he has
suggested that perhaps Carter had gotten the However, by the time the split in the s w p
kernel for the idea from one of the writings began to develop, the principal leaders of the
of Rudolph Hilferding.8 group which was ultimately to break with
Carter and his associates adopted the the party were convinced that the Soviet
name "bureaucratic collectivism" for the Union could no longer be considered a
Soviet regime as it had evolved under Stalin "workers' state," degenerate or otherwise;
and insisted that it was neither capitalism but this was not the ostensible issue over
nor the socialism foreseen by Marx and even which the factional battle took place.
by Lenin. During the Founding Conference Rather, it was whether the swp should con­

Umtcd States: The Shachtmanite Split 795

 tinue to follow Trotsky in pledging "uncon­ nori ty claimed somewhat disingenuously for
ditional support" to the USSR in any and all the Shachtman list that "there being no im­
conflicts with foreign powers. portant or visible political differences in the
Ernest Erber sketched the issues which party, the slate did not aim at any faction ma­
were openly debated in the 1939-40 strug­ jority . Dunne's slate aimed first and foremost
gle. He wrote that "the Minority took the at a majority for the Cannon clique.. . . "
position that Russia was engaging in an im­ After the signing of the Stalin-Nazi Pact
perialist war which the bureaucracy had en­ and outbreak of World War II, the struggle
tered on behalf of its 'prestige, power and within the Socialist Workers Party was in­
revenues' and that revolutionists could not tensified. At a meeting of the Political Com­
be defensists in such a war. . . . Though an mittee after the Soviet invasion of Poland,
increasing number of Minority supporters three resolutions on the situation were of­
felt less sure about the validity of the 'work­ fered. Mario Pedrosa (Lebrun) noted that
ers state' designation (or openly stated that "the great majority of the party leadership
they no longer adhered to it as did Comrade found itself confronted with this unhappy
Johnson), the faction as a whole chose to lay alternative: either condemn the invasion,
aside the theoretical question temporarily abandoning the slogan of unconditional de­
and make the issue the question of 'defens- fense, or keep the slogan and approve of the
isra' or 'defeatism' in relation to Russia's invasion. On this very question the great
participation in the war in Poland and Fin­ majority of the leading comrades could only
land. This view was shared by Bumham and display their vacillations between the two
Carter who decided to refrain from raising opposing positions: defensist or defeatist."
their views on the class nature of Russia One of the resolutions presented at this
and join in a bloc with the Minority on the meeting was "the really courageous resolu­
political question."11 tion" of Albert Goldman, "asking the party
The struggle between the two factions be­ to approve the invasion by Stalin." Pedrosa
gan even before the outbreak of World War noted that "it received only his own vote, if
II. At the s w p ' s July 1939 convention clashes we do not count one abstention as timid
occurred on both theoretical and organiza­ approval." On the other hand, "The Bum­
tional issues. Constance Ashton Myers has ham resolution, condemning the invasion
noted that "Shachtman and C. L. R. James of Poland by the Red Army as a participation
addressed international matters—the politi­ in a war of imperialist conquest, got only
cal question of the party's position on Sta­ three votes. . . . " Finally, "The resolution
lin's demand for the right to 'guarantee' Po­ receiving the majority of the votes prudently
land and the Baltic states against German avoided answering the question; it was ed­
attack. They also wanted the party to take ited so cautiously that it did not even dare
a stand on any possible pacts (predicted by to speak of an 'invasion,' preferring a long
Trotsky) between Hitler and Stalin and on paraphrase such as 'the participation of Rus­
the war." She added, "the delegates did not sia in the war in Poland.' " l4
tackle those thorny problems. " ia This meeting of the Political Committee
The disagreements in the realm of ideas was followed by an extended controversy
led to factionalism when it came time to over the party's attitude toward the Soviet
elect a new leadership. One of the minority Union's role in the war, -which did not end
faction documents issued during the ensu­ until the split in the party in April 1940.
ing fight noted that "at the July 1939 con­ During this struggle the majority of the top
vention, two lists were presented, Shacht­ leadership sided with Cannon and Trotsky,
man's for one group of comrades, and and in interparty documents were usually
Dunne's for the Cannon faction." The mi- referred to therefore as the Majority; while

796 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

those associated with Shachtman, Abern, master and were directly challenging Trots­
and Burnham were the Minority. ky's policies toward World War II. After
Many years later, Shachtman commented some apparent hesitation, Trotsky threw
on the Minority position: "Our own point himself energetically into the conflict in
of view was far from being as strong or as support of Cannon and those associated
consistent, at least in my opinion, as it later with him. In organizational terms, Cannon
became. It was shot through with many in­ and his closest associates carried the battle
consistencies and many weaknesses—we against the dissidents. However, in terms of
were thinking on the run, so to speak. . . . theory and ideology it was Trotsky who bore
We felt then, even with those weaknesses the brunt of the struggle.
and deficiencies, as I feel now, that we were Cannon was obviously anxious to have
on the right track, and Trotsky was on the Trotsky intervene as much as possible. He
wrong track. " 1S wrote Joseph Hansen (who was then in Mex­
Each of the three opposition leaders had ico with Trotsky) and Trotsky on November
his own position on the nature of the Soviet 4/ 193 9 -
Union, according to Shachtman. Burnham
I could very well be satisfied with an atti­
had been convinced for at least a year that
tude of aloofness or a very restrained and
the USSR was no longer a workers' state.
limited intervention on your part in an
Abern still felt that it was a degenerated
ordinary dispute. But it is becoming
workers' state, "But that in this war, it was
clearer every day that we are concerned
following an imperialist policy, and should
now with a fundamental struggle for the
not be defended."16 As for Shachtman, "I
program and the general ideology of our
occupied the notorious 'doubtist' position—
movement; not simply for the victory of
when I was pressed to say, I would say very
the Bolshevik doctrine on this or that
frankly 'I am in doubt, I am no longer as sure
point, but for the supremacy of the system
as I was before that it is a workers state. I
and method of Bolshevik politics and or­
am not ready, however, to say that it is no
ganization. . . . In view of the fact that
longer a workers state, it is some other kind
under the conditions of the war our dis­
of state.' That does not speak too highly of
cussion on the Russian question becomes
the clarity that I had at the time of this
in essence the discussion of the Fourth
important question, but it speaks very accu­
International, we think international par­
rately about my state of mind on the
ticipation in the drafting of the Russian
question,"17
resolution is decidedly in order.19
The next open confrontation was at a ple­
num in October 1939. There the issue was On December 14, 1939, Cannon wrote
debated, and Burnham proposed a refer­ Hansen that "on the face of things now we
endum on the issue among members of the appear to be ensured of a small majority at
s w p . The Cannonite majority turned down the convention. A few shifts or surprises
this suggestion and in doing so had Trots­ could change the situation in the other di­
ky's support.18 rection. . . . I am very glad indeed to hear
that Crux is writing another article on the
most fundamental aspects of the present dis­
The Role of Trotsky in the Struggle
pute. A really positive intervention on his
The controversy leading to the 1940 split part, which will present things as they really
among his U.S. followers was Trotsky's last are, is perhaps the only thing now that can
great struggle. Shachtman, Burnham, Abern save for the Fourth International those who
and their followers were questioning some are worth saving."40 ("Crux" was one of
of the most important teachings of their Trotsky's psendonyms.)

1
t United States: The Shachtmanite Split 797
 When Trotsky finally did decide to fully behavior during the first months of World
intervene, he came to bear the great brunt War II, in an "Open Letter" to Trotsky dated
of the polemical struggle for the Majority. January i, 1940. He started this discussion
According to Max Shachtman, by noting that "we advocated and urged
support of a war to defend the Soviet Union
We would write our polemical articles—
from imperialist attack. In that case, we did
Bumham myself, others—defending our
not insist upon democratic formalities or
point of view against the majority leader­
even democratic realities as a condition for
ship—Cannon, Goldman and their
our defense. We said—the Minority contin­
friends. But we would never, or almost
ues to say it—that if the imperialists assail
never, be answered by them. The answers
the Soviet Union with the aim of crushing
always came from Trotsky. It wasn't that
the last conquest of the October .Revolution
he was our outstanding opponent. He was
and reducing Russia to a bunch of colonies,
our opponent, period.. . . There's no ques­
we will support the Soviet Union uncondi­
tion in my mind that Trotsky felt that
tionally." Shachtman adds,. "That would be
this dispute was more vital, more serious
a progressive war, even under Stalin's com­
for the future of the Trotskyist movement
mand and, despite Stalin's command. We
than any of the disputes that had gone
would fight for a democratic All-Soviet Con­
before in the Trotskyist movement—and
gress to take over the helm, but we would
so he launched a veritable bombardment
not demand it as a preliminary condition for
against us, a polemical bombardment.21
our support."25
Shachtman added that Trotsky sent his However, Shachtman argued, these con­
polemic to a ll s w p branches. Shachtman siderations were not relevant to the Soviet
noted that "it was not very flattering to the behavior at the onset of the war.
leadership of the American Trotskyist
movement."22 We did not advocate the invasion of Po­
Subsequently, Trotsky's interventions land or the Baltic countries or Finland.
were brought together as a book, In Defense We did not consider such actions neces­
of Marxism. That volume, consisting of arti­ sary for the defense of the Soviet Union,
cles as well as letters to various participants conceived in a revolutionary-internation­
in the controversy, became one of his most alist sense. On the contrary, we con­
widely quoted works in later years.23 demned the invasions; you even called
Cannon's contributions to the polemics the invasion of Poland "criminal and
were published as The Struggle for a Prole- shameful." To this day, I do not under­
tarian Party. That volume, which also con­ stand by what right of formal or dialectic
tains both polemical articles and some of logic we should, in the light of this, call
Cannon's letters to his supporters and to upon the workers to give material and
Trotsky, also was widely cited by the Can­ military support to the invasion, which
nonites.24 has as its clear-cut objective that very
annexation which we condemn and
oppose.26
Issues
With regard to the specific case of the Finn­
Unconditional Defense of the ish invasion, Shachtmancommented:
Soviet Union
According to the resolution on Finland of
Max Shachtman defined clearly the position the Cannon faction {which you support),
of the Minority on the "unconditional de­ the Fourth International tells the Russian
fense" issue, insofar as it applied to Soviet workers not only to be Soviet patriots in

798 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

 general, but to give material and military velop a policy that will promote it, no
support to Stalin's army in Stalin's war matter how firmly we count upon its
(what attitude the Finnish proletariat eventual materialization. Do you deduce
should take toward the Red Army our this "civil war" from an abstract and false
fearless "unconditional defensists" do theoretical estimation of the role of the
not indicate by a single syllable). On what Kremlin bureaucracy, or is there some ob­
conceivable basis can we advocate such a jective evidence that this "concrete pro­
policy to the Russian working class? How cess is taking place in Finland"?19
can we defend it before the American
Shachtman best summed up his group's po­
working class, or even its vanguard ele­
sition on the "unconditional defense" issue
ments?27
as it applied to the first months of the war
Shachtman refuted the claims of the Can­ in the following passage:
non faction and Trotsky concerning the
Let me accept, then, your characteriza­
"progressive" nature of the Soviet incursion
tion of our traditional position. We have
into Finland. He commented,
never defended, not even conditionally,
I find even less for your—how shall I put Stalin's international policy; we give no
it?—astonishing remarks about Finland. unconditional support to the Kremlin's
You say that we do not "mention by so diplomatic and military activities. Our
much as a word that the Red Army in policy is not determined by the Kremlin's
Finland appropriates large landowners deeds and crimes. Good! . . . Concretely,
and introduces workers' control while for example, we did not support the Krem­
preparing for the expropriation of the cap­ lin's policy towards bourgeois Finland (or
italists." ,. . True, not by so much as a Poland etc.) But what is war? War is the
word. Why? Because the first anyone has continuation of politics by other means.
heard in our party—anyone!—of the ex­ Then why should we support the war
propriation of the large landowners and which is the continuation of the interna­
the introduction of workers' control in tional policy which we did not and do not
Finland by the Red Army, is in your arti­ support? The Fourth International also
cle. Where is this taking place? On what told the Russian proletariat not to support
reports do you base yourself? There is no the Kremlin's foreign policy. Then why
trace of workers' control in the Soviet should we now tell the Soviet workers to
Union today; there is even less than that support a war which is the continuation
in Finland. That at least so far as my of that policy?30
knowledge goes, and on this point I have
questioned unavailingly many Can-
The “Petty Bourgeois ’’ Issue
nonites.28
Trotsky and the Cannonites insisted that
Shachtman went on to question Trotsky's
the split within the s w p was along class
claim that a "civil war" had broken out in
lines, that the "genuine proletarians" were
Finland:
with Cannon and the Majority, and that the
Where is the civil war in Finland which Minority was led by and consisted of "petty
is "evidently already beginning?" Unless bourgeois" elements in the party. The Mi­
you refer to the government of the idiotic nority in the Political Committee issued a
scoundrel Kuusinen, we have not yet seen detailed reply to this charge early in March
the first traces of that civil war—regard­ 1940. They sought to rebut the "petty bour­
less of how much we should like to see geois" charge on both a factual and theoreti­
it, no. matter how anxious we are to de­ cal basis. On the question of fact, whether

United States: The Shachtmanite Split 799

 most workers in the party supported the Ma­ matism of the Cannonites. He concluded
jority, the Minority statement commented that the youth leaders didn't have a "Bolshe­
that "the triumphant reference of the Can­ vik mentality."33
nonites to the fact that the Minneapolis
branch, for example, supports the Major­
Trotsky and Burnham
ity—with such remarkable unanimity,
too—does not decide for a minute the cor­ Trotsky centered a considerable amount of
rectness or incorrectness of their political his rhetoric in this dispute on James Bum­
position. There is no smaller number of pro­ ham. He made much of the fact that Bum­
letarian militants in other sections of the ham was a professor, and attacked him espe­
party who support the standpoint of the Mi­ cially because Bumham did not believe in
nority."31 In response to Trotsky's claim the dialectic and dialectical materialism in
that the Minority had assumed a "petty particular. Trotsky argued that Burnham's
bourgeois" position ever since the establish­ occupation and his "fundamental" disagree­
ment of the s w p , the Political Committee ments with Marxism made Bumham a
Minority, after discussing the specific issues "petty bourgeois," and explained the "petty
cited by Trotsky to prove this point, com­ bourgeois" position which he had taken on
mented that "what it was necessary to prove the nature of the Soviet Union and the ques­
was that the Minority, on a series of political tion of "unconditional defense" of the
questions in the past, took or tended to take USSR.
a petty-bourgeois position on those ques­ Trotsky sent & twenty-two page "Open
tions as against the Cannonites, who took Letter to James Bumham," which dealt par­
or tended to take the Marxist position. Even ticularly with Burnham's open rejection of
if Trotsky is granted all his points, they dialectical materialism as a necessary basis
would at best show that on the whole the for revolutionary politics. Trotsky cited at
position of both the Majority and the Minor­ considerable length the adherence of "true"
ity was the same in the eleven cases he men­ revolutionary leaders to Marxist dialectical
tions. The distinction between the two materialism, and associated the shortcom­
groups first occurs clearly on the Russian ings of such people as Edward Bernstein and
question. It is therefore necessary to demon­ Karl Kautsky with their rejection of or lack
strate how, on this question, the position of of concern with that philosophy. He then
the Minority is petty bourgeois. But this is attributed the "errors" of the s w p opposition
no easy matter. At least, it has not yet been on the question of unconditional support to
done and, in our opinion, it cannot be the USSR to their lack of belief in dialectical
done."31 materialism. Trotsky concluded that the
Trotsky was probably correct in arguing coming s w p convention . "in my opinion
that most of the working-class elements in must declare categorically that in their at­
the swp supported him and Cannon. How­ tempts to divorce sociology from dialectic
ever, what was clearly true was that the materialism and politics from sociology, the
overwhelming majority of the members of leaders of the opposition have broken from
the Young People's Socialist League-Fourth Marxism and become the transmitting
International sided with the Minority. mechanism for petty-bourgeois empiricism.
Many years later Ernest Erber, who had been
chairman of the y p s l when it was the youth Bumham wrote a long reply to Trotsky
group of the Socialist Party and continued which he entitled "Science and Style," and
to hold that post in the youth group of the in which he excoriated Trotsky. He accused
swp, noted that the young people were re­ Trotsky of dragging in the issue of dialec­
pelled by what they saw as the extreme dog­ tical materialism as a "red herring." He then

800 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

commented that "I can understand, and Bumham accused Trotsky of having "ab­
even sympathize with your recourse to dia­ sorbed too much of Hegel, of his monolithic,
lectics in the current dispute. There is little his totalitarian, vision of a block universe
else for you to write about, with every appeal in which every part is related to every other
you make to actual events refuted the day part, in which everything is relevant to ev­
after you make it."3S In defense of his own erything else, where the destruction of a sin­
philosophical position, Burnham started by gle grain of dust means the annihilation of
saying that "I regard you as one of the most the Whole."39 Later, he repeated this
competent historians and political scien­ thought, saying that "again you proceed
tists in the world.. .. But your qualifications from a totalitarian conception, which re­
in these fields do not automatically assure lates everything to everything, with iron
your competence also in the fields of philos­ bonds."40
ophy, logic, natural science and scientific As to the specific political issue under
method." He added that most of what Engels discussion, Bumham held that "Trotsky-
said "in these latter fields" he found "con­ Cannon propose the strategy of defense of
fused or outmoded by subsequent scientific the Stalinist bureaucracy as the lesser evil.
investigation," and that "You . . . serve up It doesn't make any difference what
to us only a stale rehash of Engels.34 . . . Trotsky-Cannon say about their policies;
In all the elaborated confusion of your new this is what it comes down to in practice.
remarks on dialectics, you make only one . . . The opposition . . . proposes the strategy
attempt at an argument in favor of dialec­ of the third camp." He added that "this con­
tics; and this argument, upon examination, flict of strategical orientations is the central
turns out to be both irrelevant and reaction­ political issue, and nothing else."41
ary." Trotsky's argument is that "all the Bumham accused Trotsky of undermin­
great and outstanding revolutionists . . . ing his whole movement. He said, "Com­
stood on the ground of dialectic material­ rade Trotsky, in the course of your interven­
ism /' but Bumham asks, "Is this weapon tion in the present dispute, you have struck
not identical in form with the weapon in such heavy blows against the Fourth Inter­
extremis of all reaction: do you dare to disbe­ national that, for my own part, I am not
lieve when our fathers believed, and their convinced that the International will be able
fathers and fore-fathers before them?"37 to survive them. . .. The truth can only de­
Bumham argued that belief in dialectical stroy a false doctrine; and therefore you are
materialism was not "fundamental" to the compelled to evade the truth, and to hide
struggle them going on in the sw p . He main­ it."42
tained that "there are no fundamental ques­ Finally, Burnham attacked some of the
tions 'in general' . . . Within each system­ innuendoes used by Trotsky. He com­
atized field of knowledge there are certain mented that "you sin more grievously than
principles which can be regarded, from the you even understand, Comrade Trotsky. In
point of view of that field, as fundamental. a cheap manner you twice grimace at
. . . The only fundamentals relevant to our Shachtman for trying to 'conduct the revolu­
present dispute are the fundamentals oi poli­ tion' from 'the Bronx.' Not merely are you
tics—presumably we are not banded to­ here appealing to a usual reactionary provin­
gether as a society of mathematicians or a cialism, directed against the metropolis. Do
school of art." He added, "The fundamentals you know what further meaning 'the Bronx'
of politics are constituted by: the central has in this country, Comrade Trotsky? Do
aim, together with the most important you know that to nearly every American it
means which are regarded as necessary in means not only a New Yorker, but a few!
achieving that aim."34 And are you so naive as to think that our

United States: The Shachtmanite Split 801

party—yes, even our party—is altogether In the meantime the most important
immune to influence from such an associa­ thing is to make all necessary organiza­
tion? The weapons you are now using have tional preparations for the inevitable
a fearful habit of back-firing."43 split. See that all membership lists, lists
It is doubtful that Leon Trotsky was ever of sympathizers, contacts, and so forth are
attacked more vigorously or more bitingly in safe hands. Have all supporters of the
by anyone from within his own ranks than majority prepared for resolute action the
by Bumham in this document. moment the split becomes a formal real­
ity. It is important to impress upon any
comrades playing with the idea of a split
The Issue of a Split that it can only mean the beginning of
a merciless war with us. Some of them
Although Trotsky and Cannon were united undoubtedly are playing with the idea
in their opposition to the positions of the that they can split the party and still
Minority, there seems to have been some maintain some kind of friendly and com­
disagreement between them concerning the radely relations with us. It must be made
inevitability or desirability of a split in the clear to them that friendship ceases when
swp as a result of the controversy. As late the party is attacked.47
as February 20, 1940, Trotsky wrote to the
International Executive Committee of the Cannon and his colleagues in the national
Fourth International that "in view of the headquarters took steps to carry out his own
exceptional situation created by the sharp instructions. Many years later Stanley Plas-
fight and profound divergencies, the future trick remembered that some weeks before
minority can ask for certain reasonable guar­ the April convention he, as manager of the
antees in order to prevent a premature and party's newspaper, was shocked one day
not unavoidable split."44 Two months ear­ when he went to cash a check for the paper
lier Trotsky had invited Shachtman to come at the bank and was told that the money in
to Mexico to discuss the issues in dispute, that account had been changed to another
apparently with the hope that some meeting account without his being notified. Plas-
of minds might be possible. However, trick told Shachtman about this, and they
Shachtman turned down the invitation.45 agreed this meant that Cannon was taking
Cannon did not share Trotsky's desire to all of the party's funds into the hands of his
maintain party unity. According to the Mi­ faction and that this meant he was going to
nority, "long before the Cleveland Confer­ force a split in the party.4®
ence of the Opposition, Cannon, in the pres­ Meanwhile, Cannon carried on a violent
ence of Lewit, Lebrun (of the i .e . c .) and polemic against the opposition. Although
Shachtman, proposed to the last named a Trotsky, as we have seen, made certain per­
'cold split' with a division of the 'property.' sonal attacks on the opposition leaders,
When this was reported to the membership Cannon was even more strident in this re­
meeting in New York, also months ago, and gard. He was particularly strong in his on­
at the last City Convention, Cannon did not slaught against Martin Abem who, together
even attempt to deny the truth of the report. with Shachtman and Bumham, was one of
Indeed^ in his reply, he implicitly confirmed the three principal opposition leaders.
it."45 Among other attacks on Abem was a doc­
On March 8, more than a month before ument "Abemism: The Case History of a
the s w p convention, Cannon sent a circular Disease." In it Cannon claimed that "the
letter to "All Majority Groups" in which he Abern group is a permanent family clique
wrote, whose uninterrupted existence and perfidi­

802 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

ous practices are known to all the older plete, and so democratically conducted as
members of the party. For more than ten this one. Thirteen big internal bulletins
years it has waged a now open, now con­ were published by the National Commit­
cealed, but never interrupted factional tee during the discussion, with the space
struggle against the party leadership." He about equally divided between the fac­
stated that "Abemism is abhorred by the tions; and there was an unrestricted dis­
basic cadres of the party" and that "since tribution of factional documents, besides
the very beginning of the present factional those published in the official bulletins.
struggle Shachtman and Burnham have suf­ In addition, there were innumerable de­
fered from the most embarrassing contradic­ bates and speeches in party membership
tion, as a result of their combination with meetings. Such an extensive and drawn-
Abern."49 out discussion may appear to be abnor­
mal, even for a democratic organization
such as ours which settles all disputed
The Factional Struggle questions by free and democratic discus­
The struggle for control of the swp was sion. So it was.51
waged over many months. Constance Ash­
ton Myers has described the process: "Vigor­
ous campaigning was begun. Cannon The 1940 Convention
boasted that in February alone he had made
forty-three speeches, and a total of sixty by The controversy came to a climax at the
April. He debated Shachtman again and April 1940 convention. Subsequently; both
again in meetings. . . . By February 20, the sides agreed that the split among the dele­
mimeograph machine had churned out gates was approximately 60 percent for the
eleven special Internal Bulletins and would Cannon group and 40 percent for the opposi­
print four more by April 5, the opening date tion. They disagreed about the significance
of the convention." of the division, the Cannonites stressing the
The conflict spread. Myers has noted that "proletarian" background of their delegates,
"to win the California locals the national the opposition claiming that since they also
committee launched Murray Weiss on a had 70 percent of the y p s l they represented
western tour. C. I. R. James left New York "a majority of the 4th International move­
for Los Angeles (without official authoriza­ ment in the United States."52
tion) to present the minority viewpoint to Three major subjects were on the agenda.
western comrades. Shachtman toured the One, a discussion of the trade union activi­
Midwest. All the while heated letters-to- ties of the party, was "non-controversial" in
branches poured from Cannon's pen."50 terms of its subject matter, but had factional
Cannon, writing after the April 1940 con­ overtones. Subsequently, Cannon argued
that "the opposition. . . was greatly compro­
vention, described the factional fight in
mised and discredited by the fact that it vir­
glowing terms:
tually abstained from participation in this
The decision of the party came at the end extensive discussion. They had nothing to
of a thoroughgoing democratic party dis­ say and nothing to report."53 The dissidents,
cussion which left not a single question on the other hand, claimed that this trade
unclarified. The discussion was formally union subject "was transformed into a
opened early in October and continued lengthy filibuster lasting one whole day.
uninterruptedly for six months. It is This was intended to impress the Minority
highly doubtful that any party discussion that it was 'breaking with the proletarian
anywhere was ever so extensive, so com­ section of the party. . . . This 'demonstra-

1
United States: The Shachtmanite Split 803
 tion’ against the minority fell of its own committees and publications, but declared
weight."54 the discussion "closed."58
The two subjects of bitter debate were It was these resolutions on organizational
those over the role of the USSR in World matters which made a split in the party inev­
War II and over organizational questions. itable. They assured that the Minority could
The Majority won decisively on both of no longer continue publicly to advocate
these, with a substantial minority opposing their points of view within the party, leaving
them. them with the choice of giving up their posi­
The Minority presented a proposed reso­ tions on the issues involved—which they
lution, "The Second World War and the So­ had no intention of doing—or advocating
viet Union," which proclaimed the war to them from outside of the s w p .
be "a new struggle among the great powers
for a re-division of the earth. . . ." It argued
The Workers Party
that from this "there follows the strategy
which revolutionary socialists are obligated
Formation of the Workers Party
to adopt with respect to i t . . . THE STRAT­
EGY OF THE THIRD CAMP." This draft The Minority did not immediately with­
resolution proclaimed that "the Soviet draw from the Socialist Workers Party.
Union is participating integrally in the Rather, they waited to be thrown out. Ac­
world imperialist war for the re-division of tion against them was not long in coming.
the earth. . . . The reactionary character of At the Political Committee meeting on
its participation is demonstrated equally by. April 1 6, less than ten days after the conven­
the policy and aims of the Soviet govern­ tion, the Minority members of the commit­
ment and army—bureaucratic expan­ tee were "suspended" from membership.
sionism—which in no way advance or de­ They and their followers were given until
fend the interests of the Russian or the world September to announce their full accep­
proletariat. . . . " It followed, therefore, that tance of the decisions of the April conven­
"revolutionary socialists are obligated. . . to tion, after which, if they had not done so,
revise the former conception of 'uncondi­ they would be considered separated from
tional defense of the Soviet Union.' .. ."5S the swp. At a subsequent plenum, the oppo­
This Minority resolution seems not to have sitionists were formally expelled from the
been debated.56 party.59
The organizational question centered on The dissidents soon established their own
the Minority's insistence, in a "Resolution organization, the Workers Party. They be­
on Party Unity," that "the party must ex­ gan publishing a weekly newspaper, Labor
tend to whichever group is the minority at Action, which proclaimed on its banner that
the convention the right to publish a public the new party was an affiliate of the Fourth
political journal of its own, defending the International, although the pi never gave it
general program of the Fourth International such a standing.
and at the same time presenting in an objec­ The new Workers Party carried out a m i­
tive maimer the special position of its ten­ nor coup against its former comrades.
dency on the disputed Russian question."57 Shachtman and Bumham had both been
The Cannonites rejected this, passing a reso­ among the editors of New-international, the
lution which repudiated "the attempt of the "theoretical" organ of the swp. They pro­
petty-bourgeois minority to impose its w ill" ceeded to bring out a new issue oiNewInter­
on the issue, and threatened expulsion of national, but now as the theoretical organ
anyone who should try to publish such a of the Workers Party. Rather than seeking a
journal. They also passed a resolution offer­ legal remedy against the dissidents the sw p
ing the Minority representation on party began to issue a new periodical, Fourth In-

804 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

temational, the first issue of which came abandoned the Trotskyist ranks completely,
out in May I 940 -60 resigning from the Workers Party. A year or
Constance Ashton Myers said that in this so later he published what is probably his
division, "The Socialist Workers Party split best-known book, The Managerial Revolu­
'right down the middle, fifty-fifty/ the for­ tion, which, although not abandoning Marx­
mer minority faction having 40 percent of ist reasoning completely, was certainly too
the membership, including prominent intel­ heretical even for the Workers Party. It ar­
lectuals and 80 percent of the Young Peo­ gued that a new ruling class had not only
ple's Socialist League." She said that the s w p evolved in the Soviet Union, as he had main-
before the split had had a membership of tamed in the sw p internal fight, but that
"around 800 to i,ooo."41 The new party thus new ruling classes had emerged in Nazi Ger­
began with a membership which was proba­ many and in the United States. Even more
bly something less than 500. In such divi­ heterodox was his argument that in all three
sions, there is always a certain proportion of cases the new ruling group was the same,
members who drop out entirely, not affili­ the "managerial class," which was thrust
ating with either group. into its position by the size and complexity
of modem industrial societies, which put
those with "managerial" skills in a position
Early Workers Party Defections
to dominate those societies an d ' econ­
Within a few months the Workers Party lost omies.65
two of its most distinguished intellectual Subsequently, Bumham moved even fur­
figures, Bumham and Dwight Macdonald. It ther from Trotskyism. He became one of the
was to lose a significant group of others leading lights on The National Review, the
some years later. most important right-wing "journal of opin­
James Bumham had been one of the three ion" in the United States, founded by Wil­
leading figures in the s w p Minority, and a liam Buckley in the 1950s. He also became
founding member of the Workers Party. a witness in favor of the government in the
However, his possible abandonment of suit of his former colleagues of the Workers
Trotskyism was perhaps presaged in his po­ Party to get off the infamous "Attorney Gen­
lemic exchange with Trotsky when he ex­ eral's List." With the departure of Bumham,
pressed his doubts as to whether the Fourth the Workers Party people came to be known
International could ever "recover" from the almost universally as the "Shachtmanites."
blows which he conceived Trotsky as hav- Dwight Macdonald abandoned the Work­
ing dealt it in the process of the s w p factional ers Party only a few months after Bumham.
fight. Bumham had in any case a somewhat The beginning of his movement out of the
peculiar position in the Trotskyist leader­ party came when the editors of N ew Inter­
ship. Shachtman later described him as be­ national at first refused to publish a 30,000-
longing to the "bourgeois aristocracy," and word article about Nazism in which Mac­
as being "very scholarly—in knowledge."61 donald argued that Nazi Germany was also
Shachtman noted that Bumham had learned characterized, like the Soviet Union, by "bu­
but did not use Trotskyist jargon and had reaucratic collectivism." As he wrote many
learned Trotsky's ideas rapidly after joining years later, "The editors were not enthusias­
the movement with the a w p . Bumham tic; they were, frankly, rather disappointed
sought to orient the s w p toward "American in the article, which struck them as half-
political questions."64 Shachtman con­ baked, superficial, trivial, boring and badly
cluded that "all of us .. . felt that although written," but finally agreed to publish a
he was with us and with us thoroughly, he 4,ooo-word summary of it. Macdonald com­
wasn't, so to say, of us."64 mented that "since everything else I'd sub­
Within a few weeks of the split, Bumham mitted since 1938 had been gladly printed—

United States: The Shachtmanite Split 805

professional journalists don't grow on trees, first put the organization on record in sup­
not on Trotskyist trees—I concluded they port of the "bureaucratic collectivist" idea.68
might also have some objections to the het­ Shachtman started his discussion with
erodox nature of my thesis." tribute to Trotsky's contributions to under­
Subsequently, Macdonald was removed standing the evolution of the USSR. He then
from the editorial board of the N ew Interna­ summed up "our traditional view of the
tional "for conduct unbecoming a Marxist," character of the Soviet Union" in the follow­
and articles by him in Partisan Reviewvfete ing terms: "to guarantee progress toward so­
sharply attacked by Shachtman and others. cialism, the existence of nationalized prop­
So on March 22, 1941, Macdonald wrote an erty is necessary but not sufficient—a
8,ooo-word letter which was a kind of ulti­ revolutionary proletarian regime is needed
matum to the Workers Party leadership. He in that country, j>lus favorable international
asked for internal party discussion of issues conditions (victory of the proletariat in more
he had raised and expressed hope "of ar­ advanced capitalist countries). To character­
resting the present rapid degeneration of the ize the Soviet Union as a workers' state, the
Workers Party into the kind of undesirable existence of nationalized property is neces­
bureaucratic-conservative regime we re­ sary and sufficient. The Stalinist bureau­
jected last year in the Socialist Workers cracy is a caste. To become a ruling class, it
Party." He later wrote that "the rectifica­ must establish new property forms."69
tions were not made, the degeneration was Shachtman then argued that Trotsky's
not arrested, and a few weeks later I resigned own document, "The U.S.S.R in War," writ­
from the party."66 ten right after the outbreak of the war, "de­
clared it theoretically possible . . . 1. for the
property forms and relations now existing
“Bureaucratic Collectivism” Defined
in the Soviet Union to continue existing and
Once they were out of the Socialist Workers yet represent not a workers' state but a new
Party the w p people renewed among them­ exploiting society; and 2. for the bureau­
selves discussion concerning the nature of cracy now existing in the Soviet Union to
the Soviet state and society. Shachtman become a new exploiting and ruling class
took the lead, attempting to define the "bu­ without changing the property forms and
reaucratic collectivism" which he, Bum­ relations it now rests upon."70
ham, and others had decided was the proper This was, in fact, what had happened, ar­
description of what existed in the USSR. gued Shachtman. He said that under capital­
The fundamental document which de­ ism the bourgeoisie was the ruling class be­
fined the position of the Shachtmanites on cause it owned the means of production and
the nature of the Soviet Union was his essay distribution through the instrumentality of
dated December 3,19 40. Although in this he private property, whereas the proletariat
used the phrase "bureaucratic state social­ owned nothing except its labor power. Be­
ism /' rather than "bureaucratic collectiv­ cause of its control of the economy the bour­
ism," Shachtman noted in his book The Bu­ geoisie dominated the state.
reaucratic Revolution, in which this essay In the case of the Soviet Union the state
was republished, that "to avoid even a verbal had taken over the means of production and
identification of the Stalinist regime with so­ distribution under the Bolshevik regime.
cialism, I subsequently dropped this term Thereafter, although the proletariat "re­
and used in its stead 'bureaucratic mains a property-less class," its position has
collectivism.' "67 This was the phrase used fundamentally changed: "the essence of the
in the resolution adopted at the September change lies in the fact that the working class
1941 convention of the Workers Party, which is in command of that state-owned property

806 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

because the state is the proletariat organized a narrow margin" at the Workers Party r94i
as the ruling class (through its Soviets, its convention,75 the issue continued to be de­
army, its courts and institutions like the bated within the party. At that convention
party, the unions, the factory committees, C. L. R. James presented a resolution de­
etc.). There is the hub of the question."71 scribing the Soviet Union as "state capital­
However, with the Stalinist "counter-rev­ ist." He was an important member of the
olution," Shachtman argued that there Shachtmanite group. A native of Trinidad,
"came the end of rule of the working class. he had been a leading figure in the British
The Soviets were eviscerated and finally Trotskyist movement in its early years.
wiped out formally by decree. The trade Upon arriving in the United States in 1938
unions were converted into slave-drivers he had been toured around the country by
cracking the whip over the working class. the Socialist Workers Party, in part in an
Workers' control in the factories went a attempt to recruit blacks to the organiza­
dozen years ago. The people were forbidden tion, at a time when they amounted to only
to bear arms, even nonexplosive weapons. a handful.76 As an official representative of
. . . The Militia system gave way decisively British Trotskyists on the International Ex­
to the army separated from the people. . . . ecutive Committee of the Fourth Interna­
The Communist Party was gutted, and the tional, he was one of the two non-Americans
Bolsheviks in it broken in two, imprisoned, there to side with the Shachtmanites.
exiled and finally shot."71 It was the bureau­ Within the Workers Party, James regu­
cracy which had displaced the proletariat, larly edited a column in Labor Action on
according to Shachtman. He argued that "The Negro's Fight." He edited a special
"the bureaucracy is no longer the controlled issue of N ew International after the fall of
and revocable 'managers and superinten­ France, setting forth the w f ' s opposition to
dents' employed by the workers' state in the the war.77 He also established contact for
party, the state apparatus, the industries, the w p with the sharecroppers' movement
the army, the unions, the fields, but the then active in Missouri.78
owners and controllers of the state, which In the Workers Party controversy over the
is in turn the repository of collectivized nature of the Soviet Union, James argued
property and thereby the employer of all that essentially the role of the Soviet bu­
hired hands, the masses of the workers, reaucracy was not qualitatively different
above all, included."73 from that of the bourgeoisie in the capitalist
Shachtman summed up this process, say­ countries. He said that "today the bureau­
ing, "The workers of the Soviet Union were cracy . .. plans in order to get as much sur­
unable to hold power. That they lost it in a plus value as possible from the workers, it
peculiar, unforeseen and even unforeseeable plans to preserve itself against other capital­
way—not because of a bourgeois restora­ ist classes. An individual capitalist who is
tion, but in the form of the seizure of power unable to extract surplus value goes bank­
by a counter-revolutionary bureaucracy rupt, gets a government subsidy, or allows
which retained and based itself on the new, his capital to lie fallow. The state, as na­
collectivist form of property—is true. But tional capitalist, produced in certain
they did lose power. . . ."74 branches at a loss, which is atoned for by
gain in others. Why is the total national
capital any less capital because it exploits
The Continued Struggle Over
the workers under unified control instead of
Bureaucratic Collectivism
in separate conflicting parts?"79
Although the Shachtman position on the C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya
nature of the Soviet Union was adopted "by and their followers (known by the two lead­

united States: The Shachtmanite Split 807

i
ers' pseudonyms as the Johnson-Forrest ternational Bureau of the Fourth Interna­
Tendency) finally left the Workers Party in tional. . . . These comrades supported, as is
1947, and in spite of the position they had known, the viewpoint of the Minority of the
maintained on the "Russian question" re­ Socialist Workers Party, now organized as
joined the Socialist Workers Party. By the the Workers Party. This viewpoint has also
early 1950s James had quit the swp again, been endorsed by the Brazilian Section of
and for a while maintained his own small the International, the Uruguayan section,
faction.80 by two important sections in Asia which
The issue raised by James within the w p , have recently come over to the program of
although appearing esoteric to an outsider, the Fourth International, and by groups of
was of considerable consequence in terms comrades and individuals in other sections
of Marxist theory and politics. If the Soviet throughout the world."82
Union was characterized by state capital­ Emanuel Geltman, as the first Interna­
ism, that meant it was just a new version of tional Secretary of the Workers Party, had
the capitalism about which Marx, Engels, extensive correspondence .with leaders of
Lenin, and others had written. However, if Trotskyist groups in various countries. One
Shachtman was right and the Soviet Union of these.was the dissident leader of the
was a "bureaucratic collectivist" economy Dutch Trotskyists, Sneevliet, with whom
and society, that meant that it was some­ he had a considerable exchange of letters.
thing new and that Marx's prediction that Another group which had some sympathy
capitalism could be succeeded only by so­ for the Shachtmanite position consisted of
cialism was wrong—that there was a possi­ some of the leaders of the Belgian Trots­
bility of something quite different devel­ kyists.83
oping.81 In spite of the claims of support from out­
side of the United States, no Shachtmanite
faction of the Fourth International was orga­
International Contacts of the
nized at that time. At the first full-fledged
Workers Party
postwar congress of the Fourth International
The Workers Party continued to claim that in Paris in 1948 the Workers Party was rec­
it was part of the Fourth International. A l­ ognized as a "sympathetic organization,"
though it was not able to make this claim which could be represented by delegates
effective, there was certain support for the having "consultative rights," which meant
position of the Shachtmanites within the that they could speak on the floor and could
leadership of the Fourth International. vote—but their vote would not be counted.
In December 1940 Labor Action pub­ Shachtman represented the Workers Party
lished a declaration signed by four members at that congress. It was the last time the
of the Bureau of the International, identified Shachtmanites were able to participate in
as Brown, Anthony, Alberts, and Trent. It the proceedings of the Fourth International.
said that "the split in the American section
of the International has had direct and im­
The Workers Party During
mediate repercussions in the International
World War II
as a whole and in its central institutions in
particular." The declaration denounced the Throughout World War If the Workers Party
"Emergency International Conference" of maintained its "Third Camp" position. This
the f i which had been held on the initiative meant that it continued, on a political level
of the s w p after the sw p split. The declara­ at least, to oppose support of either side in
tion went on to say that "the undersigned the war, even after the attack of the Nazis
comrades represent the majority of the In­ on the Soviet Union and entry of the United

808 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

States into the conflict. This contrasted nists. The Workers Party members there
with the position of the Socialist Workers fought against efforts of Green and Van
Party, which in pursuance of its "defensist" Gelder to downplay any labor protests, on
doctrine had to support participation of the the ground that these would interfere with
Soviet Union and thus "objectively" the Al­ the need to turn out ships required in the
lied side in the conflict after June 1941. war, and that production should not be dis­
Ironically, the avowedly antiwar Workers rupted. However, the Shachtmanites had lit­
Party suffered less at the hands of U.S. au­ tle success in trying to oust the Green-Van
thorities during the war than did the pro-So- Gelder leadership.85
viet Socialist Workers Party. There were no
Smith Act prosecutions against the Shacht­
The "Dissent" Split
manites such as those against the s w p . How­
ever, as we will discuss, there were very par­ A few years after the war the Shachtmanites
ticular political reasons for the legal action underwent a split which, although it did not
taken against the official U.S. Trotskyites. bring into existence any new radical party,
Although the Workers Party did not polit­ resulted in establishment of a periodical
ically support the war, it did not call on its which became a significant influence on the
members to refuse military service or try U.S. left for many years. This was the,break­
to sabotage the war effort. Workers Party away which gave rise to Dissent. The dissi­
members and leaders were as much affected dent group consisted principally of Emanuel
by the draft and other results of the war as Geltman, Stanley Plastrik, and Irving Howe.
anyone else. Military conscription in partic­ Irving Howe subsequently remembered
ular had an impact on the functioning of the that he began to have doubts about the
party. Irving Howe, editor of Labor Action, Workers Party position after getting out of
was drafted. Then his successor, Emanuel the armed forces and returning to party work
Geltman, was also called. At that point as editor of Labor Action. His first question
Shachtman came up with what he thought was whether the party had been right in
was an ingenious way to prevent Geltman opposing the Allies' cause in the war.86
from being mobilized: for him to inform the However, such retroactive reevaluation was
military authorities fully of his "revolution­ not what began to cause serious discrepan­
ary" activities, on the supposition that the cies within the Shachtmanite ranks.
armed forces would not want such a "sub­ The Marshall Plan generated the first con­
versive" in their midst. This plot did not troversies which were to result in the split
work; Geltman was not only drafted, but away of the Dissent group. Shachtman and
was soon with the U.S. Army stationed in the majority of the leadership were strongly
Great Britain.84 opposed to any support of the Marshall Plan.
Workers Party leaders and members who Geltman, however, took the lead in the Po­
remained civilians worked during the war litical Committee in arguing that the Work­
not only to keep the party active but to ex­ ers Party ought to support the plan. He and
tend its influence. They particularly tried to his allies in the party leadership argued that
gain support in the labor movement. Among for there to be a labor and socialist move­
the areas in which the party did trade union ment there had to be an economy which
work was the shipyard workers in the Cam­ could employ the workers, and the Marshall
den, New Jersey, area. There they helped Plan was an effort to reestablish such an
organize the opposition to the cio's Ship­ economy in Europe. In addition, the only
building Workers Union leaders John Green way to stop Soviet expansionism, to which
and Philip Van Gelder, former Socialists the Workers Party was opposed, was to re­
who were by then allied with the Commu­ construct the European economy.

1
I United States: The Shachtmanite Split 809
 Shachtman would not accept such argu­ The final break of the Dissent group with
ments. On the contrary, he saw support of the i s l did not come until 1952. Howe and
the Marshall Plan as support of "American Plastrik first resigned from the i s l . They
imperialism" and he at one point announced sent a long letter explaining their point of
dramatically that he would support Ameri­ view. It was harder for Geltman to break,
can imperialism only when hair grew on since he had been a Trotskyist from the be­
the palm of his hands. (Years later, when ginning of his political activity, and had
Shachtman was supporting the United been particularly close to Shachtman. It was
States in the Vietnam War, Geltman asked several weeks after Howe and Plastrik left
on several occasions to see the hair growing the i s l before Geltman also sent a (short)
on Shachtman's palms). Shachtman contin­ letter of resignation.89
ued to have the support of a majority of the This split in the ranks of the i s l was not
party leaders for his position.87 particularly bitter. At the first convention
During the 1948 election the party op­ after the Dissent group broke away, a resolu­
posed both Truman and Dewey. Geltman, tion was adopted which said that "Dissent is
as editor of Labor Action, wrote numerous the organ of elements who desire to express
articles and editorials about the supposed their separation from the politics of Third
Tweedledee and Tweedledum nature of that Camp independent socialism while still at­
campaign. Some months later he reached tempting to express a variety of 'leftist' or
the conclusion that the Shachtmanites had socialist opinion," and added that "we do
been wrong in their position, and he raised not believe that its editors can find a stable
this question in a meeting of the Political position in this area. . . . " However, it also
Committee early in 1950 and suggested a said that " i s l members are free to write arti­
discussion of the issue. Years later Geltman, cles for Dissent. . . ,”90
whose "party name" was Manny Garret, re­
membered that his suggestion had met with
The Third Force/Labor Party Position
an exceedingly frigid reception. One mem­
ber of the committee commented that After the general agreement on the bureau­
"what Garret has said is beyond the Pale," cratic collectivism position by the Shacht­
and the meeting went on as if Geltman had manites, they no longer devoted time to dis­
not spoken. He finally turned to Stanley cussion of the nature of the Soviet Union.
Plastrik, another committee member, and Rather, they concentrated on presentation
observed that it looked as if he and Plastrik of their Third Camp position on interna­
were not present. tional affairs and on advocating the estab­
Even organizational questions arose. lishment of an independent labor party in
Geltman and his friends concluded that it the United States. These two positions were
was silly to maintain all of the panoply of a stated for the last time by a national meeting
"Bolshevik" party, with a political commit­ of the isi in the Third National Convention
tee, a central committee, and other organs, in October 1954. Two major resolutions
when the total membership of the group were adopted at that convention dealing
could not fill a medium-sized lecture hall.88 with the Third Camp issue and the indepen­
However, although Shachtman and the dent labor party idea.
other leaders had been willing in 1949 to According to Labor Action's report on this
give up the pretence that they were a "party" convention, the Third Camp resolution
by renaming the organization the Indepen­ "surveyed the trend of the capitalist war
dent Socialist League (i s l ), they were still camp, particularly the United States, toward
Bolshevik enough not to give up the panoply an increasingly reactionary foreign policy,
presumably appropriate to a democratic cen­ its inherent inability to defeat Stalinism
tralist group. With any progressive consequences; the illu­

810 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

sions raised after the death of Stalin in the Fourth National Convention of the i s l to
'liberalization' of the Russian regime; the end the group's existence and merge with
mistakes of neutralism; and many other as­ the new Socialist Party-Social Democratic
pects of world politics today. As against the Federation (a merger in January 1957 of the
policies of capitalist and Stalinist imperial­ Socialist Party and part of the s d f , the orga­
ism, which can only end in world catastro­ nization established by the Socialist Old
phe, the resolution develops the concep* Guard in 1936).
tions of genuine democracy and socialism By early 1957 the leadership of the i s l was
as the means to destroy all imperialism." oriented toward liquidating its own organi­
The convention rejected almost unani­ zation and joining the s p -s d j . Typical of
mously an amendment to support the their orientation at the time was a debate-
Vietminh.91 discussion which Shachtman had in Los
There was more disagreement concerning Angeles with Ame Swabeck of the s w p and
the League's position on internal U.S. poli­ Harry Sitonen of the Socialist Party. Labor
tics than on its international position. The Action reported on this meeting that
195 x convention of the i s l had rejected by "Shachtman began his presentation with
only one vote a move to endorse "Wil­ the fact that no socialist movement existed
loughby Abner, a Negro union leader on the in the United States. There were, he as­
[Chicago) south side," who "decided to fight serted, only propaganda groups or sects. Be­
the Democratic Party machine by running sides these sects, which included all the
in the Democratic Party primaries as a labor groups speaking from the platform, there
man against the machine candidate." existed only the discredited and disgraced
However, the 1954 convention accepted Communist Party, which had no future.
two amendments to party policy, adopted . . . " The major thing differentiating the var­
previously by the Political Committee. One ious "sects" from one another, according to
stated that "the convention decides that the Shachtman, was their position on "the Rus­
categorical prohibition against i s l support sian question." He insisted that since none
for such candidates under any circum­ of them was going to convince the others of
stances, which was adopted at the last con­ the "correct" position on that issue, debates
vention of the League, is no longer opera­ over it should be put aside, and they should
tive." The second one stated that "in those "unite into the only party which has always
instances where the participation of the presented a broad, loosely defined program
trade unions in the Democratic Party has based on democratic socialism—the Social­
reached the point where their political activ­ ist Party—which had the respect of Ameri­
ity dominates or controls the local function­ can workers, and in no way shares the dis­
ing of that party, it is incumbent on us to grace of the Communist Party."93
urge that labor run its own—labor con­ The Fourth National Convention of the
trolled—slate of candidates in primary and i s l in July 1957 officially endorsed the idea

general elections for both public and inner- of merger with the Socialist Party-Social
party office. .. J '91 Democratic Federation (s p - s d f ). The con­
vention document on unity, "Unity and Re­
groupment of the American Socialist Move­
Movement Toward Unification With
ment," asserted that the "collapse of the
the Socialists
Communist Party," as the result of Khru­
This change in the i s l position on formation shchev's speech to the Twentieth Congress
of an independent labor party reflected a of the c p s u and the events in Hungary,
general shift in the thinking and policy "clears the way for the reconstruction of the
within the Shachtmanite ranks. The final socialist movement in the U.S. For it was
result of this shift was the decision of the Stalinism, through the c p , that dominated

United States: The Shachtmanite Split 811

 the radical movement for more than 20 were seeking to repeat the kind of "raid" on
years." the Socialists that the Trotskyites had made
The resolution proclaimed that "what is in 1936-37. Those who favored admitting
required is a clearly democratic socialist the is L e r s were convinced, however, that at
pole of attraction as an alternative to Sta­ least the major figures in the i s l were no
linism." It spelled out the i s l ' s understand­ longer believers in a vanguard party or
ing that "by democracy we mean the right "democratic centralism." We were also cer­
of free speech, free press and assembly, the tain that the i s l had no intention of trying
right to free trade unions with the right to either to take over or to leave the party later
strike; the right to form political parties and with as many new members as they could
organizations free to alter the ruling regime attract, as had occurred a quarter of a cen­
by peaceful, legal processes." tury before. In fact, we were virtually sure
The i s l noted that of all the groups claim­ that, once in the s p - s d f , the Shachtmanites
ing to be socialist, "one stands out uniquely: would split up, various ex -iS L ers aligning
the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Feder­ themselves with the various tendencies
ation. In size, it is not larger than others. It, which already existed within the Socialist
however, is already broad enough in charac­ Party-Social Democratic Federation.
ter to serve as an inclusive movement em­ At its convention in mid-1958 the s p - s d f
bracing a wide range of democratic-socialist finally agreed to accept the is L e r s into its
tendencies. . . ." ranks. However, there was to be no formal
Foreseeing one of the objections within merger of the two groups. The s p - s d f was
the s p - s d f ranks to merging with the Shacht­ only to admit the Shachtmanites as individ­
manites, the resolution proclaimed that uals, and their entry was staggered over a
"the i s l has neither the intention nor the period of almost six months with those in
desire to unite with the s p in order to capture New York, who were the most numerous,
it, for even if this were possible, such a 'vic­ entering only in December 1959. Finally,
tory' would not only be meaningless but, before the process was completed, the
what is worse, it would defeat the very ob­ Shachtmanites were to close down their pe­
jective of converting the s p from its present riodicals.
position of isolation and weakness to an ef­ There was relatively little opposition
fective, influential, broad democratic social­ within the i s l to dissolution into the Social­
ist movement in the best traditions of the ist P arty-SD F. However, a significant part of
Debs period."94 the League's youth organization repudiated
the idea, under the leadership of Tim Wolf-
arth and James Robertson. They withdrew
Unity With the SP-SDF
from the i s l before its absorption by the s p -
There was considerable opposition within s d f and joined the Socialist Workers Party,

the Socialist Party -Social Democratic Fed­ the "official" Trotskyist group. Subse­
eration to any kind of unity with the Shacht­ quently, in the middle 1960s they organized
manites. The author participated, as a mem­ two new dissident Trotskyist groups, the
ber of the s p - s d f National Committee, in Workers League and the Spartacist League.
the controversy over this question. There
were two fundamental objections on the
The Shachtmanites in the SP-SDF
part of the opponents. One was that the
Shachtmanites still remained "Leninists," As those of us who had favored the entry
that is, believers in the "vanguard" theory of the Shachtmanites into the s p - s d f had
of the party and in "democratic centralism." predicted, the ex -isLers almost immediately
The second was that the Shachtmanites split into two different groups. One, headed

812 United States: The Shachtmanite Split

by Shachtman himself, sided with the so- U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p
called Realignment Caucus in the sp -sd f ,
which favored the organization's dropping During and Immediately
independent electoral activity and working After World War II
basically within the Democratic Party. The
other element, known for a while as the
Meyer-Mendelsohn Caucus (from Debbie
Myer and Sol Mendelsohn), sided with the
so-called Debs Caucus, which supported
continued running of candidates by the SP-
SDF. The Socialist Workers Party lost an appre­
Within a few years the differentiation be­ ciable part of its adult membership and most
tween Shachtmanites and "old Socialists" of its youth organization as a consequence
in the s p - s d f ranks lost all real meaning. of the Shachtmanite split in 1940. However,
There was one further reflex of Shachtman- it remained the major Trotskyst organiza­
ism within the party during the 1960s. This tion in the United States, and the only U.S.
arose from Shachtman's decision to put on affiliate of the Fourth International, in
sale his personal collection of internal docu­ which it assumed new responsibilities as a
ments of the Workers Party and i s l for the consequence of the Nazi conquest of most
benefit of the Socialist Party-Social Demo­ of Europe. During World War II and immedi­
cratic Federation. These materials were ately afterward the s w p gained more influ­
soon sold, and some of the most enthusiastic ence than it had previously had in the labor
purchasers were the members of the Young movement, and a considerable increase in
People's Socialist League. membership. It experienced a kind of gov­
The y p s l not only bought up these old ernmental persecution which it never had
documents but began to study them with undergone before or was to experience again,
considerable intensity. As a result of perus­ and suffered another significant split.
ing what Shachtman himself labeled "vin­
tage Shachtman," they began to conceive
The Labor Party Issue
of themselves as being Leninist and very
"revolutionary." This development soon led Soon after the formation of the Socialist
them into sympathy with various Trotsky­ Workers Party the American Trotskyists
ist groups, particularly the Spartacist fac­ fundamentally changed their position with
tion, and to their becoming exceedingly crit­ regard to the idea of a Labor Party in the
ical of the "adult" organization with which United States. They made this change
they were affiliated, the s p -s d f . The upshot largely on the basis of Trotsky's urging.
of these events was the suspension of the In March 1938 Cannon, Shachtman, Vin­
y p s l by the Socialist Party-Social Demo­ cent Dunne, and Rose Karsner spent several
cratic Federation and the organization of a days in Mexico in extensive conversations
new youth group of the party (with the same with Trotsky on a variety of subjects. A l­
name). though most of the discussions centered on
the question of establishing the Fourth In­
ternational and the program which the new
international organization should adopt,
they also dealt with a number of issues di­
rectly concerned with the U.S. Socialist
Workers Party. The Labor Party discussion
took place on March 21. Cannon, Shacht-

United States: SWP in World War II 813

 man, and Dunne sketched for Trotsky cer­ non suggested ought to be called "workers'
tain specific problems concerning the Labor defense groups," since "workers' militia"
Party idea which the swp was facing. In Min­ sounded "too strange" to the American
nesota, where the unions were strong back­ workers). Finally Trotsky suggested to his
ers of the state's Farmer Labor Party (f l p ), followers that they should stress the even­
the Stalinists were deeply enmeshed in the tual establishment of a "workers' and
apparatus of the f l p and were using their farmers'" government, which (although
influence there to try to undermine Trotsky­ they might not say so to the workers) would
ist influence in the labor movement in Min­ be the equivalent of the "dictatorship of the
neapolis. In New York the recently formed proletariat."1
American Labor Party had the backing of Upon returning home, the s w p leaders
many of the state's labor unions, but it was pushed the change of policy op the Labor
supporting the administration of Mayor Fi- Party issue. They ran into some resistance,
orello La Guardia in New York City and and no agreement was reached at a Central
the Roosevelt administration on a national Committee Plenum in April 1938.2 There
level. Throughout the country Labor's Non­ was particularly vocal opposition in the
partisan League (l n p l ), which had been orga­ s w p ' s youth group.3 However, after the April

nized by the cio for the 1936 election, was Plenum the Labor Party issue was debated
involving unions in political activity to a in branch meetings, in the party's Internal
greater degree than had hitherto been cus­ Bulletin, and in the theoretical journal, N ew
tomary. International. After three months of discus­
Cannon seemed to be relatively receptive sion the issue was submitted to the mem­
to the idea of Trotskyist support for a Labor bership for a referendum vote, an unusual
Party. Shachtman was more skeptical about procedure in a Trotskyist organization. A
the idea. Dunne was particularly anxious to resolution endorsing the idea of support for
get advice concerning how the Trotskyists a Labor Party was adopted in October 1938.4
should act in the Minnesota situation.
Trotsky urged his American followers to
swp "Disaffiliation" from
change their traditional position, which had
the Fourth International
been one of opposition to the Labor Party
idea. He advised them to urge the unions in During the Second World War the Socialist
which they had some influence to affiliate Workers Party concentrated particularly on
with Labor's Nonpartisan League and to five kinds of activities. These were its asso­
fight within it for the idea of forming a Labor ciation with the Fourth International, some
Party. However, Trotsky insisted that in limited electoral activity, work in the orga­
supporting the Labor Party idea, they should nized labor movement, participation in the
approach the subject from a revolutionary civil rights struggle, and the campaign to
perspective. They should not urge formation defend its leaders who were indicted at the
of a "reformist" party. Rather, they should behest of the Department of Justice in mid-
suggest a program for the proposed Labor 1941.
Party which would be based on the "transi­ Although the swp's activities in the
tional demands" which they all agreed Fourth International are dealt with else­
would be the basis of the program for the where in this volume, here it is worthwhile
new Fourth International. He particularly to note the party's action in December 1940
stressed the demands for workers' access to to formally withdraw from the Interna­
the books of firms for which they worked, tional. In October 1940 the U.S. Congress
"workers' control" of industry, and the es­ adopted the Voorhis Act, which provided
tablishment of workers' militia (which Can­ for registration of "any group affiliated to a

814 United States: SWP in World War II

foreign government or to an international In this regard the swp followed policies con­
political organization/' and for such groups sistent with their Marxist-Leninist-Trots-
to turn over to the government lists of its kyist philosophy, which they worked out
members and officials. In response, "Rather with Trotsky in some detail in 1939-40.
than comply with these provisions, which From the beginning they were opposed to
would subject the party's members and sym­ taking sides in the "imperialist war." Typi­
pathizers to government harassment, a spe­ cal of the s w p position was the "Resolution
cial convention of the s w p in December on Proletarian Military Policy" adopted in
1940 voted to disaffiliate from the Fourth September 1940. It proclaimed, "The impe­
International."5 From then on the Socialist rialist war is not our war and the militarism
Workers Party maintained the legal fiction of the capitalist state is not our militarism.
that it did not "belong" to the Fourth Inter­ We do not support the war and militarism
national. Its delegates to the various con­ of the imperialists any more than we sup­
gresses of the International always presum­ port the capitalist exploitation of workers
ably had "consultative" status, although in the factories. We are against the war as a
they clearly played major roles in the pro­ whole just as we are against the rule of the
ceedings, including votes on resolutions and class which conducts it, and never under
other decisions. any circumstances vote to give them any
For its part the U.S. government did not confidence in their conduct of the war or
for some time give up its efforts to have preparation for it—not a man, not a cent,
the s w p register under the Voorhis Act. In not a gun with our support."
October 1946 N. T. Elliff, chief of the For­ The Trotskyists recognized that many
eign Agents Registration Section, wrote the workers to whom they were appealing were
party about the matter. In reply, Cannon, in impressed with the menace of Hitlerism and
his capacity as national secretary, wrote the even favored military conscription. David
party's Chicago lawyer, Michael J. Myer, Frankel has commented that "in keeping
saying that "we would like you to reply to with its general approach to trying to reach
Mr. Elliff in our behalf that we have no rela­ the masses of workers, the s w p opposed the
tionship with the Fourth International or strategy of individual resistance to the draft,
any other body that would require us to reg­ while defending the rights of those individu­
ister with the Foreign Agents Registration als who did refuse conscription." Beyond
Section." Cannon added that "the Socialist that, they developed their own particular
Workers Party is an autonomous indepen­ "program" for the draft. The Resolution on
dent organization and has no affiliation with Proletarian Military Policy proclaimed:
parties or groups outside the United States.
Our views are in many ways similar to the The revolutionary strategy can only be
views of the Fourth International as ex­ to take this militarism as a reality and
pressed in the press of the Fourth Interna­ counterpose a class program of the prole­
tional and its sections throughout the world, tariat to the program of the imperialists
but this is only a matter of coincidence since at every point. We fight against sending
we derive our views from a common social­ the worker-soldiers into battle without
ist program."6 proper training and equipment. We op­
pose the military direction of worker-sol-
diers by bourgeois officers who have no
sw p Attitude Towards World War II
regard for their treatment, their protec­
During the Second World War the activities tion, and their lives. We demand federal
and fate of the s w p were largely determined funds for the military training of workers
by the party's attitude toward that conflict. and worker-officers under the control of

United States: SWP in World War II 815

 the trade unions. Military appropriations? Mexico in January 1940, before proceeding
Yes—but only for the establishment and to New York to assume the post of national
equipment of worker training camps! labor secretary of the s w p , he discussed the
Compulsory military training of the question of what the party should do.
workers? Yes—but only under the control Trotsky urged that the party should name
of the trade unions!7 its own candidate against Roosevelt; at the
same time he proposed a labor ticket to op­
In spite of its general opposition to World pose the president, to be headed by Daniel
War II and U.S. participation in it, the s w p J. Tobin, president of the International
was true to its Trotskyist position when it Brotherhood of Teamsters, from whose staff
came to participation of the USSR in the Dobbs had recently resigned.
struggle. An article by George Breitman Dobbs reported back to the party leader­
{writing as Albert Parker) in The Militant in ship, but no decision on the election was
July 1 941 stated, "Class conscious Ameri­ taken. What the s w p should do had not been
can Negroes must defend the Soviet Union decided by the time a delegation consisting
against its imperialist enemies as part of of Cannon, Sam Gordon, Joseph Hansen,
their own struggle. . . . We do not pretend and Dobbs went to Mexico to discuss that
that the Soviet Union is an ideal country, and other issues with Trotsky in June 1940.
where all problems have been solved, where Trotsky was critical of the s w p ' s not hav­
socialism has been reached. Not at all. But ing launched its own campaign, whether
it is a workers' state, where power has been with Tobin or someone from the party itself.
taken out of the hands of the employers and Dobbs noted that "lacking our own slate,
the landlords, where capitalist bosses no Trotsky continued, we had to choose be­
longer run the factories for their own profit, tween Earl Browder, who headed the Com­
where the foundations for a better life have munist Party's presidential ticket, and Nor­
been laid."8 Arguing that workers would man Thomas, the Socialist Party's candidate
rally to the defense of their union even if it
for president." Dobbs added that "Thomas
were led by "reactionary bureaucrats," was ruled out, though, because of his ties
Breitman maintained that "in the same
with Social Democrats standing at the left
sense, advanced workers, Negro and white,
tip of the defenders of U.S. imperialism. So
must call for the defense of the Soviet that reduced the options to Browder or Roo­
Union. If the imperialist powers win, they sevelt."
will carve up the Soviet Union in the same Trotsky went on to suggest that the swp
way the bosses would break up a union."9 should give "critical support" to Earl
s w p policies in other areas, including elec­
Browder. He argued that "the cp leaders had
toral action, and the trade union movement
begun to oppose U.S entry into the war,"
were largely determined by their attitude and this fact would facilitate the work of the
toward the war.
Trotskyists in making overtures to Commu­
nist workers and others under the c p ' s in­
fluence.
The 1940 Election
However, as Dobbs noted, "The swp dele­
In 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by gation did not favor the tactic of critical
then strongly launched in his campaign to support to Browder. We- Jrelt that it would
aid Great Britain to hold out against the run into indignation among anti-Stalinist
Nazis, was a candidate for an unprecedented militants in the trade unions." Trotsky did
third term. This presented a problem for s w p not insist on his formula, regarding it as a
leaders. matter of "tactics," not of principle.
When Farrell Dobbs visited Trotsky in In the end, the s w p did not endorse any

816 United States: SWP in World War II

presidential candidate. It did run some of when B. ]. Widick of the Shachtmanites
its own candidates on a statewide and local went to Detroit and become active in a u a w
level, most notably in Minnesota. There local there, he was told by some of his s w p
they nominated Grace Carlson for the Sen­ ex-comrades that he was wasting his time,
ate against nominees of the Farmer-Labor since they had the u a w in Detroit "sewed
Party, Republicans, Democrats, and an inde­ up" and would not allow the Shachtmanites
pendent candidate. She received more votes to make any headway, an assertion which
than the combined total of Thomas and proved untrue.11
Browder in Minnesota, which the swpers
considered a triumph. Dobbs commented
The West Coast Maritime Unions
that the election showed that "the swp had
become the leading party appealing to radi­ Another trade union sector in which the s w p
calized workers in the area; and many were was active, and reached the highest point of
coming closer to the organization upon influence during World War II and immedi­
learning of its program."10 In subsequent lo­ ately thereafter, was the maritime workers
cal and state elections the s w p also named on the Pacific Coast. The basis of Trotskyist
a few candidates. strength in that sector was their alliance
with Harry Lundeberg, head of the Sailors
Union of the Pacific (s u p ).
The sw p in the Labor Movement
The s u p was a venerable union, established
During the Second World War the s w p con­ in 1885, which had been greatly weakened by
centrated much of its attention on work a failed general strike in 19 21. For some time
within the organized labor movement. The thereafter the iww's Marine Transport
surge of militancy which had characterized Workers Union No. 10, as well as the Com­
the 1930s had by no means been totally ex­ munists' Marine Workers Industrial Union,
hausted, and in fact membership in trade had had some following among the Pacific
unions expanded greatly, as both employers Coast sailors. All of these elements partici­
and the government were more willing than pated in the revival of the s u p in the 1930s,
in the past to reach agreement with their when the union had a certain syndicalist col­
workers' unions to avoid interruptions with oration—due more, according to Stephen
wartime production. The Trotskyites and Schwartz, to the syndicalist background of
other political groups were able to capitalize the Scandinavian workers who made up the
on this growth of the labor movement. largest element in the s u p ' s membership
The s w p militants continued to develop than to the remnants of iww influence.
influence in the industrial unions of the The first upsurge of the Pacific Coast mar­
Congress of Industrial Organizations which itime workers was the strike of longshore­
had begun in the 1930s. As one s w p observer men in May 1934, supported by the s u p and
noted years later, "Important fractions were other groups, which obtained a system of
built up in auto, in maritime, in shipbuild­ joint management-union-controlled hiring
ing, and in other industries. At no time in its halls for longshoremen. This was followed
history, including the Minneapolis period, by formation early in 1936 of the Maritime
had the party been as well rooted in the trade Federation of the Pacific (m f p ), including the
union movement.. . The s w p made par­ s u p , the longshoremen, and several small

ticular headway in the United Automobile shipboard unions. The first head of the m f p
Workers, where their cohorts were led by was the sailor Harry Lundeberg, who was
Ernest Mazy. They may well have exagger­ elected head of the s u p later in the year.
ated their influence in the u a w and some In November-December 1936 Lundeberg
other unions in this period. For example, led the s u p on a successful strike which ob­

i United States: SWP in World War II 817

 tained a system of completely union-con- wide organization by the American Federa­
trolled hiring halls. Lundeberg was accused tion of Labor, with the sup as its core. Kerry
by longshore leader Harry Bridges of "be­ undertook to edit Seafarers Log, the siu's
traying" the strike, since he had settled it newly established paper.14
without consulting the longshoremen or The struggle of the Lundeberg-swp coali­
other unions which had been supporting it. tion reached a high point during World War
This began a long series of conflicts between II when the s u p reacted strongly against
the s u p and the longshoremen, by then the Harry Bridges's ardent acceptance (after June
International Longshoremen's and Ware­ 1941) of the "no strike pledge" which the
housemen's Union (i l w u ) of the cio. The Roosevelt Administration was encouraging.
basic cause of the conflict was political. The During that period s w p leader Frank Lovell
i l w u , as well as the Marine Cooks and Stew­ published a book, Maritime, un<Jer the pseu­
ards and some other smaller unions, were donym Frederick J. Lang, in which he strong­
controlled or largely dominated by the Com­ ly supported Lundeberg's role.
munist Party. The principal leader of those The last achievement of the swp-Lunde-
who sought to prevent a general takeover of berg alliance was a victorious strike of the
the maritime unions on the West Coast by s u p - s i u in September 1946. It was followed

the c p u s a was Lundeberg. by a defeat of a strike called by Bridges.

In this struggle Lundeberg formed a de Thereafter, the intense hostility between
facto alliance with the Trotskyists, who had the Lundeberg and Bridges forces began to
been able during 1936 to establish a modi­ be modified. At that point, apparently, Lun­
cum of influence in the Pacific maritime deberg felt no further need for his Trotskyist
field. He named Barney Mayes, a Trotskyist allies, and by 1949 there had been an open
and the son-in-law of Jack London, as editor break between Lundeberg and the swp mari­
of Voice of the Federation, the m f p ' s news­ time cadre. The break brought the virtually
paper. Mayes had as his chief assistant Jo­ total disappearance of any further Trotsky­
seph Hansen, who was many years later to ist influence among the maritime workers.15
emerge as the principal successor to James
P. Cannon as head of the Socialist Workers
The Teamsters Union
Party. Other Trotskyists who were active in
the s u p and other Pacific maritime unions Certainly one of the major activities of lead­
in the period were Tom Kerry and Frank ers and members of the Socialist Workers
Lovell. Non-Trotskyist leaders in the s u p Party during World War II was the defense
and some other unions of the Maritime Fed­ of those of its major figures who were in­
eration supported a number of Trotskyist dicted—and in some cases sent to jail——by
positions. Thus, a number of them tele­ the United States government. The origins
graphed their support of Trotsky to the of this persecution and prosecution of the
Dewey Commission hearings in Mexico s w p are to be found in the activities of a

City. West Coast Sailor, the s u p newspaper, small number of Trotskyists, particularly
denounced the Stalinist provocation which Farrell Dobbs, in the a f l ' s International
had led to the May 1937 uprising of anar­ Brotherhood of Teamsters (ib t }.
chists, p o u M i s t s , and others in Barcelona.13 The events of the early 1940s had their
The Lundeberg-swp alliance in the mari­ antecedents half a decade before. In 19 35-
time field was extended to some degree to 3 6 i b t President Daniel Tobin made his first
the Atlantic Coast when in 1939 s w p mem­ effort to destroy the influence which the
ber Tom Kerry was sent by Lundeberg to Trotskyists had acquired a year or so before
New York to help efforts to organize the among the teamsters of Minneapolis. He
new Seafarers International Union (siu). The chartered a rival Local 5 0 0 to Local 574,
siu had recently been chartered as a nation­ which was controlled by the Trotskyists,

818 United States: SWP in World War II

and sent in a leading organizer, Meyer ers of Local 544, began to undertake union­
Lewis, to try to destroy Local 574. This ization of the over-the-road truckdrivers.
move encountered resistance not only These more or less long-distance drivers had
among the teamsters, but from virtually the until then been largely ignored by the i b t .
whole labor movement of the city. As a con­ Tobin had doubts about the feasibility of
sequence Tobin backed down, merging Lo­ organizing them.10 Dobbs argued that they
cals 574 and 500 into anew Local 544, which were the key to the expansion of the size
the Trotskyists continued to control.16 and power of the Brotherhood. Not only
This reunification of the Minneapolis were they themselves a substantial part of
teamsters met some opposition within the the total number of teamsters, but if they
Socialist Workers Party. Cannon himself were unionized they could serve as "mis­
had doubts about it. Dobbs wrote that "the sionaries" for the union in unorganized
leading party comrades, including Jim, were cities and towns, since they had contacts in
hesitant about our proposed settlement virtually all parts of the country.
with Tobin. There was concern among them Dobbs succeeded first in establishing the
as to whether we could survive under the North Central District Drivers Council,
terms involved. It might be better, they felt, composed of teamster locals from the Dako-
to go down fighting than to risk being com­ tas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and upper
promised as revolutionists, if the arrange­ Michigan. This organization, which was
ment went wrong on u s."17 later transformed into the Central States
Cannon went to Minneapolis to confer Drivers Council, sought to establish a pat­
with the local Trotskyists. They finally con­ tern of regional bargaining for the over-the-
vinced him that they would be able to con­ road truck drivers. When the employers re­
trol the proposed new Local 544, and that fused to negotiate on that basis, Dobbs suc­
they would not sully their revolutionary ceeded in getting an agreement with the i b t
honor by agreeing to merge the old Local locals in Chicago, the hub of over-the-road
574 with Dan Tobin's Local 500. When the trucking in the Middle West, to refuse to
matter was put to the rank and file of Local handle the trucks belonging to firms which
574 the merger was approved by a vote of would not join in the regional collective bar­
about two to one.18 gaining process. This strategy soon won vic­
For a while after this incident Tobin re­ tory for the union.21
fused to interfere further with the Trotsky- One of the young organizers who was as­
ites' control of the Minneapolis teamsters. signed by the International Brotherhood of
When a dissident group within Local 544 Teamsters to help Dobbs in his campaign
brought a court suit against its leaders, alleg­ was James Hoffa, who had had some experi­
ing misuse of union funds and seeking to ence in Michigan with a considerably more
have the local put into receivership, Tobin limited effort in the same direction. Many
refused to give any support to the maneuver. years later Hoffa paid tribute to the leader­
As a result of this case the Dunne brothers ship of Dobbs in this organizing campaign:
were fined $56,000 and Karl Skoglund was "I refuse, therefore, to make any judgment
removed from the presidency of Local 544 about Farrell Dobbs. The fact that his exhor­
by the court on the grounds that since he tations in later years left me unmoved and
was not a United States citizen he was not that his logic eluded me does not mean he
qualified, according to the constitution of has not made a serious contribution to hu­
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, man thinking and striving. We cannot mea­
to be head of a local.19 sure with today's yardsticks matters that
Subsequently, basing himself in Local 544 should be viewed through the transit of
and the Minneapolis Joint Council of the time. As a fellow labor organizer, I view
Teamsters, Dobbs, one of the principal lead­ Farrell Dobbs subjectively. He was one heck

United States: SWP in World Wat II 819

of a fine labor organizer. Period. On this Trotskyist influence among the Minneapo­
matter only am I qualified to speak."22 lis teamsters. This was soon followed by
As a result of Dobbs's success in his or­ government prosecution not only of the
ganizing efforts on behalf of the i b t , Presi­ Minneapolis teamsters' leaders but of most
dent Tobin temporarily overcame his dis­ of the top figures in the Socialist Workers
like of Trotskyism sufficiently to offer Party.
Dobbs a position as general organizer of the Ralph and Estelle James have noted that
union. Dobbs assumed that post on May i, in April 1941 "a subcommittee of the Gen­
I 939 - eral Executive Board, conducted by Secre-
At the time of the establishment of the tary-Treasurer John Gillespie, met in Chi­
s w p in January 1938 it had been decided that cago with all concerned to examine whether
ultimately Farrell Dobbs would niove to 544's officers were 'Communistic, alien,
New York to take over the post of national and grossly negligent and inefficient.' The
labor secretary of the party. Pending his ar­ hearing centered totally about the first of
rival in New York B. J. Widick, one of the these charges, and the results were largely
s w p ' s leading labor journalists, served in predetermined, for the Dunnes had made no
Dobbs' place as a member of the Political secret of their political affiliation."
Committee of the Socialist Workers Party.23 Two months later, the General Executive
A few months after Dobbs had assumed Board proclaimed the Socialist Workers
the position of general organizer of the ib t Party to be a "subversive, revolutionary
he and other party leaders came to the con­ party" and demanded that all i b t officers
clusion that it was time for him to resign resign from it. At the same time it was de­
his union position and to assume his post in creed that Local 544 should be placed under
the party. Daniel Tobin had clearly indi­ a "trusteeship" to be named by President
cated his support for President Roosevelt's Tobin, in spite of the fact that the officers
policy of aid to the Allies in the Second of the local had gone so far as to formally
World War and a clash between him and resign from the s w p following the March
Dobbs seemed more or less inevitable. As a 1941 meeting of the General Board's sub­
consequence, Dobbs presented his resigna­ committee.25
tion as general organizer in a meeting with The Trotskyists in Local 544 did not ac­
Tobin in December 1939. In that session cept this attack without protest. In a meet­
Tobin used all of his quite extensive powers ing on June 9, attended by Dobbs, who still
of persuasion to try to convince Dobbs to maintained his membership in the organiza­
stay with the union and give up his proposed tion, Local 544 voted by a show of hands to
political activities. As Dobbs described the withdraw from the International Brother­
meeting, Tobin seemed genuinely perplexed hood of Teamsters and affiliate with the cio.
that a rising young figure in his union would Denny Lewis, brother of CIO chief John L.
turn down a most promising career in the Lewis and head of the cio 's United Con­
ib t leadership to assume what certainly struction Workers Organizing Committee,
seemed to Tobin to be a thankless task in a wired the Local $44 leaders that his organi­
relatively obscure political group with zation "w ill be happy to charter a local
strange ideas.24 union of truck drivers and helpers in the
Minneapolis area," adding, "We visualize
this move on the part of the truck drivers
The Persecution and Prosecution
in Minneapolis into our organization as the
of the s w p
first step towards the complete organization
A bit more than a year after the resignation of truck drivers in the United States in the
o f Dobbs from his post in the i b t , Tobin c io ."24
began a campaign once and for all to destroy The cio quickly established a Motor

820 United States: SWP in World War II

Transport and Allied Workers Industrial United States. . . . The party would and did
Union and sent in a cio staff to help Local attempt to bring about control of the militia
544 and at the same time carry on teamster by workers and laborers, and procured cer­
organizing activities in cio centers such as tain explosives, fire arms and ammunition
Flint and Pontiac, Michigan. The i b t coun­ and military equipment, and was organized
tered with its own organizers and for several into military [groups], united, armed and
months there was a bitter battle between a drilled under the name of 'Union Defense
phantom Local 544 under Tobin's receiver­ Guard.' " This claim clearly referred to the
ship and the old Local 544, now part of the groups which the Minneapolis teamsters
cio. In late September 1941 final victory had organized from time to time to protect
was assured to the a f l ' s group, in spite of its themselves from attacks from employer
small membership, by its being certified by agents or strongarm groups of rival unions.
the Minnesota Department of Labor as the The indictment said that the sw p claimed
legal bargaining agent for teamsters in Min­ that the Union Defense Guard "was to guard
neapolis. against violent attempts to destroy trade
The battle of the International Brother­ unions," but "in truth they were to be used
hood of Teamsters against Trotskyist domi­ to overthrow and put down by force the con­
nation of its Minneapolis affiliate, together stitutional government of the .United
with the government's prosecution of the States." It concluded that "the members ac­
leaders of Local 544, gained its objectives. cepted as ideal the formula of the Russian
By the end of the war Trotskyist control over revolution of 1917, and certain defendants
the truckdrivers of Minneapolis had been went from the Twin Cities to Mexico City,
almost totally destroyed 27 where they received advice and counsel
The attempt to wrest control of the Min­ from Leon Trotsky."18
neapolis teamsters union from the Trotsky­ The indictments against the s w p leaders
ists had little more than started when the were drawn under two laws: a Civil War
United States Government brought indict­ statute against sedition, and the Smith Act,
ments against twenty-nine leaders of the passed in the previous year, and many years
Socialist Workers Party. Those indicted in­ later virtually declared unconstitutional by
cluded most of the leaders of the Minne­ the Supreme Court.29
apolis teamsters as well as Grace Carlson The trial of the s w p leaders was a cause
and various national s w p leaders, including celebre for them and their opponents. Their
James Cannon, s w p National Secretary,- Fe­ prosecution was strongly applauded by the
lix Morrow, editor of The Militant; Albert Communist Party—which itself was to suf­
Goldman, member of The Militant editorial fer many indictments under the Smith Act
board; and Dobbs, national labor secretary a few years later. However, some of those
of the party. whom the government had hoped to get to
The New York Times reported that "The testify against the Trotskyists refused to do
indictment charged that members of the So­ so. Years later James Hoffa wrote that "at
cialist Workers Party sought to be placed the time of the trial I was asked, along with
in key positions in all major industries— other Detroit officials, to testify against the
particularly these of transportation, ship­ Dunne brothers, but we declined to do so.
//3Q
ping, manufacturing, farming, mining and
lumbering—so they could induce laborers Ralph and Estelle James have summed up
to join their party." the results of the Minneapolis trials:
The indictment alleged that "the defen­
dants would seek to bring about, whenever Charges against five of the defendants
the time seemed propitious, an armed revo­ were dismissed by the judge due to lack
lution against the Government of the of evidence, and five other defendants, in­

United States: SWP in World War II 821

 eluding Miles Dunne, were found inno­ The SWP Campaign Around the
cent by the jury. Those remaining, most Minneapolis Trial
notably Vince Dunne and Farrell Dobbs,
were convicted and given varying senten­ As soon as their leaders had been indicted,
ces of twelve to eighteen months' dura­ the Socialist Workers Party mounted a ma­
tion. The sentences were upheld on ap­ jor campaign in their defense. A Civil Rights
peal in 1943. Many of the old 544 leaders Defense Committee was organized under
spent little if any time in jail, but by the the chairmanship of James T. Farrell, the
trial's end their spirit was broken and famous novelist who was at the time "a
their power destroyed. Grant Dunne had dependable ally of the Socialist Workers
committed suicide during the course of Party."34 Farrell's committee was able to
a nervous breakdown; another defendant mobilize very considerable support among
was acquitted of the conspiracy charge intellectuals for the Trotskyists being prose­
but received a five-year prison term for cuted by the Roosevelt administration. At
'embezzling' union dues and other proper­ the same time they were also able to rally
ties which he had refused to turn over to very substantial backing in the organized
the Teamsters. . . .31 labor moyement, particularly from the cio
unions (in some of which the party had a
One of those who suffered most severely modicum of organization), but also from
was the teamster leader Carl Skoglund. The such a f l organizations as the International
vengeful ib t saw to it that he could not ob­ Ladies Garment Workers Union. The Trots­
tain a job once he had been released from kyists' principal appeal within organized la­
prison. Wherever he found employment the bor was to the feeling of labor solidarity,
Teamsters mounted a picket line. He finally arguing that the attack on the Minneapolis
went to New Jersey, where he worked in teamsters was a clear case of a governmental
a camp maintained by the s w p . Then the attempt to destroy an important trade
Immigration Service moved against him, union.
trying to deport him as an "undesirable Within the labor movement the Trotsky­
alien." He was kept several months in Ellis ists met their most bitter opposition not
Island, and was even put on a boat, ready to from conservative bureaucracies but from
sail, when at the last moment, with the help the Communist Party and the unions which
of Norman Thomas, an injunction was ob­ it controlled or influenced. At the same time
tained just in time to get him removed from the Stalinists attacked many of those who
the ship and freed.32 expressed support for the Trotskyists, at one
Eighteen defendants were sent to jail, all point even suggesting that Norman
being released somewhat early for good be­ Thomas, who had backed the Defense Com­
havior. The six sentenced to one year— mittee, ought himself to be prosecuted un­
Harry DeBoer, Clarence Hamel, Edward der the Smith Act.
Palmquist, Carl Kuehn, Alfred Russell, and The support which they were able to rally
Oscar Shoenfeld—were released in October in the intellectual community and the labor
1944. The other twelve—Cannon, Jake Coo­ movement perhaps prevented the outlawing
per, Oscar Coover, Sr., Farrell Dobbs, Vin­ of the Socialist Workers Party. There were
cent Dunne, Max Geldman, Albert Gold­ certainly rumors at the tiime that the Roose­
man, Emil Hansen, Carlos Hudson, Felix velt Administration was planning to take
Morrow, Carl Skoglund, and Grace Carl­ further steps against the Trotskyites, in ad­
son—were finally let go on January 24, 1945 dition to the trials. They did in fact suffer
after being held for not quite fourteen some other forms of persecution, including
months.33 the seizure of some issues of The Militant

822 United States: SWP in World Wat II

by the Post Office authorities and the subse­ He commented then that the indictment
quent suspension of second class mailing "was an attempt by President Roosevelt to
privileges of the newspaper.35 Later the pay political debts to Daniel J. Tobin, head
s w p ' s theoretical organ, Fourth Interna­ of the A.F. of L. teamsters' union."37
tional, was also banned from the mails, an Tobin was, indeed, a person to whom Roo­
action which brought the quite anti-Trots- sevelt owed considerable political debts. He
kyist weekly N ew Leader, organ of the So­ had headed the Democratic Party's cam­
cial Democratic Federation, to observe that paign in organized labor to win support for
"apparently, the Post Office has arbitrarily Roosevelt's reelection for a third term in
extended its ban on all publications of the 1940. He was known as one of the most
Trotskyist group." It added that "the last thorough-going Democrats in the organized
issues of The Militant, the weekly paper, labor movement. Furthermore, Tobin
have been released for mailing, about ten strongly supported Roosevelt's policies of
days after publication date. . . . If the Post aid to Great Britain in the months before
Office found nothing to stop publication, Pearl Harbor.
the policy of holding up each issue for a The American Civil Liberties Union,
Washington decision is an arbitrary censor­ which came to the support of the indicted
ship over a publication which may have dan­ Trotskyists, issued a statement emphasiz­
gerous repercussions."36 ing its belief that the indictment of the
Trotskyist leaders was designed specifically
to help Tobin's attempt to take control of
Seasons for Persecution
the Minneapolis teamsters from the swp. It
of the Trotskyists
noted, according to Ralph and Estelle James,
The legal prosecution of the Socialist Work­ "communications between Tobin-and Roo­
ers Party leaders and the harassment of its sevelt, wherein Tobin had described the
periodicals by the U.S. Post Office were flight of S44 to the cio as 'a regrettable and
quite clearly cases of persecution, and they dangerous condition .. . we feel that while
were rather unique during World War II. The our country is in a dangerous position, those
Roosevelt administration did not engage in disturbers who believe in the policies of for­
the kind of grotesque violations of civil lib­ eign, radical governments, must be in some
erties which the Wilson administration had way prevented from pursuing this dangerous
carried out during and after World War I. course.' Roosevelt quickly obliged by agree­
No other radical group, whether it be the ing that jurisdictional fights were not de­
Communist Party, the Socialists (who were sirable."
opposed to entry into the war before Pearl The a c l u report went on to say that "it
Harbor, and remained very critical of the seems reasonable to conclude that the gov­
conduct of the war thereafter), or the Shacht­ ernment injected itself into the inter-union
manites and other dissident Trotskyist controversy in order to promote the inter­
groups suffered at the hand of the govern­ ests of the one side which supported the
ment as did the s w p . administration's foreign and domestic poli­
This fact raises the question of why the cies. . . . Our conclusion is reinforced by the
Roosevelt administration took such mea­ fact that it has been a matter of common
sures against the Socialist Workers Party. knowledge for some years that the Socialist
The reason most widely accepted then and Workers Party, an insignificant little group
later by both members and leaders of the of extremists, has been strongly represented
swp and by people outside the party was in the Minneapolis labor movement. . . .
expressed at the time of the indictment of Nothing charged in the indictment is of re­
the Trotskyist leaders by Albert Goldman. cent origin. The situation in Minneapolis is

United States: SWP in World War II 823

no different now from that obtaining over quently, The Militant reported extensively
the past five or ten years."38 on two national conferences held by the or­
Ralph and Estelle James, writing in the ganization which had originally been built
mid-1960s, noted that "Farrell Dobbs today up around the idea of a March on Wash­
disputes the view of the a c l u and other lib­ ington.
eral groups that the Justice Department's The Militant paid special attention to seg­
moves were political payoffs from Roosevelt regation of and discrimination against
to Tobin. He believes that the war and gen­ blacks in the armed forces. It also dealt with
eral class issues motivated the govern­ the problem of the slowness of integration
ment's attack on the Trotskyists. . . ."3S> of minorities into the civilian work force,
However, the facts remain that it was only particularly in defense industries. In this
the swpers who were in conflict with Roose­ connection it commented favorably on ef­
velt's ally, Tobin, and that, although several forts of various unions, particularly the
other radical groups were at least as vocifer­ United Auto Workers, to place black work­
ously against Roosevelt's policies as were ers in such jobs and to make it possible for
the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, them to receive training as skilled workers.
only the swp leaders were indicted by the There was continuous insistence on the in­
Roosevelt administration. effectiveness of the Fair Employment Prac­
tices Committee set up by President Roose­
velt as part of the agreement calling off the
The s w p in the
1941 March on Washington.
Civil Rights Movement
The paper also reported and commented
During World War II, the Socialist Workers on race riots which took place during the
Party also got more or less extensively in­ war, particularly in Detroit and Harlem,
volved for the first time in the black civil as well as "zoot suit" incidents involving
rights struggle. Until then the s w p had had Mexican-Americans in the Los Angeles
very little black membership and had only area. It blamed these events on the attempts
had two blacks in its leadership, C. L. R. of the capitalists to keep the working class
James, a British West Indian who had mi­ divided, emphasizing frequently that people
grated to the United States from Great Brit­ acquire racial prejudices rather than being
ain some years before, and Emest McKin­ bom with them.
ney. During World War II both of these men In addition to constant coverage of the
were with the Shachtmanites. struggles of blacks in the party newspaper,
The s w p ' s weekly newspaper, Socialist the swp published at least three pamphlets
Appeal until February i, 1941, The Militant on the subject during the war, all of them
thereafter, kept close track of events within written by George Breitman. The first, De­
the black community and of events and inci­ fend the Negro Sailors on the U.S.S. Phila­
dents affecting blacks. It carried many arti­ delphia, was put out in November 1940, and
cles, the largest number of them by George dealt with the court martialing of a number
Breitman writing under the name Albert of black sailors who had protested against
Parker. The newspaper and the party the Jim Crow conditions they were subject
strongly supported the March on Washing­ to in the Navy. The second, The Negro
ton Movement, organized and led in 1941 March on Washington, published in June
by the labor leader A. Philip Randolph, al­ 1941, supported the movement for the
though they strongly opposed the compro­ march but was very critical of the supposed
mise between Randolph and President Roo­ lack of militancy of A. Philip Randolph and
sevelt which resulted in the actual descent other leaders of the effort. A third pamphlet,
on the capital being cancelled. Subse­ Negroes in the Postwar World, issued in

824 United States: SWP in World War II

June 1943, dealt more generally with the the apportionment of delegates to the Sec­
blacks' struggle, emphasizing particularly ond World Congress of the Fourth Interna­
the palliative nature of the moves taken by tional was being discussed, the Socialist
the Roosevelt administration during the Workers Party claimed a membership of
war, and their failure to challenge the funda­ about, i,5oo.43 Many years later, Fred Stan­
mental problems of segregation and discrim­ ton said that the s w p membership had been
ination. about 600 after the Shachtmanite split, and
The sw p was very critical of those who about 1,500 by the end of the war.44
argued that there should be a dampening The circulation of the party's press was
of the civil rights struggle in the name of also growing during these years. Speaking
supporting the war effort. It was particularly on July 25, 1945, Cannon noted that "a year
strong in its attacks on Communist Party ago the National Committee rather hesitat­
arguments to this effect, especially by such ingly asked the membership to get 3,000
black c p leaders as James Ford and Benjamin new subscribers" for The Militant, with the
Davis. result that "the membership responded
The campaigns of the s w p on behalf of with a total of about 7,500 new subscrip­
black causes during the war resulted in mod- tions." He added that "again this year, a goal
.est gains by the party in terms of member­ of 10,000 new subscribers was set by the
ship and influence among the blacks. Fred party leadership and you responded with
Stanton has noted that the party recruited more than 22,000. Fund campaigns, with
"hundreds of Black and working class goals undreamed of in the old days, have
members."40 been oversubscribed in every case."43
Among the new members was Dr. Edgar A few months later, Cannon reported to
B. Kramer, a black doctor who resisted the the New York membership of the swp that
draft on grounds of discrimination against "the circulation of The Militant is held
blacks in the armed services, was indicted down to 31,000 now only because the prints-
but won dismissal of all charges when he hop can't handle any more. But as soon as
was defended by the s w p and the American we make the necessary mechanical arrange­
Civil Liberties Union. He joined the s w p in ments we are going to put on another sub­
1943 and wrote a column for The Militant scription campaign for 10,000 new readers.
under the name Charles Jackson dealing We are all confident that by January 1 we
principally with black issues.41 will have a Mili tan t circulation of 6o,ooo."*6
However, the party was a victim of the
substantial postwar inflation. In October
Gains by the sw p During and After
1946 it was forced to take drastic steps to
World War II
cut back on its expenditures. As Cannon
The Socialist Workers Party was able to informed Charles Curtiss, a National Com-
make considerable progress in membership, mittee member from Los Angeles, they de­
as well as in influence, during and immedi­ cided to cut The Militant from eight to six
ately after World War II. James Cannon pages an issue, probably to reduce the size
claimed in July 1945 that "we are now re­ of Fourth International, temporarily to sus­
cruiting new members at the rate of 300 per pend all further publications by the party's
year, and the rate of recruiting is increasing Pioneer Publishers, to cut the s w p staff "to
from month to month," and that "our new the absolute minimum" and to "ask the
recruits are predominantly proletarian trade convention to authorize the collection of
union militants, the very type out of which another fund of $20,000."*7There is no indi­
the future party of the revolution must be cation of how long these measures remained
constructed. "42About two years later, when in effect.

United States: SWP in World War II 825

 The Theses on the fullest health not only persist but have
American Revolution grown more malignant."49
Thesis VII summed up the document's
About fifteen months after the end of World cataclysmic prediction about the future of
War II the Socialist Workers Party adopted the United State and world economy:
what was described as "the swp's basic pro­
grammatic document of the postwar pe­ The following conclusion flows from the
riod." Entitled "Theses on the American objective situation: U.S. imperialism
Revolution," it was basically written by which proved incapable of recovering
James Cannon and was adopted by the par­ from its crisis and stabilizing itself in the
ty's Twelfth National Convention in No­ ten-year period preceding the outbreak of
vember 1 946. It was a somewhat apocalyptic the Second World War is heading for an
document which predicted the absolute im­ even more catastrophic explosion in the
possibility of any further stabilization of current postwar era. The cardinal factor
capitalism, the near-certainty of World War which will light the fuse is this: The
III in the very near future, and the early home market, after an initial and artificial
advent of revolution in the United States revival, must contract. It cannot expand
and, therefore, throughout the world. This as it did in the twenties. What is really in
document reflected the perspective at the store is not unbounded prosperity but a
time of not only the majority of the s w p short-lived boom. In the wake of the
leadership, but of most of their European bopm must come another crisis and de­
counterparts as well. pression which will make the 1929-32
The first of the fifteen "theses" which conditions look prosperous by com­
make up the document ended with the un­ parison.50
equivocal assertions that "the blind alley in Thesis VIII argued that "the impending
which world capitalism has arrived, and the economic paroxysms" were leading "the
U.S. with it, excludes a new organic era of American monopolists" to preparation for
capitalist stabilisation. The dominant world war with the Soviet Union. The document
position of American imperialism now ac­ predicted that such a war not only would
centuates and aggravates the death agony of not solve U.S. domestic problems but also
capitalism as a whole."48 would meet "fierce resistance" not only
Theses II through V traced the events of from "the peoples of the USSR," but also
the interwar period: first, the prosperity of from "the European and colonial masses
the 1 920s, based in the United States princi­ who do not want to be the slaves of Wall
pally on the expansion of the domestic mar­ Street" and within the United States itself.
ket, and followed by the Great Depression, As a consequence "the workers' struggle for
out of which the U.S. economy was rescued power in the U.S. is not a perspective of
only by war preparations. Thesis VI dealt a distant and hazy future but the realistic
with the war and postwar situation of the program of our epoch."
United States economy, and concluded Theses IX and X dealt with the intercon­
among other things that "every single factor nection between the revolution in the
underlying the current 'peacetime' prosper­ United States and in other parts of the world.
ity is ephemeral. This country has emerged Regardless of whether •'the revolutionary
not richer from the Second World War as movement starts in Europe, "colonial" areas
was the case in the twenties, but poorer— or the United States, "The issue of socialism
in a far more impoverished world. . . . The or capitalism will not be finally decided un­
basic conditions that precipitated the 1929 til it is decided in the U.S." Thesis X added
crisis when American capitalism enjoyed its that "the revolutionary victory of the work­

826 United States: SWP in World War II

ers in the U.S. will seal the doom of the to action, they more readily accept the most
senile bourgeois regimes in every part of our radical solutions."
planet, and of the Stalinist bureaucracy, if it Thesis XIII dealt with the alleged "back­
still exists at the time."51 wardness" of the U.S. working class, and
Thesis XI dealt with the "danger of bu­ argued that that had been disproven by the
reaucratic degeneration after the revolution­ rapid growth of the trade union movement
ary victory." It declared that "this can only since the middle 19305. It predicted that
arise from privileges which are in turn based "under the impact of great events and press­
on backwardness, poverty, and universal ing necessities the American workers will
scarcities. Such a danger could have no ma­ advance beyond the limits of trade unionism
terial foundation within the U.S. Here the and acquire political class consciousness
triumphant workers' and farmers' govern­ and organization in a similar sweeping
ment would from the very beginning be able movement."54
to organize socialist production on far Thesis XIV established that "the decisive
higher levels than under capitalism, and vir­ instrument of the proletarian revolution is
tually overnight assure such a high standard the party of the class conscious vanguard."
of living for the masses as would strip privi­ It went on to argue that the fact that such a
leges in the material sense of any serious party is quite small does not militate.against
meaning whatever."51 its ultimate victory, as was demonstrated
Thesis XII argued that objective condi­ with the case of the Bolsheviks in 19 17. It
tions had prepared the U.S. working class for concluded that "in the U.S. all the condi­
revolution. For one thing, "The numerical tions are in the process of unfolding for the
strength and social weight of the American rapid-transformation of the organized van­
working class, greatly increased by the war guard from a propaganda group to a mass
is overwhelming in the country's life." For party strong enough to lead the revolution­
another, the postwar wave of strikes indi­ ary struggle for power. " ss
cated that the workers were ready to fight Obviously, as Thesis XV proudly pro­
to preserve their relatively high living stan­ claimed, "The revolutionary vanguard
dards and that "in the given situation, there­ party, destined to lead this tumultuous revo­
fore, the relatively high living standard of lutionary movement in the U.S., does not
American workers is a revolutionary and have to be created. It already exists, and its
not, as is commonly believed, a conservatiz- name is the Socialist Workers Party.” The
mg factor."53 Furthermore, the homogeniza­ document concluded with the observation
tion of the American working class, re­ that "the task of Socialist Workers Party
sulting from immigrants being succeeded by consists simply in this: to remain true to
their children, and the growing incorpora­ its program and banner; to render it more
tion of the blacks in the labor movement precise with each new development and
strengthened the revolutionary potential of apply it correctly in the class struggle; and
the American workers. to expand and grow with the growth of the
Furthermore, this thesis argued, "The revolutionary mass movement, always as­
American workers have the advantage of be­ piring to lead it to victory in the struggle for
ing comparatively free, especially among political power."56
the younger and most militant layers, from
reformist prejudices. The class as a whole
The Goldman-Morrow Split
has not been infected with the debilitating
poison of reformism, either of the classic World War II was not over before the Social­
'Socialist' variety or the latter-day Stalinist ist Workers Party was undergoing another
brand. As a consequence, once they proceed factional dispute, which ended in a new split

United States: SWP in World War II 827

 in the party's ranks. It centered on some­ view as developed at the Eleventh Party
what the same issues as those which had Convention." In essence, this statement
caused the Shachtmanite schism half a de­ said that "there are no clearly defined differ­
cade earlier, and directly involved the ques­ ences at the present time on programmatic
tion of relations between the s w p and the questions," and that in the light of that "it
Workers Party. The leading dissidents on is possible and obligatory to collaborate har­
this occasion were Albert Goldman and Fe­ moniously and constructively on the basis
lix Morrow. of the convention decisions . . . " and that
The new dispute probably had its origins "there is no basis for sharp factional struggle
in personal disagreements which arose or for the existence of factional formations
among the Trotskyists incarcerated in Sand­ in the party ranks."58
stone Prison. Subsequently, soon after leav­
ing prison, James Cannon wrote (referring
"Programmatic” Differences in the
to Albert Goldman by one of his "party
Morrow-Goldman Split
names," Morrison), that "all political and
personal relations between us and Morrison, "Programmatic" differences arose very
which didn't amount to much from the first soon. The issues concerning the Trotskyist
day, were completely discontinued as far perspective on the immediate postwar
back as last June, and between us and Mor­ world and resulting ideas about short and
row about 90 percent." He added that "we middle run strategy which the Socialist
left Sandstone with the conviction that per­ Workers Party and its European partners
sonal relations with Morrison had been dis­ should follow were of fundamental signifi­
rupted and broken off forever without any cance for the whole international Trotskyist
possibility of repair, and that political rela­ movement. The questions Goldman and
tions henceforth can only be of the most Morrow raised were widely debated among
formal, businesslike character. We have Trotskyists in Europe as well as in the
conducted ourselves since our return from United States, and haunted the movement
this standpoint."57 for a generation.
The first issue raised by Goldman and Felix Morrow and Albert Goldman were
Morrow concerned "the organizational in fundamental disagreement with the "cat­
question," that is, the democratic centralist astrophic" perspective of the s w p leader­
theory and practice of the s w p . The two lead­ ship, and of that of most of the Fourth Inter­
ers complained about the "bureaucratic" na­ national. More specifically, they were very
ture of James Cannon's control over the much against the "Theses on the American
party apparatus. These issues were raised as Revolution" adopted late in 1946, and
early as the Eleventh Convention of the swp which had been in process of formulation
in November 1944 by supporters of the for as long as three years before that.
Goldman-Morrow point of view, although Morrow-Goldman disagreed with the ma­
the two principal leaders were still in jail at jority of the s w p leadership on at least four
the time. major points: They believed that postwar
The existence of a new factional lineup in Europe would experience a strong economic
the s w p became public knowledge for all recovery, based in large part, on aid from the
who read the party's publications by a state­ United States. They argufed that "bourgeois
ment dated April 16,1945, entitled "On the democracy" would be restored in Western
Internal Situation," which was published in Europe, rather than the dictatorships fore­
the May 1945 issue of Fourth International. seen by the s w p majority. They maintained
This statement was a species of truce be­ that the revolution was not imminent in
tween "the majority and minority point of Western Europe, but rather was a matter of

828 United States: SWP in World War II

at least several decades. Finally, they argued limitations of that struggle due to the pres­
that during this considerable period of time, ent hegemony of the Stalinists and Social
the best policy for the Trotskyist parties was Democrats and the smallness of the Fourth
to push for the utmost extension and expan­ International parties; (3) the resistance of
sion of "bourgeois democracy," as the only French imperialism, supporting itself on the
feasible way of showing its inadequacies for masses, to U.S. domination; (4} the ability
the achievement of socialism. of U.S. imperialism to shift from methods
Morrow argued against the majority's in­ of military dictatorship to bourgeois demo­
sistence that the United States intended to cratic methods under the given conditions;
"dismember" the European economies once (5) the pressure of the U.S. and British
it had defeated the Nazis. He argued that masses in opposition to imposition of dicta­
"in the long-run, of course, U.S. imperialism torships."41
can solve none of Europe's economic prob­ European economic recovery and the rees­
lems . . . It is not enough, however, to state tablishment of liberal democracy meant in
this long-term perspective. We must also the view of Morrow and Goldman that the
estimate accurately the short-term perspec­ European Socialist revolution which the
tive. The short-term perspective is that s w p and f i majority had been predicting as

American imperialism will provide food and an immediate result of the end of the war
economic aid to Europe and will thus for a would at best be very considerably post­
time appear before the European masses in poned. Most particularly, hope for the new
a very different guise than German imperial­ German revolution which had been at the
ism . . . Unlike Nazi occupation, American center of the predictions of the Trotskyists'
occupation will be followed by improve­ optimistic view was mistaken. On this
ment in food supplies and in the economic point Morrow wrote that "you wrote all this
situation generally. Where the Nasis re­ without a single reference to the fact that
moved factory machinery and transporta­ the German proletariat would begin its life
tion equipment, the Americans will bring after Nazi defeat under military occupation
them in . . . "i9 and without a revolutionary party, and with­
Morrow and Goldman also argued that out the slightest attempt at appraising the
"bourgeois democracy" would exist in state of class consciousness of the German
Western Europe for some time to come. proletariat after eleven years of Nazism."
Morrow argued that "with the collapse of Morrow also commented on what he
fascism and the rise of the masses again to thought were the roots of the swp and p i ' s
their feet, the question of what is to come high expectations for a German revolution.
can only be answered in terms of the situa­ He said, "To put it bluntly: all the phrases
tion of the revolutionary Marxist parties in in its prediction about the German revolu­
the various European countries . . . No such tion—that the proletariat would from the
mass revolutionary parties exist yet. The first play a decisive role, soldiers' commit­
struggle of the masses is limited by the fact tees, workers' and peasants' soviets, etc.—
that it still accepts the leadership of the re­ were copied down once again in January
formist parties. The objective resultant is 1945 by the European Secretariat from the
bourgeois democracy."60 1938 program of the Fourth International.
Morrow summed up his argument con­ Seven years, and such years, had passed by
cerning the persistence for some time of but the European Secretariat did not change
"bourgeois democracy" thus: "In sum, the a comma. Exactly the same piece of copying
minority saw an evolution toward bourgeois had been done by the s w p majority in its
democracy as the objective resultant of (i ) October 1943 Plenum resolution in spite of
the rising struggle of the proletariat, (2.} the the criticisms of the minority."61

United States: SWP in World War II 829

 If continued democratic regimes and not fore his expulsion from the party in Novem­
revolution were the immediate prospect, ber 1946 that "The temporary inflation of
Morrow argued that the tactic of the Trots­ the price-structure due to wartime shortages
kyists ought to be to exploit these facts, not is coming to an end. . . . By confusing the
deny them. He wrote that "If the masses short-term period of price-adjustment with
have democratic illusions, what follows? the eventual development of a new eco­
How shall we prove to the masses that their nomic crisis on the scale of the 1930s, and
needs cannot be satisfied within the frame­ leaving out entirely the long-term effect of
work of the bourgeois-democratic state? lower prices in facilitating the home market
This is of course not a new problem, and our and export in an interim period or at least
answer is the Leninist answer: The more several years, the Political Committee con­
complete democracy we can win, the more jures up an immediate crisis."65'.
it will become clear to the workers that it is However, most of the controversy cen­
not their lack of liberties but capitalism it­ tered on the issue of reunification of the
self which is the cause of their suffering. In s w p and the Shachtmanites.. Goldman and

the fight for the most complete democracy, Morrow had apparently had some conversa­
the Bolsheviks can demonstrate to the tions with the leaders of the Workers Party
workers that it is the revolutionists and not soon after being released from prison, and in
the reformists who are the most devoted these discussions brought up the possibility
fighters for the needs of the people."63 of a reunification of the two groups. They
Another "programmatic" difference of got enough encouragement from the w p
Morrow and Goldman with the s w p major­ leaders so that they officially raised the issue
ity concerned the USSR. The Goldman- at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the
Morrow group clearly shared Natalia Sedova Socialist Workers Party on July 12, 1945.
Trotsky's doubts about continuing to regard The majority of the Political Committee de­
the Soviet Union as even a "degenerated" cided to refer the matter to the next Plenum
workers state. This issue constituted the of the National Committee.66 Cannon's po­
background rather than the principal issue sition on the issue was clear at the time. He
in the dispute between them and the Can­ reported to a New York party membership
nonite majority of the swp. It was not until meeting soon afterwards that "The proposal
Goldman had already left the party that Fe­ for 'unity with the Shachtmanites' is not
lix Morrow stated at an s w p Plenum in May a concrete and realistic proposition for our
1946 that he felt that "all the reasons we party at the present time."67
gave for defending the Soviet Union have However, the Workers Party soon fol­
disappeared."64 lowed up the formal introduction of the uni­
ty issue in the s w p leadership by a letter to
that leadership in which they said, among
Other Issues in
other things, that "the interests of uniting
Goldman-Morrow Split
the Fourth Internationalists in the United
As the factional fight developed, the opposi­ States on a sound foundation are more impor­
tion was critical of a number of positions tant than the regime in the Socialist Workers
taken by the party, lt opposed what it con­ Party," and asking for discussions about the
ceived to be the "uncritical" support given possibility of unity. As a’ consequence, the
by the swp to the faction of the United Auto­ swp majority had the Political Committee
mobile Workers Union headed by Walter send a reply in which, according to Cannon,
Reuther. It also challenged the position it was stated that "we are in favor of the dis­
taken by Cannon and the majority that the cussion they propose and will so recommend
U.S. economy was facing a major postwar to our National Committee."68
breakdown. Felix Morrow wrote shortly be­ Cannon's seeming willingness to at least

830 United States: SWP in World War II

discuss the possibility of unity with the position. This read, "If in the coming weeks
Workers Party signified no rapprochement we can see any sign that we can reasonably
with the Goldman-Morrow minority in the consider as a move on your part toward re­
swp. At the same New York membership sumption of negotiations for unity with the
meeting he claimed that "the anarchistic Workers Party, we shall remain in the So­
leaders of the minority over-estimate the cialist Workers Party in order to work for
virtues and powers of 'direct action.' They the cause of unity. If, on the other hand, you
think that by openly breaking discipline and give no sign of a desire to reconsider your
laughing at party loyalty they have thereby stand against unity, then our place will be
eliminated these concepts from party life. I with the Workers Party." The Political
believe they are going to be disappointed,- Committee, by a vote of 6 -1 {Morrow voting
the party is going to pass judgment on them. against}, adopted a resolution rejecting this
The party is going to proceed as it always "ultimatum," on February 12, 1946.71
has in such cases: justly but firmly. . . . " 69 The position of the Goldman-Morrow mi­
Subsequently, on September 15, 194s, nority had some support within the Fourth
Shachtman sent another letter asking for International. Natalia Sedova favored reuni­
discussions of unity, and expressing the fication of the swp and w p ,” and the s w p
Workers Party people's willingness "to ac­ minority also had the backing of the minor­
cept discipline as a minority of the s w p ." ity element in the French section and of the
The Political Committee of the swp on Sep­ majority in the Revolutionary Communist
tember 2 1 agreed to discussions. A subcom­ Party of Great Britain.73
mittee consisting of Cannon, Bert Cochran, Meanwhile, in December 1945 the Con­
and Morris Lewit then met twice with trol Commission of the s w p began to look
Shachtman, E. R. McKinney, and Ernest into alleged breaches of discipline by Albert
Erber of the Workers Party. On October 2, Goldman, Felix Morrow and some of their
Cannon reported to his Political Committee supporters. It wrote a report which was sub­
that "the w p had definitely agreed to accept mitted to a plenum of the National Com­
the status of a disciplined minority, but that mittee on May 16, 1946, accusing them of
they had asked for their own internal bul­ having violated swp discipline in their rela­
letin." tions with the leaders of the Workers Party.
Finally, a plenum of the s w p National Felix Morrow and most of the minority in
Committee met on October 6-7, 1945 to New York announced that henceforward
discuss the unity issue. It adopted a resolu­ they would abide by party discipline.74 Gold­
tion sponsored by the majority, which de- man and others from Chicago, on the other
cided "(a) To endorse the letter and actions hand, announced that they were going to
of the Political Committee in response to join the Workers Party which they did at the
the letter from the w p . . . (b) To authorize end of the month.75
the Political Committee to prepare and Felix Morrow continued his struggle
carry through a thorough discussion and within the Socialist Workers Party for an­
clarification of the theoretical, political and other six months. The November 1946 con­
organizational issues in dispute, and fix the vention of the party expelled him "for unau­
position of the party precisely on every point thorized collaboration with Shachtman's
in preparation for the consideration and ac­ w p . " He did not join the Workers Party,

tion of the next party convention; (c) To however.76

reject any united front for propaganda."70
The decision obviously did not satisfy the
Further s w p -w p Unity Negotiations
Goldman-Morrow minority. On January 26,
1946, "the minority faction in the National To the surprise of all concerned, the liquida­
Committee," presented a statement of its tion of the Goldman-Morrow opposition

United States: SWP in World War II 831

 within the s w p did not end the discussion tional. This formula was that "unaffiliated
of merger with the Workers Party. The cause groups desiring to participate in the interna­
of the revival of the issue was a visit to the tional discussion prior to the congress must
United States at the end of January 1947 of give a written undertaking to recognize the
Michel Pablo (Raptis), the secretary of the authority of the congress and pledge them­
Fourth International. He came to discuss selves in advance to accept its decisions on
details of the Second Congress of the Inter­ both political and organizational questions.
national which was then being planned for On that condition they may participate in
later in 1947. Max Shachtman and the the international precongress discussion
Workers Party took advantage of this visit and may have fraternal representation at the
to present the case for reintegration of that congress, without voting rights."79
party into the International, and as a conse­ The Workers Party after Meetings of
quence "through Pablo's intervention the Shachtman and C. L. R. James, the leader of
w p leadership agreed to the conditions for the wp faction strongly favoring unity with
unity with the s w p that they had rejected the s w p , finally agreed at a plenum of its
the previous year, in particular giving up National Committee to accept these condi­
their demand for a special internal bulletin tions. As a consequence Cannon informed
for their faction within the s w p . " 77 the members of his National Committee
This tum of events led to the meeting of that "the majority opinion" in the Political
a new plenum of the National Committee Committee "is definitely crystallizing in fa­
of the s w p on February 15 -16 , 1947. In prep­ vor of going through with the proposition as
aration, Cannon wrote a letter to the mem­ outlined above," and added that "I person­
bers of the National Committee in which ally am convinced that, taking everything
he said that according to information pro­ into account nationally and internationally,
vided by Pablo, a majority was assured in it is a correct and necessary step. . . ,"ao
the coming congress of the International to The February 1947 Plenum of the s w p
reconfirm "the orthodox line" and to "spe­ agreed to the proposal for the Shachtmanites
cifically condemn the theories of bureau­ to participate in the preparations for the
cratic collectivism, national revolution, ret- world congress of the Fourth International.
rogressionism, and the conception of the It went further, and said that "if the N a­
Stalinist parties in capitalist countries as tional Committee of the w p wishes to expe­
non working class bodies." It was also clear, dite matters and effect the unification even
he said, that once these positions had been before the holding of the extraordinary con­
taken, "Membership thereafter should be vention, the n c of the swp will be agreeable
conditional on acceptance of the political to the proposition . . . " T o this end, "the
and organizational decisions of the congress National Committee of the swp will recom­
and disciplined application of them in all mend that all members of the w p as of Febru­
political activity." Furthermore, the s w p ary 10, 1947, be admitted into the ranks of
had been assured that "On the s w p -w p ques­ the s w p as a body without prejudice or dis­
tion, the congress should condemn the polit­ crimination, and that this proviso be ex­
ical line developed by the w p , condemn the tended to include any new members who
split of 1940, the maneuverist character of may be recruited by the w p in the meantime,
the unity proposal, and the Goldman split provided they have not1-.been previously
which accompanied it."78 members of the swp."81
Cannon said that the swp leaders had The next step was a joint statement by
worked out with Pablo a "formula" to gov­ James Cannon and Max Shachtman, dated
ern attendance at the World Congress by March 1 1 , 1947, on the unification of the
parties not then belonging to.the Interna­ two parties. It recounted the agreement of

832 United States: SWP in World War II

the Workers Party to accept the results of our opinion at present require any alter­
the coming congress of the International (re­ ation. The plenum says that the obligation
ferred to as the "extraordinary party conven­ they undertook to submit to the congress
tion" or e p c ), "even if the e p c should adopt must be carried out in good faith, and that
decisions which would place the members can only be tested by the congress itself."85
of the wp in the position of a minority." It That was about the last that was heard of
also noted the acceptance of the proposals the possibility of merging the Shachtman­
by the plenum of the s w p , and said that ites back into the Socialist Workers Party.
unity of the two parties would be based on However, the small pro-swp faction within
the memberships at the time the unification the w p led by C. L. R James held its own
took place, and added, "However, while the national meeting in July 1947, and there de­
unity negotiations are in progress, neither cided to join the s w p .84
party will admit into its ranks any individu­
als or groups who are now or who have for­
Other Small Parties
merly been members of the other party, ex­
cept by agreement." On this basis, "the two During the years following the establish­
national committees are recommending the ment of the Socialist Workers Party, there
unification of the two parties . . . as soon as existed several small dissident Trotskyist
the discussion now proceeding in the ranks groups in addition to the Shachtmanite and
of the two organizations is concluded."81 Oehlerite organizations. These were cen­
Unity never took place between the So­ tered principally in New York and San Fran­
cialist Workers Party and the Workers Party. cisco.
A new series of controversies developed over In New York there existed in 1939-40 the
Cannon's having described the position of Revolutionary Marxist League, led by At-
the Shachtmanites as one of "capitulation" tilio Salamme and Karl Joerger. There also
to the s w p and the Fourth International; existed the Marxist Workers League, led by
over the Workers Party's publication in La­ K. Mienev, which published in 1939 a peri­
bor Action and N ew International of arti­ odical named The Spark, and in 1940 an­
cles by ex-swp member Jack Weber and by other known as Power. For a short while
Ruth Fischer which the Cannonites re­ the Revolutionary Marxist League and the
garded as provocative; over failure to cooper­ Marxist Workers League merged to form the
ate in certain local election campaigns and Workers Party. It apparently had gone out
union situations in several parts of the coun­ of existence before the formation of the
try; and the Workers' Party's challenge to Shachtmanite group with that same name.
the basis of representation at the coming In California, centering in San Francisco,
World Congress which had been decided there existed in the 1937-1940 period the
upon by the International Secretariat of the Marxist Workers Party. It maintained for
Fourth International.83 some years a Marxian Labor College in San
The upshot was a proposal at a meeting of Francisco.87
the Political Committee of the swp on May
6 ,1 947, to reverse the decision to unite with
the Workers Party.84 As Cannon explained
the situation a month later to the New York
membership of his party, "it is equally obvi­
ous that any further consideration of the
unity question with the Shachtmanites
must await the terms of the congress. The
terms of our plenum resolution do not in

United States: SWP in World War II 833

 U.S. Trotskyism: new rise of the Black struggle and the colo­
nial revolutions of the 1960s (especially
The s w p in the Cuba and Vietnam) that the party began to
Difficult 1950s grow again."1
Stanton might have added that in addition
to its other woes the Socialist Workers Party
suffered one significant split early in the
decade and another less consequential one
at the end of the period. On balance, the
1950s were a period of retrogression for
The Socialist Workers Party's "Theses on Trotskyism in the United States.
the American Revolution" to the contrary
notwithstanding, the United States did not
The swp and the Witch Hunting
suffer in the wake of World War II a new
of the 19 5os
economic depression worse than that of the
1930s. There began instead a sustained pe­ It was the Communist Party which suffered
riod of economic growth and widespread im­ the bulk of the anti-radical persecution and
provement of living levels of large elements prosecution by various arms of the govern­
of the working class. Nor did the American ment during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
working class move steadily and rapidly to The Trotskyists were not without their vic­
the left, culminating in a revolutionary up­ tims as well. There is no record of how many
surge a s the s w p had predicted. Rather, the members of the swp were deprived of their
19 50s were a decade of conservatism and passports and were subjected to other kinds
even reaction in many ways. The first Re­ of disabilities and annoyances, although
publican to occupy the White House in there were certainly a considerable number
twenty years, Dwight Eisenhower, was of such cases.
there (with the votes of many workingmen) During this period there was one instance
during most of the decade. During much of involving a member of the s w p which gained
it, too, there was a current of demagogic nationwide publicity and aroused a wide
reaction epitomized by but not confined to range of support outside of the ranks of the
Senator Joseph McCarthy—who also en­ Trotskyists. This was that of James Kutcher.
joyed the backing of all too many workers. He was a member of the Newark, New Jer­
The Socialist Workers Party suffered set­ sey, branch of the s w p who had been drafted
backs during the 1950s as a consequence of into the army during World War II and had
these and other factors. Fred Stanton has lost both of his legs fighting in Italy. There­
summed up the party's situation thus: "The after, he was fitted with.artificial legs and
failure of the Western European revolutions was able to work, getting a job with the
and the economic predominance of the U.S. Veterans Administration in his home city.
internationally enabled American big busi­ However, with the issuance of the "Attor­
ness to make wage concessions to workers ney General's List" in 1948, upon which the
in this country, end the strike wave, and, in Socialist Workers Party appeared as one of
collaboration with the union bureaucrats, the "subversive" organizations, Kutcher
impose a witch-hunt and begin preparations was dismissed by the Veterans Administra­
for a new war against the Soviet Union. . . . tion. He fought the case, and he and the
These factors cut off the growth of the swp s w p were able to muster wide backing from

in that period; many of the Blacks and un­ nonparty organizations and individuals in
ionists recruited during and shortly after the the labor movement and elsewhere. Mean­
war dropped out, and it was not until the while, Kutcher continued to be subjected to

834 United States: SWP in the 1950s

other petty but painful kinds of persecu­ alleged actions in violation of definite con­
tion—a move to evict his parents, with stitutional laws. This is a political trial. The
whom he lived, from a public housing proj­ freedom to 'advocate' any doctrine, includ­
ect, and a move to cancel Kutcher's disabil­ ing revolution, is basic to free speech and
ity pension on grounds of his belonging to democracy. This trial strikes at the very
the s w p . All of these cases were finally won, roots of these democratic rights of all work­
either by administrative appeal or through ers' organizations."4
the courts. In 1956, Kutcher was restored to A bit later, Cannon added that "if the pre­
his job with the Veterans Administration cedent established in our case is reinforced
with full back pay.2 by another conviction in this case of the
Meanwhile, the s w p had denounced the Stalinists, and sanctioned by public opinion
"anti-Communist" demagoguery of Senator until it becomes accepted as custom, the
Joseph McCarthy. Typical of their attacks traditional freedoms which the workers
on McCarthyism was the statement in their movement needs for enlightened advance­
"Draft Resolution on the Political Situation ment will yield to new encroachments all
in America" published in September 1954, along the line. The ominous trend toward
about the time the career of the Wisconsin thought control under a police state will be
senator reached its peak. The party wrote at greatly accelerated."5
that time that "as a product of the witch­ In spite of the s w p ' s support of the Com­
hunt, McCarthyism continues to set the munists being prosecuted, the Stalinists in
pace for the hysteria, but it is more than a no way reciprocated. They did not even an­
witch-hunting excrescence of the capitalist swer overtures from the Socialist Workers
state apparatus. It is a native American fas­ Party proposing a united front between the
cist movement in the early stage of forma­ two groups and others to fight prosecutions
tion. Having stepped out on the political under the Act.6
arena as the murderous foe of the working
class, it will not be subdued or contained by
The Cochranite Split
the old capitalist parties, even though they
take fright, or by the well-meaning liberals
Origins of the Cochranite Split
or by any other force except the working
class itself."3 Not long after this, Senator The reactionary atmosphere of the early
McCarthy was in fact censured by the Sen­ 19 50s may have frightened away some of
ate for his behavior during the so-called the more timid members of the Socialist
Army-McCarthy hearings. Workers Party and may have discouraged
In the face of the prosecution of most of other people from joining such a "subver­
the top leaders of the Communist Party un­ sive" group. However, the negative impact
der the Smith Act the Socialist Workers on the s w p of the official and unofficial anti­
Party offered the c p its support. The Trots­ radical phobia was nowhere near as great as
kyites took this position in spite of the fact was the split which took place in 19 5 3. This
that several years before the Stalinists had was the most serious schism since the
cheered on the federal authorities in their Shachtmanite break in 1940, the gravest the
prosecution of the Trotskyists under the s w p was to suffer between 1940 and the early

same legislation. 1980s. In some respects this split was even

Soon after the first indictments against more serious than that of the Shachtmanites
Communist Party leaders in 1949 James because it largely deprived the swp of its
Cannon addressed a protest meeting in New base in organized labor.
York City, explaining the s w p ' s position. He What came to be known as the "Cochran*
noted that "this is not a criminal trial of ites" consisted, in fact, of at least two groups

United States: SWP in the 1950s 835

 which had joined together to fight the major­ and right after the war was chairman of the
ity of the leadership of the Socialist Workers Trade Union Committee of the swp, had
Party. One of these was made up principally come to the conclusion that a split in the
of trade union cadres in the Middle West, party was inevitable. He had come to feel
particularly in Michigan and Ohio, as well that it was necessary for the swp to break out
as some people from the West Coast. The of being a sect, to form a wider organization,
other element was led by George Clarke and without narrow ideological doctrines in
Milton Zaslow (Mike Bartell) and was cen­ which one was required to believe. At the
tered in New York City. Although there was same time he had become convinced that it
coincidence in the outlook and inclination would not be possible to have really mean­
of these two oppositionist elements, they ingful discussions, let alone debates, within
were two distinct groups, and the starting the s w p on the kinds of issues he wanted to
point of their dissidence with the majority raise. Nor did Cochran have any illusions
was distinctly different. that he and his friends would be able to
As the factional dispute developed, most capture the swp, the hold of Cannon and his
of the controversy in the factional docu­ associates on the party apparatus being too
ments of both the majority and the minority strong for that.®
tended to focus on the issues raised by the Although the Cochranites had developed
Clarke-Zaslow group. However, in many their orientation by 1949, it was several
ways the criticisms of the s w p and of Trots­ years before the split in the s w p developed.
kyism in general by the Cochran trade un­ It came about as the culmination of a num­
ionist contingent were more fundamental, ber of incidents and controversies.
both as challenges to the doctrines of the In many ways the growing disen­
Fourth International and in terms of their chantment of the Cochranite labor group
representing the outlook of most of the par­ with Cannon and other principal s w p figures
ty's leading trade unionists who, when they was quite unexpected and must have been
finally abandoned the s w p , took most of its particularly disheartening for Cannon him­
remaining working-class cadres with them. self. Until the schism began to develop, the
trade union group around Bert Cochran had
been among the most loyal supporters of
The Cochranite Trade Unionists
the party leadership, and Cochran had the
The Cochranite trade unionists included rereputation of being the strongest "Can-
most of the s w p leaders in the United Auto nonite" of them all.9
Workers in Flint and Detroit as well as au­ The first clash came in 1948. It originated
toworkers and others in the Toledo and in Akron, where Jules Geller, the principal
Cleveland areas,- the party people in the Trotskyist among the rubber workers,
United Rubber Workers in and around sought party permission to make an alliance
Akron; and Harry Braverman and others ac­ with the Stalinists in the United Rubber
tive in the United Steel Workers in the Workers to resist the purge of cpers being
Youngstown area. They were all members of undertaken by the union's right wing. Geller
the Ohio/Michigan District of the Socialist and others felt that once the Stalinists had
Workers Party. As fellow Trotskyists active been purged, the Trotskyists would be next:
in the labor movement in the same general he also felt that the Trotskyists, with their
part of the country, they had developed more strength mainly in the Akron area, and the
or less close contacts with one another dur­ Stalinists, with influence in smaller locals
ing and right after World War II. However, in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut,
it was not until 1949 that they began to stood a good chance of defeating the efforts
function as a " tendency" within the party.7 of those trying to purge the Stalinists.
By that time Bert Cochran, who during Geller and others wanted to have the party

836 United States: SWP in the 1950s

adopt a general policy of alliance with the 1940. They questioned what they came to
Communists in those cio unions, including see as a purely mechanical application of
the u a w and National Maritime Workers in Marx’s ideas to the mid-twentieth century
which union leaders were moving against United States. Although they in no sense
the Stalinists. This proposal was denounced repudiated Marx, they increasingly called
as "softness towards Stalinism" and was re­ for a restudy of his ideas to determine which
jected, although in the particular case of the ones were still valid, and which were not
United Rubber Workers Geller was allowed applicable sixty-five years after his death.
to work with the Stalinists. Subsequently, On a tactical level, the Cochranite labor
the party also allowed u a w Trotskyist un­ people had strong disagreements with the
ionists to work with the R. J. Thomas's majority of the party leadership, and it was
Communist Party faction against the efforts perhaps here that their coincidence with the
of Walter Reuther to remove them from Clarke-Zaslow group was closest. The
union leadership. Cochran tendency felt that the s w p ought to
Meanwhile, the Cochranites were beginT orient its attention more generally toward
ning to have serious doubts both about the those in and around the Communist Party.
general political orientation of the s w p and They had concluded that there were quite a
the fundamental nature of the party. They few Stalinists, particularly among their
began to argue that the s w p should give up trade unionists, who were disgusted with
the perspective of being a vanguard party the cp's frequent changes in line and were
which in the immediate future was going to willing to discuss new ideas. The s w p trade
lead U.S. workers in revolution and become unionists concluded that the best recruiting
instead an educational group, trying both to ground for the party was to be found among
educate themselves and the workers. In­ the labor people in the Communist Party
creasingly, they felt that the s w p had be­ and its periphery. But the Socialist Workers
come a sect. They came to feel that the van­ Party leadership rejected this tactic as being
guard party/democratic centralism concept, "soft on Stalinism."10
although it might have been appropriate at
one time in czarist Russia, was not appro­
The Claike-Zaslow Tendency
priate in the democratic atmosphere of the
United States. Here, they felt, there was In any case, the Cochranites needed allies in
need for an open party which would study their growing conflict with the Cannonites.
the real situation in this country and the Although Cannon denounced their alliance
world. with the Clarke-Zaslow group as being "un­
In retrospect, the Cochranite trade union­ principled,” Cochran certainly did not con­
ists began to have regrets that they had not sider it as such. Both groups consisted of
supported the position of Albert Goldman veterans of the movement, they had certain
and Felix Morrow in the immediate postwar common objections to the Cannon leader­
period. The Cochranites became convinced ship, and although they had differing per­
that Goldman and Morrow, in their criti­ spectives on a number of issues Cochran
cism of the apocalyptic viewpoint concern­ did not see anything "unprincipled" in their
ing impending world economic depression forming a bloc against that leadership.11
and very proximate revolution in the United By the early 1950s the Cochranite trade
States which had been adopted by the s w p unionists had joined forces within the party
in 1946, had been correct. They came to with George Clarke, backed by Milton Zas-
regard the expulsion of the Goldman/Mor­ low, at that point the Organizer of the s w p
row group as having confirmed the evolu­ local in New York City. Clarke had for sev­
tion of the s w p into a sect which had begun eral years been the s w p ' s representative on
with the expulsion of the Shachtmanites in the International Secretariat of the Fourth

United States: SWP in the 1950s 837

 International. In that capacity he had be­ ment to revolution, the Stalinists had been
come very friendly, both personally and po­ forced to become revolutionary. They had
litically with Michel Pablo, the secretary of in fact carried through revolutionary
the International. It was through this con­ changes in Eastern Europe, establishing
nection that the Fourth International ulti­ workers states' there, however distorted by
mately became involved in the 1953 split in their ruling bureaucracies, and had carried
the Socialist Workers Party. out new revolutions in China, North Korea,
Clarke had been the s w p ' s "fraternal dele­ and elsewhere.
gate" to the Third World Congress of the Clarke, Zaslow-Bartell, and their associ­
Fourth International in 1951. In that capac­ ates found confirmation for their arguments
ity he had been commissioned by the swp in events following Stalin's death. At that
leadership to suggest certain amendments point the Stalinist leadership was forced by
accepted by the s w p Political Committee to the masses to make fundamental changes in
a proposed document circulated before the the economy to improve living standards,
meeting, on "International Perspectives." they argued. In East Germany, in the face of
However, instead of doing so, Clarke re­ the uprisings of June 1953, the Stalinists
ported that he had burned the document reacted by combining extensive concessions
from the swp because he was "ashamed" to with the action of Soviet troops against the
present it to the Congress.12 rebels instead of relying only on brute force,
Clarke's action seems not to have aroused as in the past. As a consequence, Clarke
very great repercussions within the s w p at suggested that the classical Trotskyist per­
the time. Subsequently, when he returned spective with regard to the Soviet Union
to the United States shortly after the Third should be altered. Instead of continuing to
World Congress, he began to indicate that insist that only a political revolution in the
he had differences with the positions of the USSR would end the deformation of the So­
majority of the s w p leadership. These differ­ viet workers' state, the Trotskyists must
ences were significant for two reasons. First, admit the possibility that the end of bureau­
they represented important alterations of cratic control of the Soviet Union might
the Trotskyist position on the nature of the come either through political revolution, a
Soviet Union and the Stalinist movement. series of continuing reformist concessions
Second, in presenting them Clarke and his by leaders of the c p s u , "or a combination of
friends claimed—as it turned out, with the two." In terms of practical Trotskyist
some justification—that they were reflect­ policy in the United States, Clarke, Zaslow-
ing the ideas of Michel Pablo and the Inter­ Bartell and others argued that the changing
national Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ situation within the Stalinist ranks and the
tional. As a consequence, Pablo was brought reactionary atmosphere of general U.S. poli­
directly into the internal conflict in the swp, tics, called for a change in orientation. The
and the split proved to be but a prelude to s w p should concentrate its attention largely

the split in the Fourth International. on those who were already radicalized,
We deal elsewhere with the split in the which in practical terms meant those in the
International. Here it is sufficient to note Communist Party and its periphery.13
the major positions put forth by Clarke
within the swp. The pressure of events, he I.
The Mafoiity Group
argued, had resulted in the masses forcing
the Stalinist leadership in the Soviet Union If the minority opposition in the 1952-53
and other Stalinist-controlled countries to factional struggle in the s w p was made up
adopt a more revolutionary position. In­ of two more or less clearly defined groups,
stead, therefore, of being the major impedi­ the majority was even more heterogeneous.

838 United States: SWP in the 1950s

After short initial hesitation, the leadership the spread of the world revolution because
in the majority was taken by James Cannon, of their desire to compromise with "imperi­
who early in the struggle had moved to Cali­ alism." They also continued to insist that
fornia from New York. Associated with him the only way in which the Stalinist bureau­
from the beginning was a group led by Murry cracy would be ousted from control of the
Weiss, consisting in large part of young peo­ USSR and other degenerated and deformed
ple recruited into the party right after World workers' states would be through political
War II.14 revolution as Trotsky had insisted almost
In New York much of the struggle was two decades earlier.
carried on by Joseph Hansen, George No-
vack, Morris Stein, and George Breitman,
Progress of the Schism
men a generation younger than Cannon who
had risen to leadership in the swp in the Although there had been some jousting be­
1940s. The first three, in particular, carried tween the two sides even before then, the
on much of the polemicizing with Clarke factional struggle broke out in earnest at the
and Zaslow as well as conducting the fac­ beginning of 1953. Organizer Zaslow-Bartell
tional fight in the key New York Local of the submitted a document entitled "Report and
party, where Zaslow was at first in control of Tasks" to the New York Local for discussion
the party apparatus.15 in connection with the local's forthcoming
Apparently one group which at first hesi­ convention. He summarized his position by
tated in the dispute but finally joined the noting that "the changes in our general ap­
majority was the element led by Farrell proach here in New York can be summed
Dobbs, the former Minnesota teamster up as follows; we shifted the axis of our
union leader. He perhaps felt some sympa­ activities from the general mass of politi­
thy for the fellow trade unionists in the cally uninitiated workers to a narrower but
Cochranite group and was anxious to pre­ more selective audience of left-wing groups,
vent a split with them. Subsequent to politically minded workers and intellectu­
Dobbs's joining forces with Cannon in the als, and student youth; from expansion of
struggle, the latter wrote Vincent Dunne our organization and activities to retrench­
that Dobbs "thought, it seems, we were hell­ ment and more modest tasks."17
bent on organizing a factional fight in the At that time, Joseph Hansen reported that
party without consulting him and before the "Cochran, Clarke, Bartell and Frankel
party members, or even a considerable sec­ [Harry Braverman] are functioning as a com­
tion of the leading cadre, were convinced of mon faction under Cochran's leadership. Up
the depth and seriousness of the conflict. He to this point there is only one proposition to
said he had not intended his memorandum which they have agreed among themselves.
to the PC as a declaration of political neutral­ This is the proposal that the party's activi­
ity—as we told him frankly we had interpre­ ties and resources be channelized into pro­
ted it—but only as a means of slowing down paganda work. They want a committee set
the organizational side of the internal con­ up to devote full time to applying Marxism
flict."16 to the American scene."18
The majority, or its principal spokes­ This report set off a vigorous if not violent
men—Cannon, Hansen, Novack—relied discussion, not only in New York City but
principally on reiteration of the classic throughout the s w p . In May 1953 a plenum
Trotskyist position to rebut the minority. of the National Committee agreed upon a
They continued to insist that the Stalinist truce. As Cannon subsequently described it,
bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and else­ "That proposal, which we offered to them
where constituted the major impediment to and which they finally accepted, was noth­

United States: SWP in the 1950s 839

ing new ... that is, that they remain in the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Plenum of the
party and retain all normal rights; they swp voted to suspend all minority members
could have a limited discussion after the of the National Committee. They could win
Convention in the magazine; they could reinstatement, the resolution said, if "the
have representation on the leading bodies, boycott of our 25 th Anniversary celebration
according to their strength—on the condi­ was disavowed."22 The dissidents did not
tion that they accept the decisions of the ask for reinstatement.
Convention and remain loyal." He added
that "the resolution... placed no restrictions
Assessment of the Cochranite Split
on further discussion."1*
However, difficulties arose following the Several questions are posed by the Cochran­
May Plenum as representatives of both sides ite split in the s w p . One of these concerns
reported back to local units of the party. whether the schism was over issues of prin­
Relations became increasingly tense, as it ciple. David Herreshoff, who broke from the
became clearer that the two factions had s w p with the Cochranites, writing a quarter

greatly different points of view. A small inci­ of a century later to one of the editors of the
dent reflects the depth of the chasm which s w p weekly The Militant, commented that

had developed between the Cochranites and "the split of 1963 was between revolution­
the majority of the s w p leadership. Jules ists and was therefore unprincipled. It was
Geller, one of the Cochranite leaders, had not, as you wildly assert, a split between
been a particularly close friend of George revolutionists on the one side and Gom-
Novack, one of the principal spokesmen for persite unionists on the other." Later in the
the majority point of view. At one point, not same letter, he added that "the split of 195 3
long before the final split of the Cochranites was unprincipled and perhaps avoidable."23
from the party, Novack came to visit Geller, This analysis seems somewhat doubtful.
seeking to bridge the gap between them. Both elements which made up the "Coch­
After some preliminary discussion Novack ranite" faction—Clarke and Zaslow, on the
put the question, "Do you still believe that one hand, and the trade unionists around
the swp is destined to lead the revolution Cochran, on the other—had fundamental
in the United States?1" When Geller an­ disagreements with the Cannonite leader­
swered in the negative, Novack commented ship. Clarke and Zaslow largely accepted
that "there is nothing left to discuss." Years "Pabloism," that is, the belief that condi­
later, Geller's opinion was that that indeed tions had changed so as to make it possible
had been the case.10 for the Stalinist parties once more to become
In August 1953 the minority lost control "revolutionary" and that it therefore be­
of the party apparatus in New York City at hooved the Trotskyist to work within the
a city convention.21 Finally, at the end of Stalinist milieu and, if possible, within the
October the minority "provoked" its expul­ Stalinist parties themselves. On the other
sion from the s w p . They organized a boycott hand, the dissidence of Cochran and his im­
of a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniver­ mediate allies was even more profound.
sary of the expulsion of Cannon, Shacht­ They had developed severe doubts about the
man, and Abern from the Communist Party very nature of the Trotskyist movement,
and the establishment of the Trotskyist the appropriateness of the Bolshevik type of
movement in the United States, which "co­ revolutionary organization in the American
incided in New York with the wind-up rally context, and the role of the Fourth Interna­
in our election campaign—the best we ever tional as the "party of the world revolution."
had," according to Cannon. As a conse­ It is hard to see how either of these elements
quence of that action, a few days later the of the opposition could ultimately have

840 United States: SWP in the 1950s

compromised with the official Trotskyist mentally revisionist d i r e c t i o n w h ic h the
movement. leaders could not a c c e p t .
sw p

A second question concerns the signifi­

cance of the split for the Socialist Workers
Later History of the Cochranites
Party and generally for Trotskyism in the
United States. There seems little doubt that Once outside the Socialist Workers Party,
the defection of the Cochranites was an ex­ most of the Cochranites organized as the
ceedingly severe blow for the U.S. Trotsky­ Socialist Union. They began to publish The
ist movement, probably a more significant American Socialist. It sought to be a periodi­
one than the somewhat larger split of 1940. cal open to people of widely different orien­
To start with, the Cochranites took with tations. Although most of the articles were
them an estimated 25 percent of the s w p ' s written by members of the group, among the
membership. Even more important was the outside contributors were Michael Harring­
nature of those who defected. David Herres- ton, then the youth leader of the Shacht­
hoff has written the author that "the basic manites, and W. E. B. DuBois, the black
support for Cochran in the s w p was in the leader who was on his way toward affiliating
party fractions in auto, steel and rubber. with the Communist Party.16
After the split the s w p had to rebuild its Although the minority had the support of
organization in Michigan practically from the Fourth International leadership, and of
scratch. Until their turn towards industrial Michel Pablo personally, in their factional
colonization about three years ago the s w p fight "within three or four months the So­
tended to concentrate their efforts on social cialist Union broke with the is. No sooner
movements which had their main strength had the split occurred than the rs tried to
outside the factories."114 patch things up between themselves, the
Furthermore, the victory of the majority s w p , and the Cochranites. Neither the s w p

in the 1953 struggle did not preclude further nor the Cochranites were in a mood for rec­
struggles within the party. Herreshoff wrote onciliation. We regarded the s w p as hope­
to Frank Lovell that the majority in 1953 lessly sectarian, the new s l p , we called it;
"agreed . . . on the cockeyed notion that the the s w p saw us as a combination of capitula­
country was entering a class confrontation tors to Stalinism and to the Reuther wing of
between fascism on the march and the prole­ the cio officialdom."27
tariat. . . . Events quickly demonstrated the When reconciliation among the Can­
error of the prognosis . . . the bloc of the nonites, Cochranites, and Pablo became
victors proceeded to fall apart. Weiss, Swa- clearly impossible, Pablo proposed to Coch­
beck, Schultz, Marcy, Stein, Bolden, Fraser, ran that the Socialist Union organize as the
Kay went their separate ways. The s w p U.S. Section of the International Secretariat
barely made it into the '6o$."ls faction of the Fourth International. How­
The third issue raised by the Cochranite ever, Cochran and most of the other leaders
split was its effect on the Fourth Interna­ of the Socialist Union rejected this idea,
tional. There can be little doubt about the viewing it as being merely the reestablish­
fact that it was the close association of the ment of the kind of sect they had eschewed
Cochranites, particularly Clarke, with the in breaking with the s w p . The Socialist
International Secretariat (is), headed by Union never became a part of the Pabloite
Pablo which finally convinced Cannon and faction of the Fourth International.28
others, who had first rejected the suggestion The Cochranites came to concentrate
when made by leaders of other member par­ most of their attention on publishing their
ties, that "Pabloism" was a reality, and was periodical. However, David Herreshoff has
leading the Fourth International in a funda­ noted that "its primary constituency was in

t United States: SWP in the 1950s 841

I
 the s w p ' s c i o fractions. The opportunities Leo Huberman. They felt that Sweezy and
for left activity in the unions was declining Huberman, although coming out of the pe­
in those years as was the audience for Marx­ riphery of the Communist Party, were rai­
ist ideas. The group was vulnerable to de­ sing the same kinds of questions concerning
moralization in discouraging conditions be­ the adaptation of Marxist ideas to the U.S.
cause it lacked the sectarian conviction that scene as were those people involved in The
history had ordained it to lead the revo­ American Socialist. As a consequence, it
lution."29 was decided in the fall of 1959 to dissolve
At the time of the upheaval in the Com­ the Socialist Union and suspend publication
munist Party resulting from Khrushchev's of The American Socialist,32
speech to the Twentieth Congress of the
c p s u and the revolt in Hungary in 1956, the
swp Electoral Activity
Socialist Union at first saw an opportunity
for bringing into its ranks those who had During the 1950s the Socialist Workers
broken with the c p u s a . Cochran had exten­ Party began to engage on a substantial scale
sive conversations with Joseph Starobin and in a kind of political activity in which the
John Gates, two of the principal Communist Trotskyists had participated very little. This
Party dissenters. However, because of a was the running of candidates in general
combination of circumstances, including elections, both on the presidential level and
still-lingering prejudices of the Comm.up.ist in states and localities where they had a
dissidents against Trotskyists or even ex- sufficient membership to launch what they
Trotskyists, nothing came of these negotia­ considered effective campaigns.
tions.30 Previous to the 1950s the Trotskyists had
In 1957 the Socialist Union suffered a only occasionally run nominees for public
split. In New York City a group led by Zas­ office. One instance which we have noted
low and Irving Beinin broke away to join was the candidacy of Grace Carlson for sena­
forces with the remnants of the American tor in Minnesota in 1940. At that time the
Labor Party and the group around The new swp had a relatively large following in
Guardian, and for a while Beinin became the state, principally based on their influ­
editor of The Guardian. At this time George ence in the teamsters and the Minneapolis
Clarke also broke with the Socialist Union. labor movement.
The major significance of the split-off of the In 1958 Cannon explained in a speech in
Clarke-Zaslow elements was that it de­ Los Angeles why the s w p had begun running
prived the Socialist Union and The Ameri­ candidates wherever this was feasible. He
can Socialist of important financial re­ noted that the job of the party was to "speak
sources.31 up for Socialism" and that "the best time of
Meanwhile, most of the work of putting all—the most fruitful time to explain social­
out The American Socialist fell on Cochran, ism—is during election campaigns, when
Jules Geller, and Harry Braverman. The last public interest is highest and we stand the
two became increasingly unhappy with best chance to get a hearing. The capitalist
Cochran's editorials and other writings, at class rules this country in a complicated
one point accusing him of becoming "an­ way, through the machinery of bourgeois
other Walter Lippmann" merely comment­ democracy. They can't shut off all avenues
ing on events without interpreting them in of public communication, even to minority
a Socialist fashion. At the same time Braver­ parties—although they try their best."
man and Geller had developed increasingly Cannon maintained that "the Socialist
close relations with the group which put out Workers Party, even with its limited forces,
Monthly Review, led by Paul Sweezy and has demonstrated in these recent years how

842 United States: SWP in the 1950s

we can get through cracks in the wall and confirm everything that they had been say­
compel them to give us access to TV and ing for almost thirty years. They caused the
radio audiences and to carry notices in the s w p leaders to alter, at least for a time, some

newspapers. We get a greater hearing for the of the analysis and dogma which had been
ideas of socialism in the few months of the standard since the early 1930s. Finally, the
election campaign than in all of the rest of split in the Communist Party seemed to
the time put together. This makes every open up new political possibilities for the
election campaign a socialist success." The SWP.
s w p leader concluded, "The main purpose A few weeks after the c p s u Twentieth
of participating in elections, as a socialist Congress Cannon gave a speech in Los
organization or as a coalition of socialist Angeles in which he explained his interpre­
organizations is to take full advantage of tation of Khrushchev's revelations. He
the expanded opportunity to make socialist asked the question, "Why do these bureau­
propaganda. . .more people will be listening crats speak out now, three years after the
than at any time in recent decades."33 death of Stalin, and begin to tell a part of
George Breitman has written that "during the truth about that horrible regime? Is it
the 1950s electoral activity was an impor­ because they have suddenly turned honest
tant arena for the s w p especially because and are no longer afraid?"
McCarthyism and the cold war isolation Cannon answered his second question by
shut off so many other arenas. In addition saying that "there have been some conces­
to presidential elections there were s w p can­ sions and some reforms—no question about
didates for congress, state and local offices that—but there has been no basic change in
in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the bureaucratic regime of special privileges
Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington, Cal­ for a minority and hard times for the major­
ifornia, Minnesota (just to mention places I ity established under Stalin. The bureau­
recall from memory). In 1952 there was Far­ cracy has all the privileges. The workers
rell Dobbs for president and Myra Tanner have no rights and no freedom and anybody
Weiss for vice president. They also ran for who says they do, lies. There is no such
those posts in 1956 and i960."34 thing as a free worker in the Soviet Union
under Khrushchev any more than there was
under Stalin."
The sw p and the Events of 1956
Cannon added that "the workers have to
During 1956 a series of events took place get that freedom for themselves," and then
which greatly heartened s w p leaders and went on to give his explanation for Khru­
members. The first was the speech by Nikita shchev's speech: "The irresistible pressure
Khrushchev to the Twentieth Congress of of the Soviet workers was the power behind
the Soviet Communist Party in March in the Twentieth Congress. That, comrades, is
which he denounced Stalin in a way that the key to an understanding of what is tak­
only Stalin's worst enemies—including the ing place. The bureaucrats assembled at that
Trotskyists—had done theretofore. Khru­ congress had had warning signals of a com­
shchev's speech was followed some six ing storm, and they began to respond to
months later by the uprisings in Poland and these signals. The uprising of the East Ger­
Hungary. Finally, all of these events pro­ man workers in June 19s 3, that was fol­
voked the beginning of the most serious cri­ lowed a month later by a general strike of
sis in the U.S. Communist Party since the the Vorkuta slave-labor camp—these tre­
fall of Jay Lovestone in 1929. mendous actions. . . gave notice of a coming
In addition to giving new encouragement revolutionary storm, just as the general
to the Trotskyists these events seemed to strike movement of the Russian workers in

United States: SWP in the 1950s 843

 1 90s gave notice of the first revolution ism, the Soviet and East European regimes,
against the Czar."35 and other things which the Communist
Thus, the s w p leaders s a w the events of Party had until then held to be sacrosanct.
the Twentieth Congress as a confirmation These exchanges had several results. Some
of their longheld dogma that the Soviet of the intellectuals who had been in or
workers would inevitably rise in political around the Communist Party broke away,
revolution against the Stalinist bureau­ the most notable figure to do so being the
cracy. This line of reasoning seemed still novelist Howard Fast. Another effect was
further confirmed by the uprisings in Hun­ the launching of a factional fight within the
gary and Poland (particularly in Hungary) in Communist Party, the first one in more than
October-November 1956. a quarter of a century, between the dissident
Murry Weiss well stated the position of group around John Gates and the.hard-liners
the s w p : "With the revelations emanating headed by William Z. Foster.
from the Twentieth Congress and the revo­ Most of the dissident leaders were people
lutionary ferment in Eastern Europe—Poz­ who had been the leaders of the Young Com­
nan in June 19 s6, the October days in Po­ munist League in the 1930s. They con­
land, the October-November insurrection trolled not only the Daily Worker but the
in Hungary—the bureaucratic equilibrium New York State party organization. How­
of the Communist parties throughout the ever, after several months of conflict the
world was irreparably disrupted. . . . In our Fosterites won out, recapturing control of
opinion the revolutionary upsurge of the So­ the party in New York and suppressing the
viet orbit working class is in its first stages. Daily Worker when they could not gain con­
The struggle is bound to spread and become trol of it.
more intense. The working class and youth Those who left the Communist Party in
in the Soviet Union itself are heading for 1 9S6—s7 did not form a separate organiza­
open mass struggle. The goal of this struggle tion. For several years they stayed unaffilia­
is the overthrow of the Soviet bureaucracy ted, making contacts with the various other
and the restoration of workers democracy left-wing organizations and parties, but in
on the foundations of the socialized property most cases not joining any of them. It was
forms established by the October 19 17 revo­ these people whom the s w p leaders were
lution."36 particularly anxious to gather into their
ranks, as well as people who had been in
the periphery of the Communist Party—in
" Regroupment”
Henry Wallace's Progressive Party and the
The disintegration of the U.S. Communist American Labor Party in New York, and
Party which resulted from the events of who were equally disillusioned in the Sta­
1956 seemed to the s w p leaders to give linism with which they had worked so long.
Trotskyism a new chance to recruit from When the suggestion of "regroupment"
the ranks of the Stalinists and their periph­ was first put forward, the Socialist Workers
ery. They gave the name "regroupment" to Party sought any realignment on the left
this effort, and it lasted for about two years. which might give rise to a new party includ­
The first indication of dissension within ing itself and other elements which might
the Communist Party became apparent be attracted to it, to be brought about on a
when the Daily Worker, then edited by John "principled" basis. A resolution launching
Gates, opened its pages to comments and the policy of seeking regroupment published
criticisms of what had happened and was by the National Committee of the s w p on
continuing to happen in 1956. The result January 1 1 , 1957, noted that "two differ­
was an outpouring of criticisms of Stalin­ ent ways of proceeding are counterposed:

844 United States: SWP in the 1950s

(i } Shall we first attempt a general unifica­ of the term, a struggle against the usurping
tion, leaving the discussion and clarification privileged bureaucracy. In the Soviet Union,
of programmatic questions for a later time? it is a struggle to restore the genuine work­
Or (z) shall we first explore the different ers' democracy established by the revolu­
views, clarify the various positions, and try tion of 19 17 ." Therefore, he argued, "There
to reach agreement and unification on at is no sense in talking about regroupraent
least the minimum fundamentals? It seems with people who don't agree on that, on de­
to us that the latter procedure is preferable fense and support of the Soviet workers
and that the serious elements taking part in against the Soviet bureaucrats."
the discussion will agree that programmatic However, he noted that "in the United
issues have to be considered and clarified States, the struggle for workers' democracy
before durable organizational conclusions is preeminently a struggle of the rank and
can be reached."37 file to gain democratic control of their own
At a meeting in Los Angeles on March i, organizations. . . . No party in this country
1958, Cannon stated the objective which he has a right to call itself socialist unless it
and other s w p leaders had in mind in their stands foursquare for the rank-and-file
"regroupment" campaign. He said that "the workers of the United States against the bu­
basic aim in rebuilding for the future . . . the reaucrats." Cannon concluded that "in my
basic aim for which we are all striving, is to opinion, effective and principled re­
regroup the scattered socialist forces, and groupment of socialist forces requires full
eventually to get all honest socialists to­ agreement on these two points. That is the
gether in one common party organization." necessary starting point."40
He added, "that can't be done in a day. The Some months earlier, Farrell Dobbs, na­
experience of the last two years shows that tional secretary of the s w p , had stated a
it will take time. W eil have to take the somewhat long list of "positions basic to a
process of collaboration and unification in revolutionary-socialist program" which
stages, one step at a time."38 should serve as the basis of regroupment.
In the previous year Cannon had defined These positions were
the limits within which the s w p was seeking
Defense of the workers' states and the
"regroupment." He noted that "I say we will
not put the socialist movement of this coun­ colonial revolution against imperialism.
Support to the workers' political revolu­
try on the right track and restore its rightful
tion against the Stalinist bureaucracy in
appeal to the best sentiments of the working
the Soviet sphere. Formation of an inde­
class of this country and above all to the
pendent labor party in opposition to the
young, until we begin to call socialism by
capitalist parties. . . . "A class struggle
its right names as the great teachers did.
policy in the unions and a working class
Until we make it clear that we stand for an
policy in support of the Negro struggle for
ever-expanding workers' democracy as the
civil rights. Defense of civil liberties for
only road to socialism. Until we root out
all, including members of the Commu­
every vestige of Stalinist perversion and cor­
ruption of the meaning of socialism and de­ nist Party. Build a revolutionary-socialist
party based on class struggle prin­
mocracy. . . ."39
ciples."41
Cannon went on to claim that "the privi­
leged bureaucratic caste everywhere is the
most formidable obstacle to democracy and Regroupment in N ew York
socialism. The struggle of the working class
in both sections of the now-divided world This "regroupment" was pushed most ener­
has become, in the most profound meaning getically, and for a time successfully, in

1 United States: SWP in the 1950s 845

i
i
 New York State. The effort centered on the The major issue of the meeting was
general election of 1958. It started when the whether to run a full slate of state candi­
Socialist Workers Party took out an adver­ dates, five in all, or just to run a symbolic
tisement in the February 3, 1958, issue of nominee for the Senate. The Trotskyists fa­
National Guardian, until then a Stalinist vored a full slate, hoping that the new
fellow-traveling weekly. This advertise­ group's candidate for governor might get the
ment proposed a "united socialist ticket for 50,000 votes necessary according to state
1958." law to give it official recognition as a party.
The s w p suggested five points as the basis The Communists favored a symbolic
for such a campaign. The first stated that "peace" candidate for senator, and no other
"socialism offers a realistic alternative to nominees. In a showdown, the vote was 154
the insane drive towards thermonuclear war for a full slate against sixty-one for a single
which the two parties of Big Business have candidacy.
been conducting.. . . " Point two argued that There was no full discussion of a platform
"socialism offers the only permanent solu­ for the new United Independent Socialist
tion to the problem of capitalist depression. Party. A "draft" of the platform was pre­
. . . " The third argument was that "social­ sented by .the steering committee, with no
ism can realize the full equality and brother­ amendments being allowed from the floor.
hood of all races and nationalities. .. ." The It was agreed that some modifications might
fourth point suggested by the s w p proved to be made later by a "continuations commit­
be the most controversial one, that "social­ tee" elected by the conference.
ism stands for the deepening and extension Sam Bottone commented on the platform
of democracy. Repeal the witch-hunt legis­ that it "represents a retreat from and inade­
lation at home and free such political prison­ quate minimal statement of the s w p in its
ers as Morton Sobell, Gil Green, Henry Win­ call for a United Socialist Ticket in the 1958
ston and Irving Potash. For political freedom Elections.. . . There is included a statement
throughout the Soviet bloc. End the ballot calling for 'political freedom throughout the
restrictions on minority parties in the Soviet bloc.' " However, no such statement
United States." Finally, the s w p called for appeared in the program.
a united socialist platform and stated that The Socialist Workers Party was not rep­
"socialists favor the building of a labor party resented at the head of the new group's
based on the unions and would urge a party ticket. The candidate for senator was Corliss
to adopt a socialist program.. . . Against the Lamont, a very close fellow traveler of the
support of capitalist parties and candidates; Communist Party, and the nominee for gov­
for independent political action." 41 ernor was John McManus of the National
As a result of this overture, a United Inde­ Guardian.43
pendent-Socialist Conference was finally The failure to include any criticism of the
held in New York City from June 13 -15 , Soviet Union in the platform caused some
1958. Three elements were represented: the dissension in Trotskyist ranks during the
s w p , the Communist Party, and the ex- campaign. It provoked the resignation from
Stalinist fellow travelers grouped around the the State Campaign Committee of Richard
National Guardian. Sam Bottone, writing DeHaan, ex-chairman of the new youth
in the Shachtmanite periodical Labor A c­ group associated with the s w p , the Young
tion, estimated that in the key vote of the Socialist Alliance. In his statement of resig­
meeting, one hundred swpers participated, nation he complained that "the platform
sixty from the Communist Party, and eighty and ideological character of the i s p do not
from those associated with the National differ materially from those of the c p and
Guardian. a l p in years past. The platform carries not

846 United States: SWP in the 1950s

the least word suggesting anything but ela­ sis of past experience, about the possibility
tion over the barbarous Stalinist policies of or advisability of reestablishing a party
past and present. . . ,"44 youth group. However, Myra Tanner Weiss,
However, the concessions of the Indepen­ during a nationwide speaking trip for the
dent Socialist Party to the Stalinists did not party in 1956, became convinced that not
save the Trotskyists from attacks by the only was it necessary but also possible for
Communist Party. On November 2, 1958, the s w p to do so. She became one of the
The Worker, the weekly successor to the major figures in the party who helped foster
Daily Worker, complained that "the Trots­ the establishment of a new Trotskyist youth
kyites, consciously, and some other people organization.46
mistakenly, have narrowed the fight for Several other events created an atmo­
peace to the acceptance of a full socialist sphere conducive to the establishment of
ticket. It is an extremely unfortunate and the new youth group. One of these was the
harmful development that the peace ques­ dissolution of the Labor Youth League. This
tion is being turned into a narrow partisan was the youth group of the Communist
issue to help win 50,000 votes for its guber­ Party, which was much influenced by the
natorial candidate Jack McManus, rather Gatesite wing of the c p in the 1956-57
than a mass people's peace vote for Dr. Cor­ struggle. It was finally officially dissolved by
liss Lamontfor the U.S. Senate." The writer, the Communist Party in 1957.47 However, a
William Albertson, added, "This policy of number of its leaders and members contin­
narrowing peace for an acceptance of social­ ued to be interested in radical activities and
ism flows logically from the Trotskyite were conducive to merging in the formation
line," and that "the swpers want a new so­ of a new youth organization 48
cialist party which would be dominated by Another propitious development for the
the Trotskyites and would become a new s w p was the final struggle inside the Shacht­
anti-Soviet agency to mislead people ready manite Independent Socialist League and its
to move in the direction of socialism and of youth affiliate, the Young Socialist League
the Communist Party."45 (y sl), over entry of the Shachtmanites into
The 1958 electoral effort provided few the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Feder­
lasting results. The United Independent So­ ation. The majority of the ys l went along
cialist Committee, the "continuations com­ with entry, and came in time to form the
mittee" of the June 1958 conference, finally majority in the s p -s d f youth group, the
announced its dissolution on October 29, Young People's Socialist League. However,
1959/ "because of substantial differences a minority of the y s l , led by Tim Wohlforth
over electoral policy in i960." and James Robertson, opposed entry into the
y p s l. They urged instead "unity with all
socialist youth in an independent move­
The Young Socialist Alliance
ment with a genuinely socialist program."
The only really lasting result of the "re­ They were finally expelled from the y s l in
groupment" policy of the swp after the the fall of 1957, but maintained a separate
events of 1966 was the establishment of the existence around a newly launched newspa­
Young Socialist Alliance. This development per Young Socialist.49
gave the Trotskyists a functioning youth or­ Even before the expulsion of the y s l mi­
ganization for the first time since most of nority, the s w p had organized a small youth
the swp youth had deserted the party with group in New York City under the name of
the Shachtmanites in 1940. American Youth for Socialism (a y s ). In May
Most of the leaders of the Socialist Work­ 1957 it sent an open letter to the y s l in
ers Party were skeptical, perhaps on the ba­ which it said that "in our opinion the posi­

1
United States: SWP in the 1950s 847
 tion put forward by the y s l Left-Wing Cau­ chairman of the Young Socialist Alliance
cus provides the basis for beginning the long and Jim Lembrecht was named its national
and necessary work of constructing a united secretary. Among the adult speakers at the
revolutionary youth movement in this meeting were Otto Nathan, the economist;
country. The a y s proposes that we begin Dr. Annette T. Rubinstein, who had been
the process of youth regroupment by the candidate for lieutenant governor on the
affiliation of the young members and sym­ swp-backed Independent Socialist ticket in
pathizers of the Socialist Workers Party to New York in 1958, as well as Farrell Dobbs
the y s l . . . ."so Although this proposal of the and Myra Tanner Weiss.51
a y s was obviously not accepted by the y s l , The Young Socialist Alliance was to prove
when the Left Wing Caucus of that organiza­ long-lasting. It was able to take advantage
tion was expelled, the ex-Shachtmanite of the New Left wave of the 1960s and at
youth did gravitate towards the Socialist least during some of the 1 970s was to be the
Workers Party. Tim Wohlforth, among oth­ largest radical youth group in the country.
ers, began to write in the periodicals of the
s w p . However, it took two and a half years
The Workers World Schism
before a new organization finally emerged.
The founding conference of the Young So­ Near the end of the 1950s the Socialist
cialist Alliance met in April i960 in Phila­ Workers Party suffered another split which,
delphia. It claimed that groups from sixteen although nowhere near the consequence of
college campuses as well as "students in those of the Shachtmanites and Cochranites
high schools and trade schools and young earlier, did result in the establishment of a
workers in industry" were represented by small but persistent rival group, the Work­
seventy-five "regular, alternate and frater­ ers World Party. This was the element in
nal delegates." Groups from Los Angeles, the 1953 majority led by Sam Marcy.
San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, Denver, Marcy had for some time been somewhat
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, of a maverick within the s w p . However, it
Milwaukee, Boston, Baltimore, Connecti­ was over the events of 19s 6 that he and his
cut, Newark, New York, and Philadelphia followers developed fundamental disagree­
attended. ments with the rest of the Socialist Workers
The report on the founding meeting of the Party leadership. He argued that the upris­
y s a in The Militant said that "the confer­ ings in Poland and Hungary were not, as the
ence explicitly defined the Marxist program rest of the s w p leaders saw them, the first
of the Young Socialist Alliance. While it expressions of the long yearned for workers'
retained and even strengthened all the fea­ revolts against Stalinist bureaucrats, but
tures of an independent organization' of rather were counterrevolutionary move­
youth with its own unique requirements ments. Marcy and his friends welcomed the
and tasks in bringing socialist ideas to the reentry of the Soviet army into Hungary.52
new generation, it adopted a stand of 'basic By early 1959 the Marcyites were outside
political solidarity, on the principles of revo­ the Socialist Workers Party and had founded
lutionary socialism, with the Socialist an organization of their own, the Workers
Workers party.' " It also noted that "the con­ World Party. Its official organ was Workers
ference warmly greeted the decision of the World, the same name as a periodical that
Socialist Workers party to run Farrell Dobbs James Cannon had edited thirty years be­
for president and Myra Tanner Weiss for fore. In an early issue of the newspaper an
vice president in the i960 elections and editorial proclaimed that "We are THE
pledged full support to this campaign." Trotskyists. We stand one hundred percent
Tim Wohlforth was elected national with all the principled positions of Leon

848 United States: SWP in the 1950s

Trotsky, the most revolutionary commu­ optimism against his description of the situ­
nist since Lenin."53 ation in those years, James Cannon, better
If nothing else, the Workers World Party perhaps than anyone else, has described the
people were marked by unbounded enthusi­ travails through which the Trotskyists had
asm and optimism. Their outlook was epito­ passed. Speaking in 1958, he said that:ss
mized by a letter to the editor published in
Now, we socialists don't need to conceal
the March 18, i960, issue of Workers World.
our own troubles—we have plenty of
It said that "after attending the Workers
them. We who have survived the storms
World meeting in New York . . . I know so­
of these last terrible years know very well
cialism is coming. There's no stopping the
that we have been hurt. . . .
world revolution! As the Workers World
First, there were the terrible reaction­
Party reaches out to more workers, the
ary effects on the labor movement, and on
workers all over the world, especially in the
all American radicalism and even liberal
colonial countries, are fighting back for free­
thought of the Second World War. The
dom. . . . The Workers World Party is the
the cold war that followed it. And the
only party which can and will lead the world
Korean War. The effects were reactionary
revolution!"
in all directions.
However, in spite of the early allegiance
Then we had to contend with the con-
of the Workers World Party to Trotskyism,
servatizing influence of the long, artifi­
it soon wandered from that position. One of
cially propped-up prosperity, which
its leaders wrote seventeen years after its
sapped the strength of American radical­
establishment that "the founding of Work­
ism in all its departments.
ers World Party in 1959 signified the emer­
And then we had to put up with the
gence of a tendency in the U.S. that champi­
devastation and terror of the long witch­
oned all the socialist countries, seeking
hunt, which decimated the ranks of
through its press to educate the most ad­
American radicalism and liberalism and
vanced elements here on the earthshaking
all sections of the socialist movement.
changes being wrought in that part of the
And then, last but not least, the social­
world that had seemed to be mired in social
ist movement has been sapped by a moral
stagnation. In the very first issue of this
sickness—the calculated lies and slan­
newspaper (March 1959} a front-page article
ders, the suppression of free and indepen­
hailed the Chinese communes, which were
dent thought, the violations of class soli­
being treated as utopian by many on the
darity, the disruption of fraternal
left___ "S4
relations and free discussion among so­
Because the Workers World Party soon
cialists of different tendencies. All this
ceased any pretense of being an orthodox
dirty business has worked to demoralize
Trotskyist group, we shall not trace its fur­
the movement and to discredit the name
ther evolution here. However, in a chapter
of socialism.
discussing the various offshoots of Trots­
We have been hit hard from all
kyism in the United States, we shall discuss
sides. . . .
its later history.

Recapitulation of sw p in th e 1 9 5 0 s

On balance, the decade of the 1950s was

probably the most difficult one in the his­
tory of Trotskyism in the United States. Al­
though he counterbalanced certain words of

t United States: SWP in the 1950s 849

t
 U.S. Trotskyism: The Furthermore, the positions taken, particu­
larly with regard to the U.S. racial problems,
s w p , the y s a , and the seemed to raise questions about the ortho­
New Left Movements doxy of the s w p ' s policies from a Trotskyist
point of view. Finally, the party's policies
in the 1960s within the international Trotskyist move­
ment were extensively debated and gave rise
to a split of some consequence within s w p
ranks.

The mass political upheavals of the 1960s

The Cuban Revolution
provided the Socialist Workers Party and its
youth affiliate, the Young Socialist Alliance, The Socialist Workers Party greeted Cas­
with unprecedented opportunities to extend tro's overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's gov­
their influence and to grow in membership. ernment with the same enthusiasm shown
The upsurge of the civil rights movement in by other radical and even liberal groups.
the early 1960s, the student upheavals and When near the end of 1959 the new Castro
the growing struggle against the Vietnam regime moved in an avowedly Marxist-Le-
War, as well as the rebirth of the feminist ninist direction, the swp's enthusiasm in­
movement were among the major events of tensified.
the period. At the same time, the evolution By July i960 Joseph Hansen, who became
of the Cuban government of Fidel Castro the chief spokesman on Cuban matters for
into a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist re­ the majority of the s w p leadership was quali­
gime had an important impact on U.S. poli­ fying the Castro regime as a " 'Workers and
tics, especially on left-wing activity. Farmers Government' of the kind defined
The "orthodox" Trotskyists of the Social­ in our Transition Program 'a government
ist Workers Party and the y s a became more independent of the bourgeoisie.' He ex­
or less involved in all of these movements pounded on this definition by saying that
and events. They first threw themselves "by recognizing the new Cuban government
into the campaign in favor of the Castro as a 'Workers and Farmers Government' we
regime, in which they played a leading role. indicate its radical petty-bourgeois back­
Subsequently, they became very much in­ ground and composition and its origin in
volved in the anti-war struggle, in which a popular mass movement, its tendency to
they had a significant organizational part. respond to popular pressures for action
Similarly, they became concerned with the against the bourgeoisie and their agents, and
black movement, although in a somewhat its capacity, for whatever immediate rea­
peculiar way. As a consequence, the s w p sons and with whatever hesitancy, to under­
was able to recover from the doldrums of take measures against bourgeois political
the 19 sos and gain more influence and a power and against bourgeois property rela­
larger membership than ever before. tions. The extent of those measures is not
However, the 1960s were not without decisive in determining the nature of the
their complications. For one thing, the s w p ' s regime. What is decisive is the capacity and
orientation during this period was not to­ the tendency."2 X
ward the working class and organized labor During the latter half of i960 the Castro
but rather toward movements that were ba­ regime was drastically radicalized. It first
sically middle class in membership and nationalized virtually all U.S.-owned prop­
leadership. This fact aroused some unhappi­ erties in the country, and a few weeks later
ness within the party and generated exten­ took over most Cuban-owned means of pro­
sive criticism from rival Trotskyist groups. duction and distribution. These measures

850 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

brought the swp leaders to modify their October in i960, three months ago when
definition of the Castro regime and to in­ industries were nationalized throughout the
crease their enthusiasm. On December 23, entire island. . . ."
i960, the Political Committee of the party As a consequence of the s w p ' s "conserva­
adopted a document entitled "Draft Theses tism" in waiting for the facts to justify the
on the Cuban Revolution" which for the label of "workers' state," Hansen said that
first time categorized the Castro regime as "now the conclusions that we have reached
a "workers state." This document was then are not speculations, they're not projections,
ratified at a plenum of the National Com­ are not based on any political confidence in
mittee of the swp on January 14, 1961. what the regime down there is going to do.
The core statement of the "theses" read: Our characterizations simply reflect the
facts, just the facts. The fact that the capital­
The blows of these counterrevolutionary
ists have been expropriated in Cuba. The
forces, in turn compelled the Castro gov­
fact that a planned economy has been
ernment to resort to increasingly radical
started there. The fact that a qualitatively
measures. . .. These included the estab­
different kind of state exists there. No mat­
lishment of a monopoly of foreign trade,
ter what you call these things, they are the
the nationalization of the latifundia, and,
facts that everyone has to start with."5
■in August-October i960, the virtual ex­
Hansen recognized the theoretical prob­
propriation of the American and Cuban
lems presented by the fact that a "workers'
capitalist holdings; that is, the key sectors
state" had been established without the pre­
of Cuban industry. These steps necessi­
vious existence of a revolutionary party.
tated economic planning. This started in
"We're still left with the question how are
the fall of 1959, developed concomitantly
we to explain this victory in Cuba in the
with the nationalization of industry and
absence of a party like the Socialist Workers
is now firmly established. All these mea­
Party. Let me explain that. There's no So­
sures were taken with the examples of the
cialist Workers Party in Cuba. But how can
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia
they have a revolution down there in Cuba
and China available for study. Thus, in
without the s w p ? Isn't there great danger
the final analysis, the overturn in prop­
involved in this? Doesn't this imply that no
erty relations in Cuba is an echo of the
party is needed? Can you have a revolution
October 19 17 Revolution in Russia.
without a party?"6
When the capitalist holdings in the key
After explaining that the kind of revolu­
sectors of the Cuban economy were taken
tionary party conceived of by the Trotsky­
over by the government, Cuba entered the
ists is a worldwide party, Hansen com­
transitional phase of a workers state, al­
mented that "thus we come to the
though one lacking as yet the forms of
conclusion that there is a great deal of une­
democratic proletarian rule.3
venness in the growth and development of
Joseph Hansen made the report on Cuba this party. . . . Some countries can forge for­
for the Political Committee to the January ward faster than others. In some cases the
1961 Plenum. He raised the issue of why action can transcend the political con­
the s w p had not earlier labeled the Castro sciousness of it. Given this great uneven­
government a workers state, saying that "in ness in the development of an international
my opinion the reason for this was the ab­ party, we have to ask ourselves this ques­
sence of a manifest socialist consciousness tion: Does this signify that it is impossible
on the part of the leadership of that revolu­ for the masses to overthrow a capitalist
tion."4 However, he continued, "this test of power in certain countries until the interna­
the Cuban revolution, the test in struggle, tional party appears in full force and com­
was passed between the period of August to pleteness?... The answers are that in certain

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 851

countries it is possible. Yugoslavia, China Castro regime played a major role in the
and Cuba. That's the fact sheet."7 split within the party which took place in
Throughout the 1960s the Socialist Work­ the mid-1960s. It also was a major matter of
ers Party continued to give virtually uncon­ contention between the s w p and its former
ditional support to the Castro regime, al­ allies in the International Committee of the
though offering it "advice" from time to Fourth International and the Socialist Labor
time. Hansen wrote in 1966 that the "The League of Great Britain headed by Gerry
Militant has consistently printed the main Healy. However, their work on behalf of the
declarations of Fidel Castro and Che Guev­ Castro regime gave the s w p the first chance
ara despite the limited number of pages at in a long while to reach out and win recruits
its disposal and is a well-known source of among elements which until then had not
truthful information about the Cuban Revo­ been even in the periphery of the Socialist
lution."8 Workers Party.
Even the suppression by the Castro re­ We deal elsewhere in this volume with
gime of the only existing Trotskyist group the role of the Cuban issue in the internal
in the island did not weaken the s w p ' s sup­ and international Trotskyist polemics. Here
port for the Castro government. The Cuban it is sufficient to note the role which the
group was an affiliate of the Posadas version s w p played in the early 1960s in defending

of the Fourth International, and after it of­ the cause of the Cuban Revolution outside
fered criticisms of the failure of the Castro the ranks of the party and its periphery. The
government to establish "soviets" and es­ work of defending the Cuban Revolution
tablish "workers democracy," its publica­ before public opinion in the United States
tions were suppressed and its leaders were was undertaken principally by what came
jailed. They were released from prison only to be known as the Fair Play for Cuba Com­
after they signed a statement repudiating mittee. This group was established as the
the Fourth International.9 direct result of a reception organized by the
Although at the time of the suppression Cuban Consulate General in New York City
of the Cuban Partido Obrero Revolucionario for "friends of Cuba," on April i, i960. At
the swp did not consider the issue suffi­ that meeting Dra. Berta Pla, cultural attache
ciently pave to weaken their support of the of the Consulate General, explained that she
Castro regime, Hansen commented several was interested in trying to establish some
years later that "it was injurious to the Cu- kind of organization of Americans with the
ban Revolution to muzzle the Posadas principal purpose of telling the truth about
group. . . . was the Cuban Revolution so Cuba. She also commented that she and oth­
weak ideologically that it was incapable of ers in the Consulate General would cer­
answering the arguments of even a Posa­ tainly quit their jobs and join the opposition
das?" Hansen noted that "particularly in the if they were convinced that Fidel Castro was
United States . . . the suppression of the Po­ a Communist or that he was following the
sadas group did injury to Cuba. There were advice of the Communists or that in any
few campuses where the violation of the way the government was Communist.11
democratic rights of the Posadas group was The members of the Socialist Workers
not thrown at defenders of the Cuban Revo­ Party played a leading role in the work and
lution. . . ." 10 leadership of the Fair Play for Cuba Com­
mittee. Tim Wohlforth, who in the early
1960s was one of the leaders of the opposi­
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee
tion within the s w p , some years later
The attitude of the majority of the s w p lead­ summed up the role of the party in the pro-
ership toward the Cuban Revolution and the Castro movement. He wrote that "the pro-

852 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

Cuba forces in the United States (the Fair Bames went on to say that "there have
Play for Cuba Committee) were to become been, and are today, two basic wings inside
the new regroupment arena and the major the current Cuban Communist Party: the
area for party work. These pro-Cuban forces Castroist wing and the Stalinist wing. We
were essentially the same petty-bourgeois made a bloc with Castro against the Cuban
radicals the s w p had sought to reach during Stalinists in the fight against the bureau­
regroupment. . . . As time passed the pro- cratic course of Anibal Escalante in the early
Cuban forces began to drift away and those 1960s and later in the conflict with the Sta­
remaining grew increasingly hostile to the linists internationally over defense of the
s w p as Cuba worked closer with the USSR. Vietnamese revolution and the Cuban lead­
Finally, the Fair Play group formally dis­ ership's efforts to extend the revolution to
solved itself in the wake of the Kennedy Latin America. We learned how to bloc with
assassination. But long before this, it had Castro against the Stalinists in the fight to
lost its steam." Wohlforth insisted that "out defend and extend the revolution. And that
of all this effort the swp did not gain more conflict between the Castroists and the Sta­
than a handful of recruits."11 He might have linists is still going on."
added that this work in the Fair Play Com­ Bames summed up the vicarious partici­
mittee did serve to put the s w p in contact pation of the s w p in the Cuban Revolution
with many of the same kind of elements by saying that "we discovered that the real
with whom they were to work in other line to be drawn is the line between the
fields, particularly in the anti-Vietnam War revolutionists—meaning Castro and those
movement, and perhaps to some degree in around him, including us—and the counter­
the civil rights movement. It also brought revolutionaries on the other side, including
into the party a number of young people who the Stalinists and the so-called 'Third Camp'
a few years later were to take over the s w p social democrats."13
leadership.
The Anti-Vietnam War Movement
The SWP View of Its Role in the
During the latter half of the 1960s and the
Cuban Revolution
early 1970s the Trotskyists of the Socialist
There is no doubt that the leaders and mem­ Workers Party concentrated the largest part
bers of the Socialist Workers Party then and of their attention and activity on the fight
later had an exaggerated view of the impor­ against the war in Vietnam. Julius Jacobson,
tance of their relationship with the Cuban one-time s w p member and former Shacht­
Revolution. They were convinced they were manite, writing in 1976, admitted that "the
vicariously playing a role in leading "the one organization strengthened by the anti­
first socialist revolution in America." This war movement was the Socialist Workers
view was well illustrated by Jack Barnes, by Party."14
then national secretary of the s w p (and in The s w p paid relatively little attention to
the early 1960s a leader of the Young Social­ the Vietnam War until the decision of Presi­
ist Alliance), at a meeting celebrating the dent Lyndon Johnson, soon after his reelec­
twentieth anniversary of the victory of the tion, to greatly intensify the struggle by
Castro forces, on December 31, 1978- At sending large numbers of United States
that gathering, he recalled that "we made a troops to the battlegrounds. In the party's
bloc with the Castro team against the Stalin­ 1964 platform the only mention of the war
ists from the beginning. We did that because was a one-sentence reference in its foreign
the Stalinists have been the number one in­ policy plank, "Stop the 'dirty war' in
ternal enemy of the Cuban revolution." Vietnam."15

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 853

 Fred Feldman has noted that "the antiwar faction of the Student Mobilization Com­
movement traces its origins to the call is­ mittee succeeded in gaining momentary or­
sued in December 1964 by Students for a ganizational hegemony over the majority of
Democratic Society for a march on Wash­ former s d s forces by its 'non-exclusionist'
ington on April 17, 1965 . .. 20,000 persons tactical approach to the organization at the
marched on April 17. A majority of them Cleveland conference. .. . The y s a , at this
were college students."'6 He went on to say juncture, was the only socialist organization
that "the main burden of antiwar organizing with the physical means to secure hegem­
fell on local and national coalitions made up ony over student-radical and related forces.
of students, traditional peace groups, radi­ n20
cals, and other forces. They focused on A bit after the establishment of the Stu­
building mass street actions on a united- dent Mobilization Committee,-a new um­
front basis. . . ." ‘ 7 brella antiwar group was established, the
The s w p and Young Socialist Alliance New Mobilization Committee to End the
were very active in the fight against the war War in Vietnam ("New Mobe"). David
which began to mushroom early in 1965. McReynolds said of the New Mobe that it
At the first convention of the organization "can be characterized as follows: first, it was
established to bring together the scattered a single issue grouping, drawn together by
local antiwar groups, the National Coordi­ its opposition to the war in Vietnam. . . .
nating Committee to End the War in Viet­ Second, it was essentially a single tactic
nam, they represented the single largest po­ grouping, sticking to mass legal demonstra­
litical group there. At that meeting, in tions, avoiding both political action and
November 1965, the s w p - y s a contingent civil disobedience. Part of this 'single issue/
fought for two things which they were to single tactic' approach was dictated by the
continue to push so long as the anti-Viet­ fact there never really was a 'Mobe' struc­
nam War struggle continued: concentration ture, with offices, paid staff, a publication
on the issue of withdrawal of United States of its own, etc. The Mobe was simply the
troops from the Vietnam conflict, and open­ creation of a wide range of groups, from the
ness of the antiwar organizations to people Communist Party to the Catholics, from
of all political orientations. Aligned against Quakers to student radicals, that re-created
them were Communist Party, Maoist and itself each time it called a national rally."21
New Left elements, and their only allies It was the New Mobilization Committee
were a small contingent from the Youth which organized the massive antiwar dem­
Against War and Fascism, the youth group onstrations of the late 1960s. In November
of the Workers World Party. Although the 1969 it mobilized 250,000 to demonstrate in
s w p -y s a delegates by no means won every­ Washington, and 100,000 in San Francisco,
thing they wanted from this meeting, they and at the time of the Cambodia invasion of
were obviously regarded by delegates of May 1970 it "in less than ten days, assem­
other tendencies as "the ones to beat."18 bled a hundred thousand persons in Wash­
In 1966 a new group, the Student Mobili­ ington."21
zation Committee to End the War in Viet­ McReynolds, a Socialist/pacifist, de­
nam, was established, and Fred Feldman scribed the Trotskyite tactics within the an­
noted that "this remained the most impor­ tiwar movement. He wrote that "for several
tant student antiwar organization during years the swp had argued for a single issue
the next six years."19The very anti-swp peri­ movement, partly because it felt a more rad­
odical The Campaigner, published by the ical movement would have a narrower base,
so-called National Caucus of Labor Com­ but also because a bland single-issue move­
mittees, admitted in mid-1970 that "the y s a ment was an ideal recruiting ground for the

854 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

Trotskyists. So long as the peace movement establishment of the "lottery" draft, the im­
stuck to just one issue, those who became petus of the antiwar movement declined.
more radical within its ranks, found them­ Another factor contributing to this was un­
selves drawn toward the more radical pro­ doubtedly the success of many of the groups
gram of the s w p . " which had been most engaged in the antiwar
McReynolds added that "the swp not only movement in penetrating the organization
opposed the extremist positions of the radi­ of the Democratic Party, culminating in the
cal caucus but opposed any broadening of nomination of Senator George McGovern
the Mobe. As a consequence of these inter­ in 1972, thus diverting the attention and
nal strains—the s w p , the radical caucus, and energies of these people from concentrating
the 'centrist' group—Mobe died in 1970, al­ on the antiwar campaign.
most at the instant of its massive demon­ The s w p continued to control the Na­
stration in Washington on May 9."“ tional Peace Action Coalition (n p a c ) faction
As a result of the breakup of the New of the antiwar movement so long as it ex­
Mobilization Committee, three major anti­ isted. The n p a c held a convention in De­
war groups were formed. One of these was cember 1971, in Cleveland, which was re­
the National Peace Action Coalition (n p a c ), portedly attended by 1,400 people. The
which David McReynolds said was "almost periodical of one of the anti-swp political
entirely a creation of the Trotskyists." He groups with representation at that meeting,
added that "they have only one issue—Viet­ the International Socialists, reported that
nam. They have only one tactic—mass legal "the small size and uninspired atmosphere
rallies." Speaking of the April 24,1970, rally reflected the most recent anti-war marches
against the war, McReynolds said that "be­ on November 6." The same periodical
cause of their genuine ability, not simply opined that "the decline of the anti-war
because they took the more moderate line, movement . . . and its failure to overcome
they secured almost the entire establish­ its isolation from the labor revolt, pose a
ment as sponsors. . . ."24 grave threat to the future of the struggle
The s w p sought to carry out antiwar activ­ against the imperialist war."26
ity not only among the civilian population
but among members of the armed forces as
The Black Struggle of the 1960s
well. For instance, during their 1968 elec­
tion campaign, in which Fred Halstead was The members of the Socialist Workers Party
their presidential nominee, "About 115,000 and Young Socialist Alliance played only a
'Letters to g i ' s ' by Fred Halstead were dis­ miniscule role, if any, in the major civil
tributed to g i ' s and antiwar activists in En­ rights struggles of the 1960s. They had no
gland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and visible connection with the organizations
Germany, as well as throughout the United built around the work of Dr. Martin Luther
States. On his trip around the world last King Jr., with the Student Nonviolent Coor­
summer, Halstead talked to g i ' s in Vietnam dinating Committee, or with the labor-
and in Germany, and he reported the anti­ oriented groups in which A. Philip Randolph
war feeling among them in his meetings and and Bayard Rustin figured most promi­
press conferences when he returned to the nently. The reasons for this lack of participa­
United States. He attended the court-mar- tion in the major organizations conducting
tial of Sp/4 Allen Myers at Fort Dix and was the black struggle of the 1960s are probably
thrown off the base for distributing cam­ several. First of all, the s w p ' s quite limited
paign and antiwar literature to g i ' s . " 2S resources were very largely taken up with
A s President Nixon's policy of "Vietnam- first, the campaign on behalf of the Castro
ization" of the war progressed, and after the regime, and then the struggle against the

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 855

 Vietnam War. In the second place, they did as the black struggle was concerned cen­
not approve ideologically either with the tered on the figure of Malcolm X, and more
nonviolent emphasis of Dr. King and his broadly on the "black nationalist" current
supporters, or the orientation of the in black politics. George Breitman became
Randolph-Rustin group toward cooperation the party's principal spokesman in these en­
with established leaders in the organized la­ deavors. Among other things, he edited a
bor movement. pamphlet on Leon Tiotsky on Black Nation­
This lack of participation in the main­ alism and Self-Determination in 1967, ed­
stream civil rights movement did not mean ited a book of speeches, Malcolm X Speaks,
that the s w p was oblivious to black concerns wrote a book, The Last Year of Malcolm X:
and struggle of the period. They indicated The Evolution of a Revolutionary, and gave
their interest, among other ways, by naming many speeches and wrote various articles
a black, Clifton DeBerry, as their candidate about Malcolm.
for president in 1964, and by their nomina­ Malcolm X had joined the Black Muslims
tion of Paul Boutelle, another black for the (or Nation of Islam), led by Elijah Muham­
vice president in 1968. mad in 1952 and by the early 1960s was the
Party platforms dealt extensively with group's principal figure in the New York
problems of the black struggle. That of 1964, area. However, early in 1964 he broke with
for instance, called for "full economic, so­ Elijah Muhammad, at first organizing his
cial and political equality for the Negro peo­ own mosque in New York, and then estab­
ple and for all other minority groups. Soli­ lishing a more political group, the Organiza­
darity with mass actions aimed at securing tion of Afro-American Unity. He also made
these rights as exemplified in the rent two trips abroad, one of them including a
strikes, school boycotts, picketing of con­ hejira to Mecca. At least in part due to these
struction sites, public demonstrations and foreign travels he substantially altered his
sit-ins. Uphold the right of self-defense thinking, moving away from the extreme
against white supremacist violence." anti-white teachings of Elijah Muhammad
The 1964 platform went on to demand and coming more to view the struggle of the
"full use of the federal power to enforce all blacks as part of a wider conflict involving
laws and court orders against discrimination all elements in U.S. and international soci­
and segregation. Enforce existing laws ety oppressed by existing social, economic,
against lynch murder and police brutality and political institutions. Malcolm X was
and enact new ones. . . . Establish an f e p c assassinated on February 21, 1965, less than
with teeth and compensate minorities for a year after his split with the Black Muslims.
the disadvantages they have suffered. Create The Socialist Workers Party leaders were
a federal agency fully empowered and attracted to and tried to influence the rapid
equipped to enforce minority rights in all evolution of Malcolm X's thinking after he
spheres of national life. Federal action to broke with the Nation of Islam. George
guarantee and protect the right to vote in all Breitman, in his book on Malcolm X's last
national, state, county and city elections. year, argues that even while he was still a
Abolish all existing poll taxes." Finally, the Black Muslim, "What he learned about such
platform urged, "Teach Negro and African organizations as the Socialist Party and the
history in the nation's schools. Combat all Communist Party didv not make him
forms of anti-Semitism."17 friendly. .. . One exception was Malcolm's
attitude to The Militant, the weekly news­
The SWP, Malcolm X, and paper expressing the view of the Socialist
Black Nationalism Workers Party. While he was still a Black
In 1964, 1965, an d for s o m e tim e th e rea fter Muslim, Malcolm used to buy this paper
th e m a in c o n c e n tra tio n o f th e sw p in so fa r when it was sold at meetings where he

856 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

spoke. Even at that time, he said after the stand the progressive and revolutionary con­
split, he used to tell Negroes it was a good tent of black nationalism, approve and sup­
paper and they ought to read it."2® port the course he is following and the
Breitman also insisted that relations be­ contribution he is making to the mobiliza­
tween Malcolm X and the swp "continued tion of the Negro masses against an oppres­
throughout Malcolm's last year, and were sive system. . . ,"3‘
closer at the end than at the beginning."29 The swp's relations with Malcolm X re­
There certainly was considerable contact flected their general sympathy for "black
between the s w p and Malcolm X during this nationalism." They did not interpret this as
period. He spoke at two meetings of the necessarily meaning the separation of
s w p ' s Militant Forum in New York City in American blacks into a nation of their own,
April and May 1964. such as had been advocated by the Commu­
Breitman also maintained that Malcolm nist Party in the early 1930s. In their pam­
X supported the s w p ' s 1964 presidential phlet on Trotsky's attitude toward black na­
election campaign, albeit very discreetly. He tionalism they republished a resolution on
wrote, "Another speaker at this May 29 the subject which had been passed by the
meeting was Clifton DeBerry, the Socialist party's convention of July 1939. It pro­
Workers Party's presidential candidate in claimed that "the s w p , while proclaiming
1964. In the discussion period, Malcolm its willingness to support the right of self-
praised DeBerry's formulation of the need determination to the fullest degree, will not
for a combination of firmness in principle in itself, in the present stage, advocate the
with flexibility in tactics. A few weeks later, slogan of a Negro state in the manner of the
in a private discussion with DeBerry, Mal­ Communist Party of the USA." The 1939
colm said that he sympathized with DeBer­ resolution added that "the advocacy of the
ry's candidacy and that of course he was not right of self-determination does not mean
going to support either the Democrats or advancing the slogan of self-determination.
the Republicans in the election. For various Self-determination for Negroes means that
reasons, however, he felt that he could not the Negroes themselves must determine
openly endorse DeBerry. What he could do, their own future." The resolution warned
he said was to 'open some doors' for DeBerry that "Furthermore, a party predominantly
in Harlem, so that he would get a better white in membership which, in present-day
hearing for his program and greater circula­ America, vigorously advocates such a slo­
tion for his literature. Malcolm did make gan, prejudices it in the minds of Negroes,
such arrangements before his second trip to who see it as a form of segregation." Finally,
Africa in July, and before leaving he urged the 1939 resolution promised that "the s w p
his closest co-workers to cooperate where will watch carefully the political develop­
possible with the Socialist Workers Party ment of the masses of the Negroes, will em­
campaign."30 phasize their right to make this important
Writing soon after Malcolm X's break decision themselves, and the obligation of
with the Black Muslims, Breitman summed all revolutionaries to support whatever deci­
up the positive elements which the s w p saw sion the Negroes may finally come to as
in the new positions he was adopting. These to the necessity of a Negro state. The s w p
were: "(1) A positive, activist attitude to­ recognizes that the Negroes have not yet
ward the immediate, day-to-day struggles expressed themselves on this important
for better jobs, schools and housing. . . . (2) question. . . ."32
An advanced position on self-defense.. . .(3) In its 1963 convention the s w p again dis­
A different approach to politics. . . .{4) Pro­ tinguished its conception of black national­
motion of black unity." Breitman concluded ism from the call for a separate nation. A
that "revolutionary socialists, who under­ convention resolution stated that "Negro

1 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 857

t
 nationalism, as it now exists, should not be ideas of revolutionary socialism and cham­
equated with Negro separatism, the ten­ pioning an all-black party. To be sure, the
dency that advocates creation of a separate one is consciously opposed to the capitalist
Negro nation. . . . Nationalists want the order whereas the other may be only par­
right to decide their own destiny, and to tially and potentially directed against its
create an independent movement and other domination. But both will stand arrayed
conditions that will make it possible for against a common enemy in the capitalist
them to decide their own destiny. But so far ruling class and should travel along the same
they have not made a choice in favor of a road towards the same destination."
separate nation."33 Finally, the article argued that "because
The s w p did interpret "black national­ black people are the most exploited, op­
ism" to mean independent black political pressed and aroused part of the-population,
action. In their 1964 platform they wrote it is reasonable to expect that they will be­
that "the Socialist Workers Party supports come the first mass force to cut loose from
independent Negro political action of the the Democratic Party coalition and blaze
type manifested in the call for a Freedom a trail for others to follow. If they should
Now Party." The platform added that "we establish an influential party of their own
urge the formation of an independent labor which carried through the fight against op­
party based on the unions. We advocate an pression and exploitation to the end, black
anti-capitalist political alliance of all who Americans can be the vanguard of radical
suffer discrimination and exploitation, change in this country and play a decisive
black and white> in industry and on the land, role in revolutionizing its political life."36
in blue collars and white. . . ."34 As part of their support for Black national­
Four years later the swp was still main­ ism the Socialist Workers Party strongly ad­
taining its support of black nationalism. vocated "community control," particularly
Paul Boutelle, the party's black vice presi­ in predominantly black neighborhoods. The
dential candidate, was reported to have been most notable example of this was at the
"chairman of a workshop discussion on 'The time of the New York City teachers' strike
Black Nation' at the National Black Power in 1968 against a move to transfer nineteen
Conference held in Philadelphia August 27- teachers out of Public School 271 in the
29. . . . The s w p candidate was also the fea­ Ocean Hill-Brownsville area of Brooklyn
tured speaker at the Washington state nomi­ during a struggle over community control
nating convention of the Black Panther of schools in that area. The swp was proud
party September i7 ."3s that it worked to break the 1968 New York
An unsigned article in International So­ City teachers' strike. The Militant reported
cialist Review early in 1968 explained the that " s w p campaigners have been active in
rationale of the support of the swp for an supporting the struggle of black and Puerto
independent black party. It explained that Rican communities in New York to control
"the Socialist Workers Party favors the for­ their own schools and have helped open
mation of an independent party uniting Af­ schools closed by the United Federation of
ro-Americans in political struggle for their Teachers' strike against community control
just rights and freedom. It believes that of schools." The paper added that swp presi­
black people have the democratic right to dential candidate Fred Halstead "in fact,
decide their own destiny and that, without helped his community open the school that
such a political instrument, they cannot ef­ his daughter attends."37
fectively advance their immediate well­
being or attain their ultimate goals." The Women's Liberation
article then went on to maintain that "there The Socialist Workers Party also aligned it­
is no contradiction between adhering to the self behind another of the movements

858 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

which arose and gained momentum in the tions before women can eradicate the causes
1960s, that of so-called women's liberation, of their inferior status and the evils flowing
although none of the major figures in that from it. In order to accomplish that, a social­
movement belonged to the party. The swp's ist revolution, which will transfer state
position on the issue was one of more or less power and the means of production from the
orthodox Marxism and was presented in a monopolists to the majority of the people
pamphlet by George Novack entitled Revo­ must be carried through."41 He insisted that
lutionary Dynamics of Women's Liberation "a democratic workers' regime and the col­
issued in 1969. lective ownership of the means of produc­
Novack warned that "some participants tion are required for any fundamental and
in the women's liberation ranks approach beneficent transformation of the relations
the intolerable predicament of their sex in between men and women, husbands and
a highly personalized and unpolitical way. wives, parents and children. . . the exploited
They seek relief and release through some of both sexes must make common cause in
sort of psychological readjustment, anti­ getting rid of the capitalist class structure
male attitudes, or by gathering together in behind their deprivations."42
small utopian communities." However, he
added, "Rational inquiry into the underly­
sw p Electoral Activity
ing causes of the age-long oppression of
women is indispensable for working out the Throughout the 1960s the Socialist Workers
best ways and means of attacking and abol­ Party continued to run candidates in presi­
ishing it."38 Such rational inquiry is pro­ dential elections and in local and state con­
vided by Marxism, Novack insisted. He tests where the opportunity presented itself.
noted that "the Marxist explanation for the Undoubtedly a high point of electoral cam­
subjugation of women is based upon recog­ paigning came during the 1968 contest.
nition of the fact that private ownership of The swp candidates for president and vice
the means of production, plus the right of president in 1968 were Fred Halstead and
property inheritance, was the prime condi­ Paul Boutelle. In addition, the party ran
tion for women's downfall. . . . It persists forty-four candidates for lesser posts, includ­
today in the most developed countries be­ ing Peter Camejo for U.S. senator in Califor­
cause property and power are monopolized nia, Carl Finamore for governor of Illi-
by the capitalist class."39 Hence, Novack in­ nois,and Bob Wilkinson, a Vietnam veteran,
sisted, there are severe limitations of the for governor of Wisconsin. All three had
possibilities of the women's struggle under been active in the campus revolt in their
capitalism: "Just as the bourgeois revolu­ respective states. Cliff Comer, who ran for
tion transformed the Southern chattel U.S. senator from Georgia, was the first swp
slaves into impoverished landless freedmen candidate in the Deep South.
and then returned them to new forms of During this campaign the s w p nominees
bondage, so bourgeois reforms have allowed made the most of the free television and
women to escape from being a complete radio time which was available to them as
chattel of the male master and become a candidates. As The Militant noted, "Both
'free individual' in the bourgeois sense. Halstead and Boutelle appeared on the popu­
What they have not done is to release lar Joey Bishop Show, which was carried by
women from the grip of the man and give some 250 stations nationwide. Halstead ap­
them equality in the decisive spheres of so­ peared on a National Educational Television
cial life. "40Therefore, Novack explained, "It program carried by 140 stations, and Bou­
will take a thoroughgoing reorganization of telle appeared for 15 minutes on the Dick
the entire social setup from the economic Cavett show, a national a b c program broad­
foundations up to and including family rela­ cast by 2 so stations. They appeared together

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 859

 for an hour on William F. Buckley's 'Firing that "the swp is on the ballot in Arizona,
Line' show. This is only a fraction of the free Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michi­
radio-television time the swp candidates gan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire,
were able to obtain." New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North
In view of the heavy emphasis which the Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah,
s w p was giving to antiwar work, particularly Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The
among students, much of the weight of the party also filed in Tennessee and Connecti­
1968 campaign was carried by the Young cut but was arbitrarily ruled off. . . . During
Socialist Alliance. It set up Young Socialists the campaign an estimated 117,000 signa­
for Halstead and Boutelle and Afro-Ameri- tures were collected on nominating peti­
cans for Halstead and Boutelle groups as tions by s w p supporters."44
campaign organizations. They sought en­ The s w p summed up its electoral partici­
dorsement from campus activists and pation in 1968 by saying that "all of these
claimed to have received them from people accomplishments of the s w p campaign . . .
in all but four of the fifty states. They issued demonstrated that revolutionary socialists
three numbers of a special periodical, Afxo can participate in the electoral process and
Americans fox Halstead and Boutelle News- register significant gains for the movement
lettex, which was widely distributed on without in any way watering down or com­
campuses throughout the country. promising their revolutionary principles."45
The two national nominees of the s w p
campaigned for the better part of a year.
Changing Class Composition
They addressed numerous campus audi-
of the s w p
ences, including 800 people who heard Bou­
telle at Arizona State University, 600 who With its attention and activity during the
listened to Halstead at the University of 1960s concentrated on antiwar activities,
Wisconsin, and 350 each at Antioch College the black nationalist cause, electoral activi­
and the State University of New York at ties, and to a degree on the feminist move­
Albany. In addition, Boutelle spoke at a ment, the Socialist Workers Party had little
meeting organized by the Black Panther energy or personnel left to carry out work in
Party in Des Moines, and Halstead spoke the organized labor movement. In any case,
before an antiwar demonstration of 30,000 the atmosphere in the trade unions was not
people in San Francisco on April 27, 1968. a propitious one for would-be revolution­
The s w p candidates were apparently able to aries. There was a considerable economic
address few, if any, labor audiences. prosperity during most of the decade, collec­
The s w p estimated that it had distributed tive bargaining brought steady if unspectac­
upward of 1,500,000 pieces of literature dur­ ular material gains for most union members,
ing the campaign, including 100,000 copies and the "bourgeoisification" of the manual
of the s w p platform. They posted some labor force undoubtedly proceeded apace.
309,600 campaign stickers. Special pam­ Under these circumstances there were no
phlets were published including 9,000 on significant movements of revolt against ex­
"Truth About the McCarthy Campaign/' isting union leadership or large scale new
and one explaining "how the various Peace organizational campaigns such as had given
and Freedom Party formations are in actual­ the Trotskyists their first—and so far only—
ity an obstacle to the development of inde­ opportunity to get a foothold in the orga­
pendent black and labor parties."43 nized labor movement. Although during the
The s w p s u c c e e d e d in g e ttin g on th e b allo t latter part of the 1 960s there was substantial
in n in e te e n sta te s, co m p are d w it h o n ly eig h t disagreement in the top echelons of the a f l -
in 1964. Intexcontinental Pxess reported c i o over the Vietnam War, the s w p attitude

860 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

toward both contending groups in this dis­ a few years earlier, but only an infinitesmal
pute was one of almost equal hostility. number of its new recruits were members
Hence, not only did the s w p do little to of the organized labor movement. The party
try to develop influence in organized labor, was certainly much further away, after the
but the conditions were not conducive to New Left decade, from being what it had
success even if such efforts had been made. before aspired to be, the vanguard of the
As a consequence, the process of transfor­ working class. It was, if anything, at best the
mation of the social base of the principal vanguard for the working class.
Trotskyist party in the United States which
had been under way for a long time was
undoubtedly intensified during the 1960s. sw p Ideological Orientation in 1960s
The s w p had lost some of its cadres in and Early 1970s
organized labor with the Shachtmanite split The kinds of activities in which the Socialist
in 1940, but it more than recovered this lost Workers Party and its youth affiliate cen­
ground right after World War II. However, tered their attention and recruiting efforts,
by the late 1940s, as we have noted, many and the change in class composition of the
of its wartime recruits among the workers s w p - y s a between the mid-1950s and the
were falling away, and it had totally lost its early 1970s resulted in a reformulation of
first notable labor base, Minneapolis. Then, the programmatic and ideological position
with the Cochranite split of 1953 the Social­ of the major United States Trotskyist group.
ist Workers Party lost the bulk of its activ­ This alteration perhaps found its clearest
ists in the organized labor movement. So as expression in the "Program for Revolution,"
the party entered the 1960s it was already the collection of documents emerging from
an overwhelmingly middle-class group. the Twenty-fourth National Convention of
We have no reliable figures concerning the swp in August 1971, and published in
the class or social composition of the Social­ the International Socialist Review in No­
ist Workers Party at the end of the 1960s. vember of that year.
But there is some evidence of the situation These documents put primary emphasis
early in the decade. According to Laurence on what the s w p conceived of as a "radical-
Ireland, one of the leaders of the minority ization" then in process in the United
opposition in the 19 61-196 3 period, "out of States. This perspective was perhaps most
an s w p population of around four to five clearly stated in a resolution entitled "Per­
hundred members, it is doubtful if even as spectives and Lessons of the New Radical-
many as ten percent can be said to be now ization," adopted by the convention by a
employed in the concentrated industries." vote of ro6 to 7. It stated:
Ireland defines the "concentrated indus­
tries" as “mining, contract construction, Since the 1969 convention of the Socialist
manufacturing, transportation and public Workers Party, the process of radicaliza-
utilities." He went on to comment that "in tion has continued to deepen. Following
any event, the comrades so employed fail to the Moratorium and March on Washing­
constitute any trade-union fractions, and for ton in October and November 1969, the
the most part, occupy the more comfortable antiwar movement achieved its broadest
jobs available in these industries." Finally, mobilization to date and most clearly
Ireland said that racial minorities "consti­ demonstrated its potential in the May
tute only about 4 percent of the population 1970 antiwar upsurge. During the same
of the s w p . " 4* year two powerful new contingents en­
By the end of the 1960s the swp was proba­ tered the radicalization in a massive way,
bly two or three times the size it had been the movement for chicano self-determi­

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 861

 nation and the women's liberation this point involved. That does not settle this
movement. question. It does not belittle the radicaliza­
This period also saw the emergence of tion to point out that the working class has
the gay liberation movement; organized not yet intervened in this manner. In fact, it
revolts in the prisons from New York to indicates to us how powerful the radicaliza­
California demanding prison and judicial tion will become with the large-scale in­
reform, inspired by the nationalist volvement of the working class and the po­
radicalization? increased radicalization tential speed with which a prerevolutionary
inside the Catholic Church led by a mili­ situation could arise when that happens."48
tant layer of nuns and priests; deepening Bames argued that the transformation of
revulsion against capitalism's destruc­ the "radicalization" into a prerevolutionary
tion of our environment and the ecologi­ situation was virtually inevitable. He said
cal system on which humanity depends; that "in this radicalization we are seeing
the continued formation of radical cau­ the rise of the self-conscious struggle and
cuses in all types of professional organiza­ organization of America's oppressed nation­
tions; and intensified Black nationalist alities and the beginnings of movement
sentiment and organization and further whose demands are so deep that they can
antiwar radicalization within the army. only be begun to be met by a workers state—
Neither in the Debsian radicalization nor and we are seeing this piioi to the large-scale
in the thirties were there comparable up­ participation by the working class in the
heavals in these sectors of American radicalization, let alone a revolutionary up­
life.47 surge." Barnes claimed that "the questions
of alienation of the hierarchical relation­
The s w p stopped short of claiming that all ships necessary to capitalist society which
of this added up to a revolutionary situation. foster and rationalize oppression based on
Jack Bames, then Organization Secretary of class, race, sex, age, etc.; of who controls
the s w p , in introducing the resolution on one's life and work—all being raised by one
"Perspectives and Lessons of the New Radi­ or another different movement—become
calization" to the plenum of the National generalized and begin affecting the con­
Committee of the party in March 1971 sciousness of the entire population—includ­
(which sent it for discussion to the party ing the working class—that directly faces
membership and ultimate adoption by the all these problems. We also see a process
August convention} made that point. He occurring which is important in any radical­
posed the question, "how do we fit these ization and can eventually be a key factor
seemingly contradictory observations to­ leading to a revolutionary situation. That is
gether: the idea that this is the deepest, the gradual decay of the moral authority of
broadest, and most promising radicalization the rulers, their representatives and their
in American history, with the fact that the institutions. . . ,"49
forces that can pose the question of power The s w p leadership's view was that the
and reorganize society on a new basis, that party's role in the "radicalization" then un­
were politically involved in the thirties in der way was to acquire as much of a leader­
large numbers, are not now on the march to ship position as possible and try to "revolu­
the same degree?'' tionize" the radicalizatidtt,. Bames wrote
He answered his own question by saying that "the key thing is that as the radicaliza­
that "the decisive questions for us in analyz­ tion deepens, as new movements arise, as
ing the depth and promise of the radicaliza­ new sectors come into struggle . . . that we
tion is not whether the working class self­ champion the progressive demands of these
consciously and in very large numbers is at movements, and we act as revolutionists

862 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

toward them and in them. Then as long as what they all come down to are subjective
we're clear about our political principles we and arbitrary shortcuts by a handful aimed
should find no insurmountable obstacles to at bridging the objective gap between the
coming to grips with these movements, ana­ pace and characteristics of the radicalization
lyzing them and incorporating generaliza­ of the decisive sections of the working class
tions and demands flowing from them into and the growing radicalization of other op­
our program."50 pressed sectors of the population. They ulti­
The s w p leadership paid due homage to mately come down to a gimmick substitut­
the traditional Marxist-Leninist-Trotskyist ing for a Leninist strategy of party building."
position that revolutionary process required Barnes specifically rejected the idea that
the leadership of a revolutionary party, and any attempt should be made to have the
that the party's principal task in the process overwhelmingly middle and upper class
of "radicalization" was to form the cadres youths then being recruited to the s w p - y s a
for such a party. Jack Barnes observed that become "proletarianized." He said in fur­
"in the final analysis, the decisive question ther discussion of the "gimmick" he had
is the construction of a mass Trotskyist already denounced that "the second justifi­
party. We proceed from the recognition that cation is what we call the 'class composi­
the s w p is not yet that mass party. We are a tion' justification. That is, the idea that the
small but growing nucleus of cadres formed central problem of a small group of cadres
around the revolutionary-socialist program trying to increase their size and build the
necessary to build such a party. Thus re­ nucleus of a mass party is its class composi­
cruiting, training, and assimilating such tion. This problem is 'solved' by telling ev­
cadres are the indispensable preconditions eryone to get a job in industry. In other
for building a mass workers' party. . . . To­ words, this is an attempt to solve the prob­
day our immediate goal is the recruitment lem of building a proletarian party through
of more and more of the young militants taking a small group of cadres and substitut­
radicalized in the current political struggles, ing a transformation of the social composi­
and the transformation of these recruits tion of these cadres through colonization in
through education and experience into industry, for the construction of a cadre that
Trotskyist cadres. . . ."Sl will be the necessary nucleus of a fighting
It is clear from the 1 971 documents that mass proletarian party."52
the s w p leadership felt the party's focus at
that time had to be almost exclusively on
International Activities of the sw p
the various elements then participating in
the process of "radicalization." They spe­ The Socialist Workers Party played an active
cifically rejected a direct attempt to influ­ role in the international Trotskyist move­
ence the organized workers by getting party ment during the 1960s. Indeed, the nature of
members into workplaces and union organi­ that role was the principal cause of internal
zations. dissension within the party during that pe­
Barnes, in his report, noted that "our op­ riod. In the early 1960s there was a realign­
ponents. . .all counter-posed to our perspec­ ment within International Trotskyism. The
tive what they must think is a new discov­ nature of this is discussed at some length
ery. Their strategy for party building is what elsewhere in this volume. Here it is suffi­
the c p calls an 'industrial concentration,' cient to note that because, on the one hand,
what the is calls 'workers work,' what Wohl­ of coincidence in outlook on the Cuban Rev­
forth modestly calls his 'proletarian orienta­ olution between the s w p leaders and those
tion/what Progressive Labor calls the colo­ of the "Pabloite" International Secretariat
nization of selected key plants,' etc. . . . (is), and because of a drastic modification of

United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 863

the "deep entrism" into Communist and small but persistent rivals to the s w p for the
Socialist parties supported by the is at the mantle of Trotskyism in the United States,
time of the split in the International in the Spartacist League and the Workers
195 3—54 a rapprochement developed be­ League.
tween the s w p and the International Secre­ Subsequently an official publication of
tariat. At the same time there was strong the Sparticists noted that concerning the or­
disagreement, particularly on the Cuban is­ igins of the new opposition group—the Rev­
sue, between the s w p leaders and their most olutionary Tendency (r t )—which appeared
important European associate, Gerry Healy in the s w p in 1961, "The nucleus of the r t
of the Socialist Labour League of Great originated in the central leadership of the
Britain. Young Socialist Alliance, and first came to­
As a consequence of these developments, gether as a left opposition to the s w p Majori­
the Socialist Workers Party and a few other ty's uncritical line toward the course of the
groups which had been associated with the Cuban Revolution." The Spartacists added
International Committee since 1953-54, that "this preliminary dispute culminated
withdrew from the International Commit­ in the adoption of a thoroughly revisionist
tee and joined forces with the bulk of the position by the s w p Majority at the June
adherents of the International Secretariat to 1961 party convention."53
establish in 1963 the United Secretariat of Tim Wohlforth, one of the principal lead­
the Fourth International. By the end of the ers of the original Revolutionary Tendency,,
decade a new struggle pitting the s w p and described further the nature of the new op­
some of its allies, particularly in Latin position. He wrote that "we began essen­
America, against the principal figures in the tially as a section of the leadership of the
ex-Intemational Secretariat had already youth organization, the y s a . Our strength
begun. then flowed from the fact that we repre­
sented the first new wave of revolutionary
forces which has come to the party in the
The Factional Struggle of the recent period. . . . Essentially the original
Early 1960s core of our minority had little or no roots in
the party and little experience at anything
Still another factional struggle culminating other than student w ork.. . .When we began
in two separate splits in the Socialist Work­ our oppositional struggle in the party, in
ers Party took place between mid-1961 and many ways we were not really a part of the
early 1964. Although these new divisions party—we were almost functioning as if we
did not result in a numerically large defec­ were an outside force."54
tion from the party they were of some conse­ The new Revolutionary Tendency was
quence to the s w p . In the first place the not totally without influence. For one thing,
issues in controversy centered on key ele­ Wohlforth was a member of the Political
ments of the party's international policy— Bureau of the swp. For another, it had the
particularly its attitude toward the Cuban support of a few older leaders, some of whom
Revolution and its participation in the "re­ shared its point of view, others of whom
unification" of the Fourth International in at least opposed the ultimate move of the
1963. Second, it resulted in the defections of majority to expel the dissidents.
most of the young ex-Shachtmanite leaders The most significant document generated
who had been its most important recruits by the Revolutionary Tendency was "In De­
during the 1950s, as well as provoking the fense of a Revolutionary Perspective*—A
loss of a number of older individual figures. Statement of Basic Position," (i n d o r p ),
Finally, it resulted in establishment of two drawn up by Tim Wohlforth with the coop­

864 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

eration of several other people, and pre­ of the revolutionary Marxist parties, that is,
sented to the National Committee of the Trotskyist parties, as essential to the victory
swp in March 1962. It was debated at the of socialism in every country in the world.
plenum of the National Committee in June (3} We call for the reviving of the traditional
1962, where it was turned down 43-4.55 This Trotskyist emphasis on workers democracy
document discussed at considerable length as an essential part of our program and pro­
the origins of "Pabloism" in the Fourth In­ paganda. (4) We hold that Stalinism is coun-
ternational, accused the majority of the swp ter-revolutionary in essence. . . . (6) We call
of veering towards Pabloism in its willing­ for a political struggle against Pabloism in­
ness to accept in the Cuban case and else­ ternationally and Pabloite ideas and meth­
where the possibility of the establishment odology within our own ranks. . . . " The i n ­
of a workers state under "petty bourgeois" d o r p also expressed support for reunifica­

leadership and without the previous exis­ tion of the Fourth International only "on
tence of a revolutionary vanguard party. It the political basis of a reaffirmation of the
also strongly criticized the s w p leadership fundamentals of Trotskyism. . . . " Finally,
for seeking reunification with the Interna­ it called for a return to the swp's "Theses on
tional Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­ the American Revolution" of 1946, and its
tional (headed by Pablo), and distancing it­ emphasis on the s w p "as the American sec­
self from the International Committee of tion of our world party. . . ." S7
the Fourth International, which the s w p had At its inception the Revolutionary Ten­
taken the lead in forming at the time of the dency controlled a majority of the National
split in the International in 1953-54. Committee of the Young Socialist Alliance,
although the s w p majority soon succeeded
The i n d o r p document summarized its
in ousting them. The Revolutionary Ten­
criticisms of the s w p majority thus: we
dency continued to consist of relatively
believe that the failure of the s w p leader­
young people. Some of its documents com­
ship to apply and develop the theory and
mented with acerbity on the superannuated
method of Marxism has resulted in a dan­
nature of the majority leadership. Thus, a
gerous drift from a revolutionary world
document on "the Centrism of the s w p and
perspective. The adoption in practice of
the Tasks of the Minority" by James Robert­
the empiricist and objectivist approach of
son and Larry Ireland noted that "the s w p in
the Pabloites, the minimization of the
its leadership has bccomc a very old party.
critical importance of the creation of a
From 1928 to the present—34 years—it has
new Marxist proletarian leadership in all
been led by the same continuous and little
countries, the consistent underplaying of
changing body of personnel. Thus it is the
the counter-revolutionary role and poten­
most long-lived, ostensibly revolutionary,
tial of Stalinism, the powerful tendencies
organization in history. Its current National
toward accommodation to non-proletar-
Committee must have one of the highest
ian leaderships particularly in the colo­
average ages of any communist movement
nial revolution—these pose, if not coun­
ever. " S8
tered, a serious threat to the future
At the beginning the Revolutionary Ten­
development of the s w p itself.56
dency was very small. Robertson wrote in
The Revolutionary Tendency document October 1961 that "we are a nominal 35 or
then presented a ten-point summary of its so comrades. About fifteen in NYC . . . in
own position. The key elements were "(1) addition, a similar number in the Bay Area.
We look to the working class and only the . . . Then there are a couple of valuable but
working class as the revolutionary force in isolated comrades . .. elsewhere."59 Subse­
modem society. (2) We consider the creation quently, Wohlforth claimed that it had been

t
t United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left 865
 "possible for us to consolidate our forces the signers of the i n d o r p document, was
in the East Bay, to fuse with working class one of these. Another was Myra Tanner
cadres in San Francisco, Detroit and Phila­ Weiss, three-time swp candidate for vice
delphia, and to make a serious impact on president. As a member of the Political
the New Haven group."60 Committee, she had presented a resolution
During the latter part of 1962 the already to its November 1, 1963, meeting opposing
small Revolutionary Tendency broke into expulsion of Robertson and the others,
two separate groups. One was headed by which concluded, "I propose that we apolo­
Robertson, the other by Wohlforth. The for­ gize to the minority for the unwarranted
mer tended to put much greater emphasis investigation and express our desire to col­
on factional work than upon work for the laborate in comradely fashion in the future
sw p itself, and to be rather contemptuous for the building of the Socialist Workers
toward party discipline. Wohlforth, on the Party."65 Soon afterward, she resigned from
other hand, emphasized the need for the op­ the party.64
position, through being very active in the A few other older party leaders left soon
party's "external" work and very careful after this, for other reasons. The most im­
about not violating sw p discipline, to avoid portant of these was Ame Swabeck, a
giving the majority any excuse for expelling founder of both the Communist Party and
the dissidents.61 the Trotskyist movement, who became an
The only effect of the more cautious atti­ avowed Maoist. He was expelled in 1967
tude of Wohlforth and his associates was to "for violations of discipline."67
bring about their expulsion from the Social­
ist Workers Party a little later than that of
Conclusions
the Robertson group. In December 1963,
Robertson, Larry Ireland, Lynne Harper, In spite of the defections from the Socialist
Shane Mage, and Geoff White were expelled. Workers Party of many of those young peo­
Subsequently, others of their group were ple who had been recruited during the late
thrown out,62 and soon afterward this group 19SOS, the s w p grew substantially during the
organized the Spartacist League. 1960s. It was able to benefit modestly from
Wohlforth and his supporters were ex­ the mass movements against the Vietnam
pelled from the Socialist Workers Party in War, and for black and women's rights.
1964. They immediately formed the Ameri­ However, as a consequence the social com­
can Committee for the Fourth International, position of the country's major Trotskyist
which in 1966 became the Workers group was greatly altered. Whatever rem­
League.63 nants of a working-class membership the
The Spartacists later summed up the s w p still had at the beginning of the 1960s
schisms in the s w p which occurred in the was overwhelmed by the middle-, lower-
period following their own expulsion. They middle-, and upper-class recruits who were
wrote that "more r t supporters were ex­ brought in during the decade. Few workers
pelled; then supporters of other tendencies, were recruited. This change in the nature of
both left and right (Wohlforth, Philips and the sw p membership was to have important
Swabeck) were pushed until they broke dis­ consequences in the following decade and a
cipline, then were formally expelled, while half. -
whole local branches (New Haven, Seattle
and Milwaukee) left."64
Although most of those expelled were
among the recruits of the late 1950s, a few
older figures also left. Joyce Cowley, one of

866 United States: SWP, YSA, and the New Left

 U.S. Trotskyism: The broadening of the possibilities for political
action and influence within the established
Socialist Workers Party in major parties, most politically active blacks
the 1970s and Early 1980s became oriented toward the more mundane
if less exciting work of gaining influence
and elective positions through these parties,
particularly the Democratic Party. The "na­
tionalist" appeal among blacks therefore be­
came less attractive. Furthermore, the black
After the heyday of its activity and influence nationalist leader with whom the swpers
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Social­ had established contact, Malcolm X, had
ist Workers Party reoriented itself in several been killed even before the end of the 1960s
ways. In the late 1970s it adopted the strat­ and the Socialist Workers Party people were
egy of "colonizing" the organized labor not successful in winning over any of his
movement which it had earlier rejected. By close associates or followers. The fate of
the early 1980s the party was going through black nationalism is perhaps best symbol­
an internal discussion and struggle in which ized by the transformation of the Black Mus­
the majority of the leadership seemed to be lim movement; and the rejection by its ma­
moving toward a complete ideological reori­ jority of its former general antipathy toward
entation which, if it continued, seemed all whites.
likely to take the s w p entirely out of the The feminist movement underwent
world Trotskyist movement. somewhat the same experience. With the
extension of more opportunities for leader­
"Objective" ship within the established political struc­
Causes of swp Reorientation ture, increasingly large numbers of politi­
cally oriented women sought to take
The changes in s w p strategy and the growing advantage of these opportunities.
trend toward a complete ideological realign­ Other movements in which the s w p had
ment are certainly in part a reflection of the taken an interest and sought to become ac­
changing milieu in which the party had to tive, such as those of chicanos and homosex­
work. The constituencies in which it built uals, experienced somewhat the same devel­
up its strength in the 1960s and very early opment. Becoming increasingly interested
1970s either largely disappeared or took di­ in making immediate gains, they also
rections which were not hospitable to the tended increasingly to work within the es­
party's further growth. tablished order rather than openly revolt
The anti-Vietnam War movement died a against it.
natural death. It was seriously undermined The dozen or so years after 1972 were, on
when President Nixon introduced the "lot­ balance, a conservative period. University
tery" system of conscription, with the result students, among whom the s w p had re­
that college students were no longer under cruited with particular success in the pre­
the constant menace of being drafted—but ceding period, generally became concerned
instead, knew for sure that they either were with mundane questions of grades and ca­
going to go, or (in the great majority of cases) reer opportunities, and their proclivity for
that they were not going to be called. The political activity of all kinds—particularly
movement completely collapsed with the radical political activity—drastically de­
U.S. defeat in Vietnam. clined. Among the general population there
Black nationalism suffered a somewhat tended to be a reaction against what the s w p
different kind of retrogression. With the had called the "radicalization" of the 1960s

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 867

and very early 1970s. This trend culminated By late 1979 Roger Horowitz of the Na­
in the election in 1980 of Ronald Reagan, tional Committee of the y s a was writing in
the principal figure in the right wing of the the organization's internal bulletin that "to
Republican Party and certainly the most be blunt, the y s a is in trouble right now.
conservative president since Calvin Coo- Our membership has fallen to less than 400,
lidge. our average age is over twenty-three, sales
of our press have gone from 4000 last spring
to 3000 this fall, and most significantly, re­
Decline of s w p -y s a
cruitment of new members is way down."5
The consequence of changed "objective" Clearly, the impetus which had made the
circumstances was a decline in the member­ Young Socialist Alliance the largest radical
ship and influence of the main U.S. Trotsky­ youth group in the late 1960s,and early
ist grouping. Although the Socialist Work­ 1970s, and had substantially bolstered the
ers Party did not make public information s w p as well, had run out of steam by the

on its membership, the Young Socialist A lli­ second half of the 1970s. There were also
ance did, and their figures indicated a drastic indications that the Socialist Workers Party
decline in the latter part of the 1970s. One itself was undergoing some difficulties. The
can only surmise that, although it may not size of its newspaper, The Militant, was re­
have been as marked in the adult organiza­ duced, and their international news organ,
tion as in the y s a , the Socialist Workers Intercontinental Press, was cut back from a
Party also suffered at least to some degree weekly to a bieweekly.6 These trends suffi­
from a similar fall in membership. ciently justified the s w p in reorienting itself
At the time of the 1972 convention of in the more traditional Trotskyist direction
the Young Socialist Alliance it was reported of trying to become a predominantly work­
that the 200 delegates were "representing ing-class party composed largely of trade un­
sixty y s a locals in thirty states. .. ." l The ionists.
y s a probably reached its high point in 1975-

76. At the 1976 convention it was reported

The Turn to Industry
that tht there were 1,400 members in sixty-
five chapters.2 A year later a sharp drop in
SWP Explanation of the
membership was reported by Chuck Petrin,
Turn to Industry
the national organizational secretary—it
was down to 800. In part, this drop was at­ By the mid-1970s the Socialist Workers
tributed to the fact that "many y s a members Party had shown some signs of a renewed
who were also in the Socialist Workers party interest in trying to work within the trade
left the y s a to devote their energies to btiild- union movement. It was reported that in his
ing the s w p . " 3 political report to the 1976 convention of
At the January 1978 y s a convention, Na­ the party National Secretary Jack Bames
tional Organizational Secretary Betsy Farley "pointed to the profound interrelation be­
reported on experiments "with new organi­ tween the political struggles of the op­
zational forms." She described the impact pressed in American society as a whole and
of these changes on the y s a : "While on the the fight for a class-struggle left wing in the
one hand they had helped the y s a to achieve American labor movement." He cited the
its goal of becoming firmly rooted on the example of "the fight for democracy going
college campuses . . . they also had some on inside the steel workers union today.
negative effects, leading to a breakdown in This struggle is already attracting activists
collaboration between the y s a and the among the oppressed nationalities and
sw r."4 fighters for women's rights."

868 United States: SWP in the 1970$ and Early 1980s

 It is clear that in the 1976 convention the geddon point of view based on conjunctural
swp was still principally oriented toward economic estimates. But we know that by
ethnic and similar interest groups. For in­ i974_ 75 we had entered a period of crises
stance, the article on the convention which for capitalism—one we will not come out of
appeared in Intercontinental Press noted without gigantic battles for power. That's
that "forty-four percent of the delegates what we are convinced of."9
were women, up from 36 percent in 1975," The s w p leaders also argued that the mid­
and that "the National Committee elected dle-class radicals with whom they had
at the convention includes twenty members worked so closely in the 1960s and early
of oppressed nationalities, as compared with 1 970s had by the late 1 970s turned conserva­
fifteen on the outgoing committee/' but tive. After 1980 they accused those people
makes no reference to the number of dele­ of being "Marielitos," that is, people fleeing
gates or committee members who belonged from the revolution, as 130,000 Cubans had
to unions.7 done when they left Cuba from the small
It was not until early 1978 that the s w p port of Mariel. In March 1982 Barnes argued
decided generally to reorient the party's ac­ that "there is no question whatsoever that
tivities toward the labor movement. Will we face a Mariel in American radical move­
Reissner, reporting on the 1979 party con­ ment. That is without doubt what .is hap­
vention, noted that pening on the U.S. left as the blows against
the working class come down, as the polar­
the decision to do this was made at a Feb­
ization deepens, and as the imperialist war
ruary 1978 meeting of the swp National
pressure mounts. The difference between
Committee. It flowed from the s w p ' s eval­
conditions and consciousness bom of being
uation of the worldwide capitalist auster­
a worker and that produced by being im­
ity drive and the growing alienation of
mersed in a petty-bourgeois milieu is widen­
American workers from the institutions
ing. And the ranks of the North American
of capitalist rule had created new opportu­
marielitos are growing."10
nities for the party to do fruitful political
The s w p leaders claimed that, as middle-
work in the major work-places and unions
class radicals were turning conservative, the
of industrial workers. These openings, the
workers, particularly the workers in heavy
National Committee decided, made it im­
industry, had moved to "center stage" of
perative that the s w p concentrate its ef­
U.S. politics. Thus, in presenting the motion
forts on becoming a party of socialist in­
to the February 1978 Plenum where the
dustrial workers through colonization of
"turn to industry" was decided upon, Jack
cadres who had been recruited in the
Bames argued that "prior to 1974 much of
movements for social change over the
the political activity took the course around,
past two decades.
and not through, either the industrial
He also noted that the decision was in unions or the workers in industry. But fol­
conformity with the policy of the United lowing Nixon's 19 71 wage freeze that
Secretariat "to make such a turn toward the changed. As we got closer to the 1974-75
industrial working class throughout the depression, it changed more and more. Prior
world."8 to this, though, the best arena for recruit­
In arguing in favor of the new "turn to ment to our working class programs was not
industry" for the s w p , the leaders of the in these unions."11 Bames went on to say
party stressed several reasons for it. The first that "we are still in a preparatory period—
was that American capitalism was allegedly not a period when we are leading mass class
entering a profound new crisis. Early in 1978 struggle actions. We must make no mistake
Jack Bames claimed that "we have no Arma­ about that.. . . But it is a preparatory period

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 869

in which the center of American politics brief period to work full-time for the party."
has shifted to the industrial working class. At the same time it was noted that al­
That's the central political judgment we put though a number of party members em­
before the plenum. By not making this move ployed in the basic industries had been laid
now, we would unnecessarily cut ourselves off, "the number hired in other sectors of
off from the center of American politics."12 the economy, such as petrochemical, gar­
Furthermore, the industrial workers were, ment, and electric, has compensated for
according to the s w p leadership, becoming these layoffs."
more radical. In his February 1978 speech Bames summed up the s w p ' s alleged posi­
Bames argued that "the Political Commit­ tion in the industrial field in 1982 by saying
tee became convinced that there are more that
workers developing anticapitalist senti­
the most important test for us was a very
ment or greater openness to anticapitalist
simple one. We went through a bad year
conclusions and solutions today than at any
of depression, with massive layoffs and
other time in American history."13
massive pressures, yet there's no funda­
mental change in the party. Some frac­
The Turn to Industry in Practice tions have: been weakened, some people
have changed jobs, but the party as a
During the first half of 1979 the sw p held
whole hasn't been changed. We haven't
national conferences of its members in the
fled from the industrial working class as
United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers,
a result of these pressures. We're in. We're
International Association of Machinists,
in to stay. We're part of what's going on.
and the railroad unions. Malik Miah re­
We're more and more not going through
ported that "the purpose of the four indus­
an experiment, but going through these
trial conferences was to bring together so­
experiences as part of the working class.16
cialist activists in these unions to discuss
the impact of the capitalist offensive in each In July-August 1982 the s w p held one of
particular industry and its work force and to its more or less regular educational confer­
exchange experiences about how workers ences, at which particular attention was
are resisting the antilabor assaults. Most im­ given to the role of party members in the
portant, the meetings were held to discuss labor movement. Some 1,200 people report­
and decide what socialist workers, acting edly attended, and "about half of those at­
together as a national team, can do to move tending were workers from major industries
these struggles forward and win new sup­ and unions where the Socialist Workers
porters and members to the socialist Party and Young Socialist Alliance . . . have
movement."14 many members: coal mining, steel, auto,
The "colonization" strategy was endorsed rail, garment and textile, petrochemical,
by the Thirtieth National Convention of the electrical, aerospace and machinists, transit
s w p in August 1979. The policy was over­ and teamsters." About half of those partici­
whelmingly endorsed, only one vote being pating were under thirty-eight, and "some
cast for a "counterresolution" entitled 73 participants were Afro-Americans, and
"Against the Workerist Turn: A Critique 66 were Latinos."
and Some Proposals."15 This conference was ther-occasion for frac­
By late 1982 it was reported that "today, tion meetings of swp workers in various
about half of the party members hold indus­ fields. There were a hundred classes held
trial jobs and some seventy-six percent are during the six days of the session, dealing
either in industry, temporarily laid off from with "three broad areas: Marx, Engels and
industrial jobs, or have left such jobs for a revolutionary politics; the class struggle in

870 United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s

the United States; and international revolu­ almost exclusively to the unions of workers
tionary developments." Particular attention in heavy industry. While the "turn" was
was given to "a five part series on the work­ under way, in fact, the small base which the
ers and farmers government presented by s w p did have in the white collar-professional

Steve Clark, a member of the swp Political union field was apparently liquidated.
Bureau."17 This appears not to have been the original
The s w p renewed its old interest in the intention of the Barnes leadership. In his
question of establishing a Labor Party in the speech to the February 1979 plenum which
United States. Thus, in an article comment­ launched the "Turn to Industry," Bames
ing on the doubts about whether such a said, "This doesn't mean we won't do work
party is likely to appear expressed by British in, or pay careful attention to, a f s c m e , or
Labor Party left-wing leader Anthony the teachers' union. In fact we will grow, we
Wedgewood Benn, Frank Lovell wrote in will recruit bigger fractions in the a f t , n e a ,
The Militant on November 7, 1980, that a f s c m e , and so on. This does not distract

"the working class, and only the working from the importance of the work of our com­
class is capable of reorganizing society and rades there either.. . . We are making a con­
eliminating the evils of capitalism. And to crete explicit decision that we are not put­
accomplish this historic mission, the work­ ting people in the a f s c m e , the o p e i u , or the
ing class must organize its own political teachers' unions as a normal policy. But we
party in all countries of the world, the pur­ are going to recruit teachers and other public
pose being to establish the world socialist and clerical workers. We will have fractions
order for the liberation of all humankind. in these unions."10 But a plenum of the s w p
This is what socialists learned from Marx National Committee in April 1981 decided
and Engels. And they understood that any­ to send virtually everyone except the party's
one who claimed to be a socialist and joined own employees, and members who were re­
one of the master class political parties, tired, into the industrial unions. Malik Miah
which exist for the sole purpose of deceiving reported on this at the plenum in the name
the voters, was a renegade."18 Lovell added of the majority party leadership: "First is the
that "in this country today the union move­ need to deepen the turn itself. Currently
ment can become a greater power in govern­ fifty percent of the party is in industry.
ment in a shorter time, once the break with About ten percent of comrades are on layoff
capitalist politics is made and the move­ or looking for work. Then there is another
ment for a labor party begins to roll."19 seventeen percent of the party on full-time
staff or retired. This leaves approximately
twenty-twenty-five percent of the party as
Peculiarities of the Turn to Industry
potential candidates to get jobs in indus­
There were certain aspects of this new at­ try—in their current cities or in new parts
tempt of the Socialist Workers Party to gain of the country."
a base in the organized labor movement The result of this new interpretation of
which deserve special note. They were the "turn to industry" was the liquidation
strongly criticized by elements in the leader­ of all s w p party fractions in the white-collar
ship of the party who were opposed to the and professional unions. Two members who
faction headed by National Secretary Jack had been particularly active in (a f s c m e ) the
Bames, which was principally responsible American Federation of State, County and
for proposing and carrying out the "turn to Municipal Employees and the American
industry." Federation of Teachers, Ray Markey and Jeff
In the first place, the effort to reestablish a Mackler respectively, were told to cease
footing in the labor movement was confined their efforts in those organizations and were

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 871

removed from the s w p ' s National Com­ youth and on ethnic groups and special in­
m ittee21 terest constituencies with no integral con­
Another peculiarity of the s w p ' s attempt nection with the organized working class.
to penetrate the labor movement was the
party leadership's apparent prohibition of
sw p Electoral Activities
s w p members' seeking or accepting any re­

sponsible union posts.22 This sharply con­ The Socialist Workers Party put its re­
trasted with traditional party policy, in the sources to a growing degree into party elec­
1930s through 1950s, when the Trotskyists toral activity. Not only did it run candidates
held significant offices in a variety of in the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 presiden­
unions. tial elections (as had become its custom),
Finally, the s w p , having "assigned" mem­ but it put up nominees in increasingly large
bers to a particular industry in a particular numbers of congressional contests as well
place, frequently "reassigned" them else­ as in state and local elections.
where. As the "Platform" adopted by the In 1972 the s w p named thirty-one-year-
opposition groups in the s w p National Com­ old Linda Jenness and twenty-one-year-old
mittee in 1983 stated the situation: "Our Andrew Pulley, a black, as their presidential
real isolation from the workers is further and vice presidential candidates. The party's
compounded by job-hopping. A cavalier atti­ platform, "What Socialists Want," indicated
tude toward holding a job is deliberately pro­ the range of issues the s w p stressed during
moted, making it difficult or impossible for the campaign. The thirteen points were
comrades to acquire the necessary experi­ "Bring all the troops home now! Stop the
ence in, or knowledge about, the struggles bombing of Indochina!," "For a program to
in their industry, making them perennial meet the needs of the working people," "End
newcomers who cannot speak with author­ the burden on low-income families," "For
ity, and alienating us from workers who can­ the democratic right of Black people to con­
not afford this luxury. The policy of reas­ trol their own communities/' "Chicano Lib­
signing comrades from industry to industry eration," "End the oppression of women,"
has also left them with lowered seniority "Halt the destruction of the environment,"
and thus more vulnerable to lay-offs. All of "Support the demands of America's youth/'
this undermines our ability to build ongo­ "End inhuman treatment of prisoners," "For
ing, functioning fractions."23 democratic election laws," "Full civil and
After the first half-decade of this s w p "col­ human rights for gay people," "Protect and
onizing" strategy in the labor movement extend civil liberties," "For government
there was no indication that the party had ownership of industry," and "For a Socialist
gained any substantial influence in orga­ America."24
nized labor comparable to that which it had The s w p national candidates in 1972 re­
enjoyed during the late 1930s, 1940s, and ceived 68,266 votes, compared with 25,295
early 1950s. However, the renewed party for the Communist Party ticket, 53,811 for
emphasis on trying to acquire such influ­ the Socialist Labor Party, and 78,801 for Ben­
ence so that it could become at least to some jamin Spock, running as an independent
degree the "vanguard" of the working class leftist.25 In addition, the s w p ran ninety-five
in fact, rather than just in abstract theory, candidates for other offices, in sixteen
constituted a major reversal of s w p strategy. states, including nominees for governor of
It was a sharp break with policies of almost Texas, senator from Massachusetts, and
a quarter of a century during which the party candidates against black congressmen
had centered its attention and recruiting ef­ Charles Rangel in New York and Ron Del-
forts principally on middle and upper class lums in California.26

872 United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s

 Four years later, in 1976, the swp named for vice president. Mel Mason, a one-time
Pedro Camejo and Willie Mae Reid, a black, Black Panther, was forty-one years old and
as their national nominees. Their candidacy had been a member of the City Council of
was announced by the National Committee Seaside, California, as well as student activi­
of the party on December 27, 197 5 -17 During ties coordinator of Monterey Peninsula Col­
the campaign the party distributed over a lege before resigning those posts to run for
million pieces of literature and the candi­ president. Andrea Gonzalez was national
dates were "interviewed by major daily secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance.
newspapers and television stations through­ She was only thirty-two.33 Throughout the
out the country." They were on the ballot country the party fielded fifty-eight candi­
in twenty-eight states and the District of dates in 1984, including nominees for the
Columbia.28 They made a particular point U.S. Senate and House, governorships, and
during the campaign of the law suit which a few local positions 34 Mason and Gonzalez
the Socialist Workers Party had begun officially received 24,687 votes.3S
against U.S. government espionage in the The swp also ran candidates extensively
swp; Intercontinental Press noted that "the in nonpresidential years. In 1982 it put up
combined approach of suing the government nominees in twenty-seven states and the
while running in the elections has been par­ District of Columbia, including Mel Mason,
ticularly effective."29 The s w p candidates then a member of the Seaside City Council
were endorsed by two dissident Trotskyist and of the s w p National Committee, as
groups, the Workers League and the Spark nominee for governor of California. Mac
group.30 Warren of the s w p Political Bureau, after
In 1980 the Socialist Workers Party explaining to the July-August 1982 s w p ed­
named Andrew Pulley (still only twenty- ucational conference that "the number one
eight years old) for president and Matilde antiwar, antiracist, antisexist, anticapitalist
Zimmermann for vice president. One piece activity we will be carrying out will be the
of campaign literature noted that Pulley was socialist election campaigns," expounded
a member of United Steelworkers Local on the party's reasons for expanding so
1066 in Gary and had run for mayor of Chi­ much energy on electoral activity. "Just
cago in 1979, when he "reached thousands think about what we are able to do over
of working people through televised debates the course of the petitioning campaigns. We
with his opponents and extensive radio and talked to hundreds of thousands of people all
newspaper coverage. He called on the labor over the country. Hundreds of people signed
movement to form its own party in opposi­ cards asking for more information and got
tion to the Democrats and Republicans, to subscriptions to The Militant. Many thou­
fight back against the capitalists' offensive sands of people signed our petitions not just
against working people's rights and living because they support our democratic right
standards." The same document noted that to be on the ballot, but also because of what
Zimmermann was on the staff of The M ili­ we have to say on fighting war, racism and
tant, had "helped organize many antiwar on the big issues of the day."36
demonstrations/' belonged to the National
Organization of Women, and "has cam­
The swp Suit Against
paigned in defense of abortion rights, for pas­
the Government
sage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and
in support of affirmative action."31 The s w p A good deal of time and energy of leaders of
vote in 1980 was half of four years earlier.32 the Socialist Workers Party between 1973
In the 1984 election the SWP named Mel and 1981 was taken up with the party's suit
Mason for president and Andrea Gonzalez against the U.S. government. The suit got a

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 873

g reat d eal o f a tte n tio n in th e sw p press an d and y s a . . . . Twenty-three quarterly 'field
s o m e n o tic e in th e p e rio d icals of o th e r ra d i­ reports' on the s w p from 1968 to 1974. . . .
c a l grou ps, w it h e v e n o cc a s io n a l n o tice in Three ten-year 'summary reports' on the
th e " c a p i t a l i s t " press. swp, dated 1944, 1955, and 19 6s."39
The beginning of the court action was an­ When the Supreme Court ruled finally
nounced in the July 27, 1973, issue of The that the government did not have to turn
Militant. The periodical wrote that "the So­ over to the s w p -y s a lawyers the files of six­
cialist Workers Party and the Young Social­ teen of the "informants" it had had in the
ist Alliance filed suit here today in federal ranks of the party and youth group, Judge
district court against Richard Nixon, John Griesa appointed former New York State
Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehr- Judge Charles Breitel a "special master" to
lichman, and fifteen other officials and for­ look at the material and report tb-the court.
mer officials of the U.S. government." Breitel asserted that among others, the fol­
The objectives of the suit were "for a court lowing "conclusive presumptions" could be
injunction to halt all government harass­ made: "In 1963 informers provided the f b i
ment, intimidation, and illegal spying on with diagrams of an s w p headquarters. The
the swp and y s a . It also seeks to have the f b i requested the diagrams 'to facilitate

attorney general's list of 'subversive' organi­ clandestine entries to the s w p headquarters.'

zations ruled unconstitutional.. . . " In addi­ On one occasion (no date given) smoke
tion, the plaintiffs are asking for damages bombs were thrown at a y s a gathering; 'the
totalling more than $27 million for the nu­ smoke bomb tossing was attributed to f b i
merous violations of rights suffered by the activity.' On another occasion (no date
s w p and y s a and by individual members of given) shots were fired at a local s w p head­
the two groups.37 quarters; 'the shooting was attributable to
The case did not actually come to trial for f b i activity.' In 1975 members of the s w p

almost eight years. Most of the intervening and y s a were attacked at a local swp office
time was taken up with pretrial hearings by a group of young men; 'the activity was
and, in particular, attempts by the s w p and atributable to f b i activity.' Again in 1975
y s a attorneys to get the f b i and other govern­ an s w p member was attacked while selling
ment organizations to disclose the details of newspapers; 'the attack was attributable to
the spying and other activities conducted f b i activity.' " The Breitel report also said

against the s w p . that due to f b i efforts party members had

Government lawyers fought tenaciously been deprived of their apartments, speakers
to prevent the details of FBI operations at s w p meetings had been arrested, and the
against the Trotskyists from being disclosed spouse of an s w p member who was not a
in court. At one point the presiding judge, citizen had been deported.'*0 The pretrial
Thomas Griesa, went so far as to hold Attor­ hearings brought out that between i960 and
ney General Griffin Bell in contempt of 1976 the f b i had used 1,300 informers
court for failure to produce in court subpoe­ against the s w p and y s a , of whom three hun­
naed material, a move which was ultimately dred were members of the two organiza­
quashed by the Supreme Court.38 tions. The most highly placed s w p figure
Early in the hearings, in March 1975, the implicated was Ed Heisler, who in 1980 con­
s w p did obtain 3,138 pages of FBI memos fessed to the other s w p leaders that between
which disclosed "forty-one separate 'disrup­ 1967 and 19 71 he had been a paid informer
tion' programs against the s w f and y s a as of the f b i . Between 1977 and 1979 he was a
part of the FBI's 'Cointelpro' (Counterintel­ full member of the party's National Com­
ligence Program). . . . Sixty-three 'investiga­ mittee.41
tive' files on fifteen members of the swp The s w p - y s a court proceedings brought

874 United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s

President Gerald Ford's Attorney General Finally, George Breitman, a fourth mem­
Edward Levi to issue an order in September ber of the Hansen-Novack-Dobbs genera­
1 976 to call off all further surveillance of the tion, concentrated most of his time and at­
two groups.42 However, there were indica­ tention during the 1970s and immediately
tions in later years that f b i activities against afterward on his remarkable work of editing
the swp and y s a were continuing, and that the correspondence and other works of Leon
other "intelligence" groups were conduct­ Trotsky. That fact and nagging ill health
ing similar activity, including the c i a , Mili­ kept him from having a major role in the
tary, Naval, and Air Force Intelligence, as councils of the party during most of this
well as the Secret Service.43 period.
By the end of the 1970s, leadership of the
Socialist Workers Party was largely in the
The Passing of the Older Leadership
hands of people who had entered it during
During the 1970s the older generation of the 1960s and afterward. They were of a
leaders of the Socialist Workers Party to a generation who had been at most small chil­
large degree passed from the scene. James P. dren—if they had yet been bom—when
Cannon, who had been from the inception Trotsky was assassinated and had no mem­
of American Trotskyism its single most im­ ory of close association with Trotsky. This
portant figure, died in August 1974, at the was a not unimportant factor in determining
age of eighty-four. At the time of his death the direction in which they subsequently
Cannon was "national chairman emeritus" took the swp.
of the s w p .44
Four years earlier, on February 17, 1970,
Splits Within the sw p in 1970s
Vincent R. Dunne, also one of the founders
of the American Trotskyist movement, and The Socialist Workers Party suffered no ma­
the most important figure in the Minneapo­ jor splits during the 1970s. During the first
lis teamsters' strike of 1934, had died.45 He half of the decade there existed at least three
had already retired from any leadership role dissident groups within the party, two of
in the party. which were expelled.
One of the two or three most important During the 1971 national convention of
figures in what might be called the second the swp two opposition groups fought
generation of leaders of American Trots­ against the party's general line at that time.
kyism and the s w p , Joseph Hansen, died on One of these was the Proletarian Orienta­
January 18, 1979. At the time of his death, tion Tendency. It was reported by a source
Hansen was the editor of Intercontinental unfriendly to the s w p to have "centered its
Press, which he and his wife, Reba, had struggle against the s w p ' s abandonment of
founded about fifteen years earlier.46 a proletarian orientation, of its abandon­
Two other members of Hansen's genera­ ment of viewing the working class as the
tion in s w p leadership, Farrell Dobbs and revolutionary force in history. The Proletar­
George Novack, had largely removed them­ ian Orientation Tendency reaffirmed the
selves from active leadership positions in role of the working class . . . called for the
the s w p by the end of the 1970s. Dobbs had party to sink its roots into the class, and
retired as national secretary in 1972, and warned that with the abandonment of the
George Novack had largely withdrawn from class, the party would soon abandon the rev­
political activities, centering much of his olutionary program."47
time on his writings about Marxist philoso­ The majority within the Proletarian Ori­
phy. His wife, Evelyn Reed, died in April entation Tendency did not push their fight
1979. Dobbs died in November 1983. to the point of getting expelled. However,

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 875

a minority within the group established a The Internationalist Tendency originally
separate Leninist Faction which continued had its origins in the Proletarian Orientation
the struggle. It was reported that "the Lenin­ Tendency. Those who formed the i t did not
ist Faction submitted four major documents leave the swp when a minority of the Prole­
to both the Socialist Workers Party and the tarian Orientation Tendency did so to form
Fourth International. These documents the the Class Struggle League in 1972. By the
s w p refused to print and the f i did not ac­ time of the party's 1978 convention the i t
knowledge." The denouement was that reportedly had 120 members in the s w p - y s a .
"The Leninist Faction then resigned from By that time they were affiliated with the
the Socialist Workers Party on October 26, International Majority Tendency within the
1972, in order to form the Class Struggle United Secretariat, led by Ernest Mandel,
League."48 Pierre Frank, and Livio Maitan.5?
In their letter of resignation from the sw p The expulsion of the Internationalist Ten­
the members of the Leninist Faction wrote, dency became an issue in the swp's law suit
"We have had regional meetings, a conven­ against the U.S. government. The party of­
tion, and in the process have produced and fered documentation on the expulsion of the
distributed internally over 60,000 pages of i t as supporting evidence to rebut govern­

literature.. . . We scrutinized the politics of ment charges that the s w p was "terrorist."
every political grouping in the Trotskyist After studying this material, Judge Griesa
spectrum, and most importantly, began the commented that "there was never anything
systematic nationally directed task of indus­ in my view, beyond the most tenuous sug­
trial colonization. . . ."4> gestion of a possible implication of violence
The second dissident group at the 1971 in the United States, . . . In view of the
convention of the s w p was the Communist ouster of the minority faction, I believe that
Tendency. It was reported by the same anti- tenuous suggestion has been basically elimi­
s w p source previously cited to have "stood nated."54
on a principled Trotskyist program.. . . Ana­ A few months after the expulsion of the
lyzing and explaining the degeneration of Internationalist Tendency from the swp, ne­
the Fourth International, the Communist gotiations apparently took place between
Tendency attacked the s w p ' s program of na­ the s w p leaders and the European heads of
tionalism, feminism and pacifism. The the International Majority Tendency for the
Communist Tendency fought for a return return of those expelled to the Socialist
to the proletariat, but a return based on a Workers Party. Subsequently, many mem­
Trotskyist program."50 The Communist bers of the i t were reaccepted.55
Tendency were expelled shortly after the
1971 convention. They thereupon split, one
sw p Positions on International Issues
group joining the International Socialists,
the other becoming part of another dissident The Socialist Workers Party devoted much
Trotskyist group, the Vanguard News­ of the space in its periodicals and the time
letter.51 of its leadership and rank and file in dealing
The third dissident element within the with the party's positions on succeeding in­
s w p during the 1970s was a small faction ternational crises of the 1970s. Although
which sided with the Majority Group within most of these positions were more or less
the United Secretariat, in its controversy "orthodox" Trotskyist, some caused contro­
with the Socialist Workers Party after 1969. versy with other elements of the United Sec­
They formed the Internationalist Tendency retariat, and others led ultimately to the pos­
(i t ) and about one hundred members of this sibility of the swp's totally breaking with
group were expelled from the s w p on July 4, International Trotskyism.
I 974-52 For a number of years following the Ninth

876 United States: SWP in the 1970s and Eatly 1980s

World Congress of the United Secretariat as Australia, began to view the Pol Pot re­
(u s e c ) in 1969, the s w p led a struggle in the gime as a 'buffer between communist Viet­
name of orthodox Trotskyism against the nam and non-communist Thailand.' Viet­
tendency of European leaders of the u s e c to nam was forced to act defensively in aiding
support the idea of guerrilla war rather than Kampuchean rebels to overthrow Pol Pot
mass organization as the road to power. We and install a regime less hostile to
deal extensively with this controversy else­ Vietnam."57
where in this volume. The Socialist Workers Party leadership re­
In the period following the end of the Sal- versed itself with regard to the Soviet inva­
azar-Caetano dictatorship in Portugal the sion of Afghanistan. A resolution adopted
s w p was critical of virtually all elements by its Political Committee in January 1980
participating in the revolution. Soon after asserted that "the presence of Soviet troops,
the November 1975 attempt of the Commu­ by barring the road to the counterrevolution,
nists to organize a coup with sympathetic creates a new and more favorable situation.
elements in the Armed Forces Movement, . . . if Soviet troops help the new regime
Intercontinental Press wrote that "it was score victories over the reactionaries, this
the workers who suffered most after the ad­ takes pressure off the Afghan revolution and
venture of pro-cp officers and the 'extreme encourages and inspires the struggle for so­
Left' on November 25. Various events of cial revolution." However, in November
November 25 point to the leaders of the 1980 the National Committee revised this
Socialist and Communist parties as those position, adopting a resolution which stated
guilty in this adventure. The forces which that "the Soviet bureaucracy's occupation,
consider themselves the 'revolutionary Left' like all of its preceding actions to prop up
also share a great part of the blame." The this government, did not give an impulse to
s w p periodical added that "the adventure of independent initiative by the city workers
November 25, therefore, was not an attempt or the peasants. .. . The Soviet troops were
to go beyond the class collaborationist pol­ not greeted by the workers and peasants as
icy followed by the Stalinists and Social reinforcements in the fight to advance their
Democrats. Both have sought to keep the social and political goals.. . ." The National
workers over whom they had influence sub­ Committee also reversed the conclusion of
ordinate to the military men, while they the Political Committee in January to the
competed to prove how indispensable they effect that the Soviet invasion of Afghani­
were for the Portuguese capitalist class."56 stan "strengthens the hand of the anti-impe­
At the time of the Vietnamese invasion rialist fighters in Iran. And it even buys time
of Cambodia (Kampuchea) to overthrow the for the revolutionary government in Nicara­
Khmer Rouge government of Pol Pot, the gua, halfway around the world. Needless to
s w p argued that "with their eyes focused on say, the impact will be great in Pakistan,
the Vietnamese revolution, the imperialists India, Bangladesh, and Turkey." The Na­
were alarmed by the fall of the Pol Pot re­ tional Committee, in contrast declared that
gime at the hands of Kampuchean rebels and "Moscow's role has also negatively affected
the Vietnamese army. The imperialists are the class struggle in Iran and Pakistan.. . ," 5B
afraid that anti-capitalist advances made in In all its commentaries on Communist
Vietnam will be extended to Kampuchea. Party regimes of Europe and Asia, the Social­
. . . The Vietnamese participated in the mili­ ist Workers Party continued during the
tary campaign against the Pol Pot regime 1970s to enunciate the traditional Trotsky­
as a defensive measure." The s w p further ist position with regard to the nature of
explained that "The capitalist character of those regimes. A clear statement of this po­
the Kampuchean regime explains why im­ sition appeared in Young Socialist in April
perialist powers near Southeast Asia, such 1979. It said that "in the aftermath of World

United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s 877

War II, capitalism was overthrown in East­ October 1980 the swp strongly supported
ern Europe, China, North Korea and North Iran. David Frankel, in an article entitled
Vietnam. In all of these countries, the gov­ "War in the Middle East: Why Socialists
ernments are headed by privileged bureau­ Back Iran," explained that "the Iranian
cracies like that in the Soviet Union. De­ workers and peasants are continuing their
spite the charges which the Soviet and mass mobilizations, they are continuing to
Chinese Stalinists hurl at each other, capi­ organize themselves and to engage in politi­
talism has not been restored in any of these cal discussion. Their revolution is still alive,
countries. They remain workers states tran­ it is still developing." He noted that both the
sitional between capitalism and socialism." Communist Tudeh Party and the Trotskyist
This y s a statement went on to say that "Sta­ h k e "put out legal newspapers and maintain

linism is not a necessary or inevitable fea­ public headquarters," and "Most important
ture of socialist revolution. The bureaucra­ of ajl are the gains made by the masses of
cies are basically parasites on the workers workers and peasants because of the revolu­
states, fulfilling no essential economic func­ tion." Frankel had no comment on the the­
tion. Their bureaucratic interests are op­ ocracy which had been installed by the Kho­
posed to the interests of the working masses. meini regime.63
. . . The further progress of the workers The s w p supported the rise of Solidarity
states therefore requires a political revolu­ in Poland. However, the s w p leadership's
tion; one which will overthrow the bureau­ reactions after the suppression of Solidarity
crats and establish democratic forms of rule at the end of 1981 became an issue of dispute
while maintaining the postcapitalist prop­ in the factional struggle which was begin­
erty forms."59 ning to develop within the party at that
In the case of the Iranian revolution the time.
s w p at first greeted with enthusiasm the fall Finally, the s w p continued during the
of the shah and the assumption of power by 1970s and thereafter its very strong support
Ayatollah Khomeini. Several months before of the Castro regime in Cuba. It expressed
this happened, The Militant had words of equal enthusiasm for the Sandinista govern­
praise for Khomeini, saying that "although ment which came to power in Nicaragua in
Khomeini subscribes to a religious ideology, the summer of 1979 and for the regime of
the basis of his appeal is not religious reac­ Maurice Bishop which seized control of the
tion. On the contrary, he has won broad Caribbean island of Grenada in early 1979.
support among the Iranian masses because
his firm opposition to the Shah and the
Conclusion
Shah's 'modernization' is progressive."60
The assumption of power by Khomeini was During the early 1970s the Socialist Work­
greeted by The Militant with a headline, ers Party had reached the high point of its
"Victory in Iran!"6’ Although the s w p infuence in a series of major movements
mounted extensive protests against arrest of which were then of importance in national
their fellow Trotskyists by the Khomeini politics. Thereafter, with the decline or reo­
government, they continued to support the rientation of those movements, the swp's
Khomeini-led regime. Thus, at the time of influence declined. It met this new situation
the seizure of the U.S. Embassy late in 1979, at the end of the decade by*a new turn toward
spokesmen for the party supported the the organized labor movement, which it had
move, putting complete blame for it on the largely ignored for almost two decades.
Carter administration rather than on any­ However, after five years, there was rela­
one in Iran.61 tively little to show for this "turn" in terms
At the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War in of membership or influence among the orga­

878 United States: SWP in the 1970s and Early 1980s

nized workers. Meanwhile, a new genera­ U.S. Trotskyism: The
tion had largely taken over leadership. By
the early 1980s that leadership was taking sw pPurge of the Early
the party in a direction which threatened to 1980s and Its Aftermath
separate it entirely from International
Trotskyism.

Between 1981 and 1984, the Socialist Work­

ers Party experienced what was organiza­
tionally its most serious split in thirty years.
From an ideological point of view this fac­
tional dispute and split—which took the
form of large scale purge of individuals from
the party—was the most serious division
which the party had ever experienced, be­
cause it resulted in the Socialist Workers
Party as an organization largely abandoning
the ideas which had always characterized
International Trotskyism.

Background of the Split

The relatively young people who by the
early 1980s constituted the core of swp lead­
ership had for the most part been drawn into
the party twenty years before in the cam­
paign in favor of the Castro Revolution.
They had first been attracted into the Young
Socialist Alliance and then to the swp by the
unequivocal support of the Castro Revolu­
tion and by the s w p ' s early characterization
of the Castro regime as a "workers' state,"
supposedly devoid of most of the more unsa­
vory aspects of other existing workers'
states. The swp from the early 1960s refused
to qualify the Cuban regime as "degener­
ated" or "deformed," as it characterized all
of the European and Asian Communist Par-
ty-controlled regimes. It fought polemical
battles with other elements in International
Trotskyism to maintain this position.
Thus, the Socialist Workers Party even
when it was still led by such old-timers as
Farrell Dobbs and Joseph Hansen had been
the most uncritical supporter of the Cuban

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 879

Communist regime among the major na­ nal discussion preceding the 1981 s w p con­
tional organizations associated with any of vention the leadership "denied that they had
the factions of International Trotskyism. embarked upon a path away from Trots­
This is an important factor behind the "Cas- kyism and the Fourth International."
troite" evolution of the swp in the early It was only after the 1981 convention that
1980s. the principal members of the party leader­
Another element which undoubtedly con­ ship began frankly to turn away from Trots­
tributed to the drift of the swp leadership kyism. At a Political Committee meeting
away from Trotskyism, orthodox or other­ two days after the close of the convention
wise, was the general orientation of the several party leaders delivered reports on
party during the 19 60s and early 1 970s (upon "historical researches" which they had been
which we have commented). During that engaged in. Subsequently, the .Opposition
period in which the s w p leaders of the early characterized these as "an open attack . . .
1 980s came to maturity and began to emerge upon the theoretical traditions which our
as party leaders, the political work of the movement has defended since the founding
party was centered on middle-class move­ of the American Left Opposition in 1928."
ments against the Vietnam War, for black During the next year and a half the party
nationalism, for feminism and gay rights. leaders published a number of articles and
During that period, it will be recalled, the public speeches which elaborated upon their
s w p argued that the new wave of revolution deviance from Trotskyism. The first of these
was coming from such middle-class groups was an article in November 1981 in the In­
as these and not from the working class, to ternational Socialist Review (/Si?) by Doug
which the party paid almost no attention. Jenness, entitled "How Lenin Saw the Rus­
Even when the Socialist Workers Party sian Revolution," which was followed by
began to take a somewhat more orthodox another article by Jenness in the ISR in June
Trotskyist position with its "turn to indus­ 1982 entitled "Our Political Continuity
try" beginning in 1978-79, it carried out with Bolshevism." These articles provoked
that turn in the face of objective conditions an international polemic with Ernest Man­
and with policies which virtually assured del, and we report more extensively on this
that the change would bring scanty resuits polemic in another section of this book.
in terms of increased membership or influ­ Here it is enough to note that Jenness, in
ence. In these circumstances the party was his first article praised the slogan of Lenin
increasingly converted into a purely propa­ before 19 17 of "a democratic dictatorship of
ganda group, concentrating principally on the proletariat and the peasantry," which he
foreign issues—the merits of the Cuban re­ said "effectively armed the Bolsheviks to
gime and all its works, the revolutions in carry through their historic task." Trotsky,
Nicaragua and Grenada in the Caribbean, of course, had opposed that slogan, and al­
and the Khomeini revolution in Iran. ways claimed that Lenin in his "Theses" of
April 19 17 had come over to Trotsky's point
of view on the question, thus facilitating the
Beginning of Ideological Deviation
merger of his own group with the Bol­
In retrospect the new s w p oppositionists sheviks.
traced the beginning of the leadership's devi­ In his second article Jenness more frankly
ation from Trotskyism to the party's 1980 attacked the theory of permanent revolu­
Educational Conference at Oberlin, where, tion, perhaps the most fundamental ideolog­
they argued, Jack Bames and Mary-Alice ical tenet of Trotskyism. He argued that if
Waters gave speeches which presaged this the Bolsheviks had adhered to Trotsky's
change. However, during the party's inter­ ideas that would have "increased the likeli­

880 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

hood that the party would have failed to take center of the world revolution" had been
power in October 19 17 ." He also attacked foreshadowed considerably before the 1982
Trotsky for "underestimation of the peas­ Educational Conference. In the draft politi­
antry," and he brushed aside Trotsky's old cal resolution submitted by the leadership
contention that Lenin in April 19 17 had to the 1981 s w p convention, there had been
come around to Trotsky's position on these a call for a "new mass Leninist Interna­
two issues. tional."3 This process of moving away from
The attack on the Trotsky tradition con­ Trotskyism was summarized in a very long
tinued at the s w p Plenum in December speech—thirty pages of small print—by s w p
1982. There, Barry Sheppard presented a re­ National Secretary Jack Bames to a conven­
port in which he gave it as his "personal tion of the Young Socialist Alliance on De­
view" that "Trotsky had developed an incor­ cember 31, 1982. In it Bames expressed the
rect and sectarian understanding of the Chi­ first priority the s w p leaders gave to the Cas­
nese revolution of 192.5-27. tro revolution, repudiated basic Trotskyist
The ideological position which the leader­ doctrines, and largely dissociated the s w p
ship proposed to advocate in place of Trots­ from International Trotskyism.
kyism was put forward at the party's 1982 Bames started by saying that "the center
Educational Conference. The session's pub­ of the class struggle today is the showdown
lic report noted that with imperialism over the extension of the
socialist revolution in the Caribbean and
because of the central role it plays in
Central America. . . . Central America and
world politics and in the development of
the Caribbean are today the front line in this
a Marxist vanguard on an international
ongoing struggle between the exploiters and
scale, revolutionary Cuba was the subject
the toilers."4He devoted much of his speech
of a separate talk by Mary-Alice Waters.
to repudiating Trotsky's Theory of Perma­
Waters explained that Cuba follows a
nent Revolution. He summed up his argu­
working-class internationalist foreign
ment thus: “Trotsky's insistence on tracing
policy designed to advance the anti-impe-
the continuity of the Fourth International
rialist struggle and the world socialist rev­
to his theory of permanent revolution going
olution. . . . The Cuban Communist Par­
back to the pre-1917 period, reinforced
ty's revolutionary course is also
rather than counterbalanced any tendency
manifested in the domestic policies it fol­
of his supporters, both in his time and in
lows within Cuba, Waters said. The Cu­
ours, to err in a sectarian direction on the
ban leaders have waged a consistent strug­
peasant and national question. As we have
gle to mobilize the working class against
seen, the programmatic continuity of com­
tendencies toward bureaucratism, and
munism on both the weight of the alliance
have consciously promoted and led an in­
with the peasantry, and of revolutionary na­
creasing participation by the Cuban
tionalist movements, goes back to Lenin's
masses in governing society.1
pre-1917 positions captured in his formula
It is significant that the report on this of the revolutionary democratic dictator­
July-August 1982 meeting, which appeared ship of the proletariat and the peasantry, not
in both The Militant and Intercontinental to Trotsky's alternative perspective of the
Press, although containing numerous refer­ permanent revolution."5 In this document,
ences to Marx, Engels, and Lenin, did not Bames implicitly rejected-—or ignored—the
have a single reference to Trotsky or to the claim of Trotsky and his followers that in
historically Trotskyist nature of the Social­ his April Theses of 1917, Lenin had in fact
ist Workers Party. come over to Trotsky's point of view.
The orientation twoard Castroism as "the Bames explained that the change of their

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 881

point of view by the s w p leaders derived world revolutionary organization does not
from the establishment in 1978 of a "leader­ yet exist, and it is not right around the cor­
ship school" by the party. There, the leaders ner. But that is the direction of motion. And
had first profoundly studied Marx's and Eng­ that is why the stakes are so high for us in
els's writings, then those of Lenin, and fi­ learning from and contributing to the pro­
nally the documents of the first four con­ cess of political discussion and clarification
gresses of the Communist International. He that, at whatever price, can lay the ground­
confessed that "we discovered a Lenin and work for a new mass, communist interna­
a political continuity that we had not tional."9
known."6These studies took place together Bames furthermore showed very consid­
with the "turn to industry." As a conse­ erable contempt for International Trots­
quence of both phenomena, Bames said, kyism. He said that "in fact, a substantial
"We recognized and embraced the emer­ number of organizations which label them­
gence of proletarian leaderships of socialist selves Trotskyist are hopeless, irredeemable
revolutions in this hemisphere, and placed sectarians. Probably 80 percent of those on
defense of those revolutions at the center of a world scale who present themselves as
our political activity."7 Trotskyist;—maybe it's 70 percent, maybe
Bames professed to see "the political con­ 90 percent—are unreformable sectarians."10
vergence of revolutionary forces, of commu­ Finally, Bames even rejected the name
nists who have their origin in different expe­ "Trotskyist." He commented, "most of us
riences and traditions. .. . We are part of a will not call our movement 'Trotskyist' be­
political convergence of forces on a world fore this decade is out, just as Trotsky never
scale, committed to carry out and defend the did. We in the Socialist Workers Party, like
socialist revolution, subordinating all other Trotsky, are Communists."11
considerations to its extension. For this, the The s w p leadership also broke with past
Fourth International has today the best op­ positions of the party on important current
portunity in its history to advance the per­ issues. Two of these were of particular sig­
spective which it has defended for half a nificance—the attitude toward the Solidar­
century: construction of a Communist and ity movement in Poland and that toward the
mass International." He went on to indicate Iranian Revolution. The periodical issued by
what he considered the core of this process one of the dissident factions of the party
of regroupment: "The leaderships of the Cu­ described the change in position with regard
ban, Nicaraguan and Grenadian revolutions to events in Poland. It wrote that "in 1981
represent the revival on the level of proletar­ it was clear the swp did not want to be too
ian parties in power—of genuine commu­ prominent in support of the Polish work­
nism. These are leaderships that practice ers—this might embarrass the party in its
proletarian internationalism. .. ."8 relationships with revolutionaries in Cen­
Bames clearly no longer considered the tral America who did not agree with this
Fourth International to be "the party of the policy . . . the s w p . . . held only a few pro
world socialist revolution," as Trotsky had forma meetings of its own." The periodical
labeled it. Barnes wrote that "the perspec­ went on to note that the traditional swp
tive opened up by the revolutionary leader­ position with regard to the "workers' states"
ships in Central America and the Caribbean had been "for 'political revolution,' that is,
for a fusion of the forces struggling to build to state that the restoration of workers de­
communist parties points the way politi­ mocracy is possible only through the re­
cally towards a new international working moval of the bureaucrats by revolutionary
class movement—the goal of conscious pro­ means while preserving the social advances
letarian revolutionists since 1848. The mass made possible through property nationaliza­

882 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

tions." However, the newspaper added, context of defending the Iranian revolu­
"Shortly after the beginning of 1982, this tion from imperialist attack, U.S. labor
concept also virtually disappeared from The should also support workers and peasants
Militant, the newspaper reflecting the s w p 's in Iran whose democratic rights are under
viewpoint. In its place ambiguous formulas attack from the government there. These
appeared that could be interpreted as calling attacks weaken the revolution in the face
merely for the reform of the Polish c p . " 12 of imperialist-inspired aggression. The re­
The swp leadership's position on the Kho­ pression against the Tudeh Party, sup­
meini regime is reflected in an article by porters of the Fourth International, and
Cindy jfaquith, "U.S. Left and the Iraq-Iran . other currents in the working class must
War," published in The Militant and Inter­ be opposed. Finally, the U.S. workers
continental Press. She wrote that "An Ira­ movement should go on a campaign to
nian victory in the war would be an inspira­ repudiate the lies about the Iranian revo­
tion for all those fighting imperialist lution and its goals. Spreading the truth
oppression in the Mideast; a defeat for Iran about the revolution is the best aid U.S.
would be a big blow, not only for the Iranian workers can give to advancing it.15
revolution, but for the Iraqi masses, for the
The different attitude of the s w p on cur­
Palestinian, Lebanese and other Arab peo­
rent issues was also shown in its position
ples, as well as for working people around
toward Soviet dissidents. An article by Doug
the world. Both Iraq and Iran are semicolo­
Jenness on the Sakharov case argued that
nial nations oppressed by imperialism, and
"Sakharov is a particularly attractive figure
both are ruled by capitalist governments
for the imperialists to rally around because
that are hostile to the interests of the work­
his procapitalist, proimperialist, and anti-
ers and peasants. By attacking the rights of
Soviet views have been well-publicized."
workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities,
Jenness's position on the Sakharov case
and women, the Iranian regime has dealt
did not reflect the traditional Trotskyite ar­
significant blows to the gains of the revolu­
gument in favor of "political revolution" in
tion. But it has not crushed the revolution,
the Soviet Union and other Communist-
as can be seen by the massive mobilizationa
controlled regimes. He said that "the treat­
of Iranians today to defend their revolution
ment of Sakharov and Bonner deserves the
from Iraqi attack."13
condemnation of working class organiza­
As for the clerical and theocratic nature of
tions everywhere. It is necessary for the
the Khomeini regime, Cindy Jaquith noted
working class both to expose the hypocrisy
that "when the demonstrators counterposed
and counter-revolutionary aims of the impe­
'Islam' to life under the Shah, they were
rialist propaganda campaign and to criticize
expressing the nationalism and hatred of im­
the Kremlin's attacks on democratic rights.
perialism felt by Muslims and other op­
This is the way to help advance the socialist
pressed peoples throughout the Middle East.
revolution throughout the world and defend
Religious leaders gained popularity among
the workers state established by the work­
the demonstrators to the degree they gave
ing people of Russia more than sixty years
voice to these nationalist and anti-imperial -
ist sentiments."14 She summed up the s w p
position by saying that
The Beginning of the Opposition
The principal contribution that U.S.
workers can make to the struggle of Ira­ All of these moves away from Trotskyism
nian working people is helping them get were taken without any general discussion
the imperialists off their backs.. . . In this in the ranks of the Socialist Workers Party.

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 883

There was no submission to the member­ cized the party's attitudes toward the Soli­
ship for general discussion or debate of for­ darity movement in Poland, toward the
mal resolutions or other documents propos­ Khomeini government in Iran, and toward
ing basic changes in the ideology of the s w p . the general tendency of the party majority
No forum was presented for presentation to move away from traditional Trotskyist
of counter documents or arguments, except positions.20
the plenums of the National Committee. The controversy intensified. At the Febru-
Even that kind of presentation became in­ ary-March 1982 Plenum of the National
creasingly difficult for the Opposition. Committee there were presented "dozens of
An opposition to the Jack Bames leader­ motions aimed at forcing minority support­
ship began to form even before the 1981 ers to 'cease and desist' from any 'unauthor­
party convention. It consisted of two ele­ ized' political discussion or collaboration.
ments. One was the "Trotskyist Tendency" The internal bulletin issued. . . td the mem­
led by Nat Weinstein and Lynn Henderson, bership had to be priced at $8.00 to fit it all
and had its principal base in California. The in."21
other was the Fourth Internationalist Cau­ The Fourth Internationalist Tendency
cus, based mainly in New York, with Steve moved to form a national faction in June
Bloom, Frank Lovell and George Breitman 1982. The call for formation of such a group
as its major spokesmen. There were more was issued by eighteen party members "in
than two dozen internal discussion bulle­ order to participate collectively in the inter­
tins published in the three months before national discussion and to advance our
the 1981 convention, and the proportional views on disputed international questions
representation system then in operation in in an organized and responsible way," in
the party gave both opposition groups an preparation for the next United Secretariat
appreciable representation at the con­ world congress 22
vention.17 Although such a call for formation of a
After the 1981 convention the Trotskyist national faction in connection with a forth­
Tendency ostensibly dissolved, supposedly coming national convention or interna­
to conform to party norms and discipline.18 tional congress had until then been consid­
The growing split in the s w p continued in ered more or less normal, the signers of the
the November 1981 Plenum of the National call to form the Fourth Internationalist Ten­
Committee, however. A statement issued dency were ordered to "cease and desist."
afterward by the Fourth Internationalist They proceeded to do so, not going any fur­
Caucus summed up the situation at the ple­ ther at that time in setting up an organized
num by saying, "Our November plenum re­ caucus.13
vealed divergent political tendencies in the Two plenums of the s w p National Com­
National Committee which reflect disagree­ mittee were held during the middle months
ments developing in the party as a whole. of 1983. At the first of these, in May, the
One tendency, represented by the majority, four Opposition members of the Central
finds expression in the motions and reports Committee, Steve Bloom and Frank Lovell
that were adopted at the plenum. Another for the New York-based faction and Nat
is expressed in the proposals submitted by Weinstein and Lynn Henderson for the Cali­
the authors of this letter, which were voted fornia-based group, presented jointly two
down. A third tendency also exists, repre­ documents for discussion at the meeting.
sented at our national convention last Au­ One was "A Platform to Overcome the Cri­
gust by Comrades Weinstein and Hen­ sis in the Party," which detailed at some
derson."19 length the changes which had been brought
This statement was signed by Steve about in the ideology of the party by the
Bloom and Frank Lovell. It severely criti­ majority leadership and reasserted alle­

884 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

giance to the party's traditional positions. Breitman said that "the central leadership
The other, "28 Theses on the American So­ team began talking about a split the day
cialist Revolution and the Building of the after the last convention in August 1981. In
Revolutionary Party," was an extensive cri­ September 1981, two of its representatives,
tique of the world and national situation in Ken Shilman and Mae Warren, told Les Ev­
terms of the traditional Trotskyist posi­ ans in Minnesota, who was then a supporter
tions.24 of the majority group, that the leadership in
At the next plenum in August 1983, the New York expected the party membership
four opposition members again prepared (then near 1,300) to be thinned down to 850
two documents for presentation to the before the next convention. . . ."M
meeting. One was entitled "Resolving the In retrospect, the oppositionists dated the
International Crisis of Revolutionary Lead­ beginning of the purge from the plenum of
ership Today." It reiterated the current the National Committee which took place
United Secretariat position of the close in­ in February—March 1982. At that point the
terrelationship among the revolutionary majority leadership established the "juridi­
movement in the developing countries and cal" basis for expelling those whom they
in the industrial nations, and the political wanted to be rid of. Basing themselves on a
revolution in the "workers states," and had 1965 document, "Organizational Character
extensive commentaries on each of these.25 of the Socialist Workers Party," they set
The other document submitted by the forth a long list of things which party mem­
four oppositionists was entitled "New bers were not permitted to do. Some twenty-
Norms vs. Old: The Erosion of Proletarian seven "motions on party norms" were
Democracy in the s w p ." It dealt particularly passed at that meeting.27
with the purge of oppositionists which was In their August 1983 document, "New
then well under way in the Socialist Work­ Norms vs. Old: The Erosion of Proletarian
ers Party. Democracy in the swp," the four opposi­
The four oppositionists were not able to tionist members of the National Committee
present these documents to the August 1983 argued that "the 1965 organizational docu­
meeting. They were by that time "sus­ ment did not intend to set forth a rigid legal
pended" from the party. code. The February-March 1982 plenum
abused the spirit of that resolution by turn­
ing the general principles it articulated into
The Purge
an ossified list of 'thou-shalt-nots.' Subse­
From 1982 until early in 1984 there was a quent practice has shown that even unin­
widespread purge of the party carried out by tended transgressions of the command­
the s w p leadership. Starting at first on a local ments as interpreted by the party
level, it was expanded between August 1983 leadership—or still worse, even imagined
and January 1984 to include all of the princi­ transgressions—lead to summary expul­
pal opposition figures, meaning virtually all sion. The expulsion procedures themselves
of those remaining from the leadership gen­ have exhibited a quality of justice that com­
erations predating the group which was by pletely fails to protect the basic rights of
1982 in control of the party. party members."28
There would seem to be little doubt that The oppositionists argued that a distinc­
the group which then controlled the s w p tion should be made between a "norm" and
leadership was ready from the onset of the a hard-and-fast rule in the party. They ar­
controversy over their new ideological posi­ gued that
tion to get rid of anyone who openly objected
to it. In his appeal against his expulsion from it is, of course, correct to say that under
the party, written in April 1984, George ordinary circumstances it is normal (i.e.

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 885

 a norm) for internal party groupings to the tendency when ordered to do so by the
dissolve after the end of a discussion, and national s w p leadership, seven of the eigh­
for new internal groupings to wait until teen had been expelled by mid-1983.
regularly constituted discussion periods. The charges on which these people were
But these are. norms, not rigid laws carved expelled or reasons for resigning were
in stone.. . . It is also normal for the party summed up by Naomi Allen, George Breit­
leadership to present its thinking on all man and George Saunders, after their own
major questions to the party as a whole expulsion, in a letter to the United Secretar­
during the course of the regularly consti­ iat. They listed them:31
tuted discussion period and not wait for
Anne Teasdale Zukowski—expelled
the day after the close of the convention
for answering a question by a non-party
to launch a major revision of our basic
y s a member;
program. It is this abnormal action by the
Dianne Feeley—expelled for organizing
central party leadership which created the
an International Women's Day event, al­
necessity for the reopening of discussion
legedly 'behind the back of the party';
and the pressure for formation of internal
David Walsh—resigned after being de­
groupings in the party in an abnormal
nied a leave of absence for medical
fashion. . . } 9
reasons;
Paul LeBlanc—expelled for statements
Certainly the purge got under way after
made at an s w p branch meeting;
the March—April 1982 Plenum of the N a­
Les Evans—expelled for alleged "inac­
tional Committee. Individuals in branches
tivity" and "financial boycott" ;
in various parts of the country were expelled
Larry Cooperman—expelled for alleged
on a variety of grounds. Others suspected of
"unauthorized discussions" with a non-
not agreeing with the new positions of the
party y s a member;
party leadership were encouraged to resign.
Elias Ramirez—expelled for allegedly
The statement of the opposition on "New
"endangering the security of the party"
Norms vs. Old" submitted to the August
when he applied for a transfer to another
1983 Plenum noted that "for those com­
branch and asked a question at his branch
rades too confused and disoriented to make
meeting about the Hector Marroquin de­
the break themselves, a new effort has been
fense. . . .
launched to help them leave the party. Cer­
tain dropouts have been hailed as 'model' The purge process reached a high point at
resignations to be emulated. In some places the August 1983 Plenum of the s w p ' s Na­
branch committees have been formed to en­ tional Committee. A subsequent statement
courage opposition comrades to leave, and by the Political Bureau on January 21, 1984,
threaten them with disciplinary action if first published in the Party Organizer, noted
they don't."30 that "at its meeting in August 1983 the N a­
The nature of the charges brought against tional Committee suspended four National
those who were being expelled or forced to Committee members—Lovell, Weinstein,
resign is seen in the cases of seven of the Henderson and Bloom—from the party for
eighteen people who had in June 1982 issued their secret factional activity. At the same
a call for formation of a "Fourth Internation­ meeting, the National Committee noted
alist Tendency" to organize participation in that these four National Committee mem­
the discussion preceding the scheduled 1983 bers were responsible for a split operation
convention of the s w p and the scheduled that had been directed against the party for
1984 congress of the United Secretariat. Al­ some time. This operation included both
though they had desisted from organizing individual resignations and flagrant viola­

886 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

tions of party discipline and organizational litical Bureau Statement of January 21, 1984,
principles resulting in expulsions."31 Later already cited, "the National Committee
in this same statement, the Political Bureau noted that the four suspended n c members
explained the somewhat strange basis of the had launched a public organization, Socialist
August 1983 Plenum's actions. It said that Action.. . .The National Committee further
"at its August meeting, the National Com­ decided that membership in, affiliation to,
mittee upheld the party's organizational support to, or collaboration with the Social­
principles when it suspended Bloom, Hen­ ist Action or any of its members, unless au­
derson, Lovell and Weinstein for refusing thorized by the National Committee, is in­
to inform the National Committee of the compatible with membership in the swp."3S
differences among them that led to the dis­ Finally, as that same Political Bureau
integration of their faction. This disloyal Statement noted, "On December 22, 1983,
cover-up was a particularly flagrant act of the Political Committee initiated action to
contempt for the party since each wing bring the split operation to an immediate
blamed the disintegration on the other, in end. The action was completed in the first
identical terms. The National Committee part of January by which time all the mem­
pointed to the insistence of the four on keep­ bers of the secret faction still operating in­
ing their platform differences secret as proof side the party had been expelled." The De­
of a secret factional operation against the cember Committee meeting also voted to
party and the Fourth International. . . . The "draw up a list of minority supporters in
unconditional suspension from the party of every branch; prepare questions to be put
the leaders of the split operation was unam­ to them and organize Political Committee
biguous final warning to every single one of delegations to meet with every individual
its adherents."33 on the list as rapidly as possible."36
After their "suspension," the four former The mechanism devised for carrying out
National Committee members issued on this purge was ingenious and nearly unique.
September 7, 1963, a document entitled It centered on what had happened or alleg­
"Sound the Alarm," which was directed "To edly happened at a California state conven­
All sections, Sympathizing Groups, and tion on December 3-4, 1983. At that meet­
Members of the Fourth International." It ing there were five oppositionist delegates.
proclaimed that "the organizational mea­ They presented a minority report on the
sures carried out by the s w p leadership are main document debated at the convention.
not only undemocratic; they amount to a According to the Political Bureau Statement
de facto and unprincipled split which the of January 21, 1984, the person who pre­
majority leadership is solely responsible for sented that report "put forward a split per­
engineering. We, the undersigned four sus­ spective of political support for and intent
pended National Committee members, to collaborate with Socialist Action and its
state categorically that we are opposed to individual members." It added that "no mi­
any such split. We will fight for our rein­ nority delegate took the floor at any time
statement into the party and the National during the convention to repudiate the split
Committee, and for the opening of a free and course advanced by their elected reporter;
democratic discussion of the differences. We all voted for the general line of the minority
will advocate a reversal of the current de­ report."37
structive course and a return to the historic However, the oppositionists themselves
program of the s w p . " 3* argued that their position at the convention,
At its next plenum in November 1983 the particularly that of Michael Schreiber, the
National Committee continued its moves major spokesman for the minority, had been
against the opposition. According to the Po­ quite different from that reported by the ma­

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 887

jority leadership. He had indeed argued that Following the December 22 Political
the members of Socialist Action were still Committee meeting, the leadership moved
Trotskyists, and gave as an example of this quickly to rid the party of anyone who had
a pamphlet they had issued on the Grenada been identified during the last three years
situation. Furthermore, when the opposi­ with opposition to the positions and policies
tion delegates had been attacked for their of the s w p leadership. The people on the list
political opinions, and motions had been in­ of dissidents drawn up at the December 22
troduced to investigate Schreiber's and Marc meeting were presented with a prepared
Rich's "willingness to abide by decisions of form which they were requested to sign, or
the National Committee. . . both Rich they would be expelled. This statement said
and Schreiber replied: "Marc Rich clearly that the person involved repudiated "the ac­
stated he had always abided by party disci­ tion of the entire minority delegation to the
pline and would continue to do so. He California State Convention in refusing to
pointed out that it was no breach of disci­ repudiate the split statements of minority
pline or loyalty to get up in front of a conven­ reporter Michael Schreiber.,..
tion and state an opinion although, as he Most of those presented with this ultima­
explained, he had phrased his feelings in a tum refused to sign the document. The
heated and exaggerated manner. Michael statement of Bill Onasch of Minneapolis in
Schreiber defended his right to state his per­ a letter to the Political Committee dated
sonal opinions in front of the delegates in January 2, 1984, was representative of the
accord with norms long practiced in the position taken by most of those involved.
S W P ." Onasch wrote that "first of all, my repudia­
As for the failure of the other minority tion would imply that I have some responsi­
delegates "to repudiate the split course" of bility for persons or events at the California
Schreiber, Evelyn Sell, one of those in­ State Convention. I, of course, accept no
volved, said that "the other three seated mi­ responsibility for any conduct or inaction
nority delegates attempted to take the floor by anyone at all—majority or minority—at
but the chair recognized only one from San the California convention, I do not know
Francisco who had not previously spoken Michael Schreiber and to my knowledge,
under any agenda point."38 have never communicated with him about
Right after the California convention all anything whatever at any time. I have not
opposition members of the s w p in that state spoken with any California comrades—ei­
resigned or expelled. The Political Bureau ther majority or minority—about the events
Statement of January 21, 1984, described before, during or after the convention."
this process: "During the next few days, Onasch went on, "I not only have no re­
however, every single member in California sponsibility for the California convention, I
who had voted for the minority resolution have no reliable facts about that convention.
prior to the convention refused to repudiate Other than the brief article which appeared
the disloyal action of the minority delegates. in The Militant, Comrades Stone and Shep­
Charges were filed against each of these pard's synopsis delivered to me is my only
comrades. At its meeting of December 10 source of knowledge.. . . I would never lend
the California State Committee tried and my name to a repudiation of other comrades
expelled sixteen members for disloyalty. On solely on the basis of remarks by Comrades
December 17 two more members were Stone and Sheppard." Onasch indicated that
found guilty by the state Political Bureau of he, too, was opposed to collaboration with
the same charges and expelled. One other Socialist Action. "I made it clear to Com­
member who had voted for the minority res­ rades Stone and Sheppard that if anyone was
olution resigned."39 taking the position that party members

888 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

could collaborate with Socialist Action delegates decided they wanted to hear ap­
without approval from the party, that I peals in person, those persons would be noti­
thought that was unacceptable. I, of course, fied by 'telegram.' "
believe the party has the right—and as a However, as Onasch noted, no opposi­
Leninist organization, the obligation—to tionists were called before the convention
regulate its members' relations with other to defend themselves. Nor was any reply
political groups. Ihave always abided by that given the Fourth Internationalist Tenden­
principle, and I have supported disciplinary cy's request that ex-National Committee
actions against those who have consciously members Steve Bloom and Frank Lovell be
violated that principle in the past. I was told allowed to appear. He noted that "no report
this was not sufficient. I must sign the pre­ was made to convention guests as to the
pared statements because we are dealing outcome of the appeals point. Only two
with splitters'. . . . "40 weeks later did individuals receive letters
The Political Committee Statement of from the swp NC informing us that the con­
January 21,198 4, summed up what had been vention had rejected our appeals."42
"accomplished" since the December 22
meeting. It said that "the Political Commit­
Aftermath of the Purge
tee considered each case separately and re­
viewed whatever statement had been sub­ In the wake of the great purge of 1982-1984,
mitted by each comrade charged. The three separate groups were formed by those
Political Committee expelled each of those who were thrown out of or resigned from
found guilty of 'disloyalty for refusing to the s w p . The divisions among these groups
repudiate the action of the members of the had already developed during the struggle
minority delegation at the California state against the s w p leadership, and once outside
convention, each of whom refused to repudi­ the Socialist Workers Party they reacted
ate their reporter's split statement of intent rather differently to what had happened to
to collaborate with Socialist Action and its them and to Trotskyism in the United
individual members.' With these actions to States.
bring the splitting operation inside the party
to its conclusion, the Political Committee
The Fourth Internationalist Tendency
has carried through what amounts to a re­
registration of the party membership."41 At least in the period immediately following
The final act of the split inside the s w p their expulsion from the s w p , the Fourth
took place at the National Convention of Internationalist Tendency took the time-
the party in August 1984. That convention honored Trotskyist position of functioning
had been postponed for a year, while the and seeing themselves as an "opposition"
purge was being carried out. Bill Onasch, within the U.S. Trotskyist movement,
writing in the periodical of one of the fac­ rather than as a separate party from the s w p .
tions of the expelled members, reported that This very much influenced the kind of activ­
"the first point on the convention agenda ity they engaged in.
was 'appeals' (this was a 'closed' session, The Fourth Internationalist Tendency
open only to delegates). There were dozens had its origins in the Fourth Internationalist
of expulsions of oppositionists from the s w p Caucus, "a political tendency in the Na­
during the three years between conventions. tional Committee of the swp, consisting of
Weeks before the convention the s w p Na­ Steve Bloom and Frank Lovell, and estab­
tional Committee sent out individual let­ lished after the 1981 Plenum of the National
ters to the expelled saying that the conven­ Committee. Its organization had been an­
tion would consider their appeals and if the nounced formally in a letter by Bloom and

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 889

 Lovell to the s w p National Committee The third issue of the Bulletin, that of
dated December 23, 1981.43 The setting up February 1984, carried a letter from Naomi
of that caucus was followed late in June 1982 Allen, George Breitman, and George Saun­
by the issuance of a call by eighteen s w p ders addressed to the United Secretariat, an­
members to establish within the party the nouncing the "Reintroduction of call for
Fourth Internationalist Tendency, to partic­ Fourth Internationalist Tendency." In this
ipate in discussions leading up to the next letter they summed up their perspective of
s w p and United Secretariat meetings."44 functioning as an "opposition" to the s w p
The Political Bureau of the s w p replied to rather than as a separate political organiza­
this call by a letter of July 13, 1982, which tion, at least for some time. They stated this
said "we instruct you to cease and desist "opposition" stance thus: "In addition to
from any further organized tendency activ­ positions explained in the specific docu­
ity of any kind. Any violation of this instruc­ ments . . . we also believed that only the swp
tion is incompatible with membership in membership can have the last word con­
the s w p . " That instruction was ratified by cerning the direction the party should take.
the August 1982 Plenum. That word remains to be spoken. . . . It will
As Naomi Allen, George Breitman, and require a decisive test of the party ranks
George Saunders wrote a year and a half before anyone can correctly conclude that
later, "As a result, the eighteen—who this heritage has been effectively destroyed
wished to remain in the swp—had no alter­ by the anti-Leninist policies and revision­
native but to comply with the prohibition. ism of the current leadership. We remain, as
The f i t never had a single meeting, and did we have always been, loyal to the s w p . We
not produce any document other than its will continue to try to build the party, and
original brief statement."45 convince the party membership of the need
In the 1983 plenums of theNational Com­ to return to the historical program of revolu­
mittee, the future f it members, Bloom and tionary Marxism, which is being abandoned
Lovell, worked together with Nat Weinstein by the present leadership. .. ,"46
and Lynn Henderson, who were later to take The fourth number of the Bulletin carried
the lead in forming the Socialist Action the announcement of an Editorial Board,
group. As we have noted, they presented consisting of Naomi Allen, Steve Bloom,
several documents to those meetings crit­ George Breitman, Frank Lovell, Sarah Lov­
icizing the ideology and practice of the s w p ell, Bill Onasch, Christine Frank Onasch,
leadership group. George Saunders, Evelyn Sell, Rita Shaw,
It was not until after the "California Con­ Adam Shils, Larry Stewart, Jean Tussey, and
vention Purge" at the end of December 1983 George Lavan Weissman.47
and the beginning of January 1984, as a re­ This same issue carried an unsigned arti­
sult of which all sympathizers with the f i t cle entitled "Fourth Internationalist Ten­
point of view had been eliminated from the dency is Organized Nationally." It reported
s w p , that a formal organization was estab­ that a meeting February 3-5 in Minneapolis
lished by them. A first step was the publica­ had resulted in establishing a formal struc­
tion in December 1983 of the first number ture for the f i t . With local committees in
of a new, largely mimeographed periodical, nine cities, the group elected a National Or­
Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, under the ganizing Committee and’three national co­
editorship of Frank Lovell. It presented a ordinators (Steve Bloom, Bill Onasch, and
number of documents from the s w p internal Evelyn Sell). This article also proclaimed:
struggle, particularly dealing with the
involvement of the United Secretariat in the The f i t does not want to put any organiza­
conflict. tional barriers in the way of the necessary

890 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

 discussion of political program with the a group of long-time socialists and activists
members of the swp. We are not trying to in the antiwar, women's liberation, and
build a new organization in opposition to union movements who had been expelled
or as a substitute for the swp. We have, from the Socialist Workers Party in the
however, been forced to organize our­ course of the last two years."51 This article
selves outside the party because we have noted that "while we are no longer members
been bureaucratically expelled. . .. The of the s w p , both we and the s w p are sympa­
f i t campaigns for readmission into the thizers of the same world movement. More­
party of our tendency members and of all over, it is a movement in which our perspec­
others unjustly expelled for their political tive holds a strong majority, although the
views as part of the leadership purge. We relationship of forces is reversed here in the
have endorsed the Bulletin in Defense of United States. We would like to see all sup­
Marxism which was started in December porters of the Fourth International in the
by Frank Lovell, and we will continue to United States belong to a single organiza­
publish it and other materials as our ma­ tion. To express that idea we have decided
jor contribution to the discussion in the to organize ourselves as a public faction of
s w p and the Fourth International.48 the s w p , since it is the larger of the two
groups in this country that are in solidarity
Throughout 1984 the Bulletin in Defense with the Fourth International."52
of Marxism continued to deal principally The first number of Socialist Action did
with issues involving the purge of the So­ not note the names of the editorial board or
cialist Workers Party. The only "outside" of the National Committee of the Socialist
activity reflected in its pages was two ar­ Action organization. However, it men­
ticles on the Emergency National Confer­ tioned that one National Committee mem­
ence Against U.S. Intervention in Central ber was Jake Coover, one of the eighteen
America and the Caribbean, which met in Trotskyists tried in Minneapolis under the
Cleveland on September 16. Even the article Smith Act during World War II, who had
dealing with the Cleveland conference dis­ been expelled from the s w p in I982.53 The
cussed at some length the allegedly negative first issue of Socialist Action's newspaper
role playedby s w p delegates to the meeting.49 indicated that the organization had local
The Fourth Internationalist Tendency of­ groups in Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los
ficially endorsed the s w p ' s presidential and Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Pitts­
vice presidential candidates in the 1984 burgh, and San Francisco.54
election.50 The difference in focus between Socialist
Action and the Fourth Internationalist Ten­
dency was indicated in the editor's state­
Socialist Action
ment by the comment that “ it is not our in­
The second group to emerge from the 1982- tention in future issues of Socialist Action to
84 split in the Socialist Workers Party was dwell on differences within the Socialist
Socialist Action. It was organized around Workers Party."55They were as good as their
the tendency which had followed National word in that same issue. Aside from the
Committee members Nat Weinstein and three-page article on "Why Socialist Action
Lynn Henderson. Formed—Who We Are, What We Stand For,"
Socialist Action was formally established the paper dealt with "outside" issues, in­
at a conference in Chicago in October 1983. cluding the Greyhound bus strike then in
In the first issue of its periodical, a printed progress, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, Pol­
monthly newspaper Socialist Action, the ish Solidarity, and the p l o ' s leadership crisis.
editors announced that “ it was initiated by As publication of Socialist Action contin­

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 891

 ued, it became clear who were the people newspaper set at the February plenum was
who were putting out the newspaper and surpassed. The current press run of Socialist
leading the political organization of which Action is 3000."57
it was the official organ. The June 1984 num­ Although most of the space in the
ber of the newspaper had as editor Alan Ben­ monthly newspaper was taken up by discus­
jamin; Mark Harris, and Michael Schreiber sion of issues of U.S. foreign policy, internal
as associate editors, Nancy Gruber as man­ economic problems in the United States,
aging editor, and Kay Curry as business strikes and other items on the labor move­
manager. The editorial board consisted of ment, Socialist Action also put out another
Les Evans, Dianne Feeley, Jeff Mackler, Jim kind of periodical, the mimeographed So­
Richter, and Nat Weinstein. The staff was cialist Action Information Bulletin, which
made up of Paul Colvin, Larry Cooperman, dealt with issues in the organization's quar­
Robin David, May May Gong, Millie Gonza­ rel with the Socialist Workers Party. By Sep­
lez, Hayden Perry, Linda Ray, Phil Ruble, tember 1984 the organization had published
Joe Ryan, Kwame M. A. Somburu, Marion six issues of that periodical.58
Syrek, and Sylvia Weinstein.56 Socialist Action also published some
From this list and other names figuring in pamphlet material against the s w p . One of
the publications of Socialist Action, it is these publications was In Defense of Revo­
clear that the new group consisted in part of lutionary Continuity written by Dianne
the second generation of leadership of Amer­ Feeley and Paul Le Blanc. It attacked the
ican Trotskyism—the generation of Joseph "turn to the Cubans," and argued that that
Hansen. But it also included a sprinkling of turn was "linked to the marginalization of
the first generation, such as Jake Coover, as the s w p as a force in the class struggle in the
well as some people of the generation to United States itself."59
which the current leaders of the Socialist Like the Fourth Internationalist Ten­
Workers Party themselves belonged. dency, Socialist Action endorsed Mel Mason
Socialist Action organized as essentially and Andrea Gonzalez, the Socialist Workers
a new Trotskyist party. At its second Na­ Party candidates for president and vice presi­
tional Committee Plenum in August 1984, dent in the 1984 election. At the same time
which was "attended by the full National they ran one candidate of their own, Sylvia
Committee of twenty-three members as Weinstein, for the San Francisco Board of
well as by branch organizers and invited Supervisors.60
guests from around the world," it decided to In June 1985 the Socialist Action group
hold its first national convention in Novem­ suffered its first split. A dissident group held
ber. As had been customary in the s w p , So­ a conference in Chicago where they estab­
cialist Action held a period of preliminary lished Socialist Union. According to the Bul­
discussion and it was announced that "dur­ letin in Defense of Marxism this split took
ing this period the membership of the orga­ place "over a number of political and organi­
nization will be engaged in a wide-ranging zational problems, which included (i) dis­
discussion of strategy and tactics necessary agreements over the proper assessment of
to build the revolutionary socialist party in the Nicaraguan p s l n and Salvadorean f m l n
the United States and across the globe." as well as the character of the revolutionary
At the time of calling this meeting, it was processes in Central America; (2) how to
announced that "Socialist Action now has approach the problem of regroupment with
members in nineteen cities, including over other forces on the left in the United States;
fifty new members who have joined since and (3) what kinds of internal organizational
its founding conference last October. The practices were appropriate."61
goal of winning 500 new subscribers to the

892 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

 Peter Camejo and the manner in which discussions and conven­
North Star Network tions could take place within limits set by
the constitution, which was simply the
The third dissident group which emerged same as saying by limits set by the previous
from the purge in the Socialist Workers convention. This is no longer true in the
Party between 1982 and 1984 was that led s w p . The majority faction has not only de­

by Peter (Pedro) Camejo. It was different in clared that in order to form a tendency the
several ways from either the Fourth Interna­ majority must approve it; they have simply
tionalist Tendency or Socialist Action. For refused requests for the formation of ten­
one thing, Peter Camejo was roughly of the dencies.
same leadership generation as the majority Finally, Camejo attacked the expulsions
of the dominant swp faction. He had been which began in 1982. He wrote that "the
the party's candidate for president in 1976. real reason for the long list of rather bizarre
He was in addition a member of the Interna­ expulsions is political. The logic of the posi­
tional Executive Committee of the United tion of the majority faction is that they be­
Secretariat of the Fourth International, and lieve that the politics of the minorities are
had been supported for membership in that incompatible with membership. This is
body by the leadership of the swp. There their real position. The complication they
was another difference between the Camejo face is that many of the political positions
group and the other two dissident factions. of the minority currents are also held by
Camejo did not have basic differences with others in the Fourth International, and thus
the swp leadership on ideological issues. it would create an unsolvable contradiction
Thus, in a pamphlet setting forth his posi­ for them to remain in the Fourth Interna­
tion Camejo wrote that insofar as the s w p tional while declaring such views incompat­
leadership was concerned, "Two important ible with membership in the s w p . " 64
shifts, which reflect fundamentally positive While still in the s w p , the leaders of the
steps, have been the decision to colonize other two dissident factions strongly op­
industry and to recognize the revolutionary posed Camejo's expulsion. In their docu­
proletarian character of the Cuban Commu­ ment, "New Norms for Old," which they
nist Party, the f s l n in Nicaragua, the f m l n submitted to the August 1983 National
in El Salvador and the New Jewel Movement Committee Plenum, the four dissident
in Grenada. members of the committee wrote:
What Camejo was critical of were the tac­
tical approaches of the Jack Bames leader­ The exclusion of Peter C. is of unique
ship group. He attacked their limitation of significance, because Peter was a central
the "turn to industry" to only the unions leader and one of the best known public
in basic industries; their refusal to work in spokespersons for the y s a and s w p for
united front groups on particular issues such many years. He was refused readmittance
as support of the guerrillas in El Salvador, to our party on flimsy organizational pre­
and support for the Solidarity movement in texts, despite the s w p leadership's recog­
Poland, and their denunciation of the nu­ nition that Peter was a member of the
clear freeze movement. Camejo also at­ Fourth International. (They voted for his
tacked the s w p leadership majority's limita­ inclusion on the i e c as a full member.)
tion of discussion within the party. Camejo Such an exclusion has no precedent in our
wrote that "the right to a tendency was movement's history. Whatever political
clearly a right, not something for which one differences comrades may have had with
applied to the leadership bodies.. . . The ma­ Peter, and whatever Peter's subsequent
jority had the right to set the timing and the political trajectory has been, the correct

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 893

 approach required debating out our differ­ group's publication. It did so without any
ences within a common organizational comment, except to note that the North Star
framework.6S Network had recently been established by
Pedro Camejo, "who resigned from the U.S.
The way in which Camejo was removed Socialist Workers Party in 1981 and is a fra­
from the party was unique. After a contro­ ternal member of the International Execu­
versy between him and Jack Bames in an tive Committee of the Fourth International,
swp leadership meeting, during which Ca­ and Byron Ackerman, who resigned from
mejo reportedly charged that if Bames in the s w p earlier this year."
fact favored the setting up of a new interna­ The Intercontinental Press introduction
tional, with the Cubans, Sandinistas and so also noted that the North Star Network had
on, he was not doing anything very concrete "helped initiate a broader formation called
to bring about such a development, Camejo the Bay Area United Forum." It added that
refused to run for reelection to the Political "the other organizations participating in the
Committee. Soon afterward he went to Ven­ united forum are: the Bay Area Socialist Or­
ezuela, whence his family came, and stayed ganizing Committee; the Bay Area Guard­
there for about a year. When he returned to ian bureau; Solidarity, an organization of
the United States and requested reinstate­ former members of the New American
ment as a full member of the Socialist Work­ Movement (n a m }; and Workers Power.
ers Party, the Bames leadership refused to Workers Power sponsors a quarterly maga­
allow his readmission. As a member of the zine called Against the Current, among
International Executive Committee of the whose editors are Steve Zeluck, Carl Boggs,
u s e c (without being a member of any u s e c Carl Feingold, Myra Tanner Weiss, and Mil­
party), Camejo traveled extensively for the ton Zaslow."68 It did not mention that Zas­
international leadership. He was reportedly low had been a major leader of the Cochran­
influential in convincing the leadership of ites, and Myra Tanner Weiss a member of
the Australian Socialist Workers Party not the s w p Political Committee {and three
to continue its long association with its U.S. times s w p candidate for vice president) until
counterpart.66 resigning in the early 1960s.
Although Camejo was in effect expelled Again, in February 1985 the swp's periodi­
from the s w p , many of his supporters were cal Intercontinental Press published an arti­
apparently not. According to the Fourth In­ cle (without comment) on a conference of
ternationalist Tendency's Bulletin in De­ Camejo's North Star Network, at which it
fense of Marxism, "Most of the ex-swp merged with a small San Francisco based
members in the Camejo current were not group, the Bay Area Socialist Organizing
expelled from the s w p ; they resigned be­ Committee. It quoted one North Star resolu­
cause of discouragement at the prospect of tion, that "we are only at the stage of trying
trying to change the party's course or leader­ through practical and theoretical work in
ship, which they consider hopeless. . . ."67 the living movements of today to help move
Camejo and his supporters established towards a more effective socialist move­
what they called the North Star Network. ment." The article ended with the address
The attitude of the s w p leadership toward of the North Star Network, for anyone who
that group was markedly different from that might wish to get in touch with it.69
toward the other two dissident movements.
Thus, the November 28, 1983, issue of the International Implications of
s w p periodical Intercontinental Press car­
the SWP Purge
ried the complete contents of the first issue The purge of the American swp aroused con­
of North Star Newsletter, the Camejo siderable interest throughout International

894 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

Trotskyism. Not only the United Secretari­ tion of the purge of oppositionists underway
at's publication Inprecoi, but also Tribune in the swp. The de facto expulsion of the NC
Internationale of the Lambertist tendency minority comrades is designed to prevent
c o r q i , published excerpts from the state­ their participation in the international dis­
ment announcing the formation of Socialist cussion in the preworld congress period and
Action.70 in the political life of the Socialist Workers
It was inevitable that the United Secretar­ Party. These measures are in defiance of the
iat, with which the Socialist Workers Party norms and traditions of the Fourth Interna­
was associated, would become directly in­ tional, which also used to be those of the
volved in the purge taking place within the s w p . " 74 The u s e c statement went on to say

s w p between 1982 and 1984. We have al­ that insofar as the four expelled National
ready noted the polemics of Emest Mandel Committee members were concerned, "The
with the majority s w p leaders. Right after United Secretariat . . . continues to regard
the August 1983 Plenum of the s w p Na­ them as members of the f i (to the extent that
tional Committee, which "suspended" the this is compatible with American law)." It
four opposition members of the committee, added that "the United Secretariat recog­
two representatives of the u s e c who had nizes that the comrades expelled from the
attended the meeting issued a statement s w p because of their political views will

which began "the proposed suspension of have no choice but to organize collectively
comrades Bloom, Lovell, Weinstein and in order to, on the one hand participate in
Henderson from the s w p National Commit­ the world congress discussion and fight for
tee on the charge that they are acting as a their political views, and on the other to
'secret faction' can only be interpreted as an continue carrying out their responsibilities
act of overt political hostility to the Fourth as revolutionary class struggle militants.
International as a whole."71 The International will maintain relations
Following their suspension the four dissi­ with these comrades."
dent members of the National Committee The u s e c statement also criticized the na­
issued a document entitled "Sound the ture of the swp's recent participation in the
Alarm," which was addressed "To All Sec­ affairs of the United Secretariat. It said that
tions, Sympathizing Groups, and Members "during this process of adoption of a range
of the Fourth International."72 Then, at a of new positions compared to traditional
meeting of the United Secretariat in October views of the s w p and the International, the
1983, "the s w p crisis was discussed at length s w p leadership's participation in the politi­

by representatives from the major sections cal life and discussions of the International
of the Fourth International."73 That session has markedly declined. For example it has
adopted a statement entitled "The Political failed to propose a single positive written
Purge in the American Socialist Workers resolution on any political question in the
Party." International, in spite of the fact that it has
The October 1983 u s e c statement began, systematically voted against the draft reso­
"The decision by the s w p National Commit­ lutions proposed to the i e c meetings of 1981
tee at its August 1983 plenum to suspend and 1982 and a series of United Secretariat
(in reality: expel) the four minority NC meetings during the same period, including
members—comrades Bloom, Henderson, drafts for the world congress." The state­
Lovell and Weinstein—from first the N a­ ment went on to say:
tional Committee and then the party as
such, and the new wave of expulsions of Moreover, the swp leadership has unilat­
comrades with minority views initiated at erally taken questions of internal debate
the Plenum, represent a qualitative escala­ in the f i to the public and launched major

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 895

 attacks against leaders and sections of the revolutionists since 1847. The Fourth Inter­
International. For instance, the Mexican national was founded in 1938 to continue
p r t has been treated as an opponent orga­ the struggle to achieve that goal."77
nization in the Central American solidar­ The first issue of N ew International fea­
ity work. And the Australian section and tured two "major articles." These were the
leadership has been attacked as being de­ speech of Jack Barnes at the y s a convention
generate and adapting to racism and the on December 31, 1982, in which he repudi­
chauvinist ideology of Australian imperi­ ated the theory of permanent revolution and
alism. Simultaneously the s w p leadership dissociated the s w p from most groups call­
has started to create an organized interna­ ing themselves Trotskyists; and an article
tional current which in reality is an un­ entitled "Lenin and the Colonial Question"
principled grouping without any platform by Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, the principal
presented to the International and its figure from the old Stalinist pre-Castro Cu­
members. All these actions of the s w p ban Communist Party still active in the
leaders severely endanger the unity and leadership of the Castro regime.
integrity of the Fourth International.75 Relations between the s w p leadership and
the United Secretariat continued to decline
A month after the October 1983 u s e c during 1984. This was reflected at the par­
meeting another incident underscored the ty's thirty-second national convention,
growing rift of the s w p leadership with the which met after a year's delay in August
United Secretariat. Ernest Mandel, one of 1984. A report by Bill Onasch of the Fourth
the major figures in the u s e c , head of its Internationalist Tendency on that conven­
Belgian affiliate, and probably the best- tion noted that "There were international
known Marxist economist, spoke at several guests at the thirty-second convention—but
meetings at the University of Michigan. only those who were granted political visas
However, according to Alan Wald, a mem­ by the s w p leadership on the basis of loyalty
ber of Socialist Action who organized the to the Barnes faction. (The Canadian and
Mandel meetings, "the s w p national office New Zealand sections have marched lock­
refused to relay to the Detroit branch of step with Bames along the road to revision­
the s w p our request that they assist in pub­ ism. The Bames faction also has lined up
licizing and participating in the meet­ a substantial minority in Britain and has
ing. . . ,"76 scattered groupings of followers in a few Eu­
Meanwhile, the s w p had launched jointly ropean and Latin American countries, and a
with the Canadian affiliate of the u s e c a tiny group of supporters that were expelled
new magazine, with the suggestive name from the Australian s w p ). The official lead­
New International. The introduction to the ership of the f i and a l l those considered sup­
first issue of the periodical explained that porters of the 'international majority' . . .
"its purpose is to present political, theoreti­ were excluded from attending the 32nd con­
cal, and historical material related to the vention and the concurrent Education and
most important questions of program, strat­ Activists Conferences."78
egy, and organization confronting those Meanwhile, the dissident groups which
building communist parties in North had been expelled from the s w p participated
America and around the world. . . . As indi­ actively in the discussions preparatory to
cated by its name, N ew International aims the 1985 congress of the United Secretariat.
to be part of the political discussion and Various issues of the Fourth Internationalist
exchange that must accompany progress to­ Tendency's Bulletin in Defense of Marxism.
ward building an international revolution­ during 1984 carried discussion articles on
ary leadership of the working class. That questions to be debated at the Congress.
has been the goal of conscious proletarian The s w p also was preparing for the u s e c

896 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

World Congress. At its 1984 convention the ported that "the report and motions that
swp leadership provided for holding a special were adopted by the convention specifically
convention to elect congress delegates and rejected carrying out the decision of the
to adopt resolutions to be submitted to the world congress on the appeals of the ex­
international meeting.79 When the congress pelled members. The delegates also voted to
finally met in February 1985, one of its prin­ continue the policy of excluding all mem­
cipal organizational concerns was the situa­ bers of the groups organized by the ex­
tion of the groups associated with it in the pelled—the Fourth Internationalist Ten­
United States. It adopted several resolutions dency, Socialist Action, and Socialist
on the subject. The first of these stated that Unity—from any public meetings or prem­
"the World Congress upholds the request of ises of the s w p . " 81
the expelled swp members who have re­ A meeting of the United Secretariat in
grouped in Socialist Action (s a ) and the October 1985 reacted strongly to the deci­
Fourth Internationalist Tendency (f i t ) to ap­ sions of the August convention of the s w p .
peal their expulsion collectively . . . the It passed a resolution which restated the
World Congress supports the s a and f i t re­ decisions of the u s e c World Congress with
quest that all their members be collectively regard to the swp, noting that those deci­
integrated into the s w p , with all the rights sions had had the support of "almost ninety
and duties stemming from the organiza­ percent" of the delegates. It proclaimed that
tional norms of democratic centralism." the s w p convention's decisions "violate the
Another resolution stated that "the World overwhelming majority demands of the
Congress upholds the collective appeal of World Congress.. . . " Then, after noting the
the expelled swp members now regrouped continuing fiction that because of "reaction­
in s a and f i t . . . the World Congress de­ ary U.S. legislation," the swp was only a
mands the collective reintegration of all the "fraternal section" not a full-fledged part of
present members of s a and f i t who were u s e c , the resolution said that "the decisions

expelled from the s w p into s w p member­ of the swp convention, if adopted by a sec­
ship. " Still another resolution provided that tion, would be a complete negation of even
"the World Congress rules that, as long as the simply moral and political authority of
s a and f i t are not collectively reintegrated the sovereign body of the International, its
into the swp, the entire organized member­ World Congress. In so doing a section would
ship of s a and f i t will be considered as full be refusing to abide by the spirit of our stat­
members of the Fourth International, with utes, and thus put itself outside the common
all the rights and duties prescribed by its framework of our norms."
statutes, and within the limitations im­ The u s e c resolution then noted that be­
posed by reactionary U.S. legislation."80 cause of the s w p ' s actions, "there are now
A year after the u s e c congress, the s w p in the United States four totally separate
had failed completely to comply with the organizations of fraternal members with the
demand of the u s e c congress. Indeed, in the same rights and duties: the Socialist Work­
original agenda announced for its August ers Party, the Fourth Internationalist Ten­
r98s convention the s w p leadership had not dency, Socialist Action and Socialist Unity.
even included discussion of the matter. . . ." It added that "the United Secretariat
Only after a June meeting of the United Sec­ defends the right of each of these organiza­
retariat adopted a motion "specifically ask­ tions to attempt to build the revolutionary
ing the s w p convention to consider this is­ party in the United States but does not sup­
sue" was an item added to the agenda. port the orientation of any one group against
However, "considering" the u s e c ' s de­ the others. .. ."82
mands did not mean conforming to them. While the u s e c thus used the supposed
Stuart Brown, of the f i t subsequently re­ "fraternal" nature of swp affiliation with it

United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s 897

 as an excuse for not expelling the swp from olutions" in the countries controlled by the
its ranks, the swp leadership itself appar­ heirs of Stalin, and concluded that Lenin had
ently decided that, in spite of its hopes for a been right and Trotsky had been wrong in
new international grouping with the Cuban the controversies of the pre-1917 period.
Communist Party, the Sandinistas and oth­ The s w p leadership also put forward the
ers, and its own quarrels with the u s e c lead­ idea of the need to establish a "new Commu­
ership, for the time being at least it would nist International" in which the Cuban
stay within the United Secretariat. Communist Party, the Sandinistas, the New
This decision was particularly evident in Jewel Movement, and presumably the s w p
its attitude toward the abandonment of the itself, would be key elements. It did not of­
u s e c by the Australian Socialist Workers ficially break with the United Secretariat
Party. The relations between the two s w p s of the Fourth International—indeed it sent
had for many years been peculiarly close. twenty-eight "fraternal delegates and ob­
In the early 1980s, the leadership of both servers" to the February 1985 World Con­
parties had rejected Trotsky's theory of per­ gress of the u s e c .84 However, six months
manent revolution, and had grown increas­ after the United Secretariat ordered the rein­
ingly unhappy with the designation as statement of those whom it had expelled
"Trotskyists." However, for reasons that are for opposition to the new orientation of the
explored in our discussion of Australian s w p , the leadership of the Socialist Workers

Trotskyism they did not become allies Party specifically refused to follow the bid­
within the u s e c , nor did the U.S. s w p follow ding of the World Congress of the u s e c .
its Australian counterpart in abandoning The split in the Socialist Workers Party
the u s e c . Articles in the September 23, in the early 1 980s was of major significance
1985, issue of Intercontinental Press criti­ for International Trotskyism. The s w p was
cized at considerable length the position of one of the oldest Trotskyist organizations,
the Australian s w p . One of these, by Larry and for more than half a century had been
Seigle, summed up the differences with re­ one of the largest segments of International
gard to the u s e c as follows: "We now face Trotskyism. It had had a particularly close
the danger that the political March-outs of relationship with Trotsky. Its total break
the leadership of the Australian s w p is going with the movement, which seemed to be
to March the party right out of the Fourth presaged by the purge of the early 1980s
International. That will mean losing valu­ would constitute a split in the ranks of Inter­
able cadres, and will be a blow to the Fourth national Trotskyism which would be sig­
International. The challenge to the leader­ nificant not only in quantitative terms, but'
ship of the International as a whole is to of profound importance in terms of aban­
advance the political clarification of the dif­ donment by one of the movement's most
ferences with the leadership of the Austra­ important constituents of allegiance to the
lian s w p , to minimize the losses and max­ ideas and organization which had been elab­
imize the chances of keeping the Australian orated by Trotsky.
section in the Fourth International."83

Conclusion
Starting in 1981, the leadership of the Social­
ist Workers Party began a fundamental
break with the traditional ideas of Interna­
tional Trotskyism. It repudiated the theory
of permanent revolution, virtually dropped
the insistence on the need for "political rev-

898 United States: SWP Purge in the 1980s

 U.S. Trotskyism: The Democratic Federation there were a number
who submitted to the decision of the major­
Shachtmanite Tradition ity and joined the s p - s d f in spite of their
After Shachtman dislike of the idea. At least some of these
people continued to regard themselves as
Trotskyists. Within the s p - s d f they re­
cruited a few people to their point of view,
By the time the majority of the members of particularly from among the youth, who had
the Independent Socialist League (i s l ) joined never been Trotskyists of any description
the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Feder­ before.
ation in the latter months of 1958, most of One of the leading figures in the i s l who
them {including Max Shachtman himself) had been against entry into the s p - s d f was
were no longer Trotskyists. They had be­ Hal Draper, the long-time leader of the left
come Democratic Socialists or Social Demo­ wing of the Independent Socialist League. It
crats. Nevertheless, the ideas which had was around him that the revival of what can
been developed in connection with the broadly be called "Shachtmanism" de­
Shachtmanite split in the Socialist Workers veloped.
Party by no means ceased being an ideologi­ Draper has described the origins of the
cal strain within American Trotskyism. The new Trotskyist Tendency. He has written
conviction that the Soviet Union (and the that "it began —in 1964—as a political con­
other countries which had come under Com­ tinuation, or recreation, of the Independent
munist Party-Stalinist control subsequent to Socialist tendency which had been repre­
World War II) were notin any sense "workers' sented by the Independent Socialist League.
states" continued to be held by many who In 1964 I took the initiative in forming the
still considered themselves Trotskyists. first Independent Socialist Club in Berkeley;
Within a few years after the disappearance within the course of the following year, a
of the Independent Socialist League, this second isc was formed in Berkeley (one on
ideological trend in American Trotskyism campus, one in the city) and an isc in New
had again found organizational form. In­ York. After isc's had been formed in several
deed, a loose-knit "International Socialist" cities, a national conference was held in
tendency with the non-workers' state orien­ New York, where they federated to form
tation had developed, as we note in another what was then called the Independent So­
chapter. cialist Clubs of America (i s c a ). That confer­
However, within this tendency of Ameri­ ence was in 1966."
can (and international) Trotskyism there de­ Draper also commented on the sources of
veloped sharp differences of opinion, defini­ recruits for the new group: "By the end of
tion and interpretation. Some elements held 1964, after the Berkeley campus Indepen­
to the "bureaucratic collectivism" theory dent Socialist Club had developed very
which had been developed by Shachtman quickly . . . most of its members knew no
and others, but there were also those who more of the sp than did anybody else; but
adopted one version or another of the view the politics which they studied was that rep­
that the Communist Party-controlled re­ resented by the literature of the Independent
gimes were "state capitalist" in nature. Socialist League before the collapse of the
Shachtman leadership. This was even more
The International Socialists true outside of Berkeley, where isc's devel­
oped." He concluded that by 1970 there
The Emergence of the IS were "only a handful of active members who
Among those i s l leaders and members who had once been in the Independent Socialist
opposed entry into the Socialist Party-Social League youth group. . . and less than a hand­

United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 899

f u l o f o ld e r m e m b e r s . . . who had been ing with existing ones. At least some of his
m e m b e rs of th e i s l . " 1 colleagues felt that this was Draper's excuse
Joel Geier, the long-time chairman and rather than his reason for withdrawing from
national secretary of the International So­ political activity.3 As late as 1973 he was
cialists, has indicated the nature of the ac­ associated with an Independent Socialist
tivities of the group before its rechristening Committee, for which he wrote a "position
as International Socialists in 1969: paper" attacking the sectarian tendencies of
most American radical groups.4
Our group was originally active in the
The International Socialists held to the
civil rights movement (particularly
old ideological position of the Workers Par-
c o r e ), the Free Speech Movement in
ty-iSL. In "is Program in Brief," carried regu­
Berkeley, white collar unions, and the
larly in their periodical, it was stated that
anti-war and general New Left Move­
"we believe that no existing regime can be
ments. Our group was quite small, out­
called socialist. On a world scale, the 'social­
side of Berkeley, until 1967 when we es­
ist' countries constitute a system . . . with a
tablished the x s c a , as a loose confedera­
common ideology and social origin. In place
tion of local clubs. At the same time our
of capitalism this system has achieved, and
Berkeley group played a large role in ini­
now aims at, not the abolition of class soci­
tiating the Peace and Freedom Party. We
ety but a new type of class system."
have for a long time been leading propo­
This document went on to say that where
nents of the idea of independent political
Communist parties have taken power
action for movements of social changes
"these movements have placed in power,
leading eventually, or hoping to crystal­
not the working class, but a self-perpetuat­
lize, the development of a Workers Party
ing bureaucratic class . . . This system is no
in this country.
less class-ridden, and in its fully developed
Geier has also commented on the areas of form (as in the USSR) no less imperialist
recruitment of the is in the 1960s. "Our than capitalism."5
growth was primarily due to our activity in During the evolution of the autonomous
the Peace and Freedom Party, and later when Independent Socialist Clubs into Interna­
the s d s split and dissolved, we succeeded in tional Socialists there were several issues of
winning to our ranks the former Revolution­ controversy within the group. One of these
ary Socialist Caucus of the s d s , and signifi­ was their position on the Vietnam War.
cant parts of some s d s chapters (particu­ They were opposed to United States
larly: Univ. of Chicago, Ann Arbor, Seattle, involvement in the war, from the beginning,
Madison, c c n y , etc.) and some of its leading but were hesitant about supporting victory
anti-Stalinist activists. The decision of for the Vietnamese Communists.
those SDSers, and of some members of the A typical earlier statement by the Inde­
Revolutionary Workers Committee of De­ pendent Socialists appeared in their publica­
troit, to join the i s c a , led to our forming a tion in its January-February 1967 issue: "As
national organization . .. " 1 Americans we particularly oppose the pres­
At a convention in September 1969 the ence of U.S. troops in other lands and call for
Independent Socialist Clubs became Inter­ their immediate withdrawal so that nations
national Socialists (is). About that time like Vietnam may determine their own des­
Draper withdrew from the group, using as tiny. We look to independent democratic
his reason what he interpreted as "dual movements of workers and peasants as the
union" trends within the organization, that alternative to the future Communist rulers
is, the tendency to center its labor activities as leaders of the anti-colonial struggle."6
on the organization of new unions compet­ However, the founding convention of the

900 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

International Socialists in September 1969 the Spartacists, as being too limited in its
adopted a resolution which said, in part: objectives. The is made its own presentation
"the building of an independent, democratic of its trade union policy in a resolution on
alternative in Vietnam would have been im­ "Labor Perspectives" adopted at its 197a
measurably easier if the imperialists had convention: "We proceed from the class
been driven out in 1945, 1954, 1963 or 1966. struggle as it really is today, and not as we
But American Imperialism must be driven wish it. We propose directions for the grow­
out in any case. At the present that means ing rank and file movement without making
it will be driven out by the Vietnamese un­ sectarian demands on that movement. Rank
der the leadership of the n l f . Out support and file groups usually arise around a spe­
for the military victory of the Vietnamese cific event, incident, or issue. It is the task
in that conflict in no way contradicts our of socialists and advanced militants to move
political support for the fight of the Viet­ the group in a broader programmatic direc­
namese working class and peasants against tion. This is not done by putting forth a
their new rulers."7 score of demands all at once. New demands
and concepts should be introduced in a logi­
cal and relevant manner. " !a
Trajectory of the
The International Socialists would seem
International Socialists
to be the Trotskyist group which was most
With the establishment of the International successful in establishing some base in the
Socialists there were organizational and pol­ organized labor movement in the 1970s.
icy changes within the organization. The Like several of the others, it "colonized" its
national office of the International Socialist members in the trade unions, but unlike
Clubs had been in New York, and its periodi­ most of them it succeeded in attaining some
cal, 7.5 ., had been published in Berkeley. The degree of influence in rank-and-file move­
headquarters of both were transferred to the ments in a number of unions.
Detroit area, and the name of the group's One of the earliest opposition groups in
periodical was changed from I. S. to Workers which the is members had some influence
Power.6 was the United Action Caucus in Local 110 1
After the establishment of International of the Communications Workers of
Socialists there was a change in the general America. The is also was active in the West
orientation of the group. Joel Geier, the na­ Coast International Longshoremen's Union,
tional secretary of is, observed in 1970 that where an is leader, Stan Weir, lodged a court
"in the past, we have been active mainly in suit against the union leadership when it
the student, anti-war and women's move­ sought to expel him. They were involved in
ments. Our emphasis in the next year will the fight against the long-established leader­
be on increasing activity in the working ship of the National Maritime Union and
class. We argue for rank and file struggle against the Boyle regime in the United Mine
organizations which can fight when and Workers, supporting the ultimately success­
where the unions refuse to fight; caucuses ful campaign of Arnold Miller.11
of black and women workers; political ac­ From time to time the International So­
tion by workers organizations, independent cialists organized regional conferences of re­
of the Democratic and Republican parties. "9 bel trade unionists. One in Oakland in Janu-
Subsequently, the International Socialists ary 1975 on "Building the Rank and File
succeeded in organizing rank-and-file Movement" was attended by workers from
groups in a number of U.S. unions. Their the longshoremen, teamsters, and various
orientation in this work was severely criti­ other organizations.12
cized by other Trotskyist groups, notably The union in which the International So­

!
( United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 901
 cialists had most success was the Interna­ The general orientation of the Interna­
tional Brotherhood of Teamsters. In the tional Socialists was indicated in the state­
early 1970s they worked within the Team­ ment "is Where We Stand," which appeared
sters Rank and File Caucus, which was orga­ regularly in their periodical. Although its
nized around the issue of the misspending text changed from time to time in the light
of the Teamsters' pension fund moneys by of passing events, its main emphases were
union leaders.13 Later in the decade the is consistent. Late in 1976 this statement
played an important role in another rebel listed the following under "We Oppose,"
group, the Teamsters for a Decent Con­ "Capitalist Exploitation . . . Capitalist Con­
tract.1* In the process of this struggle they trol . .. Oppression . . . Capitalist Govern­
were able to recruit at least a few important ment," and "Bureaucratic Communism."
rank-and-file teamsters' leaders—some if Under the last heading the statement said
not all of whom subsequently abandoned that "Russia, China and the countries with
the International Socialists in one of its sev­ economies like theirs are also oppressive
eral splits. class societies, run by a privileged ruling
By the late 1970s the International Social­ class of bureaucrats. They are not socialist
ists were publishing a special periodical, La- and must be overthrown by the working
bor Notes, identified as the organ of the "La­ classes of those countries."
bor Education and Research Project." This Under the heading, "We Support," the
periodical carried news on the rank-and-file statement listed "The Rank and File Move­
movements in a variety of different unions. ment, Liberation from Oppression: We sup­
The "Project" also organized periodic "La­ port the struggles of every oppressed group
bor Notes Conferences." That of April 1981 to end its oppression: the struggle for equal­
featured panels on "The Attack on Labor ity and justice by blacks, women, gays, lat­
and Organizing the Fight Back,” "New Ar­ inos, native Americans and all oppressed
eas of Organizing," and "The Future of the people. Support from the entire working
Rank and File Movement," as well as nine­ class movement will make both these strug­
teen "workshops" on such things as "Local gles, and that movement stronger." The
Union Elections," "Caucus Organizing" statement listed "Socialism" as among
"Reformers in Power." The speakers in­ those things supported by is, saying that
cluded people from twelve international "Society should be run by the working class.
unions, as well as such figures as the author The wealth produced by those who work
Sidney Lens, labor journalist Steve Early, should go to fill people's needs, not to pri­
and Herbert Hill, professor and former labor vate gains." It also expressed support for
director of the n a a c p . 15 "Workers Revolution" and "Internation­
Until 1977 the U.S. International Social­ alism." It reflected its Leninist-Trotskyist
ists formed part of the loose-knit Interna­ "vanguard party" origins in its support of a
tional Socialist Tendency. They were repre­ "Revolutionary Party," with the explana­
sented at a conference of that group in tion that "the most class conscious mem­
1970.16 In 1975 they organized a successful bers of the working class have the responsi­
tour around the United States for Neil Da­ bility to lead the struggle toward socialist
vies, a member of the National Committee revolution. To do this they must build an
of the British International Socialists, in organization to put their consciousness into
connection with their fund-raising cam­ action and make their leadership effective."
paign to convert their newspaper Workers The statement ended with the claim that
Power into a weekly.17 However, as a conse­ "the is is an organization of revolutionary
quence of a split in the is in 1977 it ceased socialist workers. We are open to all who
to be the U.S. affiliate of the international accept our basic principles and are willing
group. to work as a member to achieve them. Join

902 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

with us to build the is into a revolutionary masses by the vanguard. Seen this way,"
party, to build the movement to end exploi­ Tabor concluded, "the Transitional Pro­
tation and oppression and to create a social­ gram is not a manipulative tool to be
ist world."18 whipped out on the eve of the revolution
to mobilize the masses, as Comrade Geier
argues, but the chief means by which the
The Revolutionary Socialist League
working class becomes conscious of itself,
The International Socialists suffered several of its needs and interests, and struggles for
splits during the 1970s. The first of these its rule."
took place in 1973, when about one-third of This same document indicated the dissi­
the estimated 300 members of is broke away dents' disagreements with the is trade union
to form the Revolutionary Socialist League policy. Tabor wrote that "in our agitational
(r s l ) . 19 T w o principal issues appear to have work, our job is to initiate and intervene in
been behind the criticisms of the is leader­ the workers' struggles around trade union,
ship by the dissident Revolutionary Ten­ partial and democratic demands, seeking to
dency of is which was to form the r s l . One relate these to class-wide demands, to fight
was the desire for a more explicit adherence within the labor movement for a fighting
to Trotskyism than that which the Interna­ policy addressing the needs of the class as a
tional Socialists had evidenced. The second whole .. . and more generally to raise the
more or less followed from the first: opposi­ demands and slogans of the Transitional
tion to the down-playing of their revolution­ Program, even when these may be unpopu­
ary objectives in the day-to-day work of the lar. . . ."ll
is people in the unions. At the outbreak of this factional fight the
The International Socialists had certainly critics seemed to have had the upper hand.
never foresworn Trotskyism. In a book list In 197a Sy Landy was chosen national secre­
they circulated in 1970 there were included tary of the organization in place of Joel
eight books by Trotsky, as well as Max Geier. However, the group around Landy
Shachtman's The Bureaucratic Revolu­ tended to be unstable, and within a year he
tion.20However, although the International was not only removed as leader of the is but
Socialists did not formally abandon Trots­ his faction was expelled from the organi­
kyism, neither did they put major emphasis zation.22
on it. Their periodical had relatively little The Revolutionary Socialist League soon
reference to the question, and Trotsky was developed ideological differences with the
not mentioned in the regularly appearing "is organization from which it had emerged.
Where We Stand" which appeared in each Rick Miles of the r s l has written that "when
issue, although some of his basic ideas were we were formed as an independent organiza­
expounded there. tion, our politics could be described as a
The Revolutionary Tendency went back kind of orthodox Trotskyism with the im­
to emphasis on Trotsky's ideas, particularly portant exception of our analysis of the na­
the Transitional Program. One of the princi­ ture of the Stalinist countries. We agreed
pal documents emerging from this internal with Trotsky's emphasis on building an in­
conflict was Ron Tabor's "On the Transi­ ternational revolutionary party, his theory
tional Program." In that paper Tabor of the Permanent Revolution, his opposition
claimed the Transitional Program as "the to the Popular Fronts of the 1930s, his analy­
key to the agitation and propaganda of the sis of the Chinese and Spanish Revolutions,
revolutionary organization," and that it the overall approach of the Transitional Pro­
"functions at all levels of struggle, from the gram, etc."23
education and training of the revolutionary The Revolutionary Socialist League also
cadres, to the mobilization of the broadest differed from the International Socialists'

United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 903

position on "the Russian question." They mental dynamic of the system is produc­
no longer believed in the "bureaucratic col­ tion for the sake of accumulation. These
lectivism" analysis of the U.S. International are the basic laws of motion and relation­
Socialists, although continuing to reject the ship of classes that define capitalism.15
idea that the Soviet Union and other Com­
munist Party-controlled regimes were The Revolutionary Socialist League also
"workers' states." Rather, they came to the differed from the International Socialists on
conclusion that those were "state capi­ its insistence on the need to rebuild the
talist." Fourth International. About a year after the
Ron Tabor stated the r s l position in an formation of the r s l , writing in connection
article "State Capitalism vs. Workers Rule/' with negotiations for possible unity with
which was published in the r s l paper The the Class Struggle League (which at the time
Torch. He wrote that "By state capitalism, was advocating a Fifth International), Sy
we .mean the social system that exists in Landy emphasized this point on behalf of
the countries called 'Communist': Russia, the Political Committee of,the r s l : "The
China, Outer Mongolia, Cuba, and the coun­ Pabloists and other assorted betrayers who
tries of Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and presently parade as the Fourth Internation­
North Korea. These societies, despite what alists do not dispose of the same resources
they are called and what their own rulers as did the Stalinist betrayers of the Third,
call them, are capitalist. All represent a form . . . They do not have the resource of state
of capitalism in which major property is in power anywhere in the world. The total
the hands of the state and the state itself domination of the Stalinists over the Third
runs production on a capitalist basis."24 International forced Trotsky to abandon the
Tabor elaborated upon the r s l state capi­ number and the organization in order to pre­
talist definition. Under state capitalism, he serve the program. Such is not the case for
said: Trotskyists today. To preserve the program
is to preserve the number and our right to
. . . the working class continues to sell it. . .
its labor power on the market for a wage In spite of its expressed desire to reestab­
sufficient only to maintain it at subsis­ lish a "genuine" Fourth International, the
tence (the fact that it is a monopolized r s l did not become part of any of the larger

market does not alter this fundamental currents of International Trotskyism. Its
capital-labor relationship) the difference only foreign counterpart has been the Revo­
between what is paid and what is pro­ lutionary Marxist League of Jamaica. Rick
duced (surplus value) is appropriated by Miles has explained that "at the moment,
an alien class? and moreover, this alien we consider ourselves to be a companion
class reinvests its surplus in such a way organization of the Revolutionary Marxist
as to increase its power over and against League of Jamaica, which puts out a newspa­
the workers, i.e., it invests the surplus per .Forward, and is very active in working-
value predominantly in production of the class struggles in Jamaica. The r m l is the
means of production in order to further only left organization in Jamaica that is op­
increase the surplus value gained from posing both the j l p and the p n p in the up­
the production process. . . . In other coming elections in that country. Although
words: (i) the wage laborers are exploited the organizations are not formally 'fused' we
by an alien class, which buys labor power both consider ourselves to be part of one
as a commodity, at value (2) production international tendency."17
is for profit (the collective profit of the The ideas of the r s l continued to evolve.
state-capitalist trusts); and (3) the funda­ By 1985 a statement on "What We Stand

904 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

For," noted that "the r s l identifies itself Finally, Miles noted that "one particu­
in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and larly important area of our work has been
Trotsky, particularly the pioneering theo­ in the gay liberation movement because (1}
retical work of Marx and Engels, the concep­ Much of the left suffers from the same ho­
tion of the party, the stress on the impor­ mophobia that characterizes society as a
tance of national liberation struggles and whole.. . . (2) We believe the question of gay
the antistatism shown in The State and Rev­ liberation gives us important openings to
olution of Lenin; and the fight against Sta­ raise our views on the nature of socialism,
linism of Trotsky. But we also identify with that is, that it is a free society directly run
the best of anarchism, particularly its liber­ by working class and oppressed people, not
tarian spirit. . . . Revolutionaries must be an authoritarian system run by a state capi­
the vanguard in the fight for common de­ talist class, and to convince people of our
cency and true freedom. .. ."28 analysis of the Stalinist countries, in which
The r s l was active in several different gays are very oppressed."31
fields. One was the trade union movement. In 1977 a minority faction of the Red Flag
Although the Revolutionary Socialist Union, a "gay revolutionaries" group who
League was unable to develop units in as had come to agree with the r s l ' s "state capi­
many unions as the International Socialists, talist" position with regard to the Commu­
Rick Miles has noted that since 197s " we nis t-controlled regimes, joined the Revolu­
have been active in the unions, particularly tionary Socialist League. The majority of the
the u a w and usw. We have recently been Union joined the Spartacist League, and the
involved in an organizing drive among Latin organization ceased to exist as such.32
workers in a not-so-friendly relationship Beginning in the late 1970s the r s l sought
with the i l g w u in Los Angeles."29 At the to join with other groups which it consid­
1976 convention of the u a w , the R S L -o r g a - ered to be "revolutionary" to counteract the
nized Revolutionary Action Caucus held influence in organized labor and other fields
demonstrations against the union adminis­ of the "reformist groups." Ron Taber out­
tration then led by Leonard Woodcock.30 lined this policy in an article in The Torch
Miles has noted other fields of activity entitled "Reform or Revolution? Key Ques­
and propaganda of the r s l : "We were very tion for the Left."
active in the movement to support the liber­ After first observing that superficially the
ation struggle of blacks, people of mixed race "U.S. left" seemed to be divided mainly be­
and Asians in South Africa in the period tween Trotskyists and Stalinists, he said
after the Soweto uprising. We were involved that in reality there were great differences
in various kinds of prisoner-support work; among the groups within those two align­
our newspaper The Torch/La Antorcha has ments. There were reformists in both
a substantial readership among prisoners.'" camps. Furthermore, "a number of groups—
Miles went on, "In the past couple of years, both 'Trotskyist' and 'Stalinist'—seem to
we have been very active in the struggle share agreement on the need for violent rev­
against various Nazi and Klan organiza­ olution to overthrow capitalism; consider
tions. . . . We believe the Nazis and particu­ all, or almost all, the so-called 'socialist'
larly the various Klan groups have actual countries some form of capitalism; and gen­
and potential mass bases that are much erally pursue more militant policies. In our
larger than most people believe. This is to a view, these more left-wing tendencies in­
great degree based on our view that world clude the p l p , the r c p , the Marxist-Leninist
capitalism is now entering into a severe cri­ Organizing Committee, and ourselves,
sis on the order of the Depression of the among others. This should suggest that the
1930s." current lines of division on the left are, at

United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 905

bottom; artificial and false. To us, the most as the Communist Faction of the swp, split,
basic and most important issue facing the entered the is, then left r s l as above. It
working class today is the question—reform retains a degenerated workers state
or revolution?" analysis. "3S
Deriving from this analysis, Tabor pre­ In 1 9 7 5 t o u s absorbed the majority of the
sented his group's tactical line: "There can Class Struggle League, principally these peo­
be no doubt that the differences among the ple who in 1 9 7 2 , as the Leninist Faction, had
tendencies are of vital importance to the split from the Socialist Workers Party, and
workers' movement and cannot be ignored then joined forces with a dissident Sparta­
or glossed over. The revolutionary party can cist group, led by Harry Turner. In May 1 9 7 5
only be built through a determined political the Class Struggle League once more split
struggle over these questions. But we should into its constituent parts—ex-Leninist
not let the political struggle among the anti­ League and Turner group. Mike Conrad of
reformist forces hinder the fight against the t o u s has written that "The essential cause
reformists any more than is necessary. of the split in the c s l revolved around the
While carefully pursuing the political de­ fact that the comrades supporting the lead­
bate among ourselves, the anti-reformist or­ ership recognized the necessity for a re-eval­
ganizations should find ways to join forces uation of the question of the struggle to re­
in specific united fronts around concrete build the world party of socialist
struggle against the reformists."33 There is revolution—the f i . Thus it became neces­
no indication that the r s l was successful in sary for these comrades to actively partici­
organizing any such united fronts. pate in this struggle to rebuild the f i . The
Rick Miles has summed up the long-range only place this could be done was within the
perspective of the r s l , saying, "Our funda­ ranks of the International League."36
mental strategic goal is to build an interna­ Shortly after liquidating into t o u s , the
tional revolutionary party based on the Bol­ former Leninist Faction members issued "A
shevik model, i.e. before the Bolshevik Party Call to the Militants of the Socialist Work­
was taken over by Stalin. Hence our organi­ ers Party," urging them to join the fight to
zation functions on the basis of democratic "rebuild'' the Fourth International. This call
centralism which, despite the contentions argued that "those militants of the s w p who
of both the Stalinists and the bourgeois crit­ see that the primary task of the socialist
ics of Lenin, is not bureaucratic."34 revolution is to construct the vanguard
party on an international scale, an organized
center against the bourgeoisie, Stalinism,
Splits in th e r sl
and the liquidationist centrists, must assess
and make a break with the. revisionism and
The Trotskyist Organization
federalism that is the s w p / u s e c . A s mili­
of the U.S.
tants of the Class Struggle League who
The Revolutionary Socialist League suffered struggled within the swp and have subse­
several splits. The first of these divisions quently joined the Trotskyist Organization
took place early in 1974 and resulted in the of the U.S., American supporters of the In­
establishment of the Trotskyist Organiza­ ternational League—Rebuilder of the
tion of the U.S. {t o u s ). Fourth International, we sail upon you to
Ian Daniels of the r s l has noted that "the begin the struggle to build a faction within
'Soviet Defensist Minority' split out of the the swp to fight for the Fourth Open Confer­
RSL to form the 'Trotskyist Organization/ ence of the International League—a confer­
USA/ which publishes Truth, and is affili­ ence at which the Fourth International will
ated to the Varga wing of the FI. t o u s started be rebuilt___ "3?

906 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

 The t o u s remained one of the smaller olutionary Party [l r p ], established late in
groups in the United States claiming alle­ 1975. This division was the most important
giance to Trotskyism. They seemed to con­ one, in terms of who participated in it. The
centrate most of their efforts on bringing out major figure was Sy Landy, who had been
and distributing their newspaper Truth and one of the principal leaders of the Interna­
magazine Fourth International. They have tional Socialist and a major founder of the
been affiliated with the international fac­ RSL.
tion, headed by the Hungarian Trotskyist, The origin of this split, as seen from the
Balasz/Varga, which broke away from the point of view of those who stayed with the
Lambertists. Revolutionary Socialist League, was ex­
plained by Rick Miles:
The Revolutionary Marxist Caucus
In this split, a group led by Sy Landy .. .
Early in 1975 the r s l suffered its second
was expelled for violation of discipline,
split. Rick Niles has noted that "in late
actually systematic obstruction of the
1974, a grouping formed inside the r s l that
work of the organization. The political
proposed that we retreat from virtually all
issues involved two. One was the ques­
practical, organizing activity and instead
tion of the labor party. The r s l had ac­
study and write books. Although this was
cepted Trotsky's notion of supporting the
the main issue in the dispute, there were
call for a labor party, an independent party
others of a more theoretical nature, includ­
based on the trade unions, in the United
ing the nature of capitalism in the 20th cen­
States. In 197s Landy proposed to discard
tury and the nature of the post-war prosper­
this position and replace it with a call for
ity period."
a general strike, in fact an international
This group, the Revolutionary Marxist
general strike. Most of the r s l considered
Caucus (r m c }, left the r s l without being
this proposal to be playing with words and
expelled and maintained a separate exis­
rejected it.
tence for about two years. They then joined
In addition to this dispute, there was
the Socialist Workers Party. Miles has noted
another, more fundamental issue that
that "although the r m c had defended the
was actually the cause of the split. This .
point of view that the Stalinist countries are
was a proposal of the r s l majority to break
state capitalist—in fact, their proposal to
from what we saw as a one-sided and ab­
study and write was motivated primarily as
stract propagandistic approach and to get
the best means to fight for that view—the
involved in various movements and
leadership and some, but not all of the r m c
struggles using a flexible united-front ap­
rank and file adopted the s w p ' s position on
proach. In other words, we proposed to
the nature of these countries."38 The princi­
get involved in struggles in which people
pal leaders of the r m c were Bruce Levine
were fighting for very basic things, what
(Landau), Eric Olson, and Anfbal Yanez, son
we called trade union and democratic de­
of a Mexican Trotskyist leader. The only
mands, and to try to fight for our revolu­
one of these to stay in the s w p was Yanez,
tionary views in the course of these strug­
who in the early 1980s was still writing
gles. The Landy group rejected this and
about Latin American issues for The M il­
accused the r s l majority of abandoning
itant.39
Trotskyism.40
The League for the Sy Landy was expelled from the r s l on
Revolutionary Party November 29, 1975. His associate Walter
The third split-off from the Revolutionary Dahl was expelled shortly afterward.41 Most
Socialist League was the League for the Rev­ of their followers in the Revolutionary Party

United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 907

Tendency stayed in the r s l a short while nificance was perhaps the particular inter­
longer, but were expelled from the r s l on pretation which it came to give to the "state
February 15, 1976. The group then joined capitalist" definition of the Communist
forces to establish the League for the Revo­ Party-controlled regimes. At its first na­
lutionary Party.41 tional convention, in October 1982, the l r p
The l r p people presented their version adopted a resolution defining its position on
of their differences with the r s l in an article this issue. According to the official report
"The Struggle for the Revolutionary Party/' on the convention, "In order to stress the
which appeared in the first number of their uniqueness of the l r p ' s theory on the Rus­
periodical, Socialist Voice. They proclaimed sian question, the convention resolution
that "the r s l is on the road to centrism. adopted the name 'statified capitalism' for
y/43
the Stalinist system." According to this
In explaining their differences with the same source, the l r p proclaimed that.Sta­
rsl on the labor party issue, the l r p claimed linism "is a weak, patchwork operation
that" the r s l majority put forward an openly clinging to Western technology and loans
stagist view and accepted the limitation of for survival—not a planned and powerful
the class struggle to bourgeois conscious­ alternative,in real contention for world
ness for the next period. Accordingly, the domination. Its military might makes its
majority made its central political slogan economic fragility even clearer. Its bloc has
the demand for a labor party in the.U.S. . . . shattered not simply for surface ideological
Whereas Trotsky hoped that the labor party differences but because of economic neces­
slogan would intensify the struggle between sity. Like the neo-colonial nations. East Eu­
the classes, the r s l ' s purpose is to accept a rope has achieved the minimal progress at
reduced level of struggle. Whereas Trotsky the expense of huge debts to Western banks
argued that it would be absurd and reaction­ and a dependency on the world capitalist
ary to advocate a reformist labor party, the market. Russia is unable to guarantee or
r s l ' s labor party is designed for a democratic even partly satisfy its satellites' economic
and trade unionist stage which condemns it needs."
to a reformist program."44 The statement went on to note that
In discussing the general strike issue in "these bastardized capitalist economies
the conflict the l r p organ wrote: "Thus the have been unable to uproot all the proletar­
r s l opposed the general strike, accepting the ian achievements made through revolution.
backward workers' mistaken understanding They have been forced to try to turn those
of objective reality as instilled by the labor gains against the workers, and so they adapt
bureaucrats. The Bolshevik understanding the nationalized industry, foreign trade mo­
is that the world situation is objectively ma­ nopoly and planning structure into instru­
ture for revolution, and it is the workers' ments for exploitation. But these weapons
backward consciousness—their conserva­ also work against the efficient operation of
tism, fear and sense of impotence—that statified capitalism. . . . Thus, unlike in the
must be changed. The mass of workers have 1930s . . . today Russia and its semi-empire
a mixed consciousness; anger and explo­ are subject to the same economic crisis as
siveness run as a steady current just below world capitalism as a whole."46
the surface.. . . To those who tail backward The l r p document also-stressed other as­
consciousness the workers' response will pects of the supposed similarity of the Soviet
come like a thunderclap out of the blue—as system to the Western capitalist ones. The
in France in 1968."45 statement argued that it was not in fact a
The League for the Revolutionary Party highly centralized system with a unified rul­
remained relatively small. Its principal sig­ ing group, but rather was quite decentral­

908 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

ized, with different elements in the system fered two further divisions. One of these
having fiefs which they control and battle took place late in r977 and seems to have
for. In conformity with this, the return resulted from differences of opinion of the is
which members of the bureaucracy receive leadership with its counterpart organization
from the system, it was argued, depends in Great Britain. The result was the forma­
upon the way in which that particular part tion of the International Socialist Organiza­
of the economy functions, again following tion (iso) which became the U.S. affiliate of
the capitalist pattern. Finally, the l r p argued the International Socialist Tendency on a
that the workers continue to be subject to world scale.50
the wage system, and the laws of capitalist Although associated with one of the
accumulation as analyzed by Marx continue branches of the international Trotskyist
to apply in the Stalinist regimes as in any movement, the iso and its monthly newspa­
capitalist system.47 The l r p developed no per gave relatively little evidence of such
affiliation with any international Trotskyist affiliation. An issue of Socialist Worker, the
group. At their October 1982 convention iso organ in early 1983 contained no refer­
they changed their principal slogan from ence to Trotsky or Trotskyism. Although
"Reconstruct the Fourth International," to the regular feature "Where We Stand," in
"Re-create the Fourth International," ex­ which the organization outlines its ideology
plaining that this was "to avoid any implica­ and stand on various issues, contained a sec­
tion of glueing together the present false tion on "Internationalism," that section
claimants to Trotskyism."48 contained no reference to the iso's interna­
With the spring 1984 issue of their period­ tional affiliation or to the Fourth Interna­
ical the r w l changed the name of the paper tional in general.
from Socialist Voice to Proletarian Revolu­ The other parts of this statement of the
tion. Their explanation for this change was iso's position included one on workers' con­
that "the need for a new name was given trol which argued that "a socialist society
immediacy by the fact that, although our can only be built when workers collectively
program has not changed, the left as a whole seize control of that wealth and democrati­
has shifted markedly to the right over the cally plan its production and distribution
past decade.. . . The content of both 'social­ according to human needs instead of profit.
ist' and 'communist' has therefore become . . . " Another called for "Revolution not Re­
linked with even more compromising and form," and a fourth section called for "A
mealy-mouthed dogmas than in the past. To Workers' Government," indicating closer
sharply distinguish our goals and methods, association with traditional Trotskyism,
we chose the name Proletarian Revolution. stating that "the present state apparatus . . .
Above all, it re-emphasizes the centrality of cannot be taken over as it stands and con­
the working class and the impossibility of verted to serve workers. The working class
serious reform in this epoch of capitalist needs an entirely different kind of state
decay. . . ."49 based upon mass democratic councils of
workers delegates."
The dissident Trotskyist origin of the iso
More Splits in the is
was most closely reflected in the comment
in "Where We Stand" that "Russia, China,
The International Socialist
Cuba and Eastern Europe are not socialist
Organization
countries. They are state capitalist and part
After the split in the International Social­ of one world capitalist system. We support
ists, which resulted in the formation of the the struggles of workers in these countries
Revolutionary Socialist League, the is suf­ against the bureaucratic ruling class."51

United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman 909

 The iso had its headquarters in Cleveland. other Communist Party-controlled regimes
The April 1983 issue of Socialist Worker were not in any sense "workers' states."
indicated that the group had "members and Like other elements of the Trotskyist move­
branches" in twenty-four cities, most of ment this tendency had splintered, and like
them in the Northeast, although San Fran­ the global International Socialist Tendency,
cisco and Seattle were also listed. The pres­ its several factions disagreed on whether the
ence of groups in such college and university Stalinist regimes were "bureaucratic collec­
centers as Bloomington, Kent, Madison, and tivist" or "state capitalist."
Northampton would seem to confirm the
observation that the organization had its
principal strength on the campuses.52

Workers Power
The final split in the International Socialists
came as a consequence of their work in the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Among the people whom they recruited in
the process of their participation in suc­
ceeding rank-and-file oppositions to the
dominant and corrupt oligarchy in that
union was Peter Camarata. For some time
he was the principal is figure in the union.
However, in the late 1970s he split away to
form his own group, Workers Power, claim­
ing that the International Socialists were
not being sufficiently loyal to their own
principles and were showing too much w ill­
ingness to compromise in the struggles
within the Teamsters.53
Workers Power published a periodical
Against the Current. One of its themes was
the need for "all tendencies of . .. the broad
revolutionary le ft . . . to unify despite their
serious political differences. .. ."
In March 1985 it was announced that
Workers Power would soon merge again
with the International Socialists.54

Conclusion
More than forty-five years after the Shacht­
manite split in the Socialist Workers Party
there continued to exist in the United States
several organizations which, although
claiming basic allegiance to International
Trotskyism, agreed with the original
Shachtmanites that the Soviet Union and

910 United States: Shachtmanites After Shachtman

 U.S. Trotskyism: The dential election. At that time they urged
the s w p to support the candidacy of Henry
Workers World Party, Wallace, then running as the nominee of the
Spartacist League, Progressive Party.1
Soon after the outbreak of the Korean War
Workers League and
Sam Marcy issued a long internal document
Their Offshoots in the s w p about that event, entitled "Mem­
orandum on the Unfolding War and the
Tasks of the Proletariat in the New Phase of
the World (Permanent) Revolution." Marcy
argued that the Korean War was "not a war
between the nations but a war between the
From its inception, the Socialist Workers
classes!" a passage which he underscored.1
Party was the major Trotskyist organization
More significant in retrospect was his ar­
in the United States. At least until the 1980s
gument concerning the Communist regime
it represented "orthodox" Trotskyism in
in China. After citing a prediction of
this country. Trotsky concerning the Chinese revolution
However, beginning in the early 1930s
Marcy wrote that "of course, Trotsky had in
there have always existed other parties,
mind a genuine Communist Party grounded
leagues, groups, etc. which have professed
in revolutionary Marxism and geared to the
loyalty (in varying degrees} to Trotskyism.
perspective of the world revolution, rather
We have dealt with some of those early dissi­
than the party of Mao Tse-tung and Chou
dent groups in the first chapter on United
En-lai.. . . But then the latter have not been
States Trotskyism, and we have devoted two
the architects and guides of the revolution,
earlier chapters to the 1940 split in the s w p
as was the case with the party of Lenin and
and to the groups deriving more or less di­
Trotsky. On the contrary, the present Chi­
rectly from the "Shachtmanite" tendency.
nese leaders have been catapulted into
In the present chapter we shall deal with
power by the torrential revolutionary pres­
the Workers World Party, Spartacist League
sure of the Chinese peasants and workers.
and Workers League, which split from the
But theirs is nonetheless a dictatorship of
Socialist Workers Party in the late 1950s
the proletariat and peasantry no matter how
and early 1960s, and with all but one of the
distorted and mutilated by Stalinist prac­
splinter groups having their origins in these
tices, dogmas, and perspectives. . . ."3
three. In the next chapter, we shall discuss
The s w p at that point had not yet gotten
other dissident Trotskyist groups and the around to recognizing the Chinese regime
strange development of the National Cau­
as a "workers' state," and on this issue
cus of Labor Committees. Marcy was clearly a dissident. However, his
disagreements with the maj ori ty of the party
Workers World Party leadership did not bring him to break with
the party at that time. He supported the
Chronologically the first of these dissident majority in the fight with the Cochranites.
groups to break away from the Socialist Marcy's next disagreement with the s w p
Workers Party was the Workers World leadership came over the issue of the Hun­
Party, which was established, as noted ear­ garian revolution of I9S6. Unlike the s w p
lier, in 1959. Its principal figure was Sam majority, Marcy and his supporters attacked
Marcy. The Marcyites first emerged as the the uprising in Hungary as "counter-revolu-
Global Class War Tendency in the Socialist tionary."4 Once again, Marcy did not break
Workers Party at the time of the 1948 presi­ away from the s w p on this issue.

,U nited States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 911

 It was not until early 1959 that theMarcy- and Fascism ( y a w f ). The same party docu­
ites finally left the Socialist Workers Party ment just cited noted their perspective in
to establish t h e Workers World Party ( w w p ). launching this group. It said that "the task
In doing so, they clearly continued to regard of organizing and building a revolutionary
themselves as Trotskyists. Indeed, in the youth movement was seen as a high priority.
third issue of their monthly newspaper The rebellions of students and working class
Workers World they editorialized, "We are youth in almost every revolutionary situa­
THE Trotskyists. We stand one hundred per­ tion throughout the world have almost al­
cent with all of the principled positions of ways been symptomatic and the precursor
Leon Trotsky, the most revolutionary com­ of a general uprising of the proletariat and
munist since Lenin."5 its allies. Workers World Party conceived of
According to the leaders of a small dissi­ an organization of such revplutionary
dent faction which broke away from the youth."
Workers World Party about fifteen years The w w p and y a w f threw themselves
after its establishment, at its inception the early into the struggle against growing
party was "centered in key industrial areas" United States involvement in Vietnam.
and "collectively represented probably the They claimed to have organized the first
strongest working-class base the s w p had demonstrations against the war on August
developed to date; moreover, they combined 3, 1962, "at a time when most Americans
the unique historical perspective of Trots­ hadn't yet heard of Vietnam... ."T hey were
kyism (read: Marxism) with a keen under­ very proud of the fact that Ho Chi Minh, in
standing of how to apply that perspective to an interview with Wilfred Burchett, had said
conditions existing in the world of 1959." that "we appreciate such actions as . . . that
At its inception the party was "based largely of Amerian Youth Against War & Fascism
in Buffalo, Youngstown, Seattle and New who recently demonstrated against the 'un­
York."6 declared war.' Such activities are known
From the establishment of the w w p its here and greatly hearten our people."
favorite propaganda tactic was one of or­ w w p activity in the antiwar movement

ganizing street demonstrations—even be­ was not confined to street demonstrations.

fore they became the favorite tactic of the Two y a w f leaders were among those people
New Left in the latter half of the 1960s. One indicated for draft evasion. Deirdre Gris­
party pamphlet, celebrating the fifteenth an­ wold and Maryann Weissman of y a w f
niversary of the establishment of the w w p , worked with the London Secretariat of the
noted that "they set to work in this early Bertrand Russell International War Crimes
period organizing demonstrations in the Tribunal for several months. At Fort Sill,
very teeth of the bitter anti-communist Oklahoma, they organized demonstrations
backlash, when much of the powerful work­ at the time of the trial of Andy Stapp "for
ers' movement was scattered and in disar­ refusing to surrender anti-war literature."
ray. . . . Militant demonstrations were called Out of that demonstration came the organi­
in support of Patrice Lumumba, heroic Con­ zation of the American Servicemen's Union,
golese liberation fighter; against racist dis­ described somewhat enthusiastically by the
crimination practices in housing; against w w p as being "a mass organization of rank-

the repressive House Un-American Activi­ and-file servicemen and5. women, depen­
ties Committee of Congress." dents, and veterans opposed to war, racism,
In April 1962 the Workers World Party and the privileged officer caste, and with
established a youth organization, first members on U.S. bases around the globe."7
known as the Anti-Fascist Youth Commit­ The American Servicemen's Union was
tee and subsequently the Youth Against War completely dominated by the w w p and

912 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

yaw f. A group who broke with the w w p even in South Boston where a committee of
late in 1971 wrote that "the bureaucratic Black and white parents jointly greeted the
structure of y a w f was clearly reflected in bussed students to the school in South Bos­
the Union office; every prominent Union ton the week after the march whereas the
leader was a comrade, or rather a Party func­ week before there were constant racist
tionary, and if they had ever been g i s , they clashes. . . . " l0
had long since forgotten it. They related to The Workers World Party carried on an
servicemen only through the Party line and extensive program of literature distribution.
the Party leadership. . . ."8 In addition to its newspaper, Workers
The w w p and y a w f involved themselves World, it published and distributed numer­
in various other movements of the 1960s ous books and pamphlets, under the imprint
and early 1970s. As their fifteenth anniver­ of World View Publishers. For instance, in
sary leaflet said, "We hit the streets to de­ the winter of 1973-76 the party was selling,
fend the heroic Black uprisings in Watts, among other things, publications on the Por­
Newark, Detroit, Harlem, and other large tuguese revolution, "The Gay Question: A
cities, often while the Black community Marxist Appraisal," Vince Copeland's
was under martial law and the police were Southern Populism and Black Labor, stud­
riding shotgun on the demonstrations." A ies of the Allende regime in Chile, the mas­
y a w f leader, Tom Soto, was asked by the sacre of the Communists of Indonesia, wel­
Attica prison rioters to come into the prison fare, world hunger, Puerto Rican national­
and present their grievances for them. The ism, and a variety of works of Marx, Engels,
party participated in various women's lib and Lenin.11
demonstrations as well.9 During the 1 970s the w w p also undertook
The Workers World Party took a part in work in the organized labor movement. Kay
the continuing struggles over racial integra­ Martin has written that "a large number of
tion, particularly in the schools, during the our comrades are active in their shops and
1 970s. Their most spectacular activity in have gained the workers' respect in the
this field was in the march and demonstra­ struggles on the shop floor. Many have been
tion organized by pro-integration elements elected to positions of steward, shop chair­
in Boston in 1975 to protest strongarm ef­ man or chairwoman, or other positions from
forts by opponents of integration to thwart which they can further the workers' strug­
court orders in that city. Kay Martin has gle. Organizing drives, strikes and strike
indicated the role which the w w p and y a w f support work . . . are also a very important
saw themselves as playing in the Boston sit­ part of our development as a factor in the
uation: "I personally was one of the organiz­ struggle of labor in this period of outbacks
ers of the historic Boston March Against and unemployment."12 However, there is no
Racism last year which turned the tide evidence that the w w p gained control of any
against the wave of racist violence in that union level.
city. And it was the collective efforts of The w w p had by the 1970s developed a
many hundreds of comrades who joined the unique way of dealing with specific kinds
march organization and gave the march all of issues. There were organized within the
their attention and creative energy which party "caucuses" made up of members with
made the emergency march possible. . .. particular backgrounds and interests. Kay
Many considered the march an impossible Martin has noted that by the mid-1970s
task—yet it was done and 28,000 people these included "The Women's Caucus,
came out and it had the immediate measur­ Third World Caucus (Black, Latin, Chicano
able effect of demoralizing the racists and and other Third World Comrades], Gay Cau-
allowing those fighting racism to stand up—

tJnited States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 913

 In 1980 the Workers World Party adopted working-class world outlook—one of sup­
what was for it a new tactic. It ran candi­ port for all socialist countries and national
dates for office in the national election of liberation movements against imperial­
that year. Deirdre Griswold, editor of Work­ ism—this experience has prepared us to take
ers World since 1971, and Larry Holmes, a on the very difficult tasks which lie ahead.
black party leader, were named for president . . . Under the present economic conditions,
and vice president. The w w p also put up the outbreak of the mass struggle is inevita­
Tom Soto, a one-time leader of the Ameri­ ble—it is only a matter of time. Our task
can Servicemen's Union, as its candidate for is to prepare ourselves through the smaller
the U.S. Senate in New York State; Lydia struggles—and the not so small struggles—
Bayonota as nominee for the House of Rep­ of today and yesterday for the larger ones of
resentatives in upstate New York, and Pres­ tomorrow."19
ton Wood, "an activist for homosexual
rights" for the State Assembly in a lower
The Workers World Party
Manhattan district.14
and Maoism
The Workers World national candidates
campaigned for almost a year throughout Although starting their existence being, by
the country. In California they ran in the their own lights "THE Trotskyists," within
primary of the Peace and Freedom Party, a relatively short period the Workers World
where their opponents were Benjamin Party abandoned virtually all "public" adher*
Spock of the Peoples Party, Gus Hall of the ence to Trotsky, his doctrines and his move­
Communist Party, and David McReynoids ment. For more than a decade they were ap­
of the Socialist Party. The w w p nominees parently more Maoist than Trotskyist.
came in last, getting 1,232 out of 9,092 votes There were probably several reasons for
cast in the primary.ls The w w p claimed to this ideological "deviation." For one thing,
have gotten its candidates on the ballot in a Sam Marcy, for almost a decade before
dozen states.16 launching his own splinter party, had been
In the 1984 elections, the Workers World much more sympathetic towards the Chi­
Party first supported the campaign of Jesse nese Communist Party and Mao Tse-tung's
Jackson to get the Democratic Party nomi­ leadership than was the case with most
nation for president. When Jackson did not Trotskyites. With the evolution of events
succeed, they again named their own candi­ this aspect of his thinking became intensi­
dates for president and vice president, Larry fied. In the second place, soon after the
Holmes and Gloria La Riva. They also had launching of the Workers World Party, the
a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, estrangement between the Soviet and Chi­
one nominee each for the U.S. House of Rep­ nese leaderships began to become obvious,
resentatives in New York and California, and like all far-left groups the w w p leader­
and candidates for state legislatures in New ship had to take a position. Unlike many of
York and Michigan.17 Holmes and La Riva them, they had, in view of their own past,
were officially reported to have gotten no hesitation about taking the Chinese side.
15,220 votes.18 It is also, possible, as some of their critics
The Ionger-range perspective of how the alleged, that they for a while had some hope
Workers World Party people have seen of receiving the U.S. "franchise" from the
themselves is as well summed up by Kay Chinese Communist leadership.
Martin as by anyone else. He has said that Finally, as dissidents who broke away from
"it is this rich experience in struggle which the w w p in the early 1970s alleged, it may
recommends us as Marxist-Leninists. Cou­ well be true that Marcy and his associates
pled with a revolutionary and thoroughly found the burden of the Trotskyist tradition

914 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

too heavy an impediment in their recruiting Griswold added, however, that "this has
efforts in the early years of the party's exis­ not prevented it from being the most enthu­
tence. They had taken out with them all of siastic fighter for the Chinese revolution,
the swp members who generally sympa­ especially in those years when the masses in
thized with their main points of view; the China were sweeping away one entrenched
general atmosphere in the labor movement institution of class society after another, and
and among intellectuals was a conservative when China's international policies were
one, not conducive to recruiting people to more and more providing a rallying point for
the ideas of a maverick Trotskyist group. the world working class and the liberation
Hence, the principal potential recruiting movements in the struggle against imperi­
groundfor the new Workers World Party was alism."
among those who (largely as a result of the Deirdre Griswold noted that the first issue
events of 1956] had abandoned the Commu­ of the wwp paper had carried a front page
nist Party and its periphery. But these people article hailing the establishment of com­
were traditionally hostile to Trotskyism. As munes during the Great Leap Forward. She
a consequence, the w w p dissidents subse­ observed that "People's China was ex­
quently argued, "Workers World soon found tremely hard-pressed and isolated on the is­
it necessary not only to drop Trotsky's name sues of Tibet and the border war with India.
from its organ, but to drop Trotskyist litera­ Workers World Party stood virtually alone
ture from w w p bookshelves in the New York in this country in its defense of China on
City headquarters."20 these questions."
This turn away from formal commitment The w w p also supported the Great Cul­
to Trotskyism continued, a fact reflected in tural Revolution. Deirdre Griswold noted
a 1975 supplement to Workers World featur­ that "In all the great bourgeois revolutions,
ing the literature of the party which it was and in the first proletarian revolution in
then selling. In this four-page document backward Russia, the period of intense for­
there is no mention of any work by Trotsky, ward motion was followed by a decline and
although there are numerous writings of a partial reaction. . . . In China, this period
Marx, Engels, Lenin, and even of Vo Nguyen of reaction was anticipated by the revolu­
Giap and Kwame Nkrumah. The only publi­ tionary leadership, who called on the masses
cation of a Trotskyist nature is perhaps one to meet and defeat it with the Great Prole­
by "Mandel" (with no indication whether tarian Cultural Revolution." She added that
this is by Ernest Mandel) on “ Soviet "In a series of articles in Workers World
Women."21 Marcy explained that the Cultural Revolu­
During most of the first dozen years of its tion was a genuinely leftist development
existence, the Workers World Party's orien­ that found inspiration in the first workers'
tation was one of particularly class support government, the Paris Commune, and that
for the Chinese Communist Party and re­ it was responding to the rise of a restora-
gime. In 1976 Deirdre Griswold wrote an tionist element in China. . . ."22
article summarizing the party's attitude to­ However, as Deirdre Griswold explained,
wards China since w w p ' s inception. She the Workers World Party did not accept the
noted that in their relations to the Chinese Chinese description of the Soviet Union as
revolution the party had always had "the "social imperialist." She claimed that "This
kind of political independence that enables new class characterization of the Soviet
revolutionaries to speak up if they see that Union by the Chinese c p . . . opened the
cause being damaged by the policies of lead­ door to a U.S.-China rapprochement."
ers of socialist countries subject to the tre­ Clearly the w w p did not support this. Miss
mendous pressures of hostile imperialism." Griswold noted that "the tragic end of Lin

[United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 915

 Piao, former Defense Minister and successor sident), and its abandonment of all formal
to Mao according to the Chinese Constitu­ relationship with Trotskyism, there did re­
tion, and the disappearance of his associates main certain residual Trotskyist elements
marked the end of an entire stage of the in its philosophy or ideology. They still
Chinese Revolution." She cited Marcy as maintained a more or less orthodox Trotsky­
writing that "peaceful coexistence and ac­ ist position {if perhaps a somewhat exagger­
commodation with the West is what Mao ated one) on the question of the nature of the
proposed as the new foreign policy.. .. This Soviet Union and other Communist Party-
is what the 'radical faction'. . . rejected and controlled states.
opposed. They were vanquished as earlier Marcy summed up this position of the
opponents of peaceful accommodation with w w p in an article in May 1976. He wrote

the West were vanquished in the longperiod that "we, of course, believe neither that
following Lenin's death in the Soviet there is a new exploiting class in the Soviet
Union." Union, nor that there has been a return of
As to the policies followed by the Chinese the bourgeoisie to power there under the
party and regime after 1971, Deirdre Gris­ guide (sic) of Marxist-Leninist phraseology.
wold concluded that "proletarian revolu­ We firmly adhere to the position that the
tionaries can only be saddened by and op­ USSR is a workers' state, although it has
posed to such harmful policies, and undergone a severe strain, deterioration, and
promote, in the words of Ho Chi Minh, the erosion of revolutionary principles, and is
'restoration of unity among the fraternal moreover headed by a privileged and abso­
parties on the basis of Marxism-Leninism lutist bureaucracy which limits, distorts,
and proletarian internationalism, in a way and has on many occasions endangered the
which conforms to both reason and very existence of the socialist forms of orga­
sentiment.' ',2i nization in the USSR. . . . " Marcy con­
The Workers World Party became increas­ tinued:
ingly critical of the Chinese leadership after
Mao's death and the fall of the "Gang of .. . the underlying social system of the
Four." Marcy summed up the party's posi­ USSR is infinitely superior to that of the
tion in June 1978 when he wrote that "under most developed, the most "glorious" and
Mao there was a deep contradiction between the most "democratic" of the imperialist
his struggle to continue the process of re­ states. Whatever the drawbacks of the So­
forming China's social and political institu­ viet Union, whatever its trials and tribu­
tions on a revolutionary basis, and his reac­ lations, whatever false policies have been
tionary foreign policy in relation to the imposed on the USSR by its leaders, it has
USSR and other socialist countries. . . . nevertheless been able to achieve tremen­
What is not fully understood is that the cur­ dous social, cultural and material prog­
rent leaders are bent on 'harmonizing' the ress for the masses which no capitalist
domestic situation with their foreign policy, state could possibly have accomplished in
but their resolution of this truly fundamen­ the circumstances under which the USSR
tal contradiction is a reactionary one; that was originally founded and developed. In­
is they are attacking the revolutionary do­ deed, the USSR is rooted in a socialist
mestic achievements of the Mao era."M system superior to the capitalist system.
It is our fundamental political position
Remnants of Trotskyism in that, regardless of the Soviet bureaucracy,
WWP Ideology the USSR contains a new social forma­
In spite of the Workers World Party's trans­ tion, based on a historically superior
formation into a Maoist party (however dis­ mode of production, and is progressive in

916 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

 relation to monopoly capitalism in the Party cuts off our expression of views within
same way that capitalism was a superior that party. We will continue to print a public
system in relation to feudalism, as indeed organ pending readmission to the s w p and
feudalism was a higher social system than resumption of our proper role within it."18
slavery.2S The paper contained several documents rel­
ative to the split.
The expelled swpers sought to appeal their
The Spartacist League
expulsion to the United Secretariat, which
under the principle of "democratic cen­
Founding of the Spartacist League
tralism" should, they felt, have the right to
As a consequence of the factional struggle reverse the action of the s w p . They sent a
which raged within the Socialist Workers letter dated February 23, 1964, to Pierre
Party between 1961 and 1964, two dissident Frank of the u s e c . This letter said that "hav­
groups emerged, the Spartacist League and ing exhausted all presently available re­
the Workers League, both of which contin­ course within the American party, we are
ued to exist almost a quarter of a century now writing to formally request that the
later. In an earlier chapter we have discussed United Secretariat express its opinion on be­
some of the details of this struggle within half of the restoration of our organizational
the s w p . Here we will trace the trajectory of rights in what is, politically, your American
the two groups once they were outside the section."151
Socialist Workers Party. Pierre Frank replied on April 17, sending
Those dissidents who constituted the Rev­ a copy of a resolution of the United Secretar­
olutionary Tendency who were to form the iat which, after a long introduction, said that
Spartacist League were the first group to be "the United Secretariat (1] holds that the so-
expelled from the Socialist Workers Party as called 'appeal' by leaders of the Robertson
a consequence of the factional fight. On No­ group is a mere publicity move that seeks
vember 1, 1963, the s w p Political Commit­ to advance hostile factional aims; (2) con­
tee adopted a resolution, the operative por­ demns the course taken by the Robertson
tion of which read. "Because of their group, particularly its unrestrained public
violations of party loyalty the Political Com­ attacks against the Socialist Workers Party,
mittee hereby suspends from party member­ as injurious to the interests of the world
ship Comrades Robertson, Mage, White, Trotskyist movement."30
Harper and Ireland . . . The Political Com­ That was not quite the end of the matter.
mittee refers to the plenum of the National On May 18,1965, Harry Turner, writing "for
Committee the question of further disciplin­ the Spartacist Resident Editorial Board,"
ary action against the Robertson-Mage- sent a letter to u s e c asking that the Sparta­
White group."26 Almost two months later, cist group be permitted to appear before the
the plenum of the National Committee by World Congress of the United Secretariat
18 -1 expelled the five suspended members.17 which was to meet in June, to present its
Shortly after their expulsion the dissi­ appeal from expulsion.31 In reply, Pierre
dents issued the first number of their period­ Frank, on behalf of u s e c , said that "we call
ical Spartacist, dated February-March 1964 your attention first of all to the fact that the
and described as being "published bi­ Fourth International has no organizational
monthly by supporters of the Revolutionary connection with the Socialist Workers party
Tendency expelled from the Socialist Work­ and consequently has no jurisdiction in a
ers Party." In its editorial, the expellees said, problem such as you raise; namely, the ap­
"We are publishing the Spartacist because plication of democratic centralism as it af­
our expulsion from the Socialist Workers fects the organization either as a whole or in

‘United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 917

 individual instences."32 This consideration, Robertson also discussed the emergence
of course, had not prevented the United Sec­ of regimes such as those in China and Castro
retariat from taking its earlier action in Cuba, arguing that in these revolutionary
April 1964. movements the peasantry had "an excep­
Meanwhile, the Spartacist group had been tionally independent role," resulting in "a
in touch with Gerry Healy and the Interna­ social transformation led by the petty-bour-
tional Committee. After the s w p ' s expul­ geoisie. . . . " The result of this, he argued,
sion of the Tim Wohlforth group, Healy first was that "all that has come out of China
took the position that the two factions and Cuba was a state of the same order as
which had been thrown out of the s w p that issuing out of the political counter-rev­
should unite to form a single affiliate of the olution of Stalin in the Soviet Union. . . .
International Committee. However, when That is why we are led to define states such
representatives of both the Sparacist group as these as deformed workers states. . . . "
and the American Committee for the Fourth In this discussion Robertson was critical of
International (a c f i ) had a meeting in Mon­ some of the formulations of the British and
treal with Gerry Healy and other representa­ French affiliates of the International Com­
tives of the ic, it was agreed that both Amer­ mittee.36
ican groups would be regarded as being Healy and the leadership of the s l l clearly
associated with the International Com­ disagreed with some of Robertson's basic
mittee.33 formulations. As a consequence, the Sparta­
In conformity with that agreement both cists were finally eliminated from the Lon­
the a c f i and the Spartacists were repre­ don conference and consequently from the
sented at the April 1966 third conference of International Committee. The excuse for
the International Committee in London. At this was alleged "insubordination" by Rob­
that meeting J araes Robertson delivered a ertson and the Spartacist delegation.37
statement on behalf of the Spartacist delega­ Five months after the London Conference
tion, which conflicted on several points the Spartacist group formally established
with the position of the Socialist Labor the Spartacist League. It elected a Central
League and its major figure, Gerry Healy. Committee chaired by Robertson and
Robertson first devoted his attention to adopted a Declaration of Principles. That
Pabloism, saying that it had begun "in 1943, document started by saying, "The Spartacist
following the failure of Leon Trotsky's per­ League of the U.S. is a revolutionary organi­
spective of the break-up of the Soviet bu­ zation which, as part of the international
reaucracy and of new October revolutions revolutionary movement, is committed to
in the aftermath of the war; this failure re­ the task of building the party which will
sulted from the inability to forge revolution­ lead the working class to the victory of the
ary parties . . . " 34 He agreed with a French socialist revolution in the United States." It
delegate who had said that "there is no fam­ declared the league to be the inheritor of the
ily of Trotskyism." "Nevertheless," he traditions of "Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky,
added, "there are now four organized inter­ Luxemburg, and Liebknecht," and "of Marx­
national currents all claiming to be Trotsky­ ism as developed in theory and practice by
ist, and spoken of as 'Trotskyist' in some V. I. Lenin and L. D. Trotsky, as embodied
conventional sense. This state of affairs in the decisions of the first four Congresses
must be resolved through splits and fu­ of the Communist International and by the
sions." He concluded that it was necessary Transitional Program and other documents
"to consummate the struggle for the actual adopted by the 1938 Founding Conference
reconstruction of the f i , culminating in a of the Fourth International." It was "the
world congress to re-found it."3S continuator of the revolutionary heritage of

918 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

the early Communist Party and the Socialist tenth and the eleventh number, although it
Workers Party."38 was supposed to be a bimonthly.41 A resolu­
The Declaration said that "We stand with tion adopted at the 1979 conference of the
all these groups seeking the rebirth of the Spartacist youth organization noted that
Fourth International and, as a first step, the "from the time of the founding conference
creation of a bona fide International Com­ of the s l in 1966 . . . the organization was
mittee of revolutionary Trotskyists based involved in little mass work of any kind.
upon a real and living democratic cen­ The main arena for mass work in the early
tralism." It adopted the more or less ortho­ days of the Spartacist tendency was the civil
dox Trotskyist position that the USSR was rights movement, but with the rise of black
a "degenerated workers state" and the other nationalism we were effectively frozen out
Communist Party-controlled ones were of the black movement by 1968."
"deformed workers states." In spite of the youthfulness of most of the
The Declaration claimed that "within the Spartacists, they did not have a significant
Trotskyist movement the problems posed influence in the growing left-wing student
by the post 1943 Stalinist expansions have movement of the mid-1960s. The cited reso­
given rise to the revisionist current of Pab- lution noted that the only Spartacist student
loism. . . characterized chiefly by a renunci­ organization was the Young Socialist
ation of the necessity for revolutionary lead­ League at Cornell. It "campaigned in sup­
ership and an adaptation to existing petty- port of civil rights and black self-defense,
bourgeois and Stalinist leaderships. This de­ collecting money for the Deacons for De­
terioration of theory has led to the degenera­ fense under the slogan, 'Every Dime Buys a
tion of the Fourth International founded by Bullet!' . . . the y s l shocked and polarized
Leon Trotsky, and to its organizational the entire campus by collecting funds for the
breakup. The Spartacist League, by contrib­ n l f , making concrete our call for 'military
uting to the theoretical clarification of the victory to the n l f . ' 1,43
Marxist movement and to the reforging of In its early years the Spartacist League
the workers' necessary organizational weap­ was very largely dominated by James Rob­
ons, upholds the revolutionary proletarian ertson. Harry Turner, a severe critic of Rob­
principles of Marxism and will carry them ertson, described his leading role. He noted
forward to the vanguard of the working that "Cde. Robertson has played a key and
class."39 vital role in the formation and continued
operation of the Spartacist movement. He
has, until recently, been the only person in
Evolution of the Spartacist League
its ranks willing and able to assume the re­
The Spartacist League remained for many sponsibility of being a full-time functionary.
years an organization of young people, most He has shown himself to be an articulate,
of them middle class and college educated, audacious leader, able to deal incisively
or still in college. It was a small group, esti­ with many questions arising in the anti-war,
mated by Harry Turner in 1969 to have student, electoral, and certain trade union
about one hundred members.40 The s l was arenas in which the non-specializing college
largely isolated from the rest of the radical graduate predominates. . . . Cde. Robertson
movement in the United States, and after has demonstrated the capacity to take into
the International Committee's conference account the many-sided aspects of a situa­
in 1966, it was without counterparts in tion, and simultaneously deal with several
other countries.41 Its periodical, Spartacist, political and organizational questions in
came out sporadically, ten months passing depth, and with flexibility in tactical appli­
in 1967-68 between the appearance of the cation."44

United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 919

 In 1967-68 the first important internal Weathermen faction and the labor-oriented
struggle in the history of the Spartacist group led principally by the Maoist Progres­
League developed. It was basically over the sive Labor Party.48
determination of the majority, led by Rob­ However, in 1969 the Spartacists did at­
ertson, to keep the organization oriented tempt to participate in the s d s conflict.
principally toward the student movement, They sided with the p l p faction at the s d s
and the desire of the opposition element, led convention where the organization split.
mainly by Harry Turner, to turn the League Early in 1970 they established the Revolu­
toward the labor movement and particularly tionary Marxist Caucus |r m c ), and this
in the direction of trying to work among group "functioned both as a caucus within
black and Hispanic trade unionists.45 s d s and a loose Trotskyist youth group."49

In September 1967 the Political Bureau The Spartacist League also sought to use
of the League had unanimously adopted a the r m c as its principal instrument in the
Memorandum on the Negro Struggle, sub­ movement against the Vietnam War. The
mitted by Turner, providing for the League 1979 s y l resolution noted that "The s l / r m c
to form an organization to stimulate estab­ sought to create a class polarization in the
lishment of union rank-and-file caucuses, U.S. around the Vietnam War . . . the r m c
particularly among minority workers, to fought for a working class orientation—for
fight both union leaders and employers. In labor political strikes against the w ar.. . ,"50
pursuance of this, a "pan-union Militant La­ This participation in the s d s conflict and
bor Civil Rights Committee (m l c r c ) " was the antiwar movement paid dividends for
organized in New York City by the Sparta­ the Spartacist League. Between 1 9 7 0 and
cist League local there. In the following year 1 9 7 2 its membership increased three times
Robertson pushed a motion through a mem­ over.51 Its youth group, which in 1 9 7 1 was
bership meeting of the New York local to renamed the Revolutionary Communist
dissolve the m l c r c and to try to organize Youth, "grew four fold in ig jz -i< )j2 ."s*
instead separate caucuses in different In 1 9 7 1 the Spartacist League adopted a
unions. It was over this issue that the fac­ "Memorandum on the Transformation of
tional fight developed, although broader the Spartacist League," which defined it as
philosophical issues also came to be dis­ a propagandist organization preparing the
cussed.46 ground for establishment of a revolutionary
During part of this controversy Turner party. It also provided for reorganization of
and his supporters were allied with people the group's work on the basis of special
who were attracted by the French Voix Ou­ "commissions" dealing with labor, women
vriere group's technique of propagandizing and youth.53
among factory workers. However, before the Thereafter, much of the s l ' s effort was
struggle had been completed those people concentrated on publishing and circulating
left the organization to establish their own its periodicals. The League itself began to
group.47 By the end of 1968 Turner and his issue Workers Vanguard, a weekly paper, on
principal associates had been driven out of a regular basis,- its youth group (which in
the Spartacist League. 1 9 7 3 changed its name again to Spartacus
As a consequence of this factional struggle Youth League) put out a monthly Young
which took up much of the leaders' time and Spartacus, and the Women's Commission
energy, the Spartacists did not get deeply of the s l began to publish a quarterly
involved in the radicalization of the stu­ Women and Revolution. A typical copy of
dents which was under way at that time. this last periodical carried articles on "Femi­
Thus, they did not participate in the struggle nism vs. Marxism: Origins of the Conflict,"
in the Students for a Democratic Society recounting the troubles of Victoria Wood-
between the very far left and anti-union hull with the First International in the

920 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

1870s; the struggle of Spartacists within recruit people from other radical groups. In­
the "Socialist-Feminist" Berkeley/Oakland deed, leaders of other groups tended to re­
Women's Union; and an attack on "Third gard that as being one of the principal char­
Worldism."54 acteristics of the Spartacists.58They became
In 1971 the Spartacist League leadership inveterate distributors of leaflets and sellers
ordered the "industrialization" of the of their own literature at the meetings orga­
League, that is, that the s l members get jobs nized by other groups. Their frequent heck­
in industry, affiliate with their appropriate ling of speakers at such meetings sometimes
unions, and seek to win a labor base for the brought about efforts to ban them from the
organization. This maneuver caused certain sessions.59
problems for the organization, and particu­ Sometimes the s l published evidence of
larly for its youth group. As the s y l resolu­ its success in recruiting from other radical
tion of 1979 commented, "while the r c y groups. Thus, in the report of its Fourth Na­
was successful in establishing campus frac­ tional Conference in 1974, it was recounted
tions on a number of the major college cam­ that among those participating were "2 6 for­
puses, the recruitment that resulted did not mer members of the s w p / y s a , 1 5 of p l / w s a ,
compensate for the loss of a number of our 11 of the is, as well as lesser numbers from
most talented and mature youth activists numerous other organizations including the
to trade-union implantation and other party Weathermen, Black Panthers, r u , s p / y p s l
responsibilities."55 There is no evidence and c p . '" 50
that the Spartacists won appreciable influ­ In the late 1970s the Spartacists began to
ence in any union. run occasional candidates in general elec­
After the gains which the Spartacist tions. In 1978 they named Marjorie Stam-
League and its youth affiliate made during berg as candidate for the New York State
the early 1 970s, the membership of the two Assembly from the 64th District (Green­
groups leveled off, or even declined, in sub­ wich Village). She was reported to have got­
sequent years. The Spartacus Youth League ten 909 votes, or 3.3 percent of the total,
1979 resolution already cited noted that and to have done better than the swp and
"though the party has continued to recruit Communist Party nominees. 61 In 1981 the
both from the s y l and elsewhere, the mem­ Spartacists ran Don Andrews, a black mem­
bership of the s y l has declined each year ber of the s l ' s Central Committee, and Ann
since 1975. The effects on the party have Weekley, "a supporter of the Spartacist
been evident. The youth recruited to our League," for the Detroit city council.*1 In
movement mainly off the campuses, have 1983 they put up Martha Phillips as nomi­
been attracted largely on the basis of ab­ nee for city council member at large in
stract ideas rather than through actual social Oakland.63
struggle and consequently are particularly In the late 1970s, too, the Spartacist
vulnerable to the pressures of bourgeois so­ League began to organize meetings against
ciety."56 the Ku Klux Klan and other far-right groups.
In 1979 the Spartacus Youth League suf­ They were particularly pleased with a dem­
fered a significant split. A number of its prin­ onstration they organized in November
cipal leaders, including those associated 1982 at the foot of Capitol Hill in Washing­
with editing its periodical, Young Spartacus, ton, D C ., attended by a reported 5,000 peo­
were expelled, on the grounds of excessive ple, which had the endorsement of a number
"Intellectualism," and of not being suffi­ of union locals and resulted in the Klan's
ciently subordinate to Spartacist League decision to abandon a plan for a march down
control.57 the Mall.64
Virtually since its inception the Spartacist During the late 1970s and early 1980s the
League was particularly active in trying to Spartacist League adopted a number of posi­

! United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 921

i
 tions on international issues which differen­ issued in October 1981, Solidamosc: Polish
tiated them more or less drastically from Company Union for CIA and Bankers. The
the other groups in the United States which pamphlet consisted principally of reprints
claimed more or less loyalty to Trotskyism. of articles from Workers Vanguard during
Three of these are particularly worthy of the months following the Gdansk strike of
note: Iran, the Soviet invasion of Afghani­ August 1980 denouncing various Solidarity
stan, and the Solidarity movement in leaders and the intellectual advisers of the
Poland. new Polish labor movement.67
Unlike most of the far left in the United The Spartacist League does not normally
States, the Spartacists did not greet with publish its membership figures. However,
unalloyed enthusiasm the fall of the Shah in 1980 Joseph Schwartz of the Democratic
and the rise to power of the Ayatollah Kho­ Socialist Organizing Committed estimated
meini in Iran. While the struggle against the that the Spartacists had about 300
Shah was still under way they raised the members.68
slogan "Down with the Shah! Down with
the Mullahs!"65 After the triumph of Kho­
Offshoots of the Spartacist League
meini they continued to denounce the theo­
cratic dictatorship, and to be particularly
The Revolutionary Workers League
critical of other Trotskyist groups which
were giving support, however "critical," to Subsequent to the split of Harry Turner and
the Khomeini regime. his associates in 1968, the Spartacist League
Also in contrast to most of the rest of the suffered two other small splits. One of these
far left in the United States and elsewhere, took place in the late 1970s. The Revolu­
the Spartacists enthusiastically supported tionary Workers League was founded in
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Workers 1976 by two ex-members of the Spartacist
Vanguard, in one of the early issues follow­ League, Peter Sollenberger and Leland Sand­
ing the Soviet move, had the headline "Hail erson, former Harvard graduate students
Red Army!" with the subtitle "While Carter who had moved to the University of Michi­
Stews, Soviet Army Rolls Back Afghan Mul­ gan at Ann Arbor. There they sought to orga­
lahs." The accompanying article proclaimed nize a union of clerical workers employed by
that "from a military point of view the So­ the university. They also became involved
viet intervention may or may not have been with the gay and lesbian rights groups at the
wise, though certainly it is deeply just to university. They issued a periodical, Revo­
oppose the Islamic reactionary insurgents lutionary Worker.69
backed by imperialism. There can be no With the formation of the Trotskyist In­
question that for revolutionaries our side in ternational Liaison Committee (t i l c ) under
this conflict is with the Red Army. In fact, the sponsorship of the Workers Socialist
although it is surely uncalled for militarily, League of Great Britain, led by the ex-auto­
a natural response on the part of the world's workers' union leader Alan Thornett, the
young leftists would be an enthusiastic de­ Revolutionary Workers League became its
sire to join an international brigade to Af­ U.S. affiliate. Even after a crisis in the t i l c
ghanistan to fight the c i A - c o n n e c t e d mul­ over the Falklands (Malvinas) War of 1983
lahs. . . . " 66 the r w l continued its affiliation.70 In 1981
Finally, unlike virtually all of the far left the Revolutionary Workers League merged
except the U.S. Communist Party, the Spar­ with another small group, the Socialist
tacists were strongly opposed to the rise of League-Democratic Centralist ( s l - d c ), con­
Solidarity in Poland. Their position was well sisting of ex-followers of Tim Wohlforth be­
synthesized in the title of a pamphlet the s l fore Wohlforth's expulsion from the Work-

922 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

ers League. Headed by Steve Bryant, it had The External Tendency (ET)
its principal center in the San Francisco
The other schism in the Spartacist League
area.71
was that of the so-called External Tendency
After the merger of these groups under the
( e t ). It was officially proclaimed in October
name of the Revolutionary Workers League
1982 when a "Declaration of an external
(r w l ), that organization began to publish a
tendency of the ist" was issued. The exact
new periodical, Workers Struggle. The orga­
nature of the issues between the e t and the
nization strongly supported the Polish Soli­
Spartacist League remained somewhat ob­
darity. It also sought to work with anti­
scure at least to an outsider. The October
administration forces within the United
1982 declaration claimed that "while the
Auto Workers in the Detroit area. Thus, in
s l ' s program remains revolutionary, its lead­
November 1982 the r w l supported that so-
ership collective increasingly exhibits
called United Front Caucus in Local 600 at
hyper-centralist, paranoid and personalist
the River Rouge plant. That ticket received
characteristics. These tendencies on the
about 10 percent of the vote. There is no
part of the leadership have reached a point
indication of how many members, if any,
where they call into question both the possi­
the r w l may have had in Local 600.71
bility of significantly enlarging the organiza­
, In 198a Leon Perez of the Internationalist
tion and of reproducing Trotskyist cadres
Workers Party (Fourth International) cred­
within it."77 In addition to this familiar "or­
ited the r w l with about forty members/? By
ganizational" complaint, the e t appears to
1984 the r w l was in discussion with the
have had differences with the s l leadership
Internationalist Workers Party (jfi). Within
over its attitudes toward the Soviet Union,
the Peace and Freedom Party of California
trade union tactics, the U.S. intervention in
( p f p ), the legally recognized "socialist" party
Lebanon in 1982, and several other issues.
in the state, members of the two groups There were counterparts to the External
worked together at the p f p ' s August 1984
Tendency of the United States in Germany
convention against the majority element
and Canada.78
more or less dominated by the Communist
The Morenoist periodical Working Class
Party.74 Opposition claimed in July 1985 that the
In October 1982 the i w p (f i ) had proposed
Spartacist League had lost about half of its
negotiations with the r w l for possible gen­
membership and cadres since 198a as the
eral cooperation between the two groups.
result of the e t defection and other internal
Although the r w l did participate in an
conflicts.79
Emergency National Trotskyist Conference
organized by the i w p ( f j ) in 1983, nothing
further came of negotiations between the The Workers League
two groups at that time.7S However, the iw-
Early Development
p ( f i ) periodical reported in August 1984 that

"a debate has begun between the two organi­ The second group to emerge from the 1963-
zations about the need to build a single revo­ 64 split in the Socialist Workers Party was
lutionary, Marxist, Trotskyist organization that which came to be called the Workers
in the United States." The r w l , which ap­ League. It originated as a division within the
parently was by then no longer affiliated Revolutionary Tendency which had chal­
with the Trotskyist International Liaison lenged the Dobbs-Hansen leadership's posi­
Committee, accepted a suggestion that it tion on the Cuban Revolution, the "reuni­
send a delegate to the Morenoist Interna­ fication" of the Fourth International, and
tionalist Workers League's forthcoming other issues.
world congress.76 From its inception the group which was

United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 923

 to form the Workers League proclaimed its tion the Reorganized Minority Tendency
adherence to the line advocated by the Brit­ (r m t ), as the Wohlforth group called itself,
ish Socialist Labor League led by Gerry had submitted a draft resolution in which it
Healy. In the document dated November 13, made "proposals that the swp make work in
1962, announcing its separation from the the trade unions, among the workers who
majority of the Revolutionary Tendency led were beginning to move into struggle, not
by James Robertson and others, the group only against their employers, but also
made this clear. They started their "Call for against their trade union bureaucrats, and
the Reorganization of the Minority Ten­ to win Black and Spanish-speaking workers
dency" by saying that "the tendency ex­ on this basis. . . ."w
presses its general political agreement with In developing its position the r m t had
the tendency of the International Commit­ worked closely with Gerry Healy-.and the In­
tee which has agreement around the 1961 ternational Committee of the Fourth Inter­
International Perspectives resolution pre­ national. In fact, in refusing to condemn the
sented by the Socialist Labour League.'" majority of the s w p leadership as being "cen­
This "call" stated the differences of the trist, " Wohlforth had been following instruc­
group, led by Wohlforth and including tions from Healy, instructions to which
among others Albert Philips and Fred Ma- the Robertson group refused to adhere.84
zelis, with the Revolutionary Tendency Attempts of the Wohlforth group to con­
leadership headed by Robertson. For one tinue the struggle within the Socialist Work­
thing, they opposed the characterization of ers Party proved fruitless. A few months af­
the s w p as a whole as being "centrist," com­ ter the expulsion of the Robertson faction
menting that "to characterize the s w p ma­ Wohlforth and his followers were also ex­
jority as a finished- centrist tendency is to pelled from the s w p . The particular issue
give up the political battle before it has be­ over which this action came was a contro­
gun." The document stressed that "the ten­ versy over the entry of the Ceylonese Trots­
dency must recognize that the s w p is the kyist party, the Lanka Sama Samaja, into
main instrument for the realization of so­ the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike. The
cialism in the U.S. . . . Our comrades must Wohlforth group immediately formed the
therefore work as loyal party members . .. American Committee for the Fourth Interna­
and accepting the administrative decisions tional (a c f i ), and began to publish a mimeo­
of the leadership even though we might be graphed periodical, Bulletin of International
very much against them."80 At the time of Socialism (later shortened to Bulletin}}5
this "call," Wohlforth, who was a member During its early years the Wohlforth
of the Political Bureau of the s w p , wrote a group, which in 1966 became the Workers
fellow party member in San Francisco that League, defined its position on a number of
"Let there be no doubt about it—we do not issues, on which it was clearly separated
want a split internationally or domesti­ from the stands of the Socialist Workers
cally."81 When, in fact, the Robertson group Party. These questions included the Soviet-
were expelled from the swp in December Chinese feud, the Vietnam War, the race
1963, "the Wohlforth-Philips grouping" op­ issue in the United States, and the formation
posed the move.82 of a Labor Party.
At the swp convention of July 1983 at In an early issue of th^Bulletin the a c f i
which reunification with the "Pabloites" to stated its position on the Sino-Soviet contro­
form the United Secretariat of the Fourth versy. It asked:
International was agreed upon, Wohlforth
was removed as member of the Political What position should revolutionaries
Committee. In preparation for that conven­ take on the Sino-Soviet dispute? Revolu­

924 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

 tionaries must realize that the major in­ jected the s w p ' s line of rapprochement with
ternal threat to the workers state and to Black Nationalists in the United States.
the whole proletarian struggle comes at Their position was summed up in the com­
the present time from the Kremlin and ments that "what Negro militants have to
those to the right of the Kremlin in East­ understand is that the problem they face
ern Europe. . . . Thus we cannot stand is essentially a class problem and that the
aside in this great dispute between the problem is directly related to the problems
USSR leadership and the c c p and say "a of poor white workers." This same state­
plague on both your houses." The major ment noted that "the only way to build the
threat both to the defense of the workers forces amongst the Negro population . . . is
states and to the future development of on the basis of a program that corresponds
the whole world revolution comes at the to the needs of the vast majority of the popu­
present time from the Khrushchevists. lation. This program must, in addition, be
. . . The Chinese, on the other hand, have tied to a program of independent working
been forced to make some searching criti­ class political action. . . ."90
cisms of Khrushchevism, criticisms From its inception as an independent or­
which we know are also of Stalinism itself ganization the Wohlforth group evidenced
. even though the Chinese cannot face up its hope to develop influence within the
to th is.. . . At the same time we have no trade union movement. With the seventh
illusions about the Chinese. . . S6 issue of its periodical it launched a regular
feature, "Labor Scope," which provided in­
Some years later, with the outbreak of the formation and support for the struggles of
Great Cultural Revolution in China, the various unions.91
Workers League gave that movement at The Workers League strongly urged the
least qualified backing. Thus, a throwaway formation of a Labor Party. Lucy St. John,
for a meeting on "Hands Off the Chinese then editor of Bulletin, wrote early in 1968
Revolution" proclaimed "Conditional sup­ that "the next great leap of the American
port of 'Red Guards'—the duty of every revo­ working class will be the creation of its own
lutionist."87 At the same time the Bulletin party. . . . Such a party cannot be content
reprinted an editorial from its British coun­ to wrest reforms from capitalists at a time
terpart written by Mike Banda which made when the capitalists must wrest gains from
the same argument.88 the workers or the system will go under.
The ACFi-Workers League took a dis­ Thus of necessity the creation of such a
tinctly different attitude toward the Viet­ party must be seen as a struggle against not
nam War from that of the s w p . Unlike the only the capitalists but also the labor bu­
Socialist Workers Party concentration of its reaucracy and a struggle for not simply re­
antiwar efforts on building as wide a coali­ forms but transitional demands which pose
tion as possible in favor of getting the United the necessity of the workers running the
States out of the war, the a c f i strongly sup­ government themselves and in their own
ported Vietcong victory in the conflict. As interests wiping out the capitalist system to
early as April 1965 the Bulletin endorsed achieve their own needs."91
Gerry Healy's proclamation that "we are not The Workers League formed a group to
talking about peace. We are talking about carry on agitation for a labor party, the Trade
participating in class war. We hope the Viet­ Union Alliance for a Labor Party (t u a l p ).
cong will hammer the daylights out of the Much of the propaganda work of the League
Americans. We are for the defeat of the for some time was conducted in the name of
Americans. . . ,"89 the t u a l p rather than of the Workers League
The ACFi-Workers League also strongly re­ itself. This tactic was criticized by their Brit­

{ United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 925

 ish comrades of the Socialist Labor League nial and to the swp that they have a joint
and subsequently Wohlforth admitted that Trotsky memorial meeting.97 Neither invi­
the British had been right in labeling it "li- tation was accepted.
quidationist."93 The leaders of the Workers League consid­
In spite of its orientation toward the more ered that one of their strong points as a
Trotskyist emphasis on trying to appeal to Trotskyist organization was their interna­
the organized workers at a time when the tional affiliation. At the first conference of
swp was seeking primarily to gain followers the International Committee of the Fourth
in the predominantly middle-class antiwar International in London in April 1966, the
movement and New Left, and among black Workers League, rather than the Spartacists,
nationalists, women's liberationists, and was accepted as the United States affiliate of
gays, the Workers League had only limited that body.98 Thereafter the Workers League
success. They achieved no appreciable trade frequently emphasized in its propaganda
union influence, even on a local level, and that it was a member of the only "real"
the League clearly remained an organization Fourth International. When the Interna­
of aging middle-class youth. tional Committee split in 1971 the Workers
Much of the attention of the Workers League continued to be affiliated with that
League was centered on publishing and sell­ faction led by Gerry Healy of the Socialist
ing its newspaper, the Bulletin. In Novem­ Labor League of Great Britain.
ber 1969 the paper, which was by then being In 1974 the Workers League for the first
printed rather than mimeographed, became time attempted to carry out electoral activ­
a weekly. Lucy St. John, the paper's editor, ity. It organized a "Workers Party" slate in
proclaimed in the first issue of the weekly the election for congress in two districts in
paper that "this is indeed the epoch of Trots­ New York City, naming Helen Halyard and
kyism and the construction of mass revolu­ Terry Delgado as its candidates in the 14th
tionary parties as part of an international and 1 2th districts, the latter running against
movement. This is the meaning of the first Representative Shirley Chisholm in
daily Trotskyist paper published by our Brit­ Brooklyn.99
ish comrades. The publication of the weekly Undoubtedly the high point of Workers
Bulletin is the first step toward the building League activity and influence was in the
of a mass party of the working class in the very early 1970s. In 1970 the group was able
U.S."94 The League was ultimately able to to hold two more or less successful regional
buy its own web offset press and to issue the conferences, one in the East, one in the
paper twice a week.95 West. At the Western meeting in San Fran­
The League centered much of its attention cisco more than seventy people attended.100
on other far left elements. It polemicized At the end of 1971 the. Workers League
frequently with the Spartacists. In its first was for the first time able to launch its own
year or so, its periodical carried considerable youth organization, the Young Socialists, At
material on the Progressive Labor Party, ap­ least two previous attempts had failed.
parently with some hope of winning that Among those who addressed the founding
group away from Maoism and toward Trots­ conference of this organization were Tim
kyism. In 1969 Bulletin carried a series of Wohlforth and the editor of the Bulletin,
articles by Tim Wohlforth, calling on mem­ Lucy St. John.101 The group's second confer­
bers of the s w p to look into their party's ence was held in December 1973, with 3 so
history to find the reasons for its suc­ people said to have been in attendance.
cumbing to "Pabloism,"96 and in 1970 the Young Socialist, the youth group's periodi­
paper proposed to other Trotskyist groups a cal, was particularly directed to young work­
joint commemoration of the Lenin Centen­ ers, and among its features for about a year

926 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

was a two-page centerfold recounting "He­ This was by no means the first time that
roes of the American Labor Movement."102 Healy had personally participated in the af­
fairs of the Workers League. Subsequent to
his ouster from the w l leadership, Wohl­
The Workers League, Gerry Healy,
forth recounted that early in 1973 Healy had
and the International Committee
attended "a critically important National
Within a year after the League's youth affil­ Committee Plenum of the League." Wohl­
iate was established, the w l had entered into forth added that "the main thrust of Com­
a serious crisis. It resulted in most of those rade Healy's intervention at that Plenum
who had founded the organization and led it was to fight for an understanding that the
during its first decade leaving the organiza­ center of the world capitalist crisis was the
tion, and began a long-term decline in the crisis of American capitalism. If this was
Workers League. grasped, then we could understand the ex­
There were probably several causes for the plosive nature of class relations which
crisis. Leaders of some of the rival Trotsky­ would develop in the United States simulta­
ist groups felt that in the League's drive to neously with revolutionary outburst in Eu­
issue and distribute a semiweekly paper it rope. .. . Comrade Healy stressed the impor­
had "worked its people to death," ulti­ tance of seeing a labor party in this
mately generating disaffection.103 Undoubt­ revolutionary context with workers defense
edly there were strong differences among committees, Councils of Action type orga­
the leadership on a number of issues, partic­ nizations, being formed in the neighbor­
ularly the effort to use the Young Socialists hoods. . . ." l0S
as a vehicle for winning influence for the In this case Healy was presenting his
w l among organized workers.104 Finally, the American supporters with the official "line"
increasingly bizarre attitudes and behavior of the International Committee. In August
of Gerry Healy, the head of the International of the following year he undertook to go
Committee, with which the Workers further and change the leadership of the
League was affiliated, as well as his direct Workers League. Wohlforth subsequently
interference in the internal affairs of the recounted the details of this incident.
League was a major factor in the crisis and A couple of weeks before a scheduled
decline of the organization. Workers League summer camp, Wohlforth
For about a year in 1973 and 1974 a fac­ was summoned to Britain to talk with
tional struggle was waged within the Work­ Healy. There, Wohlforth was presented by
ers League. On the one side was Tim Wohl­ Healy with a series of rumors with which
forth and those supporting him and on the expelled members of the w l had regaled
other a group led by Lucy St. John and Den­ him. Although Wohlforth thought that he
nis O'Casey. As a consequence, the Workers had successfully confronted these reports,
League was said (by the Spartacists) to have he was somewhat disconcerted to have been
lost about 150 members, including "most of submitted to interrogation about them by
the central w l leadership and . . . many of Healy and others.
the more able youth the w l has managed to At the w l summer camp, which Healy
recruit over the past period. . . ."I0S Al­ and another British leader, Cliff Slaughter,
though Tim Wohlforth survived this strug­ attended, Healy indicated great preoccupa­
gle as the leader and National Secretary of tion with "security measures" to assure his
the Workers League, he was suddenly ousted own safety. Then he accused Wohlforth of
from his position in August 1974 and subse­ having "protected" his close associate
quently resigned from the organization, as a Nancy Fields, whom Healy said he sus­
result of Healy's direct intervention. pected o f being a c i a agent. Using this as his

United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 927

reason, Healy then proposed to a Workers a Labor Party! Fight for a Workers' Gov­
League Central Committee meeting (held at ernment!"105’
the summer camp) that Wohlforth be re­ The Young Socialists, the w l youth group,
moved as national secretary and be substi­ also continued to be active on some college
tuted for by Fred Mazelis. Both measures campuses. In May 1984 it held its tenth na­
were adopted unanimously, with both tional conference in Detroit, which featured
Wohlforth and Fields voting in favor. a premiere showing of a film entitled "The
Subsequently the International Commit­ Year of Karl M arx."110
tee was called together to ratify the mea­ The Workers League continued to argue
sures taken at the w l summer camp. Healy's in favor of establishment of a labor party. It
intervention was endorsed, Wohlforth was published in 1980 a pamphlet entitled "The
barred from political leadership of the Case for a Labor Party."111 One of the themes
League, and Nancy Fields from "any contact of the League's presidential election cam­
with the League of any sort." Thereupon, paign in 1984 was "Build a Labor Party."112
Wohlforth resigned from the Workers During the 1984 campaign the Workers
League. When later he was invited to reapply League named Ed Winn for president of the
for membership by the International Com­ United States, and Helen Halyard for vice
mittee, Wohlforth refused to do so when president. Both nominees were blacks. The
informed that he would first have to "jus­ party was on the ballot in six states—New
tify" himself before the International Com­ Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illi­
mittee. Fred Mazelis thereafter remained nois, and Minnesota.113 They also ran Fred
the principal leader of the Workers Mazelis as candidate for the U.S. Senate in
League.107 However, by the early 1980s he Michigan.114 Winn was officially credited
had been succeeded by David North. with receiving 10,801 votes.115 In 198s the
w l named Helen Halyard once again as their

candidate for mayor of Detroit.116

Subsequent History of the
Workers League
The Post-Wolhforth Workers League
The Workers League was still functioning
and Gerry Healy
in the middle 1980s. Its principal center of
membership was in Michigan although in The Workers League continued to be affili­
1983 it also had local groups in Minneapolis, ated with the International Committee of
Chicago, and New York.108 the Fourth International, headed until late
After Wohlforth's disappearance from its 1985 by Gerry Healy. The w l May Day proc­
leadership, the Workers League shifted lamation of 1984 proclaimed the Interna­
headquarters from New York City to De­ tional Committee to be "the World Trotsky­
troit. There it reestablished the Trade Union ist movement, which alone represents the
Alliance for a Labor Party, which it de­ historical continuity of the struggle for
scribed as the "industrial arm" of the Work­ Marxism and the traditions of the 19 17 Oc­
ers League. Although there is no indication tober Revolution which established the So­
that the League or its Alliance gained any viet Union, the world's first workers
visible influence among the auto workers or state."117
any other organized labor group, the Alli­ The wl continued to follew the somewhat
ance did organize at the end of July 1983 a idiosyncratic policies of Healy and the Inter­
National Conference of Workers and Unem­ national Committee. Among these was sup­
ployed. The call for this conference had as port for the Libyan regime of Mu'ammar
its concluding slogans: "Call of Congress of Qaddafi. At the time of the shooting of a
Labor! General Strike Against Reagan! Build London police officer from inside the Libyan

928 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

"People's Bureau" (embassy) the Workers Workers Revolutionary Party, first in 1982
League newspaper reprinted an article from on the question of Healy's philosophical
the publication of the Workers Revolution­ views . . . and then in 1983-1984 on the po­
ary Party of Gerry Healy in Great Britain. litical line of the w r p adopted under his lead­
That article started out, "The Tory govern­ ership." However, Bulletin commented,
ment, the Home Office and the Metropoli­ "Healy and the Political Committee of the
tan Police planned an elaborate conspiracy Workers Revolutionary Party refused to dis­
to invade the Libyan People's Bureau in St. cuss these criticisms on either occasion.
James' Square last Tuesday to oust the sup­ The Workers League was compelled to with­
porters of Colonel Muammar Gadafi and in­ draw the criticisms, without an answer be­
stall a bunch of right-wing pro-imperialist ing given, under threat that there would be
stooges."118 an immediate breaking off of fraternal rela­
The Workers League also echoed Gerry tions. . . ," U1 As a consequence of these de­
Healy's vendetta against the leaders of the velopments, when the split came in the
Socialist Workers Party, particularly Joseph ranks of the British Healyites the Workers
Hansen and George Novack, accusing them League sided with Healy's opponents.
of having been g p u and f b i agents at the
time Trotsky was living in Mexico and Han­
The Spark Group
sen was among his bodyguards. Thus, the
Workers League distributed a pamphlet, The During the factional fight within the Sparta­
Confession of Sylvia Franklin, with the sub­ cist League in 1968, one element of the op­
title An SWP Coverup Exposed.119 position was a group attracted by what was
The association of the Workers League then called Voix Ouvriere, and after 1968
with Gerry Healy finally came to an end Lutte Ouvriere, in France. They were partic­
late in 198s. The break occurred when in ularly favorably impressed with that French
October Healy was expelled from the Work­ Trotskyist group's strategy of regular prepa­
ers Revolutionary Party (w r p ) of Great Brit­ ration and distribution of leaflets directed
ain by a majority of the w r p ' s Central Com­ specifically at workers in different factories
mittee and from the International and other places of employment.
Committee of the Fourth International. In By 1971 this element had formally orga­
this split the Workers League sided with nized as The Spark. At that time it had small
Healy's opponents, led by Cliff Slaughter groups in Baltimore and Detroit. They is­
and Mike Banda. sued a kind of statement of principles enti­
One of the political charges made against tled "For a Trotskyist Organization in the
Healy by Banda and Slaughter was that he Working Class." This document repeated
had accused David North, national secretary the usual Trotskyist analysis of the rise of
of the Workers League, of being a " c i a the "bureaucracy" in the Soviet Union and
agent."120Soon afterward the w l ' s periodical the consequent degeneration of the Soviet
Bulletin noted that "the ic statement ex­ regime and the Comintern. They then went
plained that Healy's personal degeneration on to observe "The Failure of the Fourth
was inseparable from a protracted political International." The document stated that
degeneration. . . . This political degenera­ "we believe that the failures of the Trotsky­
tion provoked a struggle within the world ist organizations come from their passive
Trotskyist movement, recorded in the docu­ adaptation to external conditions and partic­
ments which are now being made public." ularly to their own original m ilieu.. . .Work
The Bulletin released its own "docu­ in the petty-bourgeois arenas, which they
ments." It revealed that "the Workers formerly accepted as a necessity, they now
League raised political differences with the proclaim to be a virtue. They pretend that

{jnited States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 929

 students, petty-bourgeois intellectuals, and Nazis," arguing in favor of measures to close
nationalist leaders are the vanguard which a Nazi bookstore near the plant. It also had
by its action will catalyze the working class a notice of a showing of a movie, "Black
into revolutionary consciousness." Legion," about a fascist-type organization of
The Spark statement then defined the the 1 930s. The newsletter also had short
group's own orientation. It said that "the notes about the failure of the company to
organization must bring together militants clean snow out of its parking lots, the fact
from the working class and militants of pet­ that no new workers had been employed as
ty-bourgeois origin who have broken with had been promised when a new Personnel
their class, but it must guard itself against Holiday Plan had been introduced, the com­
ever becoming an expression of the petty- pany's not giving workers advance notice of
bourgeois layers of society. . .. Therefore, when they would have overtime,, and about
all members of the petty-bourgeois origin the Ford Company in South Africa. Finally,
must prove their ability to recruit and de­ it had a short article on the arrest of seven
velop worker militants. If a petty-bourgeois participants in a wildcat strike at the Tren­
militant is unable to devote the major part ton Engine Plant of the Chrysler Corpo­
of his activity to this aim, or is ineffective ration.124 ...
in this work, he should be removed from all Another newsletter, issued for workers of
decision-making within the organization." a Chrysler plant, "Eldon Spark," in its June
The declaration ended, "We consider our­ 30, 1977 number, had a lead article on the
selves part of the Trotskyist movement. But front page condemning an incident in which
for all the above reasons, we have decided to white high school graduates had celebrated
be politically active independent from these their commencement by going into a black
existing organizations."122 area and beating up several people. It argued
The Spark group began in July 1971 to that "for white workers, there is a choice."
publish a monthly newspaper, Spark. By Other notes in the newsletter dealt with the
early 1976 this had become a biweekly. The union's failure to inform new workers of
announcement in Spark of this change their rights, overtime problems, the
noted that "when we began Spark we had "squeeze on older workers," and a cartoon
only 3 newsletters. Today we have twelve. showing a doctor being interviewed by the
Our newsletters appear in auto, steel, tele­ Chrysler Medical Hiring Board and being
phone, electrical, and textile factories in Bal­ told that "We don't care how many degrees
timore and Detroit. Our newsletters enable you have, doctor. How's your killer in­
us to organize workers around our ideas and stinct?"115
to get our ideas into the hands of thousands In addition to their newspaper and news­
of workers.. . . Alternating our biweekly pa­ letters the Spark Group began in 1980 to
per with our biweekly newsletters means publish a mimeographed magazine, Class
that now we can appear every week at the Struggle, subtitled, "A Trotskyist Quar­
factories to give the views of Spark on the terly." It carried longer articles reflecting
issues that face us."12a the group's points of view. One in the second
The newsletters were directed at workers issue on the anti-nuclear movement com­
in specific workplaces and dealt both with mented that "certainly today revolutionar­
the immediate problems of those workers ies should support the anti-nuclear move­
and with the more general ideas of the Spark ment morally and politically. They should
group. For instance, the "Ford Spark" news­ participate in its activities when such par­
letter of January 24, 1978, issued for a Ford ticipation will not detract from their basic
motor plant in Detroit, had a lead article activity in the working class. But we must
entitled "Workers Have the Right to Stop be clear that the building of a revolutionary

930 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

organization rooted in the working class had recently established one in New York
comes before participation in any petty- City. Internationally it was associated with
bourgeois movement."'26 the Lutte Ouvriere party in France.131
Class Struggle indicated the Spark group's
support for the Polish Solidarity movement.
The October 1981 issue had an article on The Turner Group
"Poland: What Lies Ahead for the Working
Class?" commenting on the first (and only) The principal element in the opposition
congress of Solidarity. It commented that within the Spartacist League in the factional
"the very existence of the Congress.. . dem­ struggle of 1968 was led by Harry Turner.
onstrated the democratic rights which the They left the s l at the end of that year. Upon
Polish workers had taken for themselves in leaving the Spartacist League the Turner
this period. That the workers have sustained group explored the possibility of joining
their organization so long and continued to forces with one or another of the other
extend their demands without falling back groups claiming loyalty to Trotskyism.
is remarkable."127 They first negotiated with the Workers
Subsequent to the suppression of Solidar­ League but were unable to reach agreement
ity, Class Struggle carried an article on that on a number of political points. They then
event, which concluded that "As long as joined forces with the S D S -L a b o r Commit­
the enemies of the working class hold the tee, headed by Lyn Marcus (Lyndon La-
power, that is, as long as they control the Rouche), which was then an open organiza­
state apparatus and the army, the working tion grouping together several different
class has no way to guarantee it can retain Trotskyist tendencies. However, after a
what it won by its struggles.. . . That is, the short period they followed the Spartacist
working class must fight for the one thing, League and Workers League in withdrawing
for power, which is the guarantee that it can from the Marcus group. Shortly thereafter
keep all the other things it has won."128 they established the Vanguard Newsletter
The position of the Spark Group on the ( v n l ) . 132
(for Trotskyists) all-important issue of the In an early issue of the Vanguard Newslet­
nature of the Soviet Union was markedly ter the group synthesized its political posi­
different from that of virtually all other U.S. tion. This statement said that "we in Van­
Trotskyist groups but similar to that of its guard Newsletter call for the building of an
French counterpart. They held that, since American section of the international Le­
the Soviet Union was the only country ninist and Trotskyist working class van­
which had had a genuine workers revolution guard party on a program to unite the ra­
in which the workers had seized control, it cially divided working class in struggle
was the only case which could be labelled a against all forms of special oppression, in its
degenerated workers state.129 As for the own immediate and fundamental interests
other Communist Party-controlled regimes, and for the socialist revolution." The state­
an editorial in Spark defined the situation ment continued: "We call for the organiza­
by saying, "The workers were not involved tion of rank and file or left-wing caucuses
in establishing these states, and these states in the trade unions with this perspective
do not represent the working class. Roma­ incorporated into a comprehensive program
nia, like the rest of East Europe, is simply of transitional demands. We believe that a
a bourgeois state, with a poorly developed network of such caucuses can develop into
economy. . . ." 13° a leadership of the organized working class,
By mid-1982 the Spark Group had local can become at a revolutionary moment,
units in Detroit, Chicago, and Baltimore and workers' councils, 'Soviets', organs of 'dual

United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots 931

power' and the 'dictatorship of the proletar­ recruiting to revolutionary socialism, sell­
iat." ' l33 ing its newspaper and pamphlets, and help­
The v n l group continued to be interested ing to build rank and file caucuses that will
in merging with other groups. It had further lead the working class. . . . The new organi­
discussions with the Workers League.134 It zation, while it propagandizes for a national,
also kept close track of a split then in prog­ network of rank and file caucuses, does not
ress within the De Leonist Socialist Labor attempt to build a national committee of
Party. The sl p dissidents formed a new such caucuses now, when there is no base
group, Socialist Reconstruction, in August for it."137
1970, and that group expelled some of its The united Class Struggle League lasted
own dissidents, who established the Social­ only about two years. Harry Turner and his
ist Forum Group. The v n l said of it, that "in followers soon found themselve’s in the mi­
uniting De Leon's contributions to revolu­ nority in the leadership of the League. The
tionary Marxism with those of Lenin and split finally came in May 1975. It was thus
Trotsky, Socialist Forum has developed a described by the Turner faction: "Our orga­
program which is close to that of Vanguard nization is the culmination of the internal
Newsletter on most essential questions."135 struggle between a centrist wing, organized
The two groups did not unite, however. around the Central Committee (cc), and its
In 1972 there was a small split in the So­ revolutionary Marxist wing, organized
cialist Workers Party. The Leninist Faction around the Bolshevik Faction, which took
withdrew and established the Class Struggle place at the third national convention of the
League (c s l ). The v n l immediately made Class Struggle League (c s l ). On the last day
contact with the c s l , which was already ne­ of the convention, more than half the mem­
gotiating with the Spartacist League. The bership resigned from the c s l to form the
v n l proposed a discussion of programmatic Trotskyist Organizing Committee. . . ." 13S
issues and possible unity among the three Once again the Tumerites, now the Trots­
groups. The Spartacists rejected further ne­ kyist Organizing Committee (t o c ), which
gotiations, and the v n l and c s l agreed on had about thirty members in New York,
unification under the Class Struggle League Chicago, Texas, and San Francisco, made
name.136 overtures to other Trotskyist groups. It
The founding convention of the new sought agreement on five points: the coun­
Class Struggle League evidenced two basic terrevolutionary role of Stalinism, an inter­
issues on which there was disagreement. national of revolutionary Marxism (the
One was whether it was possible to salvage Fourth International), the validity of the
the Fourth International or whether it was Transitional Program, a national rank-and-
necessary to form an entirely new Fifth In­ file organization in the trade unions, and a
ternational. The latter view gained a major­ labor party based on the trade unions inde­
ity. The second issue of disagreement was pendent of the capitalist parties.
whether the East European regimes were The t o c made contacts with the Socialist
workers states. On that subject, "The major­ Workers Party, promising to conform to s w p
ity held that the buffer states became work­ discipline if it was possible for it to present
ers states when the Red Army, representing its point of view three months before con­
the proletarian state in a distorted form, con­ ventions. The swp turned down these over­
solidated state power in these countries." tures. Among the other tendencies with
There had also been some controversy which the ro e negotiated were the Thomett
over trade union policy. However, agree­ group in the United States, the Socialist
ment was reached that "the new organiza­ League (Democratic Centralist) and the
tion will do work in the trade unions by Spark group.

932 United States: WWP, Spartacist League, and Offshoots

 Finally, in 1978 the t o c was invited by U.S. Trotskyism: Other
Mike Bartell of Los Angeles to become part
of the Committee for a Revolutionary So­ U.S. Trotskyist and
cialist Party, an umbrella group of several Ex-Trotskyist Groups
smaller organizations.l3S>As a consequence,
on November 16, 1978 a statement by t o c
under the masthead of the t o c periodical
Socialist Appeal announced that "as a result
of these discussions and attendance at the In addition to the Socialist Workers Party
first national c r sp conference of an observer, and its dissidents of the 1982-84 period,
we in the t o c have decided to join c r s p . We Shachtmanite offshoots, the Workers World
have, therefore, dissolved the t o c and ended Party, Spartacists, and Workers League and
the publication of Socialist Appeal. . . ," 140 their splinters, there have been several other
Soon after the t o c joined the c r sp the groups in the United States since the 1960s
latter decided to become a separate political professing loyalty to Trotskyism. Some of
organization, rather than a "united front." these have had association with one or an­
As a consequence, the t o c once more with­ other faction of the Fourth International.
drew. The t o c also became the Revolution­ Most remained more or less Trotskyists, at
ary Unity League (r u l ). least in their own view, although one of
The r u l once again entered into negotia­ them carried out a strange evolution from
tions with another group in 1981. In this the far left to the extreme right.
case, it was the Revolutionary Workers
Front (r w f ), the United States affiliate of the
The News and Letters Group
faction of the Fourth International headed
by the Argentine, Nahuel Moreno. The two The oldest of these dissident groups was the
groups merged at a convention in July 198a News and Letters Group, established in
to establish the Internationalist Workers 19 5 5. It had its roots in an old faction within
Party (Fourth International},141 which is dis­ the U.S. Trotskyist movement, the Johnson-
cussed in the following chapter. Forest Tendency. Its principal leader was
Raya Dunayevskaya.
In her earlier incarnation, Raya Dunayev­
skaya was known as Rae Spiegel, and under
her “ party name," F. Forest. For a while dur­
ing Trotsky's residence in Mexico she had
been one of his secretaries. She subse­
quently described her assignments with him
as being "work on behalf of the Russian Bul­
letin of the Left Opposition," and "some
research work regarding Stalin."1
Both C. L. R. James (Johnson) and Rae
Spiegel (Forest) had left the Socialist Work­
ers Party with the Shachtmanites. However,
by 1941 they had formed the "state capital­
ist" tendency within the Workers Party
(w p ), the group which disagreed with Max
Shachtman's description of the Soviet
Union as being "bureaucratic collectivist."2
In 1945 they became officially known as the

1
I United States: Other Groups 933
"Johnson-Forest Tendency" within the w p . 17/ 1953, East German revolt against Rus­
They finally split from the Workers Party in sian state-capitalism masquerading as Com­
the summer of 1947.3 munism, in order to express our solidarity
The Johnson-Forest Tendency remained with freedom fighters abroad as well as at
outside of any group for a few weeks and home. Because 195 3 was also the year when
then reentered the Socialist Workers Party. we worked out the revolutionary dialectics
Within the swp as had been the case in the of Marxism in its original form of 'New Hu­
Workers Party they constituted a "state cap­ manism,' as well as individuality (purified
italist" faction. In that capacity they con­ of all that interferes with universalism, i.e.,
tributed a number of polemical articles to with freedom itself), we organized ourselves
the Internal Bulletin of the sw p .4 in Committees rather than any elitist party
At the time the Johnson-Forest Tendency 'to lead/ " 12 .....
reentered the Socialist Workers Party the The form of organization of the News and
s w p was engaged in a reassessment of their Letters Committees has been unique for a
attitude on "the Negro question," and so Marxist revolutionary organization. As
particularly welcomed the return of C. L. R. Andy Phillips commented in News and Let­
James. He delivered the report on that issue ters early in 1980, "The form is a decentral­
to the s w p convention following his read­ ized committee structure of freely associ­
mission.5 ated local groups and individuals acting
The Johnson-Forest Tendency left the So­ through and with a centralized National Ed­
cialist Workers Party once again in August itorial Board responsible for implementing
19 S i.6 By that time, as Kent Worcester has decisions determined in the process of free
noted, "The tendency had broken with and open discussions at annual plenary ses­
Trotskyism on almost every point."7 In Oc­ sions and conventions. .. . We chose the
tober 1951 the Johnson-Forest Tendency es­ committee form of organization because it
tablished a new periodical as the rallying permitted the greatest flexibility and did not
point for their ideas and organization, Corre­ preclude any future organizational develop­
spondence.8 There were about seventy ment. We are not opposed to the political
members of the group at that point.9 Seven party form on principle: we are opposed to
issues of the periodical appeared, the last the concept of the vanguard party to lead
one in March 195 3.10 Meanwhile, in No­ the masses and the practice that flows from
vember 19 s2 C. L. R. James had been ar­ that."13
rested. He was held at Ellis Island for six Each successive annual conference of the
months and then was expelled from the group drew up its interpretation of the cur­
country.11 With his departure, the Johnson- rent scene and its program for activities dur­
Forest Tendency, as such, came to an end. ing the coming year. All these statements
News and Letters Committees [sicj, under were presumably prepared, debated and ac­
Raya Dunayevskaya's leadership, was for­ cepted in the context of the Marxist Human­
mally established in 19s S - A later statement ism developed by Raya Dunayevskaya.
of the organization on "Who We Are and The Draft Perspectives Thesis prepared
What We Stand For" noted that "News and for the 1980 annual meeting of the group
Letters was founded in 1955, the year of the noted that "first and most important, of
Detroit wildcat against Automation and the course, is the expansion oi News and Letters
Montgomery Bus Boycott against segrega­ into a twelve-pager, which at one and the
tion—activities which signaled a new same time calls for the creation of a nucleus
movement from practice which was itself a to write theoretical analyses of burning is­
form of theory. Vol I, no. 1, came off the sues as they happen, and a forum for work­
press on the second anniversary of the June ers, Blacks, women and youth to speak for

934 United States: Other Groups

 themselves." The document went on to say There is no doubt about the fact that the
that "naturally this means expansion of all News and Letters Group centered on Raya
our activities, especially with the unem­ Dunayevskaya and her ideas. Charles Denby
ployed; especially with the youth in its fight called her book Philosophy and Revolution
against the proposed registration for the "the most fundamental statement of Marx­
draft; especially with the Black masses as a ist Humanism."18 Lou Turner, of the group,
whole, who are the greatest victims of the has commented that "I think that all under­
present recession and who have already standing of what is meant by Marx's Hu­
demonstrated their passion for revolt and manism turns on comprehending Dunayev-
totally new human relations; and especially skaya's contribution to Marxist philosophy
with the Women's Liberationists, interna­ with PePR."19
tionally as well as nationally, who have not The position of Dunayevskaya as the axis
only deepened and expanded their activities of the News and Letters Group was clear in
but are everywhere also involved in the the Draft Prospectives Thesis prepared for
most serious theoretical reconsideration."14 the 1980 convention of the group. It com­
In spite of the implications of this 1980 mented that "from the vantage point both
document that the News and Letters Group of the objective situation and of the need to
and its members were carrying on organized assure a new stage of organizational devel­
political activities in several different fields, opment, we need to bring the Archives of
most of the attention and efforts of the group Marxist-Humanism up to date, with the
appear over the years to have been concen­ completion of the draft of the book, Rosa
trated on issuing and circulating the news­ Luxemberg, Women’s Liberation, and
paper News and Letters together with a vari­ Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution. There is
ety of pamphlets and books issued by the not a single problem today which is not illu­
organization. Key to all of this was the prop­ minated by that study. . . .I0 The archives
agation of the Marxist Humanist ideas of referred to were those of Raya Dunayev­
Raya Dunayevskaya. skaya in the Wayne State University Li­
News and Letters is the particular pride brary.
and vehicle of the organization. The pre­ Early in 1968 there was an effort made to
viously cited statement on "Who We Are establish a youth section of the News and
and What We Stand For" commented that Letters Group. Eugene Walker, commenting
" News and Letters was created so that the on this attempt, said that "the challenge
voices of revolt from below could be heard of trying to establish a Marxist-Humanist
not separated from the articulation of a phi­ youth group to aid in this is a hard, serious
losophy of liberation. A black production one. A first step is to break with the distor­
worker, Charles Denby, author of Indignant tions, slanders and slogans which either vil-
Heart: A Black Worker's Journal, is the edi­ lify or pass for M arxism .. . . Theirs must be
tor of the paper."ls the task of infusing the pluri-dimension-
Charles Denby (Mathew Ward) was asso­ alism of Marxism into a Movement whose
ciated with Raya Dunayevskaya from the possibility for fulfillment resides in break­
late 1940s.16 He was an auto worker, partici­ ing out of its pragmatic mold into a fully
pated in various insurgent movements conscious human activity for full freedom."
against the Reuther regime in the United A group of students, including high school­
Auto Workers, and was for several years a ers, began publishing a periodical, The
member of the Socialist Workers Party. In Young Marxist-Humanist, which included
his autobiography he commented that "I a greeting entitled "The Heritage and the
was never happier at any time in my life Challenge" by Raya Dunayevskaya.21 How­
than when I left the Trotskyist Party."17 ever, there is no indication that a News and

United States: Other Groups 935

Letters youth group was actually estab­ rightful place as the vanguard detachment
lished. of a working-class socialist revolution. (2)
The News and Letters Group was not as­ The first-rank importance of women's
sociated with any of the international Trots­ rights, in both theory and practice, within
kyist tendencies. It is clear that it was no the party, the mass movements, and on the
longer Trotskyist in spite of its origins. general political scene."24 Subsequently the
Rather, it was a group organized around the Freedom Socialist Party as well as the c r s p
ideas of Raya Dunayevskaya, based suppos­ continued to put great emphasis on "social­
edly on the early philosophical writings of ist feminism."
Marx, and some of those of Lenin.22 The f sp held its first Conference in Janu­
Lou Turner has commented that "we have ary 1967. At that time the party established
not had any splits in News and Letters, nor a somewhat peculiar form of organization,
have we merged with any other group or and certain factional differences appeared
tendency. Internationally, we continue to within its leadership. It elected both an Ex­
develop relationships with revolutionaries ecutive Committee and a Literary and Cor­
who have broken with all state powers, from respondence Committee. The former was
Mao's China to Castro's Cuba. There has controlled by Clara Fraser, the Literary and
developed a British Marxist-Humanist Correspondence Committee by a Mr. Kirk,
group which will be issuing its own British who had been a member of the swp National
supplement to go with Ne?L this year."23 Committee, and Frank Krasnowsky. A dis­
pute arose as to which of these two organiza­
tions was the highest authority within the
The Committee for a Revolutionary
new party.15 After considerable struggle the
Socialist Party
Frazer group won control of the fsp , an event
The Committee for a Revolutionary Social­ which was hailed by the winners as "A Vic­
ist Party (c r s p ,) which held its first national tory for Socialist Feminism. "26
conference in October 1978, had its origins The Freedom Socialist Party continued to
in several groups which had broken from the be largely under the influence of Clara Fra­
Socialist Workers Party over the previous ser. In 1968 she organized Radical Women,
fifteen years or more. These included the a radical feminist group. She won consider­
Freedom Socialist Party (f s p ), based in Seat­ able attention in the late 1970s as the result
tle, Washington, the Socialist Union in Cali­ of a suit she brought against the Seattle City
fornia, and a group around Murry and Myra Light Company, which had dismissed her as
Tanner Weiss in New York City. education coordinator in charge of a special
The Freedom Socialist Party originated program for training women and minorities
principally with the Seattle branch of the for jobs in the enterprise 27
s w p , which split with the national organiza­ The Socialist Union was organized by
tion in May 1966, and a few weeks later, Milton Zaslow (Mike Bartell}, who had first
together with a few people who had not be­ left the Socialist Workers Party with the
longed to the Socialist Workers Party, met Shachtmanites in 1940 but subsequently
to establish the f s p . Its principal divergences had returned to the s w p . By the early 1950s
from the then current swp position were he was organizer of the sw p Local in New
over: "(i) Revolutionary Integration as the York, and in that capacity sided with the
direction of the black liberation struggle. Cochranites at the time of their split with
Blacks in the U.S. cannot end their special the s w p . After the Cochranites' expulsion
oppression by turning in a nationalist sepa­ he had a small group of his own until 1955,
ratist direction, and in the course of fighting when he retired from active radical politics
for their rights will most likely take their for a number of years.

936 United States: Other Groups

 In 1969 Zaslow organized a group in Los the'European leaders of u s e c to break with
Angeles, where he had moved, which finally the Socialist Workers Party and to accept
took the name Liberation Union. Then, in the elements grouped in the c r s p as a truer
the early 1970s, when the Internationalist representative of Trotskyism in the United
Tendency was expelled from the sw p , he States. An official report of the conference
joined forces with some of them to organize said that "the sw p is criticized in the Theses
the Socialist Union. for its 'implacable hostility' to the bur­
The third group of s w p dissidents which geoning women's caucuses within the
joined to establish the c r sp was centered on Fourth International, and the International
Murry and Myra Tanner Weiss in New York is asked to 'struggle against two fatal afflic­
City. Murry Weiss had for long been a major tions of the s w p -u s a : Stalinophobiaand Sex-
figure in the Cannon faction in the swp, and ophobia,' which, along with bureaucratism,
Myra Tanner Weiss had also been a top fig­ have occasioned a catastrophic shift to the
ure in the party, and its candidate for vice right within the organization. The Interna­
president of the United States in the 1950s. tional is further warned that its 'sweetheart
They had been disillusioned in the "single agreement' with the s w p on the 'turn to the
issue" turn of the swp in the 1960s, and with proletariat' is fraught with danger for world
the sw p leadership's impatience with any Trotskyism."
organized criticism of its position. Myra The conference also adapted a reply to a
Tanner Weiss had cast the only vote in the letter from u s e c refusing the c r s p request
Political Committee against expulsion of to participate in discussions preparing for
the group around James Robertson who were the next World Congress of the United Sec­
subsequently to form the Spartacist League. retariat. It called this letter a "high-handed
The Weisses had dropped out of the sw p ukase," and added that "you have deepened
but apparently until the late 1970s had not your policy of pursuing an unprincipled bloc
belonged to any other group. with the sw p at the expense of the principles
The Committee for a Revolutionary So­ of Trotskyism."30
cialist Party was first conceived of as an The other document, on National Tasks
organization to group together elements and Perspectives, was adopted unanimously
outside of the Socialist Workers Party who and "opens by reaffirming commitment to
still considered themselves Trotskyists and the liberation struggles of workers, women,
had positions opposed to the supposed "op­ racial-ethnic minorities, and gay people, and
portunism" of the SWP. It was not itself origi­ to the promotion of workers democracy in
nally intended to become a democratic cen­ every sector of social and political struggle.
trist Trotskyist party.18 And it hails the upsurge of socialist femi­
The c rs p had its First National Confer­ nism throughout the world as a thunderous
ence in Union, Washington, from October 6 component of global revolution."
to 9, 1978. There were reported to be one- The resolution was orthodoxly Trotskyist
hundred people in attendance, including in proclaiming that "the proletariat is the
members and fraternal representatives. The central force in the overthrow of capital­
meeting adopted two resolutions which ism," but somewhat less orthodox in adding
they regarded as "crucial." One was "Theses that "we anticipate that in the U.S. the van­
on the Crisis of the Fourth International," guard of the proletariat will be composed in
and the other "National Tasks and Perspec­ its majority of women, oppressed racial and
tives for c r s p ."19 national minorities, and gay people."
The document on the Fourth Interna­ The document reiterated the old Trotsky­
tional was oriented towards the United Sec­ ist call for a labor party. It also asserted that
retariat and seemed designed to appeal to "privileged layers within the working class,

United States: Other Groups 937

 and .. . skilled-trades insularity breed reac­ sw p was concerned, Weiss wrote that "The
tionary habits and practices that deepen the s w p -u s a has lost its corrective power for
gulf between the privileged and more op­ learning from mistakes by eliminating the
pressed workers, and thereby dissipate class full play of party democracy. . .bureaucratic
independence and worker solidarity against norms prevail in the s w p -u s a . The s w p -u s a
management." Therefore, it called on all must not triumph in the International."33
c r sp trade unionists to support "the most Over the July 4, 1980 holiday, the c r s p
oppressed layers of the working class— held a Seattle meeting of the plenum of its
women, minorities, gays, radicals, undocu­ Steering Committee on the theme of "Fac­
mented workers, etc." tion Struggle, Reconstruction, and New Ho­
The Tasks and Perspectives resolution rizons." The three-day meeting dealt with
seemed to emphasize the role of the c rs p as internal struggles within the c r s p , various
a kind of Trotskyist united front. The offi­ world crisis areas, "The Split in the 4th In­
cial report on it noted that the document ternational," and "The American Ques­
concludes with an invitation to other radical tion, " among other matters. It was also there
groupings and individuals to join c rs p and that its program for reorganizing as a disci­
participate in the construction of the world plined party instead of a loose coalition of
party of socialist revolution and 'victorious groups, was apparently adopted.34
worker internationalism.' "31 It was an­ There was considerable opposition within
nounced at the meeting that the Trotskyist the c r s p to converting it into a single demo­
Organizing Committee ( t o c —the Tum- cratic centralist group. Harry Turner has ob­
erites) had decided to affiliate with the crsp served that after that decision, his group, the
and that Earl Owens was there representing Trotskyist Organizing Committee, as well
the t o c .32 as the Socialist Union and Myra Tanner
With the split in the United Secretariat in Weiss, declared the c rs p to have been dis­
1979 and the establishment of the Parity solved, and went their separate ways. Murry
Committee for the Reorganization (Recon­ Weiss, who had joined the Freedom Socialist
struction) of the Fourth International by the Party, remained with the c r s p .35
u s e c faction headed by Nahuel Moreno, and
by the Lambertists, the Committee for a
The Internationalist Workers' Party
Revolutionary Socialist Party sought align­
(Fourth International)
ment with this new Parity Committee.
Murry Weiss wrote a letter as c r s p National One of the most recent Trotskyist groups to
Coordinator to the Parity Committee "with be established in the United States is the
the aim of reaching a close collaboration and Internationalist Workers' Party (Fourth In­
systematic correspondence in the struggle ternational). It also has the distinction of
against the opportunism and bureaucratic being perhaps the only U.S. Trotskyist orga­
monolithism within the Fourth Interna­ nization drawing its leadership and mem­
tional." bership principally from people of Latin
The Murry Weiss letter outlined the posi­ American origin. As such, it became the
tions of the c r s p at the time. It expressed United States affiliate of the faction of Inter­
sympathy for the stands that the Moreno national Trotskyism led by the Argentine
faction had taken, particularly on the revo­ Nahuel Moreno, the head of the Interna­
lution in Nicaragua. Weiss also commented tional Workers' League (Fourth Interna­
that "The 'unity' of u s e c with the sw p under tional).
the demagogic slogan of proletarianization, Leon Perez, the national organizer of the
has not been consummated because of the iw p (f i ), has described the origins of its prede­
absence of principled differences. In fact, the cessor, the Revolutionary Workers Front-
political schism is widening." Insofar as the Frente Revolucionario de los Trabajadores.

938 United States: Other Groups

He wrote in 1982 that "our organization was leadership team was set up to coordinate the
founded by two comrades of the Interna­ editing and distribution of El Bolchevique
tional in March 1980. Shortly after that a and Working Class Opposition and plan
group of militants in exile belonging to the joint participation in demonstrations,
Nicaraguan fsl n joined them. Some individ­ strikes and political campaigns around Po­
ual members of the swp also joined.. . . The land, El Salvador, Central America, etc."
rest of the militants and sympathizers in our The two groups also discussed political is­
organization were won over through general sues between them, as a result of which "the
political work with independent workers. political differences which had existed be­
We presently have about 120 members in tween the two groups were notably re­
seven cities of the U.S. . .. Our work is pri­ duced. " As a consequence, joint documents
marily among workers and minorities were elaborated for submission to a unifica­
groups in the U.S. (Latinos and Blacks). We tion convention.38
sell 2500 copies of each issue of El Bolche- The convention met on June 2 6 -2 7 ,1982.
vique and 1300 copes of each issue of Work­ Out of it came the Internationalist Workers
ing Class Opposition. We have already built Party (Fourth International).39 The conven­
fractions in ten different unions."34 tion ratified affiliation of the group with the
In 1982 the Revolutionary Workers Front International Workers League (Fourth Inter­
merged with the tendency led by Harry national), and adopted a Draft Political Res­
Turner, at that time called the Revolution­ olution defining the new party's political
ary Unity League, to form the International­ position. It also elected a nine-member Cen­
ist Workers' Party (Fourth International). tral Committee: Harry Turner, Leon Perez,
This merger came about largely as a result Susana Fernandez, Roberto Cardenas, Lo­
of international contacts. retta Sylis, Carol Williams, Anna Gomez,
When the split in the United Secretariat Rolando Cdrdoba, Marc Elliot, and an alter­
occurred in 1979 over attitudes towards the nate member, Federico De Leon. A Control
Nicaraguan Revolution, and the faction led Commission made up of Susana Fernandez,
by Nahuel Moreno formed a Parity Commit­ Numa Alvarez, and Sonia Morales was also
tee with the Lambertist tendency, Harry elected.
Turner's Revolutionary Unity League At its first meeting the Central Commit­
sought to affiliate with that committee. A tee named a Political Bureau consisting of
Lambertist representative met with them in Harry Turner, Leon P6rez, and Anna Gomez.
New York, but refused association of them Leon Perez was chosen as national orga-
* ~ 40
with the Committee when Harry Turner mzer.
raised an issue of disagreement with the The founding convention of the iw p (f i )
Lambertist attitude a decade earlier towards adopted a Political Resolution which ran to
the Bolivian Trotskyist group led by Guil­ seventy-five pages. It defined the new party
lermo Lora.37 as "an action oriented propaganda group." It
When the Moreno and Lambertist forces called for establishment of a labor party and
split once again, and the Moreno tendency provided that "the iw p (f i ) would participate
held a world congress to organize its faction in a movement for the formation of a Labor
in January 1982, the Revolutionary Unity Party but maintain its own program, publi­
League of the United States sent a delegate cations and fight to transform it into a truly
to that meeting. So did the Revolutionary revolutionary party."
Workers Front, which owed its origins to The Political Resolution emphasized that
the breakaway of the Moreno forces from "the immediate task of any organization
the United Secretariat. which calls itself revolutionary is to work
Partly as a consequence of the interven­ among the Black masses in the U.S. since
tion of the international group, “a national they are one of the most potentially revolu­

United States: Other Groups 939

 tionary groups in our society." It promised to respect all and each part of the
"to fight against chauvinism and racism in Statutes."42
all its manifestations within the U.S. work­ The iw p (f i ) continued to have its major
ing class. . . . " It also contained "a reaffir­ base in California, particularly among Span­
mation of the political line of the i w p (h ) ish-speaking workers there. In 1983-84 it
which considers immigrant workers as an opened three headquarters, in Los Angeles,
integral part of the U.S. working class and San Jose, and San Francisco. At its Fourth
its struggles." Regular Congress in July 1984 there were
The Political Resoultion proclaimed that present "delegates, special guests and ob­
"true women's liberation will only be servers . . . from New York, Philadelphia,
achieved in a society where collective work ' Wisconsin, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Chicago,
frees women from the slavery of housework. San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Long
In other words, only in a Socialist society Beach, Santa Aria and Los Angeles.""3
will women achieve that liberation." It also Much of the organization's effort centered
provided "as a sub-item on the woman's on putting out and distributing two newspa­
question . . . the defense of democratic pers, Working Class Opposition and El Bol-
rights for gays, including the right to main­ chevique. They regularly carried news not
tain their own lifestyles and sexual rela­ only about the organization but about
tions." The document provided for the new strikes and other labor situations, and con­
Central Committee "to prepare new chap­ siderable international news, with particu­
ters of this document about youth, our char­ lar emphasis on events in Central America.
acterization and political orientation to­ By August 1984 the party claimed a com­
ward other left forces and our electoral bined circulation for the two papers of
activities."41 12,000 44
The founding congress of the iw p (f i ) also In at least two situations iw p (f i ) members
adopted the statutes of the new organiza­ were active in trade unions. These were in
tion. It was noted that "several sources were the civil servants' unions in New York City
drawn upon in preparing the proposed stat­ and the Hotel and Restaurant Employees
utes for the new unified organization: The Union in San Francisco,45
previous statutes of the r w o -fr t , parts of Electoral action was centered particularly
the r u l ' s statutes and the statutes of the on the Peace and Freedom Party (p fp ), a le­
International Workers League (f i ), adapting gally recognized organization in California.
the proposed national statutes as much as In pfp primaries in 1984 they backed three
possible to the international definitions." successful candidates. These were Sonia
This constitution provided that "the Cen­ Cruz, a Salvadorean immigrant who ran for
tral Committee will guarantee by all possi­ the state senate from a Los Angeles district;
ble means the right of tendencies and fac­ James Green, who was nominated for Con­
tions to express themselves and to reach gress from the 24th District, also in Los
party comrades with their positions." How­ Angeles; and John O'Brien, running for the
ever, such factions or tendencies were to be state assembly from the Hollywood area.46
only for periods of pre-Convention discus­ On a national level, the party was "urging
sion and only if formed "around political you to cast your ballot against the Demo­
documents published by the Central Com­ crats and Republicans an<d for those parties
mittee or Political Bureau. Tendencies or and candidates who consider themselves to
factions must submit notification in writing be socialists and part of the working class.
to the Central Committee or the Political . . . In those states where the sw p , the w w p
Bureau that they will respect and observe and the c p candidates are running against
democratic centralism and that they agree each other, we urge you to support the So­

940 United States: Other Groups

cialist Workers Party, the Workers World Organizer. Among those issuing the news­
Party and the Communist Party in that paper were Harry Turner, Susana Fernandez,
order."47 and Carol Williams of the original iw p (f i )
The Internationalist Workers Party de­ Central Committee. The paper indicated
voted some attention to trying to bring to­ that the new League had branches in Los
gether many of the groups and factions in Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Wis­
the United States professing loyalty to consin.51
Trotskyism. In June 1983 it organized in Los
Angeles an Emergency National Trotskyist
The Revolutionary Communist
Conference.48 Nothing concrete emerged
League (Internationalist)
from that meeting. However, a year later the
party began working on a second national The Revolutionary Communist League (In­
Trotskyist conference and was having an ternationalist), or r c l (i ), had its origins in
exchange of correspondence with the Revo­ the Workers World Party, Spartacist League,
lutionary Workers League looking toward and the New Left of the 1960s. The positions
possible unification of the two groups.49 it assumed on various issues showed evi­
Some reflection of the composition of the dence of all these sources.
i w p (f i ) is seen in the new Central Commit­ One of the leaders of the group, I. Mo-
tee elected at its 1984 congress: "Among hareb, has written that "we trace our dis­
the eighteen members elected from a list of tinct ideological origins to the little-known
twenty-one nominees there are eight Lat­ 'Global Class War' tendency in the Socialist
inos, one Black, and nine white workers. Workers Party, which formed around the
Seven members are women, and eleven are oppositionist work of Sam Marcy and Vince
men. All Central Committee members are Copeland between 1950 and 1959. The ten­
workers. Seven are active union members. dency left the s w p in 195 9 to form the Work­
There is even a balance in the age span of ers World Party."53
the comrades elected. Among the members However, although the "ideological ori­
and alternates one is less than twenty, seven gins" of the r c l (i ) may have come from the
are between twenty and thirty, another group which formed the wwp, organization­
seven are between thirty and forty and three ally the group began as a split from the Spar­
comrades are over fifty-five."50 tacist League in 1968. Bob Ross, one of the
In July 1984 a severe factional struggle founders of the r c l {i ), has written that "sev­
began in the Internationalist Workers Party eral of us despaired of the s l ' s consistent
(Fourth International). Neither side pub­ record of inactivity and left to form the first
lished details of the major issues at stake in r c l , oriented initially largely toward an ac­
the conflict. After unsuccessful efforts by tivist perspective in collaboration with both
the International Workers' League (Fourth y a w f Workers World and 'New Left' ele­

International) to bring together the two fac­ ments in what was then called the Coalition
tions of its U.S. adherents, the i w l (f j ) Inter­ for an Anti-Imperialist Movement (c o -a i m ).
national Executive Committee decided to Most of us were veterans of the s l ' s abortive
continue to recognize the Internationalist participation in the 'Revolutionary Contin­
Workers Party as its United States section gent' the previous year, as well as some of
and to recognize the dissident minority the s l ' s earliest trade union work."54
group as a "sympathizing section."51 The first Revolutionary Communist
The dissidents established the Interna­ League set forth its program in "A Call to
tionalist Socialist League (Fouth Interna­ Action: Founding Principles of the Revolu­
tional), which in November 1985 began pub­ tionary Communist League." This docu­
lication of a monthly newspaper, Workers’ ment reflected both Trotskyist and New

1 United States: Other Groups 941

i
Left origins. On the one hand it stressed ARMED SELF-DEFENSE against paramili­
"The Unity of Theory and Practice," saying tary authoritarian forces, 'official' or oth­
that "without revolutionary theory there erwise."
can be no revolutionary practice." It also The second New Left element of the origi­
stressed "equally, the entire body of Marxist nal r c l statement of principles was its posi­
thought upon which Leninism was built, tion "Against Electoral Frauds—For Mass
and the monumental contributions of Leon Action," which stated that "for the foresee­
Trotsky which alone permit a solid under­ able future . . . we reject the very concept of
standing of the historical degeneration of such activity. . .. Elections as such are a
the Soviet State. . . swamp into which talents and energies are
In conformity with orthodox Trotskyist drained away from the areas of mass struggle
ideas, the "Call to Action" called for "Un­ where a revolutionary movement can be and
conditional Defense of the Workers' States." is being built." It did not rule out completely
In elaboration on this point, it said, "While the ultimate idea of a labor party, but was
appreciating the cataclysmic degeneration for one "only if based on truly independent
both of the Soviet state and of allied, de­ workers' movement . . . without illusions
ferred regimes from Budapest to Peking and about electoral 'victory' and 'constitutional
Hanoi, and while recognizing above all the democracy.' "ss
despicably traitorous role played by interna­ Late in 1 9 6 8 the r c l merged into the Work­
tional Stalinism in all its varieties within ers World Party, "taking with us into that
the world workers' movement, we still re­ Party the first openly Trotskyist positions
tain a central conception of the resolute de­ and literature it had known in more than a
fense of the workers' states against imperial­ decade" according to Bob Ross. He added that
ism as an essential- component of the world "werapidly found the internal atmosphere of
revolution." ww stultifying, however, and found that the
Finally, the r c l document was orthodoxly organization's early commitments to a seri­
Trotskyist in advocating "Truly DEMO­ ous world revolutionary perspective had de­
CRATIC Centralism." This section argued cayed beyond belief; and so we began to 'drift'
that "the disciplined Vanguard Party is a out." Late in 1 9 7 1 a group of w w p members
vital prerequisite of the Revolution.. .. But in New York withdrew to form the New York
Centralism loses its sense of direction, and Revolutionary Committee, which issued
the Revolution its very sense of purpose, several numbers of a periodical Common
when DEMOCRATIC centralism is re­ Ground, and most of the old r c l members
placed by the Centralism of a complacent were in that group. A year later "this evolu­
bureaucratic 'regime'. . . ." tion culminated in what was essentially a re­
However, on at least two points the r c l birth of the old r c l , now styling itself r c l
"Call to Action" was distinctly New Leftist. (Internationalist) in order to indicate the de­
Under the head of "The Rising Tide of Reac­ velopment which had gone on. .. ,"56
tion," the call argued that "as the final The r c l (i ) began publishing a mimeo­
stones are laid for the legal and military graphed periodical, Internationalist News
foundations of authoritarian rule, we sound Letter. It was edited by Peter Anton, Bob
the call both for increased vigilance and for Ross and Betty West. The third number of
militant self defense. Not merely in word, this publication stated the; orientation of the
nor alone in encouragement to others, but in group. It said that "we seek today to wed
our own personal lives, revolutionists must the full, creative and dynamic theoretical
reject both the concept of police-state 'gun heritage of the 'Old Left'—of Marx, Engels,
control' legislation, and any idea of obeying Lenin and Trotsky—to the vital, onrushing
such laws, raising instead the banner of current of the militant 'New Left'. . . . Un­

942 United States: Other Groups

conditionally, and with only the most mar­ viet protection of Cuba, especially in bloody
ginal political criticisms—all oriented to­ aftermath of Chile, (6) Establishment of
ward integrating military policy with an joint Soviet-Chinese defense of the Korean,
overall revolutionary strategy—we applaud Cuban, Yemeni, and Vietnamese workers'
the examples of the Days of Rage, Mayday, states, {7) Arming and supplying of revolu­
the attacks on university 'Defense research' tionary and national liberation forces as a
centers, the bombings of Centre Street, Al­ matter of principle &. not just opportunity,
bany and the Pentagon, and the Black Liber­ (8) Restoration and expansion of Marxism-
ation Army's defense of the ghettoes against Leninism throughout the workers' states, so
their military occupiers." This statement that they can fully contribute to the world
added that "without tremor or remorse, we (permanent) revolution."59
call for more of the same, and readily accept Late in 1982 the r c l (i ) again sought to
the label 'Weather Trots.' " s7 merge with the Workers World Party, and un­
In June 1974 the r c l (i ) began publishing a til a decisionhad been reached agreed to abide
printed bimonthly newspaper, Internation­ by the internal discipline of the w r p . In De­
alist Workers, edited by Sol Pero, R. H. Ross, cember of that year their proposals were re­
and Sarah Kaplan. The first issue proclaimed jected by the Workers World Party and ac­
that "through this instrument of struggle, cording to John Palmieri "the r c l (i ) was
we hope that others may join us in the pro­ reconstituted." It began again to publish In­
tracted battle to construct a proletarian ternationalist Worker. Like the w w p , it
combat party—a party capable of reinteg­ tended to take a strongly pro-Soviet line, sup­
rating the revolutionary heritage of Bolshe­ porting the Soviet Union's shooting down
vism that has been so often misunderstood of the South Korean airliner, for instance.60
and so often betrayed during the past fifty
years. . . . " It added that the new periodical
The Focus Group
"does not advance self-serving claims to 'pa­
pal infallibility.' "5S A small group associated with an equally
The first issue of the Internationalist small break-away from the main body of
Worker indicated the group's positions on International Trotskyism, the Fomento
various subjects. It observed in connection Obrero Revolucionario (f o r ), headed by the
with the suppression of the Symbionese Lib­ Mexican one-time leader of Spanish Trots­
eration Army that "we of r c l i , from the kyism Manuel Fernandez Grandizo (better
outset, have had a position of defense of the known as G. Munis), was established in the
s l a against the bourgeois state." It referred United States in the 1970s. This was the
to "the USSR's necessary intervention in f o r Organizing Committee in the U.S., or
Czechoslovakia to halt the Dubcek drift to­ FOCUS.
ward capitalist restoration. . . ." It carried a The principal organizer of f o c u s was Ste­
long article opposing Detente as "another phen Schwartz, a young writer from San
imperialist attack maneuver" against the Francisco. He entered into contact with fo r
USSR. This article ended with "the follow­ through correspondence, contributing occa­
ing interim demands: (i) The formation of sionally to its journal published in France,
peoples' militia in the USSR and Eastern Alarme. Then, after a visit to France and
Europe; REARM THE MASSES! fz) No more discussions with Munis in 1979, Schwartz
privileges for bureaucrats and technocrats! (writing under the name S. Solsona) and a
(3) Prompt resolution of Soviet and Chinese small group began publishing in San Fran­
differences, according to revolutionary prin­ cisco a periodical, The Alarm.
ciples (4) Strengthening (&. not reducing) The association of f o c u s with the inter­
Warsaw Pact forces. (5) Stepping UP of So­ national fo r was of relatively short dura­

United States: Other Groups 943

tion. When the United States group ex­ its basic loyalty to Trotskyism: the Proletar­
pressed sympathy for the Spanish affiliate of ian Tasks Tendency. Its orientation was in­
fo r , which was purged by Munis and the dicated by an editorial in the second issue
international group, Munis responded in of its periodical, Workers Review, which,
1981 by expelling f o c u s from the interna­ after stating that "we are committed to the
tional organization, f o c u s thereupon an­ Transitional Program, the reconstruction of
nounced that "we will carry forward the the world Trotskyist movement on a princi­
banner of the fo r with or without the 'offi­ pled basis," observed "We also believe that
cial' approval of Munis. . . ,"61 a major political problem within those orga­
Elsewhere in this volume we trace the nizations that call themselves Trotskyist or
evolution of the thinking of G. Munis and Communist is the tendency towards cen­
in particular his denunciation of the trade tralism and away from democracy. . . Z'64
union movement as a brake on working We have little further information about the
class revolution. After their break with him origins of this group, although it apparently
the f o c u s group expressed their unhappi­ was based in the San Francisco area.
ness with Munis's failure to suggest an alter­
native to the majority trade union move­
The Strange Case of the National
ments as a field in which revolutionaries
Caucus of Labor Committees
could operate. In October 1983 they pub­
lished an extensive analysis of this issue, Certainly the most peculiar offshoot of
concluding that "in the absence of a contin­ Trotskyism in the United States has been
uous forward dynamic within the class, the so-called National Caucus of Labor
such as will make the resolution of all these Committees (n c l c ). Originating in the mid
matters an immediate issue, we now pro­ to late 19 60s as a dissident Trotskyist group,
pose that revolutionary-minded workers en­ it had by the end of the next decade become
ter and seek to build the small anarcyosyndi- an extreme right-wing organization.
calist organizations, the c n t and iww. Through all phases of its ideological and
These at least offer a history of opposition political evolution the National Caucus of
to the union bureaucracies. To the extent Labor Committees minutely followed the
that these organizations have maintained changes in ideas, fantasies, and even delu­
the tradition of such opposition, they should sions of its founder and leader Lyndon La-
be studied, supported and defended."62 Rouche, who until the mid-1970s called
By 198 4 S tephen Schwartz had dropped out himself Lyn Marcus (a name presumably de­
of the leadership of the f o c u s group. Its publi­ rived from Lenin and Marx). His writing
cation, The Alarm was transferred to Port­ made up a large part of the organization's
land, Oregon, "because the f o c u s group here publications, particularly its "theoretical"
is largest and can put more effort into the presentations. The n c l c also followed La-
magazine than the Bay Area folks/' The first Rouche in one of the things which differen­
issue published in Portland noted that "most tiated it from virtually the whole radical
of our members remain active in the iww, a movement—its peculiar preoccupation
controversial move made at the beginning of with sex and excrement resulting in a wide­
1984. For the most part our membership has spread use of scatological language, border­
been received positively by other wobblies, a ing on the obscene, both in its leaders' and
number welcoming us heartily because of members' public speaking and in the group's
our revolutionary positions."63 written material.
LaRouche also set the pattern in establish­
The Proletarian Tasks Tendency ing another characteristic of the n c l c , its
In the early 1980s there was still another frequent emphasis on violence. This empha­
small group established which proclaimed sis was not confined to a theoretical use of

944 United States: Other Groups

violence as a "road to power/' but the day- that "Marcus and Wohlforth, during their
to-day use of it to maintain discipline within collaboration . . . claimed they were in the
its own organization and to seek to intimi­ Iskra period, by which they meant they
date or destroy its political opponents. should act as brain-trusters for the rest of
Finally, LaRouche led the n c l c in a third the left. This concept is a consistent pillar
unique feature of the group, its delusions of of Marcusism, the contention that his claim
grandeur. These delusions went far beyond to leadership rests on his being smarter than
the characteristic belief of virtually all radi­ everybody else."
cal groups that their ideas and probably their After a few months, LaRouche-Marcus
organizations will ultimately win power withdrew from the w l and joined the Sparta­
and mold national and international soci­ cist League. He was reported to have broken
ety—as expressed, for instance, in the with the Spartacists "over unanimous oppo­
Fourth International's claim to be "the Party sition to his position that the trouble with
of the World Socialist Revolution." La­ the Castroites was that Castro didn't know
Rouche and n c l c pictured themselves as enough Marxian economics to maneuver in
already being a major factor in national poli­ the world market."67 Subsequently, Lyndon
tics which would be able to seize power LaRouche gave a somewhat different ver­
within a very few years and as having great sion of his activities right after leaving the
influence within political parties and gov­ swp, writing that he "went through the pro­
ernments of Europe, the Middle East, Latin cess of attempting to salvage some remnants
America, and the Far East. from the sw p ."68After leaving the Spartacist
Indeed, the National Caucus of Labor League LaRouche organized his own group,
Committees was more completely the ex­ known then as the sd s Labor Committee,
pression of one man than any other group constituting a faction within the Students
which had its origins in International Trots­ for a Democratic Society. The group played
kyism. Even Trotsky never demanded—and a role in the leadership of the student upris­
received—the degree of absolute subservi­ ing at Columbia University in 1968.69 How­
ence and conformity which LaRouche in­ ever, the LaRouche group did not stay long
sisted on. within sds. They were said to have broken
with it over their position in support of the
New York City teachers' strike in 1969.70
Origins of the NCLC
The sds generally opposed that strike and
Lyndon LaRouche, Jr., was bom into a fam­ supported the "community control" pro­
ily of Quaker dissidents in New Hampahire gram of those who opposed the walkout.
in 192,2. During World War II he was first a Once outside of the sds the LaRouchites
conscientious objector, but then changed formally established the National Caucus of
his mind and saw noncorabatant military Labor Committees.
service in the China-Burma-India theater.
He joined the Socialist Workers Party either
The Statement of Founding Principles
in 1948 or 1949 and remained in it until
1966.65 Although he never became a major What was for half a decade or more to be the
figure in the swp, as a secondary leader he basic political document of the n c l c , its
opposed the expulsion of those who were to Statement of Founding Principles, was offi­
become the Spartacist League.66 cially accepted at a national conference in
With the formation of the Workers League January 19 71. It contained the peculiar
after the expulsion of Tim Wohlforth and mishmash of philosophical ideas, economic
his followers from the sw p , Lyn Marcus notions, and political prescriptions which
joined its ranks for a few months. A Sparta­ was then characteristic of the Marcus-La-
cist publication commented on this period Rouche group. It also underscored the highly

1 United States: Other Groups 945

elitist approach to politics and essentially tioning Lyndon LaRouche by name pro­
disparaging attitude toward the w orking claimed his right to determine the n c l c
class characteristic of the n c l c . ideas and activities. It said that "while the
The statement consisted of twenty-five cadre organization must submit to the class
numbered points. The first five dealt with interests of the potential political (working)
philosophical questions and contained the class for itself, that means and demands in­
kind of idiosyncratic language which was sulating the vanguard organization from
becoming typical of LaRouche and his fol­ corrupting intrusions of reactionary (bour­
lowers. For instance, point 3 said that "all geois) ideology dominant among working
the conceptions of human conscious people generally, oppressed minorities, and
thought, formal, logical reasoning included, radical students, etc., in a capitalist society.
are produced by a noetic, concept-creating Realization of socialist conceptions means
process which determines the 'axioms' . . . that alien political ideas have ipso facto no
of formal reasoning, but which axioms or voting rights over the formulation of policy
formal reasoning is inherently incapable of within the vanguard organization. It means
providing or explaining. That the real foun­ that the less-developed consciousness of so­
dations of human knowledge in this noetic cialist principles must be subordinated to
process of mind can be uncovered only by a the most advanced consciousness within
dialectical examination of the process by the organization."71
which whole systems of formal logic are
exposed as fallacious and totally new world-
“Hegemony on the Left”
conceptions produced. . . . "
Some points have a more or less familiar During its early years the n c l c put great
Marxist ring. However, others set forth emphasis on obtaining "hegemony" in left-
clearly the group's highly elitist ideas. Point wing U.S. politics. As early as 1970 it
1 1 says that "the central problem of human­ claimed that it was well on the way to this.
ity today is therefore the fact that the work­ The n c l c magazine Campaigner wrote that
ing class (as an economic class) is not capa­ "the Labor Committees already know a
ble of spontaneously becoming a political thing or two about the process of struggle
class for itself. . . . " Point 12 goes on to say for left hegemony. Our organization has
that "therefore, the political existence of the been developed under simultaneous assault
working class depends upon the interven­ by both the anarchist 'crazies' and Progres­
tion of an 'outside agency,' whose function sive Labor Party, and has not only survived
it is to bring the political (working) class for but grown. . . . We did not defeat p lp by
itself into being. The 'outside agency' can accident. Excepting the Black Panther Party,
only be a social formation which has already which is obviously a very special case, the
attained an advanced approximation of the National Caucus of Labor Committees has
working class consciousness which the emerged to present third 'position' in the
working class itself lacks. Only a handful struggle for left-hegemony in the U.S.
of the capitalist intelligentsia is capable of movement."71
fulfilling this decisive role. . . . " In the spring of 1973 Lyndon LaRouche
Point 13 elaborated further on this "revo­ decided to "destroy" the Communist Party.
lutionary intelligentsia," which is "the em­ In an editorial in New^SoIidarity in April,
bryonic representation of a new human spe­ entitled "Death of the c p u s a , " he said that
cies, a Promethean species which seeks to "readers will obtain a taste of our ruthless­
reproduce its own kind from the ranks of ness in the way we proceed to finish off the
the working class. . . . " Communist Party." He said that the n c l c
Point 17 reached the logical conclusion of would "conduct the most ruthless mopping-
the previous positions, and without men­ up operation against each of its ragged for­

946 United States: Other Groups

mations. . . . " A few days later, he an­ bringing into play another strain of agi tation
nounced that "the c p cannot hold a meeting and propaganda which was to become char­
on the East Coast. . . . We'll mop them up acteristic of the n c l c , paranoia. He sud­
in two months." 73 denly developed the idea that the c i a was
These attacks on the c p were labelled centering attention and resources on trying
"Operation Mop-Up" by LaRouche. Dennis to penetrate the n c l c and was "program­
King has described what happened: "Ac­ ming" its leaders and members. Most noto­
cording to participants, Mop-Up was effi­ rious was the case of Chris White, who had
ciently organized. In most cases, isolated been the n c l c ' s representative in Great Brit­
individuals or small groups were caught by ain. LaRouche summoned White home and
surprise and overwhelmed. The flying submitted him to a process of "deprogram­
squads often were brought from out of ming," which the n c l c widely publicized.
town—so their faces would not be recog­ This case was followed by the "deprogram­
nized—and would leave town before the po­ ming" of various other leaders and rank and
lice could investigate. Former n c l c mem­ filers of the n c l c . LaRouche claimed that
bers remember it all with shame. 'We'd be he was the only one who knew how to carry
ten against one/ said one n c l c defector, 'and out successful "deprogramming."
the c p member we'd pound on would be LaRouche, in explaining the kind of "pro­
some elderly guy.' " M gramming" to which n c l c people had been
This description is confirmed by n c l c exposed, said that "the victim's sense of re­
sources. An "Extra" of N ew Solidarity on ality is turned inside out . . . in the dozen
April 1 6, 1973, said that "a significant cases . . . known to have been brainwashed
amount of c p -y w l l blood was spilled at for the c i a or l e a a , the victim characteristi­
Temple University in Philadelphia last cally accused the Labor Committees of hav­
Wednesday. . . ."7S It was reported that be­ ing brainwashed its members. . . ."78
tween April and September 1973 there were LaRouche claimed that the "program­
at least sixty assaults by n c l c people on ming" was part of a world-wide plot. He said
members of the Communist Party and the that "we are now in the second phase of a
s w p .7<s psy-war game designed by the c i a , that is, a
Some n c l c members were shocked by psychological warfare game conducted on a
Operation Mop-Up, and apparently ex­ scale of four continents, in which the c i a is
pressed their unhappiness. LaRouche sav­ playing psychological warfare with an orga­
agely attacked them in a way which was nization, the Labor Committee. . . . " He
becoming characteristic in the organization. added that "there was, but that's not rele­
In an internal bulletin of the group, he wrote vant, an assassination plot against me by the
/r?9
that "I am going to make you organizers... . K G B."
What I shall do is to expose to you the cruel Although the publicity about LaRouche's
fact of your sexual impotence.. . . I will take "deprogramming" of n c l c members was
away from you all hope that you can flee the soon dropped, both the paranoia about perse­
terrors of politics to the safety of 'personal cution of LaRouche and of the n c l c contin­
life.' I shall do this by showing to you that ued to be an article of faith, and LaRouche's
your frightened personal sexual life contains own psychological methods to combat it
for you such terrors as the outside world continued. The N ew York Times reported
could never offer you."77 in October 1979 that "the party's founder
has conducted grueling encounter sessions
"Deprogramming" and to keep members in line. According to the
Other Paranoia accounts of former members, those who
After Operation Mop-Up, LaRouche turned doubt Mr. LaRouche are summoned before
his followers' attention in another direction, a small group and grilled about their fears

United States: Other Groups 947

and guilt until they break down. Husbands largely governing the explicit activities of
or wives are asked about their partners' sex­ governments."83
ual practices."80 As one who was upon occasion ap­
The paranoia continued. For instance, in proached and provided with n c l c "intelli­
July 1977, New Solidarity carried an article gence" about Latin American countries, the
headlined "Carter Caught Redhanded in author can testify that these "inside stories"
Cointelpro vs. u s l p / ' that is, an espionage were more often than not flights of fancy
plot against the U.S. Labor Party, then the rather than inside information.
public face of the n c l c .®1In October 1978
the same newspaper had an article headlined
"Zionists' Assassination Threat on La­ The LaRouche-NCLC
Rouche is Put on Front Burner."82 Economic-Social Program

In the mid-1970s Lyndon LaRouche and the

The “Intelligence Network”
n c l c put forward a global .economic and so­

In September 1971 the n c l c first established cial program which they never entirely
its "intelligence network." This was a abandoned. It consisted principally of their
unique organization in which members of proposal for an International Development
the group channeled information to the Bank, the establishment of a "transfer ru­
n c l c headquarters from all over the United ble" as a new world currency, and fusion
States, and subsequently from Europe and power as a solution to all the world's energy
Latin America. The national organization problems.
then distributed this information through a They published their world economic pro­
series of publications, and through gram as a pamphlet, IDB: How the Interna­
"briefings." It is not entirely clear just who tional Development Bank Will Work, and
attended these "briefings," although there elaborated on it endlessly in their press. An
was mention in the n c l c press of daily article by Criton Zoakes, " n c l c Director
meetings of the group's National Commit­ of Intelligence/' proclaimed that "there is
tee at which members were told of informa­ absolutely not one single solitary alternate
tion the Intelligence Network had acquired. road for putting the world economy together
Early in 1975 in a document entitled A again except the way we've described."84
Fact Sheet: What Are the Labor Commit­ The n c l c explained their proposed Inter­
tees!, the n c l c claimed that "Labor Com­ national Development Bank as bringing to­
mittee Intelligence has always functioned gether the tremendous productive possibili­
in the way the research departments of a ties of the industrial countries and the great
major news service should function. . . . development needs of the poor nations:
This fact-gathering capability is supple­ "Formally, the i d b comes into existence in a
mented with currently increasing impor­ manner analogous to the effective financial
tance, by information contributed from reorganization of any major bank being res­
workers and others associated with the day- cued from illiquidity collapse. A new bank
to-day activities of the Labor Committees is created to continue the essential opera­
and Labor Party." tions of the old, while major categories of
The n c l c claimed special competence for unpayable carried-forward indebtedness are
its news gathering. The same document said placed in a moratorium 'deep freeze' and
that "in the process of cumulative research negotiations for future liquidation of that
into current political developments and re­ debt are conducted separately from day-to-
lated strategic matters, our intelligence day operations of the new institution."85
work has aggregated special competence in The idea of a debt moratorium for the
respect to the behind-the-scenes processes developing countries became a permanent

948 United States: Other Groups

part o f th e "p r o g r a m " o f th e n clc, b u t, th e y tensive conspiracy theory of history. The
did n o t c o n tin u e to e m p h a s iz e th e id b . objective of the conspiracy, according to
More idiosyncratic was LaRouche's pro­ them, was to dominate the world, or to de­
posal for a "transferable ruble" as a new stroy it if control was impossible. The de­
world currency. Criton Zoakes described tails of the conspiracy were developed by
this by saying that "when we establish the LaRouche over a number of years.
transferable ruble standard as a reserve cur­ Dennis King explained the fully devel­
rency, it will create with this flow of trade oped LaRouche conspiracy theory (as of
from Western Europe into Eastern Europe a 1982): "He claimed that an evil 'oligarchy'—
transferable ruble surplus into Western Eu­ a conspiratorial elite of usurers opposed to
rope. At the same time it creates a transfer­ industrial or scientific progress—emerged
able ruble indebtedness of Third World in ancient Babylon (at the time of the Jewish
countries to the Comecon. Now Western captivity) and molded the Jewish religion
Europe still continues to require commodity into a 'cult' to be employed as its fifth col­
and raw materials imports from the Third umn. This oligarchy—the 'Whore of Baby­
World for which it pays with its surplus lon'—supposedly set itself apart from hu­
transferable rubles. Thus it provides the manity, developed a cosmopolitan
Third World countries the means with antihuman tradition, shifted its headquar­
which to pay their obligations to the Come­ ters to the West, and conspired through the
con sector."86 centuries to achieve global dominance."87
This description is not so markedly differ­ King adds that "in the era of capitalism, the
ent from the way in which the "transferable oligarchy allegedly moved to London. Under
dollar" has functioned as a world currency the leadership of the Rothschilds, and using
since World War II. The major problem with the Churchill family and the Free Masons
it, as a practical proposition, of course, is the as its cover, it subverted the English aristoc­
fact that the Soviet ruble has never been racy. It then concocted the 'cult' of Zionism
"transferable," and there has been no indica­ to supplement Judaism as an international
tion that the pre-Gorbachev Soviet Union tool."88
leadership has ever considered the possibil­ For a number of years the n c l c claimed
ity of allowing free purchase and sale of their that Nelson Rockefeller was the center of
national currency. the worldwide conspiracy. The extent to
The third element in the socioeconomic which this argument went was shown in a
program of LaRouche and the n c l c was em­ lead article in the January 5, 1978, issue of
phasis on atomic power, lt particularly em­ N ew Solidarity. It started by noting that "in
phasized the possibilities of "fusion power," the last forty-eight hours, the populations of
a kind of nuclear energy which in theory Northern Europe and sections of the East
is exceedingly productive and "clean," but bloc . . . have been hit with the worst storm
which is only in the early development in Europe in twenty-nine years." The article
stage. The n c l c organized a Fusion Energy went on to assert that "only Rockefeller,
Foundation with the purpose of pushing this Kissinger, and their National Security
particular panacea, and much of the public Council apparatus have the motive, capabil­
attention the n c l c received came from its ity, and opportunity to carry out such an
members at airports and other transport cen­ insane outrage as this against the working
ters who distributed and sold literature sup­ people of Western Europe and of the
porting atomic energy. Eastbloc. "M
Later, LaRouche dropped Nelson Rocke­
The NCLC Conspiracy Mania feller as the focus of his conspiracy theory,
By the mid-1970s Lyndon LaRouche—and and denounced President Jimmy Carter.
therefore, the n c l c —had developed an ex­ Typical of the n c l c statements in this pe­

United States: Other Groups 949

 riod was one of Bruce Todd, the n c l c -U.S. Company had interesting results. Lyndon
Labor Party candidate for Congress in the LaRouche lodged a suit for $150 million in
15th District of New Jersey, who was quoted Federal District Court in Alexandria, Vir­
in October 1976 as saying that "if Jimmy ginia, on the claim that n b c had "defamed"
Carter is elected, the United States will be in him. LaRouche lost that suit, but n b c was
a thermonuclear war with the Soviet Union awarded $3 million in a countersuit which
within six to seven months after his inaugu­ "charged that people in the organization of
ration."90 Mr. LaRouche interfered with n b c ' s news-
Of course, this, like most of the La- gathering while the network was preparing
Rouche-NCLC confident predictions of fu­ reports on him."93
ture disasters, did not come to pass. These
failures were usually explained on the basis
The United States Labor’ Party
of the n c l c having prevented then by an­
nouncing their likelihood. Typical was a For a number of years the n c l c worked
throwaway of the U.S. Labor Party entitled through the U.S. Labor Party as its electoral
"Kissinger Unleashes Terrorists on United vehicle. They ran numerous local candi­
States," which commented that "You know dates, and in 1976 Lyndon LaRouche him­
about Kissinger's and Rockefeller's bloody self was the party's presidential nominee.
schemes to start a nuclear war.. . . Kissinger They claimed to believe that he would be
and Rockefeller tried this operation once be­ elected. N ew Solidarity said that "the . . .
fore in January 1974. At that time, the U.S. ballot strategy is to conduct petition drives
Labor Party's mass inoculation against U.S. in the twenty states where the Labor Party
terror operations forced them to pull is strongest, and in ten contiguous, populous
back. .. ."91 states where the Party has extensive pene­
It has been frequently argued that anti- tration. . . . The twenty states where the La­
Semitism is the underlying theme of the bor Party local offices are now located com­
L a R o u c h e -N C L C conspiracy theory devel­ prise about three-fourths of the U.S.
oped in the 1970s. There were certainly fre­ population and account for fifty-four per­
quent references to Jewish bankers, not nec­ cent (289) of the Electoral College vote. The
essarily identified explicitly as Jews, as evil additional ten target states represent an­
figures of the past and present. There were other fifty-six Electoral College votes, bring­
also many attacks on "Zionists" under cir­ ing the target total electoral votes to 345.
cumstances which might as well read . . . A total of 270 Electoral College votes
"Jews." Open appeals to antipathy against is required to win the Presidency and Vice
Jews were relatively rare. Nonetheless, Presidency."94
there were sometimes such open anti-Se- Once the election was over, LaRouche and
mitic outbursts. For example, in an article his followers made two claims: that they
dealing with supposed espionage of the Fed­ had gotten a larger vote than any other left-
eral government against the n c l c , Costa wing candidate in U.S. history, and that Ger­
Kalimtgis wrote in 1977 that " n b c , which ald Ford and not Jimmy Carter had won the
is owned by 'Our Crowd' investment houses election. Their "analysis" of the election
(Lehman Bros, Goldman Sachs, Kuhn-Loeb results claimed that LaRouche had received
of the Schiff-Warbourg group, and Lazard 3,500,000 votes, rathen. than the i8,soo
Freres), and whose Board of Directors were votes with which he had been officially cred­
large contributors and backers of the Carter ited. In New York State it was claimed that
campaign, were scheduling a half-hour slan­ LaRouche had received 384,000 votes rather
der program on the U.S. Labor Party. . . ."91 than the official 1,727.95 Charging "fraud"
This clash with the National Broadcasting in the election count, the n c l c said that

950 United States: Other Groups

"the present parading of Jimmy Carter as changed their nature. LaRouche "contended
the President-Elect is a patently fraudulent that he was the target of an international
act being carried out by the three major tele­ conspiracy to kill him." When his people
vision networks and the two wire services. left New Hampshire, a "New Hampshire
. . . " This N ew Solidarity article modestly Target List" was found in the motel room
promised that if Gerald Ford should "choose of one of LaRouche's campaign workers in­
.. .to not seek the Presidency. . .LaRouche, cluding the names of mayors and city clerks
in the interest of national security and na­ of several New Hampshire cities and towns,
tional unity, announced at the same time and other people, with the notation, "These
his willingness to avail himself as a candi­ are the criminals to burn—we want calls
date for President-Elect in case Dole also coming in to these fellows day and night—
chooses not to ask for the Electoral College use your networks to best advantage." At­
vote."96 torney General Rath, one of those on the
Almost two years after the 1976 election, list, commented: "That would be consistent
LaRouche, still billed as the Chairman of with the calls I received. I got about 50 home
the U.S. Labor Party, claimed a major role calls on Sunday.. . . Some of the callers said,
for the party in U.S. politics. He said that 'We know where you live.' " "
"the U.S. Labor Party declares the de facto Two and a half years later, the National
existence of a new political leadership in the Democratic Policy Committee received
United States. We propose to name this new publicity in the May 1985 local school board
leadership the American Whig Policy Coali­ election in New York City, where it ran
tion. The Coalition will include the U.S. candidates in several districts. Both the New
Labor Party, of course, but will also include York Times100and Albert Shanker, president
Republicans, Democrats, and independents, of the American Federation of Teachers,
which, as a combination, will determine urged the voters not to support the group.101
who is President of the U.S. in January Early in 1984 the n d p c ran a number of
19 8 1."” school board candidates in New Jersey. They
were all defeated overwhelmingly. In Pisca-
taway, where there were originally only two
The National Democratic Policy
candidates running for three posts and the
Committee (NDPC)
LaRouche group's nomination of two addi­
In spite of aligning himself with the far right tional ones would have assured the election
Republicans in the campaign to annul the of one, a write-in campaign brought victory
results of the 1976 election, in 1979 La­ of the write-in nominee by three-and -a-half
Rouche and the n c l c switched their tactics. to one over the leading LaRouche
102
They buried the U.S. Labor Party, estab­ nominee.
lished instead the National Democratic Pol­ In the 1984 general election LaRouche
icy Committee, and decided to work inside again sought the Democratic nomination.
the Democratic Party. In the 1980 election He received $185,000 in matching funds
LaRouche ran in fourteen Democratic state from the Federal Electoral Commission.
primaries. The n c l c raised enough money After the primary campaign LaRouche ran
in that campaign to qualify for $526,000 in as an "independent Democrat," getting on
matching funds from the Federal Election the ballot in nineteen states.103 He was offi­
Commission, a body which LaRouche and cially credited with having gotten 78,773
the n c l c had violently denounced four years votes.104
before.98 A New Jersey political commentator,
During the 1980 campaign the n c l c and Tom Hester, noting the presence of La­
LaRouche indicated that they had not Rouche's candidates in that state, observed

United States: Other Groups 951

about the recent evolution of the group's There is no information available about
ideas that "the movement runs on an odd the subsequent evolution of the i w p .
blend of political dogma. It warns of a corpo-
rate-Marxist conspiracy to control the world
Con elusions About National Caucus
while criticizing the Polish Solidarity effort.
of Labor Committees
Last year it locked onto Republican Presi­
dent Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars' proposal It would appear that an individual or social
for the development of laser beam technol­ psychologist could best describe and explain
ogy to blow away incoming Soviet missiles the National Caucus of Labor Committees
and has become its major proponent. La­ and its leader, Lyndon LaRouche. It is in
Rouche believes the Holocaust was a hoax." many ways unique in its evolution not only
Hester went on, "Eliot Greenspan, 34, of away from orthodox Trotskyism, but from
Haworth, the n d p c ' s New Jersey coordina­ Trotskyism of any kind. Although in the
tor, is running as a Beam Technology Demo­ United States and many other countries
crat for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Bill there have been many individuals who after
Bradley, D-NJ. The n d p c has candidates in leaving the Trotskyist ranks became conser­
eight of New Jersey's 14 congressional races. vatives or even reactionaries, no other
Last year the group ran on the 'Beam Tech­ Trotskyist group as such had this kind of
nology: Stop War, Ban Depression' ticket in trajectory. More then any other Trotskyist
the Democratic legislative primary. One of faction, it degenerated into a sect or "cult,"
its assembly candidates won the primary by completely subordinate to, and dedicated to
default in Somerset when the county Demo­ the exaltation of a particular individual, its
cratic Party failed to field a candidate to founder, Lyndon LaRouche.
oppose him ."105 By 1985, the newspaper of
the LaRouche group, New Solidarity, was
Conclusion
carrying on its banner the description,
"Nonpartisan National Newspaper of the It is clear that the groups in the United
American System."106 States which have had their roots—however
The LaRouche group suffered at least one tenuously—in International Trotskyism
small split. This took place in 1974. A small have evolved in diverse directions. A few of
group called Centers for Change, describing these have remained more or less loyal to
itself as a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist organiza­ the ideas expressed by Leon Trotsky, quar­
tion and led by Fred Newman, joined the reling more with fellow Trotskyists than
n c l c 107 But two months later Fred Newman with Trotsky himself. Others, however,
resigned from the LaRouche group, subse­ have taken positions as diverse as a more or
quently forming the International Workers less clear alignment with.the heirs of Stalin,
Party. Soon after quitting the n c l c Newman an association with anarchosyndicalism,
published a pamphlet, A Manifesto on and a move totally across the political spec­
Method, in which he commented that "from trum from the far left to the far right.
the very beginning of our contact with com­
rades of the i c l c [in October 1973) we have
worked hard to change that organization
while respecting its historically just claim
to Hegemony. The former workers of c p c
and the i c l c who founded the International
Workers Party (i w p ) take proper pride in the
principled manner in which this struggle
was conducted—frequently in the face of
substantial personal abuse."108

952 United States: Other Groups

 Uruguayan Trotskyism certain number of manifestoes on the prob­
lem of the war. According to information
received, it is the comrades who form the
g o r who are responsible for the split. This
information comes to us from the secretary
of the l b l . We have received nothing from
One of the oldest and longest-lived Trotsky­ the g o r " 3
ist movements in Latin America is that of The split in the Uruguayan movement at
Uruguay. It was established as a result of that time may have been a reflection of the
efforts of Esteban Kikich, a Yugoslav immi­ division in the ranks of the U.S. Socialist
grant who had carried on correspondence Workers Party. It is known that Esteban Ki­
with James Cannon of the United States kich sympathized with Shachtman and his
since 1926. Soon after Cannon and his asso­ followers in that dispute. However, by the
ciates were expelled from the U.S. Commu­ end of World War II the small Uruguayan
nist Party Kikich and a handful of other East­ Trotskyist movement was once again a sin­
ern European immigrant workers withdrew gle organization, the Liga Obrera Revolucio­
from the Uruguayan Communist Party. But naria.'1
it was 1937 before a Trotskyist organization Esteban Kikich and other Trotskyists
was finally established in Uruguay by Ki­ took the lead in 1940 in organizing the Sindi-
kich and his associates. In September 1938, cato Unico de la Industria Metalurgica, to
in reporting to the Founding Congress of the which most metal workers of Montevideo
Fourth International, Pierre Naville gave the belong. It joined the Uni6n General de Tra­
name of the Uruguayan section as the Grupo bajadores (u g t ), the country's central labor
Bolchevique-Leninista.1 He did not provide organization, which was controlled by the
any estimate concerning how many mem­ Stalinists. They used their control of the
bers it had.2 u g t to oust the Trotskyists from leadership
The report on Latin American affiliates of the metal workers' union.
made to the Emergency Conference of the However, the Trotskyists were able to es­
Fourth International in May 1940 had the tablish a relatively strong independent
following to say about Uruguay: "Our union in the Ragusci and Voulminot ship­
movement in Uruguay is weak. Presently, building and repair firm, which became one
there exist two groups belonging to the IV of the largest and most active unions in
International. These groups were united un­ Montevideo. Then, when in the last years
til recently in a single organization. Ac­ of the war the u g t largely fell apart, the
cording to our information, the split was not Trotskyists and anarchists organized one of
produced on a political basis. The names of the three union groups which emerged at
the groups are: Liga Bolchevique-Leninista that time. This was the Comite de Enlace de
and Grupo Obrero Revolucionario. The g o r Sindicatos Autonomos, and Esteban Kikich
publishes a review, which doesn't appear was its principal leader. It had as affiliates,
very regularly, called Contra la Corriente. among others, unions of bakers and plumb­
In its first number, there was a very confused ers and two shipyard workers' unions.
editorial on the Russo-Finnish question. In The Liga Obrera Revolucionaria pub­
general, this review is of a politically medio­ lished a regular periodical. At first called
cre character. The Liga Bolchevique-Lenin- Action Socialista, its name was changed to
ista has no official organ, but publishes a Contra la Corriente (Against the Current)
in 1942. This appeared regularly for a num­
Unless otherwise noted, material in this entry deal­
ber of years and carried extensive news
ing-with period before 1969 is adapted from Robert J.
Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin America, Hoover about the local labor and political scene as
Institution Press, Stanford, 1973. well as information about the Fourth Inter-

Uruguay 953
 national and its affiliates. By the early 1 9 5os Socialist Party (particularly after the advent
the name of the paper was changed once of the Castro regime in Cuba in 19s 9) which
again to Frente Obrero. virtually eliminated that party as a serious
The Trotskyists largely lost their trade factor in national politics; the gaining of
union base when the country's labor move­ very strong control by the Communists over
ment was once again consolidated into the the labor movement by the early 1960s; and
u g t , still led by the Communists, on the in the latter half of the 1 960s the emergence
one hand, and the Confederacion Sindical of an urban guerrilla movement, the Tupa-
Uruguaya, affiliated with the International maros. The crisis culminated with the sei­
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, on the zure of power by the armed forces in 1973.
other. Frente Obrero urged the unification During most of the 1970s the Uruguay
of these two groups but by the early 1950s Trotskyists were., forced to function deeply
did not give any indication that the Trotsky­ underground as a result of the military dicta­
ists themselves controlled any significant torship. However, even before the establish­
element in organized labor. ment of the dictatorship .the Uruguayan
When the split occurred in the Fourth In­ Trotskyists' political policies had aroused
ternational in 1952-53, the Uruguayan certain cpntroversy within International
Trotskyists stayed with the Pabloite Inter­ Trotskyism.
national Secretariat. They changed their During the 1970s (and perhaps thereafter)
name to Partido Obrero Revolucionario (IV there were two tendencies of International
International). A decade later, when J. Posa­ Trotskyism represented in Uruguay. The
das and the Latin American Bureau of the older of these was the Posadas Partido
Pabloite International Secretariat broke Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista). It was
away to form their O w n version of the Fourth officially "dissolved" by the Uruguayan gov­
International, the Uruguayan party joined ernment in March 1969.5 However, p o r (t )
the Posadas current. In fact, until 1968, the in fact continued to exist. In 19 71 it became
headquarters of the Posadas Fourth Interna­ part of the Frente Amplio (Wide Front), a
tional was in Montevideo. coalition organized by a wide variety of left-
The Trotskyists were unable to capitalize wing parties for the November 19 71 general
on the serious economic, social and political elections.6 We have no information con­
crisis which slowly developed in Uruguay cerning whether the p o r (t ) was able to sur­
after World War II. Some aspects of this cri­ vive the military regime.
sis were the decline of the country's agricul­ By the 1970s there also existed an affiliate
ture and grazing, the exhaustion of possibili­ of the United Secretariat in Uruguay, the
ties for import substitution industrializa­ Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores
tion, an increasingly bureaucratic and inef­ (Uruguay). It had been established in 1969,
ficient social security system, and a situa­ and it published a periodical Tendencia Re­
tion in which most people in the cities had volucionaria.7
to hold two or more jobs to get a sufficient The p r t (u ) also joined the Frente Amplio
income—and often were inefficient in all of coalition in the 1971 election. Under the
these employments. peculiar Uruguayan electoral system, in
Successive governments did little about which factions of a party or elements of a
these problems. In part, this was the result coalition were able to present their separate
of the existence from 1950 to 1966 of a sys­ lists of candidates, with votes cast for all
tem of a plural presidency which resulted in factions within a given party or coalition
paralyzation of all governmental initiative. being summed to decide which list of candi­
On the Left the political situation was char­ dates has won, the p r t (u ) was able to have
acterized by internal struggles within the its own "Lista Obrera" for candidates for the

954 Uruguay
Senate and Chamber of Deputies. However, Varga Fourth
they were forced to have ex-general Liber
Seregni, the Frente Amplio nominee, at the International
head of their list, as candidate for president.
Other affiliates of u s e c were highly criti­
cal of the participation of the f r t (u ) in the
Frente Amplio coalition, looking upon it as
a species of popular front. However, the Although there were several defections from
p r t (u | remained the Uruguayan affiliate of the Lambertist Organizing Committee for
the United Secretariat.8 the Reconstruction of the Fourth Interna­
In 1973 the p r t (u } changed its name to tional (c o r q i ) in the decade following its
Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores (p s t ). establishment only one of these resulted in
With the end of the military dictatorship the formation of a rival International organi­
late in 1984, the p s t sought once more to zation. This was what at first was called the
become part of the revived Broad Front. The League for the Reconstruction of the Fourth
p s t was by that time a "sympathizing orga­ International, and then simply the Fourth
nization" of the United Secretariat.9 International.
The organizer of this group was Balasz
Nagy, more widely known by his alias, M i­
chel Varga. He was a Hungarian who had
been secretary of the PetGfki Circle in Buda­
pest at the time of the uprising in 1956.
Fleeing to France after the collapse of the
Hungarian Revolution, he was contacted by
the Lambertists, particularly by Pierre
Broue, who convinced him of the correct­
ness of the Trotskyist position. Nagy-Varga
entered the French Lambertist party, the Or­
ganization Communiste Intemationaliste,
in 1962, and also succeeded in organizing a
group of other East European refugees.1 He
was head of the League of Socialist Revolu­
tionaries of Hungary, which was recognized
as a section of the Healy-Lambert Interna­
tional Committee of the 1960s, and subse­
quently of c o r q i .
However, a few months after the estab­
lishment of c o r q i there was a break be­
tween it and Varga. The French group oci
and c o r q i denounced Varga as having been
both a c i a and k g b agent, using as "proof"
documents from Varga's personal archives
which had come into their possession.2
This "affaire" caused considerable contro­
versy in several factions of International
Trotskyism. Finally, a "Commission of In­
quiry Into the Varga Affair" was set up, con­
sisting of members of the French Lutte Ou-

Varga Fourth International 955

vrifere, the U.S. Socialist Workers Party, the Venezuelan Trotskyism
French United Secretariat affiliate, the l c r ,
and the international Spartacist tendency.
It finally delivered its report in May 1977,
which concluded that there was no evidence
indicating that Varga was either a k g b or c i a
agent.3 Trotskyism was first established in Venezu­
Meanwhile, Varga had set up his own inter­ ela in the 1970s. From its inception, the
national organization. It was first called the movement there contained groups repre­
League for the Reconstruction of the Fourth senting the different tendencies in Interna­
International. Then, a January 1976 meeting tional Trotskyism.
proclaimed the "Fourth Open International The first Venezuelan element associated
Conference/' which was succeeded by the with the United Secretariat of the Fourth
Fourth Congress of the IV International. At International was that grouped around a
those meetings the Fourth International was monthly newspaper, Voz Marxista, which
proclaimed to have been reconstituted.4 began to appear in 19 71. It was edited by a
The Varga version of the Fourth Interna­ lawyer, Alfonso Ramirez, and carried the
tional published a periodical, La Quatrieme slogan "For the construction of the Revolu­
Internationale. From that publication it was tionary Labor Party" (Partido Obrero Revo­
clear that almost a decade after his break lucionario). Aside from commentaries on
with the Lambertists Varga was still bitter the Venezuelan situation, the periodical (as
against them. This was indicated in an edi­ in the specific case of its ninth number) car­
torial in the March 1, 1981, issue of that ried news on the French, Ceylonese, Ger­
magazine.5 man, and other Trotskyist groups associated
It is not clear how many affiliates the with u s e c .1 The Trotskyist periodical was
Varga Fourth International has had, al­ very critical of the "New Force" coalition
though it would seem that it has had some organized for the 1973 general elections and
following among East European exiles as consisting of the Movimiento Electoral del
well as in France, and a small party in Spain. Pueblo, a splinter group of the country's
On the occasion of a meeting in Hamburg of largest party, Accion Democratica; the
the Varga Fourth International in July 1982, Uni6n Republicana Democratica, a middle-
the following organizations of the group class party of indefinite ideology; and the
were indicated as being represented: Partido Communist Party. The tone of the attack is
Obrero Revolucionario of Spain; Ligue Ou- summed up in the final paragraph of an arti­
vrifere Revolutionnaire of France; Tendence cle in the group's newspaper: "The New
pour un Avant Gard Revolutionnaire of the Force's programmatic 'Essentials' is the
French Antilles; Trotskyist Organization of most recent pollutant added to the Venezue­
the United States; League of Revolutionary lan environment. Those who have lost faith
Socialists of Hungary; Revolutionary Work: in this program are its authors. The final
ers League of Poland; Revolutionary Work­ fate of the 'Essentials' will be that of so
ers League of Czechoslovakia; a Youth many phony programs that have been
Committee of Norway; the Revolutionary launched in Venezuela and throughout the
Workers League of Sweden; and the Com­ world, with one small difference: instead of
mittee of the Fourth International of being carried off by the wind, they will be
Finland.6 flushed down the sewer."*
Little information is available about most This Trotskyist tendency, which took the
of these groups. name Grupo Trotskista Venezolano (g t v —
Venezuelan Trotskyist Group), finally an­
nounced in August 1972, that "we have de-

956 Venezuela
cided . . . to support the candidacy of Jose lished in Venezuela in the early 1970s was
Vicente Rangel for the presidency of the re­ the Grupo Cuarta Internacional (g c i ), asso­
public. Ours is critical support, and it is not ciated with the Lambertist c o r q i tendency
irreversible."3 Rangel was the nominee of of International Trotskyism. In 1973 the g c i
the Movimiento a Socialismo, a group reached agreement with the leadership of
which had broken away from—and taken the Movimiento de Izquierda Revoluciona­
most of the membership of—the Commu­ ria (m i r ), which had recently been reorga­
nist Party several years before. nized and relegalized after a long period of
The Trotskyists held at least one electoral guerrilla activities. According to this agree­
meeting in Caracas for Rangel, reportedly ment the Trotskyists were admitted as
attended by more than 1,000 people. Among members of the m i r and were allowed to
the speakers were Rangel himself, and g t v function as a faction within the party.
leader Alfonso Ramirez.4 At one point the g c i people got so deeply
B y I97S the g t v had become the Liga So­ involved in the m i r that they virtually lost
cialista. At the time of the nationalization their own identity. Although they were fre­
of the iron mining industry by the govern­ quently urged to do so by c o r q i , they did
ment of President Carlos Andres Perez, the not establish their own national newspaper.
Liga issued a statement urging that "the When a factional controversy developed be­
m a s , m i r , c t v , the student organizations, tween two elements of the m i r , led respec­
and the political parties that claim to repre­ tively by Moists Moleiro and Americo
sent the workers and people, join together Martin, the Trotskyists aligned themselves
to launch a united campaign for workers with the Moleiro faction, which still pro­
control of the iron ore industry."5 claimed its loyalty to Marxism-Leninism.
In the middle of 1976 the Liga Socialista, However, the g c i finally led a split in the
which was by then publishing Voz Social­ m i r which resulted in the formation of the

ista, was subject to some harassment by the m i r Proletario. At a conference of the g c i in

police. In June, seven members of the organi­ mid 1980 which was attended also by two
zation were arrested while selling the party delegates of the Partido Socialista de los Tra­
paper.6 A month later the Liga's secretary bajadores, it was decided that "The g c i will
general, Jorge Rodriguez, was picked up by continue to capitalize on its entrist work
the d i s i p police and died while in their cus­ with the aim of regrouping and organizing
tody. An investigation disclosed that he had within the m i r Proletario the working-class
been badly beaten. Four policemen of the cadres of the m i r ; parallel to this, the g c i
d i s i p were tried for his murder.7 and the p s t will establish the political bases
At the time of the 1978 election campaign to submit to discussion of the militants of
there was a controversy over extending legal the g c i , the m i r Proletario, and the p s t look­
recognition to the Liga Socialista as a politi­ ing to the fusion in a single organization of
cal party. The Minister of Interior objected the Trotskyists of Venezuela."
to such recognition by the Supreme Elec­ The g c i delegates were critical of their
toral Tribunal.8At a meeting of the National own execution of entrism in the m i r . A l­
Committee of the Liga which decided to though they argued that it had made it possi­
appeal their situation to the United Nations ble for them to form a national organization,
and to Amnesty International there were "We ourselves limited, by our oscillating
present not only members of the Committee and uncertain orientation, the achieve­
but leaders of three important labor unions ments we might have made."11
and a vice president of the Teachers Federa­ A third Trotskyist group which appeared
tion.9Recognition was finally granted by the in Venezuela in the 1970s was the Partido
Supreme Electoral Tribunal.10 Socialista de los Trabajadores (p s t ). It had its
Another Trotskyist organization estab­ origins in the m a s , the party formed in the

Venezuela 957
late 1960s by dissident members and leaders Vietnamese Trotskyism
of the Communist Party. For a while, a
group of Trotskyists worked with the m a s
as a faction. In 1974 they broke away from
that party and formed the p s t . 12 This group,
which was aligned with the Bolshevik Ten­ During much of the r930S one of the major
dency of Nahuel Moreno, became a sympa­ centers of strength of International Trots­
thizing member of the United Secretariat.13 kyism was what is today known as Vietnam.
When the Bolshevik Tendency broke with That region was also the scene of what was
the United Secretariat, and then formed, to­ probably unique in the world at that time, a
gether with the Lambertists, the so-called united front between the Trotskyists and
Fourth International (International Com­ the Stalinists—a united front which did not
mittee} in 1980, the two Venezuelan organi­ prevent the Stalinists a decade later from
zations associated with the b t and c o r q i , murdering virtually all of those Trotskyist
that is, the p s t and the Grupo Cuarta Intera- leaders with whom they had been allied in
cional, merged, forming the Partido Social­ the earlier period.
ista de los Trabajadores Unificado. At the Before World War II present-day Vietnam
time of the split between the Morenoists consisted of three separate states. In the
and the Lambertists in 1981, the p s t u sided north was Tonkin, which together with the
with the Moreno faction, and became a empire of Annam in the center constituted
founding member of the International a single French protectorate. In the south
Workers League (IVth International).14 was Cochin China, an out-and-out French
In 1982 the Morenoist faction of interna­ colony centering on the city of Saigon. The
tional Trotskyism claimed that the only sur­ strength of the Vietnamese Trotskyists was
viving Trotskyist group in Venezuela was concentrated in that period principally in
the Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores Cochin China.
Unificado. It was then publishing a periodi­
cal, La Chispa Socialista-15
Stalinism and Trotskyism

Origins of Vietnamese Stalinism

The founder of the Vietnamese Communist
Party was a man who was then known as
Nguyen Ai Quoc, but became famous later
as Ho Chi Minh. He was in France at the end
of the First World War and was a member of
the French Socialist Party. He is said to have
attended the congress in Tours in 1920 at
which the Socialist Party was converted into
the French Communist Party, to which he
also belonged. In June r923 he was sent by
the French Communists to Moscow to at­
tend the University of the Toilers of the East
and to serve as French representative in the
new Peasants International. He was chosen
as the Asian member of the directing body
of that International, a subsidiary of the
Comintern.

958 Vietnam
 Nguyen Ai Quoc was also a delegate to Jeune Annam before he had left to study in
the Fifth Congress of the Communist Inter­ France.6
national in mid-1924. Early in the following The young people were very unhappy
year he was designated by the Comintern with the current position of the Comintern
to serve on the staff of Michael Borodin in with regard to colonial questions. Daniel
Canton, with the assignment to work to es­ Hemery has noted that Ta Thu Thau and
tablish an Indochinese Communist Party.1 his comrades reproached it for its empiri­
The immediate result of his efforts was the cism, the incoherence of its Chinese policy,
settingup in June 1925 at Canton of the Viet but above all its not taking into account
Nam Revolutionary Youth League.1 It was the interests of the colonial revolutionary
principally out of this group that the Viet­ movements. The International, they
namese Communist Party, or Indochinese thought was proving incapable.. . "of aiding
Communist Party |p c i ), as it soon came to the Vietnam revolutionaries and going be­
be called, was formed. By 1930 there were yond Sunyatsenism."
three rival Communist groups, which Ngu­ Toward the end of 1929 Ta Thu Thau,
yen Ai Quoc was finally able to merge into a Huynh Van Phuong, Phan Van Chang, and
single organization in February of that year.3 others joined the French Left Opposition,
The new party had almost immediate suc­ then led principally by Alfred Rosmer. On
cess, particularly among the peasants. By May 22, 1930, they organized a demonstra­
mid-1930 peasant groups under Communist tion in front of the Elys6e Palace, as a result
leadership were involved in a virtual insur­ of which nineteen Vietnamese students
rection, and in at least two localities estab­ were deported back to Saigon on May 23.
lished "soviets." However, this movement These included Ta Thu Thau, Huynh Van
was violently suppressed by French military Phuong, and Phan Van Chang.7
forces and as a consequence, as I. Milton When they returned home the students
Sacks wrote, "Virtually the entire apparatus found that there already existed several
of the Indochina Communist Party was Communist opposition groups in the Saigon
smashed, "4 area. One was the Ligue Communiste (Lien
Minh Cong San Doan), led by Dao Van Long
(also known as Dao Hung Long), a painter
Origins of Vietnamese Trotskyism
and one time member of the Association of
The Vietnamese Trotskyist movement did Revolutionary Vietnamese Youth. It had a
not arise from a split in the Communist membership of about fifty and circulated a
Party, although undoubtedly the collapse of mimeographed periodical Clarte Rouge
the Stalinists in 19 30 -31 helped the recruit­ (Vung Hong) in villages near Saigon. In Janu­
ing effort of the Trotskyists. The beginnings ary 19 31 this group entered into contact
of Vietnamese Trotskyism were to be found with the Trotskyists recently returned from
in the National Party of Independence of France, one of whom, Ho Huu Tuong, had
Vietnam, also called the Annamite Party of brought back with him the theses of the
Independence, which was founded in France Left Opposition. In May 19 31 the group was
among Vietnamese students there and was reorganized and began to publish an illegal
first led by Nguyen The Truyen, who re­ periodical, Le Communiste {Cong San).
turned to Indochina in December 1927. In August the Ligue Communiste merged
With his departure the party was reorga­ with the group of returnees from France to
nized, its principal leaders being Ta Thu found the Opposition de Gauche Indochi-
Thau and Huynh Van Phuong.5 Ta Thu noise (Dong Duong Doi Lap Ta Pahi), also
Thau had founded in Saigon an illegal na­ known as the October Group from its peri­
tionalist revolutionary group known as odical, October (Thang Muoi). In 1932 it

Vietnam 959
 was reinforced by dissidents from the Saigon veloped in 1932 was to be a permanent fea­
Stalinist organization. However, in October ture of Vietnamese Trotskyism." He added
1932 the group was decimated by the general that "one group, led by Ta Thu Thau, threw
roundup of Communists by the colonial au­ its full efforts behind the new La Lutte orga­
thorities. nization and was called the Struggle Group
The Trotskyists were soon divided into for this reason. The other group, known pop­
three groups, "of which it is not easy to ularly as October Group, named after its
understand the differences." These were the illegal magazine (published 1931-36), was
Opposition de Gauche Indochinoise, led by under the leadership of Ho Huu Tuong. The
Dao Hung Long and Ho Huu Tuong; Com- October Group supported La Lutte but criti­
munisme Indochinois {Dong Duong Cong cized Ta Thu Thau and his followers for
San), led byTaThuThau, organized in 1931,- collaborating too closely with the Indochina
and a study circle, Editions de FOpposition Communist Party."11
de Gauche (Ta Doi Lap Tung Thus), orga­ The need for a legal organization was gen­
nized early in 1932 by Huynh Van Phuong erally recognized by both, the Trotskyists
and Phan Van Chang. Ta Thu Thau's group and the Stalinists. Both groups were faced
had a bimonthly journal Le Proletaire [Vo with the problem of getting enough intellec­
San}, and published a pamphlet, L'Organisa- tuals with French cultural training to oper­
tion d'une Cellule d ’Entreprise. Phan Van ate on a legal basis, and with maintaining
Chang's group, with its headquarters in the contact of these intellectuals with the
Orly garage in Saigon, which was owned by masses of the workers and peasants. In the
Huynh Van Phuong, translated the Commu­ face of these problems the Stalinists and
nist Manifesto,Socialism Utopian and Sci­ Trotskyists had complementary advan­
entific, and fifteen other classical Marxist tages. The Trotskyists had an outstanding
works.8 group of young intellectuals, whereas the
I. Milton Sacks has noted that "the princi­ Communists already had a substantial ille­
pal issues dividing these groups were tacti­ gal organization with contacts among the
cal divergencies arising from their collabora­ masses.11
tion with the Stalinists. . . . They were all
agreed, however, in accepting the line that
Trotskyist and Stalinist
Leon Trotsky had developed in his condem­
Ideological Divergences
nation of the Communist International un­
der the leadership of Stalin."9 It was some time before the Stalinists and
The three Trotskyist groups held a joint the group of Trotskyists decided to form a
conference in April 1932, although Ta Thu united front. They were divided on several
Thau had at first thought it better to work important issues. Among these were differ­
within the Indochinese Communist Party. ent views on the development of the Soviet
In August 1932 the Trotskyists were Union; the Stalinists' too extensive past de­
rounded up along with the Stalinists, and in pendence on the peasants; and the Trotsky­
May 1933 they were tried, and twelve were ists' charge that the p c i was too conspirato­
condemned to varying periods in jail. How­ rial and was looking toward coups and
ever, Ta Thu Thau was freed on January 21, insurrections. For their part, the Stalinists
1933 , for lack of evidence. It was three years tended to see the Trotskyists as nationalists
before a formal Trotskyist group was again who had just recently become Marxists.13
established.10 Daniel Hemery has noted that "in 1930
Efforts to unite the Trotskyists were only the Vietnamese Trotskyists applied to Indo­
partially successful. I. Milton Sacks has china the notion of 'retarded capitalist de­
noted that "the split in their ranks that de­ velopment,' a combination of the 'artificial

960 Vietnam
 economic revolution' engendered by the process into the socialist revolution." On
French conquest and of the monopoly situa­ the other hand, "Because of the impact of
tion of imperialist influences, to which the imperialism, on the 'Asiatic' structure of
weak Vietnamese bourgeoisie contributed precolonial Vietnam, the Trotskyists
its 'rachitic economy' and its incapacity to thought. . . that there was no possible stop
go beyond the agrarian and usurious stages at the bourgeois democratic stage, because
of its development." Consequently, "the there did not exist in Vietnam any historic
capitalist mode of production and exploita­ basis for an autonomous bourgeois develop­
tion has become preponderant in Indo­ ment; the emancipation of the peasantry
china. " and of the nation implies that the class
The Trotskyists argued, according to struggle be carried out under the effective
H^mery, that "the working masses are ex­ hegemony of the working class, to its prole­
ploited not by national feudal interests but tarian finish, in a word, that there be perma­
by a very modem imperialism and by the nent revolution."15
capitalist means of exploitation. This capi­
talist means of exploitation is exercised
The La Lutte Group
through a combined structure of imperialist
and indigenous bourgeois domination."
Launching of La Lutte
Hence, "Imperialism is not a limited phe­
nomenon on a superficial level of dependent The first tentative steps towards collabora­
societies which can be expelled by simple tion between the Struggle Group of Trotsky­
rejection, but has penetrated, 'denatured' ists, led by Ta Thu Thau, and the Stalinists
their basic structures." were taken in connection with municipal
The Stalinists, on the other hand, empha­ elections in Saigon on April 30 and May 7,
sized much more the exterior development 1933. The two groups named Nguyen Van
of capitalism, used the word "imperialism" Tao and Tran Van Thach as their nominees
much more often in their discussions, and for these elections. They also brought out
talked about "nonequivalent exchange/' the first issue of the French-language news­
which meant emphasis on the continuing paper La Lutte on April 24. The two left
feudal nature of Vietnamese society. One candidates were elected, along with four
Stalinist leader wrote in 1932 that "the liq­ conservative "constitutionalists," but the
uidators (the Trotskyists} consider Indo­ leftists nominees' election was annulled in
china as a new country, a capitalist country­ August by the authorities.16
side, they push their theoretical and Although the publication of the newspa­
practical ignorance to the point of affirming per had been suspended soon after the elec­
that the cause of the misery of the peasantry tion, the independent Marxist Nguyen An
is its exploitation by the indigenous bour­ Ninh acted as intermediary to bring about
geoisie. Where, then, are the feudal lord and the reestablishment of the newspaper and
the landed proprietor?"14 the forging of a more durable alliance be­
Hemery went on to note that "from this tween the Trotskyists and Stalinists. His
came the antagonism of the two concep­ efforts were crowned with success about a
tions of the Vietnamese revolution. Demo- year and a half after the election when an
cratic-bourgeoisie for its anti-imperialist agreement was reached and signed by repre­
and agrarian content for the Communists, sentatives of the two groups.
it cannot be accomplished in the absence This agreement called for the joint publi­
of a truly revolutionary bourgeoisie except cation of La Lutte and "specified the rules
under the direction of the proletariat, and of its functioning: struggle oriented against
then develop according to an 'uninterrupted' the colonial power and its constitutionalist

Vietnam 961
allies, support of the demands of workers soviets. Another was support of left-wing
and peasants without regard to which of the candidates in Cochin China assembly elec­
two groups they were affiliated with, diffu­ tions in March 1935, when three Commu­
sion of classic Marxist thought, rejection of nists and three Trotskyists were nominated
all attacks against the USSR and against ei­ in the east and center regions, and the La
ther current, collective editing of articles, Lutte group got r7 percent of the votes in
which would be signed only in case of dis­ spite of a highly restrictive franchise and
agreement." On this basis, La Lutte began government favoritism for their constitu­
regular publication on October 4, 19 3 4.17 tionalist opponents.20
The editorial board of the newspaper con­ A high point of electoral activity was the
sisted of three elements: left-wing national­ municipal election in Saigon in May 1935,
ists, Communists, and Trotskyists. Repre­ when six La Lutte candidates ran, including
senting the first of these groups were three workers and three intellectuals.21 I.
Nguyen An Ninh, Le Van Thu, and Tran Milton Sacks has noted that in this and
Van Thach; for the Communists there were other elections "The distinguishing charac­
four people, Nguyen Van Tao, Duong Bach teristic of La Lutte's participation in the mu­
Mai, Nguyen Van Nguyen, and Nguyen Thi nicipal elections lay not in its program but
Luu; and there were five Trotskyists: Ta in its candidates. These included, for the
Thu Thau, Phan Van Huu, Ho Huu Tuong, first time, a number of individuals who
Phan Van Chang, and Huynh Van Phuong. could by no stretch of the imagination be
The manager was a Frenchman, Edgar Ga- considered intellectuals. This ran counter to
nofsky.18 deep-seated Vietnamese beliefs about being
Communist influence predominated in educated, held in particular by the restricted
La Lutte until late in 1936. The French po­ electorate that could vote."21
lice reported a statement by Tran Van Guau, In the May 1935 elections four of the La
a Communist leader, to the effect that " La Lutte group's six candidates were elected:
Lutte, which takes, in spite of certain faults, Tran Van Thach, Nguyen Van Tao, Ta Thu
a Communist position, is more than under Thau, and Duong Bach Mai.23 Eventually,
our influence; it is practically directed by however, the elections of Tao, Thau, and
the party."19 Mai were annulled by the authorities.24
During this period the Trotskyists' close
collaboration with the Stalinists did not go
Eaily Campaigns of the
without criticism even within the Struggle
La Lutte Group
faction of the Trotskyists. Sacks has noted
The new paper and the group around it car­ that "Ta Thu Thau . . . had considerable dif­
ried out many campaigns. One was constant ficulty in convincing many members of La
support of the efforts of the workers to estab­ Lutte that they should accept Duong Bach
lish unions and to bargain collectively, Mai as a candidate, since they regarded him
which became very important and was as much too 'reformist.' Ta Thu Thau felt
marked by a large strike wave in late 1936 that the united front must be maintained
and early 1937, sparked by the sitdown and spoke for Duong Bach Mai as the most
strikes in France a few months earlier. An­ capable representative of the Vietnamese
other was a drive for the election of a Popular Stalinists."15 r.
Congress to draw up plans for the future of Sacks has indicated other important cam­
Vietnam, which involved the establishment paigns of the La Lutte group: "It carried on
of numerous local "action committees" to a campaign against the hard life of jailed
prepare for the congress, which committees Vietnamese and called for amnesty of politi­
the Trotskyists tended to regard as embryo cal prisoners. It directly attacked the stereo­

962 Vietnam
types which many French (and even some La Lutte and set out to suppress the local
Vietnamese) held about the character of the action committees which had been estab­
Vietnamese people. . . . To replace the re­ lished to prepare for the Popular Congress.
strictive, unrepresentative institutions that Colonial Minister Marius Moutet, a Social­
functioned in Indochina, La Lutte called for ist, commented that "I have tried to find a
a parliament to be elected by universal suf­ formula which would permit a wide consul­
frage. It championed democratic rights and tation with all elements of the popular (will]
liberties for all. It called for universal and and not a so called popular meeting, in real­
free education and favored a program of pub­ ity established under the aegis of the Trots-
lic works. . . ■',16 kyist-Communists, intervening in the vil­
lages to menace and intimidate the peasant
part of the population, taking all authority
Impact of the Popular Front and the
from the public officials. This formula we
Blum Government
have not found, so I cannot permit the meet­
Although the Popular Front government's ing of a congress in which the Trotskyists
advent to power in France at first created would incontestably be the leaders."29
considerable hope among the La Lutte
group, the event resulted in only marginal
changes in Vietnam. Sacks has noted that "a Trotskyist Activities in
number of political prisoners were released Organized Labor
from jail. A greater measure of civil liberties
was allowed, and the revolutionary under­ During the period before the Popular Front
ground organizations were able to build le­ government's final crackdown on the Viet­
gal counterparts."27 However; the govern­ namese Left and the breaking up of the
ment of Premier Leon Blum did not, in the united front around La Lutte, the Trotsky­
end, bring any fundamental change in the ists made considerable headway, particu­
colonial status of French Indochina. It did larly in the labor movement. In the spring
enact some modest legislation on behalf of of 1937 the Federation Syndicale du Name
workers, such as a minimum wage law, and Ky was organized under Trotskyist auspices.
passed very complicated legislation on Its statutes were adopted on May 1.
unions which, although ostensibly provid­ The Federation had active organizers in at
ing for their legalization, in fact made it least thirty-nine enterprises in Saigon and
virtually impossible for them to achieve le­ Cholon including the important govern­
gal recognition.28 Nevertheless, for about a ment arsenal plant, "where they were par­
year after the advent of the Popular Front ticularly influential," as well as on the rail­
government in France in early 1936 the colo­ roads, the tramways, in the water and
nial government did tolerate the de facto electric company, the France-Asiatic Petro­
organization of substantial numbers of leum Company, several rice processing
workers. firms, pottery works, sugar refineries, in the
Perhaps the greatest disappointment of Distilleries de l'Indochine at Binh Tay, and
all, insofar as the left-wing Vietnamese were on the docks. Trotskyist influence was pre­
concerned was the failure to provide for any dominant in the wave of strikes which oc­
modification of the colonial status of their curred in Cochin China in late 1936 and
country. Not only was no kind of really rep­ early 1937. Hemery has noted that "for the
resentative government established in Viet Vietnamese Trotskyist movement . . . this
Nam, but after long hesitation the Popular is the beginning of a base in the working
Front government rejected the idea of a Pop­ class of the region of Saigon, the importance
ular Congress which had been proposed by of which one can measure by the new fre­

Vietnam 963
quency of the warnings in the clandestine Communist Party the relationship between
Communist press against Trotskyism."30 the antifascist struggle and the anticolonial
Both Trotskyist factions (the Struggle issue in the French Empire. He commented
Group and the October Group) participated that the interests of the colonial movements
in work in the labor movement and in the had to be subordinated to "defensive antifas­
general upsurge of activity in 1936-37. cism," and added that "if the decisive ques­
Hemery has noted that "in Vietnam as in tion at the moment is the victorious struggle
many other countries there seems always against fascism, the interest of the colonial
to have been maintained the structure of a people lies in their union with the people of
group without ever truly acquiring that of a France and not in an attitude which could
broad and solidly organized Party." He favor the efforts of fascism."32
partly explained this by noting that Ta Thu For its part the Indochinese Communist
Thau was "above all, a tribune." As to the Party, in a resolution of its Central Commit­
rival October Group, Hemery noted that tee in March 1937 which advocated the
"after the beginning of the Militant in Octo­ maintenance of the united, front with the
ber 1936, the illegal Trotskyist group of Ho Trotskyists "and other nationalist cur­
Huu Tuong was able . . . to maintain its ac­ rents," nonetheless proclaimed that "the
tivity and mount a complete system of clan­ government of Leon Blum is only a capitalist
destine and legal publications, and was on government of a progressive character. . . .
the way to becoming a force to be reckoned It can carry out reforms in favor of the popu­
with. It published its statutes in the May lation and thwart the fascists. If we do not
1937 number of its journal Tien Quan {L'A - support it, it will be overthrown and the
vant Garde)." It was active both in trade fascists will take power. We therefore have
union work and in organizing action com­ the duty to give it our support but we must
mittees for the proposed Popular Congress.31 not forget for that reason the task of training
the masses for struggle to defend their im­
mediate interests and to carry on revolution­
Trotskyist-Stalinist Divergences
ary education of the population. Our Party
Over the Popular Front
doesn't believe that in approving this idea
In spite of progress made by both Trotsky­ of supporting the Blum government and the
ists and Stalinists under the somewhat more French Popular Front it gives up criticism of
relaxed Vietnamese political atmosphere re­ the metropolitan government and struggle
sulting from the establishment of the Popu­ against the barbarous policy of reactionary
lar Front government in France, there was functionaries in the colony."33
fundamental disagreement between the But the Trotskyists took a radically differ­
Trotskyists—of both groups—and the Sta­ ent position. Their journal Tien Quan on
linists concerning the attitude to be as­ May 15, 1937 wrote that "the partisans of
sumed toward the Popular Front and the the III International persist in supporting
government it had installed. This disagree­ the Popular Front, alleging that it is not re­
ment was to bring about the end of the sponsible for the acts of the government of
Trotskyist-Stalinist united front in the Popular Front and of the government of
Vietnam. Indochina. The reality is that without the
The Vietnamese Communists, like their support of the Popular Front, there would
French counterparts, were strong propo­ not be a government of the Popular Front
nents of the Popular Front and of the suppos­ and that, without the confidence accorded
edly "antifascist" role which it was playing. by it to [the Governor General), without the
Maurice Thorez indicated in his report to confidence given by him to the chiefs of the
the December 1937 congress of the French local administration, and so on, there would

964 Vietnam
not be the repressions suffered by the In­ the end to the Trotskyist-Stalinist united
dochinese masses." front which had been built around La Lutte.
H6mery summed up the Trotskyists' posi­ However, there was clearly considerable re­
tion: "For the Trotskyists, imperialism un­ luctance on both sides to destroy an alliance
der the regime of the Popular Front re­ which had served well the purposes of both
mained imperialism. There was no need participating groups.
therefore to change the tactics of the revolu­ An important factor leading to the
tionary movement. After as before 1936 breakup of the La Lutte united front was a
those consisted of the class struggle and of decisive shift in the balance of power within
anti-imperialist combats for the long-term the group participating in the newspaper. By
objective of a revolution with proletarian late 1936 the Trotskyists were winning over
leadership and content. And to carry out for to their side the left nationalists, who held
themselves in Vietnam the virtually Sisy­ the balance of power in the group. Tran Van
phean task assigned at that historic moment Thach joined the Trotskyists in October
and everywhere to the international Trots­ 1936 and Hemery noted "others were going
kyist movement: the construction of labor to imitate him."37
parties which were both revolutionary and As a consequence of this development the
associated with the masses."34 tone of La Lutte began to change. It began
In March 1937 the Indochinese Commu­ to reprint extensively articles from French
nist Party proposed a new front of Indochi­ Trotskyist publications. One of these was a
nese parties and groups to support the report on the French Radical Party congress
French Popular Front. It should, according of October 1936, which blamed all of the
to the Stalinists, not only fight against the mistakes of the Popular Front on them and
local authorities' abuses, but "explain the asked rhetorically what could be expected
policy of the government of the Popular of people who had served in the cabinet of
Front to the population and support this pol­ Pierre Laval. On December 31 the Stalinists
icy. . . . To support the government is a published in La Lutte an "open letter to the
means of legally opposing its local represen­ La Lutte group" which complained of al­
tatives, of exploiting the apparent contradi- leged violations of the united front accord,
cation between Paris and Hanoi."35 including the publishing of five articles from
The Trotskyists were strongly opposed to the Trotskyist press.38 In February 1937 the
such a front. On the contrary, according to paper published an article attacking the Chi­
Hemery, they wanted "to play to the maxi­ nese Communist Party for joining forces
mum the theme of anti-imperialism to ob­ with the Kuomintang in the battle against
tain the political changes refused by the the Japanese. An earlier article in December
ministry of Leon Blum. The real interna­ 1936 suggested that there should be a "colo­
tional risk is in submitting the colonial nial Zimmerwald" if a new war broke out.39
struggle to the exigencies of a colonialism In March and early April 1937 there was
labelled antifascism."34 a polemic in the pages of La Lutte between
the Stalinist Nguyen An Ninh and the
Trotskyist Ta Thu Thau over the Indo­
Breakup of the La Lutte United Front
chinese policy of the Paris government.
These drastically different points of view However, the La Lutte group published a
with regard to the Popular Front and the resolution in the March 21 issue announc­
general approach to revolutionary activity ing their intention to continue the united
in Indochina under the Popular Front re­ front, saying that the disappearance of the
gime, as well as others with regard to the paper would be a "formidable retreat" by
Moscow Trials and similar issues, spelled labor and the "progressive forces."

Vietnam 965
 One reason for heistancy at that time to munist Party, and were dated May 10, 1937.
break up the Trotskyist-Stalinist united These instructions said, "We are surprised
front was the fact that the victories of three that you have not received a letter which
of the four La Lutte people who had been we sent there several weeks ago to comrade
elected in municipal elections shortly be­ Mai. In that letter we gave our advice con­
fore had been cancelled by the authorities. cerning the internal situation of the La Lutte
Until new elections were held, in May, both group. We consider as impossible the con­
sides were anxious to continue their cooper­ tinuation of collabration between the party
ation. In the new elections the three men and the Trotskyists. In this letter we have
involved, Ta Thu Thau, Nguyen Van Tao, also included the complete text of directives
and Duong Bach Mai, were reelected.40 we have received for you concerning the at­
At that point, however, the maintenance titude to be taken toward the Trotskyists in
of the unity of the group around La Lutte Indochina. . .. We have received a letter
became impossible. On June 9, a final com­ from comrade Nguyen Van Nguyen also on
mon meeting of the group took place which the subject of collaboration with the Trots­
adopted the proposal of Ta Thu Thau that kyists. We have transmitted that letter to
there be cessation of all attacks against the the House (the Communist International]
Popular Front in the newspaper for three with our personal observations."42
months, during which the Ministry of Colo­ However, William Duiker has noted that
nies would be presented with a minimum "even then, the i c p may not have responded
program demanding amnesty, political free­ with sufficient alacrity, for in the midsum­
dom, trade union rights, and the purging of mer a high-ranking member of the f c p
the Indochinese administration. The Com­ (French Communist Party] paid an official
munists accepted the four points to be sent visit to Indochina, presumably to convey to
to the Ministry but rejected the concept of the Party leadership in Vietnam the seri­
a deadline, "a condition which they felt in­ ousness with which Moscow viewed any
compatible with their conception of the further cooperation with Trotskyites in Sai­
Popular Front." As a consequence Nguyen gon. After this visit, the collaboration
Van Tao, Duong Bach Mai, and Nguyen left ceased entirely and in succeeding years the
La Lutte, "which thereupon became the two factions competed for support among
Trotskyist biweekly of the South."41 workers and intellectuals in Saigon—not al­
There were undoubtedly outside pres­ ways to the i c p 's advantage."43
sures which helped foment the final split Although the breakup of the Trotskyist-
between the Trotskyists and Stalinists in Stalinist united front was probably inevita­
the La Lutte group. These came particularly ble given the then existing relations be­
from the French Communist Party and the tween the two groups on an international
Communist International. Hemery has scale, it may well have been hastened by
noted that on March 3, 1937, Stalin gave a pressure from the French Communists and
violent anti-Trotskyist speech, after which the Communist International.
"the International mobilized to glorify the
Moscow Trials." He added that "the delete­
rious wind which inflated its leading organs Vietnamese Trotskyism 19 3 7 -19 3 9
brought innumerable polemics to Saigon
ft During the two years following the breakup
More directly, the Comintern sent in­ of the united front around La Lutte, the Viet­
structions to its Vietnamese affiliate, in­ namese Trotskyists continued to be divided
structions which were signed by Gitton, the into two groups. From time to time they
administrative secretary of the French Com­ engaged in polemics with one another, al­

966 Vietnam
though they generally shared the same plat­ andTrotskyists. The Indochina Communist
form and ideas. Party and the Trotskyist groups were driven
The Struggle Group organized around Ta completely underground."48
Thu Thau seems to have been the official
Vietnamese Section of the Fourth Interna­
Vietnamese Trotskyists During
tional in this period.44 It continued to pub­
World War II
lish La Lutte in French and in 1939 began
to publish a Vietnamese language version Clearly the Stalinists were better able to
Txanh Dau as well. In elections for the Co­ maintain their clandestine organization in
chin China Colonial Council in April 1939 the face of persecution by the colonial au­
three Trotskyists of the Struggle Group, Ta thorities than were the Trotskyists. John
Thu Thau, Tran Van Thach, and Phan Van Sharpe claimed that this was the case be­
Hum, got 80 percent of the total vote, "de­ cause the Trotskyists were a greater menace
feating three Constitutionalists, two Stalin­ to the French authorities than were the Sta­
ists, and several independent representa­ linists (a somewhat dubious proposition),
tives . . . " I. Milton Sacks has commented because the Stalinists were able to retreat
that "this was probably the high point of across the border into China and subse­
Trotskyist strength in Indochina in the pre- quently received aid from both the Chinese
World War II period. A Trotskyist source and the Americans, and "partly because the
claims that they had a Vietnamese member­ Stalinists had begun retreating to clandes-
ship of three thousand in 1939 " Sacks also tinity as early as i938."4S
noted that as the threat of war approached, In any case, during the first five years of
the Struggle Group established an under­ the war there was little evidence of orga­
ground organization in the Saigon-Cholon nized Trotskyist activity in Vietnam. Only
area.45 within the last year of the conflict did the
Meanwhile, the October Group continued two Trotskyist groups revive.
to be active. It proposed a joint Trotskyist- The first group to be reconstituted was
Stalinist ticket for the 1939 elections, but the October Group, reestablished in August
when the Struggle Group rejected that idea 1944 under the name International Commu­
does not seem to have done anything on its nist League. At that time it had "only sev­
own.46 Its legal newspaper Le Militant was eral dgzen members." However, one Trots­
suppressed at the end of 1937 because of its kyist source has claimed that "among these
vigorous support of strikes then in progress. were five founders of the Vietnamese Trots­
However, it quickly began to publish Octo­ kyist movement, each having at least twelve
ber once again as "a semilegal magazine" years' experience of revolutionary struggle,
and also put out Tia Sang (Spark], first as a and several experienced cadre formerly from
weekly and then at the beginning of 1939 as the Hanoi section."50
a daily newspaper,47 perhaps the only Trots­ In March 1945, the Japanese, who had
kyist daily then in existence anywhere. been occupying French Indochina since Sep­
With the outbreak of World War II the tember 1940, dispensed with the puppet
Trotskyists were severely repressed. A French administration which they had
French law of September 26, 1939, which maintained in place until then. Upon that
legally dissolved the French Communist occasion the International Communist
Party, was also applied to Indochina and its League (i c l ) issued a call to "the revolution­
enforcement encompassed not only the Sta­ ary Saigon masses," dated March 24, 1945.
linists but the Trotskyists as well. I. Milton This document argued that "The future de­
Sacks has noted that "the French colonial feat of Japanese imperialism will set the In­
police arrested some two hundred Stalinists dochinese people on the road to national

Vietnam 967
 liberation. The bourgeoisie and feudalism Trotskyism and the Viet Minh
who cravenly serve the Japanese rulers today
will serve equally the Allied imperialist The Beginning of the
states. The petty-bourgeois nationalists, by Viet Minh Regime
their aimless policy, will also be incapable
of leading the people towards revolutionary With the collapse of the Japanese and the
victory. Only the working class, which end of World War II on August 16 ,194 5, the
struggles independently under the flag of the Stalinists were able almost immediately to
Fourth International, will be able to accom­ seize power through a coalition which they
plish the advance guard tasks of the revo­ had formed and dominated, which was pop­
lution." ularly known as the Viet Minh. Although
The document also denounced the Com­ within a short time British tro6ps arrived in
munists, saying that "the Stalinists of the the Cochin China area and Chinese Nation­
Third International have already abandoned alist troops in the north, followed after some
the working class to group themselves mis­ time by the return of French forces, the
erably with the 'democratic' imperialisms. Communists continued for some time to
They have betrayed the peasants and no control much of the civilian administration
longer speak of the agrarian question. If to­ of Vietnam. In late 1945 Ho Chi Minh went
day they march with foreign capitalists, in to France to try to negotiate Vietnamese in­
the future, they will, help the class of na­ dependence under his leadership, and only
tional exploiters to destroy the revolution­ after those negotiations failed did the mili­
ary people in the hours to come."51 tary conflict between the Communist-led
I. Milton Sacks noted that the program of forces and their opponents, which was to go
the i c l "called for opposition to imperialism on for more than a quarter of a century, get
and for support of world revolution, a work- under way.
er-peasant united front, the creation of peo­ During the weeks following the end of
ple's committees (soviets), establishment of the war, both Trotskyist groups were very
a constituent assembly, arms for the people, active. However, they followed very differ­
seizure of land by the peasants, nationaliza­ ent policies. I. Milton Sacks has noted that
tion of the factories under workers' control, "as distinct from the Trotskyist Struggle
and the creation of the workers' and peas­ Group, which participated in the United Na­
ants' government."57 tional Front and in the negotiations with the
The Straggle Group was also revived Viet Minh, the International Communist
shortly before the end of the war. It was League denounced the Viet Minh as a coali­
reestablished in May-June 1945. Sacks tion including bourgeois elements in Viet­
noted that "the difference between the two namese society; the League called on the
Trotskyist groups, revolving mainly around masses to complete the revolution that had
the question of relations with the Vietnam­ brought independence by building up Peo­
ese Stalinists, had not been reconciled, ple's Committees as organs of state power
though their programs tended to be simi­ and by distributing land to the peasants."
lar."53 However, a Trotskyist source Sacks concluded concerning the i c l that
claimed that the Struggle Group policy dif­ "they conceived of their role as equivalent
fered fundamentally from that of the ic l on to that of the Bolsheviks ..vis-a-vis the r9i7
at least one issue. For at least some time, the Kerensky government in Russia, with the
Struggle Group participated in a so-called Viet Minh government cast in the role of
National United Front, together with the representative of the bourgeoisie. The Inter­
Vietnamese Kuomintang, and the Cao Dai national Communist League's agitation for
and Hoa Hao religious sects.54 arming the population did strike a respon-

968 Vietnam
sive chord among other nationalist groups grandiose historic task of creating the Peo­
who mistrusted the British and feared loss ple's committee or Soviet."58
of their independence."55 The People's Committees controlled by
Although from the beginning the Com­ the i c l refused to give political support to
munists, through the Viet Minh, controlled the Viet Minh government. They also called
the northern part of Vietnam, this was not for armed resistance against the landing of
the case in the Saigon area in the south. Allied troops in the Saigon region, and de­
There the National United Front, of which manded arming of the workers and peasants
the Struggle Group was a member, took over "and took practical steps to carry this out."
effective control. It was not until August as, They also demanded nationalization of all
nine days after the Japanese surrender, that industries and their being placed under the
the Stalinists were able to carry out a blood­ control of the workers.59
less coup and seize power in Saigon.56 Meanwhile, the Struggle Group not only
Meanwhile, on August ai, the National had participated in the National United
United Front had organized an indepen­ Front and its temporary regime in the south,
dence demonstration, attended reportedly but also extended their activities to the Ha­
by 300,000 people. A Trotskyist source noi region in the north. There they pub­
noted that "The Hoa Hao and Cao Dai lished a daily newspaper, Tranh Dau (Strug­
marched behind the monarchist flag with a gle), with a reported circulation of some
delegation of 100,000. The Trotskyists of 30,000. They also published a number of
the International Communist League repre­ books. They were particularly influential in
sented the other main pole of attraction in the immediate postwar period in the Bach
the march. Behind a huge banner of the Mai area.
Fourth International came a series of plac­ The Trotskyists of the Struggle Group
ards and banners with the i c l ' s main slo­ played at least a minor role in the Viet Minh
gans. . . . As the banner of the Fourth Inter­ regime at its inception. Ta Thu Thau was
national appeared, hundreds and thousands reportedly placed in charge of coordinating
of workers who had never forgotten the rev­ flood relief.60 For a short while the Struggle
olutionary movement of the 1930s flocked Group had a seat in the Southern Commit­
behind it. . . . In a matter of a few hours, the tee of the Viet Minh.61 The Group also had
contingent of the i c l grew to 30,ooo."57 at least a few members of the provisional
The i c l was very active after August 16 parliament which the Viet Minh regime es­
in establishing "People's Committees" to tablished. On one occasion, when the Trots­
take over power in local areas. Reportedly, kyist members of this body were interrogat­
it organized over 150 such groups, about 100 ing one of the Viet Minh ministers, the
of which were in the Saigon-Cholon area. minister involved patted his gun and com­
After the August 2 r demonstration, a Provi­ mented that he would answer that question
sional Central Committee of nine members "later," an obvious effort to intimidate the
{later expanded to fifteen} was set up to coor­ questioner.61
dinate these People's Committees under
Trotskyist control.
Obliteration of Vietnamese
A Vietnamese Trotskyist, writing in Qua­
Trotskyism by the
trieme Internationale, said later that "the
Ho Chi Minh Government
i c l led the revolutionary masses through

the intermediary of the People's Commit­ Although in August 1945 the Vietnamese
tees. .. . Despite its numerical weakness, Trotskyists were an element of substantial
the i c l achieved, for the first time in the importance in the country's politics, within
history of the Indochinese revolution the a few months they had been virtually exter­

Vietnam 969
 minated—politically and for the most part Committee of the International Commu­
physically—by the Communist govern­ nist League, and Nguyen Van Ky, a leading
ment headed by Ho Chi Minh. The few i c l trade unionist. Some iC Lers who escaped

Trotskyists escaping this holocaust were this first roundup helped to organize some
forced to flee abroad. armed resistance in working-class areas.
British troops under the command of Gen­ This centered on the Go Vap streetcar depot,
eral Gracey landed in Saigon on September where about sixty workers gathered. How­
10, 1945. They were greeted with banners ever, after being forced to retreat into a rural
and slogans of welcome by the Viet Minh area outside of Saigon, they were overrun
regime. However, the International Com­ in January 1946, and the i c l leader of the
munist League and the People's Commit­ resistance, Tranh Dinh Minh, was among
tees under their control denounced the those killed."45
"treason" of the Stalinist regime in not only Soon after rounding up most of the i c l
allowing them to land but welcoming them leaders, the Viet Minh government moved
as well. A manifesto to this effect was issued against the Struggle Group in the Saigon
on September 12. region. According to one Trotskyist source,
Two days later, Duong Bach Mai, onetime the police "surrounding its headquarters in
member of the editorial board of La Lutte the Thu Due area . . . arrested the entire
and now Viet Minh chief of Police in Saigon, group and interned them at Ben Sue. There
ordered the arrest of the leaders of the i c l . they were all shot as French troops ap­
At 4 p .m ,. September 12,1945, the headquar­ proached." Among those murdered at this
ters of the pro-iCL People's Councils were time were Tran Van Thach, Phan Van Huu,
surrounded by Viet Minh police. According Nguyen Van Tao "and tens of other revolu­
to the i c l account of what followed, "We tionary militants."66
conducted ourselves as true revolutionary The turn of the Struggle Group leaders in
militants. We let ourselves be arrested with­ the northern part of the country came not
out using violence against the police, even too long afterwards: "A letter to the Interna­
though we were more numerous and well tional Secretariat of the Fourth Interna­
armed. They took our machine guns and tional . . . spoke of a well-organized but per­
automatic pistols. They sacked our office, secuted organization of the Struggle Group
breaking furniture, ripping our flags, steal­ in the North. Led by 'Th----- ' former leader
ing the typewriters and burning all our of the Tonkin printers during 1937—38, it
papers."" held large meetings and published several
Seeking to explain this peculiar event, I. books in addition to its daily newspaper.
Milton Sacks has suggested that "It seems One region where the line of the Struggle
that these Trotskyists still considered that Group had particular success was Bach Mai.
they were part of the same movement as the As a result of a large meeting there, Ho Chi
Stalinists." He then added that "the Viet Minh gave the order to arrest Th----- and
Minh, for its part, displayed no such tender other supporters of the Fourth International.
concern for the 'true militants.' In the . . . Already a large number of Trotskyists
months that followed, the leadership of both had perished in the resistance. Eventually
Trotskyist groups, the Struggle and the Oc­ this group, too, was wiped out entirely by
tober, was decimated. The Stalinists were the Stalinist repression?"67
determined that their authority be accepted The most notorious case was that of Ta
over the entire nationalist movement."64 Thu Thau, who as we have noted held some
"Among those who were shot immedi­ sort of position within the Viet Minh re­
ately after their arrest on September 12, gime. Late in 1945 he left Hanoi to go to
194S, were Lo Ngoc, member of the Central Saigon, but was arrested on the way. He was

970 Vietnam
 tried three different times by local People's of some Trotskyist influence in the trade
Committees under Viet Minh control, but union movement of South Vietnam.71
was acquitted each time. However, "finally, Apparently the memories of Ta Thu Thau
he was simply shot in Quang Ngai in Febru­ and some of the other Trotskyist leaders
ary 1 946, on orders from the southern Stalin­ still lingered in Vietnam into the 1980s.
ist leader, Tran Van Giau."63 During the period of the Vietnam War of
Some controversy has continued to sur­ the 1960s and 1970s, streets in Saigon were
round the murder of Ta Thu Thau. The his­ named after Ta Thu Thau and two other
torian of the La Lutte united front, Daniel Trotskyist leaders. According to reports as
Hemery, expressed doubt as to whether he late as the early part of 1982, the Stalinist
was executed on the orders of the top Viet­ victors in that war had not seen fit to change
namese Stalinist leaders.65 However, that the names of those streets.73
this was the case seems highly likely. As
Rodolphe Prager, the French Trotskyist
Vietnamese Trotskyism in Exile
leader and historiographer, has pointed out,
Ta Thu Thau was executed in Central Viet­ With the physical extermination of most
nam, where the officials of the southern part Trotskyist leaders and cadres in Vietnam
of the country had no jurisdiction, which itself, the major remnants of the Vietnamese
would seem to indicate that he was done Trotskyist movement were to be found in
away with on orders from the highest France among the 12,000 Vietnamese said
sources. to be living there right after World War II.
When Ho Chi Minh was in Paris at the As many as 500 of them were reported to be
end of 1945 Prager was among those who members of the Groupe Communiste Inter­
asked him about how and why the Vietnam­ nationaliste de Vietnam (g c i —Internation­
ese Trotskyist leader had been killed. He alist Communist Group of Vietnam). The
replied that Ta Thu Thau and the other movement published a paper Tranh Dau
Trotskyist leaders were really revolutionar­ [Struggle] until 1947, when the Groupe held
ies and that it was a great shame that they its first congress. Thereafter the paper was
had been killed, but that it had been done by known as Vo San and was published until
local Viet Minh officials under conditions in 1958.74
which it was impossible for those in Hanoi As a result of a move by the French gov­
to control what all of the local leaders were ernment to send most of the Vietnamese
doing.70 migrants back to their homeland, about
However, during this same trip Ho Chi three-quarters of the Trotskyists were de­
Minh gave a different reply to Daniel Gue­ ported. They "simply disappeared after their
rin, a French Socialist leader, who also asked return to Vietnam presumably through ca­
about the fate of Ta Thu Thau and other pitulation to the Viet Minh Stalinists or liq­
Trotskyists. According to Guerin, " 'Thau uidation by either the Stalinists or the
was a great partriot and we mourn him.' Ho French."
Chi Minh told me with unfeigned emotion. There were only about seventy Vietnam­
But a moment later he added in a steady ese Trotskyists left in France by 1952. The
voice, 'All those who do not follow the line g c i included former members of both the

which 1 have laid down will be broken.' " 71 Struggle Group and the i c l of Vietnam. The
Some remnants of Trotskyist influence g c i was split at the time of the division in

seem to have continued in the area of the the Fourth International in the early 1950s,
Republic of Vietnam in the south until it with some forty members of the organiza­
was overrun by the Stalinists in 1975- From tion reported as supporting the Pablo posi­
time to time, for instance, there were reports tion, and eighteen backing the anti-Pablo-

Vietnam 971
ites. The latter put out one issue of a paper, outstanding figure of the movement alive
Cours Nouveau. to tell about it outside the country, and to
With the establishment of the United Sec­ continue to be active in one or another fac­
retariat of the Fourth International in 1963 tion of the international Trotskyist
the Vietnamese Trotskyists in France were movement.
again united, establishing the Bolshevik-Le­ However, there is undoubtedly another
ninist Group of Vietnam (b l g v ). However, factor of importance which makes memo­
after 1964 the b l g v did not have a paper of ries of the history of Vietnamese Trots­
its own, but participated in editing an anti- kyism at least embarrassing for Interna­
Stalinist journal sympathetic to Trots­ tional Trotskyism. This was the passion,
kyism, known as Quat San.75 effort and attention paid by Trotskyists of
It is known that the b l g v continued to virtually all countries and all factions to
exist at least as late as 1974. At that time, support of the Stalinist side during the long
it sent a letter to the Tenth World Congress and cruel Vietnam War, which in one form
of the United Secretariat. This document, or another went on for thirty years, from
after expressing regret at not being able to 1945 to 1975. With such strong commit­
be represented at the congress, and noting ment to the "degenerated workers state" of
that it had received little or no aid from Ho Chi Minh and his successors any memo­
either the International or its French sec­ ries of what he had done to fellow Trotsky­
tion, ended by asking two questions: "(1) ists had to be at least a source of discomfort
Should the International concern itself with if not outright embarrassment to the world
a Vietnamese Trotskyist group which has Trotskyist movement.
remained loyal to the International and
which has carried on against great obstacles,
in the most difficult of conditions? (2)
Should we work towards creation of a sec­
tion of the Fourth International in
Vietnam?"76
It is highly doubtful that any organized
Vietnamese Trotskyist group continued to
exist either in Vietnam or in France by the
early 1980s. At least, at the time of a visit
to France in July 1982, none of the several
Fourth Internationals with which the au­
thor had contact professed to have a Viet­
namese affiliate of any kind.

Conclusion

By the early 1980s the history of the Viet­

namese Trotskyist movement, which had
once been among the most important and
influential segments of International Trots­
kyism, had been all but forgotten by the
Trotskyists themselves. There are at least
two reasons. In the first place, the very thor­
oughness of the Stalinist extermination of
the Trotskyist leadership in Vietnam left no

972 Vietnam
 Yugoslav Trotskyism

The one country of Eastern Europe in which

there apparently never existed an organized
Trotskyist movement is Yugoslavia. How­
ever, it is clear that Trotsky's ideas were not
unknown among Yugoslav Communists.
Indeed, as we have noted elsewhere in this
volume, the Fourth International had more
or less formal contacts with the Tito govern­
ment immediately following its break with
Stalin, between 1948 and 1950.
Dissidents within the Tito regime cer­
tainly read some of Trotsky's works in de­
veloping their own critiques of the Yugoslav
Communist system. At least one of them,
Pavlusko Imsirovic, who spent two years in
jail in the early 1970s for "setting up an
association against the people and the
state," and was then one of a group who
were arrested a decade later and charged
with "forming counter-revolutionary
groups" and "attempting to overthrow the
social system," gave an interview after being
released from jail the second time, in which
he proclaimed that "personally, I am a criti­
cal Marxist, a communist, a Trotskyist."1
However, there is no evidence available to
us that Imsirovic or anyone else established
an avowedly Trotskyist organization in
Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia 973
 2 i' Ibid., pages 247-248
Notes 22 Ibid., pages 248—249
23 Ibid., page 249
24 Ibid., pages 249-250
25 Ibid., page z$z
26 Cited in Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in
Latin America, Hoover Institution Press, Stan­
Origins and Nature of
ford, 1973, pages 32-33
International Trotskyism
27 Ibid., page 33
1 Adam B. Ulam: Stalin: The Man and His Era, 28 Robert V. Daniels (Editor): A Documentary
The Viking Press, New York, 1973, page 216 History of Communism, From Lenin to Mao,
2 For a full account of this struggle, see Isaac Random House, New York, i960, page 12
Deutscher: The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky 29 Ibid., pages 12 -13
1921—29, Oxford University Press, New York, 30 Ibid., page 15
1959 31 Ibid., pages 47—48
3 Interview with Jay Lovestone, Front Royal, Va., 32 Daniels, op. cit., pages 30-31
April 20, 1976 33 Quoted in Joseph Nedava: Trotsky and the
■4 See Stephen F. Cohen's biography of Bukharin: Jews, The Jewish Publication Society of
Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution, A Po­ America, Philadelphia, 1972, page 140
litical Biography 1898-1938, Vintage Books, 34 Trotsky: The Revolution Betrayed, op. cit.,
New York, 1975, for details of this struggle page 98
■ 5 See Jules Humbert-Droz: Archives de Jules 35 Ibid., page 290
Humbert-Droz; Origines et dibuts des partis 36 Ibid., page 266
communistes des pays latins 1919-15123, D. 37 Trotsky: La Era de la Revolucidn Permanente,
Heidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Hol- op. cit., page 29
land, 1970 (or details on Trotsky's role 38 Ibid., page 30
6 See Max Eastman: Heroes I Have Known: 39 Inprecor, November 1979, pages 230-231
Twelve Who Lived Great Lives, Simon and 40 Letter to author from Pierre Frank, January 6,
Schuster, New York, 1942, pages 242-143 1984
7 Letter to author by Max Shachtman, December 41 Letter to author from Ernest Mandel, January
7, 1970 13. 1985
8 Leon Trotsky: La Era de la Revolucidn Perma­ 42 Inprecor, November 1979, page 232
nente (edited by Isaac Deutscher, Ediciones 43 Ibid., page 235
Saeta, Mexico, 1967, pp. 65-66 44 Ibid., page 236
9 Letter to author by Pierre Frank, January 6, 45 Ibid., page 245
1984 46 Ibid., page 238
10 Leon Trotsky: The Russian Revolution: The 47 Ibid., page 239
Overthrow of Tzarism and the Triumph of the 48 Letter to author from Pierre Frank, January 6,
Soviets, selected and edited by P. W. Dupee 1984
from The History of the Russian Revolution, 49 Darioush Karim: The Revolutionary Dictator­
Doubleday Anchor Books, Garden City, New ship of the Proletariat, Internationalist Work­
York, 1959, pp. 3-4 ers Party, Special Edition of What Is to be
ir Ibid., page 11 Donei November 1982, pages 103-104
12 Ibid., page 12 50 Ibid., page 175
13 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth
International: The Formative Years (1933-40),
Some General Characteristics of
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 182-
International Trotskyism
183
14 Ibid., page 183 1 Letter to author from Ernest Mandel, October
15 Ibid., pages 183-184 20, 1984
16 Leon Trotsky: The Revolution Betrayed: What 2 Letter to author from Ernest Mandel, January
Is the Soviet Union and Where Is It Going!, 13, 1985
Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc., Garden 3 Nikolai Vasetsky: Trotskyism Today: Whose
City, N.Y., 1937, pages 238-239 Interests Does It Servei, Novosti Press Agency,
17 Ibid., page 248 Moscow, 1984, pages 7-8
18 Ibid., pages 24.1-242 4 Ibid., page 9
19 Ibid., page 244 5 Ibid., page 8
20 Ibid., page 24s 6 Natalia Sedova Trotsky: Letter to International

Notes 975
 3 ^ !

Committee of Fourth International and Politi­ Argentine Trotskyism

cal Committee of Socialist Workers Party, May
9 , 1951 1 For a discussion of the p c r a see Robert J. Alex­
7 Max Shachtman: "The Reminiscences of Max ander: The Lovestoneites and the Interna­
Shachtman," Columbia University Oral His­ tional Communist Opposition of the 19305,
tory, 1963, pages 309-310 Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1981, page
8 Ibid, page 386 274
9 Albert Glotzer: Unpublished memoirs (MS), 2 Pierre Broue: "Le mouvement trotskyist en
pages 60-61 Amerique la tine jusqu'en 1940," Cahiers Leon
10 Cited in Robert J. Alexander, Trotskyism in Trotsky, Grenoble, September 1982, # 1 1 , page
Latin America, Hoover Institution Press, Stan­ 24
ford, 1973, page 33 3 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
Quatri&me Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­
Albanian Trotskyism tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, page 215
4 Ibid., page 241
1 Ren6 Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens Eniagis . . . La
5 "Rapport sur l'Am6rique la tine a la conference
Genocide des Tiotskistes, Oliver Urban, Paris,
de Mai 1940," Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble,
1981, page 274
September 1982, # 11, pages 112 .-113
2 Ibid., page 275
6 LeonTrotsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1938-
3 Ibid., pages 275—276
39), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, pages
4 Ibid., page 276
5 Ibid., pages 276-277 31-36
7 Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin
6 Ibid., pages 277-278
America, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
7 Ibid., page 278
1973, pages 59-60
8 Ibid., pages 279—288
8 Mercedes Petit: "Apuntes para la Historia del
9 Quoted in ibid, pages 288-289
Trotskisnao (de 1938 a 1964]," October 1980,
10 Ibid., page 290
page 10
9 Ibid., pages 12 -13
10 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, Spartacist, New
Trotskyism in Algeria
York, December 1982, page x 5
1 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27, 11 Petit, op. cit., page 16
1982 12 Ibid., page 16
2 Sous le Diapeau du Socialisme, Paris, July- 13 Ibid., pages 19-20
August 1979, page 13 14 Ibid., pages 22—23
3 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27, 15 Joseph Hansen: The Leninist Strategy of Party
1982 Building: The Debate on Guerrilla Warfare,
4 Cuarta International, Montevideo, July 1964., Pathfinder Press, New York, 1979, page 150
pages 198-202 16 Ibid., page 151
5 Ibid., page 203 17 Letter to the author from Leon Perez, June 23,
6 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, Montevi­ 1982
deo, July 1967, page 3T6 18 See Politica Obrera, Buenos Aires, May 21,
7 La Verity Paris, October 1980, pages 59-61 1969
8 Tribune Ouvriere, Algiers, December 1980, 19 Politica Obrera, Buenos Aires, April 21, 1969
pages 16-18 20 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 30,
9 Tribune Ouvriere, Algiers, May 1982, page 14 1969, page 658
10 Tribune Internationale, Paris, February 1984, 21 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 28,
page 6 1971, page 614
11 Informations Ouvrieres, Paris, July 13-20, 22 Ibid., page 615
1984, page 6 23 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 21,
12 Organisation Socialiste des Travailleurs: *97*/ page 572 ^
Qu'est-ce que 1'OSTI, Paris, March 1984, page 24 Punto Final, Santiago) - Chile, February 15,
10 1972, page 32
13 Tribune Internationale, Paris, May 1984, page 25 Agence France Press, reported in FBIS, May 5,
2 1972, VI, pages 23-24
14 Inprecor, Paris, December 6, 1982, page 27 26 ANSA, reported in FBIS, April 11, 1972, VI,
15 Inprecor, Paris, October 12, 1981, pages 30-31 pages D102
16 Inprecor, Paris, December 6, 1982, page 27 27 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
17 Inprecor, Paris, February 14, 1983, pages 15-16 4, 1972, pages 915-917

976 Notes
28 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 14, 62 Intercontinental Press. New York, September
1973, page s $3 9. 1974 , pages 114 5 -114 7
19 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 9, 63 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 22
1973/ page 40 S 1974, page 480
30 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 14, 64 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
1973/ P^ge 553 22, 1975, page 1220
31 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 28, 65 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 8,
1973, page 651 J977, page 898
32 Evening Star and Daily News, June 28, 1973 66 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 9,
33 F8IS, October 1, 1973, VI, page Dx 1978, page 1120
34 FBIS, August 7, 1973, VI, page B3 67 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
35 ANSA, reported in FBIS, September 26, 1973, 5, 1977, page 1347
VI, page B3 68 Cited in Intercontinental Press, New York,
36 AFP, reported in FBIS, June 21, 1972, VI, page May 3, 1982, page 369
Bi 69 Letter to author from Leon Pdrez, June 10,1982
37 AFP, reported in FBIS, October 4,1973, VI, page 70 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July
Bi 24, 1982
38 FBIS, October 1, 1973, VI, page Bi 71 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Au-
39 Intercontinental Press, New York, March it, gust-September 1983, pages 14-18
1974, page 233 72 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
40 New Yoric Times, November 11, 1975 1985, page 9
41 Interview with Leon P6rez, New York, Septem­ 73 Sous le Drapeau de Socialisme, Paris, Decem­
ber 20, 1983 ber 1983/January 1984 page 7
42 Cambio 16, Madrid, August 9-15,1976, page 44 74 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, March-April
43 FBIS, June 29, 1980, VI, page B i 1984, page 22
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 75 Cuarta Internacional, Buenos Aires, 1984, page
27, 1972, page 1318 54
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 2, 76 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
1976, page n $6 1985, page 9
46 Cuarta International, Buenos Aires, June 1974, 77 Frente Obrero, Montevideo, May 10, 1972
page 48 78 Frente Obrero, Montevideo, June 23, 1972
47 Ibid., page 49 79 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 24,
48 Hansen, op. cit., page 576 1975/ page 414
49 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 80 Letter to author from Leon P6rez, June 23,1982
26, 1977, page 1050 8r Intercontinental Press, New York, March 24,
50 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 26, 1975/ page 414
1973, page 348 82 Intercontinental Press, New York, July n ,
51 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 8, 1977, page 811
1975, pages 113 4 -113 6 83 Letter to author from Leon Perez, June 23,1982
52 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 3, 84 La Veritd, Paris, February 1979, pages 7 1-9 1
1975 85 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 31,
53 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 1983, pages 606-607
13, 1972, pages 1253-1256 86 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 23,
54 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 12, 1984, page 16; and Sous le Drapeau de Socia­
1972 lisme, December 1983/January 1984, page 7
55 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 31, 87 "Programa del Frente de Izquierda Popular: 60
1972, page 907 Medidas Revolucionarias," Buenos Aires, n.d.
56 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 15, (i 973 )
*973. Page 29 88 Frente de Izquierda Popular: "Ciclo de Politiza-
57 Intercontinental Press, New York, December ci6n," Buenos Aires, n.d. (1973I
18, 19 7 2 , page 1412 89 Interview with Jorge Abelardo Ramos, Buenos
58 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 29, Aires, June 10, 1972
1973, pages 80-83
59 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 26,
1973, page 325 The First Phase of Australian Trotskyism
60 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
10, 1973, page S93 1 Transcription of Tape from 1980 Educational
61 Intercontinental Press. New York, January 21, Conference of Australian Socialist Workers
1974, pages 48-49 Party, Tape # 1 of lecture by Dave Deutschman

Notes 977
 (hereafter referred to as Deutschman Tape), 48 Ibid., page i ; and Deutschman Tape, op. cit.,
page 2 page 14
Ibid., page j 49 Percy Tape Part One, op. cit., page 1
John Tully (pseudonym: Sean Flood): "The 50 Tully, op. cit., page 4
Struggle Against the Stalinist Bureaucracy in 51 Percy Tape Part One, op. cit., page 2
the Balmain Branch of the Federated Ironwork­ 52 Interview with George Novack, New York, De­
ers Association in the 1940s," page 16 cember 16, 1982
The. Herald, Melbourne, July 9, 1982
s Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, July 4, 1982 The Revival of Australian Trotskyism
6 Deutschman Tape, page 4
7 Letter to the author from Laurence Short, June 1 Transcription of Tape from 1980 Educational
24, 1982 Conference of Australian Socialist Workers
8 Deutschman Tape, op. cit., page 6 Party, Tape #2 of lecture of John Percy (hereaf­
9 Ibid., page 5 ter referred to as Percy Tape P^rt One), page 13
io Letter to author from Laurence Short, June 24, 2 Ibid., page r ’
1982 3 Ibid., pages 1-2
il Deutschman Tape, op. cit., pages 3-4 4 Ibid., page 3
12 Ibid., pages 6-7 5 Ibid., pages 4-6
13 Cited by ibid., page 7 6 Ibid., page 5
H Letter to author from Laurence Short, July 19, 7 Ibid., pages s-7
1982 8 Ibid., page 6
*S Deutschman Tape, op. cit., page 8 9 Ibid., page 7
16 Ibid., pages 8-9 10 Ibid., page 8
17 Ibid., page 10 11 Ibid., pages 8-9
18 Ibid., page 9 12 Ibid., page 10
19 Ibid., page 8 13 Ibid., page 12
20 Ibid., page 9 14 Ibid., pages 12 -15
21 Letter to author from Laurence Short, July 19, 15 Ibid., page 13
1982 16 Transcription of Tape from 1980 Educational
2.2 Deutschman Tape, op. cit., page 9 Conference of Australian Socialist Workers
2} Ibid., page 11 Party, Tape #3 of lecture of John Percy (hereaf­
24 Ibid., pages 1 1 —12 ter referred to as Percy Tape Part Two), pages
2$ Quoted in ibid., page 10 *-3
26 Ibid., page 9 17 Ibid., page 3
27 Ibid., page 11 18 Ibid., page 5
28 Tully, op. cit., page 13 19 Ibid., page 6
29 Ibid., page j 20 Ibid., pages 6—7
30 Ibid., page 6 21 Ibid., page 7
31 Ibid., page 10 22 Ibid., pages 9—10
3^ Ibid., page 15 23 Ibid., page 10
33 Ibid., pages 19, 21 24 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, May
34 Ibid., page 22 18, 1985
35 Ibid., page 23 25 Cited by Percy Tape Part Two, op. cit., page 12
36 Ibid., pages 23-24 26 Ibid., page 1 r
37 Ibid., pages 24-25 27 Ibid., page r8
38 Ibid., pages 25-29 28 Ibid., page 17
39 Ibid., page 30 29 Ibid., page 13
40 Ibid., page 32 30 "Statement of the Political Committee on the
41 Ibid., pages 33-34 Split from the Socialist Workers League (r6/8/
42 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, July 5, 1982 72)," Sydney; and ''Statement by the Political
43 Daily Telegraph, Sydney, November 3, 1982 Committee of the swl (2/10/72)"
44 Deutschman Tape, op. cit., page r 3 3r See "Socialist Workers Party Communist
45 Ibid., pages 13 -14 League Joint Discussion Bulletin," Sydney,
46 Ibid., page 13 November 1977
47 Transcription of Tape from 1980 Educational 32 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information
Conference of Australian Socialist Workers Bulletin," Sydney, # 1 in 1983, page s
Party, Tape #2 of lecture of John Percy (hereaf­ 33 Ibid., page 9
ter referred to as Percy Tape Part One), page r 34 Ibid., pages 6-7

978 Notes
35 Direct Action, Sydney, May 2, 1984, page 2 67 ■Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, June
36 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information 20, 1985
Bulletin," Sydney, #1 of 1983. page 28 68 " s w p Discussion Bulletin," Sydney, #7, No­
37 International Viewpoint, Paris, March 12, vember 1984, page 28
1984, page 25 69 The Cuban Revolution and its Extension: Res­
38 Report of Larry Seigle, in "Socialist Workers olution of the Socialist Workers Party, Path­
Party Internal Information Bulletin," Sydney, finder Press (Australia), Chippendale, NSW,
# 1 of 1983, page 90 1984, page iro
39 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, May 70 Allen Myers: The Vietnamese Revolution and
18, 1983 its Leadership, Pathfinder Press (Australia)
40 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information Chippendale, NSW, 1984
Bulletin," Sydney, # 1 of 1983, page 90 71 The Struggle for Socialism in the Imperialist
41 Ibid., page 91 Epoch: Resolution of the Socialist Workers
42 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 2, Party, Pathfinder Press (Australia), Chippen­
1983, page 236 dale, NSW, 1984, page 94
43 Resistance, Sydney, May-June 1982, page 3 72 Ibid., pages 101-10 2
44 Jim Percy: The A LP, the Nuclear Disarmament 73 Jim Percy and DougLorimer: The Socialist
Party, and the Elections, Pathfinder Press (Aus­ Workers Party and the FourthInternational,
tralia), Chippendale, NSW, 1984 Pathfinder Press (Australia), Sydney, Septem­
45 International Viewpoint, Paris, January 14, ber 1985, page 3
1988, pages 18-19 74 Ibid., pages 34-36
46 Direct Action, Sydney, February 13,1985, page 75 Ibid., page 51
15 76 Ibid., page 52
47 The Battler, Flemington, Victoria, May 11, 77 Ibid., page 54
1985, pages 6-7 78 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Febru­
48 Direct Action, Sydney, May 2,1984, page 2 ary 1, 1983
49 Direct Action, Sydney, June 79 5 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Decem­
9,1982, page
50 Direct Action, Sydney, May 16, 1984, page ber
3 29, 1982
5r Direct Action, Sydney, February 15, 1984, 80 Ibid.
pages 20-21 8r The Battler, Flemington, Victoria, October 19,
52 Direct Action, Sydney, February 22, 1984, page 1974, page 2
20 82 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Decem­
53 Direct Action, Sydney, May 15, 1984, pages ber 29, 1982
12 -13 83 The Battler, Flemington, Victoria, August 4,
54 See Direct Action, Sydney, March 14. and 197 6, page 10
March 28, 1984 84 Tom O'Lincoln: The Fight for Workers' Power:
55 Direct Action, Sydney, March31, 1982, page International Socialists, Redback Press, Flem­
15 ington, Viet., Australia, 1977, page 16
56 Direct Action, Sydney, March 28, 1984, page 85 Ibid., pages 17-18
21 86 Front Line, Flemington, Victoria, Australia,
57 See article from Australian Spartacist, Au- October 1977
gust-September 1983, reprinted in Workers 87 International Socialist, Flemington, Victoria,
Vanguard, New York, October 12, 1983 Australia, August 1981
58 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information 88 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Decem­
Bulletin," Sydney, # 1 of 1983, page 53 ber 29, 1982
59 See Direct Action, Sydney, October 24, 1984, 89 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Decem­
page 18 ber 29, 1982
60 See Direct Action, Sydney, December 13, 1983 90 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, Febru­
61 Article by John Percy, Direct Action, Sydney, ary 1, 1983
February 13, 1985, pages 14-16 91 "1984 National Executive Conference Perspec­
6% Direct Action, Sydney, February 29,1984/ page tives," International Socialist, Australia, Feb­
14 ruary 22, 1984, page 1
63 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information 92 The Battler, Flemington, Victoria, May n ,
Bulletin," Sydney, # 1 of 1983, page 20 1985, page ri
64 Ibid., page 22 93 Mick Armstrong and Phil Griffiths: The Crisis.
65 Extensive documentation on this in Ibid . . . and the Socialist Alternative to Labor, An
66 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 4, International Socialists Pamphlet, Redback
1985, pages 4^-43 Press, Melbourne, June 1984

Notes 979
 94 "1984 National Executive Conference Perspec­ Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, pages 395—
tives," op. cit., page 1 396
95 Ken Marcell: A Call for the Revolutionary Re­ 13 LeonTrotsky: Writingsof Leon Trotsky (1930-
groupment of the Australian Left, Melbourne, 31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page
1975 / Page 9 412
96 Letter to the author from Mick Armstrong, 14 Cited in Loew article, op. cit., page 23
February r, 1983 15 Biographical sketch of Joseph Frey, op. cit., page
97 Marcell, op. cit., page 11 105
98 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, April 16 Leon Tro tsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1930-
21, 1983 31), op. cit., page 255
99 Marcell, op. cit., page 11 17 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932),
100 See Workers News, Merrickville, NSW, Janu­ Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 101
ary j i , 1982, page 1 18 Leon Trotsky: Wxitings of Leon Trotsky (1932-
101 Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, April 33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, page 59
ar, 1983 19 Leon Trotsky: Wri tings of LeonTrotsky (1930—
10a Asian Marxist Review, Menickville, NSW, 31), op. cit., page 140
August-September 1981, pages 8-12 20 Ibid., page 150
103 Workers News, Merrickville, NSW, June a6, ai Ibid., page 412
198a; and letter to author from Mick Arm­ 22 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Avril 1934/Decembre
strong, April 21, 1983 1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
104 Workers News, Merrickville, NSW, January 1 a, nales, Paris, 1979 (#4], page 236
1982, page 1 23 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933,
1 os Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, April Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
ai, 1983 Paris, 1978 (Volume 1), page 219; see also Will
106 Interview with Jan Norden, New Brunswick, Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth In­
N.J., April 12, 1983 ternational: The Formative Years (1933-40),
107 Interview with Walter Dahl, New York,, April Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 31
23, 1983 24 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/Juillet 1933,
108 Australasian Spartacist, Sydney, March 1982, op. cit., page 220
pages 1 —2 25 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February 10,
109 Socialist Fight, Melbourne, May 1981, page 5 1983
no Sec article in Socialist Fight, May 1981, pages 26 Fri tz Kel 1er: " Le Trotsk yisme en Autri che 19 3 4
1- 10 on "Upheaval in British Labour Party." a 1945," Cahiers Lion Trotsky, Paris, January-
in Letter to author from Mick Armstrong, May March 1980, #5, pages 12 0 -12 1
2a, 1985 27 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February 10,
1983
28 Keller article, op. cit., page 12 1
Austrian Trotskyism 29 Ibid., page 122
30 Loew article, op. cit., page 24
1
Biographical sketch of Joseph Frey, in Cahiers 31 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, December
Leon Trotsky, Paris, January-March 1980, #5, 1982
pages 104-105 32 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932-
2 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February ro, 33), op. cit., pages 226-228
1983 33 Loew article, op. cit., page 23
3 Hans Schafranek: "Kurt Landau," in Cahiers 34 Keller article, op. cit., page 122
Leon Trotsky, Paris, January-March 1980, #s, 35 Ibid., pages 122-123
page 73 36 Ibid., page 124
4 Raimund Loew: "Le Trotskyisme en Au* 37 Kellerarticle, op. cit., page 123
triche," Quartriftme Internationale, Paris, 38 Letterfrom Fritz Keller to author, December
# 13 , 1974, page 21 1982
5 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February 10, 39 Keller article, op: cit.^pages 123-124
1983 40 Ibid., page 125
6 Schafranek article, op. cit., page 73 41 Loew article, op. cit., page 24, citing "Bruno"
7 Ibid., pages 71-72 (Josef Hindels)
8 Ibid., page 73 42 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, December
9 Ibid., pages 73-74 1982
10 Ibid., page 74 43 Keller article, op. cit., pages 127-128
1 1 Cited in Loew article, op. cit., page 22 44 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, December
12 LeonTrotsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1929), 1982

980 Notes
45 Keller article, op. cit., page 129 13 ' Ibid.
46 Ibid., page 130 14 "War Van Overstraeten etc." op. cit., page 2
47 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, December 15 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 3
1982 16 Letter to author from Nadya De Beule, July 24,
48 Keller article, op. cit., page 130 1983
49 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February xo, 17 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., pages 3—4
1983 18 Emest Mandel: Revisions of an early draft of
50 Keller article, op. cit., page 130 this chapter
Si Letter to author from Fritz Keller, January 1983 r 9 "Opposition Communiste de Belgique: Croupe
51 Keller article, op. cit., page 127 de Bruxelles: Aux chomeurs, A tous les tra-
53 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, January 1983 vaillerus," n.d. (1929?) (Printed)
54 Keller article, op. cit., page 127 20 "Groupe d'Opposition du P.C.B.: A bas la
55 Ibid., page 131 guerre capitaliste! Vive la lutte revolutionnaire
56 Ibid., page 13 1-13 2 des travailleurs!" n.d. (1929) (printed)
57 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February 10, 2r Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky {1929),
1983 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page 332
58 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, November 22 "Elections Legislatives: Opposition Commu­
10, 1982 niste a tous les Travailleurs du Pays," mani­
59 Loew article, op. cit., page 23 festo of Belgian Opposition, n.d. (1929)
60 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, January 1983 23 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 4
61 Loew article, op. cit., page 23 24 Leon Trotsky: Writingsof LeonTrotsky (193 o),
62 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February xo, Pathfinder Press, New York, page 294
1983 25 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
63 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, November Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
10, 1982 sance de la IVe International 1930-194o, Edi­
64 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February 10, tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, page 4
1983 26 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929),
65 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, November op. cit., pages 196—197, 2 13-221
10, 1982 27 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 4
66 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, February «o, 28 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930),
1983 op. cit., page 332
67 Letter to author from Fritz Keller, November 29 Ibid., pages 332-336
10, 1982 30 Bulletin dela Ligue des Communistes Interna-
tionalistes, Brussels, February 15, 1934, page 5
31 "Circulates Aux Groups/' of Ligue des Com­
Trotskyism in Belgium Before World War II
munistes Internationalistes of Belgium, July 2,
1 Nadya De Beule: "Belgian Trotskyism (1920- 1932; also Letter to author from Nadya De
1940]," Memorandum dated May 1982, (Here­ Beule, July 24, 1983
after referred to as "De Beule Memorandum") 32 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 5
page 1 33 La Voix Communiste, Charleroi, January n (
2 "War Van Overstraeten (Witteren 1891-Brugge 1931, page 1
decembre 1981)" (Typed biographical memo­ 34 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 5
randum), page 1 35 La Voix Communiste, Charleroi, November
3 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit.( page 1 13, 1932
4 Ibid., page 2 36 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 5
5 Ibid., page 2 37 Ibid., page 5
6 "Discours pronouncd au Comitd Central du 29 38 Letter to author from Nadya De Beule, July 24,
janvier 1928 par le rdprdsentant du C.E. de 1983
l'I.C." (Belgian Communist Party) 39 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 5
7 "Parti Communiste Beige (S.B.I.C.): R^ponses 40 Letter to author from Nadya De Beule, July 24,
a la lettre du C.E. de l'I.C.," (1928) 1983
8 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 3 41 Georges Vereeken: Le guepeou dans le mouve-
9 "Le Manifeste de 1'Opposition du P.C.B.: A ment trotskiste, Le Pens£e Universelle, Paris,
tous les membres du Parti. A tous les tra­ 1975 , page 21
vailleurs r^volutionnaires n.d. (1928) 42 La Voix Communiste, Charleroi, January 1,
10 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 3 1933, page 2
ri Ibid., page 3 43 Ibid., page 1
12 Letter to author from Nadya De Beule, July 24, 44 La Voix Communiste, Charleroi, December2i,
1983 1933

Notes 981
 4$ Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (l93}~ 84 Ibid., pages 301-304
34), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1971, page 85 Ibid., page 309
363 86 Lutte Ouvriire, Brussels, August 13, 1938
46 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
July 20, 198a Belgian Trotskyism During and
47 Vereeken, op- cit., pages 87-88 A(ter World War II
48 Ibid., pages 108-109
49 La Voix Communiste, Charleroi, April 28, 1 Nadya De Beule: "Belgian Trotskyism (1920-
I 93 S 1940)/"Memorandum, May 1982 (Hereafter re­
50 Vereeken, op. cit., page 127 ferred to as "De Beule Memorandum"), page 7i
51 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 6 Interview with Nadya De Beule, Brussels, July
52 Spartacus, Brussels, August 10, 1935 19, 1982; and Letter to author from Nadya De
$3 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (19 3 ;- Beule, July 24, 1983
36), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977, page 2 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les.Congzes de la
191 Quatrieme"Internationale, Voliime 2: L’lntez-
54 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 6; see nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­
also Nadya De Beule: Het Belgisch Trotskisme tions La BrSche, Paris, 1981, page 468; and Er­
1925-1940, Jan Dhondt-stitching Masereel- nest Mandel: Critique of early version of this
fonds, Gent, 1981, page 227 chapter, November 1983
55 Spartacus, Brussels, July 13, 1935 3 La Voie de Lenine, 4 Annee, Nouvelle Serie,
56 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 6 n.d. (1944?)
57 Spartacus, Brussels, December 28, 193 s 4 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 2a,
$8 Vereeken, op. cit., pages 130, 137 1982
59 Spartacus, Brussels, May 2, 1936 5 Georges Vereeken: Le guipSou dans le mou ve-
60 Spartacus, Brussels, May 13, 1936 ment trotskiste, Le Pensde Universelle, Paris,
61 De Beule: Het Belgisch Trotskisme etc., op. I97S, page 349
cit., page 227 6 Le Pouvoir aux Travailleurs, Brussels, Septem­
62 Vereeken, op- cit., page 137 ber 23, 1944
63 Spartacus, Brussels, May 16, 1936 7 Id6es et Documents #6: "Une des Demifire
64 Spartacus, Brussels, May 30, 1936 Interventions de Trotski dans la Discussion Sur
65 Spartacus, Brussels, July 18, 1936 1'Urss," July 1, 1943, Edition "Contre le
66 De Beule: Het Belgisch Trotskisme etc., op. Courant" du Groupe Communiste Trotskyiste
cit., page 228, and Vereeken, op. cit., page 137 pour la IVfime Internationale
67 Lutte Ouvriire, Brussels, October 23, 1936 8 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
68 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 6 July 20, 1982
69 De Beule: Het Belgisch Trotskisme etc., op. 9 Rodolphe Prager, op. cit., pages 461-462
cit., pages 228-229 10 Vereeken, op. cit., pages 351-352
70 Lutte Ouvribre, Brussels, December 11, 1937 11 Interview with Nadya De Beule, Brussels, July
71 "Revolutionnair Socialistische Parti) (Trotz- 19, 1982
kysten) AFD, Antwerpen Aan Alle Arbeiders 12 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
.. .," throwaway, March 24, 1938 July 20, 1982
72 Lutte Ouvriere, Brussels, March 27. 193 7 13 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­
73 Lutte Ouvribre, Brussels, May 8, 1937 gium, July 21, 1982
74 Lutte Ouvriire, Brussels, April 3, 1937 14 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
75 Lutte Ouvriere, Brussels, September 25, Octo­ July 20, 1982
ber 2 and October 9, 1937 15 See Vereeken, op. cit., pages 353-356
76 Lutte Ouvriere, Brussels, July 30, 1938 16 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
77 Lutte Ouvriere, Brussels, August 13, 1938 July 20, 1932
78 De Beule Memorandum, op. cit., page 7 17 La Jeune Garde, Supplement, October 1954,
79 Vereeken, op. cit., pages 192-200 Brussels
80 Lutte Ouvriere, Brussels, April 3, 1937 18 La Jeune Garde, Brussels, January 1958, page 5
81 See Robert J, Alexander: The Lovestoneites and 19 La Ga uche, Brussels, December 19, i966,pages
the International Communist Opposition of 6-7
the z930's, Greenwood Press, Wesport, 1981, 20 See Ernest Mandel's speech to the PSB Con­
Chapter 12 gress, in La Gauche, Brussels, December 19,
82 See Vereeken, op. cit., pages 15 8 -17 3 ,18 1-19 1, 1964, pages 7
219-243 21 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels,
83 See Vereeken, op. cit., pages 247-266, 290-292 July 20, 1982

982 Notes
22 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ 55 'L a Gauche, Brussels, July 2, 1982, page a
gium, July 21, 1982 56 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 26,
23 Emest Mandel: Revisions of early version of 1982, page 348
this chapter, November 1983 57 La Gauche, Brussels, October 7, 1983, page 2
24 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ 58 Emest Mandel: Revisions of an early version of
gium, July 21, 1982 this chapter, November 1983
25 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels, 59 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 2,
July 20, 1982 1983, page 227
26 Robert J. Alexander: "Observations on Cele­ 60 Intercontinental press. New York, April 20,
bration of First Centennary of First Interna­ 1984, page 244
tional," Brussels, September 7, 1964 61 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­
27 La Gauche, Brussels, April 10, 196 s, page 2 gium, July 21, 1982
28 La Gauche, Brussels, December 19,1964, pages 62 Action Ouvriere, Brussels, January is, 1984
6-7 63 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­
29 Emest Mandel: Revisions of early version of gium, July 21, 1982
this chapter, November 1983 64 Le Pouvoir aux Travailleurs, Brussels, April-
30 TheMilitant, New York, January 2 5 ,198s, page May 1970, pages 4-6
5 65 Le Pouvoir aux Travailleurs, Brussels, January
31 Interview with Emile Van Ceulen, Brussels, 1974
July 20, 1962 66 See Le Pouvoir aux Travailleurs, October 1976
32 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ (Special Number]
gium, July ai, 1982 67 The source of this information requested ano­
33 Letter to author from Ernest Glinne, April 26, nymity
1983 68 Letter to author from Emest Mandel, Novem­
34. Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ ber 19, 1983
gium, July 21, 1982
35 Letter to author from Emest Glinne, April 16,
Trotskyism in Black Africa
1983
36 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ 1 Foregoing from interview with Amadou Sar,
gium, July ai, 1983 Paris, July 28, 1982
37 La Gauche, Brussels, February 13, 1965, page 2 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 27,
38 La Gauche, Brussels, March 6, 196s, page 2 1985, page 376
39 La Gauche, Brussels, March 20, 1965, page 2 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 24,
40 La Gauche, Brussels, May 22, 196 j, page 1 1985, page 376
41 La Gauche, Brussels, May 29, 1965, page 1 4 Interview with Amadou Sar, Paris, July 28,
42 La Gauche, Brussels, December 11, 196s, page 1982
8 5 Inprecor, Paris, March 1984, pages 25—26
43 World Outlook, New York, April 2.6, 1968, 6 International Socialist Review, New York,
page 380 spring 1966, page 66
44 Emest Mandel: Revisions of an early version of 7 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­
this chapter, November 1983 sionism, A Documentary History, Volume
45 World Outlook, New York, April 26, 1968, Five: The Fight for the Continuity of the Fourth
page 381 International, New Park Publications, London,
46 La Gauche, Brussels, June 5, 1965, page 3 1975 , page 81
47 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 28, 8 "Manifesto of the African Union of Commu­
1971, pages 6 11-6 12 nist International Workers to the Workers, to
48 La Brdche, Brussels, October-November 1975 the Poor Peasants, to the Unemployed, to all
49 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ the Exploited and Oppressed of Africa" (mim­
gium, July ai, 1932 eographed), n.d. (1982?]
50 La Briche, Brussels, June 1975
Sx Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­
Trotskyism in Bolivia
gium, July 21, 1982
52 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 9, 1977 1Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la
53 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­ Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
gium, July 21, 1982 sance dela IVe Internationale 1930-/940, Edi­
54 Throwaway for circulation campaign for Rood, tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, page 215
n.d. (summer 1982), with heading of masthead 2 Ibid., page 241
or Rood 3 Voz Obrera, La Paz, October 1969

Notes 983
 4 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December 39 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
I 976 y page 29 21, 1972, page 186
5 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 40 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
17, 1980, page 1193 26, 1973, page 196
6 Guillermo Lora: El Proletariado en el Processo 41 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 20,
Politico, xps 2 -19 So, Ediciones Masas, La Paz, 1978, pages 342-343
1980, page 214 42 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 16,
7 Ibid., pages 216-218 1979/ pages 398-399
8 Ibid., page 229 43 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 21,
9 Ibid., page 232 1980
10 197z Yearbook of International Communism, 44 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 7, 1980
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1972, page 45 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
316 1, 1980, page 888
1 1 Lora, op. cit., page 231 46 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
12 Ibid., page 232 7, 1983, pa'ge'643
13 Ibid., page 235 47 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 15,
14 Ibid., page 239 1985, page 205
15 Ibid., pages 248-262 48 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 21,
16 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ 1980
sionism, a Documentary History, Volume Six: 49 El Diario, La Paz, March 19, 1978, reported in
The Organisation Communiste Internationa- FBIS, March 27, 1978, VI, page C3
liste Breaks with Trotskyism, New Park Publi­ 50 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 16,
cations, London, 1975 page 41 1979 , page 399
17 Ibid., pages 49-50 51 El Diario, La Paz, May 1,1980, reported in FBIS,
18 La Veriti, Paris, February 1979, page 72 May 9, 1980, VI, page C3
19 Lora, op. cit., page 383 52 Interview with Leon P6rez, New York, Septem­
20 International Socialist Review, New York, ber 20, 1983
February 1973, page 32 53 El Diario, La Paz, May 1,1980, reported in FBIS,
21 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 31, May 9, 1980 VI, page C2
1972, pages 907-912 54 Letter to author from Leon Pirez, June 10,1982
22 Lora, op. cit., page 407 5 5 Trotskyist Correspondence, Los Angeles, May
23 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 19, 23, 1983, pages 54—SS
1973/ pages 1118 -H 19 56 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Octo­
24 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 2, 1984, ber 1984, page 14
page 6 57 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
25 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Octo­ 1985, page 19
ber 1984, page 14 5 8 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, June-
26 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May July 1984, page 20
1985, page 19
27 Workers Vanguard, New York, September 20,
Trotskyism in Brazil
198 s, pages 8-9
28 Joseph Hansen: The Leninist Strategy of Party 1 "Trotski n'A Luta de Classe: A Crise de 1937
Building: The Debate on Guerrilla Warfare, no PCB," Boletim Bibliogrdfico CEMAP, Sao
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1970, page 240 Paulo, February 1985, page 2
29 Ibid., page 241 2 Ibid., pages 2 and 4
30 Ibid., page 242 3 Ibid., pages 3-4
31 Ibid., page 243 4 Ibid., page 20
32 J972 Yearbook of International Communism, 5 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
op. cit., page 319 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
33 Hansen, op. cit., page 243 sance dela IVe Internationale /93&-J940, Edi­
34 Ibid., page 244 tions La Breche, Paris,^1978, pages 216-30 and
35 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 28, 236-2S4
1971, page S99 6 Ibid., page 215
3 6 In tercon tinental Press, New York, July s, 1 97 1, 7 Ibid., page 241
page 640 8 For an extensive discussion of this split, see
37 Intercontinental Press, New York, November John W. F. Dulles: Brazilian Communism
i/ 1971, page 937 193S-194S, Repression During World Up­
38 International Socialist Review, New York, heaval, University of Texas Press, Austin,
February 1973, page 4 s 1983, pages 88-107

984 Notes
 g Interview with Febus Gikovate, Sao Paulo, Bulgarian Trotskyism
June 17, 1953
10 Inprecor, Paris, December 6, 1981, page 35 1 Nissan Oren: Revolution Administered:
1 1 Intercontinental Press, New York, September Agrarianism and Communism in Bulgaria,
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Balti­
6, 1971, pages 726-717
12 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 21, more, 1973, pages 34-35
2 See "Todor Zhivkov: Moscow’s Man in Sofia,"
1971, page 660
13 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 29, Communist Affairs, Los Angeles, September-
October 1966
1971, page 282
14 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 8, 3 Joseph Rothschild: The Communist Party of
Bulgaria: Origins and Development 1883-
1972, page 520
1936, Columbia University Press, New York
i$ Intercontinental Press, New York, July 24,
1972, page 884 1959 . pages 394-395
16 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 4 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuiUet 1933,
Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
9, 1975, page 1655
17 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 7, Paris, 1978 (Volume 1}, page 166
5 Rothschild, op. cit., page 29s
1977
6 Ibid., page 296
18 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
7 "Todor Zhivkov: Moscow's Man in Sofia," op.
1 1, 1978, page 1009
cit., page 21
19 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 29,
8 Rothschild, op. cit., page 296
1978, page 633
20 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 2, 9 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930-
3r), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages
1978
44-46
21 In tercon tin en tal Press, New York, September
10 Ibid., page 79
18, 1978, page 1048
11 Ibid., page 81
22 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 2,
12 Ibid., pages 335-336
1978
23 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 15, 13 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932-
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, pages
1979, page 22
24 Inprecor, Paris, November 8, 1982, page 17 37-38
14 Ibid., pages 129 and 341
25 Letter to author from Leon Pdrez, June 10,1982
15 Oren, op. cit., page 36
26 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Octo­
16 Ibid., pages 34-35
ber 1984, page 14
17 Rothschild, op. cit., page 296
27 Inprecor, Paris, November 8,1982, pages 17-18
18 Ibid., pages 296-297
28 Inprecor, Paris, December 6, 1982, page 34
19 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
29 Frente Operaria, Rio de Janeiro, May 1984
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
30 For discussion of this movement, see John
sance de la IVe Internationale r9 30 -1940, Edi­
Humphrey: Capitalist Control and Workers
tions La Bi^che, Paris, 1978, page 215
Struggle in the Brazilian Auto Industry,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1982 20 Nissan Oren: Bulgarian Communism: The
Road to Power (1934-1944), Columbia Univer­
31 Interview with Joao Baptista dos Mares Guia,
sity Press, New York, 1971, page 182
Belo Horizonte, May 28, 1984
21 Spark, Detroit, February 18-March 4, 1985
32 Inprecor, Paris, September 27, 1982, page 16
and Interview with Joao Baptista dos Mares
Guia, op. cit. Canadian Trotskyism
33 Cited in Inprecor, Paris, November 8, 1982,
pages 17-18 1 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fanvier/Fevrier 1936,
34 Interview with Joao Baptista dos Mares Guia, Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
op. cit. Paris, 1980 (Volume 8), page 174
3 5 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May 2 Intercontinental Press (obituary of Maurice
196s, page 10 Spector), New York, September 16, 1968, page
36 These quotes from Inprecor, Paris, November 754
8, 1982, page 18 3 Interview with Maurice Spector, Detroit, May
37 See Tribune Internationale, Paris, January 3 i/ 1938
1984, pages 12 -13 ; February-March 1984, page 4 Intercontinental Press (obituary of Maurice
4; and May 1984, page 10 Spector), New York, September 16, 1968, page
38 Inprecor, Paris, November 8, 1982,page 19 754
39 Interview with Joao Baptista dos Mares Guia, 5 Interview with Maurice Spector, Detroit, May
op. cit. 31, 1958

Notes 985
 6 Intercontinental Press (obituary of Maurice 28 Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3., op.
Spector), New York, September 16, 1968, page cit., page v
754 29 Ibid., page ix
7 Interview with Maurice Spector, Detroit, May 30 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
31/ I 9 S8 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
8 Intercontinental Press |obituary etc.), op. cit., Bulletin No. 3 ., op. cit., page 40
and Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres janvier/Fevrier 31 Ibid., page v
1936, op. cit., page 358 32 Ibid., page 1 1
9 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Janvier/Juin 193s, 33 Ibid., page v
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, 34 Internal Bulletin, Canadian Section of the
Paris, 1979 (Volume 5), page 358 Fourth International, July 1946, quoted in Rev­
10 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­ olutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3., op. cit.,
plement 1929-1933), Pathfinder Press, New page 20
York, 1979, page 393 35 Ibid., page vi
1 1 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fanvier/fuin 193 s, op. 36 Quatriime Internationale, Paris) March-May
cit., page 358 1948, page 114
12 See Robert J. Alexander: The Lovestoneites and 37 Kornberg and Clarke chapter, op. cit., page 2 11
the International Communist Opposition of 38 RWP Internal Bulletin, April 1950, quoted in
the J 930’s, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3., op.
1981, pages 253-255 cit., page vii
13 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Janvier!}uin 1935, op. 39 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
cit., page 358 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
14 Ross Dowson: "A Contribution to the Discus­ Bulletin No. 3., op. cit., pages 40-41
sion," in Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin' 40 Interview with George Novack, New York, De­
No. 3: Trotskyism and the CCP/NDP; Docu­ cember 16, 1982
ments from 1938 to 1973, Reprinted with an 41 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
Introduction by the Trotskyist League, Sparta­ 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
cist Canada Publishing Association, Toronto, Bulletin No. 3., op. cit., page 41
1978, page 9 42 Ibid., page viii
15 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Octobre/Decembre 43 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
1935, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
nales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 7I, page 134 BulJeting No. 3, op. cit., page 4T
16 Dowson article, op. cit., page 9 44 The Militant, New York, December 26, 1955
17 The Militant, New York, December 8, 1934, 45 Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3., op.
pages 1 and 4 cit., pages viii-ix
18 New Militant, New York, July 27, 1935 46 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
19 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Janvier/Fevrier 1936, 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
op. cit., pages 174-185 Bulletin No. 3., op. cit., page 41
20 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 26, 47 Kornberg and Clarkechapter, op. cit., page 212
I 97 S, pages 718-719 48 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
21 Dowson article, op. cit., page 9 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
22 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 15, Bulletin No. 3., op. cit., page 41
1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist 49 Ibid., pages 41-42
Bulletin No. 3. op. cit., pages 39-40 50 See Marv Gandall: "Our Liquidation into
23 Allan Kornberg and Harold D. Clarke: chapter the Ontario Waffle," reprinted in Revolution­
on Canada in Robert J. Alexander (editor): Polit­ ary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3, op. cit., pages
ical Parties of the Americas, Greenwood Press, 26-35
Westport, Conn., 1982, page 2 11 51 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29,
24 Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 3, op. 1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist
cit., page iii Bulletin No. 3., op. cit., page 41
25 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 29, 52 Kornberg and Clarke chapter, op. cit., page 212
1974, reprinted in Revolutionary Trotskyist 53 Interview with George Novack. New York, De­
Bulletin No. 3, op. cit., page 40 cember 18, 1982; see also 1979 Yearbook on
26 Ibid., page iv; see text of Action Program, pages International Communist Affairs, Hoover In­
1-8 stitution Press, Stanford, 1979, page 318
27 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth 54 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 5,
International: The Formative Years (1933-40), 1970
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 265- 55 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 2,
267 1976, pages 128-129

986 Notes
 56 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 84- Intercontinental Press, New York, October 15,
York, September 27, 1971 1979, page 988
57 Intercontinental Press, New York, January xo, 85 Lutte Ouvriere, French-language newspaper of
1972, page 2 Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrifere
58 Ibid., page 8 Revolutionnaire of Canada, Montreal, June 11,
59 The Militant, New York, November 22, 1968, 1984, page 6
page 5 86 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 24,
60 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 1977, page 1169
*9, 1973 87 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 17,
61 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 1980, page 249
York, November 3, 1969 88 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 2,
62 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 1984, page 187
29, 1969, page 863 89 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 1,
63 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 22, 1984, page 557
1970, page 616; for a full statement of the l s a / 90 Intercontinental Press, New York, July xo,
l s o position on the Quebec question, see Pour 1978, page 845
Un Quibec Independent et Socialiste, Cahier 91 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 24,
Socialiste No. 19, Editions d'Avant-Garde, 1980, pages 288-284
Montreal, 1977 92 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 18,
64 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 19, 1984, page 147
1973 , Page 315 93 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, New York,
'65 Intercontinental Press, New York, November No. 11, September 1984, page 4
29, 1976 94 New In ternational. New York, Fall 1983, page
66 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 4, X977, 3
page 776 95 See Intercontinental Press, New York, March
67 Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 2: The 5, 1984, March 19, 1984, and April 2, 1984
Struggle Against Reformism in the League for 96 Gauche Socialiste, Montreal, summer 1984,
Socialist Action: Documents and a Critique page 14
of the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, 97 Ibid., page is
1972—73, Spartacist Canada Publishing Associ­ 98 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, New York,
ation, Toronto, 1977, page ii January/February 198s, page 29; see also So­
68 Ibid., page iii cialist Action, San Francisco, December 1984,
69 Ibid., page iv page 3
70 Ibid., page v 99 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, New York,
71 Ibid., page vi April 198s, page 1
72 See Diane Taylor: "Feminism or Scientific So­ 100 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, New York,
cialism—Which Road to Women's Libera­ January 1986, page 27
tion," in ibid., pages 1—9 roi Intercontinental Press, New York, February
73 See Bret Smiley and Walter Davis: "Social De­ 14, 1986, page 119
mocracy and the l s a , " i n Ibid, pages 10-23 102 Bulletin, New York, November 3, 1969, page
74 Ibid., page vii 12
73 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 2, 103 Bulletin, New York, September 22, 1969, page
1977, page 477 12
76 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 7, 104 1977 Yearbook on International Communist
1977,page 243 Affairs, Hoover Institution, Stanford, 1977,
77 Intercontinental Press, New York, December page 415
20, 1976 105 Ibid., page 418
78 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 106 The Bulletin, Detroit, December 14,1984, page
21, 1977, page 183 11
79 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 2, 107 1979 Yearbook on International Communist
1977,page 477 Affairs, op. cit., page 318
80 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 24, 108 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
1977, page 1169 5, 1977
81 1979 Yearbook on International Communist 109 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 17,
Affairs, op. cit., pages 318 and 321 1980, page 249
82 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 15, 110 Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. op.
1979, page 988 cit., page vii
83 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 1 1 1 Workers Vanguard, April 11, 1976, reprinted
York, April a, 1979, pages 313-314 in Revolutionary Trotskyist Bulletin No. 1:

Notes 987
 Trotskyism vs. Centrism: The Struggle of the in Ceylon, University of California Press,
Bolshevik-Leninist Tendency in the Revolu­ Berkeley, 1971, page 73
tionary Marxist Group, Spartacist Canada Pub­ 28 Inprecor, Moscow, May 8, 1937, page 479
lishing Association, n.d. 11976), pages 70-71 29 Lerski, op. cit., page 144
112 1979 Yearbook on international Communist 30 Goonawardene, op. cit., pages 7—8
Affairs, op. cit., page 318 31 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New
1x3 1983 Yearbook on International Communist York, January 12, 1982
Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 32 Lerski, op. cit., page 154
1983, page 69 33 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New
114 See articles in Workers Vanguard, New York, York, January 12, 1982
March 2, 1984 and October 26, 1984 34 Lerski, op. cit., page 155
ii$ Workers Power, Detroit, February 27-March 35 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New
12, I 97 S York, January 12, 1982
116 1983 Yearbook on International Communist 36 Lerski, op. cit., page 2 11
Affairs, op. cit., page 69 37 Ibid., pages'211-212) see also Goonawardene,
117 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency op. cit., pages 14 -16
Meeting," September 1984, page 1 38 Lerski, op. cit., page 213
39 Ibid., page 202
40 Ibid., page 206
Trotskyism in Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Rise 41 Ibid., page 231
of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party 42 Ibid., page 236
43 Ibid., pages 237-238
1 See James Jupp: Sri Lanka—Third World De­ 44 Ibid., page 236
mocracy, Frank Cass and Company, Limited, 45 Ibid., page 239
London, 1978, chapter 2, pages 27-53 46 Ibid., page 24a
2 George Lerski: Origins of Trotskyism in Cey­ 47 Ibid., page 260; see also Goonawardene, op. cit.,
lon, Hoover Institution, Stanford, 1968, pages pages 16—20
3-7 48 Lerski, op. cit., page 265
3 Ibid., page 10 49 Ibid., page 266
4 Leslie Goonewardene: A Short History of the 50 Goonewardene, op. cit., pages 20-21
Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Colombo, i960, 51 Lerski, op. cit., page 265
page 2 52 Goonewardene, op. cit., page 21
5 Lerski, op. cit., page 1 5 53 Ibid., pages 31-32
6 Goonawardene, op. cit., page 2 54 Ibid., page 33
7 Lerski, op. cit., page 17 55 Jupp, op. cit., page 370
8 Ibid., page 20 56 Emest Germain: ''Peoples Frontism in Ceylon:
9 Ibid., page 22 From Wavering to Capitulation," Interna­
10 Ibid., page 2-S tional Socialist Review, fall 1964, New York,
11 Goonawardene, op. cit., page 6 page 105
12 Lerski, op. cit., page 27 57 Goonewardene, op. cit., page 55
13 Jupp, op. cit., page 74 58 Robert H. Keamey: The Politics of Ceylon (Sri
14 Lerski, op. cit., pages 27-28; see also Goona­ Lanka), Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1973,
wardene, op. cit., pages 4-s page 119
15 Lerski, op. cit., page 26 59 Jupp, op. cit., page 7 S
16 Ibid., page 29 60 Germain article, op. cit., page 105; for a discus­
17 Ibid., pages 29-30 sion of these labor activities of the Trotskyists,
18 Ibid., page 34 see Goonawardene, op. cit., pages 27—31
19 Ibid., page 42 61 Germain article, op. cit., page 105; see also
20 Ibid., page 51 Goonawardene, op. cit., pages 42—46
21 Goonawardene, op. cit., page 6 62 Goonawardene, op. cit., page 33
22 Lerski, op. cit., page 51 63 Ibid., pages 3 3 - 3 4 ' ^
23 Ibid., pages 145-149 64 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New
24 International Press Correspondence, Moscow, York, January 12, 1982
June 13, 1937, page 579 65 Jupp, op. cit., page 75
25 Lerski, op. cit., page 136; see also Goonawar­ 66 Robert Keamey: "The Marxist Parties of Cey­
dene, op. cit, pages 8-10 lon," in Paul Brass and M. P. Franda: Radical
26 Goonawardene, op. cit., pages 1 1 - 1 3 Politics in South Asia, Cambridge, Mass., 1973
27 Robert N. Keamey: Trade Unions and Politics 67 Goonawardene, op. cit., pages 46-47

988 Notes
 68 Robert N. Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of 2' James Jupp: Sri Lanka—Third World Democ­
Ceylon," op. cit. racy, Frank Cass and Company, Limited, Lon­
69 Jupp, op. cit., pages 370-371 don, 1978, page 79
70 Ibid., page 337 3 International Socialist Review, New York, fall
71 Ibid., pages 186-187 1964, page 114
72 Goonawaidene, op. cit., pages 53-54 4 Ibid., page 114
73 Kearney: The Politics of Ceylon {Sri Lanka), 5 Jupp, op. cit., page 16
op. cit., pages 119 -12 0 6 Ibid., page 103
74 Goonawardene, op. cit., page 49 7 Ibid., page 293
75 Samasamajist, Colombo, September 2, 1954, 8 Ibid., page 371
page 1 9 Ibid., page 294
76 Samasamajist, Colombo, June 17, 1954, page 2 10 Ibid., page 295
77 Robert N. Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of 11 See ibid.. Chapter 11, pages 326-362
Ceylon," op. cit. 12 Ibid., page xix
78 Jupp, op. cit., page 370 13 Ibid., page 81
79 Ibid., page 76 14 Ibid., page 297
80 Edmund Samarakkody: "The Struggle for 15 Robert N. Keamey: "The Lanka Sama Samaja
Trotskyism in Ceylon," Spartacist, New York, Party and the Disrupted United Front Path to
winter 1973-74/ page ri Socialism in Sir Lanka," (manuscript) page 9
81 Jupp, op. ch., pages 9-10 16 Jupp, op. cit., pages 317-319
82 Ibid., pages 67-68 17 N. M. Perera: Critical Analysis of the New
'83 Ibid., page 12 Constitution of the Sti Lanka Government,
84 Ibid., page 370 Colombo, n.d. (1979), page 36
85 Ibid., page 12 18 Interview with Ralph Buultjens, New York,
86 Ibid., page 77 August 12, 1981
87 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 19 Jupp, op. cit., page 309
cit.; and Jupp, op. cit., page 77 20 Robert Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Cey­
88 Germain article, op. cit., page 110 lon," in Paul Brass and M. F. Franda: Radical
89 Jupp, op. cit., page 77 Politics in South Asia. Cambridge, Mass., 1973
90 Ibid., page 13 21 Jupp, op. cit., page 81
91 Germain article, op. cit., page n o 22 Robert N. Keamey: "The Lanka Sama Samaja
92 Jupp, op. cit., pages 77-78 Party etc.," op. cit., pages 4-5
93 Ibid., page 78 23 Ibid., page 6
94 Samarakkody article, op. cit., page 13 24 Ibid., page 10
95 Jupp, op. cit., page 78 25 Ibid., page 11
96 See Samasamajist, Colombo, December 23, 26 Interview with Ralph Buultjens, New York,
1954/ page 2 August 12, 1981
97 See Samasamajist, Colombo, August 19,1954, 27 Kearney: "The Lanka Sama Samaja Party etc.,"
August 26, 1954, September 2, 1954 op. cit., pages n - 1 2
98 Germain article, op. cit., page 114 28 Jupp, op. cit., pages 367
99 Ibid., page 115 29 Ibid., page 371
100 Samarakkody article, op. cit., page 9 30 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 11,
xoi Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The 1977, page 799
Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London, 31 Jupp, op. cit., page 371
1979, page ioa 32 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New
102 Ibid., page 107 York, January 12, 1982
103 Germain article, op. cit., page 115 33 See Perera, op. cit.
104 Jupp, op. cit., page is 34 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 28,
105 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties etc.," op. cit. 1983, page 5
106 Jupp, op. cit., page 78 35 *979 Yearbook of International Communist
107 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties etc.," op. cit. Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
108 Jupp, op. cit., page 78 1979, page 289
36 1980 Yearbook of International Communist
Split and Decline of Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
Ceylon/Sri Lanka Trotskyism 1980, page 299
1 Edmund Samarakkody: "The Struggle for 37 1982 Yearbook of International Communist
Trotskyism in Ceylon," Spartacist, New York, Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
winter 1973-74. page 15 1982, page 229

Notes 989
 38 1984 yearbook of International Communist 71 Germain articlc, op. cit., page 10s
Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 72 Kearney: "The Lanka Sama Samaja Party etc.,"
1984, pages 275-276 op. cit., page 3
39 Letter to author from Upali Cooray, January 73 Ibid., pages 3-4
}i, 1983 74 Ibid., page 4
40 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 75 Keamey: Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon,
cit. op. cit., page 57
4.1 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New 76 Jupp, op. cit., page 87
York, January 12, 1982 77 Ibid., page 24
42 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 78 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op.
cit. cit.
43 Jupp, op. cit., page 130 79 Jupp, op. cit., pages 66-67
44 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 80 Ibid., page 82
cit. 81 Ibid., page 336 \
45 Jupp, op. cit., page 94 82 Ibid., page 83 '
46 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 83 Ibid., page 370
cit. 84 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties in Ceylon," op.
47 Ibid. cit.
48 Ibid. 85 Jupp, op. cit., page 370
49 Ibid. 86 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties in Ceylon," op.
50 Jupp, op. cit., page 98 cit. ‘
51 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 87 Ibid.; and Jupp, op. cit., page 370
cit. 88 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties in Ceylon," op.
52 Ibid. cit.
53 Ibid. 89 Jupp, op. cit., page 314
54 Robert N. Keamey: Trade Unions and Politics 90 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 23,
in Ceylon, University of California Press, 1977
Berkeley, 1971, pages 62-64 91 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties in Ceylon," op.
SS Ibid., page 78 cit.
S6 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 92 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 19,
cit. 1971, page 359
S7 Kearney: Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon, 93 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 11,
op. cit., page 86 * 977 , page 800
58 Keamey: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 94 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 13,
cit. 1970, page 668
59 Interview with C. E. L. Wickremasinghe, New 95 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
York, January 12, 1982 24, 1969, page 1052
60 Interview with N. M. Perera, New York, Sep­ 96 Interview with Bala Tampoe published in In­
tember 21, 1971 tercontinental Press, New York, April 11,
61 George Lerski: Origins of Trotskyism in Cey­ 1977, page 388
lon, Hoover Institution, Stanford, 1968, page 97 Ibid., page 388
187 98 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 19,
62 Ibid., page 189 1971, page 3 S9
63 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la 99 Ibid., page 360
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: L‘Inter­ 100 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 26,
nationale dans la Cuerre (1940-1946), Edi­ *97 r, pages 390-392
tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1981, page 72 101 Intercontinental Press, New York, April ro,
64 Jupp, op- cit., page 371 1972, May 22,1972, October 30,1972, Novem­
6s Emest Germain: "Peoples Froncism in Ceylon: ber 6, 197 a, and November 30, 1972
From Wavering to Capitulation," Interna­ 102 See Intercontinental Press, New York, March
tional Socialist Review, fall 1964, New York, 13,1972, October 2.3,1^72, September 15, 197 s
page 105 and November 13, 1978' .
66 Kearney: "The Marxist Parties of Ceylon," op. 103 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 19,
cit. 1971, pages 338-360
67 Ibid. 104 Jupp, op. cit., page 296
68 Ibid. ios Letter to author from Upali Cooray, February
69 Ibid. 25, 1985
70 Interview with N. M. Perera, New York, Sep­ ro6 Samarakkody article, op. cit., pages r6—18
tember 21, 1971 107 The Bulletin, New York, November 3, 1969

990 Notes
108 Samarakkody article, op. cit., page 21 22' Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December
109 Letter to author from Upali Cooray, January 1976, page 29
31 / 1963
110 Spartacist, New York, Winter 1973-74, page 2
Trotskyism in China
hi Spartacist, New York, Summer 1981, pages
37-40 1 Joseph Thomas Miller: "The Politics of Chi­
112 Letter to author from Upali Cooray, January nese Trotskyism: The Role of a Permanent Op­
3 i, 1983 position in Communism," University of Illi­
113 Workers Vanguard, New York, July i, 1982 nois PhD. dissertation, Urbana, 1979, pages
114 Letter to author from Upali Cooray, January 59-60
31, 1983 2 Ross Dowson: "Chinese Revolutionists in Ex­
US For reasons of personal security the writer shall ile," International Socialist Review, New
remain anonymous here. York, summer 1963, page 77, and Miller, op.
116 Letter to author from Upali Cooray, January cit., page 80
31 / 1983 3 Miller, op. cit., pages 60-61
4 Ibid., pages 63-65
5 Ibid., pages 65-67
Chilean Trotskyism 6 Ibid., page 91
7 Ibid., pages 91-94
1 Humberto Valenzuela: "La premiere epoquedu 8 Ibid., page 102
trotskyism au Chile: la Gauche communiste," 9 Ibid., page 97
Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, September 10 Ibid., pages 98-99
1982, # 11, page 48 11 Ibid., page 124
% Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les CongrHs de ]a 12 Damien Durand: "La Naissance deI'Opposi-
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- tion de gauche chinoise," Cahiers Leon
sance de la JVe Internationale 1930-/940, Edi­ Trotsky, Grenoble, September 1983, #15, pages
tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, page 215 11-14
3 Ibid., page 241 13 Miller, op. cit., pages 124-125
4 "Rapport sur I'Amdrique la tine a la conference 14 Ibid., page 99
de Mai 1940," Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, 15 Ibid., pages 97-98
September 1982, # 1 1 , page 118 16 Ibid., page 98
5 Valenzuela article, op. cit., page 41 17 Ibid., page 108
6 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 9, 18 Ibid., page 112
1978, page 2S 19 Ibid., pages 106-107
7 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 26, 20 Ibid., page 113
1973/ pages 3 SO-3 S* 21 Ibid., pages 1 1 3 - 1 1 4
8 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 22 Ibid., pages 115 —116
12, 1972, pages 136-192 23 Harold R. Isaacs: The Tragedy of theChinese
9 Intercontinental Press, New York, December Revolution, StanfordUniversity Press, Stan­
16, 1974 and March 1, 1976 ford, 1981, page 103
10 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 24 Miller, op. cit., pages 11 6 - 1 17
13, 1978 25 P'eng Shu-tse: The Chinese Communist Party
11 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 14, in Power, Monad Press, New York, 1980, page
1974, page 19 3*
12 Inprecor, Paris, September 27, 1982, page 23 26 Miller, op. cit., page 122
13 Ofensiva Socialista. Santiago, May 1984 27 Ibid., page 123
14 Workers Vanguard, New York, September 28, 28 Ibid., pages 122-124
1973 , page 3 29 Isaacs, op. cit., page 328
r$ La Veritd, Paris, February 1978, page 79 30 Dowson article, op. cit., page 79
16 Ibid., page 90 31 Isaacs, op. cit., page 328
17 Letter to author from Leon P6rez, June 10, 1982 32 Dowson article, op. cit., page 79
18 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, June-July 1984, 33 Cited in Miller, op. cit., page 126; see also
page 32 P'eng, op. cit., page 31
19 Workers Vanguard. New York, May 28, 1976, 34 Miller, op. cit., pages 126-129
page 8 35 Isaacs,op. cit., page 328
20 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 27, 36 Miller, op. cit., pages 143-145; see also Damien
1978, page 12 Durand article, op. cit., page 21
21 Lucha Obrera, Santiago, 1st fortnight of June 37 Miller, op. cit., page 145
1972, page 1 38 Ibid., pages 149-150

Notes 991
39 Ibid., page 159; see also Damien Durand article, 83 New International, New York, October 1947,
op. cit., page 1 8 pages 253-254
40 Miller, op. cit., page 160 84 New International, New York, March 1948,
41 Ibid., page 166 pages 90-91
42 Ibid., pages 164-165 85 Miller, op. cit., page 207
43 Ibid., page 169; see also Damien Durand article, 86 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 1,
op. cit., pages 22-24 1979. pages 926-927
44 Miller, op. cit., page 169 87 Miller, op. cit., page 237
45 Ibid., page 17 1; see also Leon Trotsky: Writings 88 P'eng, op. cit., pages 41-43
of Leon Trotsky (1930-}!), Pathfinder Press, 89 Miller, op. cit., page 224
New York, 1973, pages 124-132 90 Joseph T. Miller: "Trotskyism in China: Its
46 Damien Durand article, op. cit., page 25 Origins and Contemporary Program," paper at
47 Miller, op. cit., page 172 Asian Studies Association, Monash Univer­
48 Ibid., page 173 sity, 1982, page s
49 E. H. Carr: Twilight of theComintern: 1930- 91 Miller dissertation, op. cit., page’227
193S, Pantheon Books, New York, 1982, page 92 The Struggle to Reunify the Fourth Interna­
326 tional (19S4-1963), Volume I: The First Parity
50 Miller, op. cit., page 175 Commission and Peng Shu-tse’s "Pabloism
51 Ibid., page 177 Reviewed," Socialist Workers Party, New
52 Ibid., pages 177-178 York, 1977, pages 27-28
53 P'eng, op. cit., page 34 93 The Militant, New York, February 1, 1954
54 Ibid., page 33 94 See documents in The Struggle to Reunify the
55 Ibid., pages 33-34 Fourth International, etc., op. cit.
56 Miller, op. cit., pages 180-181 95 Miller dissertation, op. cit., page 233
57 Ibid., pages 183-183,- see also P'eng, op. cit., 96 Ibid., page 234
page 38 97 Letter to author from Liz Cheung, August 31,
58 Miller, op. cit., page 183 1983
59 Ibid., page 184 98 Miller dissertation, op. cit., page 233
60 Ibid., pages 183-187 99 Obituary of P'eng Shu-tse, October Review,
61 Pierre Brou£: "Chen Duxiu et la IVe Interna­ Hong Kong, December 1983, page 49
tionale de 1938 a 1942," Cahiers Lion Trot­ 100 Letter to author from Liz Cheung, August 31,
sky, Grenoble, September 1983, # is, pages 1983
29-31 101 Miller dissertation, op. cit., page 236
62 Miller, op. cit., pages 183-187 102 Ibid., page 237
63 Ibid., pages 189-190 103 Ibid., page 240
64 Ibid., page 192 104 Letter to author from Liz Cheung, August 3 i,
65 P'eng, op. cit., page 37 1983
66 Ibid., page 38 105 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 30,
67 Ibid., page 38 1984, page 239
68 Quoted in Miller, op. cit., page 197 106 Miller dissertation, op. cit., pages 236-244
69 P'eng, op. cit., page 39 107 Ibid., page 245
70 Miller, op. cit., pages 199-200 108 Joseph T. Miller: "Trotskyism in China, etc.,"
71 P'eng, op. cit., page 39 op. cit., pages 7 - 11
72 Miller, op. cit., page 201 109 Ibid., page 13
73 P'eng, op. cit., page 39 n o The author has obtained a copy of this trans­
74 For Chen's articles during hislast years, see lation
Brou6 article, op. cit., pages 35-39 1 n October Review, Hong Kong, September 1983,
75 New International, NewYork, March 1948, page 73
page 92 112 Joseph T. Miller: "Trotskyism in China, etc.,"
76 P'eng, op. cit., page39 op. cit., page 12
77 Ibid., page 40 113 Letter to author from I^iz Cheung, August 31,
78 Miller, op. cit., pages 205-206 1983
79 Obituary of P'eng Shu-tse, in October Review, 114 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 30,
Hong Kong, December 1983, page so 1984, page 241
80 The Militant, New York, May 9,1949 115 Joseph T. Miller: "Trotskyism in China, etc.,"
81 P'eng, op. cit., page41 op. cit., pages 12 -13
82 "Appeal from Chinese Trotskyists," The Mili­ 116 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 30,
tant, New York, October 19, 1953 1984, page 239

992 Notes
117 Ibid., page 240 Cuban Trotskyism
118 Ibid., page 241
1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
119 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
10, 1984, page 743
sancedela IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­
tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1978, page 215
2 Ibid., page 241
Trotskyism in Colombia

1 "Rapport sur l'Am&ique latine a la conference Trotskyism in Cyprus

de Mai 1940," Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, 1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les CongrHs de la
September 1981, # 1 1 , page 116 Quatiiime Internationale. Volume 1: Nais-
2 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, May-June 1983, sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940. Edi­
page 43 tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, pages 21S-216
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 3, 2 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la
1978, page 403 Quatiiime Internationale, Volume 2: L'lnter-
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, November nationale dans la Guerre {2940-1948), Edi­
29, 1976 tions La Breche, Paris, 1981, pages 343—3s6
5 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 27, 3 Quatriime Internationale, Paris, March-May
1978, page 370 1948, page 94
6 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, Spartacist, New 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 22,
York, December 1982, page 47 1970
7 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 18, 5 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
1981, page 514 1982
8 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 3,
1978, page 405
9 Intercontinental Press, New York, September Trotskyism in Czechoslovakia
10,1979, page 834; and October 22, 1979, page 1 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/Juillet 1933,
1033 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
10 Inprecor, Paris, January 31, 1983, page 12 Paris, 1978 (Volume 1), page 134
xi Inprecor, Paris, January 31, 1983, page 10
2 See Robert J. Alexander: The Lovestoneites and
12 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 23,
the International Communist Opposition of
1984, page 11 the 1930's, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1981,
13 Intercontinental Press, New York, December pages 269-272, for discussion of Czechoslova­
10, 1984, page 741 kian Right Opposition.
14 Intercontinental Press. December 16, 1985,
3 P. Reimann: Geschichte der Kommunis-
page 766 tischen Partei der Tschechoslowakei, Verlag
15 Inprecor, Paris, January 31, 1983/ page 14 Carl Hoyn Machfolger, Hamburg-Berlin, Om-
16 Inprecor, Paris, November 9, 1982, page 32 nia-Minireprint, Miinchen, 197 s, pages 252-
17 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, May-June 1983,
253
page 43 4 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933,
18 Working Class Opposition. Los Angeles, May Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
1985, page 11 Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), page 234
5 Ibid., page 235
6 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/luillet 1933,
Costa Rican Trotskyism op. cit., page r 34; and Alexander, op. cit., page
271
1 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 18, 7 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1938/Juin 1938,
1978, page 81 Institut Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, 1984 (Volume
2 Intercontinental Press. New York, October 2, 17), page 126
1978 8 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Octobre I93s/Decem-
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 16, bre 193s, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
1978, pages so-S* nales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 7), page 213
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 23, 9 Reimann, op. cit., page 252
1978, page 1176 10 Leon Trotsky: OeuvresMars 1933/luillet t933,
5 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 1 6, op. cit., page 134
1978, page 50 11 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933,
6 Letter to author from Leon P6rez, June 10,1982 op. cit., page 234

Notes 993
 12 LeonTrotsky: OeuvresMars 1933/fuillet 1933, (1932-33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978,
op. cit., page 1 59 pages 24-36 and 326-327; and Rodolphe Prager
13 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933, (Editor): Les Congr&s de la Quatrieme Interna­
op. cit., page 234 tionale, Volume 1: Naissance de la IVe Inter­
14 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193 o), nationale 1930-1940, Editions La Brfcche,
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page 133 Paris, 1978, page 50
15 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933. 3 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen,
op. cit., page 23 5 June 24, 1984
16 Ibid., page 59 4 Anton Schou Madsen: Summary of Thesis on
17 Ibid., page $9 "Trotskyism in Denmark 1938-1947," page 1 -
18 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 2
1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 5 Preben Kinch: "Some Notes to 'Scandinavian
nales, Paris, 1978 (Volume 3), page n o Trotskyism/ " July 2, 1984 (critique of early
19 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933, draft of this chapter)
op. cit., page 234 6 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen
20 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 7 Madsen Thesis Summary, op. cit., pages 2-3
1934, op. cit., pages n o -ia o 8 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen,
21 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, June 24, 1984
op. cit., page 106 9 Prager, op. cit., page 201
22 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), 10 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
op. cit., page 187 Quatri&me Internationale, Volume 2: L'Inter­
23 Ibid., page 419 nationale. dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­
24 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933. tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1981, pages 345-346
op. cit., page 234 11 Madsen Thesis Summary, op. cit., page 6
25 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fanvier 1938/Mars 12 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 346
1935, Institut Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, 1983 13 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen,
(Volume 16}, page 22 June 24, 1984
26 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la 14 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., pages 256-346
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 15 Ibid., pages 356-357
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 16 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen,
tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1978, page 21s June 24, 1984
27 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), 17 Freben Kinch: "From the End of the War Until
op. cit., pages 353-362 the Unification of the r s and the s u f , " Memo­
28 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Janvier 1936/Fevrier randum, 1983, page 1
1936, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 18 Ibid., page 1, and letter to author from Anton
nales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 8), pages 52-53 Schou Madsen, June 24, 1984
29 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1938/fuin 1938, 19 Preben Kinch: "Some Notes to 'Scandinavian
op. cit, pages 126-128 Trotskyism,'" op. cit.,
30 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky {1937- 20 Kinch: "From the End of the War etc.," op. cit.,
38), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, pages pages 1-2
3 S3- 3 S7 21 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen,
31 Labor Action, New York, August 22, 1955 June 24, 1984
32 Ren6 Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens Enrages. . . . La 22 Kinch: "Some Notes to 'Scandinavian Trots­
Genocide des Trotskistes, Oliver Orban, Paris, kyism," op. cit.
1981, page 302 23 Kinch: "From the End of the War etc.," op. cit.,
33 Ibid., pages 302-303 pages 1-2
34 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 6, 24 Ibid.
1969, page 885 25 “ From s u f to s a p , " translation of Report to
35 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 9, First National Congress of the s a p (translated
1970, page 115 by Michael Svendsen Pedersen), page 2
36 La Verili (of Ligue Ouvriere Revolutionnaire), 26 Michael Svendsen' Pedersen: "Notes About
Paris, July 3-9, 1982 The s u p , " (Memorandum), page 1, quoting
Zjner Friie Pedersen, "Socialisvisk Ungdome
Porum 19 6 1-19 7 1," in Arbog for arbejderbe-
Danish Trotskyism
vaegelsone historien 1977, Copenhagen, 1977
1Intercontinental Press, New York, October 18, 27 Ibid., page 2
1972, page 1120 28 Allan Beekholm: critique of early draft of this
2 See Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky chapter, n.d. (1985)

994 Notes
29 Michael Svendsen Pedersen: "Notes About the 66 "Questionnaire for European Political Bureau
s u p , " op. cit., page z School," op. cit., page 3
30 Allan Packhold: Critique of early draft, op. cit. 67 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency
31 Michael Svendsen Pedersen: "Notes About the Meeting, September 1984," page 3
s u p , " op. cit., page 3

31 Intercontinental Press, New York, Octobcr 18,

1972,page 1120 Trotskyism in the Dominican Republic
33 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen, 1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
June 14, 1984 Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
34. "From s u p to s a p , " op. cit., page 2 sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­
35 Ibid., pages 2-3 tions La BrSche, Paris, 1978, page 215
36 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 2 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
4, 1972, page 1335 1985, page 10
37 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 3 See Intercontinental Press, New York, April
6, 1971 16, 1984, pages 196-199
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
29, 1971
39 "From sup to sap/' op. cit., page 3 Ecuadorean Trotskyism
40 Ibid., page 5 1 Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism in Latin
41 Ibid., page 7 America, Hoover Institution, Stanford, 1973,
42 Ibid., page 8 page 245
43 Ibid., page 6 2 Ibid., pages 245-246
44 Ibid., page 8 3 Lucha Comunista, Quito, February 1975, page
45 Ibid., page 9
4
46 Ibid., page 10 4 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December
47 Letter to author from Michael Svendsen Ped­ 1976, page 29
ersen, March 12, 1986 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 20,
48 "From s u f to s a p / ' op. cit., page 14 1978, page 350
49 Allan Baekhold: Critique of early draft., op. cit. 6 Letter to author from Leon P£rez, June i o, 1982
50 "From s u f to s a p , " op. cit., pages 18-19
51 Ibid., page 21
52 Ibid., page 19 Egyptian Trotskyism
53 Socialistisk Arbejderparti (Socialist Workers
1Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
Party), Denmark: "Questionnaire for European
27, 1982
Political Bureau School," n.d. (summer 1983),
2 Transcription of taped interview of Enoch Res­
page 1
nick with Michel Warshawski, January ^85,
54 Ibid., page 8
page 2
55 Letter to author from Michael Svendsen Ped­
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 1,
ersen, January 16, 1984
56 "Questionnaire for European Political Bureau 1985, page 181
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 8,198 5,
School," op. cit., page 8
page 410
57 Ibid., pages 7-8
$8 Ifaid., page 7
59 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen, Trotskyism in El Salvador
June 24, 1984
60 Allen Baekhold: Critique of early draft, op. cit. 1 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Janu-
61 Letter to author from Anton Schou Madsen, ary-February 1983, page 30
June 24, 1984
62 Anton Schou Madsen: "About Internationale Finnish Trotskyism
{Communistere Groppe (iM C -G roup of Interna­
tional Communists—Danish Section of the 1Letter to author from Livio Maitan, July 22,
4th International, International Center for Re- 1985
cons truction)/' (Memorandum), 1983, page 1 2 Letter to author from Douglas Jenness, May 10,
63 Ibid., page 2 1986
64 Ibid., page 3 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 30,
65 "This is the tap," article from tap periodical 1976
Trotskistick Synpunkt, translated by Jette Kro- 4 Letter to author from Douglas Jenness, May io,
mann (1983) 1986

Notes 995
 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 20, 24 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932),
1976 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 33 5—
336
25 Ibid., page 339
Fomento Obrero Revolucionario 2<5 Prager, op. cit., page 50
27 Cited in ibid., page 52
1 Alarma, Barcelona # 1 1 of 3rd Epoch, page 16
28 Ibid., pages 54-S6
2 See The Alarm, San Francisco, November-De-
29 Ibid., page 56
cember 1981, pages 1-2 , and December 1982,
30 Ibid., page 53
pages 5-6
31 Reisner, op. cit., pages 27-28
5 Alarma, Barcelona, # 1* of 3rd Epoch, page 2
32 Prager, op. cit., page 50
33 Reisner, op. cit., pages 23-25
Fourth International: From International 34 Ibid., page 25
Left Opposition to Movement 35 Prager, op. cit., page 90, and Reisner, op. cit.,
for the Fourth International pages 5 1- s s ......
36 Cited in Prager, op. cit., page 92
1 Pierre Brou6 (Editor): leon Trotsky-Alfred et 37 Ibid., page 95
Marguerite Rosmer: Correspondance 1929- 38 Ibid., page 96
1939. Gallimard, Paris, 1962, pages 17-18 39 Ibid., pages 96-97
2 Introduction to Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les 40 Ibid., page 97
Congris de la Quatrieme Internationale, Vol­ 41 Ibid., pages 97-98
ume 1: Naissance de la IVe Internationale 42 Ibid., pages 98
1930-1940, Editions La Brfcche, Paris, 1978 43 Ibid., page 90
page 17 44 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
3 See Brou6, op. cit., pages 16 and 51 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
4 Ibid., pages 34-47 Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), page 31
5 Prager, op. cit., page 18 45 Ibid., page 32
6 Ibid., page 19 46 Ibid., page 130
7 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The 47 Prager, op. cit., page 85
Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, Lon­ 48 Reisner, op. cit., page 56
don, 1979, pages 37-381 see also Leon Trotsky: 49 Ibid., pages 56-57
Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), Pathfinder 50 Ibid., page 57
Press, New York, 197s, pages 15-19 ; and Will 51 Ibid., pages 57-58
Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth In­ 52 Ibid., page 58
ternational: The Formative Years J 933-40), 53 Ibid., pages 58-59
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 22 54 Ibid., page 59
8 BrouS, op. cit., page 73 55 Leon Trotsky: Ouevres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
9 Ibid., page 96 op. cit., page 156
10 Prager, op. cit., page 36 56 Ibid., page 159
11 Ibid., page 34 57 Leon Trotsky: Ouevres Noventbre 1933/Avril
12 Ibid., page 36 1934. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
13 Ibid., page 40 nales, Paris, 1978 (Volume 3), page 132
14 Ibid., pages 40-41 58 Ibid., page 140
15 Ibid., page 42 59 Ibid., page 141
16 Ibid., page 44 60 Ibid., page 1942
17 Ibid., page 44 61 Letter to author from Boris Goldenberg, March
18 Ibid., page 47 4 , 1975
19 Ibid., page 34 62 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933,
20 Isaac Deutscher: The Prophet Outcast, Trotsky op. cit., page 119
1929-1940, Oxford University Press, London, 63 Ibid., page 36
1963, page $9 64 Interview with Albert GJotzer, New York, July
il Ibid., page S9 ; see also Prager, op. cit., pages 2, 1981
433-436, and Georges Vereeken: Le guipgou 65 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1934-
dans le mouvement trotskiste, La Pens6e Uni- 3 S). Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, pages
verselle, Paris, 197s, pages 19-42 347-348
22 The Militant, New York, January 15, 1931 66 Prager, op. cit., page 87
23 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­ 67 Reisner, op. cit., pages 62-63
plement 1929-33), Pathfinder Press, New 68 Ibid., page 65
York, 1979, page 366 69 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuin 193 s/September

996 Notes
 193 S. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 19 Prager, op. cit., pages 215-2x6
nales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 6), page 54 10 Reisner, op. cit., page 289
70 Prager, op. cit., page 88 21 Deutscher, op. cit., page 420
71 Ibid., page 119 22 Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1937-38),
72 Ibid., page 123 op. cit., page 285
73 Reisner, op. cit., page 81 23 Georges Vereeken: Le gudpiou dans le mouve-
74 Ibid., pages 81-82 ment trotskiste, La Pensde Universelle, Paris,
75 Prager, op. cit., pages 197-198 1976, page 302
76 Ibid., pages 196-197 24 Deutscher, op. cit., page 421
77 Reisner, op. cit., page 138 15 Prager, op. cit., pages 227-228
78 Ibid., page 79 26 Reisner, op. cit., page 297
79 Ibid., page 89 27 Ibid., pages 297-298
80 Ibid., page 90 28 Ibid., page 298
81 Ibid., page 91 29 Ibid., page 299
82 Ibid., page 102 30 Ibid., pages 177-179
83 Ibid., pages 104-105 31 Ibid., page 300
84 Ibid., page 105 32 For details see ibid., pages 252-274
85 Ibid., page 103 33 Ibid., pages 275-276
86 Ibid., pages 105-106 34 Ibid., pages 277-283
87 Ibid., page 106 35 Ibid., page 221
88 Ibid., page 139 36 Ibid., pages 240-241
89 Ibid., pages 139-142 37 Ibid., page 241
38 Ibid., pages 243-244
39 Ibid., pages 245-246
Fourth International: The Establishment
40 Ibid., pages 246-248
of the Fourth International
41 Ibid., page 248
1 Rodolphe Prager [Editor) Les Congres de la 42 Ibid., page 249
Quathime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 43 Ibid., page 250
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, 44 Ibid., pages 250-281
(Editions La Brtehe, Paris, 1978, page io ; and 45 Ibid., pages 180
Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth 46 Ibid., page 181
International: The Formative Years {1933-40), 47 Ibid., pages 182-183
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page x$S 48 Ibid., pages 183-184
2 Reisner, op. cit., page 155 49 Ibid., page 184
3 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 50 Ibid., pages 184-185
June 24, 1981 51 Ibid., pages 185-186
4 Prager, op. cit., page 201 52 Ibid., pages 186-187
5 LeonTrotsky: Wri tings of LeonTrotsky (1937— 53 Ibid., page 187
38), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, page 54 Ibid., page 188
4 S7 55 Ibid., page 189
6 Ibid., page 285 56 Ibid., page 190
7 Isaac Deutscher: The Prophet Outcast, Trotsky 57 Ibid., pages 190-191
192.9-1940, Oxford University Press, London, 58 Ibid., page 193
1963, page 419 59 Ibid., page 101
8 Reisner, op. cit., page 156 60 Ibid., page 202
9 Prager, op. cit., pages 200-201 61 Ibid., page 203
10 Ibid., pages 2 11-2 12 62 Ibid., page 204
11 Robert J. Alexander; Trotskyism in Latin 63 Ibid., page 204
America, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 64 Ibid., pages 205-206
1973,page 37 65 Ibid., page 199
12 Prager, op. cit., page 21a 66 Ibid., page 200
13 Reisner, op. cit., page 284 67 Ibid., page 210
14 Ibid., page 157 68 Ibid., page 213
15 Ibid., page 298 69 Ibid., pages 2x9-220
16 Ibid., page 285 70 Jean van Heijenoort: With Trotsky in Exile:
17 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, From Prinkipo to Coyoacdn, Harvard Univer­
lunc 24, 1981 sity Press, Cambridge, 1979, page 96
18 See minutes in Reisner, op. cit., page 284-302, 71 Deutscher, op. cit., page 59
and the accompanying notes 72 Vereeken, op. cit., page 23

Notes 997
 73 Van Heijenoort, op. cit., pages 96-97 23 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
74 Ibid., page 79 Quatriime Internationale, Volume 2: L’Inter-
75 Deutscher, op. cit., page 59 nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­
76 Ibid., page 194 tions La Briche, Paris, 1981, page 31
77 Van Heijenoort, op. cit., page 98 24 Interview with Jean van Heijenoort, Cam­
78 Vereeken, op. cit., pages 40-41 bridge, Mass., July 7, 1982
79 Van Heijenoort, op. cit., page 99 25 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 30
8o Ibid., page 100 26 Interview with Jean van Heijenoort, Cam­
8l Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, bridge, Mass., July 7, 1982
April 29, 1983 27 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22,
82 Van Heijenoort, op. cit., pages 92-93 1982
83 Deutscher, op. cit., pages 405 and 408 28 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., pages 27-28
84 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 29 Ibid., page 26
June 24, 1981 30 Ibid., page 21 \
8s Ibid., and Vereeken, op. cit., pages 286-293 3i Interview with Jean van Heijenoort, Cam­
86 See Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, March bridge, Mass., July 7, 1982
1983 (#13), pages 81-82 32 Letter to author from Jean van Heijenoort, Oc­
87 Ibid., pages 63-71 tober 27, 1982
88 Ibid., pages 29-43 33 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., pages 30-31
89 Deutscher, op. cit., page 408, and Vereeken, op. 34 Ibid., page 3 5
cit., page 257 3S Ibid.,'page 39
90 Cahiers Leon Trotsky, March 1983, op. cit., 36 Ibid., page 42
pages 25-26 37 Ibid., page 44
9i Prager, op. cit., page 202 38 Ibid., page 32
39 Ibid., page 45
40 Ibid., pages 45-46
Fourth International: The Fourth Ibid., page 48
41
International During World War II Ibid., page 33
42
1 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth 43 Ibid., pages 52-53
International: The Formative Years ( i 9 } } - 4 °)> 44 Ibid., pages 53-54
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 305; 4S Ibid., page S4
and Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de 46 Ibid., page 34
la Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 47 Ibid., page 64
sance dela IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 48 Ibid., page 72
tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1978, pages 327-328 49 Ibid., page 85
2 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22, 50 Ibid., page 86
1982 51 Ibid., page 15
3 Prager, op. cit., page 328 S3. Ibid., page 15
4 Reisner, op. cit., page 353 S3 Ibid., pages 16-17
5 Ibid., page 433 S4 Ibid., page 17
6 Ibid., page 3S3 55 Ibid., pages 18-19
7 Ibid., page 352 56 Ibid., page 19
8 Ibid., page 35s 57 Ibid., pages 353-354
9 Ibid., page 3 11 S8 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22,
10 Ibid., page 312 1982
II Ibid., page 313 59 Prager, Volume 2, page ri3
12 Ibid., page 318 60 Ibid., page 115
J3 Ibid., page 321 61 Ibid., page 114
14 Ibid., pages 325-326 62 Ibid., page 1x6
15 Ibid., page 327 63 Ibid., pages i r 6- x i 7
16 Ibid., page 328 64 Ibid., pages n 8 - if9 .
17 Ibid., page 330 65 Ibid., page rrs
18 Ibid., page 334 66 Ibid., page 124
19 Ibid., pages 342, 346 67 Ibid., pages 12 1-12 2
20 Ibid., pages 347-348 68 Ibid., pages 13 1-13 2
21 Ibid., page 350 69 Ibid., pages 130-140
42 Interview with Jean van Heijenoort, Cam­ 70 Ibid., page 126
bridge, Mass., July 7, 1982 71 Ibid., page 134

998 Notes
72 Ibid., page 134 24 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York,
73 Ibid., page 137 June 21, 1970
74 Ibid., page x 15 25 Quatridme Internationale, Paris, March-May
75 Ibid., page 153 1948, pages 76-85
76 Ibid., pages 158-160 26 New International, New York, October 1948,
77 Ibid., pages 178 -181 page 238
78 Ibid., page 166 27 Frank, op. cit., page 68
79 Ibid., page 167 28 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May
80 Ibid., page 190 1948, pages 78-24
81 Ibid., page 188 29 Frank, op. cit., page 68.
82 Ibid., pages X93-2.59; see also Jean-Michel Bra­ 30 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May
bant, Michel Dreyfus, Jacqueline Pluet (Edi­ 1948, page75
tors): Facsimile de la Veriti Clandestine 31 Frank, op. cit., page 69
(1940-1944), organe de la section frangaise de 32 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May
la I Vi Internationale, Etudes et Documenta­ 1948, page 29
tion Internationales, Paris, 1978, pages 2 13 - 33 Ibid., page 35
^33 34 Ibid., page 39
83 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 263 3 5 Ibid., pages 49-52
84 Ibid., pages 264-267 36 Ibid., page 53
37 New International, New York, October 1948,
page 239
The Fourth International in the Immediate
38 Ibid., page 240
Post World War II Period
39 Letter to author from Max Shachtman, Decem­
1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la ber 7, 1970
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: L’lnter- 40 Letter to author from Joseph Hansen, Decem­
nationale dans la Querre (1940-1946), Edi­ ber 24, 1970
tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1981, page 289 41 Frank, op. cit., page 83
2 Ibid., page 290 42 New International, New York, October 1948,
3 Interview with George Breitman, New York, pages 243-244
April 14, 1982 43 Frank, op. cit., page 69
4 Prager, op. cit., page 333 44 Ibid., page 68
3 Ibid., page 353 45 Quatriime Internationale, Paris, March-May
6 Ibid., pages 352-353 1948. pages 86-94
7 Ibid., pages 343-344; and Interview with 46 Ibid., page 88
George Breitman, New York, April 14, 1982 47 Ibid., page 46
8 Prager, op. cit., page 343 48 New International, New York, October 1948,
9 Ibid., page 343 page 245
10 Ibid., page 357 49 Interview with Pierre Brou£, Cambridge,
11 Ibid., page 433 Mass., July 7, 1982
12 Unless otherwise noted, the following discus­ 50 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
sion is based on Prager, op. cit., pages 360-428 Part 4: Struggle in the Fourth International,
13 Ibid., pages 436-4S3 International Secretariat Documents 19 5 1-
14 Ibid., page 386 I9S4, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
15 Ibid., page 434 ume 1, page 32
16 Ibid., page 413 51 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York,
17 Ibid., page 436 April 29, 1983
18 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May 52 Max Shachtman: "The Reminiscences of Max
1948, page 82 Shachtman," Columbia University Oral His­
19 Ibid., page 83 tory, 1963, page 403
20 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The 53 Natalia Sedova Trotsky Letter to International
Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London, Committee of Fourth International and Politi­
1979, pages 67-68 cal Committee of Socialist Workers Party, May
21 New International, New York, October 1948, 9, 1951 (Spanish version MS)
page 237 54 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
22 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March—May Part 4 etc., op. cit,, Volume 1, page 6
1948, page i 35 Ibid., page 7
23 New International, New York, October 1948, 56 Ibid., page 9
page 236 57 Ibid., page 8

Notes 999
 58 Ibid., pages 9-10 22 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
59 Ibid., page 11 Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 4, page 175
60 Ibid., pages 1 1 - 1 2 23 Interview with Edwin Moller, La Paz, July 30,
61 Frank, op. cit., page 82 r 954
62 Ibid., pages 82-83; for text of resolution, show­ 24 Towards a His toty of the Fourth In ternational.
ing amendments to Pablo's original presenta­ Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 4, page 199
tion, see Towards a History of the Fourth Inter­ 25 Ibid., page 200
national, Pan 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 1, pages 26 Ibid., page 201
25 - 3° 27 Ibid., page 203
63 Towards a History of the Fourth International, 28 Ibid., page 201
Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 1, page 34 29 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The
64 Ibid., page 35 Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London,
65 Ibid., page 37 1979, page 94
66 Ibid., page 39 30 Towards a History of the Fourth,International,
Part 4 etc., op. cit.. Volume 4, page 207
31 Ibid., Volume 4, pages 189-197
Fourth International: Split and Partial
32 Frank, op. cit., page 96
Reunion of the Fourth Internationa!
33 Ibid., page 97
1 Towards a History of the Fourth International: 34 Ibid., pages 97-98
Part 3: Struggle in the Fourth International, 35 Ibid., page 98
International Committee Documents ip$i~ 36 Ibid., page 99
r?$6. Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­ 37 Ibid., page 101
ume 3, page 137 38 Ibid., pages 10 1-10 2
2 Ibid., Volume 1, pages 23-291 and Towards a 39 Ibid., page 102
History of the Fourth International: Part 4: 40 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
Struggle in the Fourth International, Interna­ 1982
tional Secretariat Documents r^$r-r9$4. 41 Frank, op. cit., page 104
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Volume 2, 42 Towards a History of the Fourth International:
pages 52-62 Part 3 etc. op. cit., Volume 1, pages 15 -16
3 Towards a History of the Fourth International: 43 Mercedes Petit: "Apuntes para la Historia det
Part 4 etc. op. cit., Volume 2, page 51 Trotskismo (del 1938 a 1964,) October 1980,
4 Towards a History of the Fourth International; pages 24 and 35-36
Part 3 etc., op. cit., Volume 1, pages 30-63; and 44 Ibid., pages 22—23
Part 4 etc., op. cit., page 62-95 45 Ibid., page 27
5 Towards a History of the Fourth International, 46 Ibid., page 27
Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 4, pages 150 -151 47 Ibid., page 28
6 Ibid., Volume 4, pages 150-156; and Towards 48 Frank, op. cit., page 104
a History of the Fourth International, Part 3 49 The Militant. New York, November 12, 1956,
etc., op. cit., Volume 2, pages 99-1 n pages 1 and 4
7 Towards a History of the Fourth In ternational, 50 The Struggle to Reunify the Fourth Interna­
Part 3X etc., op. cit., Volume 2, page 12 1 tional (1954-1963) Volume 1: The First Parity
8 Towards a History of the Fourth International, Commission and Peng Shu-tse’s "Pabloism
Part 4 etc., Volume 4, page 157 R e v i e w e d Socialist Workers Party, New
9 Ibid., page 158 York, 1977, page 5
io Ibid., page 160 51 Ibid., page 16
xi Ibid., page 161 52 The relevant documents are to be found in Ibid
12 Ibid., page 162 53 Frank, op. cit., page 96
13 Towards a History of the Fourth International, 54 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­
Part 3 etc., op. cit., Volume 3, page 133 sionism: A Documentary History, Volume
14 Ibid., page 137 Four: The International Committee Against
15 Ibid., page 153 Liquidationism, New Sark Publications, Lon­
16 Towards a History of the Fourth International, don, 1974, pages 13 and '15
Part 4 etc., op. cit.. Volume 4, page 171 55 Ibid., page r 2
17 Ibid., page 170 56 Ibid., pages 2—s
18 Ibid., page 171 57 Ibid., pages 112-16 9 relevant documents
19 Ibid., pages 173-175 58 Frank, op. cit., page 100
20 Ibid., page 176 59 Ibid., page 101
ax The Militant, New ’i'ork, December 21, 1953 60 Ibid., pages 102—103

1000 Notes
61 Cuarta Internacional, September 1962, page 41 ■ From Prinkipo to Coyoacdn, Harvard Univer­
62 Ibid., page 13 sity Press, Cambridge, 1978, page 23
63 Ibid., page 2 14 Deutscher, op. cit., page 46
64 Ibid., page 31 15 Ibid., page 47
65 Ibid., page 35 16 Ibid., page 49
66 Ibid., page 40 17 Leon Trotsky, op. cit., page 441
67 Ibid., page 41 18 Naville, op. cit., page 189
68 Ibid., pages 155-158 19 Deutscher, op. cit., page 48
69 Slaughter, op. cit., pages 70-7 r and 76-107 20 Ibid., pages 47-48
70 Ibid., pages 112-16 7 21 Ibid., page 53
71 Ibid., pages 168-169 22 See "How Revolutionaries Are Formed," in
72 Frank, op. cit., page 107 Leon Trotsky, op. cit., pages 190-194
73 In ternational Socialist Review, New York, Fall 23 Leon Trotsky, op. cit., page 238
1963, page 114 24 Ibid., page 243
74 Ibid., page 115 25 Ibid., page 245
75 Ibid., page 125 26 Ibid., pages 444-445
76 Ibid., page 126 27 Ibid., page 225
77 Ibid., page 129 28 Ibid., page 230
78 Ibid., pages 129-130 29 Ibid., page 231
79 Ibid., page 129 30 Ibid., page 235
80 Ibid., page 130 31 Navile, op. cit., page 141; and Jacqueline Pluet-
■81 Petit, op. cit., pages 29-30 Ddspatin, op. cit., pages 42-44
32 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930),
Pathfinder Press, New York, 197s, page 78
French Trotskyism Before World War II
33 Van Heijenoort, op. cit., page 1
1 Jules Humbert-Droz: Archives de Jules Hum­ 34 See "A Declaration of La Verity," in Leon
bert-Droz: Ongines et Dibuts des Pattis Com­ Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929), op.
munistes des Pays Latines 1918-1923, D. Rei- cit., page 230
del Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland, 35 Leon Trotsky: Wri tings of Leon Tzotsky (193 o),
1970, page xxii op. cit., page 432
2 Ibid., page xxiii 36 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section
3 Jules Humbert-Droz: M&moires de Jules (1935-36), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977,
Humbert-Droz: De Lenine a Staline: Dix Ans Introduction, pages 18-19
au Service d& 1‘Internationale Communiste 37 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1929),
(1921—1931), Ala 8a?onni£reNeuchatel, 1971, op. cit., page 174
pages 16 -17 38 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930),
4 Ibid., page 227 op. cit., page 301
5 Ibid., page 241 39 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1930-
6 Humbert-Droz: Archives etc., op. cit., page 64 31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page
7 Pierre Naville: L'Entre-Deux Guerres: La Lutte 268
des Classes en France 1926-1939. Etudes de 40 Ibid., page 270
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1975, 41 Deutscher, op. cit., page 59
page 62 42 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section
8 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929), (1935-36). op. cit., page 18
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page 444; 43 See "Letter to Albert Treint," and "Another
see also Naville, op. cit., pages 56-59, and Jac­ Letter to Albert Treint," in LeonTrotsky: Writ­
queline Pluet-D6spatin: La Press Trotskiste en ings of Leon Trotsky (1930-31), op. cit., pages
France de 1926 a 1938, Editions de la Maison 310-320
des Sciences de 1'Homme, Presses Universi- 44 LeonTrotsky: Wiitings of LeonTrotsky (1930),
taires de Grenoble, Paris, 1978, pages 39-41 op. cit., page 188
9 Leon Trotsky, op. cit., page 439 and Naville op. 45 See "Reply to the Jewish Group in the Commu­
cit., page 112 nist League of France," in Leon Trotsky: Writ­
ro Isaac Deutscher: The Prophet Outcast, Trotsky ings of Leon Trotsky (1932), Pathfinder Press,
1929-1940, Oxford University Press, London, New York, 1973 , pages 26-30
r963, page 6 46 See "Conversations with a Dissident from
1 1 Ibid., page 7 Saint-Denis," in Leon Trotsky: Writings of
12 Ibid., page 27 Leon Trotsky (1933-34). Pathfinder Press, New
13 Jean van Heijenoort: With Trotsky in Exile: York, 1972, pages 290-294

Notes 1001
 47 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky: Sup­ International: The Formative Years ! 1933—40),
plement (1934-40), Pathfinder Press, New Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 253
York, 1979, page 491 83 Ibid., page 256
48 See Naville, op. cit., pages 198-205 84 Ibid., page 257
49 Ibid., pages 289-291 85 Ibid., page 258
50 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193 2— 86 Ibid., pages 259-260
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, pages 87 Ibid., page 261
28-29 88 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section
51 Ibid., page 29 (i93S-36), op. cit., page 169
52 Naville, op. cit., page 218 89 Pluet-D6spatin: La Presse Trotskiste en France
53 Ibid., page 441 etc., op. cit., pages 58 and 66
54 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky: Sup­ 90 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section
plement (1934-40), op. cit., page 491 (1935-36), op. cit., page 169
55 Ibid., page 493 91 Pluet-D6spatin: La Presse Trotskiste en France
56 Ibid., page 494 etc., op. cit.; page 58
57 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section 92 LeonTrotsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1937-
(i935~S6), op. cit., page 20 38), op. cit., page 319
58 Ibid., page 21 93 Pluet-D£spatin: La Presse Trotskis te en Fran ce
59 Jacqueline Pluet-D6spatin: Les Trotskistes et etc., op. cit., page 62-63
la Guerre 1940-1944, Editions Anthropos, 94 Pluet-D6spatin: Les Trotskistes et la Guerre
1980,page 15 etc., op. cit., page 30
60 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section 95 Ibid., page 29
(1935-36), op. cit., page 22 96 Will Reisner, op. cit., page 263
61 Ibid., page 21 97 Ibid., page 264
62 Ibid., page 27
63 The New Militant, New York, April 13, 1935
French Trotskyism During World War 11
64 The New Militant, New York, June 29, 1935
6 s Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section 1 Jacqueline Pluet-Dfispatin: Les Trotskistes et
(1936-38), op. cit., page 24 la Guerre 1940-1944, Editions Anthropos,
66 Jacquelina Pluet-Ddspatin: Les Trotskistes el Paris, 1980, page 34
la Guerre etc. op. cit., page 15 2 Jean-Pierre Cassard: Les Trotskyistes en France
67 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section Pendant La Deuxieme Guerre Mondial (1939-
(i93SS6), op. cit., page 24; see also outline of 1944). La Veritg, Paris, n.d. (1982), page 42
Moliniter's speech at the congress, The New 3 Ibid., page 52
Militant, New York, July 6, 1935 4 Ibid., page 50
68 See Naville, op. cit., pages 467-483 5 Pluet-DSspatin, op. cit., page 31
69 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French Section 6 Cassard, op. cit., page 41
(1935-36), op. cit., page 24 7 Pluet-Ddspatin, op. cit., page 31, and Cassard,
70 Ibid., page 25 op. cit., page 50
71 Foregoing from Ibid, pages 90-91 8 Pluet-Dispatin, op. cit., pages 31-32, and Cas­
72 Ibid., pages 92-93; and Pluet-D£spatin: Les sard, op. cit., pages 42-43; see also Jaqueline
Trotskistes et la Guerre etc., op. cit., page 18 Pluet-Dispatin: La Presse Trotskyiste en
73 Leon Trotsky: The Crisis of the French section France de 1926 a 1968, Editions de la Maison
(1935-36), op. cit., page 92 des Sciences de L'Homme, Presses Universi-
74 Ibid., page 136 taires de Grenoble, Paris, 1978, pages 69-70
75 Ibid., page 136 9 Cassard, op. cit., page 51; see also Pluet-Dds-
76 See "Notes from an Interview by Molinier and patin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., op. cit., page
Demots," in Ibid., pages 156 -16 1 70
77 Ibid., page 165 10 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22,
78 Ibid., page 167 1982; see also Cassard, op. cit., page 52
79 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193 7— 11 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22,
38), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, pages 1982; see also Pluet-Ddspatin: Les Trotskistes
340-344 et la Guerre etc., op. cit., page 33
80 Pluet-Despatin: La Presse Trotskiste en France 12 Cassard, op. cit., page 41—42
etc., op. cit., pages 57-59 13 Ibid., page 52
81 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (19 37— 14 Ibid., page S3
38), op. cit., page 319 15 Ibid., pages s 3-54
82 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth 16 Ibid., page 53

1002 Notes
17 Ibid., page 49,- PIuet-DSspatin: Les Trotskistes 54 Ibid., page 66
et la Guerre etc., op. cit., page 33 55 Ibid., page 7r
18 Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Institut Leon Trotsky, 56 Letter to author from Jean van Heijenoort, Oc­
Grenoble, #9, January 1982, page 63 tober 27, 1981
19 Ibid., page 65 57 Cassard, op. cit., page 80
20 Ibid., page 68 58 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 86
21 Ibid., pages 61-62 59 Ibid., page 85
22 Pluet-DSspatin: Les Trotskistes et la Guerre 60 Ibid., page 181
etc., op. cit., page 34 61 Ibid., page 183-192
23 Cassard, op. cit., page 60 62 Ibid., page 200
24 Ibid., page 61 63 Ibid., page 203
25 Cassard, op. cit., page 62 64 Ibid., pages 197-198
26 Cahiers Leon Trotsky, #9, January 1982, op. 65 Ibid., page 181
cit., page 105 66 Cassard, op. cit., page 95
27 Cahiers Leon Trotsky, #9, January 1982, op. 67 Rent: Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens Enrag&s . . . La
cit., page 108 Genocide des Trotskistes, Oliver Orban, Paris,
28 Ibid., pages 109-1x0 1981, pages 249-254
29 Cassard, op. cit., page 61 68 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 77
30 Jean-Michel Brabant, Michel Dreyfus, Jacque­ 69 Cassard, page 95
line Pluet (editors), Facsimile de la Veriti 70 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page xoi
Clandestine (1940-1944), organs dela section 71 Ibid., pages 108-109
franqaise de la IVe Internationale, Etudes et 72 Ibid., pages 1 15-t 16
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1978 73 Cassard, op. cit., pages 80-82
(hereafter referred to as La Veriti Facsimile), 74 Ibid., pages 102-103
pages 9-12 75 Ibid., page 103
31 Ibid., pages 9-59 76 Ibid., page 104
32 Ibid., page 102 77 Ibid., page 105
33 Ibid., page 153 78 Ibid., page 124
34 Ibid., pages 179-180 79 Ibid., page 133
35 See Pluet-D6spatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., 80 Ibid., page 131
op. cit. 81 Ibid., page 132
36 Ibid., page 78 82 Ibid., page 86
37 Cassard, op. cit., page 64 83 Ibid., page 133) see also La Veriti Facsimile,
38 Ibid., page 65 op. cit., page 233
39 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 17 84 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 153; see also
40 Ibid., page 38 Rodolphe Prager, op. cit., pages 267-272 for
41 Cassard, op. cit., page 6s—66 resolutions on founding of the now p c i
42 Pluet-D6spatin: Les Trotskistes et la Guerre 85 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 179
etc., op. cit., page 61 86 Cassard, op. cit., page 43
43 Ibid., page 63 87 Ibid., page 42
44 Cassard, op. cit., page 68 88 Ibid., page 65
45 Rodolphe Prager (editor): Les Congris de la 89 Ibid., page X32
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 2: L'lntei- 90 Interview with Franfoise Vemon, Paris, July
nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­ 29, 1982
tions la Briche, Paris, 1981, pages 270-283 91 Pluet*D6spatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc.. op.
46 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The cit., page 89
Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London, 92 Cassard, op. cit,, page 63; see also Werner
1979/ pages 179-180 Rings: Life With theEnemy:Collaboration
47 Cassard, op. cit., page 64 and Resistance in Hitler’s Europe 19 19 -19 41.
48 Pluet-D6spatin: Les Trotskistes et la Guerre Doubleday and Company Inc., Garden City,
etc., op. cit., pages 50-59 New York, 1948, page 14s
49 Letter to author from Rodolphe Prager, March 93 Rings, op. cit., page 153
1, 1983 94 Ibid., page 157
50 Letter to author from Pierre Frank, January 24, 95 Ibid., pages 155-156
1983 96 Ibid., page 207
51 Cassard, op. cit., pages 70-71 97 Ibid., page 213
52 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., pages 55-56 98 La Veriti Facsimile, op. cit., page 156
53 Ibid., page 57, page 71 99 Ibid., page 158

Notes 1003
100 Ibid., pages 169-170 26 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
101 Ibid., page 172 op. cit., page 83
102 Dazy, op. cit., page 309 27 Ibid., page 92
103 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 27, 28 Towards a History of the Fourth International
1982 Part 3: Struggle in the Fourth International,
104 Letter to author from Rodolphe Prager, April International Committee Documents 19 5 1-
is, 1982 19S6. Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
105 Rodolphe Prager, op. cit., pages 470-473 ume 1, pages 25—26
106 Dazy, op. cit., page 263 29 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
op. cit., page 95
30 Ibid., page 92
French Trotskyism: From pci to New pci
31 Interview with Pierre Lambert, Paris, July 23,
1982
1 Organisation Communiste Intemationaliste: 32 Struggle in the Fourth International, op. cit.,
Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, page 26
Selie, Paris, 1979, pages 64-65 33 Ibid., page 27
2 Ibid., page 6 s 34 Ibid., pages 27—28
3 Ibid., page 6s 3 5 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
4 Ibid., pages 70-71 Part 4: Struggle in the Fourth International,
5 Ibid., page 71 International Secretariat Documents 19 $ 1—
6 Jacqueline Pluet-D6spatin: La Presse Trots­ I9S4, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
kiste en France de 1926 a 1968, Editions de ume 2, page 53
la Maison des Sciences de L'Homme, Presses 36 Ibid., page 55
Universitaires de Grenoble, Paris, 1978, page 37 Ibid., pages 28-29
130 38 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
7 Ibid., page 139 op. cit., page 94
8 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, 39 Ibid., page 97
op. cit., page 64 40 Interview with Pierre Brou£, Cambridge, Mass.
9 Labor Action, New York, June 17, 1946 July 7, 1982
10 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, 41 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
op. cit., page 70 op. cit., pages 95-96
11 Pierre Naville: L'Entre-Deux Guerres: La Lutte 42 Ibid., page 100
des Classes en France 1926-1939. Etudes et 43 Ibid., page 101
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1975, 44 Ibid., pages 10 1—102
page 61 45 Ibid., page 106
12 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, 46 La Veritd, Paris, January 7-27, 1955, page 1
op. cit., page 67 47 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
13 Ibid., pages 66-67 op. cit., page 99-100
14 Ibid., page 69 48 Ibid., page n o
15 Jean-Jacques Ay me: "Ces Jeunesses don leur 49 Ibid., page i n
parti ne vouiut pas: Les jeunesses socialistes de 50 Ibid., page 113; see also Pluet-D£spatin, op. cit.,
France de 1944 a 1947," Cahiers Leon Trotsky, page 159
Institut Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, #16, Decem­ 51 Quelques Enseignements de. Notre Histoire,
ber 1983, page 97 op. cit., pages 114 —115
16 Ibid., page 98 52 Ibid., page 115
17 Ibid., page 97 53 Ibid., page 116; see also Pluet-D 6spatin, op. cit.,
18 Ibid., page 98; see also Pluet-Dfispatin, op. cit., pages 143-148
pages 119 -12 0 54 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire,
19 Aym£ article, op. cit., page 9s op. cit., page 116
20 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, 55 Ibid., pages 122-123
op. cit., pages 78-79 56 Ibid., pages 123-124 \
21 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May 57 Ibid., page 121
1948, pages 103-104 58 Ibid., page 125
22 Quelques Enseignements de Notre Histoire, 59 To m Kem pFrench Socie ty in Crisis," (revie w
op. cit., page 69 of Francois de Massot's book on 1968 events),
23 Ibid., page 81 The Bulletin, New York, October 6,1969, pages
24 Interview with Pierre Brou6, Cambridge, 6-7
Mass., July 7/ 1982 60 The Bulletin, New York, March 24, 1969, page
2s Pluet-D6spatin, op. cit., pages 13s—136 11

1004 Notes
61 The Bulletin, New York, March xo, 1969, page 90 ■ Intercontinental Press, New York, January 13,
9 *975, pages 23-24
62 le Monde, Paris, February 4, 1970 91 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 4,
63 TAe Bulletin, New York, June 15, 1970, page 3 1976, pages 11:20—1124
64 le Monde, Paris, November 4, 1971
6$ Intercontinental Press, New York, November
13, 1972, page 1243 and November 20, 1972, French Trotskyism: The 1952 PCI Minority
page 1286 and Its Heirs; Lutte Ouvrifere and Other
66 Organisation Communiste Internationaliste: French Trotskyist Groups
Le Front Populaire, oci Cahier de G.E.R. No.
7, Selio, Paris, n.d. (1973) x Jacqueline Pluet-D^spatin: La Presse Trot­
67 Organisation Communiste Internationale: Le skiste en France de 1926 a 1968, Editions de
Stalinisme- Diginirescence de l'URSS et de la Maison des Sciences de L'Homme, Presses
1'Internationale Communiste, OCI Cahier de Universitaires de Grenoble, Paris, 1978, pages
G.E.R., No. 6, Selio, Paris, n.d. (1973) 140-141
68 Le Front Unique Ouvrier et la Construction du 2 Ibid., pages i s i and 16 1-16 2
Parti Revolutionnaire, Selio, Paris, n.d. {1974} 3 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 23,
69 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 1982
12, 1973, pages 145-146 4 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New
70 Young Spartacus, New York, June 1976 York, June 2, 1969, page 532
71 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 29,
28, 1977, pages 2 13-214 1968, page 669
72 Le Monde, Paris, February 1, 1978 6 Le Monde, Paris, May 17, 1969
73 Le Monde, Paris, September 16, 1981 7 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 29,
74 Pour Un Parti des Travailleurs—Les D6bats et 1968, page 669
les Dicisions dela Convention Nationale Pour 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 29,
un Parti des Travailleurs, 29 April 1984, Paris, 1968, page 670
pages 31—32 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 10,
75 Ibid., page 30 1968, page 525
76 Informations Ouvrieres, Paris, June 29, 1984, 10 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 24,
page 6 1969, page 580
77 Pour 1‘Autogestion, Paris, July 21, 1984, page rr Intercontinental Press, New York, April 28,
6 1969, pages 405-407
78 Interview with Pierre Lambert, Paris, July 23, 12 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 2,
1982 1969, pages 531-533
79 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July 13 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 9,
24, 1982 t969, page 562
80 La Veriti, Paris, October 1980, pages 21-40 14 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 16,
81 Interviews with Pierre Lambert, Paris, July 23, 1969, page 594
1982 and Francois de Massot, Paris, July 24, 15 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
1982 1, 1969, page 1080
82 Interview with Anna Herz, Assistant Interna­ 16 Interview with Antoine Liblau, Paris, July 24,
tional Secretary, Force Ouvriere, Paris, July 30, 1982
1982 17 Intercontinental Press, New York, March i,
83 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July 1971, page r70
24, 1982 18 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 18,
84 Interview with Francis de Massot, Paris, Au­ 1971, page 33 and February I, 1971, page 82
gust 6, 1984 19 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 12,
8s Parti Communiste Internationaliste: D&putds 1970, page 839
PS-PCF, RispectezleMandat du Peuple!, Paris, 20 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 28,
n.d. (1983) 1971, page 606
86 Parti Communiste Internationaliste: "Une Au­ 21 Ibid., page 610
tre Politique" (throwaway), n.d. (1982) aa Intercontinental Press, New York, November
87 "Informations Ouvrieres Supplement Sid6rur- 22, 1971, page 999
gie," Paris, (throwaway) n.d. (1982) 23 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
88 "La Lettre d'Informations Ouvrieres," Paris, 13, i 97 i
July 10, 1982 24 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
89 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July x, 1971, page 927 and November 8, 1971, page

24, 1982 959

Notes 1005
 25 Intercontinental Press. New York, March 6, 56 Le Monde, Pari, May 30, 1978, page i i
1972, page 232 57 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July
26 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 20, 24, 1982
197 ^ page 3 11 58 La Veriti, Paris, October 1980, page 33
27 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 59 See Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaixe: 4e
*5, *97^/ page 1031 Congris de la Ligue Communiste Rivolu-
28 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 6, tionaire: Theses et Resolutions, Paris, 1980
1972; page 247 60 Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: La
29 Intercontinental Press, New York, December France a Un Tournant, Theses Politiques
i i , 1972, page 1380-1381 Adoptees par la $e Congris de la Ligue Com­
30 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 15, muniste Revolutionnaire, Paris, 1982, page 18
1973 / page 18 61 Ibid., page 13
31 Ibid., pages 19-20 62 Ibid., pages 44-45
32 Intercontinental Press, New York, Match 26, 63 Interviews with Pierre Autexier and Claire
1973 / page 328 Beauville, Palris, July 30, 1982 ■
33 Ibid., page 327 64 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, New York
34 Intercontinental Press, New York, February City, November 26, 1982
12/ 1973, pages 143-144 65 Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: Alain
35 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 30, Krivine: Candidat pour L'Unitd Ouvri&re,
1973 / pages 919-926 August 6, 1973, pages Paris, 1981
497 - 954 ; September 10, 1973, pages 987- 66 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 4,
990 1981, page 429
36 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 30, 67 See Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: Pour
*973 , page 919 Une Majority et un Government du PS et du
37 Intercontinental Press, New York, September PC: Sans Politiciens Bourgeois, ni Radicaux,
10/ * 973 , page 987 ni Gaullistes, Paris, 1981
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 29, 68 Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: II Faut
1974, page 510 un Parti Revolutionnaire, Paris, 1983
39 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 10, 69 Inprecor, Paris, February 28, 1983, page 1 1
1974/ page 723 70 See Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: Com -
40 Inprecor, Paris, January 31, 1975 battre pour une Issue Socialiste a la Crise: The­
41 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 17, ses Politiques Adopties par la Vie Congris de
1975 la LCR, La Br6che, Paris, 1984
42 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 71 Rouge, Paris, July 20-August 23, 1984, pages
17, 1975/ page 1585 4 -5

43 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 72 Jean-Pierre Cassard: Les Trotskyistes en France

York, December 20, 1976, page 1839 Pendant La Deuxieme Guerre Mondial (1939—
44 Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: ze Con­ x944), La Verite, Paris, n.d. (1982), page 42
gres de la LCR, Theses, Paris, 1977, page 47 73 Jacqueline Pluet-Despatin: Les Trotskistes et
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, February la Guerre j 940-r944, Editions Antropos, Paris,
*1, 1977, page 174 1980, page 137
46 Le Monde, Paris, February 3, 1979 74 Ibid., pages 137-138
47 Le Monde, Paris, June 4, 1977 75 Ibid., page 32
48 Le Monde, Paris, February 3, 1979 76 Ibid., pages 136-144
49 Critique Communiste: Num£ro Special: Le 77 Cassard, op. cit., page 132
6o&me Anniversaire de la revolution d'octobre, 78 Pluet-Despatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., op.
"Qu'est-ce Que L'URSS?" Paris, October/No­ cit., pages 88-89
vember 1977, No. 18/19 79 Interview with Fran^oise Vernon, Paris, July
50 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 26, 29, 1982
1981 80 Pluet-Despatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., op.
51 Le Monde, Paris, June 4, 1977 cit., page 90 •
52 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 30, 81 Interview with Framboise Vemon, Paris, July
1978, page x u - 1 1 2 29, 1982; and Pluet-Despatin: La Presse Trots-
53 Le Monde, Paris, January 17, 1978 kiste etc., op. cit., page 90
54 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 16, 82 Interview with Fran50ise Vemon, Paris, July
1978, pages 59-63 29, 1982
55 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 83 Pluet-Despatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., op.
19, 1977, page 1408 cit., page 157

1006 Notes
 84 Interview with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July ri7 Spartacist, New York, Summer 1981, pages
2.9, 198a 13 -15
8$ See Lutte Ouvtiire, Paris, August 1968 118 See Le Bolchevik, Paris, October 1984
86 Interview with Franfoise Vernon, Paris, July 119 Pluet-D£spatin: La Presse Trotskiste etc., op.
29, 1982 cit., pages 149—150
87 Arlette Laguiller: Moi, Une Militants, Editions 120 CourrierInternational, Paris, January 1982and
J'Ai Lu, Paris, 1974, page 85-87 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, June 1982, page
88 Ibid., page 86 19
89 Ibid., page 95 121 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency
90 Ibid., page 4 Meeting, "September 1984," (Mimeographed)
91 Arlette Laguiller: Une Travailleuse Revolu­ 122 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
tionnaire dans la Campagne Prdsidentielle, 1982
Lutte Ouvriere, Paris, 1974, pages 15—16
92 Ibid., page 7
Trotskyism in the French Antilles
93 Ibid., page 135
94 Interview with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July 1 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
29, 1982 18, 1980, page 920
95 Le Monde, Paris, March 11, 1978 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 6,
96 Interview with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July 1973 , page ^49
29, 1982 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 27,
97 Interviews with Francois de Massot, Paris, July 1981, page 415
24, 1982, and Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 22, 4 Revolution Socialiste, February 6, 1981
1982 5 Inprecor, Paris, September 27, 1982, page 32
98 Pour 1'Autogestion, Paris, July 21,1984, page 6 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 10,
99 Interview with Franjoise Vemon, Paris, July 1982, page 407
29, 198a 7 Inprecor, Paris, June 28, 1982
100 Ibid. 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
101 Interview with Anna Herz, Paris, July 30, 1982 26, 1985, page 747
102 Lutte da Classe, Paris, April 20, 1982 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 19,
103 Le Monde, Paris, May 16, 1978 1985, page 459
104 Interview with Fran90ise Vemon, Paris, July 10 VAlliance Ouvridre et Paysanne, June 1984,
20, 1982 page 1, and July-August 1984, page 3
105 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 18, 1 1 L’Alhance Ouvri&re et Paysanne. #7, n.d.
1971, page 45 12 "The Flag of the Masses Will be the Red Flag,"
106 Le Monde, Paris, May 30, 1978, page 11 issued by Lutte Ouvriere, Paris, 1968
107 "Bulletin IntSrieur lck-lo," Paris, July 1982 13 Combat Ouvrier, July 25, 1979
xo8 Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire: Com-
battre pour une Issue Socialiste, etc., op. cit.,
German Trotskyism Before World War II
page 66
109 Interview with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July 1 Maurice Stobnicer: "Le Mouvement Trotsky­
29, 1982 ist Allemand sous la RfipubKque de Weimar,"
no See C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus University of Paris Thesis, 1980, pages 37-38
Revisionism, A Documentary History, Vol­ 2 Ibid., page 47
ume Five, The Fight for the Continuity of the 3 Ibid., page 50
Fourth International, New Park Publications, 4 Ibid., page 54
London, 197s, pages 64-74 5 Ibid., page 62
111 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 12, 6 Ibid., page 74
1976, page 31 7 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars r9)j/luillet
112 Interview with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July Etudes ct Documentation Internationales,
29, 1981 Paris, 19 7 5 (Volume I), page 35
113 La Veriti ("Vargaist" version), Paris, July 3-9, 8 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929),
1982 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, pages 436
114 Interview with Antoine Liblau, Paris, July 24, and 447; and Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon
1982 Trotsky (19J0), Pathfinder Press, New York,
115 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July I 97 S, page 32.9
24, 1982 9 Stobnicer, op. cit., page 88
116 Workers Vanguard, New York, March io, 10 Ibid., page 20
1978, page 12 11 Ibid., page 23

Notes 1007
12 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929), 54 Ibid., page 373
op. cit., page 273; see also, Stobnicer, op. cit., 55 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1932-
pages 104-108 33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, pages
13 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Tiotsky (1929), 326-327
op. cit., page 276 56 Ibid., pages 32-33
14 Ibid., page 279 57 Ibid., page 32
15 Ibid., page a80 58 Ibid., pages 41-42
16 Ibid., page 284 59 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
17 Ibid., page 283 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
18 Ibid., pages 282-283 Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), page 170; and Leon
19 Ibid., page 301 Trotsky: Writings of Leon Tiotsky (2932—33),
20 Ibid., page 303 op. cit., pages 90-94
21 Ibid., page 302 60 Stobnicer, op. cit., page 117
22 Pierre Brou6 (Editor): Leon Trotsky-Alfred et 61 Ibid., pages 124-125
Marguerite Rosmer: Correspondance 1929- 62 See Stobnicer, op. cit., pages 156-178, for ex­
1939, Gallimard, Paris, 1982, page 40 tensive discussion of the KPD's attitude to­
23 Ibid., page 41 wards Trotsky's positions
24 Ibid., page 43 63 Ibid., page 178
25 Hans Schafranek: "Kurt Landau," Cahiers 64 Ibid., pages 180-181
Leon Trotsky, Paris #s, First Trimester 1980, 65 Ibid., pages 18 1-18 2
page 74 66 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1932—
26 Broue, op. cit., page 53 33), op. cit., page 137
27 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), 67 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/Juillet 1933,
op. cit.; see also Stobnicer, op. cit., page 110 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
28 Stobnicer, op. cit., page i n Paris, 1978 (Volume i), page 48
29 Broud, op. cit., page 44 68 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
30 Ibid., page 42 op. cit., page 67
31 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), 69 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1932—
op. cit., page 133 33) op. cit., page 207
32 Brou6, op. cit., page 141 70 Stobnicer, op. cit., pages 203-20S
33 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930). 71 Ibid., page 206
op. cit., pages 213-2 14 72 Ibid., page 203
34 Brou6, op. cit., page 128 73 Ibid., page 227
35 Stobnicer, op. cit., page 113 74 Ibid., page 207
36 Ibid., page 115 7 5 Ibid., pages 208-209
37 Schafranek article, op. cit., page 75 76 Ibid., page 208
38 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930- 77 Ibid., page 20s
31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 78 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­
153 plement 1929-33), Pathfinder Press, New
39 Ibid., page 1 ss York, 1979, page 388
40 Schafranek article, op. cit., pages 74-75 79 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­
41 Stobnicer, op. cit., page 115 plement 1934-40,1, Pathfinder Press, New
42 Schafranek article, op. cit., pages 75-76 York, 1974, page 9 11 .
43 Ibid., page 76; see also footnote Cahiers Leon 80 Stobnicer, op. cit., pages 2 10 -2 11
Trotsky, #s, January-March 1980, page 101 81 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
44 Schafranek article, page 76, op. cit. op. cit., page 234
45 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky {1930— 82 Ibid., page 23 s
3r), op. cit., page 156 83 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril
46 Ibid., page 157 1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
47 Ibid., page 158 nales, Paris, 1978 (Volume 3), page 22
48 Ibid., pages 169-170 84 Stobnicer, op. cii., page 364
49 Schafranek article, op. cit.,pages 76-77; see 85 Ibid., page 2 r 3; and Leoh Trotsky: Oeuvres No­
also Stobnicer, op. cit., pages13 1-14 0 for de­ vembre 1933/Avril 1934. op. cit., pages 22-23
tails of Landau schism 86 Letter to author from Emest Mandel, March
50 Schafranek, article, op. cit., pages 77-78 10, 1983
51 Ibid., page 7 7 87 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­
52 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930- plement 1929—33), op. cit., page 399
31), op. cit., page 418 88 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­
53 Ibid., page 368 plement 1934-40), op. cit., page 909

1008 Notes
 89 Tbid., page s66 6 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
90 Ibid., page 567 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: L'lnter-
91 Ibid., page 909 nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1948), Edi­
9a Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­ tions La Breche, Paris, t98r, pages 106-107
plement 1929-33), op. cit., page 399; see also 7 Quatri&me Internationale, Paris, December
Stobnicer, op. cit., pages 2 13-214 1945-January 1946, pages 17-18
93 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932- 8 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., pages 435-436
33), op. cit., page 212 9 Quatrieme Internationale. Paris, March-May
94 Leon Tro tsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1933- 1948, pages ioo-roi
34), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1971, page 10 Ibid., pages 101-10 2
347 1 1 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
95 Ibid., page 46 5. 1977
96 Letter to author from Boris Goldenberg, March 12 /ntercont/nentuf Press, New York, March 13,
4 , I 97 S 1972, page 263
97 See Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky 13 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 6,
(1934-3 s). Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, 1975/ page 1326
"Centrist Alchemy or Marxism?" pages 256- 14 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 13,
285 1972, page 263
98 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (i 933 ~ 15 Spartacist, New York, winter 1979, page 10
34), op. cit., page 205 16 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 13,
99 Ibid., page 208; see also Stobnicer, op. cit., pages 1972, page 265
219-226 17 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
100 Stobnicer, op. cit., page 228 19/ I 970 i page 1177
101 LeonTrotsky: Wri U'ngs of Leon Trotsky (193 S~ 18 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 13,
3 6), .Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977, page 1972, pages 263 and September 29, 1976, page
,5*8 1277
102 Ibid., page 80 19 Interview with R. Segall, New York, November
103 Ibid., page 112 26, 1982
104 Ibid., page 113 20 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
105 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1936- 27, 1982
37), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, page 21 World Outlook, New York, March 3, 1968,
545 page 196
ro6 Ibid., pages 284-289 22 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
107 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 8, 1970, pages 266-267
16, 1970, pages 985-986 23 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 1,
108 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la i 97 i
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 24 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 6,
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 1972, page 141
tions La BrSche, Paris, 1978, pages 211-2 54 25 See Intercontinental Press, New York, March
109 Ibid., pages 399-400 13, t972, page 263; March 27, 1972, pages 320
and 340; March 20, 1972, pages 306-309; April
10,1972, page 380; May r, 1972, page 479; April
German Trotskyism During and
8, 1972, page 314.; and June 12, 1972, page 677
After World War II
26 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la 20, 1972, page 1285
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 27 Spartacist, New York, Winter 1979, page rr
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 28 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
tions La Br£che, Paris, r978, page 399 10, T980
2 Jacqueline Pluet-D6spatin: Les Trotskistes et 29 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
la Guerre 1940-1944, Editions Antropos, Paris, 26, 1973, page 21 r
1980, page 123 30 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 23,
3 Jean-Michel Brabant, Michel Dreyfus, Jacque­ 1977, page 3
line Pluet (Editors): Facsimile de la Veriti 31 Spartacist, New York, Winter 1979, page 10
Clandestine (1940-1944), organe de la section 32 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New
franfoise de la IVe Internationale, Etudes et York, February 26, 1983, page 2 11
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1978, 33 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 19,
page 181 i 97 t, page 695
4 Ibid., pages 183-192 34 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
5 Ibid., page 181 6, 1971, page 1063

Notes 1009
35 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 5 Albert Glotzer: Unpublished Memoirs (Manu­
26, 1972, page 210 script), page 39
36 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 6 Ibid., page 41
York, February 26, 1973, page 2 11 7 Ibid., pages 42-43
37 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 23, 8 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July
I 97 S, page 894 2, 1981
38 Spartacist, New York, Winter 1979, page 1 9 Reg Groves: The Balham Group: How British
39 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New Trotskyism Began, Pluto Press, Limited, Lon­
York, June 23, 1975, page 894, page 895 don, 19 7 4 , page6i; see also LeonTrotsky: Writ­
4.0 Spartacist, New York, winter 1979, page r x ings of Leon Tiotsky (1930-31), Pathfinder
41 Ibid., page 17 Press, New York, 1 9 7 3 , pages 3 3 7 - 3 4 3 , for
42 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 19, Trotsky's reply
1979 10 Groves, op. cit., page 25
43 See Intercontinental Press, New York, July 25, x 1 Hugo Dewar: Communist Politics in Britain:
1983, page 415 The c p g b PtOrrilts Origins to theSecond World
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, November War, Pluto Press, London, 1976, page 72
14, 1983, page 860 X2 Letter to author from Sam Bornstein and AI
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 11, Richardson, April 14, 1983
1983, pages 395-396 x3 Upham, op. cit., pages 39—40
46 Interview with H. Segall, New York, Novem­ 14 Groves, op. cit., page 16
ber 26, 1982 15 Ibid.', page 21
47 Bulletin, New York, June 22, 1970, page 12 16 Ibid., pages 34-35
48 Bulletin, New York, June 8, 1970, page 9 17 Letter from Sam Bornstein and AI Richardson,
49 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ op. cit. See also Upham, op. cit., page 40
sionism, a Documentary History, Volume Six, 18 Letter from Sam Bornstein and AI Richardson,
The Organisation Communiste Internationa­ op. cit.
liste Breaks With Trotskyism, New Park Publi­ 19 Groves, op. cit., page 67
cations, London, 1975, page 45 20 Ibid, page 49; see Leon Trotsky, op. cit., pages
50 La Veriti, Paris, October 1980, page 52 344-348 for text of Trotsky's letter
51 Ibid., page s 1 21 Groves, op. cit., page 49
52 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July 22 Ibid., page 58
27, 1982 23 Ibid., page 66
53 Tribune Internationale, Paris, April 1984, page 24 Ibid., page 67
6 25 Ibid., page 69
54 Letter to author from Leon P6rez, June 10, 26 Ibid., page 85; see also Upham, op. cit., page
1982; and El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, June 116
1982, page 19 27 Letter from Sam Bornstein and AI Richardson,
55 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency op. cit.
Meeting, September 1984/' page 1 28 Upham, op. cit., page 57
56 Letter to author from Frank Behr, June 16,1982 29 John Archer: "Britain: 'Entrism' and the Labour
57 See Workers Vanguard, New York, March 6, Party, 1931-1937," summary of 1982 doctoral
1984 dissertation, page 1
58 Workers Vanguard, New York, October 26, 30 Upham, op. cit., page $3
1984, page 3 3 x Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Tiotsky (1932-
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, pages
236-237
Trotskyism in Great Britain: The Early Years
32 Upham, op. cit., page 62
of British Trotskyism
33 Archer, op. cit., page i } see also Upham op. cit.,
x Martin Richard Upham: "The History of Brit­ pages 62-63, and page 65
ish Trotskyism to 1949," unpublished PhD. 34 Letter from Sam Bornstein and AI Richardson,
dissertation, University of Hull, September op. cit. ^
1980, pages s-6 35 Letter to author from Martin Upham, Septem­
2 Ibid., page 7 ber 1, 1982
3 AI Richardson: "Some Notes for a Bibliography 36 Archer, op. cit., page 2
of British Trotskyism," (Manuscript), Septem­ 37 Letter to author from Martin Upham, Septem­
ber 27, 1979 ber 1, *982
4 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July 38 New Leader, London, March 23, 1934, quoted
2, 1981 in James Jupp: "The Left in Britain 19 3 1-

1010 Notes
 ig4i," MSc-Boon Thesis, London University 77 Al Richardson: "Some notes for a Bibliography
1936 (unpublished) etc.," op. cit., page 6
39 Upham, op. cit., page 80 78 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth
40 Letter from Sam Bomscein and AI Richardson, International: The Formative Years (1933-40),
op. cit. Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 79
41 Upham, op. cit., page 90 79 Archer, op. cit., page 10
42 AlRichardson:" Some Notes for a Bibliography 80 Letter from Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson,
etc." op. cit., page 4 op. cit.
43 For efforts of Right Opposition elements to in­ 81 Archer, op. cit., pages 10 - 11
fluence the ILP, see Robert J. Alexander: The 82 Ibid., page 11
Levestoneites and the International Commu­ 83 Ibid., page 12; Upham, op. cit., pages 118 and
nist Opposition of the 1930's, Greenwood 122
Press, Westport, 1981, pages 258-261 84 Archer, op. cit., page 12
44 Upham, op. cit., page 87 85 Ibid., pages 12 -13
45 AI Richardson: "Some Notes for a Bibliography 86 Ibid., page 13
etc.," op. cit., pages 4-3 87 Upham, op. cit., page 123
46 Upham, op. cit., page 96 88 Ibid., pages 124-ias; also Archer, op. cit., page
47 Jupp, op. cit., page 231 13
48 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4, 89 Archer, op. cit., page 13
1932 90 Ibid., page 14; see also Upham op. cit., pages
49 Archer, op. cit., page 4 125-129
so Upham, op. cit., pages 99-100 91 Archer, op. cit., pages 14-19
51 Archer, op. cit., page 6 92 Ibid., page 18
52 Ibid., pages 6-7 93 Ibid., pages 21-22; sell also Upham, op. cit.,
53 Ibid., page 8 pages 156 and 216-217
54 Ibid., page 9; also Upham, op. cit., page n o 94 Archer, op. cit., page 21
S5 Archer, op. cit., page io; Upham, op. cit., page 95 Upham, op. cit., page 250
118 96 Ibid., pages 2s i- 2 s 2
56 Upham, op. cit., page i n 97 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4,
57 Ibid., page 132 1982; Letter from Sam Bornstein and Al Rich­
58 Ibid., pages 133-134 ardson, op. cit.; and Upham, op. cit., page 262
59 Ibid., page 137 98 See Upham, op. cit., pages 160-201
60 Ibid., page 139
61 Ibid., page 140
Trotskyism in Great Britain: From
62 Ibid., page 14.3
Revolutionary Socialist League
63 Ibid., page 144
to Revolutionary Communist Party
64 Ibid., page i;8
65 Archer op. cit., page 5; See also Sam Bornstein 1 Martin Richard Upham: "The History of Brit­
and AI Richardson: Two Steps Back: Commu­ ish Trotskyism to 1949," PhD. dissertation,
nists and the Wider Labor Movement 1936- University of Hull, September 1980, pages
1948, A Study in the Relations Between Van­ 237-138
guard and Class, Socialist Platform Ltd., Ilford, 2 Ibid., page 244
Essex, n.d. (1982), page 27-29 3 Ibid., page 248
66 Upham, op. cit., page 141 4 Ibid., page 238
67 Ibid., page 146 5 Ibid., page 249
68 Ibid., page is 1 6 Ibid., pages 252-253
69 Ibid., page 164 7 Ibid., pages 2S4-1S S
70 Ibid., page 156 8 Ibid., page 260
71 See Upham, op. cit., pages 479- 493 / and 9 Ibid., page 25s
Bornstein and Richardson, op. cit., pages 36- 10 Ibid., pages 15s and 260
39 for discussion of Groves' campaign 11 Ibid., page 260
72 Letter from Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson, 12 ibid., page 261
op. cit. 13 Ibid., page 264; for full text of Peace and Unity
73 Archer, op. cit., page 6 Agreement, see ibid., pages S10-S13
74 Letter from Sam Bornstein and AlRichardson, 14 Ibid., page 26s
op. cit. 1s Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth
75 Archer, op. cit., page 6 International: The Formative Years (1933-40),
76 Upham, op. cit., page 157 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 269;

Notes 1011
 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la 48 Socialist Appeal, London, mid-January 1944,
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume i: Nais- page r
sance de la IVe International (1930-1940), Edi­ 49 For an extensive discussion of this strike and
tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1978, page 268 trial, see Upham, op. cit., pages 369-383
16 Reisner, op. cit., page 270,■ Prager, op. cit., pages 50 Socialist Appeal, London, mid-August 1945,
288-289 page 4
17 Ibid 51 Higgins article, op. cit., page 30
18 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and AI 52 Socialist Appeal, London, mid-August 1945,
Richardson, April 14, 1983 page 4
19 Reisner, op. cit., page 300; Prager, op. cit., page 53 "The Perspectives in Britain, Part #2, Revolu­
252 tionary Communist Party of Great Britain,"
20 Upham, op. cit., page 294 Issue to the membership for discussion, June
21 AI Richardson: "Some Notes for a Bibliography 6th, 1945," page 5
of British Trotskyism," (Manuscript), Septem­ 54 Ibid., page 6
ber 27, 1979, pages 13 -14 55 Ibid., page"i2
22 Reisner, op. cit., page 3 S9; Prager, op. cit., pages 56 Ibid., page 14
385-386 57 Ibid., page 15
23 Upham, op. cit., page 344 58 Socialist Appeal, London, mid-August 194s,
24 Information in this section of this chapter, un­ page 4
less otherwise noted, from Upham, op. cit.,
pages 294-330
British Trotskyism Since World War Q:
25 Upham, op. cit., page 537
The r c p and the Healyites
26 Jim Higgins: "Ten Years for the Locust: British
Trotkyism 1938-1948," International Social­ 1 Publishing Correspondence, New York, Spe­
ism, No. 14, August 1963, page 26 cial Supplement, November 27, 1954, page Si
27 Ibid., page 27 2 Ibid., page S3
28 Upham, op. cit., page 338 3 Martin Richard Upham: "The History of Brit­
29 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and AI ish Trotskyism to 1949," PhD. dissertation,
Richardson, op. cit. University of Hull, September 1980, page 413
30 Interview with John Archer, former Trotskyist 4 Ibid., page 415
leader, London, August 4, 1982 5 Ibid., page 416
31 Higgins article op. cit., page 27 6 Ibid., page 417; see also John Callaghan: British
32 Ibid, page 28 Trotskyism: Theory and Practice, Basil Black-
33 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and AI well, London, 1984, page 40
Richardson, April 14, 1983 7 Upham, op. cit., page 442
34 Higgins article, op. cit., page 28 8 Ibid., page 426
35 Upham, op. cit., page 340 9 Ibid., page 428
36 Ibid., page 33$ 10 Ibid., page 419
37 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and Al 11 Ibid., page 420
Richardson, op. cit. see also: Sam Bornstein and 12 Ibid., pages 420-421
Al Richardson: Two Steps Back: Communists 13 Letter to author from John Callaghan, n.d.
and the Wider Labor Movement, i 9 }s~* 94 S> {March 1985)
A Study in the Relations Between Vanguard 14 Rodolphe Prager (editor): Les Congres de la
and Class, Socialist Platform Ltd., Ilford, Essex, Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
n.d. (1982), pages 117 -12 0 sance delalV e Internationa} (1 $30-1940), Edi­
38 Upham, op. cit., pages 3S3—354- tions La Br^che, Paris, 1978, page 443
39 Ibid, pages 355-357; see also Herbert Morri­ 15 Interview with Duncan Hallas, member of
son's report to the War Cabinet on the Trotsky­ Central Committee of Socialist Workers Party
ists, reprinted in Upham, page 533 of Great Britain, London, August 3, 198a
40 Higgins article, op. cit., page 28 16 Ian H. Birchall: “The Smallest Mass Party in
41 Upham, op. cit., page 332 the World," Buildingthe Party 19 $ !—1979, So­
42 Higgins article, op. cit., page 29; see also cialists Unlimited, London, 1981, page 5
Upham, op. cit., pages 332-333 17 Interview with Duncan Hallas, London, Au­
43 Upham, op. cit., page 334 gust 3, 1982
44 Al Richardson: "Some Notes for a Bibliography 18 See Internal Bulletin, Socialist Workers Party,
etc.," op. cit., page 19 New York, January 1946 and October 1946.
4$ Reprinted in Upham, op. cit., page 529 19 Internal Bulletin, Socialist Workers Party,
46 Ibid., page 531 New York, January 1946, page 1
47 Ibid, pages S34-S 3 S 20 For extensive treatment of the foregoing, see

1012 Notes
 John Callaghan: British Trotskyism: Theory 50' The Militant, New York, January 4, i960, page 2
and Practice, Basil Blackwell, London, 1984, 51 Kendall and Young article, op. cit.
pages 31-52. 52 Birchall, op. cit., pages 6-7
zt For a discussion of the foregoing, see Martin 53 Ibid., page 7
Richard Upham: "The History of British Trots­ 54 Ibid., pages 7-8
kyism to 1949," PhD. dissertation, University 55 Ibid., page 8
of Hull, September 1980, pages 457-468. 56 Interviews with Lynn Walsh, Assistant Editor
22 Interview with John Archer, former Trotskyist of British Militant, London, August 5, 1982,
leader, London, August 4, 198a and with Duncan Hallas, London, August 3,
23 Betty Reid: "Trotskyism in Britain Today," 1982
Marxism Today, London, September 1964, 57 Interview with Duncan Hallas, London, Au­
page 277 gust 3, 1982
24 Walter Kendall and James D. Young: "The De­ 58 The Newsletter, London, March 1,1969, page 2
cline of British Trotskyism," The Socialist 59 The Bulletin, New York, November n , 1968,
Leader, London, May 21, i960 page 8
25 Interview with Duncan Hallas London, August 60 The Bulletin, New York, February ro, 1969,
3, 1982 page 8
26 Callaghan, op. cit., page 68 61 Inteicontinental Press, New York, January 13,
27 Kendali and Young article, op. cit. 1975, page 25; See also Callaghan, op. cit., pages
28 Reid article, op. cit., page 277 83-84
29 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4, 62 The Bulletin, Detroit, March t2, 1985, page 11
1982 63 Letter to author from Sam Bornstein and Al
30 Towards a History of the Fourth International: Richardson, April 14, ^83
Part 4: Struggle in the Fourth International, 64 The Bulletin, Detroit, March 12, ^85, page to
International Secretariat Documents 195/- 65 Prensa Libre, Cochabamba, Bolivia, February
19 S4 , Pathfinder Press, New York, March 1974, 15- 1974
Volume a, pages 82-83 66 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
31 Ibid., Volume 4, pages 150 -151 10, 1975, page 207
32 Towards a History of the Fourth International: 67 Workers Revolutionary Party Manifesto 'Si,
Part 3: Struggle in the Fourth International, Workers Revolutionary Party, London, 1981,
International Committee Documents 19 s i— page 10
1956, Pathfinder Press, New York, March 1974/ 68 Interview with Bob Pennington, London, Au­
Volume 3, pages 177-179 gust 3, 1982
33 Ibid., pages 176-177 69 Cited in Intercontinental Press, New York,
34 Tiibune, London, August r3, 1954 February ro, 1975, pages 205-206
35 Tiibune, London, June 25, 1982 70 Workers Revolutionary Party Manifesto ‘Si,
36 Tiibune, London, August r3, 1954 op. cit., page 4
37 Reid article, op. cit., page 277 71 For one discussion of this from the s w p side, see
38 Ibid., page 279 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
39 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4, 24, I975j for the Healyite version, see David
1982 North: The Case Against the swp: What the
40 Interviews with Bob Pennington, member of Facts Show, Labor Publications Inc., Detroit,
Central Committee of International Marxist March 1986
Group, London, August 3, 1982 and with John 72 Workers Revolutionary Party Manifesto 'Sr,
Archer, London, August 4, 1982 op. cit., page 15
41 Interview with Bob Pennington, London, Au­ 73 Bulletin, New York, September 23, 1977
gust 3, 1982; see also Callaghan, op. cit., pages 74 Bulletin, New York, October 20, ^69
70-71 75 Bulletin, New York, October 5, t970
42 Reid article, op. cit., page 279 76 Cited in Intercontinental Press, New York,
43 Callaghan, op. cit., page 73 March 1, 1976, page 293
44 The Militant, New York, May 19, 1959 77 Cited in Intercontinental Press, New York, De­
45 The Militant, New York, December 7, 1959 cember 12, 1977
46 Callaghan, op. cit., page 75 78 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and AI
47 Quoted in article by Murry Weiss: "The Social­ Richardson, April t4, ^83
ist Labor League Under Attack," The Militant, 79 Cited in Callaghan, op. cit., page 82
New York, December 1959, page 2 80 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 82-83
48 London News, organ of London Labor Party, 81 Ibid., page 85
May 1959, page r 82 Ibid., page 86
49 The Militant, New York, January 4, i960, page 2 83 Ibid., pages 87-88

Notes 1013
 84 Healyism Implodes, With Documents and In­ 28 Ibid., pages 25-28
terviews on the wrp's Buried History, Sparta­ 29 Callaghan, op. cit., page n s
cist, New York, winter 198S-86, page 4 30 Birchall, op. cit., page 29
8s Reprinted in Workers Vanguard, New York, 31 Ibid., page 30
November 15, 1985, page 9 32 Ibid., page 30
86 Cited in Healyism Implodes etc., op. cit., page 3 33 Duncan Hallas: The Labour Party: Myth and
87 Article by Sean Matgamna, reprinted in Work­ Reality, Socialist Workers Party, London, 1981,
ers Vanguard, New York, November 15, 1985, page 30
page 9 34 Interview with Lynn Walsh, London, August 5,
88 Workers Vanguard, New York, November 15, 1982
1985, page 9 35 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and Al
89 Healyism Implodes etc., op. cit., pages 3-4 Richardson, April 14, 1983
90 Notes, National Office, Social Democrats USA, 36 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 126-127
Washington, D.C. February 1986, page 7; for 37 Letter to author from Sam Bomstein and Al
further information on Healyites split, see In­ Richardson^ op. cit.
tercontinental Press, New York, December z, 38 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 126—127
1985 and December 30, 1985 39 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
40 Ibid.
41 Callaghan, op. cit., page 181
British Trotskyism Since World War II:
42 Ibid., page 183
The International Socialists, im g , Militants
43 Ibid.', page 181
and Other Groups
44 New York Times, May 29, 1983, page 8
1 Tony Cliff: State Capitalism in Russia. Pluto 4.5 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
Press, London, 1974, pages 169-170 46 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New
z Ibid., pages 167-168 York, May 5, 1982
3 Tony Cliff: "Bureaucratic Collectivism," in 47 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
The Origins of the International Socialists, 48 New York Times, June 24, 1982
Pluto Press, London, 1974., page 87 49 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
4 Ibid., page 89 50 Tribune, London, July 2, 1982
5 Tony Cliff; State Capitalism in Russia, op. cit., 51 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 27,
page 158 1986, page 34
6 John Callaghan: British Trotskyism; Theory 52 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 191—197
and Practice, Basil Blackwell, London, 1984, 53 Ibid., page 185
page 91 54 Ibid., page 188
7 Ian Birchall: " The Smallest Mass Party in the 55 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
World," Building the Party 7951-1979, Social­ 56 Callaghan, op. cit., page 182
ists Unlimited, London, 1981, page 5 57 Interview with Lynn Walsh, op. cit.
8 Ibid., page s 58 Ted Grant: Britain in Crisis: A Marxist Analy­
9 Ibid., page 6 sis, Militant, London, 1981, pages 29-30
xo Ibid., page 7 59 Callaghan, op. cit., page 180
ri Ibid., page 8, 1 1 - 1 2 60 Ibid., pages 127- r 28; also Letter to author from
12 Interview with Duncan Hallas, London, Au­ Sam Bomstein and Al Richardson, op. cit.; In­
gust 3, 1982 terviews with Duncan Hallas, op. cit., and with
13 Callaghan, op. cit., page i o z Bob Pennington of International Marxist
14 Birchall, op. cit., page 12 Group, London, August 3, 1982.
15 Ibid., page 16 6r Cited in article, "IMG Turns Lenin Into a Men­
16 Ibid., page is shevik," Workers Vanguard, New York, July 1,
17 Ibid., pages 15-16 1977
18 Ibid., page 16 62 Interview with Duncan Hallas, August 3, 1982
19 Callaghan, op. cit., page 106 op. cit.
20 Ibid., page 107 63 The Militant, New Yqrk City, November 15,
21 Ibid., page 119 1968
22 Birchall, op. cit., page 17 64 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 129-130
23 Ibid., page 30 65 Ibid., pages 137-143
24 Callaghan, op. cit., page 116 66 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 3,
25 Ibid., pages 1 1 1 - 1 1 2 1969
26 Interview with Duncan Hallas, London, Au­ 67 Callaghan, op. cit., page 130
gust 3, 1982 68 Workers Vanguard article, July 1,1977, op. cit.,
27 Birchall, op. cit., page 24 page 5

1014 Notes
69 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 22, ro3 Workers Hammer, London, February 1985
1970, page 623 104 Workers Power, London, July/August 1982,
70 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26, Supplement page 2
1972, pages 7 S»-752 105 Workers Vanguard, New York, April 7, 1978,
71 Callaghan, op. cit., page 129 page s
72 Workers Vanguard, New York, May 13, 1977, 106 Interview with Bob Pennington, op. cit.
page 5 107 The Next Step, London, May 1982, page 5
73 Callaghan, op. cit., page 154 108 Cited in Workers Voice, and quarter 198a, page
74 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 15, 6
1978, page 683 109 Interview with a member of Socialist Labor
75 Sean Matgamna in Labour Democracy and the Group who wishes to remain anonymous
Fight for a Workers Government, Social Orga­ n o Letter to author from Sam Bornstein, March
nizer, London, 1980, page 4. a8, 1983
76 Interview with Bob Pennington, op. cit. i n Chartist, London, June/July/August 1982, page
77 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 28, a
1977, page 3 11 a Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, July 1967,
78 Letter to author from Charles van Gelderen, page 3 id
April 25, 1984 113 Priscilla Kaur: Go Fourth and Multiply: The
79 Socialist Challenge, London, February 25, Political Anatomy of the British Left Group,
1983, page 2 Dialogue of the Deaf, Bristol, n.d., page 16
80 Socialist Action, London, March 18, 1983,
pages 1 and 12
81 Ibid., page 1 Trotskyism in Greece
82 Callaghan, op. cit., page 162
83 Letter to author from Charles van Gelderen, 1 Letter to author from James Dertouzos, Sep­
August 17, 1983 tember aa, 1976
84 Socialist Action: What We Stand For, London, a LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933,
n.d. (1983?) Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
85 Callaghan, op. cit., pages 1 3 1-13 2 Paris, 1978 (Volume 1), pages 39 and 108
86 Ibid., page 15s 3 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­
87 Ibid., page 157 plement 1929-35), Pathfinder Press, New
88 Priscilla Kaur in Tribune, London, April 30, York, 1979, page 365
1982, page 14 4 Ibid., pages 4S-49
89 Letter to author from Sam Bornstein and Al 5 Ibid., pages 49-50
Richardson, op. cit. 6 Ibid., page 365; andLeonTrotsky:Oeuvres
90 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4, Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, op. cit., pagesi 3 i- i3 a
1982 7 Leon Trotsky: Writingsof Leon Trotsky(Sup­
91 See Workers Power, July/August 1982, Supple­ plement 1929-33), op. cit., pages 13 1- 13 2
ment, page 3. 8 Ibid., pages 135-136
92 Letter to author from M. North, June 15, 9 Ibid., pages 125-126
1982 10 Ibid., page 132
93 Cited in Workers Power, July/August 1982, 11 Ibid., pages 129-130, 133-135
Supplement, page 3 ia Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril
94 Introduction to Labour Democracy and the 1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
Fight for a Workers Government, op. cit., pages nales, Paris, t978 (Volume 3], page ai
2 -3 13 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1933-
95 Socialist Organizer # 6, London, May 1979 34), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1972, page
96 Letter to author from M. North, op. cit. 130
97 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 24, 14 Ibid., page 281
I 97 S 15 Ibid., pages a81-284
98 Workers Power, London, July/August 1982, 16 Leon Trotsky; Oeuvres Novembre X933/Avril
Supplement, page 3 1934, op. cit., page 278
99 Letter to author from M. North, op. cit. 17 Letter to author from James Dertouzos, Sep­
100 Workers Power, London, July/August 1982, tember aa, 1976
Supplement, page 2 18 A New Hope for World Socialism, Interna­
to 1 Workers Vanguard, New York, April 7, 1978, tional Bureau for Revolutionary Socialist
page 4 Unity, London, 1938, page 2
102 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4, 19 Letter to author from Michel Raptis, June 18,
1982 198a

Notes 1015
 20 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­ 53 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
plement 1929-33), op. cit., page 365 9, 1974, page 1122
21 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, 54 Workers Vanguard, New York, November 5,
op. cit., page 39 1976, page 3
22 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (Sup­ 55 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 3,
plement 1929-33), op. cit., page 126 1975, page 160
23 Ibid., page 383 56 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 3,
24 Letter to author from Michel Raptis, May 10, 1977
1982 57 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
25 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la 14, 1977, page 1239
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 58 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 17/ 1978
tions La Brfiche, Paris, 1978, page 215 59 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
26 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 1, 1980, page 1242
1934, op. cit., page 276 60 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
27 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Avril 1934/Dictmbre 1982
1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 61 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
nales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 4), page 99 27, 1982
28 Prager, op. cit., page 241 62 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, June
29 Ibid., page 290 1979/ page 21
30 Letter to author from Michel Raptis, May 10, 63 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, May-
1982 June 1982, page 44
31 Prager, op. cit,, page 434 64 Fourth International, London, August 1966,
32 Ibid., page 216 page 105
33 Ibid., page 219 65 Inprecor/lntercontinental Press, Special Num­
34 Ibid., page 225 ber, December 1980, page 3
3 5 Ibid., page 231 66 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
36 Ren£ Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens Enragis . . . La 27, 1982
Ginocide des Trotskistes, Oliver Orban, Paris, 67 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, June 1967,
1981, page 267 page 277
37 Ibid., page 265 68 Alarma, Barcelona, First Trimester 1980, page
38 Ibid., pages 268-269 ro
39 Ibid., page 271
40 Ibid., page 273
41 Ibid., page 274 Healyite International Committee
42 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la 1 See "Report of the Fourth Conference of the
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 2: L’lnter- International Committee, April 10-15, 1 9 7 %t"
national dans la Guerre (r94o-i946), Editions in C. Slaughter. Trotskyism Versus Revision­
La Br6che, Paris, 1981, pages 464-465 ism, A Documentary History, Volume Six: The
43 Ibid., page 349,- and Interview with Rodolphe Organisation Communiste Internationaliste
Prager, Paris, July 28, 1981 Breaks With Trotskyism, New Park Publica­
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, November tions, London, 1975, page 104
13, 1971/ page 1246 2 Ibid., pages 100-125
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 3 See Ibid., pages 190-240
17/ 1969, page 1018
46 In tercon tinen tal Press, New York, October 12,
1970 Trotskyism in Honduras
47 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
1 Letter to the author from Leon Pdrez, June 10,
13/ 1 971/ page 1244
48 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 1982
9, 1974, page 1122 A
49 Intercontinental Press, New York, November Hungarian Trotskyism
13/ *97*/ page 124s
50 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
9, 1974, page u 22 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
51 Intercontinental Press, New York, September sance dela IVe Internationale 1930-/940, Edi­
9, 1974, page u S2 tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1978, page 34
52 Class Struggle, New York, March r97s, page 2 2 Ibid., page 437

1016 Notes
 3 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Tiotsky (1930), 1939),” Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble,
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page 350 March 1985, pages 49-54
4 Ibid., page 3Si 15 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1939—
5 Ibid., page 382 40), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, pages
6 Ibid., pages 382-383 28-34, 4^2
7 Ibid., page 394 16 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/i
8 Interview with Pierre Broud, New York, Sep­ 17 Arya Memo, op. cit., page 8
tember 2, 1983 18 See Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, March
9 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Verusus Re­ 1935, pages 62-7s
visionism, A Documentary History, Volume 19 Arya Memo, op. cit., page 8
Six: The Organisation Communiste Interna- 20 Ibid., page 8
tionalste Breaks With Trotskyism, New Park 21 R. N. Arya: "The History of Trotskyism in In­
Publications, London, 1975, pages 23-16 dia," (Typed Memo), 1983, page 15
10 La Veriti (of Ligue Ouvriere Revolutionnaire}, 22 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/2
Paris, July 3-9, 1982 23 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India, "op. cit.,
page 8
24 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/2
Trotskyism in Iceland
25 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
1 The Militant, New York, May 3, 1954 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: L'lnter-
a La Veritd, Paris, May 2 s-June 17, 1954, page 3 nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­
3 Letter to the author from Erlingur Hansson, tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1981, page 57
April 1 1, 1984 26 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/2
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 31, 27 Letter to author from R. N. Arya, July 15,1983
1977- page 81 28 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/3
5 Letter to the author from Erlingur Hansson, 29 Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, March 1985,
April 1 1, 1984 page n o
6 Letter to the author from Erlingur Hansson, 30 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India, "op. cit.,
November 19, 1984 page 10
7 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 23, 31 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/3
1984, page 456 32 Prager, op. cit., page 57
8 Letter to the author from Erlingur Hansson, 33 Ibid., page 59
November 19, 1984 34 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit.,
page 10
35 The New International, New York, January
Trotskyism in India
1946, page ro
1 R. N. Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India" 36 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/2
(Mimeographed-Typed Memo, page 8 37 Ibid., page B/3
2 Gour Pal; "Indian Trotskyism and the Revolu­ 38 ibid., page B/4
tionary Communist Party," (typed Memo), 39 Ibid., page B/4
1983, page B/i 40 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit.,
3 Letter to the author from R. N. Arya, July 15, page 13
1983 41 Ibid., pages 13-14
4 Arya, op. cit., page 8 42 Socialist Appeal, Delhi, Early December 1983
5 Letter to the author from R. N. Arya, July 15, 43 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/8
1983 44 Letter to author from R. N. Arya, July 15, 1983
6 Arya, op. cit., page 8 45 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/7
7 Pierre Broue: "Notes sur I'Histoire des opposi­ 46 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India, "op. cit.,
tions et du movement trotskyste en Inde dans page 14
la premiere moittd du XXe Sifccle," Cahiers 47 Ibid., page 14
Leon Trotsky, Grenoble, March 1985, page 22 48 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/8
8 Arya, op. cit., page 8 49 Quoted in Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in In­
9 Brou6 article, op. cit., page 22 dia," op. cit., page 15
10 Arya Memo, op. cit., page 8 50 Letter to author from R. N. Arya, July 1 s, 1983
11 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page B/i 51 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page D/79-80
12 Arya Memo, op. cit., page 8 52 Ibid., page D/80
13 Ibid., page 8, and letter to authoi from R. N. 53 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit.,
Arya, July 16, 1983 page 17
14 Sherman Stanley: "Report sur l'lnde (12 mars 54 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page C/i

Notes 1017
 ss Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India/' op. cit., 90 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., pages D/35-36
page 17 9 i Ibid., page D/39
S6 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page C/1 92 Ibid., page D/60
57 Ibid., pages C/1-2 93 Ibid., page D/S7
58 Ibid., page C/i 94 Ibid., page D/64
59 World Outlook, New York, March 29, 1968, 95 Ibid., page D/63
page 275 96 Ibid., page D/65
60 Quoted in Arya: "History of Trotskyism in In­ 97 Ibid., pages D/66-67
dia," op. cit., page 29 98 Ibid., page D/65
61 World Outlook, New York, March 29, 1969, 99 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit.,
pages 275-276; see also Arya: "History of page 3
Trotskyism in India," op. cit., page 27 100 Quoted in ibid., page 4
62 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 13, 101 Ibid., page 5
1969 , page *5
63 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page C/3
Indonesian Trotskyism
64 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
3, 1969, page 98a 1 International Press Correspondence, Moscow,
6s Intercontinental Press, New York, September June 25, 1936
2i, 1970, page 773 2 Labor Action, New York, January 17, 1949
66 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 3 George McTuman Kahin: Nationalism and
16, 1970, pages 989-990 Revolution in Indonesia, Cornell University
67 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 17, Press, Ithaca, 1952, page 314
1972, page 56 4 Ibid., page 315
68 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page C/3 5 New York Times, June 7, 1949
69 Arya: "History of Trotskyism in India," op. 6 Radical Humanist, Calcutta, November 27,
cit., page 50 1949
70 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 31, 7 Radical Humanist, Calcutta, February Si 1950
197a, pages i i o - i i i 8 Progressive Labor, New York, February-March
71 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 6, 1967, page 131
1972, page 247 9 Letter to the author from Ernest Mandel, Feb­
72 Arya: "History of Trotskyism in India," op. ruary 3, 1983
cit., page 31
73 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 4,
International Committee of the Fourth
1975 , page 1145 International of the 19 5 0 s
74 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 12,
1970, page 5 1 Towards a History of the Fourth International:
75 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit., Part j : Struggle in the Fourth International,
page 22 International Committee Documents 19 5 1-
76 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 16 , r9s6, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
1977, pages 278-280 ume 2, page 12 1
77 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit., 2 Towards a History of the Fourth International;
page 22 Part 4; Struggle in the Fourth International,
78 Letter to the author from R. N. Arya, February International Secretariat Documents 19 5 1-
28, 1983 1954, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
79 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 7, ume 4, page 157
1980, pages 349-350 3 Ibid., page 158
80 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page C/3 4 Ibid., page 160
81 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit., 5 Ibid., page 161
page 22; see also Arya: "History of Trotskyism 6 Ibid., page 162
in India," op. cit., page 35 7 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
82 Gour Pal Memo, op. cit., page D/7 Part 3 etc., op. cit.; Volume 3, page 133
83 Ibid., page D/13 8 Ibid., page 137
84 Ibid., pages D/13-20 and D/33-34 9 Ibid., page 153
85 Ibid., pages D/i 1-13 10 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
86 Ibid., page D/25 Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 4, page 171
87 Ibid., pages D/29-32 II Ibid., page 170
88 Ibid., pages D/3 8-5 3 12 Ibid., page 171
89 Arya: "Trotskyist Movement in India," op. cit., *3 Ibid., pages 173-175
page 3 14 Ibid., page 176

1018 Notes
15 The Militant, New York, December 21, 1953 20 Slaughter, Volume Six, op. cit., page 51
16 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International! The 21 Slaughter, Volume Five, op. cit., pages 184-193
Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London, 22 Ibid., page 194
197 9 ,Page 104 23 Ibid., pages 195-197
17 To wards a History of the Fourth International: 24 Slaughter, Volume Six, op. cit., pages 2-36
Part 3 etc., op. cit.. Volume 1, pages 15-16 25 Ibid., pages 28-44
18 Mercedes Petit: "Apuntes para la Historia del 26 Ibid., pages 45-71
Trotskismo (de 1939 a 1964)," October 1980,
pages 24, 35-36 International Revolutionary
19 Ibid., pages 22-23
Marxist Tendency
20 Ibid., page 27
21 Ibid., page 27 1 International Socialist Review, New York,
22 Ibid., page 28 winter 1965, page 8
23 Frank, op. cit., page 106 2 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
24 The Militant, New York, November 12., 1956, 1982
pages 1, 4 3 Letter to author from Michel Raptis, May 10,
1982
4 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, July-
International Committee of the Fourth
August 1979, page 18
International of the 1960s
5 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27,
1 fourth International, London, August 1966, 1982; see also Comitls Communistes pour
page 104 l'Autogestion: Questions a la LCR, Paris, 1979,
2 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ for details on Pablo split with u s e c
sionism, a Documentary History, Volume Six: 6 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, May 20,
The Organisation Communiste International- 1981, pages i, ii and iii between pages 22-23
iste Breaks with Trotskyism, New Park Publi­ 7 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, June
cations, London, 1975, page 80 1979/ Pagc 6
3 See Fourth Internationa}, London, August 8 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, July-
1966, pages 106-116 August 1979, pages 18-22
4 Ibid., page 117
5 Ibid., pages 104-105 International Secretariat of the Fourth
6 Ibid., page 119
International of the 1950s
7 Ibid., pages 122-136
8 C, Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ 1 Towards a History of the Fourth International:
sionism, a Documentary History, Volume Part 4: Struggle in the Fourth International,
Five: The Fight for the Continuity of the Fourth International Secretariat Documents 19 j i -
International, New Park Publications, London, 1954, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, Vol­
1975 / pages *34-139 ume 4, page 175
9 Ibid., pages 152-154 2 Interview with Edwin Moller, La Paz, July 30,
10 Slaughter, Volume Six, op. cit., page 47 * 9 S4
11 Ibid., page 49 3 Towards a History of the Fourth International,
12 Ibid., page 74 Part 4 etc., op. cit., Volume 4, page 199
13 Slaughter, Volume Five, op. cit., page 157 4 Ibid., page 200
14 Ibid., pages 166-167 5 Ibid., page 201
15 Ibid., pages 180-181 6 Ibid., page 103
16 See G. Healy: Problems of the Fourth Interna­ 7 Ibid., page 2or
tional, A Newsletter Pamphlet, London, n.d, 8 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The
(1967) Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London,
17 Emest Germain (Ernest Mandel): Marxism vs. 1979- Page 94
Ultraleftism: Key Issues in Healy's Challenge 9 Towards a History of the Fourth In ternational.
to the Fourth International, The Fourth Inter­ Part 4 etc., op. cit.. Volume 4, page 207
national, New York, 1967 10 Ibid., Volume 4, pages 189-197
18 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ xr Frank, op. cit., page 96
sionism, A Documentary History, Volume 12 Ibid., page 97
Four: The International Committee Against 13 Ibid., pages 97-98
Liquidationism, New Park Publications, Lon­ 14 Ibid., page 98
don, 1974, page 230 15 Ibid., page 99
19 See Slaughter, Volume Five, op. cit., pages 84, 16 Ibid., page 101
193 17 Ibid., pages 10 1-10 2

Notes 1019
 1 8 Ibid., page 102 12 Correspondencia Internacional-La Verdad,
19 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27, Bogota, November 1980, pages 3-5
1982 13 Courrier International, Paris, January 1982
14 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July
24, 19B1
International Socialist Tendency
15 Earl Owens and Harry Turner: "Report on the
1 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency International Conference at Bogota, Colom­
Meeting, September 1984" (mimeographed) bia," n.d. (1982), mimeographed
2 Tony Cliff: Building Small Gioups, Socialist 16 Letter to the author from Leon P6rez, June 10,
Workers Party London, 1984 (mimeographed) 1982
3 Letter to the author from Mick Armstrong, 17 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
May 22, 198 s 198s, pages 10 -11

international Spartacist tendency (sic)

Iranian Trotskyism
1 Interview with Jan Norden, New Brunswick,
N.J., April 12, 1983 1 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
2 See "Statement of the International Commit­ 27, 1982; see also Workers Vanguard, New
tee on the Robertson Group {US}," Fourth In­ York, May 30, 1980, page %
ternational, London, August 1966, page 120 2 7979 World Congress of the Fourth Interna­
3 Ibid., page 121 tional, Major Resolutions and Reports, Inter­
4 Interviews with Jan Norden, New Brunswick, continental Press/Lnprecor, New York, January
N.J., April 12,1983 and with Walter Dahl, New 1980, page 21
York, April 23, 1983 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 24,
5 Interview with Jan Norden, New Brunswick, 1978, page 481
N.J., April 12, 1983 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 23,
6 Spartacist, New York, spring 1977, page i 1977
7 Spartacist, New York, winter 1979-80, page 16 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 5,
8 Ibid., page 40 1979 / pages 78-79
9 Ibid., page 18 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 5,
10 Ibid., page 24 1979/ pages 80-83
11 Spartacist, New York, winter 1979-80, page 1, 7 Ibid., pages 83-84
and Frankfurt, summer 1980 8 The Militant, New York, March 16, 1979
12 See Workers Vanguard, New York, March 2, 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 23,
1984 and October 26, 1984 1979, pages 404-405
10 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 11,
1979 , page 565
International Workers League
11 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 21,
(Fourth International]
1979
1 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, Spartacist, New 12 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
York, December 1982, page 16 10, 1979, page 844
2 Cited in ibid., page 5 13 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 17,
3 "Nicaragua and the Fourth International," 1980, pages 254-256
Statement of the Trotskyist Organizing Com­ 14 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
mittee (Revolutionary Unity League}, n.d. 3/ 1979, page 806
(1979), mimeographed, page 1 15 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 25,
4 Ibid., page 1 1979 / Page 6 l1 ; July % 1979 / page 648; July 9,
5 Torch, New York, January i$-February 14, 1979/ P38e 680; September 10, 1979, page 836;
1980, page 15 October 25, 1979, page ios2; November 5/
6 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 1979, page 1069
24, 1979/ page 899 16 Intercontinental Press, fcj[ewYork, July 9,1979,
7 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, op. cit., page 6 page 620; July 30, 1979 ''
8 Torch, New York, January 15-February 14 ,’ 17 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
1980, page is 27, 1982
9 Quotes from La Verdad Sobre Moreno, op. cit., 18 1980 Yearbook of International Communist
page 13 Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
10 Ibid., page 14 1980, page 410
11 La Veriti, Paris, December 1979, page 93 19 1981 Yearbook of International Communist

1020 Notes
 Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 49 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 3,
1981, page 411 1981, page 810
20 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 28, 50 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 26,
1980, pages 805-806 1981, page 840
21 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 51 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 31,
8, 1980 1981, page 884
22 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 52 1983 Yearbook of International Communist
York, October 19, 1981 pages ro io -io ir Affairs, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
23 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 16, *983, page 20
1980 53 Resolutions of the Twelfth World Congress of
24 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 29, the Fourth International, Special Issue of Inter­
1981, page 688 national Viewpoint, n.d. (1985), pages 14-15
25 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
10, 1979, pages 1206-1207
Trotskyism in Iraq
26 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 16,
1980 1 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
27 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 31, 27, 1982
1980, pages 315—3 2 Transcription of taped interview of Enoch Re­
28 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 7, snick with Michel Warshawski, January 198 5,
1980, page 370 pages 2-3
29 Ibid., page 348
30 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 5,
Trotskyism in Ireland
1980, page 449
3t Ibid., pages 447-448; see also Intercontinental 1 D. R. O'Connor Lysaght: "Early History of
Press, New York, June a, 1980, pages 576-577 Irish Trotskyism," (mimeographed), n.d.
32 In tercon tin en tal Press, New York, June r6, (1982), pages 5-6
1980 2 Ibid., page 6
33 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 30, 3 Ibid., pages 5-6
1980, page 675 4 Interview with John Archer, London, August 4,
34 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 4, 1982
1980, page 831 5 Lysaght, op, cit., page 7
35 Article in Kargar, reprinted in Intercontinental 6 Ibid., page 8
Press, New York, July 1, 1980, pages 706-708 7 Ibid., pages 8-9
36 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 15, 8 Ibid., page 9
1981, page 638 9 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­
37 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 6,1981, saght, July 4, 1984
page 709 10 Lysaght: "Early History of Irish Trotskyism/'
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, December op. cit., page 10
26, 1983 11 Ibid., page 1 r
39 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 13, 12 Ibid., pages r 1-12
1980, page 1037 13 Ibid., page 13
40 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 16, 14 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 3,
1981, page 230 1974, page <594
41 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 20, 15 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
1981 19/ 1977/ pages 1015 and 1017
42 Intercontinental Press, New York, April s, 16 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 12,
1982, page 277 1978/ page 718
43 Ibid., page 278 17 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 4, saght, March 28, 1983
1982,pages 74 S—749 18 Untitled article by Mike Farrell, Socialist Re­
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, November public, Belfast October 1983, page 4
29, 1982, page 835 19 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
46 Workers Vanguard, New York, February 17, 28, 1977, page 1319
1984 20 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
47 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 30, 4, 1978, page 93 S
1981, page 315 21 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
48 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 15, 13, 1978
1981, pages 641-647 22 John McAnulty: "18 Years of Peoples Democ­

Notes 1021
 racy," Socialist Republic, Belfast, June 1983, Trotskimus in Palestine bid in die 6oiger Ja-
page 7 hre," n.d. (1983), page r
23 Ibid., page 8 9 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
24 Lysaght: "Early History of Irish Trotskyism," Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
op. cit., page 13 sance dela IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­
25 See "Nicaragua: Opposition Grows to U.S. tions La Br&che, Paris, 1978, page 215
War," Socialist Republic, Belfast, June 1983, 10 Warshawski, op. cit., page I
page 7 1 1 Ibid., pages 1-2
26 Socialist Republic, Belfast, October 1983, page 12 Ibid., page 3
6 13 Ibid., page 2
27 Letter to the author from D, R. O'Connor Ly­ 14 Ibid., page 3
saght, August 27, 1984. 1 s Interview with H. Segall, New York, Novem­
28 See Inprecor, Paris, November s, 1982, page 34 ber 26, 1982
29 Socialist Republic, Belfast, June 1983, page 1 16 Warshawski, op. cit., page 3
30 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­ 17 Transcription of taped interview of Enoch Res­
saght, August 5, 198s nick with Michel Warshawski, January 1985,
31 Socialise Republic, Belfast, June 1983, page 4 page r (hereafter referred to as Warshawski
32 Prisoners of Partition: H/Block/Armagh, Peo­ Transcription)
ples Democracy, Belfast and Dublin, 1981, page 18 Ibid., page r
10 19 Warshawski, op. cit., page 4
33 The Bulletin, New York, September 28, 1970 20 Ibid., page 4 (Some of this Memorandum was
34 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ published in English in Intercontinental Press,
sionism, A Documentary History, Volume Six, New York, October 23, 1972, pages 115 5 -115 7
The Organisation Communiste International­ 21 Michel Warshawski: "Le Trotskyisme en Israel
iste Breaks with Trotskyism, New Park Publi­ entre 1967 et 1982," n.d. (1983), page 1
cations, London, 1975, pages 28, 29 and 40 22 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 20,
35 Letter to the author from D. R. O’Connor Ly­ 1970, page 348
saght, August 27, 1984 23 . Intercontinental Press, New York, November
36 Lysaght: "Early History of Irish Trotskyism," 10, 1969
op. cit., pages r2 -i3 24 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 2,
37 See Veriti, Paris, June 1978, pages 93-97 1970
38 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­ 25 Warshawski Transcription, op. cit., pages 1-2
saght, August 27, r984 26 Warshawski: "Le Trotskyisme en Israel etc.,"
39 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­ op. cit., page 91
saght, March 28, 1985 27 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
40 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­ 27, 1972, page 1207
saght, August 8, 1985 28 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
41 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency S, 1979, page 1087
Meeting," (mimeographed) September 1984, 29 Jacob Landau in 1976 Yearbook on Interna­
page 1 tional Communism, Hoover Institution Press,
42 Letter to the author from D. R. O'Connor Ly­ Stafford, 1976, page 550; and Glenn Perry in
saght, March 25, 1985 1982 Yearbook on International Communism,
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1982, page
29
Trotskyism in Israel 30 Warshawski: "Lc Trotskyisme en Israel etc.,"
op. cit., page 1
1 See Chapter 5, "The Fight Against the Bund," 31 Ibid., page 1
in Joseph Nedava: Trotsky and the Jews, The 32 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 27,
Jewish Publication Society of America, Phila­ 1972, pages 341-342
delphia, 1972, pages 84-99 33 Warshawski: "Le Trotskyisme en Israel etc.,"
2 Nedava, op. cit., pages i2o~r2i op. cit., page 1 r
3 Ibid., pages 168-182 34 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
4 Ibid., page 196 12, 1973, pages 1309-1310
5 Ibid., pages 23^232 35 1976 Yearbook on International Communism,
6 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1936— op. cit., page 550
3 7), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, page 36 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 12,
106 1975, pages 639-540
7 Cited by Nedava, op. cit., page 209 37 Intercontinental Press, New York, April n ,
8 Michel Warshawski: "Zur Entwicklung des 1977 , pages 407-408

1022 Notes
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 18, 21 LeonTrotsky: Oenvies Aout 193 6/Dicem bre
1979, page 605 1936, op. cit., page 109
39 Warshawski: "Le Trotskyisme en Israel etc.," 22 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril
op. cit., pages 1 - 1 1934. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
40 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, New York, nales, Paris, 1978 (Volume 3), page 20
April 1984, pages 23-24 23 Leon Trotsky; Oeuvres Decembre 1936/F6-
41 Intercontinental Press, New York, December vrier 193 7, Etudes et Documentation Interna­
27, 1982 tionales, Paris, 1982 (Volume 12), page 310
42 Warshawski Transcription, op. cit., page 4 24 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuin 1936/fuillet 1936,
Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
Paris, 1981 (Volume 10), pages 65 and 12 1-12 2
Italian Trotskyism 25 Letter to author from Ignacio Iglesias, Decem­
ber 8, 1983
1 Branko Lazitch and Milorad N. Drachkovitch: 26 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933.
Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern, op. cit., page 161
The Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1973, 27 Ibid., page 161
pages 32-33 28 " 1943-45: Origini del Partito Operaio Comun­
1 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929), ista (b—1)," op. cit., page 12; see also Leon
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page 188 Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 1934,
3 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193a), op. cit., page 21
Pathfinder Press, New York, 197s, page 188 29 LeonTrotsky: La RevolutionEspagnole(1930-
4 Ibid., page 231 1940}, Les Editions de Minuit, Paris, r'975, page
5 Ibid., pages 284-289, 427 314
6 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930- 30 Ibid., pages 624-628; see also Leon Trotsky:
31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 197 3, pages Oeuvres Aout 1936/Decembre 1936, op. cit.,
135-136 page 69
7 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932), 31 Dazy, op. cit., pages 254-263
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 102- 32 Pierre Naville: L'Entre-Deux Guerzes: La Lutte
103 des Classes en France 1926-1930, Etudes et
8 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932- Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1975,
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, page 28 page 280
9 Lazitch and Drachkovitch, op. cit., pages 4 1 1 - 33 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, Decem­
412; and Ren6 Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens En- ber 13, 1983
ragSs. . . . La Ginocide des Trotskistes, Oliver 34 Interview with Charles van Gelderen, London,
Orban, Paris, 1981, pages 258-259 August 3, 1982
10 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 193 3/fuillet 1933, 35 Report to Second Congress of Fourth Interna­
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, tional, Quatrilme Internationale, Paris,
Paris, 1978 (Volume 1), page 161 March-May 1948, page 104
11 E. H. Carr: Twilight of the Comintern: 1930- 36 Ibid., pages 104-105
1 9 3 5. Pantheon Books, New York, 1982, page 37 " *943 - 45 : Origini del Parcito Operaio Comun­
139 ista," op. cit., page 12
12 Dazy, op. cit., page 258 38 Report to Second Congress of Fourth Interna­
13 Carr, op. cit., pages 239-242 tional, op. cit., page 105
14 Ibid., pages 243-244 39 Ibid., page 106
15 " I 943- 4 S: Origini del Partito Operaio Comu­ 40 Ibid., page 107
nista (b—1 J," 11 Comunista, Turin, March 1983, 41 Ibid., pages 108-109
page 12 42 Ibid., page i n
16 Quatrieme. Internationale, Paris, March-May 43 Letters to the author from Livio Maitan, No­
1948, page 104 vember 24, 1983 and December 13, 1983
17 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mats 1933/fuillet 1933, 44 "1954: Nasce la 'Frazione Trotskysta' dei GCR:
op. cit., page 39 L'oppoizione alia Linea Entrista nel PCI," II
18 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Aoiit 1963/Dicembre Comunista, Turin, July-September 1982, page
1936, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 12
nales, Paris, 1981 (Volume i i |, page 68 45 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, No­
19 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, vember 24, 1983
op. cit., page 39 46 International Bulletin, London, March 27,
20 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933, 1982, page 1
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, 47 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), page 37 27, 1982

Notes 1023
 48 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, Decem­ 6 The Militant, New York, January 18, i960
ber 13, 1983 7 Intercontinental Press (Spanish version), De­
49 Livio Maitan: "Some Data on Italian Prob­ cember 16, 1974, page 1705
lems," Intercontinental Press, New York, June 8 Workers Vanguard, New York, February 1972,
5, 1972, page 65 1 page 3
50 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, No­ 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 7,
vember 14, 1983 *977, page 239
51 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 5, 10 In tercon tinental Press, (Spanish version), New
*973 , York, December 16, 1974, pages 1705-1706
51 Intercontinental Press, New York, June ax, 1 1 interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
1976, page 986 27, 1982
53 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 23, 12 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 16,
1977 , page 585 1978, page 1137
54 Letter to the author from Livio Mahan, No­ 13 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 30,
vember 24, 1983 *978
55 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 23, 14 Workers Vanguard, New York, June 27, 1980,
1977 , page 585 page 2
56 Letter to the author from Antonio Moscato, x5 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 29,
September 14, 1983 1981, page 695
57 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, April 16 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 25,
I 97 S, page 79 19 7 7 / p a g e 463
$8 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 28, 17 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 14,
1977, page 3; see also Lega Trotskista d'ltalia: 1979/ page 490
" 'Contrapunto lamentavole in basso buffo/ 18 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 11,
Gli Anti-Spartachista: II Blocco g l i .- w s i . - i . o b , " 1979, page 579
Genoa, August 1980 19 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 30,
59 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, No­ 1984, page 243
vember 24, 1983
60 Trotskyist Position, Rome, May 1981, pages 2-
5 Trotskyism in Korea
61 Ibid., pages n - 1 8
1 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
62 Spartacist, Italian Edition, September 197s,
27, 1982
page 22
63 Spartaco, Milan, February 1981, pages 17-18
64 Lega Trotskista d’ltalia: " 'Contrapunto la­ Trotskyism in Lebanon
mentavole, etc.," op. cit., page 3
65 Letter to the author from Livio Maitan, No­ 1 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
vember 24, 1983 27, 1982
2 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 14,
Trotskyism in Jamaica X974, page 31
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 29,
1 Forward, Kingston, Jamaica, September 27- *973, pages ^ 1 4 - 1 2 1 5
October 26, 1982 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 14,
2 Forward, Supplement, Kingston, Jamaica, Sep­ 1974, pages 3 1- 3 1
tember 27-October 26, 1980 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 26,
3 Forward, Kingston, Jamaica, October 27-N0- 1976, pages ri3 4 -ii3 6
vember 26, 1983, page 7 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
13, 1978, pages 188-190
7 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 1,
Japanese Trotskyism
1978, page 527
1 The Militant, New York, May 9, 1949 8 Inprecor, Paris, July 12,^982, page 5
2 Intercontinental Press. New York, June 18, 9 Inprecor, Paris, June 28, 1982, page 7
1980, page 631 ro Inprecor, Paris, July 12, 1982, page 5
3 The Militant, New York, May 4, 1957 11 Inprecor, Paris, September 13, 1982, page 7
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 18, 12 Inprecor, Paris, November 8, 1982, page 13
1980, page 631 13 Inprecor, Paris, February 6, 1984, page 24
5 "Activity Report from Japan Zengakuren," Oc­ 14 International Viewpoint, Paris, February 27,
tober 31, 1964, page 6 1984, page 7

1024 Notes
 Lutte Ouvriere Tendency of 15 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 1,
International Trotskyism 1976, pages 317-320
16 Intercontinental Press, New York, March r,
i Interviews with Fran^oise Vemon, Paris, July 1976, pages 320-315
29, 1982; Harry Turner, New York, March 11,
T7 Grupo Comunista Intemacionalista: "Cornu-
1983; and Fred Holtzman, New York, fune 4, nicado del Comit€ Central," Mexico, May 25,
198a
I 97 S
18 Rodriguez Araujo, op. cit., page 208
19 Letter to the author from Alejandro Gilvez,
Trotskyism in Luxemburg
n.d. 11983); see also Bandera Socialista, Mex­
1 Klassenkampf, Luxemburg, #195, January 21, ico, April 18-24, 1983, page 9
1985 20 Letter to the author from Alejandro Galvez,
n.d. (1983)
21 Que Opina la Izquierda de Si Misma, Espacios:
Trotskyism in Mauritius Hacia la Unidad de la Izquierda, Mexico, Au­
gust 1983, pages 86-87
1 Inprecor, Paris, March 1984, pages 25-26
22 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
3, 1979, pages 118 0 -118 1
Trotskyism in Mexico 23 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
22, 1982, pages 142-143
1 Rodolphe Piager (Editor): Les Congr&s de la 24 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 23,
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 1978, page 92
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 25 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 13,
tions La Briche, Paris, 1978, page 215 1981
2 Ibid., page 241 26 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
3 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth 2, 1981,page 1070
International: The Formative Years (1933-40), 27 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 1,
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 273- 1982, page 105
274 28 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Sep-
4 Octavio Rodriguez Araujo: La Reform a Poli­ tember-October 1982, page 30
tica y los Partidos en Mexico, Siglo Veintiuno 29 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 12,
Editores, Mexico, 1972, page 206 1983, page 609
5 Bulletin, New York, May 19, 1969 30 Inprecor, Paris, September 13, 198a, page 35
6 Letter to the author from Alejandro Gilvez, 31 Interview with Jorge Villamil, Mexico, October
n.d. (1983) 1, J 983
7 Paulina Fernandez Christlieb: El Espar- 32 Reprinted in Inprecor, Paris, November 8,
taquismo en Mexico, Ediciones "El Caballito," 1982, page 15
Mexico, 1978, pages 57, 63, and 66; see also 33 Inprecor, Paris, February 14, 1983, page 6; see
Rodriguez Araujo, op. cit., page 206 also La Batalla, Mexico, September-October
8 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 18, 1984
I 9 69 / page 707; and Bandera Socialista, Mex­ 34 La Internacional, Mexico, September-Decem-
ico, April 18-24, 1983, page 9 b er1978
9 Bandera Socialista, Mexico, April 18-24,1983, 35 Inprecor. Paris, July 4, 1983, page 24
page 9 36 Intercontinental Press. New York, July 25,
10 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 28, 1983 / page 425
1971 37 Intercontinental Press, New York, August 6,
11 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 12, 1984, pages 494-495
1972, page 264 38 See Intercontinental Press, New York, April
12 "Fact Sheet on the Internal Struggle in the Liga 16, 1984, page 216, and July 9, 1984, page 426
Socialista," International Internal Discussion 39 Bandera Socialista, Mexico, February 25-
Bulletin, New York, March 1976 March 3, 198$, pages 6-7; see also La Batalla,
13 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 3, Mexico, September-October 1984, pages 2-4
* 97 S, page 1496 40 Bandera Roja Supplement, September 1975,
14 International Internal Discussion Bulletin, "Que es el oci ?"
New York, April 1977 pages 41-49; see also 41 Que Opina la Izquierda de Si Misma, etc., op.
Ricardo Ramos: "The Politics of Robbery," In­ cit., page 82
terna! Information Bulletin, Socialist Workers 42 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Sep­
Party, New York, March 1976 tember-October 1982, page 30

Notes 1025
 43 Que Opina la Izquierda de Si Misma, etc., op. 15 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933,
cit., page 83 op. cit., page 56
44 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Janu- 16 Ibid., page 137
ary-February 1983, page 35 17 Ibid., page 192
45 See Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, 18 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
December 1983-January 1984, pages 35-37 op. cit., page 119
46 El Socialista, Mexico, November 26,1982, page 19 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvresfanvier 1935/fuin 193s,
4 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
47 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 6, Paris, 1979 (Volume 5), page 92
1984 20 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 1933,
48 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, April 1986, page op. cit., page 94
18 21 See Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/
49 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­ Avril 1934, Etudes et et Documentation Inter­
sionism, A Documentary History, Volume Six: nationales, Paris, 1978, pages '*3 0 -13 1; and
The Organisation Communiste International­ Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1933-
iste Breaks with Trotskyism, New Park Publi­ 34), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1972, pages
cations, London, 197$, pages 2.9 and 45 260-269
50 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Sep- 22 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1933-
tember-October 1932, page 28 34), op. cit., page 357
51 El Socialista, Mexico, November 26,1981, page 23 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1934—
4 3 ;), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, page 15
24 Ibid., pages 196-197
25 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26,
Moroccan Trotskyism
1972, page 750
1 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July 26 New Leader, New York, August 1 1, 1934
27, 1982 27 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fanvier 193 $/fuin 193 j .
Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
Paris, 1979, op. cit., page 142
Netherlands Trotskyism
28 New Militant, New York, July 20, 1935
1 Branko Lasitch and Milorad N. Drachkovitch: 29 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril
Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern, 1934, op. cit., page 75
The Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1973, 30 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1934-
pages 375-376 3$), op. cit., page 192
2 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/futile11933, 31 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (19 3 ;-
Etudes to Documentation Internationales, ' 36), Pathfinder Press, 1977, page 364
Paris, 1978 (Volume r), page 56 32 Ibid., page 375
3 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930), 33 Ibid., page 368
Pathfinder Press, New York, 197s, page 299 34 Ibid., page 369
4 Ibid., page 428 35 Ibid., page 371
5 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930- 36 Ibid., page 372
31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 37 Ibid., page 376
*53 38 Rodolphe Prager (Editor). Les Congres de la
6 Ibid., page 254 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
7 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky {1932- sance de la IVe Internationale, La Breche,
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page Paris, 1978, page 123
132 39 Ibid., pages 193-194
8 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, 40 Georges Vereeken: Le gu6p6ou dans le mouve-
op. cit., page 58 ment trotskiste, La Pens6e Universelle, Paris,
9 "Milestones in the History of Dutch Trots­ 1975, page 261
kyism," Intercontinental Press, New York, 41 Ibid., pages 263-264
June 26, 1972, page 748 42 Ibid., pages 2 5 S - 2 5 7 ^
ro Inprecor, Berlin, November i j, 1921 43 Will Reisner (Editor): Documents of the Fourth
1 1 Inprecor, Berlin, May 24, 1923 International: The Formative Years {1933-40),
12 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 269
197a, pages 748-749 44 Vereeken, op. cit., pages 260-5.61
13 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre 193), 45 Prager, op. cit., pages 215 and 241
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, 46 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New
Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), pages 93-94 York, June 26, 1972, page 7SO
14 Ibid., page 22 47 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la

1026 Notes
 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: Vlnter- 78 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
nationale dans la Guerre (1940-194;), Edi­ 20, 1984, page 83
tions La Breche, Paris, 1981, page 345 79 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency
48 Prager, Volume 1, op. cit., page 203 Meeting," September 1984
49 Workers Age, New York, September 15, 1939,
pages 1 and 12
50 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26, Trotskyism in New Zealand
1972, page 750 1 Socialist Action Review, Auckland, NZ,
51 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 345 March 1980, page 12
52 Letter from X. Oskari in Tribune, London, No­ 2 Socialist Action, Auckland, February 4, 1983,
vember 9, 1945 page 2
53 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 465 3 Letter to the author from Russell Johnson, Au­
54 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26, gust 3, 1983
1972, page 748 4 Ibid.
55 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 465 5 Socialist Action, Auckland, February 4, 1983,
56 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 26, page 2
1972, page 750 6 "Socialist Workers Party Internal Information
57 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 345,- and letter Bulletin," Sydney, # 1, 1983, page 27
to the author from Herman Pieterson, May 22, 7 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 4,
1983 1985, page 124
58 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 8 Ibid.
March 18, 1983 9 Letter to the author from Russell Johnson, Feb­
59 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 436 ruary 8, 1983
60 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson,
March 16, 1983
61 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, Nicaraguan Trotskyism
May 22, 1983
62 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 1 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, Septembcr-Octo-
March 16, 1983 ber 1984, page 41
63 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 2 Letter to the author from Leon Pdrez, Septem­
May 22, 1983 ber 20, 1983
64 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 3 Letter to the author from Leon P6rez, June 10,
March 1 6, 1983 1982
65 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 4 Working Class Opposition, Los.Angeles, May
May 12, 1983 1985, page io; and El Bolchevique, Los
66 Letters to the author from Herman Pieterson, Angeles, winter ^85, pages 28 and 38
March 18, April 22, and May 22, 1983 5 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, September-Octo-
67 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, ber 1984, page 43
April 22, 1983 6 Inprecor, Paris, June 25, 1984, page 10
68 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson,
March 16, 1983 Norwegian Trotskyism
69 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson,
May 22, 1983 1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la
70 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 2: VInter­
April 22, 1983 nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­
71 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, tions La Brfiche, Paris, 1981, page 346
May 22, 1983 2 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1937—
72 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 38), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, page
March 16, 1983 103
73 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 29, 3 Preben Kinch: "Some Notes to 'Scandinavian
1972, page 615 Trotskyism/ " July 2, 1984 (Critique of early
74 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, draft of this chapter}
November 30, 1982 4 Prager, op. cit., page 346
75 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 5 Intercontinental Press, New York,March 19,
March 16, 1983 1973 , page 301
76 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 6 Letter to the author from Michael Svendsen
April 22, 1983 Pedersen, July 23, 1984
77 Letter to the author from Herman Pieterson, 7 Mick Armstrong: "International Tendency
February 23, 1983 Meeting, September 1984,” page 1

Notes 1027
 Organizing Committee for the 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 2o,
Reconstruction of the Fourth International 1969, page 925
(c o r q i ) 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 1,
1971, page 87
1 Interview with Pierre Brou6, New York, Sep­ 10 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 19,
tember 2, 1983 *971, page 346
2 La Veriti, Paris, September 1978, page 336 1 1 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
3 La Veriti, Paris, June 1979, pages 62-63 1, 1971, page 939
4 La Veriti, Paris, October 1980, page 51 12 Caretas, Lima, June 8, 1972, pages 14 -15
5 See La Veriti, Paris, February 1979, pages 7 1- 13 Workers Vanguard, New York, June 22, 1973
91 14 Courrier International, Paris, January 1982,
6 La Veriti, Paris, October 1980, pages 52-59 page 48
7 Interview with Pierre Brou6, New York, Sep­ 15 Joseph Hansen: The Leninist Strategy of Party
tember 2, T983 Building: The. Debate on Guerrilla Warfare,
8 Interview with Pierre Lambert, Paris, July 23, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1979, page 208
1982 16 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 23,
9 La Veriti, Paris, September 1978, pages 343- 1978,November 2, 1978, page 1294, and July
348 24, 1978, page 887
10 See Secretariat Unifi6 de la Quatrieme Interna­ 17 Workers Vanguard, New York, June 23, 1973
tionale and Comit6 d'Organisation pour la Re­ 18 The Bulletin, Detroit, June 18, 1982, page 6
construction de la Qua trifeme Internationale: 19 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
Dibat sui la Crise du Stalinisme, Paris, 1979 29, 1978, page 1294
11 Interview with Francois de Massot, Paris, July 20 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 23,
24, 1982 1978
21 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
20, 1978, pages 1294-1295
Trotskyism in Panama 22 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la 6, 1978, page 1224
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 23 See Courier International, Paris, January 1982
sance dela IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ 24 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 14,
tions La Briche, Paris, 1978, page 21s *974, page 18
2 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 25 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, May—June 1983,
page 39
29, *975, page 13 12
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 26 Inprecor, Paris, February 28, 1983, page 17
5,1977, page 95 2; and September 1 2 , 1977, page 27 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 24,
1978, page 887
975
4 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 3, 28 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 19,
1980 1979
5 Inprecor, Paris, September 13, 1982, page 35 29 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 24,
6 Letter to the author from Leon P6rez, June 10, 1978, page 884
1982 30 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 24,
1978, page 884; and Reflexiones, Caracas, July-
August 1978, page 66
Peruvian Trotskyism 31 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 19,
1978
1 La Revolucidn Nacionalista, Ley de Reforma 32 La Verite, Paris, June 1979, page 83
Agraria y las Necesidades del Progreso de las 33 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 7,
Masas, Ediciones Voz Obrera # 11, Lima, 1969, 1980, pages 341-343
page 3 34 Agence France Presse dispatch, reported in
2 Voz Obrera, Lima, first fortnight of October FBIS, July 2, 1980, VI, page )i
1970, page 1 35 Intercontinental Pressy. New York, June 2,
3 Voz Obrera, Lima, first fortnight of May 1971, 1980, page 562
page 1 36 Spark, Detroit, October 10-24, 1983
4 Voz Obrera, Lima, first fortnight of June 1971, 37 Tribune Internationale, Paris, January 1984,
page 1 page 6
5 El Comercio, Lima, May 6, 1972, page 4 38 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, April
6 El Comercio, Lima, February 1, 1980 1984, page 3
7 Interview with Ismael Frias, Lima, July X3, 39 El Bolchevique, Los Angeles, June-July 1984,
1971 page 27

1028 Notes
40 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, April 1934, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
1984, page 3 nales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 4), page 148
41 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May 18 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril
1985, page 10 1934. op. cit., page 22
42 Tribune Internationale, Paris, May 1984, page 19 Letter to the author from Stefan Lamed, June
12 8, 198a and August 3, 1982
43 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, April 20 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuin I93$/Septembte
1984, page 3 1935. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
44 Quoted in Tribune Internationale, Paris, Janu­ nales, Paris, 1979, (Volume 6), pages 61-62
ary 1984, page 6 2r Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Janvier 1936/Fevrier
45 Tribune Internationale, Paris, April 1984, page 1936. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­
rij see also Intercontinental Press, New York, nales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 8}, pages 52-53
January 13, 1984, pages 13-14 22 Letter to the author from Stefan Lamed, June
46 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 19, 8, 198a
1984, page *55 23 Ibid.
24 Prager, op. cit., pages 216, 217, 242
25 Ibid., page 243
Polish Trotskyism 26 Ibid., page 245
27 See ibid., pages 227-228, 229, 248-249, 249-
1 LeonTrotsky: Wri tings of Leon Trotsky (1932), 250, 251
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 394 28 Ibid., page 251
2 Rend Dazy: Fusillez les Chiens Enragts . . . La 29 Ibid., page 252
Genocide des Trotskistes, Oliver Orban, Paris, 30 Ibid., page 286
1981, page 8o; see also H. K. Dziewanowski: 31 Letter to the author from Stefan Lamed, June
The Communist Party of Poland, An Outline 8, 198a
of Its History, Harvard University Press, Cam­ 32 Letter to the author from Reiner Tosstorf, May
bridge, 1959, page 108 9, 1986
3 Dazy, op, cit., pages 90-91 33 La Veriti (of Ligue Ouvriere Revolutionnaire),
4 Ibid., page 92; see also Dziewanowski, op. cit., Paris, July 3-9, 1982
pages 10 9 -110 34 La Aurora. Barcelona, July 12, 1984, page 7
5 Dazy, op. cit., page 93 35 Workers Review, London, September 1983,
6 See Leon Trotsky: WritingsofLeonTrotsky pages 8-9
(1932), op. cit., pages 156-165 and 390 36 Socialist Action, San Francisco, November
7 Dziewanowski, op. cit., page 135 1984, page 5
8 Ibid., page 136 37 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933,
9 Ibid., page 137 Etudes et Documentation Internationales,
10 E. H. Carr: Twilight of the Comintern: 1930- Paris, 1978 (Volume 1), page 134
1935, Pantheon Books, New York, 198a, pages
259-160
11 Dziewanowski, op, cit., page 137 Trotskyism in Portugal
12 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932),
op. cit., pages 180-181 1 Young Socialist. New York, September 1975,
13 See Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres fuillet/Octobre page 24
1933, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 2,
nales, Paris, 1976 (Volume 2], page 12 1; Oeu­ 1975, page 139
vres Novembre 1933/Avril 1934, Etudes et 3 For a discussion of these events see Barry Shep­
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1978 pard: "Portugal: Lessons of the November 25
{Volume 3), page 217; and Oeuvres Janvier Coup Attempt," Intercontinental Press, New
i93$/fuin 193s, Etudes et Documentation In­ York, February 2, 1976
ternationales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 5J, page 93 4 Intercon tinental Press, New York, October 13,
14 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congiis de la 1974, page 1357
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 5 Portugal: Anatomy of a Revolution, A Chartist
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ Publication, London, 1978, page 33
tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, pages 436-437 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 26,
15 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 197s, page 628
1934. op. cit., page 217 7 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 31,
16 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juillet/Octobre 1933, 1975 , page 415
op. cit., page 121 8 Intercontinental Press. New York, April 21,
17 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Avril 1934/DecembTe 1975 , page 630

Notes 1029
 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 14, 35 Combate Operario, Lisbon, January 31, 1983,
1975, page 491 page 5
10 Intercontinental Press, New York, April si, 36 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
197S, pages 527-530 and April 28, 1975/ pages 14, 1977, pages 128-219
57 S-576 37 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 20,
11 Intercontinental Press. New York, October 13, 1980, page 1071
1975, pages 13 7 1-13 7 2 38 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
12 See Pierre Frank, Livio Maitan and Ernest Man­ 8, 1980, page 1289
del: "In Defense of the Portuguese Revolu­ 39 O Militante Socialista, Lisbon, May 25, 1982,
tion," Intercontinental Press, New York, Sep­ and June 14, 1982
tember 8, 1975, and Gerry Foley, Joseph
Hansen and George Novack: "For a Correct Posadista Fourth International
Political Course in Portugal," Intercontinental
Press, New York, October 13, 1975 1 Cuarta Intexnacional, June 1964, pages 18 -19
13 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 2 Ibid., page 20
15, 19/S 3 Ibid., page 203
14 Portugal: Anatomy of a Revolution, op. cit., 4 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, July 1967,
page 13 page 33
15 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 13, 5 Ibid., page 34
I 97 S, Page 1391 6 Ibid., page 33
16. Intercontinental Press, New York, October 6, 7 Ibid., pages 202—2 11
1975 , P a g e s 1343-1344 8 Ibid., pages 39—41
17 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 14, 9 Manifesto del lo de Mayo del Secretariado In­
1976, page 241 ternational de la IV International, Ediciones
18 Portugal: Anatomy of a Revolution, op. cit., Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, Chile, June
page 33 *97*/ # 3<pages 41-42
19 Workers Power, Detroit, May 21, 1975 10 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December
20 Portugal: Anatomy of a Revolution, op. cit., 1975, page 73
page 33 11 Ibid., page 74
21 Intercontinental Press, October 13, 197 s, page 12 Robert J. Alexander: Trotskyism ia Latin
1386 America, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford,
22 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 2, *973 . Page 243
1976, page 136 13 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, June-
23 Workers Power, Detroit, October 2-16, 197 s August 1981, page 4S
24 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 14, 14 frente Operaria, Rio de Janeiro, September
1976, pages 939-941 1983 and May 1984
25 Milton Fisk: Socialism from Below in the 15 J. Posadas: Homenaje a Leon Trotsky en el 27
United States. The Origins of the International Aniversario de su Asesinato y el Desarrollo de
Socialist Organization, Hera Press, Cleveland, la Revolucidn Permanente y Socialista Mun-
1977, pages 66-67 dial, Ediciones Revista Marxista Latinoame­
26 Intercontinental Press, New York, February ricana, Montevideo, September 1967, pages
23, 1976, page 274 4-5
27 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 4, 1 6 Voz Obrera, Lima, Second Fortnight of October
1977 1969
28 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 28, 17 Prente Obrero, Montevideo, May 30, 1972
1980, pages 74-7 s 18 Voz Obrera, Mexico, First Fortnight of April
29 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 20, 1975
1980, page 1081 19 Re vista Marxista Latinoamericana, August
30 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 1966, page 54 and 19s
8, 1980, page 1289 20 Ibid., page 171
31 Combate Operario, Lisbon, January 31, 1983, 21 flevista Marx/std Latinpamericana, December
page 4 1976, page 80
32 Combate Operario, Lisbon, January 31, 1983, 22 Cuarta International, July 1984, page 140
page 3 23 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, August
33 Combate Operario, Lisbon, July 12, 1984, page 1966, page 138
5 24 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, July 1967,
34 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July page 256
27, 1982 25 Ibid., page 258

1030 Notes
 i

26 Revista Marxista Latinoamezicana, April 7 ’ Hirson, op. cit., page 20

*975, page 17 8 Southall, op. cit., page 1
27 Cited by Fernand Charliei: "Le posadisme: Un 9 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1934-
Rapport d'Autopsie," page 6 3Sl, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, pages
28 Ibid., page 14 248-255
29 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, June- 10 Cited by Pierre Broue in Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres
August 1981, page 45 Janvier 1935/Juin 193s. op. cit., page 247
1 1 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1934-
3 op. cit., pages 248-255
Trotskyism in Puerto Rico
12 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Janvier 193$/Juin 193 j,
1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congr&s de la op. cit., page 253
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 13 Southall, op. cit., page r
sance dela IVe Internationale 15)30-/940. Edi­ 14 Ibid., pages 1-2
tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1978, page 241 15 Ibid., page 3
2 Intercontinental Press, New York (Spanish 16 Letter to the author from Charles van Geld­
version), March 24, 1975, pages 409-410 eren, April 25, 1984
3 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 17 Hirsch, op. cit., page 21
20, 1976, page 1821 18 Ibid., pages 23-24
4 Inprecor, Paris, February 13, 1983, page 25 19 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Janvier 193 s/Juin 193 s,
5 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 11, op. cit., page 242
1981, page 401; and May 31, 1982 20 Letter to the author from Charles van Geld­
6 Inprecor, February 13, 1983, pages 26-27 eren, April 22, 1984
21 Southall, op. cit., pages 3-4
22 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
Trotskyism in Romania
23, 1984
1 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Octobre 1935/Decem- 23 H. J. and R. E. Simons: Class and Colour in
bre 193 j. Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ South Africa 1850-1950, Penguin Books, Ham-
nales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 7), page 150 mondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1969, page
% Bulletin Intdheur de la Ligue des Commu- 503-504
nistes Internationalistes (Bolchevik-Lenin- 24 Southall, op. cit., page 4
istes), Paris, No. 4, November 1935, pages 8 - 1 I 25 Ibid., page 5
3 Jean-Pierre Cassard: Les Tzotskyist.es en France 26 Letter to the author from Charles van Geld­
Pendant La Deuxiime Guerre Mondial f/939- eren, April 25, 1984
1944), La Verity Paris, n.d. (1982), page 42 27 Roux, op. cit., page 313
4 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la 28 Southall, op. cit., page 5
Quatri&me Internationale, Volume 1; Nais- 29 Interview with Charles van Gelderen, London,
sance de la IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­ August 2, 198a
tions La Brfeche, Paris, 1978, page 215 30 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March-May
1948, page 102
31 Southall, op. cit., page 5
South African Trotskyism
32 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
1 Baruch Hirson: "Land, Labour and the 'Black 23, 1984
Republic,' " 1984 33 Roux, op. cit., page 327
2 Interview with Charles van Gelderen, London, 34 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
August 2, 1982 23, 1984
3 Tony Southall: "The Trotskyist Movement in 35 Roux, op. cit., page 328
South Africa," (Mimeographed Memorandum), 36 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
n.d., page 1 23, 1984
4 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Janvier i93;/fuin 1935. 37 Letter to the author from Charles van Geld­
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, eren, April 25, 1984
Paris, 1979, Volume 5, page 242 38 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
5 Edward Roux: Time Longer Than Rope: A His­ 23, 1984
tory of the Black Man's Struggle for Freedom 39 Tony Southall: "Material Supplementary to
in South Africa, The University of Wisconsin 'The Trotskyist Movement in South Africa,' "
Press, Madison, 1984, page 312 n.d.
6 Ernest Harsch: South Africa: White Rule, 40 Letter to the author from Baruch Hirson, June
Black Revolt, Monad Press, New York, 1980, 23, 1984
page 209 41 Ibid.

Notes 1031

I
42 Southall "Material Supplementary etc." op. cit. 17 Ibid., page 37r
43 Southall "The Trotskyist Movement in South 18 Ibid., pages loo-roi
Africa," op. cit., page 6 19 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 33
44 International Socialist Review, New York, 20 Ibid., page 96
spring 1966, page $0 21 Pages, op. cit., page 67
45 Southall: "The Trotskyist Movement in South 22 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 90
Africa," op. cit., page 6 23 Pages, op. cit., page 68
46 In teicontmen tal Press, New York, July 14, 24 See Revista Comunismo (1931-1934) La He-
1969, page 681 rencia Tedrica delMarxismo Espanol. Editorial
47 Inteicontinental Press, New York, December Fontamara, Barcelona, 1978
23, 1974, page 1731 25 Bonamusa, op. cit., pages 92-93; see also Re­
48 See lnteicon tinental Press, New York, Decem­ vista Comunismo etc. op. cit., pages 37-46 for
ber 23, 1974, pages 1742-1774 the text of this document
49 Letter to the author from Charles van Geld- 26 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 92; ani Revista Com­
eren, April 25, 1984 unista etc., op. cit., pages 46-48 '
50 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, July 27 Revista Comunismo etc., op. cit., pages 49-55
1985, pages 19-20 28 Pages, op. cit., page 68
29 Trotsky, op. cit., page 380-
30 Ibid., page 396
Spanish Trotskyism Until the Formation
31 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 103
of the POUM 32 Pages, op. cit., page 113
1 Jules Humbert-Droz: Archives de Jules 33 Trotsky, op. cit., page 380
Humbert-Droz: Origines et dibuts des partis 34 Ibid., page 37s
communistes des pays latine 7919-1923, D. 35 Pages, op. cit., page 12 1
Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Hol­ 36 Ibid., pages 123—124; see Revista Comunista
land, 1970, has extensive details on the origins etc., op. cit., pages 57-68 for the text of this
of the Spanish party resolution
2 See Robert J. Alexander: The Lovestoneites and 37 Pages, op. cit., page 125
the International Communist Opposition of 38 Ibid., pages 126, 127
the 1930's, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1981, 39 Pages, op. cit., page 1 3 1; see Revista Comu-
Chapter 1 1 for a study of the BOC ju'smo etc., op. cit., pages 81—84, for the text of
3 Pelai Pages: El Movimiento Trotskista en Es- this document
pana (19 30 -19 3S), Ediciones Peninsula, Barce­ 40 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 185
lona, 1977, page 40 41 Ignacio Iglesias: Leon Tiotski yEspana (1930—
4 Ibid., page 41 1939), Ediciones Jucar, Madrid, 1977, page 70
5 Leon Trotsky: La Revolution Espagnole 11930- 42 Trotsky, op. cit., page 192
1940), Les Editions Minuit, Paris, 1975, page 43 Pages, op. cit., page 128
36 44 Ibid., pages 133-134
6 Pages, op. cit., page 42 45 Ibid., page 134
7 Cited in ibid., pages 42-43 46 Ibid., pages 134-135
8 Ibid., page 43 47 Ibid., page 139
9 Francesc fionamusa: Andreu Nin y el Movi­ 48 Ibid., pages 136-137
miento Comunista en Espaiia (1930—1937), Ed­ 49 Ibid., pages 14 1—143
itorial Anagrams, Barcelona, 1977, pages 1 1 - 50 Ibid., page 144
14 $1 Ibid., page 146
10 Trotsky, op. cit., page 28 52 Ibid., page 146
11 Bonamusa, op. cit., pages 14 -15; see also 53 Ibid., page 147
Wildebaldo Solano: The Spanish Revolution: 54 Trotsky, op. cit., page 761
The Life of Andiis Nin, Independent Labor 55 Pages, op. cit., page 148
Party, London, n.d., page 8 56 Ibid., page 148
12 Pages, op. cit., page 39; see also Solano, op. cit., 57 Trotsky, op. cit., page 339
pages 9-10 58 Pages, op. cit., page 149'
13 See "Cartes et Lettres d'Andrds Nin a Trotsky $9 Ibid., page iso
(1928)," Cahieis Lion Trotsky, Grenoble, June 60 Ibid., page 149
1982, #10, pages 35-4$ 61 Ibid., page 150
14 Bonamusa, op. cit., page 15 62 Trotsky, op. cit., page 239
15 Ibid., page 16; see also Leon Trotsky,op. cit., 63 Ibid., page 198
page 370 64 Ibid., page 200
16 Trotsky, op. cit., page 370 6s Ibid., page 201

1032 Notes
 66 Pages, op. cit., pages 15 1-15 2 la Guerre d'Espagne, Les Editions de Minuit,
67 (bid., page 152 Paris, 1981, Chapters 5 and 6
68 Ibid., pages 153-154 9 Trotsky, op. cit., pages 312 and 316
69 See ibid., pages 170-189, for discussion of those 10 Ibid., page 3 11
events 11 Pelai Pages (Editor) -.J.L.yJ. R. Arenillas: Sobre
70 Ibid., pages 178—179 la Cuestidn Nacional en Euzkadi, Editorial
71 Iglesias, op. cit., pages 37—38 Fontamara, Barcelona, 1981, page 40
72 Pages, op. cit., pages 259—273 12 Victor Alba: El Marxismo en Espana {1919-
73 Trotsky, op. cit., page 608 ^939 ) (Historia del B.O.C. y del P.O.U.M.), B.
74 Pages, op. cit., page 275 Costa-Amic Editor, Mexico, 1973, Volume I,
75 Trotsky, op. cit., page 59s pages 296-297
76 Iglesias, op. cit., page 74 13 J. G. Gorkin and A. Nin. E1 P.O.U.M. Ante la
77 For this letter see Cahiers Leon Trotsky, Gre­ Revolucidn Espanola, Editorial Marxista, Bar­
noble, December 1983, #16, pages 10 4 -110 celona, n.d. (1937), pages 18-19
78 Trotsky, op. cit., page 595 14 Juan Andrade: La Revolucidn Espanola Dia a
79 Ibid., page 596 Dia, Editorial Nueva y Publicaciones Trazo,
8o Ibid., page 599 Barcelona, 1979, page 231
8i Ibid., page 600 15 Trotsky, op. cit., page 320
82 Ibid., page 601 16 Alba, op. cit., page 294
83 Ibid., page 6 11 17 Ibid., pages 370-395; Volume II of this same
84 Ibid., page 603 work deals very extensively with the persecu­
85 Ibid., page 605 tion of the p o u m b y the Stalinists after the May
86 Ibid., page 606 1937 events
87 Victor Alba: El Maixismo en Espana (19 19 - 18 Alba, Volume I, op. cit., page 395
1939 ) IHistoric del 8 . 0 .C. y del P.O.U.M.), 19 Andrade, op. cit., page 72
Tomo I, B. Costa-Amic Editor, Mexico, 1973, 20 For details on this trial and its antecedents see
page 231 Juliin Gorkin: El Proceso de Mascu en Barce­
88 Ibid., page 232 lona, Aymi, Sociedad An6nima Editora, Barce­
89 Stephen Schwartz: "Trotskyism in the Spanish lona, 1974, and Andr£s Suarez: El Proceso Con­
Revolution—Research Notes/' San Francisco, tra el POUM: Un Episodio de la Revolucidn
1982, page 9 Espanola, Ruedo Ibirico, Paris, 1974
90 Pages, op. cit., pages 70-73 ix Trotsky, op. cit., pages 316-318
91 Ibid., pages 74-75 22 Andrade, op. cit., page 294
92 Ibid., pages 76-82 23 Trotsky, op. cit., pages 312 -313
93 Ibid., pages 82-84 24 Ibid., page 313
94- Ibid., pages 84-87 25 Ibid., page 243
95 Alba, op. cit. page 250 26 Ibid., page 245
96 Pages, op. cit., pages 86-88 27 Ibid., pages 267-268
97 Ibid., pages 88-89 18 Ibid., page 314
98 Ibid., page 90 29 Quoted in Felix Morrow: Revolution and
99 Ibid., page 91 Counter Revolution in Spain, Second Edition,
100 Trotsky, op. cit., page 607 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1974, page 139;
101 Alba, op. cit., page 230 see also Ben H. Fatherree: "Trotskyism in
Spain, 1931-19 37," Mississippi State Univer­
sity PhD. Dissertation, 1978, page 222
Spanish Trotskyism Just Before and
30 Alba, Volume 1, op. cit., pages 390-391
During the Civil War
31 Trotsky, op, cit., page 315
1 LeonTrotsky: La Revolution Espagnole (1930- 32 Cited by Featherree, op, cit., page.220
1940), Les Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1975, page 33 Pelai Pages: "Le Mouvement Trotskyiste Pen­
614 dant la Guerre Civil d'Espagne," Cahiers Leon
2 Ibid., page 294 Trotsky, Grenoble, lune 1982, (#io|, page 60
3 Ibid., pages 208-209 34 Jean Cavignac: "Les Trotskystes Espagnols
4 Ibid., page 2 11 dans le Tourmente," Cahiers Lion Trotsky,
5 Letter to author from Pierre Broue, October 22, Grenoble, June 1982 (#10), page 68
1983 35 See Featherree, op. cit., pages 223-224
6 Workers Age, New York, April 18,1936, page 3 36 Burnett Bolloten: The Spanish Revolution: The
7 Trotsky, op. cit., page 214 Left and the Struggle for Power During the
8 For a very good description of this, see Pierre Civil War, The University of North Carolina
Brou6 and Emile Temime: La Revolution et Press, Chapel Hill, 1979, page 561

Notes 1033
 37 Cavignac article, op. cit., pages 69-70; see also 18 Letter to author from Jos£ Gutierrez Alvarez,
Morrow, op. cit., page 144. and Featherree, op. May 2, 1983
cit., page 234 19 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
38 Morrow, op. cit., page 152 September 6, 1983
39 Ibid., page 191 20 Fernando Ruiz and Joaquin Romero: Los Par-
40 Quoted in Bolloten, op. cit., page 4x8 tidos Marxistas, Sus Dirigentes, Sus Pro-
41 Cited by Ibid., page 417 gramas, Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona, 1977,
42 G. Munis: falones de Derrota: Promesa de page 170
Victoria (Espana 1930-39), Editorial "Lucha 21 Cited in letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez
Obrera," Mexico, 1948 (French republication), Alvarez, September 6, 1983
Paris, 1972, pages 313-314 22 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
43 Pierce Brou6: "La Mission deWolf en Espagne," May 2, 1983
Cahiers L&on Trotsky, Grenoble, June 1982 23 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
(#10), pages 75-84 September 6, 1983
44 Munis, op. cit., pages 382-383 24 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 173
45 Letter to author from Pierre Brou6, October 22, 25 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
1983 September 6, 1983
46 Letter to author from Ignacio Iglesias, April 12, 26 Cuarta International, Montevideo, September
1983; see also G. Munis: "El Golpe de Estado 1962, page 158
Casado-Miaja-Besteiro-Chamberlain," 19 de 27 Cuarta International, Montevideo, October
Julio, Mexico, March 1942 1963, pages 98 and 99
47 See Pages article, op. cit., for arguments along 28 Cuarta International, Montevideo, July 1964,
these lines pages 183-189
48 Ignacio Iglesias: Leon Trotski y Espana (1930- 29 Ibid., pages 182-183
1939 )• Ediciones Jucar, Madrid, 1977, page 108 30 • Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, Montevi­
deo, June 1967, page 284
31 Manifiesto del lo de Mayo del Secretariado In­
Trotskyism in Spain After the Civil War ternational de la IV International, Ediciones
Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, Chile, June
1 Stephen Schwartz: "Trotskyism in the Spanish 1971, # 3, page 4 *
Revolution—Research Notes," San Francisco, 32 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December
1982, pages 1-2 1976, page 29
2 Ibid., page 3 33 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
3 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congres de la May 2, 1983
Quatri&me Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 34 Letter to author from Jose Gutierrez Alvarez,
sance de la IVe Internationale (1930-1940), September 6, 1983
Editions La Br&che, Paris, 1978, pages 394-395 3s Interview with Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez, Barce­
4 Ibid., page 396 lona, July 21, 1984
5 Schwartz, op. cit., page 4 36 Rufz and Romero, op. cit., page 190
6 Interview with Sebastian Garcfa, Paris, July 30, 37 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
1982 May 2, 1983
7 Schwartz, op. cit., page 5 38 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 21,
8 Ibid., page 6 * 977, page 312
9 Ibid., page 8 39 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 194
ro Quatri&me Internationale, Paris, March-May 40 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 21,
1948, page 83 1977, page 3 11
11 Schwartz, op. cit., page 8 41 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 20,
12 Ibid., pages 8-9 1977, page 693
13 Ibid., page 10 42 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 25,
14 Letter to author from Stephen Schwartz, No­ 1977, page 863
vember 15, 1983 43 Intercontinental Press,-rNew York, October 10,
1s Interview with Sebastiin Garcia, Paris, July 30, 1977, page rx2i
1982 44 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 25,
16 Rodolphe Prager (Editor(: Les Congris de la 1977, page 449
Quatriime Internationale, Volume 2: L'Inter­ 45 See Barricada, Madrid, June-July 1984
nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946), Edi­ 46 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1981, page 344 29, i97<>/ page 1743
17 Interview with Sebastian Garcii, Paris, July 30, 47 Jos6 Iriarte: "Clase Obrera, Marxismo y Cues-
1982 ti6n Nacional en Euskadi," part 1, page 44

1034 N otes
48 Ibid., pages 44-45 82 ' La Aurora, Barcelona, July 5 -11, 1984, page 4
49 Ibid., page 48 83 La Aurora, Barcelona, July 13, 1984, page s
50 Jos6 Iriarte: "Clase Obrera, Marxismo y Cues- 84 Letter to the author from Jos6 Gutierrez Al­
ti6n Nacional en Euskadi," part 2, pages 9-10 varez, May 2, 1983
51 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 191 85 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 201
52 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 86 Ibid., page 202
29, 1976, page 1743 87 Letter to the author from Jos£ Gutierrez Al­
53 Intercontinental Press, New York, December varez, May 2, 1983
19. 1977- page 1399 88 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 204
54 Intercontinental Press. New York, April 3, 89 Young Spartacus, New York, June 1977, page
1978, page 406 12
5 5 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez, 90 Letter to author from Jos<J Gutierrez Alvarez,
May 2, 1983 May 2, 1983
56 Interview with Josd Gutidrrez Alvarez, Barce­ 91 Ibid.
lona, July 8, 1984 92 Woricing Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Janu-
57 Letter to author from fos6 Gutierrez Alvarez, ary-February 1983, page 44
May 25, 1983 93 El Socialista, Mexico, November 26,1982, page
$8 Letter to author from Jose Gutierrez Alvarez, 13
June 23, 1983 94 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
59 Combate, Madrid, June 28, 1984, page 15 May 25, 1983
60 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez,
May 25, 1983
61 Letter to author from Jose Gutierrez Alvarez,
June 23, 1983 Swedish Trotskyism
62 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 30,
1979 1 Letter to the author from Anton Schou Mad-
63 Letter to author from Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez, senm, June 24, 1984
June 23, 1983 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 12,
64 Interview with Jos6 Gutierrez Alvarez, Barce­ 1973, page 278
lona, July 21, 1984 3 Letter to the author fromTom Gustafsson, July
65 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 22, 19, 1984
1978 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 12,
66 Letter to the author from JosS Gutierrez Al­ *973 <pages 275-276
varez, June 23, 1983 5 Ibid., pages 27 s-27 6
67 Letter to the author from Jos6 Guti6rrez Al­ 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 7,
varez, May 25, 1983 1974, page 1 3 1 1
68 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 189 7 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 12,
69 See Inprecor, Madrid, June 1984, #38 1979
70 Ruiz and Romero, op. cit., page 273 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
71 Letter to the author from Jos6 Gutierrez Al­ 20, 1976, page 183s
varez, May 2, 1983 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, April 11,
72 Combate Socialista, Madrid, November 16, 1974 , page 401
1980, pages 4-5 10 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 9,1977
73 Combate Socialista, Madrid, May 8-15, 1982, 11 Intercontinental Press, March 24, 1980, page
pages 6-7 277
74 Combate Socialista, Madrid, October 2-9, 12 Interview with Charles Michaloux, Paris, July
1982, page ; 27, 1982
7 5 Combate Socialista, Madrid, April 9 -16 ,198 3, 13 Cited in Intercontinental Press, New York,
pages 4-5 May 3, 1982, page 369
76 Interview with Raul G6mez, a leader of POSI, 14 Letter to author fromTom Gustafsson, July 19,
Paris, July 30, 1982 1984
77 Tribune Internationale, Paris, April, 1984, page 15 Intercontinental Press. New York, April 29,
2 1983, page 228
78 Letter to the author from Jos6 Gutifirrez Al­ 16 Letter to author from Tom Gustafsson, July 19,
varez, September 6, 1983 1984
79 Rufz and Romero, op. cit., page 273 17 Revista Marxista Latinoamericana, December
80 Letter to the author from Jos£ Gutierrez Al­ 1976, page 29
varez, September 6, 1983 18 Letter to the author from Tom Gustafsson, July
81 Rufz and Romero, ojJ. cit., page 271 19, 1984

Notes 1035
 Trotskyism in Switzerland 34 Ibid., page 13
35 Ibid., page 40
1 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Tiotsky (1930- 36 Ibid., page 41
31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, page 37 Ibid., pages 99-136
429 38 Ibid., pages 95-99
2 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres /uillet/Octobre 1933, 39 Ibid., page 8
Etudes et Documentation Internationales, 40 Ibid., page 9
Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), page 121 41 Ibid., pages 9-10
3 Jean-Franqois Marquis: "Proletarische Aktion: 42 Interview with Guy Desolre, Linkebeek, Bel­
Une Organisation Revolutionnaire en Suisse gium, July 21, 1982
(1945-1949)," Dissertation, Geneva, March 43 Le Capitalisme Suisse, LeMouvement Ouvrier
1983, pages 1-2 et les Taches des Revolutionnaires: Rapports
4 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1937— au Deuxieme Congres National de la Ligue
38}, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1976, page 36 Marxiste Revolutionnaire, Mai 1973, Ligue
5 Leon Trotsky: Oeuvres Juin 1935/Septembre Marxiste Revolutionnaire, Lausanne, Novem­
193$, Etudes et Documentation Internatio­ ber 1975, page 176
nales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 6), page 83 44 Ibid., pages 176-177
6 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congr6s de la 45 Ibid., page 177
Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais- 46 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 25,
sance de la IVe International 1930-1940, Edi­ 1970, page 503
tions La Breche, Paris, 1978, page 428 47 Intercontinental Press, New York, November
7 Leon T rotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193s- 9, 1970
36), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977, page 48 48 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 17,
8 Marquis, op. cit.,page 2 1971, page 4S8
9 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1935- 49 . Intercontinental Press, New York, October 11,
36), op. cit., page 444 1971
10 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1936- 50 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 4,
37), Pathfinder.Press, New York, 1978, page 1973, page 677
S34 51 Le Capitalisme Suisse, etc., op. cit., page 177
11 LeonTrotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1937- 52 See Thesen zur Politischen Lage der Schweiz:
38), op. cit., page 292 3 Kongress der RML, Februar 1976, Revolu-
12 Prager, op. cit., pages 124-126 tionaire Marxistische Liga, Zurich, August
13 Ibid., page 215 1977
14 Ibid., page 241 53 Ibid., page 89
15 Marquis, op. cit., page 2 54 Pour la difense des interits des travailleurs,
16 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congris de la unite ouvriire: Resolution adopt6e par le IVe
Quatiiime Internationale, Volume 2: L'lnter- Congris de la Ligue Marxiste Rdvolutionaire,
nationale dans la Guerre (1940-1946}, Edi­ Lausanne, n.d. (1978), page 14
tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1981, page 352 55 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 7,
17 Marquis, op. cit., page 2 1977
18 Ibid., page 3; see also Jo Lang: "Marzo 1942: $6 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 27,
Processo Segreto Contro 13 Trotskisti," Rosso, 1978
Lugano, January 1985, pages 2, 15 57 Bresche, Zurich, October 31, 1983
19 Prager, Volume 2, op. cit., page 352 58 Letter to author from Jo Lang, January 16,1984
20 Ibid., page 436 59 Letter to author from Jo Lang, May 3, 1985
21 Marquis, op. cit., page 3 60 Letter to author from Jo Lang, January 16, 1984
22 Ibid., pages 3—4 61 See Sieg fur Indochina!; Die indochineische
23 Ibid., page 5 Revolution ihre Geschichte der Weg rum Sieg
24 Ibid., page 5 die Sozialistische Losung, Revolutionaire
25 Ibid., pages 5-6 Marxistische Liga, Zurich, June 1975
26 Ibid., page 6 62 See Guerre et Revolution au Salvador, Parti
27 Ibid., page 7 Socialiste Ouvrier ( p s o }; Lausanne, 1982
28 Ibid., pages 7-8 63 See La Br&che, Lausanne, November 20, 1982
29 Ibid., page 1 S9 and December 4, 1982
30 Ibid., page 12 64 Rosso, Lugano, November 1982, page 10
31 Ibid., page 159 65 See Maulwarf, Basel, June-July 1982, page 16
32 Ibid., page 12 66 La Briche, Lausanne, November 20,1982, page
33 Ibid., pages 12 -13 12

1036 Notes
67 See Bresche, Zurich, January 24, 1983, page 11, United Secretariat of the Fourth
and Rosso, Lugano, November 1982, page 15 International: Its Origins
68 “Mitenand" fiir Eine Starke Arbeiterbeweg-
ung, Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei, Zurich, Jan­ 1 The Struggle to Reunify the Fourth Interna­
uary 1981, page 1 tional (1954-1963) Volume I: The First Parity
69 See Mutterschafts-Initiative: Die Sorge fiir die Commission and Peng Shu-tse’s "Pabloism Re­
Kinder ist nicht nur Aufgabe der Frauen, viewed/' Socialist Workers Party, New York,
sondern der gansen Gesellschaft! Revolu- *977 , page 5
tionaere Marxistische Liga, Zurich, 1978 2 Ibid., page 16
70 See Vor dem Gesetz sind alle gleich—nur die 3 The relevant documents are to be found in ibid.
Manner eiaes gleicber, Revolutionaere Marx­ 4 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The
istische Liga, Zurich, May 1980 Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London,
71 Stop der Aibeitslosigkeit! 4oStd.-Woche so- 1979 , page 96
fort und ohne Lohnenbusse!, Revolutionaere 5 C. Slaughter (Editor): Trotskyism Versus Revi­
Marxistische Liga, Zurich, February 1976 sionism: A Documentary History, Volume
72 La Biicbe, Lausanne, November ao, 1982, page Four: The International Committee Against
Liquidationism, New Park Publications, Lon­
3
73 Biesche, Zurich, July 2, 1984, page 3 don, 1974, pages 13, is
74 See Mit den Azbeiterngenen die Unternehmen 6 Ibid., page 12
bestimmenl Revolutionaere Marxistische 7 Ibid., pages 2-5
Liga, Zurich, n.d. [1976) 8 Ibid., pages 112-16 9 for documents
75 See Druckindustries: Kampf-gewerkschaft 9 Frank, op. cit., page 107
statt Resignation und Niederlage, Revolu­ 10 International Socialist Review, New York, fall
tionaere Marxistische Liga, Zurich, November 1963, page 114
11 Ibid., page 115
1979
76 See Berufsausbildung im Kreuzveihdr, Revolu­ 12 Ibid., page 125
tionaere Marxistische Liga, Zurich, August 13 Ibid., page 126
1980 14 Ibid., page 129
77 Letter to the author from Jacques Schneider, 15 Ibid., pages 129-130
November 20, 1982 16 Ibid., page 129
78 Action Socialiste, Geneva, March 25, 1984, 17 Ibid., page 130
page s 18 Mercedes Petit: "Apuntes para la Historia del
79 Le Bolchevik, Paris, October 1984, page 1 - 1 1 Trotskismo {de 1938 a 1964!/' October 1980,
80 "Mitenand" fiir eine Starke Arbeiterbewe- pages 24, 3 5-36
gung, op. cit,, page 52
The Trajectory of the United Secretariat

Trotskyist International Liaison Committee 1 International Socialist Review, spring 196s,

page 35
1 Letter to the author from Leon P6rez, June 10, 2 Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The
1982 Long March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London,
1979, pages 118 -119
3 Ibid., page 119
Tunisian Trotskyism 4 Ibid., pages 112 -13 7
5 International Socialist Review, New York,
1 Inprecor, Paris, May 28, 1981, pages 25—:29 spring 1966, page 68
2 Inprecor, Paris, May 28, 1981, pages 30-31 6 Ibid., pages 39-40
3 Inprecor, Paris, December 7, 1981, page 25 7 Ibid., pages 40-43
4 Inprecor, Paris, January 23,1984; see also Inter­ 8 Ibid., page 42
continental Press, New York, February 10, 9 Ibid., pages 43-44
1984, page 74 10 Ibid., page 44
11 Ibid., page 46
12 Ibid., page 48
Trotskyism in Turkey 13 Ibid., pages 49-66
14 Ibid., page 74
1 Letter to the author from Leon Pdrez, June 10, 15 Ibid., page 36
1982 16 International Socialist Review, New York,
2 Inprecor, Paris, January 31, 1983, page 26 winter 1965, page 8

Notes 1037
 17 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27, 53 Ibid., page 28
1982 54 1919 World Congress of the Fourth Interna­
18 Letter to author from Michel Raptis, May 10, tional, Major Resolutions and Reports, Inter­
1982 continental Press/Inprecor, New York, January
19 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, July- 1980, page 52
August 1979, page 18 55 Ibid., page 64
20 Interview with Gilbert Marquis, Paris, July 27, 56 Torch, New York, January 15-February 14,
1982; see also ComitiJs Communistes pour 1980, page 15
l'Autogestion: Questions a la LCR, Paris, 1979/ 57 See "Declaration of the Bolshevik Tendency"
for details on Pablo split with u s e c in International Internal Discussion Bulletin,
21 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, May 20, New York, January 1977
1981, pages i, ii, and iii between pages 22—23 58 Ibid., page 28
22 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, June 59 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, Spartacist, New
*979, page 6 York, December 1982, page 28 ,
23 Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, Paris, July- 60 Ibid., page 16 ' --
August 1979, Pages 18-22 61 Cited in ibid., page 5
24. Leslie Evans' introduction to Joseph Hansen: 62 "Nicaragua and the Fourth International,"
The Leninist Strategy of Party Building: The Statement of the Trotskyist Organizing Com­
Debate on Guerrilla Warfare, Pathfinder Press, mittee [Revolutionary Unity League), n.d.
New York, 1979, page 23 (1979}/ mimeographed, page 1
25 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 14, 63 Ibid., page 1
1969, page 666 64 Torch, New York, January 15-February 14,
26 Ibid., page 669 1980, page 15
27 Ibid., pages 700-714 65 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
28 Hansen, op. cit., pages 70-73 24, 1 979 , page 399
29 Ibid., page 74 66 La Verdad Sobre Moreno, op. cit., page 6
30 Ibid., page 7$ 67 Torch, New York, January is-February 14,
31 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 14, 1980, page 15
1969, page 720 68 Quotes from La Verdad Sobre Moreno, op. cit.,
32 Ibid., page 721 page is
33 Hansen, op. cit., page 70 69 Ibid., page 14
34 Ibid., page 85 70 La Veriti, Paris, December 1979, page 93
35 Ibid., pages 88-89 71 Correspondencia Internacional-La Verdad,
36 Ibid., page 132 Bogoti, November 1980, pages 3-5
37 Ibid., page 2.5 72 Courrier International, Paris, January 1982
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, December 73 Interview with Frangois de Massot, Paris, July
23, 1974, page 1716 24, 1982
39 Ibid., page 1722 74 Earl Owens and Harry Turner: "Report on the
40 Ibid., page 17S4 International Conference at Bogota, Colom­
41 Ibid., page 1765 bia," n.d. (1982), mimeographed
42 Ibid., page 1772 7 5 Letter to author from Leon P6rez, June 10, 1982
43 Ibid., page 1802 76 Wording Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
44 Ibid., page 1802 1985, pages 10 - 11
45 Ibid., page 1814 77 *979 World Congress of the fourth Interna­
46 Ibid., page 1816 tional, op. cit., page 4, and Intercontinental
47 Ibid., page 1720 Press, New York, December 24, 1979, page
48 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 28, 1276
1977, page 3 78 1979 World Congress of the Fourth Interna­
49 International Internal Discussion Bulletin, tional, op. cit., page 7
New York,, January 1977 has the "Declaration 79 Ibid., page ro
of the Bolshevik Tendency." 80 Ibid., page 52
50 International Internal Discussion Bulletin, 81 For texts of major resolutions see ibid.
New York, April 1977, page 19 82 International Socialist Review, New York,
51 See Mary-Alice Waters: "World Movement November 1981
Report," in International Internal Discus­ 83 See The Militant, New York, April 1982, Inter­
sion Bulletin, New York, April 1977, pages national Socialist Review supplement
30-49 84 See The Militant. New York, June 1982, Inter­
52 Hansen, op. cit., page 27 national Socialist Review supplement

1038 Notes
85 Quatrieme Internationale, Paris, March 1983, 25 Irving Howe and Louis Coser: The American
page ii$ Communist Party: A Political History, De
86 See Bulletin Intirieur In ternational de Discus­ Capo Press, New York, 1974, pages 167-168
sion, Paris, March 1982 26 Cannon, op. cit., page 56
87 See Bulletin Interieur In ternational de Discus­ 27 Interview with Albert Glotzer, op. cit.
sion, Paris May 1982 28 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit.,
88 See Resolutions of the Twelfth World Congress page 61
of the Fourth International, Special Issue of 29 Ibid., page 174
International Viewpoint, Paris, n.d. (1985); 30 Cannon, op. cit., page $6
also see [im Percy and Doug Lorimer: The So­ 31 Ibid., page 62
cialist Workers Party and the Fourth Interna­ 32 Ibid., page 63
tional, Pathfinder Press (Australia), Sydney, 33 Ibid., page 67
September 1985; The Militant, New York, 34 Ibid., pages 75-76
March 22,1985, page 9; Intercontinental Press, 35 Ibid., page 78
New York, April 1 , 198s, page 171 j and Bulletin 36 Interview with Albert Glotzer, op. cit.
in Defense of Marxism, New York, April 1985, 37 Cannon, op. cit., page 79
pages 1- 14 38 Ibid., page 83
39 Ibid., page 84
40 Ibid., page 85
U.S. Trotskyism: From Cannonite Faction
41 The Militant, New York, October 10, 1931
to the Workers Party
42 Cannon, op. cit., pages 85-86
r Max Shachtman: "The Reminiscences of Max 43 Ibid., page 87
Shachtman," Columbia University Oral His­ 44 Ibid., page 90
tory, 1963, page 24 45 Shachtman "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit., page
2 Ibid., page 26 174
3 James P. Cannon: The History of American 46 Cannon, op. cit., page 93
Trotskyism From Its Origins (1928) to the 47 Young Spartacus, New York, Match 1934, page
Founding of the Socialist Workers Party (19 38), 5
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1979, page 16 48 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York,
4 Ibid., page 29 April 13, 19SI
5 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July 49 The Militant, New York, October 10, 1931
2, 1981 50 Albert Glotzer: Unpublished Memoirs (MS),
6 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit., page 95
page 73 51 Interview with Albert Glotzer, op. cit.
7 Cannon, op. cit., page 32 52 Shachtman: "25 Years of American Trots­
8 Ibid., page 31 kyism," op. cit., page 17
9 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July 53 Ibid., pages 17-18
2, 1981 $4 Ibid., page 18
10 Cannon, op, cit., page 35 55 Ibid., page 19
11 Max Shachtman: "25 Years of American Trots­ 56 Ibid., page 20
kyism," New International, January-February 57 Ibid., page 21
I9S4, page is 58 Cannon, op. cit., page 75
12 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July 59 Ibid., page 78
2, 1981 60 Interview with Albert Glotzer, op. cit.
13 Cannon, op. cit., page 44 61 W. A. Swanberg: Norman Thomas: The Last
14 Ibid., page 4 S Idealist, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,
15 Ibid., pages 49-50 1976, pages 101-10 2
16 Ibid., page 52 62 Robert J. Alexander: The Lov&stoneites and
17 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit., the International Communist Opposition of
page 70 the 1930's, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1981,
18 Ibid., pages 199-n o page 43
19 Ibid., page 115 63 LeonTrotsky: Writings of LeonTrotsky (1930-
20 Ibid., page 12.7 31), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages
21 Ibid., page 46 333-334
22 Ibid., pages 159-161 64 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193 2),
23 Cannon, op. cit., page 54 Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973, pages 104-
24 Shachtman: "25 Years of American Trots­ 105
kyism," op. cit., page 14 65 Ibid., page 105

Notes 1039
 66 Ibid., pages 105-106 4 Cannon, op. cit., page 200
67 Ibid., page 106 5 Ibid., page 202
68 Ibid., page 107 6 Ibid., page 2 11
69 Ibid., page 398 7 New Militant, July 6, 1935
70 Ibid., page 366 8 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York
71 Cannon, op. cit., page 127 City, April 13, 1951
72 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (193 2), 9 Cannon, op. cit., pages 214-215
op. cit., page 256 10 Sidney Lens: Unrepentant Radical: An Ameri-
73 Ibid., page 175 can Activists' Account of Five Turbulent De­
74 Ibid., pages 155-257 cades, Beacon Press, Boston, 1980, page 43
75 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932- 11 Ibid., page 60
33), Pathfinder Press, New York, 1978, page 12 Ibid., pages 61-62
326 13 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York
76 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky 11932), City, April 27, 1951
op. cit., page 401 14. "An Open Letter to the Friends-of the Debs
77 Cannon, op. cit., pages 126-135 Column," signed by Revolutionary Workers
78 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York League, U.S. NY District and Young Workers
City, April 13, 1951 League, NY District, n.d. (1936)
79 Labor Front, New York City, October 1937, 15 See also Sid Lens, op. cit., pages 82-84
page 3 16 International News, New York City, July 1941,
80 Cannon, op. cit., page 137 Vol 3 #6
81 For extensive coverage of the Minneapolis 17 Fighting Worker, New York, July 1941
strikes, see Cannon, op. cit., and Farrell Dobbs: 18 Fighting Worker, New York, August 13, 1941
Teamsters Power, Monad Press, New York, 19 Lens, op. cit., page 91
1973 20 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York
82 Cannon, op. cit., page 167 City, April 13, 1951
83 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York, July 21 Fighting Worker, New York, July 1946
2, 1981 22 Interview with George Marlen, New York City,
84 See Toward an American Revolutionary Labor April 13, 1951
Movement: Draft Program of the American 23 Quoted by Daniel Bell: "The Splinter Groups:
Workers Party, The Provisional Organizing Notes for a Guide-Book," Encounter, April
Committee of the American Workers Party, 1957 , page 56
New York, 1934 24 Interview with Thomas Stamm, New York
85 Cannon, op. cit., page 170 City, April 13, 19SI
86 Ibid., page 188 25 For a study of Norman Thomas' "All Inclusive
87 The Militant, New York, December 8, 1934, Socialist Party” idea, see Dennis McGreen:
pages 1, 4 "Norman Thomas and the Search for an All-
88 Labor Action, December 15, 1934, page 3 Inclusive Socialist Party, "History dissertation,
89 Ibid., page 2 Rutgers University, 1975
90 Declaration of Principles and Constitution of 26 Interview with A. J. Muste, New Brunswick,
the Workers Party of the U.S., Pioneer Publish­ N.J., January 24, 1951
ers, New York, n.d. (1935), page 9 27 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York
91 Ibid., page 10 City, May 25, 1951
92 Ibid., pages ro~i 1 28 Interview with A. J. Muste, New Brunswick,
93 Ibid., page 9 N.J., May 25, 1951
94 Ibid., pages 18-19 29 M. S. Venkatarawani: "Leon Trotsky's Adven­
95 Ibid., page 17 ture in American Radical Politics, (1935-37),"
International Review of Social History, Vol­
ume 9, 1964, page 6
U.S. Trotskyism: The French Turn
30 Ibid., page 7
in the United States
31 Ibid., page 9 ^
1 James P. Cannon: The History of American 32 Cannon, op. cit., page 231
Trotskyism, From Its Origins (1928) to the 33 M. S. Venkatarawani article, op. cit., page 9
Founding of the Socialist Workers Party (1938), 34 Ibid., page 10
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1979, page 198 35 Interview with Norman Thomas, New York
2 New Militant, New York, March 16, 1935 City, December 23, 1948
3 A. J. Muste and Rose Karsner: undated printed 36 Letter of Norman Thomas to Arthur McDow­
letter to "Dear Friend/' on Workers Party sta­ ell, February 13,1936, Norman Thomas Papers,
tionery I1935] New York Public Library

1040 Notes
37 Letter of Norman Thomas "To My Comrades 66 Letter of Lillian Symes to Norman Thomas,
in Pennsylvania," n.d., but late June 1936, Nor­ February 16, 19 3 7 , Norman Thomas Papers,
man Thomas Papers, New York Public Library New York Public Library
38 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York City, 6 7 Cannon, op. cit., page 247
March 6, 1973 68 Ibid., page 24 8
39 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York 69 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York
City, May 25, 1951 City, May 2 5 , 1 9 5 1
4.0 Cannon, op. cit., page 233 7 0 Cannon, op. cit., page 249
41 Interview with A. J. Muste, New Brunswick, 71 Interview with Max Shachtman, in New York,
N.J., January 24, 1951 May 2 5 , 1 9 5 1
42 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York City, 7 2 Cannon, op. cit., page 249
March 6, 1973 73 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York
43 Interview with A. J. Muste, New Brunswick, City, May 2 5 , 1 9 5 1
N.J., January 24, 1951 74 M. S. Venkatarawani article, op. cit., pages
44 Max Shachtman: "The Reminiscences of Max 2 3 -2 5
Shachtman," Columbia University Oral His­ 75 Cited in Venkatarawani article, op. cit., page
tory, 1963, page 267 28
45 1936 Platform of Socialist Party of Minnesota, 76 Shachtman: "Reminiscences, etc.," op. cit.,
Norman Thomas Papers, New York Public Li­ pages 2 9 5 -2 9 8
brary 77 Letter of Norman Thomas to several friends,
46 Interview with Albert Glotzer, New York City, June 22 , 19 3 7 , Norman Thomas Papers, New
March 6, 1973 York Public Library
47 Cannon, op. cit., page 244; see also Max Shacht­ 78 Minutes of City Executive Committee of Local
man: "Reminiscences, etc.," op. cit., pages New York, Socialist Party meeting, Monday,
261-262 July 26, 19 3 7 , Norman Thomas Papers, New
48 Cannon, op. cit., pages 244-24S York Public Library
49 Ibid., page 245 79 Socialist Appeal, New York City, August 14 ,
50 Letter of Frank Trager to Norman Thomas, 1937
February 23, 1937, Norman Thomas Papers, 80 Socialist Appeal, New York City, August 2 1,
New York Public Library 1937
51 Cannon, op. cit., page 241 81 Letter of Norman Thomas to Devere Allen,
52 Socialist Call, New York, November 28, 1936 Jack Altman, Gus Tyler, October 6 , 1 9 3 7 , Nor­
53 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York man Thomas Papers, New York Public Library
City, May 25, 1951 82 "Report of the National Secretary to the Na­
54 Cannon, op. cit., pages 242-243 tional Convention, April 1 1 - 2 3 , 19 3 8 , Keno­
55 Ibid., page 243 sha, Wise.," Norman Thomas Papers, New
56 Ibid., page 251 York Public Library
57 Article by Clarence Hathaway: on "Trots­ 83 Cannon, op. cit., page 239
kyism in the United States," The Communist, 84 Ibid., page 2 5 1
March 1937, page 272 85 Interviews with Ernest Erber, Highland Park,
58 Ibid., page 275 N.J., December 4 , 1 9 7 0 , and Irving Howe, New
59 Ibid., page 278 York City, July 2, 19 8 1
60 Max Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.,” op. 86 Cannon, op. cit., page 2 5 1
cit., page 276—277 87 Ibid., page 2 5 4
61 Letter of Norman Thomas to Max Delson et
al., August 7, 1936, Norman Thomas Papers,
New York Public Library U.S. Trotskyism: The Shachtmanite Split
62 Letter of Norman Thomas to Glen Trimble,
December 2, 1936, Norman Thomas Papers, 1 George Novack: "Max Shachtman, A Political
New York Public Library Portrait," in International Socialist Review,
63 Letter of Norman Thomas to David Lasser, Jan­ February 1973
uary 2i, 1937, Norman Thomas Papers, New 2 James Cannon: "Speech on American Trots­
York Public Library kyism," Fourth International, November-De-
64 Letter of Norman Thomas to Lillian Symes, cember 1953, pages 16-17
February 3, 1937, Norman Thomas Papers, 3 Cited in Max Shachtman: The Buieauciatic
New York Public Library Revolution: The Rise of the Stalinist State, The
65 Letter of Norman Thomas to Paul Porter, Feb­ Donald Press, New York, 1962, page 38
ruary 4, 1937, Norman Thomas Papers, New 4 Interviews with Emanuel Geltman, September
York Public Library 10, 1971 and Albert Glotzer, July 2, 1981

Notes 1041
 5 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 34 Leon Trotsky: In Defense of Marxism, op. cit.,
September 10, 1971 pages 72-94
6 Constance Ashton Myers: The Prophet's 35 James Bumham: "Science and Style: A Reply
Army: Trotskyists in America, 1928-1941, to Comrade Trotsky," February 1, 1940 (mim­
Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1977/ page eographed), page 3
1S 4 36 Ibid., page 4
7 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 37 Ibid., pages 5-6
June 14, 1981 38 Ibid., page 8
8 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 39 Ibid., page 9
September 10, 1971 40 Ibid., page 11
9 Interviews with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 41 Ibid., page 14
September 10, 1971 and June 14, 1981 43 Ibid., page 15
10 Interview with Max Shachtman, New York, 43 Ibid., page 16; see also Leon Trotsky: In De­
June a 1, 1970 fense of Marxism, op. cit., pages 187-206
1 r "The Russian Question: Resolution of the 1941 44 "Who Has Been'Preparing a Split in the Party?"
Convention on the Character of the Russian op. cit., page 6
State," Basic Documents, Series No. 1, pub­ 45 Myers, op. cit., page 156
lished by National Educational Department, 46 "Who Has Been Preparing aSplit in the Party?"
Workers Party of the U.S.A., p. iii op. cit., page i ; see also Max Shachtman:
12 Myers, op. cit., page 152; see also Max Shacht­ "Reminiscences etc.," page 318
man: "The Reminiscences of Max Shacht­ 47 "Who lias Been Preparing a Split in the Party?"
man," Columbia University Oral History, op. cit., page 7; see also James P. Cannon: The
1963, page 307 Struggle for a Proletarian Party, op. cit., pages
13 "Where is the Petty Bourgeois Opposition?" 141-146
Political Committee Minority, swp, March 9, 48 Interview with Stanley Plastrik, Lima, Peru,
1940 (Mimeographed) July 1 a, 1971
14 Lebrun (Mario Pedrosa): "The Defense of the 49 Cannon: The Struggle for a Proletarian Party,
U.S.S.R. in the Present War (Document for Dis­ op. cit., pages 35-49
cussion in the International)," November 9, 50 Myers, op. cit., page 158
1939 51 James P. Cannon: Writings and SpeBches,
15 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.”, op. cit., 1940-43: The Socialist Workers Party in World
page 313 War II, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1975, page
16 Ibid., page 314 3i
17 Ibid., page 315 52 Ibid., pages 19, 3 1 ; see also "The Results of the
18 Myers, op. cit., page I S3 ■ Convention," s w p Opposition (mimeo­
19 "Who Has Been Preparing a Split in the Party?" graphed), n.d. (April 1940), page 1
SWP Minority document, March 1940, page 2 53 Cannon: Writings and Speeches etc., op. cit.,
ao Ibid., page 3 Page 35
21 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit., 54 "The Results of the Convention," op. cit., page
pages 3 10 -3 11 1
22 Ibid., page 313 55 "The Second World War and the Soviet
23 See Leon Trotsky: In Defense of Marxism, Union," swp Minority, February 26, 1940
Pathfinder Press, New York, 1981 (mimeographed)
24 See James P. Cannon: The Struggle for a Prole­ 56 Myers, op. cit., pages 163-164
tarian Party, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977 57 "Resolution on Party Unity," swp Minority,
as Max Shachtman: "The Crisis in the American 1940(Mimeographed)
Party: An Open Letter in Reply to Comrade 58 Myers, op. cit., page 163
Trotsky/' January 1, 1940 (mimeographed), 59 Ibid., pages 164-166
page 11 60 Cannon: Writings and Speeches, etc., op. cit.,
26 Ibid., pages 1 1 - 1 2 page 31
27 Ibid., pages 12 -13 61 Myers, op. cit., page 1 65^
28 Ibid., pages 1 5 - 1 6 62 Shachtman: "Reminiscences etc.," op. cit.,
29 Ibid., page 16 page 336
30 Ibid., page 12 63 Ibid., page 337
31 "Where is the Petty Bourgeois Opposition?" 64 Ibid., page 338
op. cit., page 9 6s James Bumham: The Managerial Revolution,
32 Ibid., page 11 John Day, New York, 1941
33 Interview with Emest Erber, Highland Park, 66 Dwight McDonald: "Politics Past," Encounter,
N.J., December 4, 1970 April 1957, pages 63-64

1042 Notes
67 Shachtman: The Bureaucratic Revolution etc., ■in the 'American Century/ Writings and
op. cit., page 56 Speeches, 1945-47, Pathfinder Press, New
68 "The Russian Question etc.," op. cit., page 8 York, 1977, page 446
69 Shachtman: The Bureaucratic Revolution etc., 6 Ibid., 282
op. cit., page 39 7 David Frankel: "The Proletarian Military Pol­
70 Ibid., page 40 icy Today," Intercontinental Press. April 14,
71 Ibid., pages 43-44 1980,page 373
72 Ibid., page 45 8 C.L.R. James, George Breitman, Edgar Keemer
73 Ibid., page 50 and Others: Fighting Racism in World War II,
74 Ibid., page 51 Monad Press, New York, 1980, page 12 1
75 "The Russian Question etc.,''op. cit., page iv 9 Ibid., page 122
76 Ken Worcester: "C.L.R. James and the Ameri­ 10 Farrell Dobbs: "A Disagreement with Trotsky
can Century, 1938-1953: A Political Biogra­ Over Tactics," Intercontinental Press, March
phy," Political Science Honors Paper, Univer­ 1, 1976, pages 312-316
sity of Massachusetts at Boston, spring 1982, 11 Tim Wohlforth: "Cannon on How to Build a
page 30 Revolutionary Party," Intercontinental Press,
77 Ibid., page 38 August 30, 1976, page 1233
78 Ibid., pages 41-43 12 Interview with B. J. Widick, New York City,
79 Cited in Ibid., page 40 April 9, 1982
80 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 13 Stephen Schwartz: "Memorandum on Trots­
June 24, 1981 kyists in the U.S. West Coast Maritime Indus­
81 Interview with Irving Howe, New York, July 2, try, 1936-1949/' n.d. (1983?!
1981 14 Mary-Alice Waters: "Tom Kerry: Proletarian
82 Labor Action. New York, December 12, 1940, Fighter," The Militant, January 28, 1983
page 2 15 Stephen Schwartz: "Memorandum etc.," op.
83 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, cit.
June 24, 1981 16 Ralph C. James and Estelle Dinerstein James:
84 Ibid. Hoffa and the Teamsters: A Study of Union
85 Interview with Ernest Erber, Highland Park, Power, D. Van Nostrand Company Inc.,
N.J., December 4, 1970 Princeton, N.J., 1965, pages 102-103
86 Interview with Irving Howe, New York, July 2, 17 Farrell Dobbs: Teamsters Power, Monad Press,
1981 New York, 1973 page 127
87 Interviews with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 18 Ibid., page 129
September 10, 1971 and June 24, 1981 19 James and James, op. cit., page 103
88 Interview with Emanuel Geltman, New York, 20 James R. Hoffa (as told to Donald I. Rogers):
September 10, 1971 The Trials of fimmy Hoffa, An Autobiography,
89 Interviews with Emanuel Geltman, June 24, Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1970, page
1981, and Irving Howe, July 2, 1981 106
90 Labor Action, New York, October 16, 1954, 21 For extensive descriptions of this campaign see
page 4 Farrell Dobbs, op. cit., and James R. Hoffa, op.
91 Ibid. cit.
92 Ibid., page 12 22 Hoffa, op. cit., page 108
93 Labor Action. New York, March 25,1957, page 23 Interview with B. J. Widick, New York City,
2 April 9, 1982
94 Labor Action, New York, July 29, 1957, pages 24 See Dobbs, op. cit., pages 246-248
6-8 25 James and James, op. cit, page 104, and Hoffa
op, cit.,pages 13 0 -13 1
26 James and James, op. cit., page 105
U.S. Trotskyism: The swp During and
27 Interview with George Breitman, New York
Immediately After World War II
City, April 14, 1982
1 LeonTrotsky: Oeuvres Mars/fuin 1938. Insti- 28 New York Times, July 16, 1941
tut L6on Trotsky, Paris, 1984 (Volume 17], 29 James and James, op. cit., page 108
Pierre Brou6, Editor, pages 4S-62 30 Hoffa, op. cit., page 134
2 Leon Trotsky: Writings of Leon Trotsky (1937- 31 James and James, op. cit., page n o
38). Pathfinder Press, New York, r976, pages 32 Interview with George Breitman, New York,
493-494 April 14, 1982
3 Ibid., page 496 33 Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism etc., op.
4 Ibid., pages 4 9 2 -4 9 3 cit., page 423
5 James P. Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism 34 Alan Wald: "James T. Farrell: 1904-1979," In­

Notes 1043
 tercontinental Press, New York, September 24, 81 Ibid., pages 329-330
1979 82 Ibid., pages 339-340
35 Interview with George Breitman, New York, 83 See "Our Relations with the Workers Party,"
April 14, 1982 in ibid., pages 408-421
36 New Leader, New York, December 19, 1942 84 Ibid., page 396
37 New York Times, July 16, 1941 85 Ibid., page 420
38 James and James, op. cit., page 109 86 Ibid., page 454
39 Ibid., page 109 87 Bulletin of the Tamiment Library, New York
40 C.L.R. James et al., op. cit., page 23 University, #47, April 1971
41 For a broad sample of s w p publications about
the black struggle, see C.L.R. James et al. op.
cit. U.S. Trotskyism: The swp in the
42 Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism etc., op. Difficult 195 os
cit., page 114
43 Ibid., page 418 x Introduction-to C.L.R. James, George Breit­
44 C.L.R. James et al., op. cit., page 23 man, Edgar Keemer and Others: Fighting Rac­
45 Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism etc., op. ism in World War II, Monad Press, New York,
cit., page 103 1980, page 24
46 Ibid., page 160 2 James P. Cannon: Speeches for Socialism, Path­
47 Ibid., page 284 finder Press, New York, 1971, pages 445—446
48 Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism etc., op. 3 Cited in Tim Wohlforth: The Struggle for
cit., page z$6 Marxism in the United States, Bulletin Publi­
49 Ibid., page 262 cations, New York, n.d. (1968), page 61
50 Ibid., page 283 4 Cannon, op. cit., page 135
51 Ibid., page 265 5 Ibid., page 137
52 Ibid., page 266 6 Interview with Joyce Cowley, Highland Park,
53 Ibid., page 267 N.J., April 1, 1957
54 Ibid., page 269 7 Interview with Jules Geller, New York, May
5s Ibid., page 270 13, 1982
56 Ibid., page 271 8 Interview with Bert Cochran, New York, Au­
57 Ibid., page 56 gust 23, 1982
58 Ibid., pages 64-65 9 Interview with George Breitman, New York,
59 Peter Jenkins: Where Trotskyism Got Last: April 14, 1982
The Restoration of European Democracy After 10 Interview with Jules Geller, New York, May
the Second World War, Spokesman Pamphlet 13/ 1982
No. 57, London, 1977, page 6 11 Interview with Bert Cochran, New York, Au­
60 Ibid., page 7 gust 23, 1982
61 Ibid., page 8 12 Towards a History of the Fourth In ternational:
62 Ibid., page 12 Part 3: Struggle in the Fourth International,
63 Ibid., page 16 International Committee Documents I9 $ l-
64 Cannon: The Struggle for Socialism etc., op. 1956, Education for Socialists, Issued by the
cit., page 441 National Education Department, Socialist
65 Ibid., pages 447-448 Workers Party, Pathfinder Press, New York,
66 Ibid., pages 97-99 March 1974. volume 1, page 4
67 Ibid., page 113 13 Ibid., pages 6-9, 30-32
68 Ibid., page 135 14 Tim Wohlforth, op. cit., page 59
69 Ibid., page 163 15 Towards a History of the Fourth International
70 Ibid., page 435-437 etc., op. cit., Volumes 1 and 3
71 Ibid., page 21 s 16 Cited in Wohlforth, op. cit., page 59
72 Ibid., page 434 17 Towards a History of the Fourth International
73 Ibid., page 442 etc., op. cit., Volume 1, page 45
74 Ibid., page 444 18 Ibid., page 44
75 Ibid., page 44s 19 Ibid., Volume 3, page 157
76 Ibid., page 463 20 Interview with Jules Geller, New York, May
77 Ibid., page 451 13, 1982
78 Ibid., page 324 21 Towards a History of the Fourth International
79 Ibid., pages 324-325 etc., op. cit., Volume 3, page 159
80 Ibid., page 326 22 Ibid., page 163

1044 Notes
23 Le tter of David Herreshoff to Frank Lovel 1, Sep- Revolution," Workers World, New York, Sep­
tember 18, 1979 tember 17, 1976, page 9
24 Letter to author from David Herreshoff, April 55 Cannon, op. cit., page 335
7, 1982
25 Letter of David Herreshoff to Frank Lovell, op.
U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p , the y s a and the
cit.
New Left Movements in the 1960s
26 Interview with Jules Geller, New York, May
*3, 1982 1 George Novack (editor): The Nature of the Cu­
27 Letter to author from David Herreshoff, April ban Revolution, Education for Socialist, Issued
7, 1982 by the National Education Department, Social­
28 Interview with Bert Cochran, New York, Au­ ist Workers Party, New York, April 1968, page
gust 23, 1982 29
29 Letter to author from David Herreshoff, March a Ibid., page 30
19, 1982 3 Ibid., page 2
30 Letter to author from David Herreshoff, April 4 Ibid., page 16
7, 1982 5 Ibid., page 17
31 Interview with Bert Cochran, New York, Au­ 6 Ibid., page 19
gust 23, 1982 7 Ibid., page 21
32 Interview with Jules Geller, New York, May 8 Joseph Hansen: "Stalinism or Trotskyism in
13, 1982 the Cuban Revolution," International Social­
33 Cannon, op. cit., page 341 ist Review, New York, summer 1966, page 100
34 Letter to author from George Breitman, June 7, 9 " s w p : Witness for the Prosecution, In Defense

1982 of the Cuban Trotskyists," Workers Vanguard,

35 Cannon, op. cit., pages 1 7 1 - 17 1 February 16, 1979, pages 4-5
36 Murry Weiss: "Two Concepts of Socialist 10 Joseph Hansen article, op. cit., pages 103-104
Unity," International Socialist Review, winter 11 Interview with Dra. Berta Pla, New York City,
<957 / page 3 April 1, i960
37 Cited in ibid., page 4 12 Tim Wohlforth: The Struggle for Marxism in
38 Cannon, op. cit., page 338 the United States, Bulletin Publications, New
39 Ibid., page 3S4 York, n.d. (1968), page 68
40 Ibid., page 361 13 Jack Barnes: "Cuba—Twenty Years of Revolu­
41 TheMilitant, New York, January 1 8 , 19 S7/ page tion," Intercontinental Press, February 19,
3 1979, page IS 7
42 Throwaway, "For a United Socialist Ticket," 14 Julius Jacobson: "Neo Stalinism: The Achilles
Socialist Workers Party, 1958 Heel of the Peace Movement and the American
43 Sam Bottone: "The 'United Independent So­ Left," New Politics, winter 1976, page 49
cialist Conference,' " Labor Action, New York, 1s The Mihtant, New York, April 6, 1964, page 5
July 14, 1958, page 7 r6 Fred Feldman: "The Role of the Antiwar Move­
44 Labor Action, New York, September 8, 1958 ment," Intercontinental Press, February 5,
45 William Albertson: "Trotskyites Sell Out the 1973, page 108
Peace Fight," in The. Worker, November 2, 17 Ibid., page 109
1958, pages 4-s 18 Peter Abbott: " 'New' Left Vs. 'Trotskyist
46 Interview with Myra Tanner Weiss, Piscata- Wreckers' at NCC Convention on Vietnam,"
way, N.J., August 8, 1970 New America, New York, December 18, 1965,
47 Tim Wohlforth: "What the Radical Youth page 1
Need," International Socialist Review. Winter 19 Fred Feldman article, op. cit., page 109
1958, pages 23-24 20 "The Cleveland s m c Conference," The Cam­
48 Interview with George Breitman, April 14, paigner, New York, June-July 1970, page 19
1982 21 David McReynolds: "Two Strategies for the
49 Wohlforth article, op. cit., pages 24-25 Peace Movement," New Politics, New York,
50 The Militant, New York, May 20, 1957 spring 1970, page 5
5 r The Militant, New York, April 25, i960, pages 22 Ibid., page s
1-2 23 ibid., page 8
52 Interview with George Breitman, New York, 24 Ibid., page 8
April 14, 1982 25 The Militant, New York, November 8, 1968
53 Workers World, New York, May 1, 1959, page 26 David Finkel: "Anti-War Coalition Sounds Re­
2 treat," Workers' Power, New York, December
54 Deirdre Griswold: "In defense of the Chinese 24, i97i~January 20, 1972

Notes 1045
 27 The Militant, New York, April 6, 1964, page 5 61 See Marxist Bulletin No. 3: The Split in the
28 George Breitman: The Last Year of Malcolm Revolutionary Tendency: Documents and
X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary, Merit Correspondence on the 1962 Rupture by Phil­
Publishers, New York, 1967, page 28 ips, Wohlforth and Healy of the Minority Ten­
29 Ibid., page 30 dency of the SWP, Spartacist, New York, April
30 Ibid., pages 33-34 1968, for documentation on this
31 The Militant, New York, April 6, 1964, page 7 62 Marxist Bulletin No. 4■, Expulsion from the So­
32 George Breitman (editor): Leon Trotsky on cialist Workers Party: Documents on the Ex­
Black Nationalism and Self-Determination, clusion of the Revolutionary Tendency Sup­
Merit Publishers, New York, 1967, page 56 porters, Parts I and II, Spartacist, New York,
33 Quoted in Malcolm Kaufman: "The Socialist October 1967, page iii
Workers Party," Socialist Forum, April-May 63 Intercontinental Press, New York, February
1971, page 18 24, 1975
34 The Militant, New York, April 6, 1964, page 5 64 Marxist Bulletin No 4, op. cit., page iv
35 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 65 Ibid., page 23-
4, 1968, page 946 66 Interview with Myra Tanner Weiss, Piscata-
36 "The Case for an Independent Black Political way, N.J., August 8, 1970
Party," International Socialist Review, Janu­ 67 P'eng Shu-tse: The Chinese Communist Party
ary—February 1968, page 55 in Power, Monad Press, New York, 1980, page
37 The Militant, New York, November 8, 1968 487
38 George Novack: Revolutionary Dynamics of
Women's Liberation, Merit Publishers, New
U.S. Trotskyism: The Socialist Workers Party
York, 1969, page 18
in the 1970s and Early X9805
39 Ibid., pages 18-19
40 Ibid., page is 1 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 10,
41 Ibid., page 16 1972, page 18
42 Ibid., page 19 2 In tercon tinen tal Press,, N ew York, February 2,
43 The Militant, New York, November 8, 1968 1976, page 13 1
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 31,
4, 1968, page 947 1977, page 77
45 The Militant, New York, November 8, 1968 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 16,
46 Laurence Ireland: "What the Discussion is Re­ 1978, page 41
ally About," Marxist Bulletin No. 2, page 32 5 Cited in Young Spartacus, New York, February
47 International Socialist Review, November 1980, page 3
1971, pages 9-10 6 Young Spartacus, February 1979, page 8
48 International Socialist Review, November 7 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
1971, page 17 27, 1976, page 1351
49 Ibid., page 15 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 8,
50 Ibid., page 16 1979, page 962
51 Ibid., page 50 9 Quoted in Pedro Camejo: Against Sectarian­
52 Ibid., page 55 ism: The Evolution of the Socialist Workers
5 3 Marxist Bulletin No. 1: In Defense of a Revolu­ Party 1978-1983, Berkeley, Cal., 1983, page s
tionary Perspectiver Spartacist, New York, 10 Ibid., pages 7-8
1965, page 1 11 Quoted in ibid., page 11
54 Tim Wohlforth: "Towards the Working Class," 12 Quoted in ibid., page 12
Marxist Bulletin No. 2: The Nature of the So­ 13 Quoted in ibid., pages 12 -13
cialist Workers Party—Revolutionary or Ceri- 14 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 8,
trist: Discussion Material of the Revolutionary >979, pages 963-964
Tendency Within the SWP, Spartacist, New 15 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 8,
York, September 1965, page 29 1979, pages 962.-963
55 Marxist Bulletin No. 1, op. cit., page 2 16 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
56 Ibid., page 17 10, 1982, page 722 ’*■■.
57 Ibid., pages 17-18 17 Ibid., page 720
58 Marxist Bulletin No. 2, op. cit., page %% 18 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New
59 James Robertson letter to Dear Ed, Marxist Bul­ York, November 24, 1980, page 1219
letin No. 2, op. cit., page s 19 Ibid., page 1220
60 Tim Wohlforth: "Towards the Working Class," 20 Cited in Camejo, op. cit., page 18
op. cit., page 29 21 Ibid., pages 19-20

1046 Notes
22 See Socialist Action Information Bulletin, San 54 Workers Vanguard, New York, August 11,
Francisco, No. i, pages xi & 13 1978
23 Ibid., page 13 55 Class Struggle, New York, November 1974;
24 "The 1972 Socialise Workers Party Platform," Workers Vanguard, New York, July 17, 1981,
25 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 15, page 2; and Intercontinental Press, New York,
1973 , page 7 June 29, 1981, pages 681-682
26 Intercontinental Press, November 6, 1972, 56 Intercontinental Press (Spanish version), New
pages 1200-1201 York, February 9, 1976, pages 203-204
27 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 13, 57 Young Socialist, New York, April 1979, page 5
1975 58 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
28 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 22, 1980, page 1340
29, 1976, page 1714 59 Young Socialist, New York, April 1979, page 5
29 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 11, 60 The Militant, New York, November 17, 1978
1976, Page 1439 61 The Militant, New York, February 23, 1979
30 Intercontinental Press, New York, November 62 See Intercontinental Press, New York, Novem­
2 9 , 1976, page 1715 ber 26, 1979, page 1152, and December 3,1979,
31 Andrew Pulley: "How to Stop the Draft," So­ page 1176
cialist Workers Presidential Campaign Com­ 63 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 20,
mittee, New York, 1970 1980, page 1058
32 Internationalist Workers' Party (Fourth Inter­
national): "An Open Letter to s w p Members
U.S. Trotskyism: The s w p Purge of the Early
and Supporters: Where is the s w p Going?" Los
1980s and Its Aftermath
Angeles, October 2, 1982, page 1
33 New Yoik Times, March 11, 1984 1 All of the foregoing from "A Platform to Over­
34 The Militant, New York, November 9, 1984 come the Crisis in the Party," Socialist Action
35 New Yoik Times, December 2 2 , 1984, page 10 Information Bulletin, San Francisco, No. 1,
36 Intercontinental Press, New York, September page 9
20, 1982., page 724 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
37 Reprinted in Intercontinental Press, New 20, 1982, page 723
York, August 6, 1973/ page 972 3 "A Platform to Overcome etc./' op. cit., page 9
38 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 20, 4 Perspectiva Mundial, New York, March 5,
1978,page 332; July 17, 1978, pages 858, 876; 1984, page isj and New International, New
and April 23, 1979, page 415 York, fall 1983, page 9
39 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 31, 5 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 40; New
1975 / Page 418 International, op. cit., page 73
40 lnteicontinental Press, New York, May 12, 6 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 42; New
1980, page 483 International, op. cit., page 81
41 Workers Vanguard, New York, November 14, 7 New International, op. cit., page 81
1980 8 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 41
42 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 9 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 23; New
27, 1976, page 1346 International op. cit., page 26
43 Intercontinental Press, New York, July 6,1981, 10 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 38; New
page 702 International, op. cit., page 89
44 Intercontinental Press, New York, September 11 Perspectiva Mundial, op. cit., page 46; New
9, 1974/ page 1107 International, op. cit., page 86
45 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 2, ia Socialist Action, San Francisco, December
1970, page 171 1983. Page 8
46 Intercontinental Pzess, January 29, 1979, page 13 Intercontinental Press. May 14,1984, page 283
5i 14 Ibid., page 284
47 Class Struggle, New York, February 1 97 3, page 7 15 Intercontinental Press, May 14, 1984
48 Ibid., page 8 16 Intercontinental Press, September 17, 1984,
49 Vanguard Newsletter, New York, November page 52-8
1972, page 161 17 Workers Vanguard, New York, April 27, 1984,
50 Class Struggle. New York, February 1973, page 7 page 6
51 Ibid., page 8 18 Ibid., page ?
$2 Workers Vanguard, New York., August 11, 19 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism. New York,
1978 No. 3, February 1984, page 7
S3 Class Struggle, New York, November 19, 1974 20 Ibid., pages 7-9

Notes 1047
21 Workers Vanguard, April 27, 1984, page 7 60 Ibid., page 8
22 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 3, Febru­ 61 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, August 1986,
ary 1984, page 6 page 27
2 1 Ibid., page 2 62 Pedro Camejo: Against Sectarianism: The Evo­
24 See Socialist Action Information Bulletin, Jan­ lution of the Socialist Workers Party 1978-
uary 1984 and Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, 1983, Berkeley, Cal., 1983, page 3
February 1984 for these documents. 63 Ibid., page 36
25 See Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. i, 64 Ibid., page 39
December 1983 for this document 65 Socialist Action Information Bulletin, No. 1,
26 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, April January 1984, page 35
1984, page 46 66 Interview with Leon P6rez of Internationalist
27 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 2, January Workers Party [Fourth International} in New
1984, page 1 York, September 20, 1983
28 Socialist Action Information Bulletin, No. i, 67 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, March
January 1984, page 34 1984, page 3"
29 Ibid., page 37 68 Intercontinental Press, November 20, 1983,
30 Ibid., page 40 pages 704-708
31 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 3, Febru­ 69 Intercontinental Press, New York, February 4,
ary 1984, page 4 1986, page 43
32 Reprinted in Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, 70 See Inprecor, Paris, February 20, 1984, pages
No. 4, March 1984, page 9 18-26 and Tribune Internationale, Paris, April
33 Ibid., page 10 1984, page 12
34 Socialist Action Information Bulletin, No. 1, 71 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 1, Decem­
January 1984, page 44 ber 1983, page 4
35 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, March 72 Ibid., page 6—8
1984, page 9 73 Ibid., page 2
36 Ibid., pages 9-10 74 Ibid., page 9
37 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, March 75 This and previous quotation from ibid, page io
T984, page 9 76 Michigan Friends of Socialist Action Newslet­
38 Ibid., page 21 ter, No. 1, February 1984, pages 1-2
39 Ibid., page 9 77 New International, New York, fall 1983, page
40 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 2, January 3
1984, page 5 78 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 1 1, Sep­
41 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, March tember 1984, page 4
1984, page 11 79 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 18, Octo­
42 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 11, Sep­ ber 1984, page 2
tember 1984, pages 4—8 80 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 17, March
43 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 3, Febru­ 1985, page 2
ary 1984, pages 7-9 81 Stuart Brown: " s w p Convention Rejects World
44 Ibid., page 6 Congress Demand for Reinstatement of Ex­
45 Ibid., page 3 pelled Members," Bulletin in Defense of Marx­
46 Ibid., page 5 ism, No. 23, October 198s, page 2
47 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 4, March 82 "The s w p ( u s a ) Rejects the Organizational De­
1984, inside cover mands of the Twelfth World Congress," Bulle­
48 Ibid., pages 2-3 tin in Defense of Marxism, No. 25, December
49 See Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 12, 1985, pages 1—2
October 1984, pages 3-4 83 Larry Seigle: "Evolution of Percy Camejo Cur­
50 Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, No. 10, Au­ rent," Intercontinental Press, September 22,
gust 1984, page 42 1985, page 580
51 Socialist Action, December 1983, page 6 84 The Militant, New York, March 22, 1985, page
52 Ibid., page 8
53 Ibid., page 7
54 Ibid., page 12
55 Ibid., page 7 U.S. Trotskyism: The Shachtmanite
56 Socialist Action, June 1984, page 2 Tradition After Shachtman
57 Socialist Action, September 1984, page 14
58 Ibid., page 14 1 Letter to author from Hal Draper, October 26,
59 Socialist Action, July 1984, page 2 1970

1048 Notes
2 Letter to author from Joel Geier, November 20, 37 Truth, June 15, 1975
1970 38 Letter to author from Rick Miles, June 18,1980
3 Interview with Walter Dahl (Walter Daum), a 39 Interview with Walter Dahl, New York, April
leader of League for the Revolutionary Party, 23. 1983
New York, April 23, 1985 40 Letter to author from Rick Miles, June 1 8,1980
4 Hal Draper: "New Beginnings: About the Road 41 Interview with Walter Dahl, April 23, 1983
to an American Socialist Movement," October 42 Socialist Voice, New York, fall 1976, page 20
1973 43 Ibid., page 29
5 I.S., May 1970, page 7 44 Ibid., page 20
6 Cited in International Socialists; Left Wing of 45 Ibid., page 21
Social Democracy, Revolutionary Communist 46 Socialist Voice, winter 1982, page 8
Youth, New York, n.d. (1973)/ page 19 47 Interview with Walter Dahl, April 23, 1983
7 Cited in ibid., pages 20-21 48 SociaJist Voice, winter 1982, page 11
8 Workers Power, Detroit, September 11-24, 49 Proletarian Revolution, New York, spring
1970 1984, page 2
9 Joel Geier: Mimeographed Letter addressed to 50 Interviews with Joseph Schwartz, Organizer of
"Dear Sister or Brother," n.d. (1970) Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee,
10 Quoted in International Socialists: Left Wing New York, September 19, 1980; and with Wal­
of Social Democracy, op. cit., pages 42-43 ter Dahl, April 23, 1983
11 Ibid., pages 44-46 51 Socialist Worker, Cleveland, April 1983, page
12 Workers Power, January 17, 1975 12
13 International Socialists: Left Wing of Social 52 Ibid., page 12, and interview with Joseph
Democracy, op. cit., pages 46-47 Schwartz, September 19, 1980
14 The Torch, New York, Decembers, I97$-Janu- 53 Interviews with Joseph Schwartz, September
ary 14, 1976 19, 1980 and Walter Dahl, April 23, 1983
1 s Labor Notes, Detroit, February 23, 1981, pages 54 Proletarian Revolution,, summer 1985, pages
8-9 6-7
16 Workers Power, September 2 5-October 8,1970
17 Workers Power, May 8-21, 1975
U.S. Trotskyism: The Workers World Party,
18 Workers Power, October 4, 1976
Spartacist League, Workers League
19 Interview with Walter Dahl, New York, April
and Their Offshoots
13 , 1983
30 "International Socialists Book List," (mimeo­ 1 Young Spartacus, New York, December 1983—
graphed), n.d. (1970) January 1984, pages 2, 9
21 Cited in International Socialists: Left Wing of 2 Sam Marcy: "Memorandum on the Unfolding
Social democracy, op. cit., page 2 War and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the New
22 Interview with Walter Dahl, New York, April Phase of the World (Permanent) Revolution,"
23, 1983 October 29, 19 so, page 2
23 Letter to author from Rick Miles of Revolu­ 3 Ibid., page $
tionary Socialist League, June 12, 1980 4 "Why We Did What We Did," Common
24 The Torch, March 15-April 14, 1976, page 7 Ground, January 1, 1972, Supplement, page 1
25 Ibid., page 9 5 Workers World, New York, May 1,1959, page 2
26 Class Struggle, New York, June 1974, page 10 6 "Why We Did What We Did," op.cit., page 1
27 Letter to author from Rick Miles, June 12,1980 7 All foregoing quotations from "wwp & yawf:
28 The Torch, February 15-March 15, 1983, page A Record of Daring to Struggle," throwaway,
9 n.d. (1974)
29 LettertoauthorfromRickMiles,Junei2,1980 8 "Why We Did What We Did," op.cit., page 3
30 Workers Vanguard, New York, March 26 ,1976 9 " w w p & y a w f etc.," op. cit.

31 Letter to author from Rick Miles, June 12,1980 10 Letter to author from Key Martin, official of
32 The Torch, November 14, 1977 Workers World Party, January s, 1976
33 The Torch, November is, 1978-January 14, 11 Workers World, New York, November 21,
1979, pages 2 1-13 1975, supplement "World View Review"
34 Letter to author from Rick Miles, June 18,1980 12 Letter to author from Key Martin, January 5,
35 Letter to author from Ian Daniels, of Revolu­ 1976
tionary Socialist League, February 17, 1983 13 Ibid.
36 Letter to author from Mike Conrad of Trotsky­ 14 New York Times, August 28, 1980
ist Organization of the United States, Septem­ 15 Workers World, New York, June 6 ,1980, page 5
ber 17, 197s 16 New York Times, August 28, 1980

Notes 1049
 17 Workers World, New York, November 8,1984, 54 Women and Revolution, New York, spring
pages 6-7 1974
18 New York Times, December 22, 1984, page 10 55 Young Spatacus, New York, May 1979, pages
19 Letter to author from Key Martin, January 5, 7-8
1976 56 Ibid., page 6
20 Common Ground, New York, January 1, 1972, 57 Ibid., page 8, and Interview with Joseph
supplement, page I Schwartz, Organizer of Democratic Socialist
21 Workers World, New York, November 21, Organizing Committee, New York, September
1975, supplement 19, 1980
22 Workers World, New York, September 17, 58 Interviews with Joseph Schwartz, op. cit., and
1976 , page 9 Harry Turner, op. cit.
23 Ibid., page 10 59 See Workers Vanguard, New York, June 20,
24 Sam Marcy: "The China Crisis," Workers 1980; and Young Spartacus, November 1973
World, June 23, 1976, page 9 and April 1974
25 Sam Marcy: "Key Issue in the Guardian Dis­ 60 Workers Vanguard, September 27, 1974, page
cussion/' Workers World, New York, May 28, 6
1976, page 9 61 Workers Vanguard, New York, December i,
26 Marxist Bulletin No. 4: Expulsion from the So­ 1978
cialist Workers Party; Documents on the Ex­ 62 Workers Vanguard, New York, August 14,
clusion of the Revolutionary Tendency Sup­ 1981, page 12
porters, Parts I and II, Spartacist, New York, 63 Workers Vanguard, New York, April 8, 1983
October 1967, page 18 64 Workers Vanguard, New York, January 14,
27 Ibid., pages 82-83 1983, pages 4-5, and 16; Interview with Jan
28 Spartacist, New York, February-March 1964, Norden, op. cit.
page 2 65 Young Spartacus, New York, November 1978,
29 Marxist Bulletin No. 4 etc., op. cit., page 103 page 5
30 Ibid., pages 105-106 66 Workers Vanguard, New York, January ri,
31 Ibid., page 107 1980
32 Ibid., page 108 67 See Solidamosc; Polish Company Union fox
33 Interview with Jan Norden, editor of Workers CIA and Bankers, Spartacist Publishing Co.,
Vanguard, New Brunswick, N.J., April 12,1983 New York, 1981
34 Marxist Bulletin No. 9: Basic Documents of 68 Interview with Joseph Schwartz, op. cit.
the Spartacist League, Part I, Spartacist, New 69 Workers Vanguard, New York, August 14,
York, undated, page 4 1981, pages 4, 9
35 Ibid., page 5 70 Wording Class Opposition, Los Angeles, June-
36 Ibid., pages 5-6 July 1984, page 22
37 Interview with Jan Norden, April 12, 1983 71 Workers Vanguard, op. cit.
38 Marxist Bulletin No. 9 etc., op. cit., page 7 72 Workers Struggle, Detroit, January 1983, page 4
39 Ibid., page 8 73 Letter to author from Leon Perez of Interna­
40 Harry Turner: The Spartacist League Split, tionalist Workers Party (Fourth International),
New York, November 1968, page 16 June 10, 1982
41 Interview with Jan Norden, op. cit, 74 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Sep­
42 Turner, op. cit., pages 7-8 tember 1984, page 18
43 Young Spartacus, New York, May 1979, page 75 See T i r o tskyist Correspondence, supplement to
6 Wording Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
44 Turner, op. cit., page 9 23 , 1983
45 Interview with Jan Norden, op. cit. 76 Wo/Icing Class Opposition, August 1984, page
46 See Turner, op. cit. for documents relative to 26
this split 77 Cited in Workers Vanguard. New York, March
47 Interview with Harry Turner, New York, 2, 1984
March xi, 1983 78 See articles in Workers Vanguard, New York,
48 Interview with Jan Norden, op. cit. March 2, 1984, August 3, 1984, and October
49 Young Spartacus, New York, May 1979, page 6 26, 1984
50 Ibid., page 7 79 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, July
51 Interview with Jan Norden, op. cit. 1985, page 18
52 Young Spartacus, New York, May 1979, page 7 80 Marxist Bulletin No. y. The Splitin the Revolu­
53 Interview with Jan Norden, op. cit., and Young tionary Tendency: Document and Correspon­
Spartacus, May 1979, page 7 dence on the 1962 Rupture by Philips, Wohl-

1050 Notes
 i
forth and Healy of the Minority Tendency of •International Committee," Intercontinental
the swp, Spartacist, New York, April 1968, page Press, New York, March 17, 1975, page 379 j
23 108 The Bulletin, Detroit, April 26, 1983, page 6
8i Ibid., page 22 109 The Bulletin, Detroit, July 12, 1983, page 7
82 Spartacist, New York, February-March 1964, 110 The Bulletin, Detroit, May 1, 1984, page 1
page 1 111 The Bulletin, Detroit, November 21,1980, page |
83 Harry Turner: "Trotskyism Today," Vanguard 5 I
Newsletter, New York, November 1970, page 112 TfteSu/ietin,Detroit, November, ig84,page9 j
114 113 TieBulietin,Detroit,November, ig84,page9
84 Harry Turner: "Trotskyism Today," Vanguard 114 Ibid., page 6 j
Newsletter, New York, October 1970, page 104 115 New York Times, December 22, 1984, page 10 j
85 Harry Turner: "Trotskyism Today," Vanguard 116 The Bulletin, Detroit, March 12, 1985, pages 1, i
Newsletter November 1970, page 114 6 |
86 The Bulletin of International Socialism, New 117 The Bulletin, Detroit, May 1, 1984, page 16 ;
York, November 2, 1964, pages 15-16 118 Ibid., page 10
87 "Hands Off the Chinese Revolution," throw­ 119 The Bulletin, Detroit, July 12, 1983, page 2
away announcing Workers League meeting, 120 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
February 10 (?) 30, 1985, page 795 j
88 Bulletin, New York, January 30,1967, pages 1-3 121 The Bulletin, Detroit, November 12,1985, page
89 The Bulletin of International Socialism, New 10
York, April 19, 1965, page 8 122 "For a Trotskyist Organization in the Working
90 Tie Bulletin of International Socialism, New Class," Spark, July 1, 1971
York, December 7, 1964, page 12 123 Spark, Detroit, January 6, 1976, page 1
91 Ibid., page 3 124 Ford Spark, Detroit, January 24, 1978
92 The Bulletin, New York, February 5,1969, page 125 Eldon Spark, Detroit, June 30, 1977
3 126 Class Struggle. Detroit, June 1980, page 20
93 Tim Wohlforth; "The Workers League and the 127 Class Struggle. October 1981, page 23 '
International Committee, Intercontinental 128 Class Struggle, January 1982, page 5
Press, New York, March 3, 197 s, page 314 129 Interview with Fred Holtzman, New York
94 The Bulletin, New York, November 3, 1969, leader of Spark Group, New York City, June 4,
page a 1982
95 Tim Wohlforth: "The Workers League and the 130 Spark, Detroit, December 4, 1978-January 2,
International Committee," Intercontinental 1979
Press, New York, March 17, 1975, page 382 13 1 Interview with Fred Holtzman, June 4, 198a
96 The Bulletin, November 3, 1969, page 9 132 Interview with Harry Turner, New York,
97 The Bulletin, September 28, 1970, page 2 March 11, 1983
98 See Marxist Bulletin No. 9, op. cic.j The Fourth 133 Vanguard Newsletter, December 1970, page
International, London, August 1966; Harry 126
Turner: "Trotskyism Today," op. cit. 134 Intercontinental Press, New York, May 17,
99 The Torch, New York, November 1974, page 1971, page 461
IS 135 Vanguard Newsletter, New York, September
100 The Bulletin, New York, March 2, 1970 1971, page 115
101. RCY Newsletter, New York, January 1972, 136 Interview with Harry Turner, op. cit.
pages 1, 3 137 Class Struggle, New York, May 1973, page is
102 Tim Wohlforth: "The Workers League and the 138 Socialist Appeal, New York, August 1975,
International Committee," Intercontinental pages 2-4
Press, March 3, 1975, page 314 139 Interview with Harry Turner, op. cit.
10} Interview with Jan Norden of Sparticist League, 140 " toc-crsp Unity," throwaway, November 16,
in New Brunswick, N.J., January 17, 1975 1978
104 Tim Wohlforth: "The Workers League and the 141 Interview with Harry Turner, op. cit.
International Committee," Intercontinental
Press, New York, March 3, 1975, page 316
U.S. Trotskyism: Other United States
105 Workers Vanguard, New York, September 27,
Trotskyist and Ex-Trotskyist Groups
1974, page 3
106 Tim Wohlforth: ''The Workers League and the 1 "Marxist-Humanism: Its Origins and Develop­
International Committee," Intercontinental ment in America, 1941 to 1969," Labor History
Press, New York, March 10, 1975. Archives, Wayne State University, Detroit,
107 Tim Wohlforth: "The Workers League and the 1969, page 2

Notes 1051
 2 Ibid., page 3 tionalist Workers Party (Fourth International),
3 Ibid., page 4 June 10, 1982
4 Ibid., pages 7-8 37 Interview with Harry Turner, New York, op.
5 Kent Worcester; "C.L.R. James and the Ameri­ cit.
can Century, 1938-1953: A Political Biogra­ 38 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Sep-
phy," Political Science Honors Paper, Univer­ tember-October 1982, page 20 and El Bolchev­
sity of Massachusetts at Boston, spring 1982, ique, Los Angeles, September 1982, page 10
page s8 39 Working Class Opposition, op. cit, page 19 and
6 "Marxist-Humanism etc.," op. cit., page 8 El Bolchevique, op. cit., page 9
7 Worcester, op. cit., page 68 40 Working Class Opposition, op. cit., pages 20-
8 "Marxist-Humanism etc.," op. cit., page 9 ax and El Bolchevique, op. cit., pages 1 1 - 1 2
9 Worcester, op. cit., page 71 41 Working Class Opposition, op. cit., pages 23—
xo "Marxist-Humanism etc.," op. cit., page 9 26 and El Bolchevique, op. cit.
11 Worcester, op. cit., page 74 42 Working Class Opposition, op. cit., pages and
12 "Who We Axe and What We Stand For," throw­ El BolcheviqLie, op. cit.
away of News and Letters Group, n.d. 43 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Au­
13 News and Letteis, Detroit, January-February gust 1984, pages 7-8
1980, page 9 44 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Au­
14 News and Letters, Detroit, July 1980, page 12 gust 1984, page 26
15 "Who We Are and What We Stand For," op. 45 Ibid., pages 8—9
cit. 46 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Octo­
16 Charles Denby: Indignant Heart: A Black ber 1984, page 11
Worker's Journal, South End Press, Boston, 47 Ibid., page 10
1978, page 289 48 Trotskyist Correspondence, Supplement to
17 Ibid., page 179; for Denby's experiences in the Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, May
s w p , see pages 166-180 23, 1983, page 5
18 Ibid., page 2 89 49 Working Class Opposition, Los Angeles, Au­
19 Letter to author from Lou Turner of News and gust 1984, page 26
Letters Group, June 17, 1980 50 Ibid., page 10
20 News and Letters, Detroit, July 1980, page 12 51 Correo International, organ of International
21 News and Letters, Detroit, February 1968, page Workers League, (Fourth International), Bo­
6 gota, Colombia, November 1985, page 56
22 "Marxist-Humanism etc.," op. cit. 52 Workers Organizer, organ of Internationalist
13 Letter from Lou Turner, op. cit. Socialist League (Fourth International), New
24 Freedom Socialist, Seattle, Spring 1979, page •York, November 1985, page 1
17 53 Letter to author from I. Mohareb of Revolution­
25 Ibid., pages 17-18 ary Communist League (Internationalist), May
26 Ibid., page 16 12, 1983
27 Freedom Socialist, Seattle, March 1, 1980, 54 Letter to author from Bob Ross of Revolution­
pages r-4 ary Communist League (Internationalist), Oc­
28 Interview with Harry Turner, New York, tober 8, 1974
March 1 1, 1983 SS "A Call to Action: Founding Principles of the
29 Freedom Socialist, Seattle, Winter 1978, page Revolutionary Communist League," [mimo-
r2 graphed), n.d. (1968)
30 Ibid., pages 12 -13 56 Letter to author from Bob Ross, October 8,1974
31 Ibid., page 13 57 Internationalist News Letter, organ of Revolu­
32 Ibid., page 22 tionary Communist League [Internationalist),
33 Letter addressed to Parity Committee for the August 1972, page 4
Reorganization (Reconstruction] of the Fourth 58 Internationalist Worker, June 1974, page 1
International, from Murry Weiss, National Co­ 59 Ibid., page 11
ordinator of Committee for a Revolutionary 60 Young Spartacus, New York, December 1938-
Socialist Party, April 2 8,1980 (mimeographed), January 1984, pages 2 & 9'
page 8 61 The Alarm, San Francisco, November-Decem-
34 Letter addressed to "Dear Comrades" from Su­ ber 1981, pages 1-2
san Williams, National Coordinator of Com­ 62 The Alarm, San Francisco, September-October
mittee for a Revolutionary Socialist Party, New 1983, page 3
York, July 26, 1980 (mimeographed) 63 The Alarm, Portland, summer 1984, page 2
3 5 Interview with Harry Turner, op. cit. 64 Workers Review, San Francisco, September
36 Letter to author from Leon Pdrez, of Interna­ 1983, page 2

1052 Notes
 65 Dennis King: Nazis Without Swastikas: The 104 . New York Times, December 22, 1984, page 10
Lyndon LaRouche Cult and Its War on Ameri­ ios New Brunswick Home News, New Brunswick,
can Labor, League for Industrial Democracy, N.J., April 1, 1984
New York, 1982, page 3; and NCLC National 106 New Solidarity, New York, April ao, 1985, page
Caucus of Labor Committees: Biownshirts of x
the Seventies, Terrorist Information Project, 107 Fred Newman: Power and Authority: The In­
Arlington, Va., n.d., page 3 side View of Class Struggle, Centers for Change
66 Interview with Harry Turner, op. cit. Inc., New York, 1974, page 1
67 RCY Newsletter, New York, October-Novem- 108 Fred Newman: A Manifesto on Method: A
ber 1971, page 3 Study of the Transformation from the Capital­
68 "The Conceptual History of the Labor Com­ ist Mind to the Fascist Mind, International
mittees," The Campaigner, October 1974 Workers Party, New York, 1974, page 1
69 King, op. cit., page 3
70 NCLC . . . Brownshitts etc., op. cit., page 3
Uruguayan Trotskyism
71 Supplement to New Solidarity, New York, De­
cember 1, 197S 1 Rodolphe Prager (Editor): Les Congr&s de la
72 The Campaigner, June-July 1970, pages 12 -13 Quatrieme Internationale, Volume 1: Nais-
73 King, op. cit., pages 4-5 sancedela IVe Internationale 1930-1940, Edi­
74 King, op. cit., page 5 tions La Brfcche, Paris, 1978, page 215
75 New Solidarity, Extra, New York, April 16, 2 Ibid., page 241
1973, page 1 3 "Rapport sur 1'Amerique latine a la conference
76 NCLC . . . Brovmshirts, etc., op. cit., page 6 de Mai 1940," Cehiers Leon Trotsky, Grenoble,
77 King, op. cit., page 75 September 1982, # 1 1 , page 114
78 NCLC . . . Brownshirts, etc., op. cit., page 6 4 Interview with Esteban Kikich, Montevideo,
79 New Solidarity, Extra, New York, n.d. (January October 10, 1946
1974 ), page 1 5 La Manana, Montevideo, March 12, 1969
80 New York Times, October 7, 1979, page 16 6 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 1,
81 New Solidarity, New York, July 12, 1977, page 1971, page 180
1 7 Ibid., page 181
82 New Solidarity, New York, October 20, 1978 8 Intercontinental Press, New York, December
83 "A Fact Sheet: What Are the Labor Commit­ 13, 1971, pages 1086-1087
tees?/' throwaway of National Caucus of Labor 9 Intercontinental Press, New York, October 29,
Committees, 1975 1984, page 641; and December 3.4, 1984, page
84 New Solidarity, New York, March 16, 1976 771
85 IDB: How the International Development
Bank Will Work, New York, 197 s, page 5
Varga Fourth International
86 New Solidarity, New York, March 16, 1976
87 King, op. cit., page 9 1 Interview with Pierre Brou6, New York, Sep­
88 Ibid., pages 9-10 tember 2, 1983
89 New Solidarity, New York, January 5, 1976, 2 Ibid.
page 1 3 Spartacist, New York, August 1977, pages 29-
90 Rutgers Targum, New Brunswick, N.J., Octo­ 30
ber 27, 1976 4 Fernando Ruiz/Joaquin Romero: Los Partidos
91 "Kissinger Unleashes Terrorists on United Marxistas, Sus Dirigentes, Sus Programas, Edi­
States/' U.S. Labor Party throwaway, n.d. torial Anagrama, Barcelona, 1977, page 272
92 New Solidarity, New York, July 12, 1977 5 La Quatrieme Internationale. Paris, March 1,
93 New York Times, November 2, 1984 1981, page 2 (Varga version)
94 New Solidarity, New York, November 3, 197s 6 La Verite (of l o r ), Paris, July 3-9, 1982, page
95 New Solidarity, New York, November 9, 1976 1
96 Ibid.
97 New Solidarity, New York, October 20, 1978, Venezuelan Trotskyism
page 1
98 King, op. cit., page 2 1 Voz Marxista, Caracas, May 1972
99 New York Times, March 1, 1980 2 Intercontinental Press, New York, January 10,
100 New York Times, May 1, 1983, editorial 1972, page 18
101 New York Times, Educational Section, April 3 Intercontinental Press, New York, September
24, 1983, page 9 25, 1972, page IOI2
102 New York Times, April s, 1984 4 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 20,
103 New York Times, October 20, 1984 1972, page 346

Notes 1053
 5 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 3, 30 Ibid., page 399
1975, page 319 31 Ibid., page 398
6 Intercontinental Press, New York, June 30, 32 Ibid., page 401
I 97 S 33 Ibid., pages 403-404
7 Radio Rumbos, July 26, 1976, reported in FBIS, 34 Ibid., page 400
July 28, 1976, VI, page Li 35 Ibid., pages 405-406
8 El Universal, Caracas, October 1, 1977 36 Ibid., page 406
9 El Nacional, Caracas, July s, 1978 37 Ibid., page 406
10 El Nacional, Caracas, August 7, 1978 38 Ibid., page 407
1 1 See La Verity, Paris, October 1980, pages 52- 39 Ibid., page 409
40 Ibid., page 410
12 Interview with Leon P6rez, New York, Septem­ 41 Ibid., page 411
ber 20, 19831 see also Intercontinental Press, 42 Ibid., pages 415-416
New York, July 15, 1974, page 946 43 William J. Duiker: The Communist Road to
13 Intercontinental Press, New York, March 7, Power in Vietnam; Westview Press, Boulder,
1977 1981, page 54
14 Courier International, Paris, January 1982, 44 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, Sparta­
pages 22-23 cist Publishing Co., New York, 1976, page 13
I s Letter to the author from Leon P6iez, June 10, 45 Sacks, op. cit., page 143
1982 46 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
page 13
47 Sacks, op. cit., page 143
Vietnamese Trotskyism
48 Ibid., pages 143-144
1 I. Mihon Sacks: "Marxism in Viet Nam," 49 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
in Frank N. Trager (Editor): Marxism in South­ pages 13 -14
east Asia: A Study of Four Countries, Stanford 50 Ibid., pages 16—17
University Press, Stanford, 1959, pages 108- 51 Sacks, op. cit., page 150
iii 52 Ibid., page 150
2 Ibid., pages 1 16 - 117 53 Ibid., page 150
3 Ibid., page 123 54 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
4 Ibid., page 126 page 17
5 Daniel H6mery: Revolutionnaires vie t- 55 Sacks, op. cit., page 155
namiens et pouvoir colonial en Indochine, 56 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
Francois Maspero, Paris, 1975, page 38 page 18; and Sacks., op. cit., page 154
6 Sacks, op. cit., page 113 57 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
7 Hfimery, op. cit., page 40 pages 18-19
8 Ibid., page 41 58 Quoted in ibid., page 21
9 Sacks, op. cit., page 128 59 Ibid., page 22
10 H6mery, op. cit., page 42 60 Ibid., page 26
II Sacks, op. cit., page 134 61 Ibid., page 19
12 H6mery, op. cit., page 43 62 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 28,
13 Ibid., pages 44-45 1982
14 Ibid., pages 46-47 63 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
15 Ibid., page 47 page 23; and Sacks, op. cit., page 156
16 Ibid., pages 6o~6i 64 Sacks, op. cit., page 156
17 Ibid., page 63 65 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
18 Ibid., pages 65-66 page 24
19 Ibid., page 63 66 Ibid., page 25
20 Ibid., pages 253-255 67 Ibid., pages 25-26
21 Ibid., page 257 68 Ibid., page 26
22 Sacks, op. cit., page 134 69 Hfimery, op. cit., page 422
23 Hemery, op. cit., page 2 S7 70 Interview with RodoIphe'Wager, Paris, July 28,
24 Ibid., page 260 1982
25 Sacks, op. cit., page 139 71 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
26 Ibid., pages 138-139 page 26
27 Ibid., page 141 72 Ibid., page so
28 H6mery, op. cit., pages 389-390 73 Interview with Rodolphe Prager, Paris, July 28,
29 Ibid., page 388 1983

1054 Notes
74 Stalinism and Trotskyism in Vietnam, op. cit.,
page 49
Bibliography
75 Ibid., page 50
76 Ibid., page 54

Yugoslav Trotskyism
1 Socialist Action, San Francisco, June 1985,
In the preface I commented on the nature of the
page 15
sources used to write this study. Very few other ob­
servations on that subject are required at this point.
The details of the sources are revealed in the pages
that follow.
The items in this bibliography are generally identi­
fied rather than "annotated." A few additional com­
ments may be in order about a few of them. It is
particularly important to note the significance of the
selections and compilations of Leon Trotsky's corre­
spondence and other documents which have been
principally the responsibility of George Breitman in
the United States and Pierre Brou6 in France. The
Trotsky material itself is very significant for an un­
derstanding of the history of Trotskyism in the
1 930s, and the annotations by Breitman and Brou£
are invaluable in providing information about the
people and events dealt with or alluded to in the
Trotsky documents.
Similarly, two sources of information on the early
history of the Trotskyist "international" are of par­
ticular importance. These are the single volume pub­
lished in New York, and the two volumes edited by
Rodolphe Prager in Paris, containing the principal
documents of the various international conferences
of the movement between 1 930 and 1948, with anno­
tations which are also very valuable. In addition, the
short volume of Pierre Frank provides important data
on the congresses of the "Pabloite" faction of the
international Trotskyist movement in the 1950s and
early 1960s, and u s e c congresses subsequently.
The sources we have used on the development of
International Trotskyism since Trotsky's are much
more diversified than those treating with the move­
ment in the 1930s. They constitute the great majority
of the citations listed below. Only one comment is
necessary concerning these: all those listed have
been consulted and the great majority of them have
been cited in this study.

Works of Leon Trotsky

In Defense of Marxism, Pathfinder Press, New York,
1981
La Revolucidn Permanente, anthology of Leon Trots­
ky's writings edited by Isaac Deutscher, Ediciones
Saeta, Mexico, 1967
La Revolution Espagnole (1930-1940), edited by
Pierre Broud, Les Editions dc Minuit, Paris, 1975
Oeuvres Mars 1933/fuillet 1933, Etudes et Docu­

Bibliography 1055
 mentation Internationales, Paris, 1 978 (Volume 1), The Russian Revolution: The Overthrow of Tzarism
Pierre Brou6, Editor and the Triumph of the Soviets, selected and edited
Oeuvres luillet/Octobie 1933, Etudes et Documen­ by F. W. Dupee from The History of the Russian
tation Internationales, Paris, 1978 (Volume 2), Revolution, Doubleday Anchor Books, Garden
Pierre Brou£, Editor City, New York, 1959
Oeuvres Novembre 1933/Avril 1934, Etudes et Do­ The Spanish Revolution (i93r~39), edited by Naomi
cumentation Internationales, Paris, 1978 (Volume Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder Press, New
3), Pierre Brou£, Editor York, 1981
Oeuvres Avril/D6cembre 1934, Etudes et Documen­ The Transitional Programme: The Death Agony of
tation Internationales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 4), Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth Interna­
Pierre Brou6, Editor tional, Workers Revolutionary Party, London,
Oeuvres fanvier/fuin 193s, Etudes et Documenta­ 1980
tion Internationales, Paris, 1979 IVolume 5), Pierre Writings of Leon Trotsky (1929), Edited by George
Brou6, Editor Breitman and Sarah Lovell, Pathfinder Press, New
Oeuvres Juin/ Septembre 193$. Etudes et Documen­ York, 1975 .....
tation Internationales, Paris, 1979 (Volume 6|, Writings of Leon Trotsky_(1930), Edited by George
Pierre Brou6, Editor Breitman and Sarah Lovell, Pathfinder Press, New
Oeuvres Octobre/Dicembre 193s, Etudes et Docu­ York, 1975
mentation Internationales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 7), Writings of Leon Trotsky (1930-31), Edited by
Pierre Brou6, Editor George Breitman and Sarah Lovell, Pathfinder
Oeuvres fanvier/Fivrier 193 6, Etudes et Documenta­ Press, New York, 1973
tion Internationales, Paris, 1980, (Volume 8), Pierre Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932), Edited by George
Brou6, Editor Breitman and Sarah Lovell, Pathfinder Press, New
Oeuvres Mars/Mai 1936, Etudes et Documentation York, 1973
Internationales, Paris, 1980 (Volume 9), Pierre Writings of Leon Trotsky (1932-33), Edited by
Brou6, Editor George Breitman and Sarah Lovell, Pathfinder
Oeuvres juin/juillet 1936, Etudes et Documentation Press, New York, 1978
Internationales, Paris 1981 (Volume 10), Pierre Writings of Leon Trotsky (1933-34), Edited by
Broud, Editor George Breitman and Bev Scott, Pathfinder Press,
Oeuvres Aout/D&cembre 1936, Etudes et Documen­ New York, 1972
tation Internationales, Paris, 1981 (Volume 11), Writings of Leon Trotsky (1934-35), Edited by
Pierre Broud, Editor George Breitman and Bev Scott, Pathfinder Press,
Oeuvres D6cembre 19 36/Fevner 1937, Etudes et New York, 1974
Documentation Internationales, Paris, 1982, Writings of Leon Trotsky (1935-36), Edited by Na­
Pierre Brou6, Editor omi Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder Press,
Oeuvres Mars/Avril 1937, Institut Leon Trotsky, New York, 1977
Paris, 1982 (Volume 13), Pierce Broud, Editor Writings of Leon Trotsky (1936-37), Edited by Na­
Oeuvres Mai! Septembre 1937, Institut Leon omi Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder Press,
Trotsky, Paris, 1983, (Volume 14), Pierre Brou6, New York, 1978
Editor Writings of Leon Trotsky (1937-38), Edited by Na­
Oeuvres Septembre/D&cembre 1937. Institut Leon omi Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder Press,
Trotsky, Paris, 1983 (Volume 15), Pierre Broufi, New York, 1976
Editor Writings of Leon Trotsky (1938-38), Edited by Na­
Oeuvres Janvier/Mars 1938, Institut Leon Trotsky, omi Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder Press,
Paris, 1983 (Volume 16), Pierre Broufi, Editor New York, 1974
Oeuvres Mars/fuin 1938, Institut Leon Trotsky, Writings of Leon Trotsky (1939-40), Edited by
Paris, 1984, (Volume 17), Pierre Broufi, Editor George Breitman, Pathfinder Press, New York
Oeuvres Juin/Septernbre 1938, Institut Leon Writings of Leon Trotsky (Supplement 1929-33), Ed­
Trotsky, Paris, 1984 (Volume 18), Pierre Brou6, ited by George Breitman, Pathfinder Press, New
Editor York, 1979
Oeuvres Octobre/Decembre 1938, Institut Leon Writings of Leon Trotsky (Supplement 1934-40), Ed­
Trotsky, Paris, 1985 (Volume 19), Pierre Brou6, ited by George Breitman, Pathfinder Press, New
Editor York, 1974
The Crisis of the French Section (1935-36), Edited
by Naomi Allen and George Breitman, Pathfinder
Other Books and Pamphlets
Press, New York, 1977
The Revolution Betrayed: What Is the Soviet Union Victor Alba: El Marxismo en Espafia (1919-1939)
and Where Is It Going!, Doubleday, Doran & Com­ (Historia del BO.C. y del P.O.U.M.), Tomo I, B.
pany Inc., Garden City, NY, 1937 Costa-Amic Editor, Mexico, 1973

1056 Bibliography
Robert J. Alexander: Political Parties of the Ameri­ John Callaghan: British Trotskyism.- Theory and
cas, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1982 Practice, Basil Blackwell, London, 1984
Robert J. Alexander: The Lovestoneites and the In­ Pedro Camejo: Against Sectarianism: The Evolution
ternational Communist Opposition of the 1930's, of the Socialist Workers Party 1978-1983, Berke­
Greenwood Press, Westport, 1981 ley, Cal., 1983
Robert J. Alexander: TrotJcyism in Latin America, James P. Camion: Speeches for Socialism, Pathfinder
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1973 Press, New York, 1971
Juan Andrade: La Revolucidn Espanola Dia a Dia, fames P. Cannon: The History of American Trots­
Editorial Nueva Era y Publicaciones Trazo, Barce­ kyism, From Its Origins (1928) to the Founding
lona, May 1979 of the Socialist Workers Party (r938) Pathfinder
A New Hope for World Socialism (The Resolutions Press, New York, 1979
adopted at the Revolutionary Socialist Congress, James P. Cannon: The Struggle for a Proletarian
Paris, February is>th-26th 1938, together with In­ Party, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1977
troductory Speeches), International Bureau for fames P. Cannon (Edited by Les Evans): The Struggle
Revolutionary Socialist Unity, London, (1938) for Socialism in the American Century, Writings
Mick Armstrong: Leave It in the Ground; The Fight and Speeches, 194S-47, Pathfinder Press, New
Against Uranium Mining, Redback Press, Vlem- York, 1977
ington, Viet., Australia, 1978 (International So­ James P. Cannon: Writings and Speeches, 1940-43,
cialists) The Socialist Workers Party in World War II, Path­
Mick Armstrong and Phil Griffiths: The Crisis . . . finder Press, New York, 1975
and the Socialist Alternatives to Labor, An Inter­ E. H. Carr: Twilight of the Comintern: r93o-i93S.
national Socialists Pamphlet, Redback Press, Mel­ Pantheon Books, New York, 1982
bourne, June 1984 fean-Pierre Cassard; Les Trotskyistes en France Pen­
Ian H. Birchall: " The Smallest Mass Party in the dant La Deuxiime Guerre Mondial (1939—1944),
World," Building the Party 1951-/979, Socialists La Verit6, Paris, n.d. (1982)
Unlimited, London, 1981 Tony Cliff: Building Small Groups, Socialist Work­
Francesco Bonamusa: Andreu Nin y el Movimiento ers Party, London, 1984 (mimeographed)
Comunista en Espana (1930-1937), Editorial Ana- Tony Cliff; State Capitalism in Russia, Pluto Press,
grama, Barcelona, 1977 London, 1974
Burnett Bolloten: The Spanish Revolution: The Left Stephen Cohen: Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revo­
and the Struggle for Power During the Civil War, lution, A Politica] Biography 1898-1938, Vintage
The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Books, New York, 197 s
Hill, 1979 Comitds Communistes pour l'Autogestion: Ques­
Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson: Against the tions a la LCR, Paris, 1979
Stream: A History of the Trotskyist Movement in Robert V. Daniels (Editor): A Documentary History
Britain 1924-38, Socialist Platform, London, 1986 of Communism, From Lenin to Mao, Random
Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson: Two Steps Back: House, New York, 1980
Communists and the Wider Labor Movement, Nadya De Beule: Het Belgisch Trotskisme 1925-
193 5~i 94 S. A Study in the Relations Between 1940, fan Dhondtstichting, Masereelfonds, Gent,
Vanguard and Class, Socialist Platform Ltd., Il­ 1981
ford, Essex, n.d. (198a) Declaration of Principles and Constitution of the
Jean-Michel Brabant, Michel Dreyfus, Jacqueline Workers Party of the U.S., Pioneer Publishers, New
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(1940-1944), organe de la section fran$aise de la Charles Denby: Indignant Heart: A Black Workers
IVe Internationale, Etudes et Documentation In­ fournal, South End Press, Boston, 1978
ternationales, Paris, 1978 Isaac Deutscher: The Prophet Outcast, Trotsky
Paul Brass and M. F. Franda: Radical Politics in 1929-1940, Oxford University Press, London,
South Asia, Cambridge, Mass., 1973 1963
George Breitman (editor): Leon Trotsky on Black Na­ Isaac Deutscher: The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky
tionalism and Self-Determination, Merit Publish­ 1921-29, Oxford University Press, New York,
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George Breitman: The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Hugo Dewar: Communist Politics in Britain: The
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New York, 1967 Pluto Press Limited, London, 1976
Pierre Brou6 (Editor): Leon Trotsky-Alfred et Margue­ Farrell Dobbs; Teamsters Power, Monad Press, New
rite Rosmer: Correspondance 1929-1939, Galli- York, 1973
mard, Paris, 1982 Druckindustrie: Kampf-gewerkschaft statt Resigna­
James Bumham: The Managerial Revolution, John tion und Niederlage, Revolutionare Marxistisch
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John W. F. Dulles: Brazilian Communism 1935- Jules Humbert-Droz: Mimoires de fules Humbert-
1945, Repression During World Upheaval, Univer­ Droz: De Lenine a Staline: Dix Ans au Service
sity of Texas Press, Austin, 1983 de 1'Internationale Communiste 19 21—1931, A La
M. K. Dziewanowski: The Communist Party of Po­ Baconnifere, Neuchitel, 1971
land: An Outline of History, Harvard University John Humphrey: Capitalist Control and Workers’
Press, Can)bridge, 1959 Struggle in the Brazilian Auto Industry, Princeton
Max Eastman: Heroes I Have Known: Twelve Who University Press, Princeton, 1982
Lived Great Lives, Simon and Schuster, New York, IDB: How the International Development Bank Will
1942 Work, New York, 1975
Paulina Fernandez Christlieb: El Espartaquismo en Ignacio Iglesias: Leon Trotski y Espdna (1930-1939),
Mexico, Ediciones "El Caballito," Mexico, 1978 Ediciones Jucar, Madrid, 1977
Milton Fisk: Socialism from Below in the United Phil Ilton: The Origins of International Socialists
States, The Origins of the Internationa} Socialist in Australia: A History of the Socialist Workers'
Organization, Hera Press, Cleveland, 1977 Action Group, International Socialists, Mel­
FOR Organizing Committee in the U.S.: The Natalia bourne, 1984
Trotsky Papers, San Francisco, Cal.f June 1980 Initiative “ Gleiche Rechte fur Mann und Frau’’: Vor
Pierre Frank: The Fourth International: The Long dem Gesets sind alle gleich—nur die Manner et-
March of Trotskyism, Ink Links, London, 1979 was gleicher, Revolutionare Marxistische Liga,
Ernest Germain: Marxism vs. Ultraleftism: Key Is­ Zurich, May 1980
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Leslie Goonewardene: A Short History of the Lanka Section of the Spartacist League,) New York, n.d.
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Julian Gorkin: El Proceso de Moscu en Barcelona, Internment '71. H-Block '81, The Same Struggle,
Ayma, Sociedad An6nima Editors, Barcelona, 1974 People's Democracy, Belfast and Dublin, 1981
J. G. Gorkin and A. Nin: El P.O.U.M. Ante la Revo­ Intervention duSecretariatunifi6dela QuatriimeIn­
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Militant, London, 1981 Harold R. Isaacs: The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolu­
Reg Groves: The Balham Group: How British Trots­ tion, Stanford University Press, Stanford, Califor­
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Guerre et Revolution au Salvador, Parti Socialiste C. L. R. James, George Breitman, Edgar Keemer and
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Duncan Hallas: The Labour Party: Myth and Reality, Press, New York, 1980
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Joseph Hansen: The Leninist Strategy of Party Build­ and the Teamsters: A Study of Union Power, D.
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cionario Politica Obrera, Buenos Aires, 1960s and Socialist Figh t, monthly publication of group of same
after name, Melbourne, Australia, 1980s
.Pour I’Autogestion, organ of Alliance Marxiste Socialist Organiser, organ of Socialist Organiser
Revolutionnaire, French Pabloist group, Paris, Group, London, 1980s
1980s Socialist Republic, organ of People's Democracy, Bel­
Proletarian Revolution, organ of League for the Revo­ fast, 1970s and 1980s
lutionary Party, New York, 1984—, formerly So- Socialist Voice, quarterly journal of League for the
cialist Voice Revolutionary Party, New York, 1 970s and after

1064 Bibliography
Socialist Worker, newspaper of International Social­ Voz Marxista, monthly organ of Grupo Trotskista
ist Organization, Cleveland, 1980s Venezolano, Caracas, early 1970s
Socialist Worker, organ of Socialist Workers Party, Voz Obrera, organ of Posadista Partido Obrero Revo­
London, 1970s and 1980s lucionario (Trotskista), Lima, Peru, 1970s
Sous le Drapeau du Socialisme, organ of Tendance Voz Obrera, organ of Posadista Partido Obrero Revo­
Marxiste-Rdvolutionnaire Internationale (Pab­ lucionario (Trotskista), Mexico
loites), Paris, after 1965 Women and Revolution, organ of Women's Commis­
Spark, organ of Spark Group, Detroit, 1970s and sion of Spartacist League, New York, 1970s and
1980s 1980s
Spartacist, organ of Spartacist League, New York, Workers Hammer, monthly newspaper of Spartacist
1970s and after League, London, 1980s
Spartacist, organ of West German Spartacists, Frank­ Workers News, organ of Central Committee of So­
furt, 1970s and 1980s cialist Labor League, of Australia, Marrickville,
Spartacist, Italian edition, Milan 1976- NSW, 1970s and 1980s
Spartaco, organ of Lega Trotskista d'ltalia, Italian Workers Organizer, organ of Internationalist Social­
section of ist, Milan, 1980s ist League (Fourth International), Los Angeles, be­
Spartacus, organ of George Vereeken faction of Bel­ ginning November 1985
gian Trotskyists (Ligue Communiste Internatio­ Workers' Power, organ of International Socialists,
nale [Trotskyiste! en Belgique), Brussels, 1935- Detroit, 1960s and after
1936 Workers Power, organ of Workers Power Group, Lon­
The Alarm, organ of F.O.R. Organizing Committee don, 1970s and 1980s
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Portland, 1970s and 1980s dency, San Francisco, 1980s
The Battler, newspaper of Socialist Workers' Action Workers Vanguard, weekly newspaper of Spartacist
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tralia, Flemington, Viet., Australia Workers World, organ of Workers World Party, New
The Bulletin, organ of Workers League, New York York, 1959 and thereafter
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The Campaigner, magazine of National Caucus of Workers Front, and then of Internationalist Work­
Labor Committees, New York, 1960s and there­ ers Party (Fourth International), Los Angeles, 1979
after and after
The Fighting Worker, organ of Revolutionary Work­ World Outlook, weekly periodical of international
ers League of the U.S. (Oehlerites), New York, news of Socialist Workers Party of U.S., 1960s,
1930s and 1940s predecessor of Intercontinental Press, New York
The Militant, organ of Communist League of World View Review, supplement to Workers World,
America, New York, 1928-1934 New York
The Militant, organ of Socialist Workers Party, New Young Socialist, organ of Young Socialist Alliance,
York, 1940s and thereafter s w p youth group, New York, late 1950s and after

The Newsline, organ of Socialist Labor League, Lon­ Young Spartacist, youth periodical of Spartacist
don, r9 50s and after League, New York, 1970s and 1980s
Torch, organ of Revolutionary Socialist League, New Young Spartacus, organ of youth group of Commu­
York, 1970s and after nist League of America, New York, 1930s
Tribune Internationale, International periodical of
Lambertist party in France, Paris, 1970s and 1980s
Non-Trotskyist Periodicals
Tribune Ouvriere, Organe Central of Organisation
Socialiste des Travailleurs of Algeria, 1970s and Boletim Bibliogrdfico CEMAP, publication of Centro
1980s de Documenta^ao do Movimento Operario Mario
Trotskyist Correspondence, "Supplement to Work­ Pedrosa, Sao Paulo (#3: "Trotski n'A Luta de
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national in the United States," Los Angeles, in mid-1970s
1980s Caretas, news and features magazine, Lima, Peru
Trotskyist Position, International Bulletin of Gruppo Communist Affairs, publication of Research Insti­
Operaio Rivoluzionario per la rinascita della tute on Communist Strategy and Propaganda,
Quarta Intemacionale, Rome, 1980s UCLA, Los Angeles
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United States El Comercio, conservative daily newspaper, Lima,
Vanguard Newsletter, organ of group of same name, Peru
New York early 1970s El Nacional, daily newspaper, Caracas, Venezuela

Bibliography 1065
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"The Second World War and the Soviet Union," s w p Liga Deutschlands, June 16, 1982
Minority, February 26, 1940 Sam Bomstein, former British Trotskyist leader,
"The Russian Question: Resolution of the 1941 Con­ March 26, 1983
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tional Educational Department, Workers Party of leader, June 7, 1982
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"Where is the Petty Bourgeois Opposition?" Political October 22, 1983
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(March 1985)
Liz Cheung, of October Review, Hong Kong Trotsky­
Memoranda Prepared lor This Volume ist publication, August 21, 1983
Mike Conrad of Trotskyist Organization of the
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1983 Ian Daniels, of Revolutionary Socialist League of
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n.d. (1985) kyism, July 24, 1983
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May 1982 and Communism, September 22, 1976
Preben Kinch: "From the End of the War Until Uni­ Hal Draper, founder of Independent Socialist Clubs
fication of the r s and the s u f , " (1983) of America, October 26, 1970
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I1 98 3), provided by Michel Warshawski Joel Geier, National Secretary, International Social­
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Party, December 24, 1970 International, May 10, 1982, June 18, 1982
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11, 1984, November 19, 1984 ternationalist), USA, Octobers, 1974
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Party leader, March 19, 1982, April 7, 1982 beiterpartei of Switzerland, November 30, 1982
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leader, June 23, 1984 Obrero Revolucionario, November 15, 1983
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April 12, 1983, December 8, 1983 Shachtmanites, December 7, 1970
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May 10, 1986 1986
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3, 1983 Martin Upham, historian of early years of British
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Trotskyism, November 10, 1982, December 1982, Charles van Gelderen, long-time Trotskyist leader in
January 1983, February 10, 1983 South Africa and Great Britain, August 17, 1983,
Stefan Lamed, one-time Polish Trotskyist leader, April 25, 1984
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Jo Lang, s a p - p s o member of Zug (Switzerland) city Trotsky, October 27, 1982
council, January 16, 1984, May 5, 198s
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28, 1985, August s, 1985 John Archer, long-time leader, and historian of Brit­
Anton Schou Madsen, historian of Danish Trots­ ish Trotskyism, London, August 4, 1982
kyism, June 24, 1984 Piene Autexier, Confederal Secretary of Confedera­
Livio Maitan, long-time leader of Italian Trotskyism tion Franijaise DSmocratique des Travailleurs,
and of United Secretariat of Fourth International, Paris, July 30, 1982
November 24, 1983, December 13, 1983, July 22, Claire Beauville, Confederal Secretary of Confedera­
1985 tion Fran^aise Democratique des Travailleurs,
Ernest Mandel, long-time leader of Belgian Trots­ Paris, July 30, 1982
kyism and of United Secretariat of Fourth Interna­ William Bossiert, former member of Tendance Mar-
tional, February 3, 1983, March 10, 1983, Novem­ xiste Revolutionnaire, Section Beige, in Grinber-
ber 19, 1983, January 13, 1985 gen, Belgium, July 19, 1982
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5, 1976 New York City, August 12, 1981, April 14, 1982
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June 12, 1980 Trotskyism, Cambridge, Mass., July 7, 1982, New
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voluzionario, and historian of Italian radical move­ Bert Cochran, one-time Chairman of Trade Union
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M. North of Socialist Organizer Group, Great Britain, York City, August 23, 1982
June 15, 1982 Joyce Cowley, one-time leader of Socialist Workers
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Leon P£rez, leader of Revolutionary Workers Front a leader of League for the Revolutionary Party,
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Nadya De Beule, historian of early Belgian Trots­ Charles Michaloux, member of United Secretariat,
kyism, Brussels, July 19, 1982 Paris, July 27, 1981
Francois de Massot, International Secretary of Parti Edwin Moiler, a trade union leader of Partido Obrero
Communiste Intemationaliste, Paris, July 24, Revolucionario of Bolivia, La Paz, July 30, 1954
1982, August 6, 1984 A. J. Muste, former head of "Musteites," and one­
Guy Desolre, Belgian ex-Trotskyist leader, ex-mem­ time National Secretary of Workers Party, New
ber of Secretariat of United Secretariat, Linkebeek, Brunswick, N.J., January 24, 1951
Belgium, July 21, 1982 Jan Norden, editor of Workers Vanguard of Spartacist
Ernest Erber, one-time head of Young Peoples Social­ League, New Brunswick, N.J., January 17, 1975,
ist League, Highland Park, N.J., December 4, 1970 April 12, 1983
Ismael Frias, one-time Peruvian Trotskyist leader, George Novack, a long-time leader of U.S. Socialist
Lima, July 13, 1971 Workers Party, New York, December 18,
Sebastian Garcia [Damian), President of Partido 1982
Obrero Socialista Internacionalista of Spain, Paris, Bob Pennington, member of Central Committee of
July 30, 1982 International Marxist Group of Great Britain, Lon­
Jules Geller, former swp leader, former Cochranite, don, August 3, 198a
New York, May 13, 1982 N. M. Perera, leader of Lanka Sama Samaja Party,
Emanuel Geltman, one-time s w p and Shachtmanite Finance Minister of Sri Lanka, New York, Septem­
leader, New York, September 10, 1971, June 24, ber 21, 1971
1981 Leon Perez, a leader of Internationalist Workers Party
Fdbus Gikovate, Sao Paulo leader of Socialist Party, (Fourth International), New York, September 20,
ex-Trotskyist leader, Sao Paulo, June 17,1953, Au­ 1983
gust 27, 1959 Dra. Berta P15, Cultural Attache of Cuban Consulate
Albert Glotzer, one-time Trotskyist and Shachtman­ General in New York, New York, April 1, 1960
ite leader. New York, March 6, 1973, July 2, 1981, Stanley Plastrik, member of Editorial Board of Dis­
April 29, 1983 sent, ex-Shachtmanite leader, Lima, Peru, July 12,
Raul Gdmez, a leader of Partido Obrero Socialista 1971
Internacionalista of Spain, Paris, July 30, 1982 Rodolphe Prager, a leader of Ligue Communiste Rev­
Joao Baptista dos Mares Guia, Partido dos Trabalha­ olutionnaire and Trotskyist historian, Paris, July
dores member of Minas Gerais state legislature, 22, 1982, July 23, 1982, July 27, 1982
Belo Horizonte, May 28, 1984 Jorge Abelardo Ramos, head of pro-Peronista Trots­
Jose Gutiferrez Alvarez, a leader of Liga Communista kyist group, Buenos Aires, June 10, 1972
Revolucionaria, Barcelona, July 8, 1984, July 21, Amadou Sar, Senegalese Trotskyist leader, Paris, July
1984 2, 1982
Jeannette Habel, member of Secretariat of United Joseph Schwartz, Youth Organizer of Democratic So­
Secretariat, Paris, August 7, 1984 cialist Organizing Committee, New York, Septem­
Duncan Hallas, member of Central Committee of ber 19, 1980
Socialist Workers Party of Great Britain, London, R. Segall, a leader of u s e c German Trotskyists, and
August 3, 1982 previously of Palestinian Trotskyists, New York,
Anna Herz, Assistant International Secretary, Force November 26, 1982
Ouvrifere, Paris, July 30, 1982 Max Shachtman, U.S. former Trotskyist leader, one­
Fred Holtzman, New York leader of Spark Group, time leader of Shachtmanites, New York, May 25,
New York, June 4, 1982 1931, June 21, 1970
Irving Howe, ex-y p s l leader, ex-Shachtmanite, New Maurice Spector, founder of Canadian Trotskyism,
York, July 2, 1981 Detroit, May 31, 19S8
Esteban Kikich, member of Comit€ de Enlace de Sin- Thomas Stamm, early U.S. Trotskyist leader, one­
dicatos Aut6nomos, leader of Liga Obrera Revoluc­ time head of Stammites, New York, April 13 ,19 5 1,
ionaria of Uruguay, Montevideo, October 10,1946 April 27, 1951
Pierre Lambert, head of Parti Communiste Intemati­ Norman Thomas, Socialist Party leader, New York,
onaliste, Paris, July 23, 1982 December 23, 1948
Antoine Liblau, functionary of Ligue Communiste Harry Turner (Harry Tanser), New York leader of
Revolutionnaire, Paris, July 24, 1982 Internationalist Workers Party (Fourth Interna­
Jay Lovestone, one-time Secretary General of Com­ tional), New York, March n , 1983
munist Party of the United States, Front Royal, Emile Van Ceulen, Belgian Trotskyist leader, Brus­
Virginia, April 20, 1976 sels, July 20, 1982
George Marlen, ex-Trotskyist, ex-head of Marlenites, Charles van Gelderen, long-time British and South
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vailleurs!" n.d. (1929), (printed) 1*9351 r
Grupo Comunista Intemacionalista: "Comunicado "Nicaragua and the Fourth International," State­
del Comite Central," Mcxico, May 25, 1975 ment of the Trotskyist Organizing Committee
"Hands Off the Chinese Revolution," throwaway an­ (Revolutionary Unity League), n.d. (1979), mimeo­
nouncing Workers League meeting, February 10 (?) graphed
Baruch Hirson: "Land, Labour and the 'Black "Opposition Communiste de Belgique: Group de
Republic,' " paper prepared for Social Science Re­ Bruxelles: Aux chdmeurs, A tous les travailleurs,"
search Council, New York, 1984 n.d. (1929?), mimeographed

1070 Bibliography
Earl Owens and Harry Turner: "Report on the Inter­
national Conference at Bogota, Colombia," n.d.
(1982), Mimeographed
"Parti Communiste Beige (S.B.I.C.}: Reponses 4 la
Lettre du C.E. de l'I.C." (1928)
Mercedes Petit: "Apuntes para la Historia del Trots-
kismo (de 1938 a 1964)/' October 1980
"Programa del Frente de Izquierda Popular: 60 Medi-
das Revolucionarias," Buenos Aires, n.d. {1973)
Andrew Pulley: "How to Stop the Draft," Socialist
Workers Presidential Campaign Committee, New
York, 1970
"Revolutionnair Social is tische Parti} (Trotskysten)
a f d , Antwerpen Aan Alle Arbeiders. . . throw­
away announcing open air protest meeting March
24, 1938 on Moscow Trials
Al Richardson: "Some Notes for a Bibliography of
British Trotskyism," (MS), September 27, 1979
Stephen Schwartz: "Trotskyism in the Spanish Rev­
olution—Research Notes," San Francisco, 1982
Max Shachtman: "The Reminiscences of Max
■Shachtman," Columbia University Oral History,
1963
Tony Southall: "Material Supplementary to 'The
Trotskyist Movement in South Africa,' " n.d.,
mimeographed
Tony Southall: "The Trotskyist Movement in South
Africa," mimeographed memorandum
"The Flag of the Masses Will Be the Red Flag," issued
by Lutte Ouvri&re, Paris, 1965
"The 1972 Socialist Workers Party Platform"
"This is the t a f , " article from t a f periodical Trots-
kistisk Synspvnkt, translated by Jette Kromann
(19 8 3)
Norman Thomas Papers, New York Public Library
" t o c - c r s p Unity," throwaway, November 16, 1978

Throwaway, "For a United Socialist Ticket," Social­

ist Workers Party, 1958
Throwaway for circulation campaign for Rood, Bel­
gian Flemish-language Trotskyist paper, n.d. (sum­
mer 1982), with heading of masthead of Rood
Transcription of taped interview of Enoch Resnick
of Bar-Ilan University with Michel Warshawski, a
leader of Israeli r c l , January 198 s
Transcription of Tapes from Educational Conference
of Australian Socialist Workers Party, 1980: 3
tapes, # 1 by Dave Deutschman, #2 and #3 by John
Percy
Natalia Sedova Trotsky Letter to International Com­
mittee of Fourth International and Political Com­
mittee, May 9, 1951 (Spanish version manuscript)
John Tully (pseudonym: Sean Flood): "The Struggle
Against the Stalinist Bureaucracy in the Balmain
Branch of the Federated Iron-workers Association
in the 1940s," report of speech to 1979 Australian
swp Educational Conference, mimeographed
"wwp & y a w f : A Record of Daring to Struggle,"
throwaway, n.d. (1974}
 Arafat, Yasser, 604 156, 853, 868-70, 880, 884,
Index of People Archer, John, 306, 443-48, 453, 885; and y s a , 760, 853, 881,
457-58 882, 896
Arenillas, Jos6 Luis, 698 Bames, Roger, 63, 66
Arlyaratne, W., 166 Baron, Murray, 785, 790
Armstrong, Bob, 306 Barratt, Jim, 441
Armstrong, Mick, 69, 75-79 Barre, Raymond, 395
Abern, Martin: and c l a , 769, Armstrong, Robert, 568 Barrientos, Ren<5, 122
777; and conversion to Trots­ Arya, Raj Narayan: and b l p i , Barrios, Sergio, 642
kyism, 764; and c p u s a , 764- 517 -ig; and Ceylonese Trots­ Batista, Fulgencio, 229, 850
65; and faction in U.S. Trots­ kyists, 517; and Indian Trots­ Bauer, Otto, 80, 84
kyism, 769; and n c c l a , 769; kyism in mid-1983, 528-29; Bayona, Jos£ Amulfo, 225
and swp, 13, 797, 802, 840 and Militant Tendency ( u k ), Bayoneta, Lydia, 914
Abner, Willoughby, 811 528; and r c p , 530; and r s p Beams, Nick, 78
Abril de Vivero, Francisco, 637 528, 529, 532; and r w p , 523; Beaufrere, Marcel, 360
Ackerknecht, Erwin (E. or Eu- and Socialist Party, 521 Beauvais, Jean-Pierre, 555
gen Bauer], 261-62, 412, 418- Arze Loureiro, Eduardo, 118 Begin, Menachim, 478
19, 421 Ati, Bahram Ali, 565 Behan, Brendan, 473
Adamic, Louis, 788 Atkins, Dave, 783 Behan, Brian, 473
Adler, Friedrich, 82 Attlee, Clement, 465, 471 Behr, Frank, 435
Aguirre Cerda, Pedro, 197 Austin, Ben, 66 Beinin, Irving, 842
Aguirre Gainsberg, Josfi, 117 -19 Ayala Mercado, Emesto, 115 Belaunde Terry, Fernando, 638,
Alba, Victor, 694-95, 704 Aydebil, Ayatollah Mosavi, 563 645
Albertson, William, 847 Azam, Manuel, 678 Bell, Griffin, 874
Alcaic Zamora, Niceto, 678 Azevedo Pinheiro, Victor de, Benavides, Magda, 644-45
Alderdice, Kate, 151 132 Ben Bella, Ahmed, 34—35, 332,
Alegri'a, Felipe, 721 Aznar, Juan Bautista, 678 545, 74 i
Aleman, Francisco, 45 Benjamin, Alan, 892
Alexander, K. F., 447—48, 450 Bachelard, Bernard, 733 Benn, Tony (Anthony Wedge-
Alexander, Naville, 676 Badoglio, Pietro, 303 wood), 437, 495-96
Alfonsin, Raul, 50-51 Bakhtiar, Shahpour, 558 Bensaid, David, 392
Alfonso XIII, 678, 679 Balasingham, V., 168 Benson, Herman, 793
Ali, Tariq, 15 1, 153, 154, 493, Ballon, Jose Carlos, 642 Berenguer, Damaso, 678
633 Baluka, Edmund, 652 Beria, Lavrenti, 291
Allen, Devere, 788-89, 790 Banda, Hastings (Tony Banda), Berisso, Rodolfo, 45
Allen, Naomi, 345, 349, 3 s I, 479 - 80 , sir Bemal, Miguel Antonio, 637
354, 422, 886, 890 Banda, Michael, 479-81, 92 s, Besser, Fritz, 429
Allende, Salvador, 198-200, 661 929 Besteiro, Julian, 680
Allingham, Gerry, 50-51 Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D., 163, Betancour, Belisario, 225
Alonso, Armando, 695 170, 172, 189 Betancour, Jaime, 225
Altman, lack, 789-90 Bandaranaike, Sirimavo, 173: Bettelheim, Charles, 379
Alvarez, Numa, 939 and j v p uprising, r8o; and Bevan, Aneurin, 437, 471, 473
Amado, Francisco, 6 11 l s s p , 180, 181, 187, 189, 746; Bevin, Emest, 463
Amdrico, Josd, 133 and 1960s government, 177; Bhattacharya, Magadeb, S17
Anaya, Ricardo, 118 and 1970s government, 177, Bignone, Reynaldo, 50
Anderson, Denis, S45 178-79, 190, 19 Xj and s f l p , Bilbao, Esteban, 684-85, 693,
Anderson, John, 56 173; and United Left Front, 712
Andrade, Juan: and c e n i t , 68 i; 176 Blanco, Hugo, 644-45, 714: and
as editor of Comunismo, 684; Banerji, Kamalesh, 516, 518 Confederation Campesina de
and i c e , 692; and o c e , 686; Bani Sadr, Abu al-Hassan, 558, Peru, 643; and Cuzco guerril­
and oci, 68s; and p o u m , S91, 560, 563 las, 639; and f i r , 639; and p s i ,
697, 699-701, 704; and Banzer, Hugo, 12.2, 124, 128, 642, 646; and u s e c , 55 s, 639,
Trotsky 701-2; as Trotskyist, 130 642, 746, 752
681-82 Bardin, Joannes (Boitel), 273, Bleibtreu, Marcel, 324, 379, 536
Andrews, Dave, 73 3 S4 Bloom, Steve, 884, 886-87,
Anton, Peter, 942 Bames, Jack: and Camejo, 893, 889-90, 895
Antonov-Ovsenko, V., 699 894; on "new radicalization" Blum, Leon, 351, 963-65
Araes, Miguel, 134 in USA, 861-64; an^ s w p , Bober, Arie, 582

Index of People 1073

Boeggild, Bernhard, 137 War, 517, 704, 707; and Un- convert to Trotskyism, 5,
Boggs, Carl, 894 sez Wort, 420; and Varga, 144, 761, 763; and c p u s a ,
Boinor, Alain, 152 955 762-66, 770; death of, 895;
Bolloten, Burnett, 706 Browder, Earl, 8r6 and d r s l p , 622; and p i , 273,
Bonarusa, Francesco, 684 Bruning, Heinrich, 417 285-86, 353-54, 813, 815;
Bordiga, Amadeo: early political Bryant, Steve, 923 and Field, 773; and Foster-
career of, 586; and i l o , 587; Buchbinder, Heinrich, 305, 308, Cannon faction, 762; and
and Italian Trotskyists, 586; 728-29, 73a Goldman and Morrow, 550-
and per, 589, 592; and Souva- Buck, Tim, 144 51, 828; and i c l , 349; and
rine, 341; and USA support­ Buckley, William F., 805, 860 Khrushchev, 843-44; and Ki-
ers, 766, 783 Budenz, Louis, 776 kich, 953; and Labor Action,
Bomstein, Sam, 439, 443, 447, Bueno, Leoncio, 637 787; and Lovestone, 762, 774;
455 , 458 - 59, 47 i, 49 * Bukharin, Nikolai, 3, 5, 233, and l p (USA), 814; and Mex­
Borodin, Michael, 205-6 648, 719 ico, 609; and Minrieapolis
Boa, 547 Bullejos, Jos€, 681 teamsters, 819; and Munis,
Boris, king of Bulgaria, 140, 143 Bunsel, Gustav, 240 71 r; and n c e b , 793; and
Bossier, Wim, 109 Burchett, Wilfred, 912 Pablo, 832; and r s l (UK), 757;
Bottone, Sam, 846 Buren, Robert, 256 and Schactman and Burnham,
Bourgiba, Habib, 738 Burian, Vladimir, 23 s, 236 770, 794, 832-33; and Smith
Boutelle, Paul, 856, 8s 8-60 Burlak, 672 Act, 821, 835; and s p , 785,
Boxhall, Joey (Boxhom, Joey), Bumham, James: and a w p , 776, 791-92; and Spector, 144; and
54, S6 777; and Cannon, 794; and swp, 793, 796-98, 825, 830-
Boyle, William, 901 Socialist Party, 792; and s w p , 3*, 836-37, 839-40, 842-43,
Brad, Jack, 533 * 7 , S6, 113, 796, 797, 800, 84s, 849! and Tobin, 819; as
Bradley, Bill, 952 801; and Workers Party of Trotskyist leader, 27, 61, 766,
Bradley, Gerry, 438, 441 1940s, 80s; and USSR, 795, 769-71, 793-94j and Weiss,
Bradley, Lee, 438, 441 797 937; and w i l (UK), 455; and
Brand, Ford, 149 Burt, Roy, 788 Workers Party of 1920s, 762;
Brandler, Heinrich, 407, 578, Busch, German, 118 and Workers Party of 1930s,
620, 648 Busio, Bruno, 71 265, 729, 779- 8 i, 78S-86,
Brandt, Willy, 263 Butr6n, German, 121 and Workers Party of 1940s,
Brassgirdle, Mark Anthony Les­ By me, Dermut, 574 801-3, 830-33, 851; writings
ter, 164-65 Byrne, John, 568 of, 826
Braverman, Harry (Frankel), Cao Shangde (Cai Zhenda), 207
836, 839, 842 Cachin, Marcel, 340 Cardenas, Lazaro, 608
Breitel, Charles, 874 Caetano, Marcelo, 474, 476, Cirdenas, Roberto, 939
Breitman, George: as editor, 654, 877 Carlson, Grace, 817, 821-22,
875, 890; and f i , 305-6; and Calderon Fournier, Alexandra, 842
French s p , 350-51, 354; and 227 Carlsson, Geoff, 483
French Turn, 349, 351; and Calder6n Guardia, Rafael, 227 Carr, E. H., 209, 589
German i k d , 422; letter to Callaghan, James, 486, 497 Carter, James, 878, 922, 949-51
u s e c , 8 SO ; and Molinier, 345; Callaghan, John, 471, 474, 480, Carter, Joseph (Joseph Fried­
and 1932 Copenhagen meet­ 483, 484, 486, 49 i - 93, 495 , man), 794-95
ing, 237; and Soviet Union in 496 Cassard, Jean Pierre, 356-58,
WWII, 816; and s w p , 813, Camarata, Peter, 910 362, 364, 369-72
824, 856-57, 884-86, 890 Camejo, Peter/Pedro, 555, 642, Castro, Fidel: and Cuban Trots­
Bridges, Harry, 818 752, 760, 873, 893-94 kyist suppression, 30, 852;
Brissenden, Paul, 788 Cam pa, Valentin, 614 guerrilla campaign of, 230;
Brockway, Fenner, 493 Campbell, J. R., 441 and Guatemalan Commu­
Broquen, Enrique, 50 Campora, Hector, 4s, 49, S3 nists, 6 ri; and La Rouche,
BrouS, Pierre: and French Turn, Camus, Albert, 380 945; regime of, 28, 30, 230,
649; and Graef, 83; and Le­ Cannata, foe, 765 850; and "Reunification Con­
onetti, 590,- and Maurin let­ Cannon, James P. (Martel): and gress" of 1963, 338; and r w l /
ter, 694; and New Italian Op­ a w p , 776; and b w i l , 469; and l o r (Canada), 156; and swp

position, S90; and p o u m , 697, c l merger with a w p , 777; and (Australia), 73, 74; and swp
699, 701, 704; and Purdy, c l a , 767-69, 773 , 776 - 77 ; (USA), 12 -13 , 852, 8s3, 85s,
S17; and South Africa, 668, and Cochranites, 535-36; and 878; at Tricontinental Con­
670, 672; and Spanish Civil Comintern, 440, 762, 763; as gress, 231, 6 ii; and Voz Pro-

1074 Index of People

 letaria, 230, 2 3 1; and Yon 836—37, 840; and Clarke and Dahl, Walter, 907
Sosa, 611 Zaslow, 837-39; as editor of Da Hung Long, 959
Cavett, Dick, 859 The American Socialist, 842; Daladier, Eduard, 348
Clsaiie, Aim6, 404 and f i , 289, 297; and Socialist Dallin, David, 284
Chaban-Delmas, Jean, 400 Union, 841; and Starobin and Dallin, Lola, 284
Chabot, Suzanne, 154-55 Gates, 841; and s w p , 322, Dalmas, Louis, 301
Chadli, Bendjebid, 35, 36 831, 836-37, 840, 936 Daniel, John, 473
Chal croft, F., 441 Coenen, F., 92-94 Daniels, Ian, 906
Chamberlain, John, 788 Coenen, P., 92 Dao Van Long, 959
Chang Ch'ao-lin (Zheng Chao- Colvin, Paul, 892 Darlan, Admiral, 303
lin), 209, 213-14, 2 16-17 Comer, Cliff, 859 Das, Anadi, 524, 530
Chang Kuo-T'ao, 202 Comorera, Juan, 706 Dasgupta, Sudhu, 520
Chang Tso-lin, 96 Companys, Luis, 679, 704 Da Silva, Luis Ignacio, 137-38
Chao Ji, 208 Comrade Kuroda, 600 Dauge, Walter, 100-102, 273
Chattopedaya, Kamaladevi, 165 Comrade, Wild, 441 David, Robin, 892
Chaudhury, Minal Ghosh, 517 Conrad, Mike, 906 Davies, Neil, 902
Chaudhury, Tridib, 522, 532 Contreras Labarca, Carlos, 194- Davila Solis, Fausto, 6 11
Chavez, Nuflo, 12 1 95 Davis, Benjamin, 825
Chen Qichang, 241 Coolidge, Calvin, 868 Dawson, Murray, 327, 548
Ch'en Pi-lan: and Chinese Cooper, Arthur, 443 Dazy, Rend, 30, 33, 375-76,
Trotskyists, 212, 214; and Cooper, Jake, 822 505-6, 647
Communist League of China, Cooper, Larry, 886 De Anda, S., 608
210, 212, 213; and c c p , 205; Cooperman, Larry, 892 Deane, Jimmy, 308
and "defeatism" in WWII, Cooray, Lionel, 168 Ddat, Marcel, 364
212—13; and f i , 217-18 ; in Cooray, Upali, 190, 192, 194 De Berry, Clifton, 840, 856-57
Hong Kong, 215, 217; in Coover, Jack, 891 De Beule, Nadya, 91-92, 94,
Paris, 217; and r c p (China), Coover, Oscar Sr., 822 96-98
215—17; in Vietnam, 217 Copeland, Vince, 913, 941 De Boeck, H., 92-94
Ch'en Tu-hsiu (Chen Du Xiu): C6rdoba, Rolando, 939 De Boer, Harry, 822
arrests of, 210, a n , 212, 621; Coronado Vargas, Carlos, 227 Debray, Regis, 136
and c c p , 201, 202, 206-8; and Corral, Juan Carlos, 47-50 De Cabo, Francesc (Ergino
Chinese revolution, 205; and Coser, Lewis, 765 Goni), 688, 695
c l c , 209; and Comintern, Costa, J. (Jaime Fernandez De Carvalho, Otelo, 654, 656-
202, 206, 207; death of, 214; Rodriguez), 710, 712 58
"defeatism" in WWII, 212; in Coulter, Geoffrey, 568 De Gaulle, Charles, 328, 373,
Kuomintang, 201, 202, 205; Courneyeur, Phil, r52 377- 78, 38s, 391 , 399, 403 ,
and Left Opposition, 204; and Coutinho, Rodolfo, 13 1 550
Proletarian Faction, 207; and Cowley, Joyce, 866 Degrelle, Leon, 103
Soviet Union, 212 Craipeau, Ivan (Jean): and f i , De Haan, Richard, 846
Chen Yimou, 207 270, 298, 300-301, 308, 360, De Kadt, Jacques, 262-63, 621—
Cheung, Liz, 218-19, 221 651; and French Trotskyism, 22
Chiang Kai-shek, 3, 96, 205-6, 360, 397; and Jeunesse Socia­ De la Madrid, Miguel, 617
2 10 -11, 274, 292, 3 11, 621 liste, 379-80; and La Verite, De la Rosa, Di6genes, 636
Chirac, Jacques, 395 368) and p c i , 379; and p o i , De Lee, Leon, 102, 107
Chisholm, Shirley, 926 355; and p s o p , 354; and So­ De Leon, Daniel, 932
Chou En-lai, 220, 488-89 viet Union, 353 De Leon, Federico, 939
Churchill, Winston, 106, 202, Cripps, Sir Stafford, 293, 445, Delgado, Tony, 926
300, 458, 949 449 Delson, Max, 790
Ciapponi, Nora, 51 Ciotzat, A., 377 Demaziere, Albert, 269, 376
Clarke, George, 322, 327, 381, Crossman, Richard, 473 Denby, Charles, 935
548, 836-42 Cruz, Sonia, 940 Deng Tsiao-ping, 220, 222
Clarke, Harold, 146, 148, 150, Cuentas, Heman, 644 De Onis, Juan, 46
161 Cunhal, Alvaro, 656 De Pauw, Lievin, 102
Claude-Piouge, Henri, 301, 379 Curry, Kay, 892 Dertouzos, James, soo
Cliff, Tony, 468, 471, 481-83, Curtiss, Charles, 289, 609-10 Desai, Magan, s 2 5-2 6
48 s, 551 De Silva, Colvin R., 57, 161-63,
Coates, Ken, 473, 492, 494 Dahanayake, Wijayananda, 173, r 66, 168, 176-78, 180, 183,
Cochran, Bert: and Cannon, 188 186-87, 326, 483

Index of People 1075

Dc Silva, P. J. William, 188 Du Bois, W. E. B., 841 Fernindez Senddn, Enrique
Desmots, Jacques, 355 Duff, Gregg, S74 (Fersen), 685, 688-94, 710
Desoldre, Guy, 10 9 -11, 113 Dumas, 547 Fernandez Send6n, Manuel, 698
De Sou9a, Heitor, 658 Dunayevskaya, Raya [Forest, Fernando, Lanksiri, 192
De Souza, Doric, 167-68, 178, Rae Spiegel), 807-8, 933-36 Fernando, Meryl, 192
186 Dunne, Grant, 822 Fiddler, John, 152 .
Deutscher, Isaac: and f i , 269, Dunne, Miles, 822 Field, B. J., 256, 773~74
2.71; and f s l , 343; and Mill, Dunne, Vincent R., 609, 769, Field, Bert, 439
282; on Moscow Trials, 650; 787-88, 790, 813-14, 822, Field, Esther, 256, 774
and Paz, 341—42; and p b l , 839 , 875 Fields, Nancy, 927-28
649-50; and p c p , 648; and Dunne brothers, 819-21 Finaraore, Cail, 859
Rosmer, 343, 346; and Sobo­ Duong Bach Mai, 962, 970 Fischer, Alfred, 729
levicius, 282; and Souvarine, Dutt, R. Palme, 439, 475 Fischer, Karel, 233
342; and Treint, 342-43; on Dwyer, Joseph, S67 Fischer, Karl, 87, 89 \
Trotsky, 16, 269, 341, 343, Dziewanowski, M. K., 648 Fischer, Oskar (Schussler), 286,
647; and Zborowski, 283 419
Deutscher, Tamara, 61s Early, Steve, 902 Fischer, Ruth [Dubois, Martin},
Deutschman, Dave, 53-58, 61, Eastman, Max, 785, 788 265, 407-8, 420-21, 669, 671,
7* Edel, Jan, 626 833
Devale, Ffilix, 441 Ehrlich, Solomon, 649, 726 Fiterman, Charles, 375
Dewar, Hugo, 438, 450, 456 Ehrlichman, John, 874 Fitsgerald, Mr., 149
Dewar, Rosa, 447 Eisenhower, Dwight, 834 Flood, Sean, 73
Dewey, John, 788, 791, 818 Ellenstein, Jean, 396 Florio, Gregorio, 5 3
Dewey, Thomas, 810 Elliff, N. T., 815 Flug, Abe, 648
Dharmasena, W., 172 Elliot, Marc, 939 Foirier, Roger, 355, 364, 365
Diaz, Jos6, 681 Engels: Albanian followers of, Foley, Gerry, so, S7t, 654, 656,
Diaz Ordaz, Gustavo, 6 11- 12 32; on class, 10, xi, x8, 71; 717
Di Bartolomeo, Nicola [Fosco), and International Trotskyism, Font-Farran, Rafael, 298, 301,
59 0 - 9 1, 703-4 661, 662; and r c l ( i ) (USA), 305-6, 370-71
Dickinson, Keith, 492 942; and r s l (USA), 918, 90s; Foote, Michael, 473, 475, 490
Dilber, Orhan, 7 3 9 South African followers of, Ford, Gerald, 874, 950-51
Dimitrov, Georgi, 1 4 3 , 72 7 67 sj and Spartacist League Ford, James, 815
Diop, Majhemout, 115 (USA), 918; and swp, 842, Fortunato, Adelino, 655
Djepi (Sadik Prentaj), 3 3 88i; and wwp, 913, 915 Fossa, Mateo, 39, 41
Dobbs, Farrell (Smith): and Erber, Ernest, 793, 796, 800, 831 Foster, William Z., 762-63
Healy, 9 7 2 ; a n d i b t , 8 1 8 - 2 0 ; Eskandari, Samad Asari, 566 Fote, Leandro, 48
and ic , 3 2 4 , 5 3 6 ; and Minne­ Estrella, Luis, 698 Franco, Francisco, 54, 660-79,
apolis teamsters, 8 1 9 - 2 0 ; Evans, Les, 752, 88$-86, 892 697, 699-700, 706, 71a, 7 14 -
presidential campaign of, i$, 717
8 4 8 - 4 9 ; and sentencing under Faisans, Georges, 40 s Frank, Hans, 365
Smith Act, 8 2 2 ; and sw p, 8 16 , Falsafe, Mohammed Bagher, 56s Frank, Jakob (Max Graef), 83,
820, 8 39 , 8 4 5 , 879, 9 2 3 ; and Farley, Betsy, 868 143
Trotsky, 8 1 6 ; and Weiss, 14 9 Farrell, James T., 788, 822 Frank, Pierre: on Algerian reso­
Do Carmo, Isabel, 6 5 4 Farrell, Mike, 572 lution, 742,- arrest of, 359;
Doherty, Vincent, 5 7 4 Farrelly, Anne, 571 and Clarke, 381; and Djepi,
Dollfuss, Engelbert, 8o, 84 Fast, Howard, 844 33, and f i , 308-9, 333, 33<>,
Domergue, Paul, 34 8 Fataar, Ali, 673 363-64, 469, 562, 66o, 742,
Doncaster, Tony, 443 Fame, Paul, 351 831; and French Socialist
Doriot, Jacques, 3 4 7 , 364 Favre, L., $S6 Party, 351; and French Turn,
Dorizzi, Ren6, 7 2 8 , 729 Feathers, Victor, 478 349; and Greek Trotskyists,
Dos Passos, John, 78s Feeley, Dianne, 886, 892 507; and is , . 329-30, 537-39;
dos Santos, Hernando, 653 Federn, Emst, 8s, 87 and i l o , 438; and is, 17 5 ,
Douglas, Roger, 6 3 1 Feingold, Carl, 894 327-29, 331, 333, 389, 414,
Dowdall, Steve, 448 Feldman, Fred, 322, 330, 548, 540-50, 685, 690, 740; and
Dowson, Ross, 1 4 5 —5 1 854 Ligue Communiste, 393; and
Doyle, Clare, 4 9 2 Fernandez, Enrique, 644-45 l s s p (Ceylon), I 7 S- 77 ; a n d

Draper, Hal, 79 2 , 8 9 9 -9 0 0 Fernindez, M., 715 Molinier and Foirier, 352-53,

Drenth, Herman, 6 27 Fernandez, Octavio, 607-10 365; and Pablo, 318-19, 38t;
Dubcek, Alexander, 903 Fernindez, Susana, 939, 94 r and p c i , 297, 354 - S 5, 357,

1076 Index of People

 380-82, 390; on "permanent Gemayel, Amin, 605 186-87; a n d f i , 326, 330, 472,
revolution," 6 > and p o i George II, king of Greece, 404 547, 740; and Indian Trots­
(France), 353; and p s o p , 355; Gerritsen, Comelis, 626 kyism, 517; and l s s p , 145-46,
and Rosmer and Landau, 687; Giap, Vo Nguyen, 912 162, 165, 167, 168, 170-73,
and Soviet Union, 314; and Gibelin, Marcel, 301, 305, 360, 176, 177; political positions
s w p (USA), 917-18, 323, $35; 363 held by, 163, 178; and ssp,
and Trotsky, 17, 19, 253, 256, Gikovate, Febus, 133 166; and Suriya Mai Move­
359; and u s e c , 42, 62, 66, 67, Gil, Evaristo, 688 ment, 161; and u l f , 175; and
432, 594, 595, 597, 746 , 876; Gil Robles, Josd Maria, 679 Wellewatte Mills Trade
WWII activities of, 297, 357, Gillespie, John, 820 Union, 161
358; and Yugoslav Commu­ Gilty, Adolfo, 6t2 Cordon, Max, 528
nists, 380 Giscard d'Estaing, Valery, 395, Gordon, Sam (Stuart), 285-86,
Frankel, David, 878 397, 400 305-6, 308, 313, 535
Frankel, Jan (Anton), 234-35, Gitlow, Ben, 784 Gorkin, Julian (Julian G6mez),
253, 256, 285, 414, 418-19, Glass, Frank, 184, 195, 2 11, 668 253, 681, 684, 704
621 Glavens, Bill, 66 Gorriaran Merlo, Enrique, 46
Frankensteen, Richard, 781 Glinne, Emest, 109-10 Goulart, Jdao, 134, 135
Fraser, Clara, 936 Glotzer, Albert: and British Left Gould, Nathan, 270
Fraser, Donald, 69 Opposition, 440; and Cannon, Gould, Rob, 62-66
Friedman, Otto, 233 762, 769, 770) and Carter, Gourget, Pierre, 345-46
Freire, Emilio, 694, 695 795; and Chicago City Com­ Gracey, General, 970
Frey, Joseph, 78, 81—84, 86, 87, mittee, 787; and c l a , 769, Grad, Berthold, 83
89, 133, *5* 776; and international youth Graef, Ya, 83
Frias, Ismael, 545, 638-40 meeting, 263; and Marxian Graham, Bill, 438, 441, 443
Froehlich, Paul, 421 League (UK), 438- 39 ) and Gramsci, Antonio, 17, s86, 588,
Frondizi, Silvio, 641 Sedov and Zborowski, 283; 714
Frossard, Louis, 340 and s p , 786-87, 79 *; and Grant, Ted, 443, 457, 470, 487-
Fryer, Peter, 473-75 Trotsky, 26, 439, 769, 791 ,
88 4 9 1-9 2
Fux, Georges, 102 Goenetilleke, Oliver, 173 Grau San Martin, Ramdn, 229-
Fyson, George, 629 Goffe, John, 443, 455 30
Goldenberg, Boris, 260, 262 Graves, Frank, 229-30, 291
Gager, Owen, 631 Goldman, Albert (Fouchois, Green, Gil, 846
Galicia, Luciano, 607-10 Morrison): and Cannon, 828; Green, James, 940
Gallacher, William, 441 and f i , 286; and Minneapolis Green, John, 809
Gallo, Antonio (Ontiveros), 37- teamsters, 775 ; and Poland Green, P., 762
38 invasion, 796; and Smith Act, Greenland, Paul, 163
Galtieri, Leopoldo, 50 830; and Socialist Appeal, Greenspan, Eliot, 951
Galvan, Rafael, 61 r 787; and s p , 284, 287; and Griesa, Thomas, 874
Gandhi, Indira, 527, 528 s w p , 297, 798, 823, 831, 837 ; Grinblat, Jacques, 301, 30s, 308
Ganofsky, Edgar, 962 on USSR, 830; and Workers Griswold, Deirdre, 912, 914-15
Garaudy, Roger, 396 Party of 1940s, 830-31 Grivas, George, 232
Garcia, Sebastiin (Damien), Gomes, Antonio, 658 Grohl, Karl, 420
713, 721 Gomes, Eduardo, n o Gross, Murray, 790
Garcia Meza, Luis, 122, 129, G6mez, Anna, 939 Gross-Mier, Manuel, 721
131 G6mez, Arturo, 49 Grove, Marmaduque, 195-97
Garcia Palacios, Luis, 694 G6mez, Ildefonso, 721 Groves, D., 441
Garmendia, A., 38 Gong, May May, 892 Groves, Reg, 431, 439, 440, 441,
Ganastazu Medici, General, Gonzalez Mosc6so, Hugo, 121, 446-49
135, 137 124, 126, 127, 128, 130, 547 Gruber, Nancy, 892
Gatchev, Dimitar, 141, 143 Gool, Goolam, 672, 673 Grylewicz, Anton, 233, 256,
Gates, John, 842, 844, 847 Gool, Jane, 673 412, 415
Geier, Joel, 900, 901, 903 Goonesinghe, A. E., 160, 161, Guerin, Daniel, 350, 971
Geiler, Lidia, 122 164 Guevara, Ernesto (Che), 64, 120,
Geisel, Emesto, 135-37 Goonewardena, Cholmondley, 121, 136, 179, 751, 852
Geldman, Max, 822 176 Guevara Arce, Walter, 122, 129
Geller, Jules, 836, 840, 842 Goonewardena, Vivienne, 174 Guinney, M., 37 *
Geltman, Emanuel (Emanuel or Goonewardene, Leslie (K. Guinney, Roberto, 37
Manny Garret), 270, 288-89, Tilak): on b l p i , 168, 519; and Guiteras, Antonio, 239
768, 792, 808—10 Ceylonese Trotskyism, 161, Gunasekera, Chanra, 172

Index of People 1077

 Gunasekera, Vernon, i6r, 163, Harrison, Charles Yale, 785 Higgins, Jim, 460, 486
1 66 Harsch, Ernest, 190 Hilferding, Rudolph, 975
Gunawardena, Dinesh, 1 9 6 Hashemi, Mahea, 564 Hill, Herbert, 902
Gunawardena, Kusumasiri, 1 8 8 Hasler, Walter, 729 Hill, Rowland, 451
Gunawardena, Philip {P. R. R.): Haston, Jock, 308, 447, 457-58, Hillquit, Morris, 784
arrest of, 1 6 7 ; and Bandara­ 460, 462 Hiltebrand, Kurt, 729
naike, 1 7 2 , 1 8 8 - 8 9 ; and b l p i , Hathaway, Clarence, 774, 788 Hippe, Oskar, 256, 4x5
1 6 8 , 1 8 8 ; and Ceylonese Hatta, Mohammed, 533 Hirson, Baruch, 672, 674—75
Trotskyism, 1 6 1 , 1 8 6 , 1 8 8 ; Hauser, Othmar, 729 Hitler, Adolf, 106, 358, 373,
death of, 1 8 9 ; and govern­ Hawke, Bob, 70 626, 796
ment, 1 7 6 , 1 8 9 ; and Indian Hayawardena, Dally, 162 Hoan, Daniel, 790
Trotskyism, 5 1 7 , - and j v p , Healey, Dennis, 497 Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen Ai
190; and l s s p , 163, 168-69, Healy, Gerry (Burns): on Castro Quoc), 912, 916, 958, 968,
186, 190-91; and Marxian regime, 335; as edi tor/wri ter, 970-71
League (UK), 438; and Suriya 457 - 58, 473- 74, 5 io, 568; fol­ Hoffa, James, 819, 82I
Mai, 16 1; and v l s p , 169,- as lowers of, 27; and f i , 305, Ho Huu Tuong, 960, 962
Union organizer, 185, 188 323, 330, 471-7^ 74°; and Holland, Stuart, 497
Gunawardena, Robert, 161, 166, Hansen and Novack, 113, Holmes, Dave,.71
168, 172, 189 375,- and Healyite ic, 575, Holmes, Larry, 914
Gupta, Pamalal Das, 429-30 642, 722, 926-28; and ic, 121, Hook, Sidney, 777, 785, 788
Gupta, Tarapada, 520 192, 324, 331, 334, 336, 388, Horowitz, Roger, 868
Gusev, Sergei Ivanovich, 762 536, 542, 552, 634, 74a, 918; Horrabin, Frank, 451
Guti6rrcz Alvarez, Jos6, 713—15, and Ireland, 458, 575; and is, Horthy, Admiral, 512
718-20, 722-23 321-23, 537; and Lora, 125; Howe, Irving, 765, 793, 809, 810
Gunman, Joseph, 233, 235 and Qadafi, 477—79; and r c p , Hoxha, Enver, 32, 33
460, 465, 470-71, 568, 929; Huberroan, Leo, 842
Hacker, Louis, 785, 788 and s l l , 322, 388, 472, 492, Hudson, Carlos, 822
Haldeman, H. R., 874 510, 570, 575, 634, 741, 852, Hughes, Billy, 57
Hale, Sylvia, 63, 66 and Socialist Labor Group, Humbert-Droz, Jules, 340, 341,
Hall, Gus, 914 499; and Spartacist group, 727
Hallas, Duncan, 483, 485, 487 552, 918; and swp {USA), 22, Hussein, Sadam, 558
Halstead, Fred, 855, 858-60 3 * 3, 330, 335, 535, 74°, 9 * 4 ; Huynh Van Phuong, 959, 960,
Halyard, Helen, 926, 928 as Trotskyist, 465, 472, 479- 962
Hamel, Clarence, 822 8r; and Workers League
Hansen, Emil, 825 (USA), 510, 925, 927-29; and Ibanez, Carlos, 194
Hansen, Joseph, P.: on Castro WWII, 458, 568 Ibarra, Felix, 608
regime, 850-51; death of, 875; Healy, Patrick, 571, 57a, 576 Ibarra de Piedra, Rosario, 6 15-
and F t , 472, 74a, 779; and Healy, Seamus, 576 16
Healy, 176, 472, 478, 5 1 0 - 1 1 , Heath, Edward, 477-78, 486 Ibarruri, Dolores (La Pasionara),
575, 722, 929; and New Heisler, Ed, 874 681, 706
Zealand Trotskyists, 630; and Heisler, Francis, 788 Iglesias, Ignacio, 590, 691-92,
p o b Combate (Bolivia) 127; Held, Walter (Heinz Epe), 235, 707-8
and Portuguese Trotskyists, 263-64, 284, 418, 420, 623, I K'uan, 215
654; publications of, 642, 818; 633, 63s Ingham, Brian, 492
and s l l (UK), 335j and s w p , Hemery, Daniel, 959-61, 963— Insirovic, Pavlusko, 973
798, 816, 839, 851-52, 879, 66, 971 — Iriarte, Jos6, 7x8
923; and Trotsky, 510-n,- Henderson, Lynn, 884, 886-87, Irwin, Inez Haynes, 788
and u s e c , 332, 749, 751, 752, 891, 895 Ireland, Larry, 866, 917
755 , 779 ; and Vereeken, 113 Hennaut, Adhemar, 92-98, 263 Isaacs, Harold, 205—7, 2rx, 291,
Hansson, Erlingur, 514-15 Henriquez, Diego, 197 702
Harber, Denzil, 273, 443, 447- Hernandez, Jesus, 681
49 , 453 - 55 , 457 , 460 Herreshoff, David, 840-41 Jabor, S., 604 '
Hardman, J. B. S. O'. B. Salut- Hersz-Mendl, Karl (Stockfish), Jackson, Jesse, 914
sky), 776-77 272, 649-51 Jackson, Starkey, 447, 450, 4S2-
Harper, Lynne, 866 Hess, Rudolph, 358 53
Harrington, Joseph, 574 Hie, Marcel, 270, 297-99, 357, Jacobson, Julius, 853
Harrington, Michael, 841 360, 362, 368, 375 Jacquemotte, Joseph, 92-93
Harris, Mark, 892 Hidalgo, Manuel, 194-96 Jaffe, Hosea, 670, 675

1078 Index of People

Jakobits, Joseph, 861 Karkin, Ahmet Mohittiri, 739 Komer, David (Barta), 357, 37 1-
Jakubowski, Franz, 4 2 3 Karmi, Menahem, 553 72, 662, 667
James, C. L. R. (Johnson): as Karsner, Rose, 764, 785, 813 Komer, Louise, 667
British Trotskyist leader, 8 0 7 ; Kascha, Franz, 86 Komfedder, Joseph Zack, 780
as editor, 4 4 8 , 9 3 4 ; and f i , Kascha, Leopold, 86 Kostrzewa, Wera, 647
270, 273, 285—86; and i l p , Kavanaugh, Jack, 57, 58 Koza, D., 674
443-44, 447-49; in Ireland, Keamey, Robert, 164, 165, 169- Kozlecki, Wenzel, 233
568; and Johnson-Forrest Ten­ 70, 173, 176, 180, 183-87, Kramer, Edgar B. (Charles Jack­
dency, 933-34; and Marxist 190, 443 son), 825
Group, 443, 447-48; and r s l , Keen, Ann Frankel, 457-S 9, 462 Kripalani, A., 521
454; and Shachtmanites, 824; Keig, Nita, 72, 631 Krivine, Alain, 390, 391, 393,
and s w p , 796, 803, 807-8, Keller, Friz, 78, 84-91 396 - 97 , 399, 40 S, 430
823, 933-34; and Trotsky De­ Kelly, Brendan, 571 Krivine, Hubert, 733
fense Committee, 451; in Kelly, Tony, 63, 66 Kruehn, Carl, 822
United States, 45 s, 934; on Kemp, Tom, 473 Kruithof, Joey, n o
USSR, 796, 807, 933 - 34 ) and Kendall, Walter, 471 Krutch, Joseph Wood, 788
Workers Party, 807-8, 823, Kenny, Sean, 151 Kumar, Somendra, 523
832, 933-34 Kerensky, Alexander, 2, 120, Kumar, Sudhin, 524, 530
James, Estelle, 820-21, 823-24 968 Kun, B6!a, 512
James, Ralph, 820-21, 823-24 Kem, Walter, 729 Kuron, Jacek, 652
Jaquith, Cindy, 883 Kerry, Tom, 818 Kurosawa, Jiro, 600
Jairuzelski, Wojciech, 508, 615, Keuneman, Pieter, 166 Kutcher, James, 834-35
652 Khadikar, R. K., 523 Kuusinen, Otto, 799
Jayawardena, J. R., 182 Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah,
Jazayeri, Nehamat, 559, 565 70 , 5 S3, 558- 59. 56^-67, 922 Lacroix, Henri (Francisco Garcia
Jennes, Doug, 250, 631, 759-60, Khrushchev, Nikita, s8, 61, Lavid), 681, 684-86, 688-91,
880-81, 883 421, 473, 545, 549, 732, 811, 694, 710
Jenness, Linda, 872 842, 843 Lafferte, Elias, 94, 95
Jennings, Allison, 480 Kianuri, Mur-el-din, 563 LaFollette, Suzanne, 788
Jha, Jagdish, 519 Kies, B., 672 Lafuente, Agustin, 685
Joerger, Karl, 833 Kies, D. M., 671 LaGuardia, Fiorello, 791, 814
Joffe, A., 204 Kikich, Esteban, 953 Laguiller, Arlette, 400, 401
Johns, Margaret, 443, 453 Kilbom, Karl, 263 Lambert, Pierre: arrest of, 358;
Johnson, Arnold, 776 Kilden, Gote, 726 and cci, 370-71; and Confed­
Johnson, Russell, 630-31 Kilpatrick, William H., 788 eration General du Travail,
Jordan, Pat, 492-93 Kim Dae Jung, 600, 60 r 378; and c o r q i , 137, 556,
Joshi, Shanta Ben, 522, 524 Kinch, Preben, 239-40 576, 65s, 720; and Healy, 53-
Junco, Sandalio, 228-29 King, Dennis, 9SO 54; and ic, 335-36; and Moli­
Jungclas, George, 237, 256, 415, King, Martin Luther Jr., 855 nier, 355, 365; and oci, 21,
519-30 Kinnock, Neil, 490 510, 575, 634; and p c i , 381,
Jupp, James, 169, 173, 174, 176- Kirchwey, Freda, 788 383; and p o i , 368) and p o r
79, 180, 183, 189, 191, 192, Kirov, Sergei, 789 (Bolivia), 510; and p o s i
443 Kissinger, Henry, 949-50 (Spain), 720; and p s o p , 335
Just, Stephane, 391-92, 543-44, Klement, Rudolf, 268, 283, 419, Lambrecht, Jim, 848
586 651 Lamed, Stefan, 649-5 *
Justo, A gust in P., 38 Knight, Ted, 497 Lamont, Corliss, 846
Justo, Liborio (Quebracho), 38- Koeslag, Jan, 626 Landau, Kurt: and c p (Austria),
40,51-52,290 Kohn, Eric, 41s 78, 8i; and i c e (Spain), 690,
Kohn, Joseph (Jako), 410, 412 709; and i l o , 255, 257, 413,
Kalandra, Zvis, 233, 235-36 Kokoszinski, Michel, 369 687; and l o (Austria), 81, 410;
Kallen, H. M., 788 Kolpe, S. B., 522-24, 527 and Nin, 686, 704; and p o u m ,
Kamenev, Lev, 2, 3 Koltzov, Mikhail, 704-s 591; and Rosmer, 242; and
Kaplan, Sarah, 943 Konikow, Antoinette, 765 s i c , 687, 709; and Sobolevi­

Karalasingham, Victor, 168, Koplenig, Johann, 78 cius, 413; and Trotsky, 81,
176, 180, 182, 518 Kopp, Kiri, 234, 235 252, 410, 413, 414, 503, 686,
Karamanlis, Constantine, 507 Koritschoner, Franz, 78 690, 709; and Trotsky move­
Kargeman, Pauline, 375 Kornberg, Allan, 146, 148, 150, ment, 80, 4 13 -1 s
Karin, Dareoush, 19, 20 161 Landezabal, Jos£ Maria, 688

Index of People 1079

Landy, Sy, 903, 907 Lens, Sid, 781—82, 902 Lovegrove, Dinny, 55
Lane, Hilda, 443, 457 Leon, Abraham (Abraham Wajn- Lovell, Frank, 818, 841, 871,
Lang, Jo, 735 sztok), ro6-7, 298, 301 884, 886, 889-90, 895
Lange, David, 631 Leonetti, Alfonso (Akros, Du­ Lovell, Sarah, 237, 890
Lanusse, Alejandro, 441 bois, Saraceno, Souzo), 256, Lovestone, Jay, 625, 762, 765-
Lapinski, Stanislaw, 647 262, 266, 421, 438, 588—91 66, 774, 893
Largo Caballero, Francisco, 678- Lerroux, Alejandro, 679, 684, Lozovsky, A., 682
79, 690, 800, 708 686 Lu Yan, 204
La Riva, Gloria, 914 Lerski, George, 161-67, 186 Lumumba, Patrice, 9x2
LaRouche, Lyndon (Lyn Marks), Lesoil, Leon, 93-94, 101—2, 104, Lundeberg, Harry, 817-18
931, 944-52 253, 256, 270, 273, 421 Luxemburg, Rosa, 17, 106, 714,
Larsen, Axel, 139 Le Van Thu, 962 918
Laski, Harold J., 161, 446 Levi, Eduard, 874 Ly, Abdoulaye, 114
Lasser, David, 790 Levi, Paul, 78 Lynn, Janice, 564 \
Laval, Pierre, 96 s Levine, Bruce, 907 Lysaght, D. R. O'Connor, 568-
Laval, Renfie, 376 Levitt, Morris (Morris Stein), 7 i, 573-76
Lawless, Gery, 570 308, 839, 841
Lawrence, John, 322, 325-27, Levy, Sam, 471 MacAliskey, Bernadette, 574
457 , 470, 472 , 537, 548 Lewis, David, 150 McAIpine, Mr., 149
Laxer, Jim, 150 Lewis, Denny, 820 McAnulty, John, 572-74
Lear, Blake, 14s Lewis, John L., 820 McCarthy, Eugene, 860
Le Blanc, Paul, 886, 892 Lewis, Stephen, 150 McCarthy, Joseph, 834-35
Lechin Oquendo, Juan, 119 -2 1, Liacho, G., 38 Macdonald, Dwight, 805-6
126, 129 Liang Ganqiao, 204, 209 MacDonald, Jack, 144-46, 265
Le Dem, Alain, 301 Li Dizhao, 201-2, 204 McDougal, lan, 62
Ledesma, BemaTdo, 644 Liebknecht, Karl, 106, 918 MacDougal, N., 62
Lee, Heaton, 459, 462 Li Huaiming, 219 McDowell, Arthur, 786
Lee Sze, 221-22 Lippman, Walter, 842 McGovern, George, 855
L6ger, Manon, 152 Liu Chia-liang, 216-17 McGovern, Gerardo, 228-29
Le Grfeve, Pierre, 107, n o Liu Hanyi, 109 Machado, Gerardo, 228-29
Lehmann, Otto [Samuel Hun- Liu Renjing, 208, 2 11 Mackler, Jeff, 871, 892
dert), 419 Liu Shao-chi, 202, 750 McKinney, Ernest, 792, 824, 831
Leighton, Ron, 469 Liu Yin, 209 McManus, Jack, 847
Leite, Hilcar, 13 1, 134 Livingstone, Ken, 49 s, 497 McReynolds, David, 854-55
Leite Filho, Barreto, 133 Lobo, Aristides, 131-32, 134 McVay, Kay, 72
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyitch: and Al­ Loew, Raimund, 88 Madsen, Anton Schou, 237-39,
banian Youth Group, 32; and Loffler, Erich, 235 244-45, 724
Bolshevik party, 759-60, 912; Logan, Bill, 79, 553 Mage, Shane, 917
and Bulgarian Trotskyists, Lollia, Alex, 405 Maillet, Simon, 545
I4i; and Castro, 28; and c c p , Lombardo Toledano, Vicente, Maitan, Livio: and f i , 6 <5oj and
3; and Comintern, 3, $t and 607, 610 c c r , 594; and is of 1950s,

c p u s a , 762; criticism of, 2; Longo, Luigi, 589 175, 326, 547, 549 - 50, 594;
and Greek Trotskyists, 507; Lo Ngoc, 970 and Movimento .Socialista,
ideas of, 4, 13 -14 , 23-24, 37, Lootens, Michel, 93, 97 594; and p c i , 595; and r w l
365-66, 457, 714; illness of, Loots, Camille, 107 [Belgium), i i i ; and s p , 594;
2, 4; and Jenness and Mandel, Ldpez, Camilo, 37 and swp (India), 526; and
759-60; and Percy, 72; and L6pez, Michelson, Alfonso, 225 u s e c / i m t , 66-67, 90, 432,

p o r (Bolivia), 1 2 0 ; r c l (1 ), L6pez Portillo, Adolfo, 6 15-17 597, 654, 766

9 4 2 ; and role in Trotskyism, Lora, Guillermo, 119, 121, 12 3- Maitland, Frank, 453-54
2 5 , 6 6 2 ; and r s l (USA), 9 0 5 ; 26, 543- 44, S47, 634, 639 Makarios, Archbishop, 2 3 2
South African followers of, Loredo Aparicio, Jos£, 684-85, Malaka, Tae, 5 3 1 , 5 3 3 - 3 4
675; as Soviet leader, 15; on 695 Malik, Adam,' 5 3 4
Soviet Union, 2, 17, 795; and Lorenzo, Anibal, 642, 752 Mandel, Ernest (Ernest Ger­
Spartacist League (USA), 9x8; Lorimer, Doug, 7 4 main): and a c (Spain), 7 1 4 ;
and s w p (USA), 881; and Ve- Loukas, Karliaftis, (Kostas Kas- and b i m g , 4 9 3 ; and c f q i , 3 6 3 ;
reeken, 106; and w w p , 913, tritis), 504 and f i , 1 0 9 , 3 0 1 , 3 1 2 , 3 3 3 ,
915, 849 Loula, Anastase, 33 382, 660; and g i m (Gexmany),
Lenorovic, Hynek, 234-35 Louzon, Robert, 343 430; and ic of 1950s, 162,

1080 Index of People

 326- 28, 527, 547—48, 55°; Mason, Mel, 72, 73, 631, 873, Miller, Arnold, 901
and ic of 1 9 6 0 s , 5 4 2 ; and l s a , 892 Miller, Joseph, 202, 203,
1 5 1 ; and l s s p , 1 7 3 , 1 7 5 , 1 8 6 - Maspero, Francois, 391 205, 209-10, 2 12 -13, **7~*9,
8 7 , 3 2 7 ; and Pablo, 3 8 1 - 8 2 ; Massari, Roberto (Roberto), 221
and p c i , 3 8 3 ; and Perin, n o ; 431- 32, 597, 755 Mine, Pavel, 649
and Polk and Lesoil, 9 4 ; pub­ Massart, Fernand, 109 Ming, Wang, 203
lications of, n o, 2 2 0 , 3 8 2 , Mat, Daniel, 301 Mitchell, John, 874
507, 542, 739; and s p (Bel­ Matgamna, Sean, 480-81, 496- Mitterrand, Francois, 383, 386-
gium), 107; and swp (USAJ, 97 , 570 87, 396- 97, 400-401, 404,
7i, 323, 535, 880-81, 895-96; Matheus, Jos6, 132 405 , 5 * 5, 5 57
as teacher, 430, 613; and Matlow, Bert, 443 Modlik, Franz, 80, 83
Trotskyism, 17-18, 22-23, Mauricio, Eduardo, 305, 308 Mohammed, Elijah, 856
26, 169, 420, 534; as Trotsky­ Maurin, Joaquin, 442, 623, 680, Mohareb, I., 941
ist, 94, 108-9, 1*3-14/ 410 i 682-84, 692, 694, 697-98 Moleiro, Mois6s, 957
a n d u s e c 90, 422, 594-95, Maxton, James, 442 Molina, Gerardo, 226
597< 654, 876; and Vietnam Mayakkara, V., 140 Molina y Fabrega, Narciso, 686,
war, 430; and West Berlin Mayer, Karl, 83 688, 695, 699
Senate, 430; and w w p , 915; Mayes, Barney, 818 Molinier, Henri (Testu), 358,
and WWII, 107, 363 Maynard, Carl, 66 360, 3 6 4 -6 5 , 3 7 0 -7 1 , 375

Mangan, Sherry (Terence Phe- Mazelis, Fred, 924, 928 Molinier, Raymond: and di Bar­
lanj, 40, 290, 305-6, 308, 314, Mazy, Emest, 817 tolomeo, 5 9 1 ; and c l , 3 4 6 ;
506 M'Bow, Proctor, 114 and dissident groups, 2 9 7 ; and
Mangano, Romeo, 592-93 Meibhler, Jean, 256 f i , 2 6 6 , 2 7 4 ; and Fisher, 4 2 1 ;

Manoy, Stefan, 140-41, r43 Mel la, Julio Antonio, 228 and Frank, 4 1 4 ; and French
Mao Tse-tung, 217, 220-22, Melo, Plinio, 105 Turn, 3 4 9 ) and is, 3 5 a , 3 5 5 ,
911, 914 Mendelsohn, Sol, 813 421; and Landau, 83; and
Marcell, Ken, 78 Mend6s-France, Pierre, 384 Mill, 282; and Naville, 345-
Marcy, Sam, 841, 848, 9 11-12 , Mendis, Allan, 168 46) and Nin, 683-84) and p c i
914, 916 Mendis, M. G., 166 (France), 266, 297, 352, 354,
Maiechais, Georges, 403 Mendtvil, Lucio, 118 357; and p o i , 353; and p s o p ,
Margne, Charles, 385, 459 Mendoza, Humberto, 194 355; and Rosmer, 345—46,
Markey, Ray, 871 Menist, Abraham, 626 687; and Rous, 703; and Span­
Marlen, George, 783 Mercader, Ram6n, 609 ish Trotskyists, 685-87; and
Marof, Tristin (Gustavo Na­ Mercado Vargas, Tonatiuh, 617 Trotsky, 25, 256, 341, 343,
varro), 38, 117 - 18 Mercer, Don, 457 34 S- 46 , 352, 358-591 and
Marquis, Gilbert, 545 Merlino, Luis Eduardo (Nico- Trotskyist paper, 352; and
Marquis, Jean-Fran$ois, 727-32 lau), 135 WWII, 318
Marteaux, Albert, 100 Mestre, Michfile, 548 Moller, Edwin, 12 1
Martin, Americo, 957 Meta, Ashoka, 521 Molotov, Vyascheslav, 647
Martin (des Palli^res), Jeanne, Metayer, Marguerite, 376 Monat, Martin, 301, 367-68,
256, 360 Metaxas, Ioannis, 504, 505 426
Martin, Key, 913-14 Metge, Josep, 688, 695 Monatte, Pierre, 343
Martinet, Gilles, 379 Metz, Karl, 237 Mondale, Walter, 73
Martinez de la Torre, Carlos, Miah, Malik, 870 Mongocha, Duzano, 33
615 Miaja, General Jos6, 707 Monk, Albert, 60
Marx, Karl: on capitalism, 78; Michaloux, Charles, 392 Montero, R., 712
on class, 10, 1 1, 18; and Michnik, Adam, 652 Moonesinghe, Anil, 176, 178
Cochran, 837; and First Inter­ Mienov, Karl, 778, 833 Mora, Jorge, 49
nationa), i; and International Mif, Pavel, 203 Morales, Sonia, 939
Trotskyism, 660, 662; and Miles, Rick, 904-7 Morales Bermudez, General,
r c l (i) , 905, 942; on socialist Milesi, Pedro {Pietro Boscoglia, 644
revolution, 6; South African Eduardo Islas, P. Maciel), 37, Moreau de Justo, Alicia, 47
followers of, 675; and Sparta­ 39 Moreno, Nahuel (Bressano,
cist League, 918; and swp, Mitchell, Alex, 479-80 Hugo): and "Argentina and
970, 88r; works of, 32, 71, Mill, M. (Jacques Obin, Pavel Bolivia," 642; arrest of, 136;
S<>7, 9 *3; and w w p (USA), 913 Okin), 83, 98, 253, 255, 282, and b c s , 136; and Castro re­
Maslow, Arkady (Parabellum), 438, Soa-3 gime, 554j Chilean associates
407-8, 420-21 Mill, Michel, IS2-54 of, 200; and c l t o , 329, 538;

Index of People 1081

 in Colombia, 50, 224; and 727-28, 953; and the Four, Tempo, 137; and Healy, 78,
c o r q i , 389, 556, 635; as edi­ 262; and French Turn, 3 5 1- 113, 478 , 510, 575, 722, 929;
tor, 329, 538; French group of, 52; and i l o , 253; and is, 438; and ic, X49; and l s a , 13X; and
403, 404; and ic, 332, $54; and London Bureau, 590; and Origlass, 62; and Portuguese
and International Trotskyism, Molinier, 345-46; and p o i , Trotskyists, 654; and Shacht­
723; and i w l , 933; Mexican 355; and p s o p , 354; and s p man, 794; and s p , 792; and
followers of, 613-14, 616; and (France), 349, 351, 378- 79 ; swp, 840, 859, 875, 917
oci, 387; and p o r (Argentina), and Treint, 342—43; and
40; and p o r s , 40; and p r t , 42; Trotsky, 25, 256, 343-44, 346, O'Brien, John, 940
and p s t (Argentina), 42, 613, 352; and uo (Germany), 411 O'Brien, Nora Connolly, 568
756- 57; and s l a t o , 41, 638; Nearing, Scott, 161 Obrohini, Zeyott, 559
and s w p , 554; and u s e c , 6, ax, Nedava, Joseph, 577 O'Casey, Dennis, 927
136, 224, 366, 396, 554-56, Negrette, Robert, 392 Odria, Manuel, 638
597, 613, 632, 643, 75 *, 7 S7 , Negrin,' Juan, 707 Oehler, Hugo, 28, 453, 769, 773,
937 Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal, 3 11, 775, 777 , 781-82, 833
Morgan, Eileen, 631 520-21, 523-24, 53° O'Hare, Fergus, 574
Morriens, F., 93 Neilson, Christian, 792 Olberg, Valentin, 4 11
Morris, Ernesto, 301 Nelz, Walter, 649, 726-28 Olsen, Floyd, 77.5
Morrisey, Mervyn, 574 Nemo, Christian, 556 Olson, Eric, 907
Morrison, Herbert, 458, 461 Neurath, Alois, 233, 235—36 Onasch, Bill, 888-90, 897
Morrow, Felix, 293, 297, 705-6, Newbigging, Joan, 152 Onasch, Christine Frank, 890
792, 821, 828-31, 837 Newman, Fxed, 952 O'Neil], Terence, 572
Moseda, George, 458 Nguyen An Ninh, 961-62, 965 Opta, Henry, 297-98
Motahari, Ayatollah, 560, 561 Nguyen The Txuyen, 959 Oren, Nissan, 143
Moth, Paul, 237, 239, 241 Nguyen Thi Lau, 962 Origlass, Nick, 27, 54, 56, 59-
Moutet, Marius, 963 Nguyen Van Ky, 970 63
Mubarak, Hosni, 249 Nguyen Van Nguyen, 962, 966 Orlov, Alexander, 284, 285
Mujica, General Francisco, 608 Nguyen Van So, 970 Ou Fang, 207
Mulgrew, Jim, 78 Nguyen Van Tao, 961-62, 966 Ovando, Alfredo, 12 1-2 3, 127,
Muller, Alexander, 411, 414 Nicola, Jabra (Abu Sa'id), 580- 130
Munis, G. (Manuel Fernandez 82, 584 Owens, Earl, 938
Grandizo), 2so, 688, 693-94, Nicholls, Max, 439, 441, 443 Ozansu, Sadi, 739
705-6, 7x0-12, 943-44 Nin, Andris: career of, 682; and
Munter, C., 256 c n t , 682; and c p , 682, 7x9; Pablo, Michel (Michel Raptis,
Muxphy, Dennis, 572 and c p s u , 4, 682; and ic Speros): in Algeria, 34, 240,
Murphy, Jack, 59 (Spain), 688, 690; and i l o , 322, 328, 336, 550, 74i; and
Mussi, I., 441 25Si and is, 688-89, 693-94; Archeiomarxists, 504; and
Mussolini, Benito, 32, 59a and Junco, 228; and Lacroix, Austrian Trotskyists, 89-90,
Muste, A. J., 229, 265, 773, 688-89; and Landau, 686, 310; and Bella, 34, 332, 741;
775 - 77 , 779-Si, 784, 787 704; and Maurm, 683—84; and and b i m g , 492; and Bolivian
Myer, Debbie, 813 Minister of Justice, 699; and Trotskyists, 125; and Cannon,
Myers, Allen, 855 Molinier, 686, 709; and o c e , 841; and Chinese Trotskyists,
Myers, Constance Ashton, 796, 686; and p o u m , 591, 694, 218; and Clarke, 838, 841;
803, 805 696-97, 709; and r i l u , 682; and Cochranites, 323-24,
and Rous, 701; a n d r s a p , 535—36; on Communist re­
Najafi, Parvin, 559 623-24; and Trotsky, 683, gimes, 545-46; and Cyprus
Nandi, Bibhuti Bhushan, S30 685-86, 690, 699, 701-4; and affiliate, 232; and "entrism
Napuri, Ricardo, 641, 643-45 Trotskyism, 4, 37, 685, 695 sui generis,'' 28, 41, 430, 467-
Narayan, Jayaprakash, x6x Nieto, Joaquin, 719 68, 627; and f i , 28, 89-90, 41,
Narvaja, A. (Carvajal), 40 Nishi, Kyoji, 599 148-49, 270, 298, 301, 308,
Nathan, Otto, 848 Nixon, Richard, 510, 855, 867, 310, 3x4-155, 332- 33, 37 i,
Natusch Busch, Alberto, 122, 874 382, 504, 508, 660; followers
12 9 Nkrumah, Kwame, 915 of, 27; French followers of,
Naville, Denise, 2 5 6 Noel, Clemente, 645 403; and Grant group, 488;
Naville, Pierie: and Claiti, 3 4 1 ; Noel, Conrad, 451 and Greek Trotskyists, 270,
and c p (France), 3 5 0 ; and en­ Nordheimer, Jon, 489 504; and 1r m t , 628; and is,
trism, 2 8 ; and f i , 3 9 , 1 1 8 , North, David, 928-29 20, 34, 61, 326-27, 379, 389,
133, 197, 103, 231, 247, 270, North, M., 497 487 , 494 , 535< S47—48, 599/
271-73, 504, 609, 625, 666, Novack, George: and Em 638, 841; and l s s p , 327; and

1082 Index of People 1

 new line, 316, 318, 380-81, Pablo, 218; in Paris, 217; and Popovic, Miladin, 33
7X3; and Papandreou, 508; p c i , 2x8; and Proletarian Fac­ Portela, Luis, 700
and Parity Commission, 741; tion, 207; and r p c , 2x7; and Porter, Paul, 785, 789-90
and p c i , 371; and Peng Shu- Socialist Youth Corps, 202; Posadas, J. (Comrade Luis,
tse, 218; and Polish Solidar­ and Toilers of the Far East, Homero CristaliJ: 332—34,
ity, 508; and Posadas, 333, 202, 203; and Trotskyism, 661-62, 665; and Algerian
665; and Privas, 381; and Re­ 203, 207-8, 2 12-13, 218-19, group, 34; and Allende re­
unification Congress, 544, 223; and u s e c , 2x9; and gime, 200; Brazilian followers
742; on revolution, 333; and WWII, 2 13-14 of, 135; death of, 21, 52, 662;
Socialist Union (USA), 841; Penner, Steve, 156 "democratic centralism" of,
and Stalinist parties, 30, 279, Pennington, Bob, 473 662—63; and f i , 33, 134, 509,
322; and s w p , 322, 324, 536, Percy, James, 64-65, 69, 72 596, 611, 659-61, 715; follow­
831, 838, 841; and t m r i , 545; Percy, John, 6x-66 ers of, 27; and is, 20, 41-42,
and Trotsky, 615; and Trots­ Pereda, Juan, 122 326, 332, S47, 549 , 638, 6s9,
kyist, 21, 22; and u s e c , 61, Pereira, Carmelinda, 659 9S4; and p o r s , 40; and p o r { t ),
<>5, 403 , 508, 544-45, 594, Pereira, Juan Carlos, 50 123; and p o ( t ), 42, 52; on rev­
638, 748; on USSR, 379; Perera, G. P., 164—65 olution, 22, 333; on r w p , 499;
Workers Party, 831 Perera, N. M., 161-68, 172-73, speeches of, 403; on workers
Padilla, David, 122 176, 178, 180-83, 186-87 state, 30, 664
Paez, Jos 6 Francisco, 48-49 Perera, Salina, 186 Potash, Irving, 846
Pages, Pelai, 685, 687, 691, 695 Perera, T. N., 190 Pouliopoulis, Pantelis, 503, 505
Paine, George Lyman, 145 Perera, Wilfred, 192 Poulson, Ron, 161
Pal, Gour, 517, 5*9-20, 524-25 Peret, Benjamin, 7 11- 12 Prager, Rodolphe: and Danish
Pal, Kamai, 524 P6rez, Carlos Andres, 947 Trotskyists, 237, 256; and f i ,
Palmer, John, 486 P6rez, Leon, 938-39 106, 269/289, 293, 295-96,
Palmieri, John, 943 Perin, Francis, 109-10 298-99, 301, 306; and French/
Palmquist, Edward, S22 Pero, Sol, 943 Belgian Trotskyists, 297; and
Papandreou, Andreas, 508-9 Per<5n, Isabel, 45-46, 49-50, S2 French Turn, 264-65; and
Parija, Mrulidhar, (M. D.], 522- Perrin, Juan Domingo, 40-42, Greek Trotskyists, 506; and
24 45 , 49- 50, 52-53 h l o , 512; and is, 293; and

Parisot, Paul, 360 Perry, Hayden, 892 Mangan, 290; and Molinier,
Parisot, Pierre, 305, 308 Perthus, Max, 626 298, 364-65; and p c i , 295,
Pama, Ibru, 534 Pestana, Angel, 680 297, 355 , 357 ; a n d s w p , 290-
Parriaux, Olivier, 733 Peters, Herman, 626 91; and Ta Thu Than, 971;
Pastor, Petra, 688 Petersen, Carl Heinrich, 238 and Trotsky, 237, 256; and
Patterson, Emie, 443—44 Phan Van Chang, 9S9~6o, 962 Zborowski, 283
Paz, Magdeleine, 341-42 Phan Van Huu, 970 Prestes, Luiz Carlos, 132-33
Paz, Maurice, 253, 341-43 Philips, Albert, 924 Price, Michael, 569
Paz Estenssoro, Victor, 120-21, Philips, Morgan, 473 Prieto, Indalecio, 678, 680, 706
123, 129 Phillips, Andy, 934 Primo de Rivera, Jos6 Antonio,
Paz Zamora, Jaime, 122 Phyushch, Leonid, 723 679
Pedersen, Ejner Friis, 240 Piatakov, Y., 341 Primo de Rivera, Miguel, 678,
Pedersen, Michael Svendsen, Pietersen, Herman, 626-29 681, 686
240, 243 Pilsudski, Joseph, 647-50 Pritt, D. H., 446
Pedrosa, Mario (Lebrun), 13 1, Pinochet, Augusto, 198—201 Privas, Jacques, 355, 381
133- 34, 270, 273 , 285, 331 Pinto, Paulo (Jeremias), 134 Protz, Roger, 485-86
Peiro, Juan, 680 Pivert, Marceau, 351—52, 354- Psaradelles, Theologos, 506-7
Pelekis, Giannis, 507 56, 360 Pulley, Andrew, 191, 872-73
P'eng Shu-tse (Peng Shuzhi): ar­ Pli, Berta, 852 Purdy, Murray Gow, (M. G.
rests of, 210—12, 217) and Placely, Vincent, 40s Purdy, Murgrow Purdy Singh),
c c p , 203, 205-7; and Chinese Plastrick, Stanley (Sherman 516-18, 522
Revolution, 205, 218; and c l , Stanley), 517, 802, 809-10 Purkis, Stewart, 439, 451
212; and c l c , 209; and Com­ Plouchtich, Leonid, 396 Puso, Frank, 677
intern, 203, 205—6; and First Pluet-Despatin, Jacqueline, 356, Pu Yifan, 209
Parity Commission, 740; and 3S 9, 3 6 1, 36 3-6 4 , 398 Pyne, M., 441
f i , 218) and Great Leap For­ Pol Pot, 877
ward, 2x8; and Hong Kong, Polk, Louis, 93, 94, i o x Qadafi, Muammar, 22, 78, 477—
217, 219; and ic, 218, 331; Pollack, Arthur, 233, 235 79, 5 ix, 928-29
and Kuomintang, 205; and Pompidou, Georges, 392-93 Quendra, Aristide, 32

Index of People 1083

Quijada, Hermes Jos6, 45 Ridley, Francis, 439 Rousset, David, 368, 376, 379—
Quiroga, Marcelo, 130 Riesnik, Pablo, 52 80
Rings, Werner, 373 Rousset, Pierre, 392-93
Radek, Karl, 682 Ritchie, Marlie, 152 Roux, Edward, 6r8, 673-75
Raimundo de Guagnini, Cata­ Rivas, Cristinia, 615 Roy, Ajit, 518, 520
lina, 53 Rivera, Diego, 213, 607-9 Roy, Karuna, 516
Rajasooriya, Prins, 191 Rizzi, Bruno, 795 Roy, M. N., S34
Rakovsky, Christian, $45, 621 Roberto, Holden, 545 Roy, P. K., 576
Ramanathan, K., 166 Roberts, Ernie, 495, 497 Rubinstein, Annette T., 848
Ram, Chandu (Aggravala), 438- Robertson, James, 552-53, 812, Ruble, Phil, 892
39 847, 86 s—66, 917-18, 924 Rucci, Jos6, 45
Ramirez, Alfonso, 956, 967 Robespierre, Maximilian, 408 Russell, Alfred, 822
Ramirez, Elias, 896 Robinson, J. L., 457 Rustin, Bayard, 855
Ramirez, Socorro, 225 Rocard, Michel, 390 Ruthenberg, Charles/ 762
Ramos, Jorge Abelardo, 38, 40, Rockefeller, Nelson, 949-50 Ryan, Joe, 892
43 , S3 Rodrigues, Aires, 658-59 Rykov, Alexei, 233
Randolph, A. Philip, 824, 855 Rodriguez, A., 712
Rangel, Jos6 Vicente, 957 Rodriguez, Carlos Rafael, 896
Rao, Mallikarjun, 52a Rodriguez, Jorge, 957 Saccheta, Herminio, 134
Rappai, M. A., 526 Rodriguez, Leonidas, 644—45 Sacks, I. Milton, 959-60, 962-
Rashid, M., 528 Rodriguez, Manuel, 607—8 63, 967-68, 970
Rasmussen, Vagn, 241 Rojas Ayala, Rend, 617 Sadat, Anwar, 469, 603
Rastrollo, Luis (Le Siem), 684- Roosevelt, Franklin, 287, 292, Sadek, Abraham, 376
8S, 69s 300, 775, 809, 814, 8x6, 822— Safarov, Georges, 407
Rathbone, Eleanor, 4s 1 23 Safstrom, Bertil, 724
Ratzkin, Alex, 792 Roper, Gil, 57 St. John, Lucy, 926-27
Raurich, R., 37 Rorty, James, 788 Sakai, Yahishi, 600
Ravazzoli, Paolo, $88-91 Rosenberg, Marcel, 700 Sakharov, Andrei, 883
Ravera, Carmilla, 588 Rosenthal, Gerard, 256, 344, Salamme, Attilio, 833
Rayapoule, Serge, 606 378, 727 Salazar, Antonio, 653, 877
Reade, Arthur, 438-39 Rosmer, Alfred: and c g t , 34 I ; Sa Leal, Antonio, 136
Reagan, Ronald, 868, 952 and c p (France), 341; and f i , Sallustro, Oberdan, 44
Reboul, Jean, 376 2 . 6 8 ; and f l o , 2 5 1 , 2 5 2 , 9 5 9 ; Salus, Wolfgang Vaclav, 234-35
Recabarren, Luis Emilio, 194 and French movement, 4, Samarakkody, Edmund, 32,
Recchia, R., S89 155 , 343, 345 <356,- and g u o , 167-68, 172, 174-75, 186,
Redgrave, Colin, 477, 480 687; and i c e (Spain), 663, 709; 192, 553
Redgrave, Vanessa, 477, 482, and i l o , 253, 255, 257, 687; Samper, Daniel, 225
497 and La Veriti, 343, 589; and Samuels, W., 463
Reed, Evelyn, 15 1, 875 Landau, 410; and l c i (Bel­ Sanchez, Juan Carlos, 44
Reese, Maria, 420 gium), 5; and Liu, 208; and Sanchez, Ricardo, 224
Reid, Betty, 471, 474 Mill, 282j and Molinier, 345, SSnchez Fernandez, Heman, 118
Reid, Willie Mae, 873 346, 355; and Naville, 345; Sanderson, Leland, 922
Reilly, Thomas, 568 and Nin, 683; and p s o p , 355; Santen, Sol, 305, 308, 333
Reisner, Will, 269 and R6volution Proldtarienne, Santucho, Mario Roberto, 44—47
Reisz, Elsa, 284 94; and sic, 687; and Trotsky, Sara, Henry, 439, 441, 4S0, 452,
Reisz, Ignaz, 269, 284 4, 2.5, 252-53, 268, 282, 341, 456
Ren Zuomin, 193 346, 410; and Urbahns, 410; Saragat, Giuseppe, 594
Renery, Lucien, roo, 102, 107 and Vereeken, 282; and Sartre, Jean-Paul, 380
Rester, Tom, 951-52 "Wedding Opposition," 4 11; Sastry, V., 308
Reuther, Walter, 830, 837, 93s and Zimmerwald Conference, Saunders, George, 886, 890
Revueltas, Jos6, 607, 6 12-13 341 Sa Yafu,' 207^
Reyes Echandia, Alfonso, 226 Rosmer, Marguerite, 341 Sayrafiezadeh/'Mahmoud, 56s
Rey, Esteban, 40 Ross, Bob (R. H.|, 941-43 Schafranek, Hans, 4x0
Richardson, Al, 438-40, 443, Ross, E. A., 788 Scharf, Erwin, 89
455 - 56, 458, 46r, 488, 493, Rothschild, Joseph, 141-43 Schauschkowitz, Willy
499 Rous, Jean, 270, 273, 351-S2, (Schmidt), 419
Richter, Jim, 892 354/ 363, 693, 695-96, 701-5 Scheuer, George, 87
Riddell, John, 152 Rousseau, Marcel, 379 Schluter, Poul, 245

1084 Index of People

Schmidt, Peter J., 16 1, 264—65, tual brilliance and caustic wit Simeon, Charles, 228
621 of, 770; as is/fi member, 283; Simmance, John, 575
Schneeweiss, H., 256, 415 and i s l , 811, 812, 813; loyalty Simmonds, M., 441
Schneider, Jacques, 737 of followers to, 24; on Mar- Simons, H. J., 672
Schreiber, Michael, 887-88, 892 lenites, 783; on Marshall Simons, R. E., 672
Schoffmann, J., 256 Plan, 809; in Mexican Trots­ Singh, Mahendra, s 28-29
Schussnigg, Kurt, 86 kyism, 609; and Minneapolis Sitonen, Harry, 811
Schwalbach, Hans, 414 teamsters, 775 ; as Minority Sjahrir, Sutan, 533
Schwartz, Laurent, 379 Faction leader in s w p fac­ Skandera, Vaclav, 234, 235
Schwartz, Yigal, 583 tional struggle (1939-40), 323, Skoglund, Carl (Karl), 769, 819,
Sciaponi, Nora, 481 793 , 796-99, 803; and Munis, 822
Sedov, Leon (Marking), 80, 105, 712; and Neurath, 236, and Slaughter, Cliff, 473, 476-77,
255, 262, 268, 283, 360, 591, Purdy, 516; and s p , 779, 792; 479-80, srr, 927, 929
704 and s p - s d f , 8 11-13 ; o n Soviet Smots, Leon, t97
Sedova, Natalia (Natalia invasion of Finland, 798, 799; Sneevliet, Hendrick (Henk,
Trotsky), 12, 24, 29, 89, 255, on Swabeck, 765; Thomas de­ Maring): and Brandt, 264;
289, 3 15-16 , 830-31 bates, 791; and Trotsky, rela­ anti-USSR stance of, 626; in
Sedra, Domenico, 594 tions/contact with, 323, 353, Comintern, 202, 204, 619,
Seek, Assome, 114 551, 621, 771, 785, 791, 801, 621; on Declaration of the
Segal, Maurice, 263, 275 814; on Trotsky, 5, 25, 798; Four, 621; early career of,
Seigle, Lany, 898 on Trotskyists in Socialist 619; and f i , 6 11, 624-25; and
Seipold, Oscar, 253, 392, 417 Party, 791; at United Opposi­ Fischer, 421; and Geltman,
Sell, Evelyn, 890 tion (Germany) founding, 411s 808; and Nazis, 626; and
Sen, Indra, 516, 519-20 on USSR as a workers state, "Open Letter to Revolution­
Senanayake, Dudley, 173 76-77, 797; on USSR in East­ ary Organizations," 265; and
Senanayake, Reggie, 167—68 ern Europe, 796; and Workers p c i of 1930s, 358; on p o u m ,

Seneviratne, At hand a, 182 Party of 1930s, 779-80; and 623-24; and r s a p , 265, 622-
Seneviratne, M. A., 190 Workers Party of 1940s, 59t, 25; and r s p , 260, 6r9, 62T;
Senghoi, Ldopold, 114 81 3; as Workers Party negoti­ and Trotsky, 25, 94, 256, 358,
Seregni, Liber, 955 ator with s w p , 831-33 619-23; Trotsky on, 620-21;
Serge, Victor, 6ai, 682, 704 Shah, Tlaker, 528 and Vereekan, 104-5; in La
Serrano (Bolivian p o r ), 32, 548 Shah Reza Pahlevi, 922 Veritd, 619; and Wolfe, 625;
Shachtman, Max (Albert Parker, Sharpe, John, 967 and Zborowski, 284
Trent): as anti-Cannon leader, Sharpe, Megan, 64 Snobel, Alf, 471
536, 770; and Australian Shastri, Onkar Nath, 516, 518 - Sobell, Morton, 846
Workers Party, 55) and Bal­ 19 Sobolevicius, Avram (Abraham)
ham Group, 440; and Bartolo­ Shaw, Fred, 4s r (Abraham Senin, Jack Soblen),
meo, 591; on bureaucratic Shaw, Rita, 890 282-83, 412-13, 4 15-16
collectivism, 795, 806, 899; Shephard, Barry, 65, 55s, 881, Sobolevicius, Ruvim (Robert So­
on Burnham, 805; on Cannon, 888 blen, Roman Well), 282-83,
770, 77 x; on Cannon)ites)'s Shilman, Ken, 88 s 4t2-i6, 503
role in c p u s a , 761-63, 764; Shils, Adam, 890 Solow, Herbert, 775
and c l a , 768, 770, 773, 777; Shookal, Deb, 72, 631 Sollenberger, Peter, 922
as cofounder of U.S. Trots­ Short, Lawrence (Laurie), 54—57, Solntsev, Eleazar, 407
kyism, 5; on Comintern in 59-60 Somoza, Anastasio, 22 s, 227
c p u s a , 7 6 i; conversion of, Shriefer, Jan, 626 Song Fangchun, 209
764; c p u s a activities of, 764- Shukla, C. F., 517 Song )ingxiu, 209, 210
65; and c p s u (Opposition), Shukla, Chanravadan, 516, 518— Soto, Tom, 914
764; on Eastern Europe, 313, >9 Southall, Tony, 668, 670-72,
314, 796; expulsion from Siantos, Georges, 505 673 , 675 , 676
c p u s a , 774, 840; expulsion Siburu, D. A., 38 Souvarine, Boris, 4, 340-42
from sp , 792; on f i Founding Siegel, Hal, 790 Souzin, Henri, 300, 368
Conference, 269, 2 7 0 , 272 , Sigurdhsson, Evardh, 515 Soysa, Bernard, 168, 186
813; as f i / i e c member, 28s; Siles, Heman, 122-23, *26, r30 Spaak, Paul-Henri, 2 15-18
as f i /Resident i e c member, Siles, Luis Adolfo, 122 Spinberg, Jack, 59
285; and f i Second Congress Silone, Ignazio, 588-89 Spock, Benjamin, 87a, 914
(1948), 310, 313, 314, 832; Silverman, Roger, 492 Spoulber, Nicolas, 298, 301, 667
and Geltman, 809; intellec­ Silverman, Sidney, 451 Stachel, Jack, 765

Index of People 1085

Stalin, J. V. (Josip Djugashvili): Tabor, Ron, 910-xi Tripp, Ted, 54—56, 75
Australian c p on, 53; beliefs Tagore, Sounraynora Nath (S. Trolle, Borge, 238, 239
on Socialism, 30, 794; Can­ N.|, 529-31 Trotsky, Leon (G. Gourev,
non on, 843; and Chinese Tait, A., 453 O'Brien and Trotskyism): and
Eastern Railway controversy, Tait, W., 453 Albania, 32; American Com­
96; Chinese policy of, 3, 4, 5, Tampoe, Bala, 176, 185-86, mittee for the Defense of,
208; and Comintern, 294, 190-93 788; and Andrade, 697, 701;
668; and dual unionism line, Tasca, Angelo, 589 and Argentina, 38, 43; and
767; Dutch r s a p on, 6 a 6 ; f i Tate, Ernest, 493 Australia, 53, 54; and Austra­
Conference on [1946), 306; TaThuTau, 363, 959-60, 962, lian swp, 29, 54-55, 62; and
heirs of, S5 *; and Hitler, 796; 965-67, 970 Austrian c p [ o ), 81-85; and
and Indian c p , 532; i s / f i on Tattenbaum, Dan, 306 Austrian Graef, 83; and Aus­
292, 300J and Lenin's "politi­ Taussig, Herman, 236 trian Social Democrats, 80;
cal testament," 4; and New Taut, Yankel, 581 on barbarism vs. proletarian
Economic Policy, 3; and Pol­ Taylor, Dora, 673 revolution, 365; and Bartolo­
ish c p , 647; Tagore on, 530; Tearse, Roy, 459, 462, 466 meo, 591; and Belgium, 94,
Thomas on, 729; and "Trots­ Teasdale, Anne, 886 95, 98; as Bolshevik Party
kyist" label, 72; and Trotsky- Tedeschi, Lucienne, 256 leader, 9 11; and Bordigists,
Lenin struggle, 2, 3, 23, 24, Tejeda, Adelberto, 607 587-88; and Brandler, 407;
291, 340, 621, 647, 768; Templeton, Peter, 63 and Brazil, 133; and Breitman,
Trotsky on, 30, 416; and Thalheimer, Auguste, 407, 578 875; and British Balham
Trotsky's murder, 1, 2; Ver­ Thalmann, Clara, 367 Group, 440; and British i l p ,
eeken on, 106; and Zinoviev, Thalmann, Paul, 367 263, 442, 444; and British La­
341 Thangappan, 522 bor Party, 444; and British
Stambulisky, Alexander, 140 Thatcher, Margaret, 491 Left Opposition, 441; and
Stamm, Thomas, 779, 781, 783 Thoma, Hans, 83 British Marxist Group, 444;
Stanton, Fred, 823, 834 Thomas, Norman, 134, 784-86, and British Marxian League,
Stapp, Andy, 684 788-92, 816-17, 822 439; and British Militant Ten­
Starobin, Joseph, 842 Thompson, Hardin, 65 dency, 491; and British r s l ,
Steiger, Josef, 728, 729 Thorez, Maurice, 351, 964 457; and Bulgaria, 140, 142;
Stein, Morris (UK), 472 Thornett, Alan, 466, 477, 496- and Bumham, 800-802; and
Stettler, Rudolf, 729 98, 738, 922 bureaucratic collectivism,
Stewart, Larry, 890 Thornton, Ernest, 54, 59, 60 806-7; and Canada, 145-46;
Stolberg, Benjamin, 788 Tito, Josip Broz, S05, 973 and Cannon, 353, 622, 762,
Stobnicer, Maurice, 407, 4 1 1 - Tobin, Daniel J., 816, 818-20, 764, 794, 841; and Castro, z8;
13, 416, 418-19 823-24 and Ceylon, 165, 175, 346;
Stone, Harry, 152 Todorov, Sider, 140, 141 and Ch'en Tu-hsiu, 205, 209;
Stortenbeckcr, K., 256 Togliatti, Palmiro, 341 and Chiang Kai-shek, 96, 408;
Strasberg, Rita, 136 Tojo, Ernesto, 688 and Chinese Communists,
Strasser, Joseph, 78 Tomann, Karl, 78 203, 205, 208-9J and Chinese
Strauss, Franz Joseph, 431, 43 5 Tomsky, Michael, 233 Democratic Movement, 221;
Suarez, Adolfo, 714, 717, 719 Toro, David, 118 and Chinese Eastern Railway,
Suharto, 534 Torrelio, Celso, 122 96, 98, 408; and .Chinese Rev­
Sumner-Boyd, Hilary, 450, 454 Torres, Juan Jose, 122-24, 126- olution, 88i; and Chinese
Sun Yat-sen, 202, 204-5, 619 28, 543 Stalinists, 209; and Chinese
Swabeck, Ame, 440, 765, 769, Tosstorff, Reiner, 6s 1 Trotskyists, 208-9; combined
792, 841, 866 Trager, Frank, 788, 791 and uneven development the­
Swarkey, Tom 3s, 117 -18 Tranh DinFrMinh, 970 ory of, 6-8, 279; Comintern
Swartz, Joseph, 922 Tran Van Giau, 971 role of, 4, s, 9, 15, 339, 6s 2;
Sweezy, Paul, 842 Tran Van Thach, 961, 962, 965, and Copenhagen meeting
Sylis, Loretta, 939 970 (Nov. 193:2), 237, 255-56; and
Sylvester, Jack, 54 Treint, Albert, 341-43, 437 counter-trial to Moscow Tri­
Symes, Lillian, 790 Tresso, Pietro (Blasco), 256, 376, als, 727; on c p s u French spe­
Syrek, Marion, 892 S88-91 cialist, 340; and Craipeau,
Szilvaczi, 2S3, S i2 Trilling, Lionel, 785 353) "Criticism of the Draft
Trimble, Cary, 787 Program of the Communist
Taaffe, Peter, 492 Trimble, Glenn, 787, 790 International," 144; and
Tabata, I. B., 672-73, 675-76 Trinkl, John, 73 Cuba, 28, 228; as a cult fig­

1086 Index of People

 ure, 72; and Czechoslovakia, onetti, 590; and Leonorovic, Spanish Trotskyists, 590, 678,
234, 235-36; and Declaration 234; and Lesoil, 105; "A Let­ 684-85, 688-89, 702, 708;
of the Four, 621; and De ter to the Italian Left Com­ and Stalin, 2-4, 10 - 11, 13, 78,
Kadt, 622; on democracy (po­ munists," 587; and Liu Re- 96, 408, 482, 648, 796; and
litical), 15, 16, 19; on democ­ njing, 208; and Loffler, 235; Stalinists, 2, 12, 24, 29, 30,
racy under Stalinist constitu­ and London Bureau, 261-62; 209, 358; and Swedish c p ,
tion, 116; Deutscher's and Marxism, 71; and 263; and Switzerland, 727;
biography of, 16 -17, 647; and Maurin, 683-84, 694; Mexi­ and Tagore, 530; and Thal-
dictatorship of the proletariat, can exile of, 608-9; and Mex­ heimer, 407; "Thermidor"
16 -17; and Dimitrov, 727; ico, 614-15, 608; and Mill, concept, 409; and Third Inter­
and Dutch r s a p , 622, 624—25; 282; and Molinier, 341—42, national, 1, 4; and Thomas,
Eastern Europe as workers 345- 46, 353, 355, 358-59; 715; and the "three classic
states, 30; "Eleven Points," murder of, 2, 39, 359, 575, questions" which define his
257-58; and entrism, a?, 99, 607, 609, 876; and Muste, position, 252; and the "three
354, 744, 76 a, 78 s, 787 ; ex­ 787; and Naville, 346; and fundamental currents" in the
iled by Stalin, 2-3, 5,59, 79, Nazis, 406-7; and New Eco­ Comintern, 258) transitional
771; exile in Alma Ata of, 3, nomic Policy, 3; and Nin, demand theory of, 8; and
92, 685; and f i Emergency 623-24, 682-8S, 689-91, 702- Treint, 342-43, 346; and
Conference, 286, 289; and f i 3, 709; nonparticipation in Tresso, S90-91; and Trotsky­
establishment, 20, 226, 271, formal meetings, 255; and ist commitment to Soviet or­
418, 620; and f i Founding Norway, 633; "Open Letter to ganizational form, 18; Trots­
Conference, 269—70, 380; and Revolutionary Organiza­ kyist adherence to his ideals
Field, 773; and First Troika, tions," 265; oppositionist hinders creative progression,
2; and Fischer, 420-21 ; and stance of, 619-21, 687, 688, 24-25,- Trotskyist perception
Fossa, 39; and Frank, 353, 773; "Our Political Views," of events clouded by Bolshe­
355/ 358-59; and Frankel, ao8; and Peng Shu-tse, 203; vik Revolution, 28; and
234; and French c p , 339, 345- permanent revolution theory Trotskyist periodical, need
46; and French p c i , 352-53, of, 5, 6, 29, 689; and Poland, for, 343; Trotskyist reaction
355; and French p o i , 353; and 647-50; and Pre-Confercncc to postwar "socialist" revolu­
French p s o p , 354; and of the Four, 262; and "prema­ tion, 8; united front vs. popu­
"French Turn," 264, 350-51, ture" Trotskyists, 4; primacy lar front, 9; and Urbahns,
776, 784; and Frey, 82, 83; in his movement, 20, 24-26; 408-11; and U.S. Black sepa­
and German i k d , 15, 407, publication of works/letters ratism, 856, 867; and U.S.
4x7, 423, 620; and German of, 106, 175, S07, 591, 607, c l a , 769; and U.S. c p , 762,

s a p , 421, 422; and German 690,7 ^S, 915 ; and Romania, 764; and U.S. n c e b , 793; and
United Opposition, 81, 4 1 1 - 667; and the Rosmers, 252- U.S. r c l , 905, 942; and U.S.
16, 418-19, 440; and Glotzer, 53, 343; and Russian Revolu­ r c l ( i ], 942; and U.S. Sailors of

769; and Greece, 501-3, 507; tion, 880; and Salus, 234; and the Pacific, 818; and U.S. s p ,
and Hansen, 510, 5 11; and Second Troika, 3; and Shacht­ 785, 787, 791; and U.S. Spar­
Hersz-Mendl, 649; and man, 353, 551, 771, 794, 801, tacist League, 918; and U.S.
Humbert-Droz, 727; and Hun- 806—7, 841; at Sixth Zionist s w p , 13, 727, 816, 881; and

gary, 330, 512, 513, 539; and congress, S77; and Sneevliet, U.S. s w p internal struggle
i c of 1950s, 330, 539; and i c l , 619-21, 623—24; and Sobole­ (1939-40), 793, 796-802; U.S.
590, 620,- as i e c / f i member, vicius brothers, 2S5, 282-83; Trotskyists' diverse treatment
273, 286; and i l o , 20, 97, 4 0 7 , and South Africa, 668—70; as of ideas of, 952; and U.S.
625; i l o Pre-Conference, 257- Soviet Commisar of the Inte­ Workers Party of 1920s, 762;
59; and India, 517, 518; and rior, 577; as Soviet coruler and U.S. Workers Party of
International Trotskyism, 1, with Lenin, i s ; and Soviet 1930s, 777 , 78s; and U.S.
5, 20, 24—25, 28-29, 31-32, ruling class, 29—30; as Soviet w w p , 715, 915; and USSR as a

72, 619, 773; as i s / f i member, War Commissar, 3; and Span­ workers state, 9-12, 13, 29;
285; and Jenness, 759, 88o; ish ac, 714; and Spanish Civil "The USSR in War," 806-7;
and Jewish question, 577-78; War, 28, 702, 707-9, 689; and and USSR "political revolu­
and Kotzov, 704-5; and Kuo­ Spanish ic, 687; and Spanish tion," calls for, 29, 554; and
mintang, 204; and Lacroix, i c e , 688-91; and Spanish l c r , vanguard revolutionary party
535, 688-89; and Landau, 719; and Spanish p o u m , 235, concept, 15; and van Overs­
413-14, 704, 8oi; and Left 467, 591, 623-24, 683, 693, traeten, 96; and Vereeken,
Opposition, 2, 24, 234; and 696-97, 700-702, 708, 710; 100, 105; vindictiveness after
Lenin, 2, 4-5, 13 -15 ; and Le­ and Spanish soviets, 691; and rifts, 25-26; and Walcher,

Index of People 1087

 621; weaknesses of, in strug­ mor concerning his joining Von Schleicher, Kurt, 4x7
gle with Stalin, i; and Weis- the Soviet army, 291, 366-67; Vos, Jules, 102
brod, 772; and Yiddish-speak- on Sobolevicius brothers, 282,
ing group in Paris, 347; and 283; and U.S. s w p , 291, 297, Walcher, Jakob (J. Schwalb),
Yugoslavia, 973; and Zino­ 305; and La Veriti (New 261, 421-22, 621
viev, 4, 5 York), 361; on Zborowski, Waieki, Maximilien, 647
Trotsky, Natalya, 289 283 Walker, Eugene, 935
Trujillo, Rafa&l, 247 Van Le, 305, 308 Wallace, Henry, 3 11, 911
Truman, Harry S., 810 Van Overstraeten, War, 25, 91— Walsh, David, 886
Tsoulatis, Francisco, 500 98 , 253 Walsh, Lynn, 492
Tubau, Angel, 721 Van't Hart, Piet, 305 Warren, Mac, 885
Tulley, John, 54, 58, 59 Van Zeeland, Paul, 100, 103-4 Wang Bingui, 208
Turbay, Julio C6sar, 225 Varga, Michel (Belasz Nagy), 21, Wang Faxi (Wang Wenyuan),
Turner, Harry (Harry TanserJ, 5x3, 544, 644, 65 r, 721-22, 208-9, 2 11- 14 , 216, 219
906, 917, 920, 922, 931-33, 905, 955—56 Wang Sizhe, 221
938-41 Vargas, Amadeo, 121, 123 Wang Zekal, 207
Turner, Lou, 936 Vargas, Getulio, 131-34, 137 Warshawski, Michel, 567, 581—
Tussey, Jean, 890 Vargas Torres, Candido, 6x7 83, 585
Tyler, Gus, 785-86, 790-91 Vasetsky, Nikolai, 23, 24 Warski, Adolf, 647
Tyrfingsson, Petur, 515 Veitinsky, Grigori, 202, 205 Waters, Mary-Alice, 758, 880-
Velasco, Juan, 638-41, 643 81
Veloukhiatis, Aris, S05 Weber, Hans, 411
Udry, Charles-Andr6, 555, 733
Venkataramani, M. N., 785 Weber, Jack, 833
Ulam, Adam, 2
Vereeken, Georges: and a s r , Weber, Josef (Johre), 419-20
Upham, Martin: on Balham
1 or; and Contre le Couiant, Wei Jingsheng, 222
Group, 439; on Communist
ios; and Contre le Courant Weil, Dr., 262
League, 442, 44S; on i l p , on
group, 297; and Dauge, i6o; Weil, Simone, 262
Marxist Group, 443, 445; on
and entrism, 28, 99, 100, 107, Weinberg, B., 256
Marxist League, 446; on m l l ,
362; and p i establishment, Weinstein, Nat, 884, 886-87,
4SO > on r c p , 460, 466-67,- on
105-6, 271-72, 298, 625; and 891-92, 895
Red Flag, 44 x; on second r s l ,
Fischer (Ruth), 42 X; and Weinstein, Sylvia, 892
45S; on Trotskyists in Labor
French p s r , 102, 105; and Weir, Stan, 901
Party, 44s; on w i l , 457-59;
French Turn, 362; and Healy­ Weisbord, Albert, 257, 77X—73
on Workers International
ite attacks on Hansen and Weiss, Murray, 149, 838, 841,
News, 4S s
Novack, 113 ; loyalty of fol­ 844, 936-38
Upton, Jim, 155
lowers of, 27; on Mill, 282; Weiss, Myra Tanner, 843, 848,
Urbahns, Hugo, 252-53, 407,
on Moscow Trials, 102; and 866, 894, 936-38
410, 620
Nazis, 106-7; and Pablo's Weissman, George Lavan, 890
Usano, Rodolfo, 685
t m r , 1X3; and Spanish p o u m , Weissman, Maryann, 912
104; and Trotsky, 25, 98-99, Wells, H. G-, 467
Valencia, Alipio, 117 362; on Trotsky-Rosmer West, Betty, 942
Valenzuela, Humberto, 197-99, break, 282; on Trotsky-Sneev- Weston, George, 440
329, 538 liet struggle, 624; on Belgian White, Chris, 947
Van Cauwenburghe, Maria, 102 Trotskyism, 28, 100, 104, White, Geoff, 866, 9 16 -17
Van Ceulen, Emile, 107-10 107) on Trotsky's Spanish Whiting, C., 441
Van Gelder, Philip, 809 policy, 104; and van Overs- Wickremasinghe, A. S., 161-63,
Van Gelderen, Charles, 447, traeieiv-97 166, 174
495 , 591- 92 , 672, 677 Videla, Jorge, 50, 5 3 Wickremasinghe, C. E. L., 166
Van Heijenoort, Jean: and Barto­ Vieira, Arleta, 656 Wicks, Harry, 256, 439, 44 r,
lomeo, 592-93; and f i , 289, Vildoso, Guido, 122 445 , 4 SI, 453, 456
297, 305, 3S2; "France and Villarroel, Gualberto, 119 Widick, B. J.*8l7, 820
Hitler under P6tain," 291 ; Villone, Libero, 592, 594 Wijesinghe, Vernon, 190
and Frank, 352; on French Vincent, Jean, 733 Wilkinson, Bob, 859
Communist League, 34s; Viola, Roberto, 50 Wilkinson, Ellen, 446
"Manifesto: For the Defense Vitale, Luis, 198-99 Williams, Carol, 939, 941
of the USSR," 292; on Mill, Vitsoris, Georges, 301, 503-4 Williams, D. J., 484
282; and Molinier, 341, 342, Volkof, Vsevoled, 615 Williams, E. S., 439
352; retirement of, 297; ru­ Von Pappen, Franz, 4x7 Williams, Granville, 486

1088 Index of People

Williams, John, 458 Zhang Jiu, 209
Wilson, Edmund, 788 Zhang Tailei, 202 Index of
Wilson, Harold, 488, 493, 497 Zimmerman, Matilde, 873 Organizations
Winn, Ed, 928 Zinoviev, Gregory {Gregori}:
Winston, Henry, 846 and "Bolshevization," 341,
Wishart, John (John Royson}, 407; and Comintern, 4, 5,
46—47 341, 415, 647, 764; expulsion
Witteveen, Rein, 626 from c p s u , 3; and Fischer
Wohlforth, Tim: and Healy [Karl|, 233-34; and German Note: In many instances, itali-
(Gerry), 510, 918, 92s, 927; on i k d , 407; and Polish c p , 647;
cized number ranges indicate
Lora, 543j and Revolutionary and Spanish l c r , 719; and primary discussion.
Tendency [s w p ), 866, 924; and Stalin, 2, 3, 341; and Toilers
s w p , 812, 847-48, 852-53, of the Far East, 203; and Acao Incegralista (Brazil), 132
864; and s w f , expulsion from, Treint, 342; Trotskyists' re­ Acci6n Comunista (Spain), 714,
552, 918, 924; and Workers sentment of, 4, s 717
League, 510, 925-28; and y s l , Zoakes, Criton, 948 Acci6n Detnocratica, Venezu­
847, 9^6 Zog, king of Albania, 32 ela, 956
Wolf, Erwin (N. Braun}, 268, Zyromski, Jean, 351 Acci6n Popular (Peru), 606
419, 452, 614-25, 706 Action Committee of Intellec­
Wolf, Felix, 420 tuals Against the Algerian
Wolf, Fritz, 682 War (France), 383
Wollemberg, Erich, 410 Action Marxiste (Switzerland), 8 5
Wood, Preston, 914 Action Socialiste (Belgium), 100
Woodcock, Leonard, 905 Action Socialiste Revolu­
Worcester, Kent, 934 tionnaire (Belgium), 100-101
Worrall, Dr., 438 Action Socialiste Revolu­
Wright, John G., 79a tionnaire (France), 379
Wrottesley, Judge, 46a African Independence Party
Wu, C. C, a* 9 (Senegal), 114 -15
Wu Ching-ju, a i 7 African National Congress
Wu Zhongian, 219 (South Africa), 670, 675
Wyner, Issy, 59 African People's Democratic
Union of Southern Africa, 676
Xavier, Livio, 13 1-3 2 African Union of Communist
Xiao Jingguang, 202 International Workers, 116 -
Xolintgis, Costa, 950 17, 402, 605
Afro-Americans for Halstead
Yinez, Anibal, 907 and Boutelle {USA), 864
Yang Mingzhai, 202 Agrarian Party (Bulgaria), 140
Yerna, Jacques, 110 Air Force Intelligence (USA), 875
Yon Sosa, Marco Antonio, 6 11 Ala Izquierda (student group,
Yotopoulos, Demetrious (Witte), Cuba), 228
Soo, S02-3 Alarma Group (Spain), 250, 251
Young, James D., 471 Albanian Communist Group, 32
Yvetot, Ren6, 394 Algerian National Liberation
Front, 34
Zahraie, Babak, SS9-6o, 563, Alian9a Nacional Libertadora
S^S (Brazil], 132
Zam, Herbert, 784-86, 789 Alian£a Socialista de Juventude
Zapata, Emilio, 195 (Portugal), 655
Zaslow, Milton (Bartell, Mike(, Alianza Socialista Revoluciona­
836-40, 842, 894, 933 , 936-37 ria (Chile), 195
Zamora, Luis, 51 Alicerce (Brazil), 137
Zborowski, Mark, 104-5, 113, All-African Convention (South
282-85 Africa), 670, 673
Zdgorski, Spas, 141 Allarme Group (Italy), 250
Zeluck, Steve, 894 All-Ceylon Estate Workers
Zevallos, F61ix, 637 Union, 164

Index of Organizations 1089

All-Ceylon Harbor and Dock Aprista Party (Cuba), 228 Belgian Left Opposition, 233
Workers Union, 188 Arbeidermaksgruppe (Norway), Bengal Fire Brigade Workers
Alliance des Jeunes pour le So- 633 Union (India), 5x9
cialisme (France), 385-86, 543 Arbeitermacht (Austria), 84 Bertrand Russell International
Alliance for Socialist Action Arbejderoppositionen (Den­ War Crimes Tribunal, 864
(Canada), 157, 760 mark), 238-39 Big Flame (UK), 494
Alliance Marxiste Revolu­ Archeiomarxist Organization Black Consciousness Movement
tionnaire (France), 403 (Greece), 254, 500-504 (South Africa), 677
All India Union of Working Argentine Communist Left, 37 Black Panther Party (USA), 858,
Journalists, 519 Armed Forces Movement (Por­ 860, 873, 921, 946
All Trades Union Alliance (UK), tugal), 653/ 655, 756, 877 Bloc de Izquierda (Chile), 196
476-77 Army Resistance Organization Bloc of Four, 264
Amalgamated Clothing Workers (France), 373 Bloque de Izquierda Boliviana
(USA), 775 Asociacifin de Estudios y Divul- (Bolivia), 118
Amalgamated Engineering gacion Marxista-Leninista Bloque Obrero y Campesino
Union (UK), 441, 464, 466, (Mexico), 607 (Spain), 260, 623, 679-81,
467 Association of Brigades in Yugo­ 683-84, 692-94, 704
American Civil Liberties Union slavia (France), 380 Bloque Socialist? (Colombia),
(USA), 813-24 Association of Revolutionary 274
American Committee for the Vietnamese Youth, 959 Bloque Socialista (Dominican
Defense of Leon Trotsky Auslajidkomitee (German Republic), 247
(USA), 788, 791 Trotskyists), 419 Boilermakers Society (Austra­
American Committee for the Australian Council of Trade lia), 59
Fourth International, 552, Unions, 60, 70-71 Bolshevik Faction (Class Strug­
918, 924-2 s Australian Labor Party, 58-60, gle League, USA), 932
American Federation of Labor 62-63, 66, 69-70, 75, 79 Bolshevik Faction ( r w p , Cey­
(USA), 149, 773, 775, 818, Australian Student Labor Feder­ lon), 192
821—22 ation, 63 Bolshevik-Leninist Faction
American Federation of State, Austrian Communist Party (Op­ ( l s s p , Ceylon), 168
County and Municipal Em­ position), 81-83 Bolshevik-Leninist Fraction ( i l p ,
ployees (USA), 871 Austrian New Left, 90 UK), 443
American Federation of Teach­ Authentic Revolutionary Party Bolshevik-Leninist Group (Bo­
ers )USA), 871 (Bolivia), 129 livia), 118
American Labor Party |USA), Autonomous Socialist Party Bolshevik-Leninist Group
842 (France), 389-90 (France), 265
American Servicemen's Union Avangardia Operaia (Italy), 596 Bolshevik-Leninist Group (La­
(USA), 9x2-14 Avant Garde Ouvrier (Belgium), bor Party, UK), 447, 449
American Workers Party (USA), 114 -15 Bolshevik-Leninist Group (In­
775- 76 , 784 Avant-Guard (Israel), 582-83 dia), 528
American Youth for Socialism, Azanian People's Organization Bolshevik-Leninist Group
847-48 (South Africa), 677 (Netherlands), 625
Amnesty International, 957 Bolshevik-Leninist Group (Ro­
Anglo-Russian Trade Union Ba'ath Socialist Party (Iraq), 562, mania), 667
Committee, 5, 252 567 Bolshevik-Leninist Group
Annamite Party of Indepen- Bakers Union (UK), 489 (Spain), 298
\ dence (Vietnam), 959 Balham Group (UK), 439-41 Bolshevik-Leninist Group
Ajiti-Colored Affairs Depart­ Balmain Workers Social Club (Labor Party, UK), 447,
ment (South Africa), 673 (Australia), 160 449
Anti-Fascist United Front (Bra­ Ban the Bomb Movement Bolshevik-Leninist Group (Viet­
zil), 132 (Netherlands), 627 nam), 972
Anti-Fascist Youth Committee Basna Peramuna (Ceylon), 188 Bolshevik-Leninist Groups for
(USA), 912 Basque Nationalist Party the Reconstruction of the
Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary (Spain), 698 Fourth International (Italy),
Front [Bolivia), 126, 128 Bataille Socialiste Group 597
Anti-Nazi League (UK), 487, (France), 77 S, 379~8o Bolshevik-Leninist League
491 Bay Area Socialist Organizing (South Africa), 57
Antiwar League (Belgium), 101 Committee (USA), 894—95 Bolshevik-Leninist Party (India),
Anushilan national revolution­ Belgian Labor Party, 91-92, 98— 167, 294, S17-23, 530-31
aries (India), 532 104 Bolshevik-Leninist Section of

1090 Index of Organizations

 Spain (for the IV Interna­ Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Ceylon National Congress, 161
tional), 705-7 Organizations, 264 Ceylon Trade Union Congress,
Bolshevik-Leninists (Austria), 160
84-87, 91 Campaign for Labor Democracy Ceylon Workers Congress, 169,
Bolshevik-Leninists (Dominican |UK), 490-91 178, 191
Republic), 247 Campaign for Nuclear Disarma­ c g i l (Communist trade union

Bolshevik-Leninists (Poland), ment (Australia), 62 confederation, Italy), 589

649-51 Campaign for Nuclear Disarma­ ccT-Force Ouvriere (France),
Bolshevik-Leninist Tendency ment (UK), 475-76, 483-84, 378, 387, 399, 401
( r w g , Canada), 158 491 Chartist Group |UK), 499
Bolshevik Mazdoor Party (In­ Canadian Auto Workers Union, Chicago Federation of Labor
dia), 512-23 158 (USA), 765
Bolshevik Samasamaja Party Canadian Commonwealth Fed­ Chinese Democracy Movement,
(Ceylon), 168-69, 186 eration, 273—74 221
Bolshevik Tendency { u s e c [ f i ]): Canadian Congress of Labor, Christian Democratic Party (Bo­
abandons u s e c , 225-26, 554- 149 livia], 129
55, 756; attacks International Canadian Labor Congress, 149 Christian Democratic Union
Majority Tendency of u s e c , Canadian Left Opposition (as {West Germany], 431
758, 763; attacks s w p (USA), part of c l a , USA), 144-45 Christian Social Party (Bel­
758; establishment by Nahuel Canadian Section ( f i ), 325, 537, gium), 100, 103, 112
Moreno, 554, 756, 757, 758; 775 Christian Social Union (West
Panamanian l s r supports, Cannon Faction ( c p u s a ) , 762- Germany), 431
637; participation in Parity 63, 765-66 Chuzim Marxistim (Palestine),
Committee with c o r q i and Cao Dai (Vietnam), 969 565
Leninist Trotskyist Tendency Catalan-Balaeric Islands Federa­ Circulo Camilo Torres (Pan­
of u s e c , 556; p r t (Venezuela) tion ( c p , Spain), 680, 683 ama), 636
alignment with, 955; and p s t Catalan Left Party (Spain), 679, Circulos Natalia Sedova (Peru),
as Peruvian affiliate, 643; re­ 714 64a
jection of u s e c Nicaraguan Catholic Church, 137 Civil and Public Service Associ­
policy, 556; takes name Bol­ Cenit (Spanish Trotskyist pub­ ation (UK), 489
shevik Faction, 758 lishing firm), 681 Civil Rights Defense Commit­
Bond van Kommunis tische Center for the Fourth Interna­ tee {USA], 822
Strijd en Propagandeclub tional, 102-s Clarity Caucus ( s p , USA], 789-
(Netherlands), 622 Centers for Change (USA), 952 90
Bordiguists: in Austria, 88, 91; Central Committee of Antifas­ Class Struggle League {USA|,
in Belgium, 97; in Denmark, cist Militia (Spain), 699, 704 876, 904, 906, 932
240; in Italy, 586-90, 592; in Central Council of Trade Clause 4 (UK), 489, 499
United States, 766 Unions (Ceylon), 188 Clyde Workers Committee
Brazilian Democratic Move­ Central Intelligence Agency (UK), 460
ment, 136 {USA), 52, 875, 927, 9 29/ 947 , Coal Miners Union (Japan), 600
Brazilian Lenin Communist 955 Coalition for an Anti-Imperial­
Committee in Exile, 254, Central Labor Union of Minne­ ist Movement, 941
255 apolis (USA), 775 Coloured Unemployment
Brit Kommunistim Nahap- Central Nacional Sindicalista League (South Africa], 668
chanim (Palestine), 579, 580, (Spain], 716 Comando Politico ( c o b , Bo­
581 Central Obrera Boliviana (Bo­ livia!, 123-24
British Broadcasting Corpora­ livia), 120-21, 123-24, 126- Combat Ouvrier Group (French
tion, 479 27, 130 Antilles], 605
British Group of the Left Oppo­ Central States Drivers Council Comisiones Obreras (Spain),
sition of the Communist In­ (USA), 819 716, 719, 721, 722
ternational, 441 Central Unica de Trabajadores Comity Communiste Intemati-
British Marxist-Humanist |Chile), 197-98 onaliste (Francc), 30c, 370-72
Group, 936 Ceylon Defense Force, 166 Comite de Enlace de Sindicatos
British Socialist Party, 437 Ceylon Federation of Labor, Autdnomos (Uruguay], 953
Broad Left (Labor Party, UK), 16s, 169, 180, 185 Comite de Liaison des Etudi-
490 Ceylon Indian Congress, 164 ants R6volutionnaires
Broad Socialist Party (Bulgaria), Ceylon Labor Union, 160 (France], 385
140 Ceylon Mercantile Union, 169, Comit6 de Redressement Com­
Brug-groep (Netherlands), 627 185, 190-91, 193 muniste (France), 341

Index of Organizations 1091

Comit6 Frangais de la IV Inter­ Communist Faction of Socialist Shu-tse to attend Sixth Con­
nationale, 369, 372 Workers Party |USA), 906 gress rejected, 206, 207; its
Comitd Internationale pour la Communist International: ac­ failure asserted by founding
Constructi6n de la IVe Inter­ cepts cooperation with Kuo­ congress of Spanish p o u m ,
nationale (France), 358 mintang (China), 201 ; adopts ^93/ 694; Junco criticizes Cu­
Comitfi Latinoamericano del popular front policy, 85, 68i; ban policies of, 228; leader­
Trotskyismo, Ortodoxo, 329, anti-Trotsky propaganda, 438; ship by Zinoviev, 415; Left
S38 and Belgian c p , 92, 94; "Bol- Opposition of Trotsky and
Comitd Unice de la Construc- shevization" process carried supporters, 5, 15, 20, 88, 95,
ci6n (Chile), 196 out by Zinoviev, 34I; Bordiga 6x9; Left Opposition (Bel­
Comites Communistes pour in, 233; and Brazilian c p in gium), 91, 93, 94; "mobilized
l'Autogestion, 395, 403 1937 election, 133; and Cana­ to glorify the Moscow Tri­
Comit6s d'AJliance Ouvrifcre dian c p at Seventh Plenum of, als," 967; Neurath in, 233;
(France), 385 1 4 4 ; cartooned as a dog at­ and 1930 purge of .Italian c p ,
Comit6s Frangais pour la IVe tacking f i , 6 2 3 ; change in sec­ ' 589; organizes World Con­
Internationale, 356, 357, 360, tarian line of Third Period, gress Against War, 620; Pol­
361-64, 366, 368, 369, 371, 348, 780; comment of Euro­ ish c p dissolved by, 651; pres­
372 pean Secretariat of p i, on, 300; sure on Vietnamese
Commission Centrale Interna­ complete control won by Sta­ Communists to break with
tionale de la Jeunesse, 98 lin, 667, 768, 773; complete Trotskyists, 966; pressures
Commission for Peace (Colom­ independence from urged by Belgian c p and Jacquemotte
bia), 225 Trotsky, 517; continues group to merge, 92; pro­
Commission of Inquiry into the China policy after Chiang claimed dead by 1946 Confer­
Varga Affair, 9sS, 9S6 Kai-shek extermination of ence of f i , 307; "punishes"
Committee for a Revolutionary Communists, 206; c p s u Belgian Stalinist youth,, 98;
Socialist Party (USA), 933, maintains parallel organiza­ purge of Spanish c p , 6 8 i ; and
936-38 tion to, 340; degeneration al­ relationship of Kuomintang
Committee for Artistic and In­ leged by c o r q i , 63s; de­ with Chinese c p , 205-6; rela­
tellectual Freedom in Iran, nounced by i c l (Vietnam), tions with Austrian c p , 78;
S59 968; dissolution by Stalin, representatives contact Li
Committee for Coordination of 294; Draft Program presented Dazhao, 201; repudiated by
Militant Trade Union Activ­ to Sixth Congress, $; early l s s p (Ceylon), 166; Shacht­

ity (UK), 460 idea of United Front, 9; e c c i man at Fifth and Seventh Ple­
Committee for Construction of endorses collaboration with nums of, 482; Sixth Congress
a Labor and Socialist Party Kuomintang in 1923, 204; 5/ S3i 508, 682, 763; "so­
(Mexico}, 6 16-17 and effect of dispute within cial fascist" theory of, 78,
Committee for Independence in c p s u , 3, 4; encourages estab­ 229; South American Secre­
Confederation G6n£rale du lishment of Canadian c p , 144; tariat of, 1 9 5 ; Spanish c n t
Travail Unitaire (France), 347 establishment and early times joins in 1919, 683; Spector at
Committee for Liaison of Alge­ of, 1, 2, 3, 4; expels Tan Ma­ Fourth World Congress, 141;
rian Trotskyists, 35 laka, 533; failure to oppose supports for Ruthenberg-Love-
Committee for Regroupment of Italian imperialism, $68; Fifth stone faction in c p u s a , 762,
the British Section of the Congress of, 203, 341; first 763; "Third Period" of, 8, 9,
Fourth International, 488 four congresses of, 26; Fourth 768; Trotsky's role in and
Committee of National Libera­ Congress of, 181, 76a; and criticism of, 30, 339, 501,-
tion (France), 374 French c p 356; German criti­ "Twenty-one conditions" of,
Committee of the Fourth Inter­ cism of its policies before 339, 340
national (Finland), 956 Nazi regime, 54; growing Sta­ Communist Internationalists
Committee van Revolutionnaire linist elements within, 80; (Czechoslovakia), 85
Marxisten (Netherlands), 626 hopes of f i , to supplant it dur­ Communist Labor Party (USA),
Communications Workers of ing World War 11, 296; im­ 779 • ■,
America (USA), 901 poses dual unionism on its af­ Communist League of America
Communisme Indochinois filiates, 772; insistence on (USA): announces English
(Vietnam), 960 unification of Spanish Com­ version of the International
Communist Committee of Op­ munists, 680; instructs its Bulletin of the Left Opposi­
position (Argentina), 37 supporters in USA to form tion, is5 ; Canadian Left Op­
Communist Information Bu­ single party, 761; invitation position as branch of, 145;
reau, 3x3 to Ch'en Tu-hsiu and Peng challenges Lovestone to a de­

1092 Index of Organizations

 bate, 774; concentrates re­ Communist Party (Argentina), Left Front in 1977 election,
cruitment efforts within 37, 4 J, Si, 53 1 8 1; l s s p (r ) accuses of "mis­
c p u s a , 7 6 7 ; "dog days" of, Communist Party (Australia), leading the masses," 190;
767-69; establishes contacts 54-5 5, 58, 61-63, 76 Maoist split in, 179, 190-91;
with Conference for Progres­ Communist Party (Austria): ac­ as member of United Front,
sive Labor Action and Loves- tivities prior to Nazi inva­ 177, 181, 190; "no contest"
toneites, 773, 775; and Field, sion, 851; adopts Popular agreement with l s s p and s f l p
773; 774; formation of bloc Front policy, 8$; contact with in 1956 election, 172; party
against Cannon in 1934, 769, Austrian Opposition Commu­ dissidents a minor factor in
770; founding convention of, nists lost after 1927 election, Ceylonese politics, 191-92;
771; in existence when 8 11 denounces Young Com­ party's unions in Joint Com­
Weisbord expelled from c p , munist regional groups chang­ mittee of Trade Union Orga­
772; involvement in Minne­ ing over to Revolutionare nizations of 1960s, 181; par­
apolis teamsters' strikes, 774, Kommunisten, 8$; and Der ty's unions in Joint
77S, 776 ; merger with a w p to Neue Mahnruf, 8r; disorgani­ Committee of Trade Union
form Workers Party of 1930s, zation of in 1944, 89; early Organizations of 1970s, 185;
773-77) opposition to dual uitraleft tendency, 78; expels polemic exchanges with l s s p ,
unionism, 767; "opposi­ Left Opposition leaders, 8i; I 74- 75 j willing to have Bud­
tionist" position of, 767, 776; joined by dissident Social dhist monks as members, 171
represented at first meeting of Democrats in 1950, 89; joined Communist Party (Chile), 194
i l o , 253; role of Canon as na­ by Frey, 80; publication of Communist Party (China): ac­
tional secretary of, 793; Sec­ real names of Bolshevik-Le- tivities within Kuomintang,
ond National Conference of, ninists, 85,- revived after So­ 204-5; advent of its regime,
769; seeks to exploit faction­ viet capture of Vienna, 88; 29; alliance with Kuomintang
alism in s p , 784; "turn to the runs own candidates in gen­ denounced by Tan Malaka,
masses," 771-75; unsuccess­ eral elections of 1927, 8 1; ul­ 533; altered view of Trotsky­
ful negotiations with Com­ timate fate of leaders Kor- ism, 220 -11; anxiety of Sta­
munist League of Struggle, tischoner and Tomann, 80, linists about influence of Left
77 i, 773 8i; urged by Bolshevik-Lenin­ Opposition in, 203; attempts
Communist League (Australia), ists to recruit for Spanish of Trotskyists to penetrate,
S7; 67 Loyalists, 85,- urges purge of 215; Central Committee dis­
Communist League (France), Trotskyites from Schutzbund, misses Ch'en Tu-hsiu as sec­
347, 34$, 349 , 610 84 retary general, 106; Central
Communist League (Great Brit­ Communist Party (Belgium), Committee policy on Kuo­
ain), 442, 443, 445 91-96, 103 mintang, 202, 206; civil war
Communist League of China, Communist Party (Bolivia], 121, with Kuomintang, 214, 215;
109, 210, 2 11, i n , 213, 214, 126, 129-30 Communist League of China
n6 Communist Party (Brazil), 132- (Internationalists) views party
Communist League of China 35 , 138 as representing peasant class,
(Internationalists), 214, 216 Communist Party (Bulgaria), 116; control assumed by
Communist League of India 140-43 Wang Ming, 203; criticized by
(first), 5r6 Communist Party (Canada), 58, La Lutte (Saigon) for joining
Communist League of India 144 Kuomintang, 965; denounces
(second), 521-23, 526-28 Communist Party (Ceylon): and expels Left Opposition,
Communist League of S. N. Ta­ agrees to support Bandara­ 207; Fifth Congress blames
gore (India), 529 naike government, 176, 189; Ch'en Tu-hsiu for Chiang
Communist League of South alliance with l s s p and m e p , Kai-shek's purge of Commu­
Africa, 671, 673 173—74; attitude toward com­ nists, 206; First Congress of,
Communist League of Struggle munal strife, 193; boycotts io i; Fourth Congress of, 205;
(USA), 771, 77i 1981 district council election, gains from collaboration with
Communist Opposition Com­ 182; control of Ceylon Feder­ Kuomintang, 205; local group
mittee (Argentina), 254 ation of Trade Unions, 169; established in Shanghai, 202;
Communist Opposition of Mex­ disaster in 1977 election, 182; Marcy's evaluation of, 9 11,
ico, 2SS effect of jvp 1971 uprising on, 914; members exterminated
Communist parties of Western 179; and efforts to keep it out in areas under Chiang Kai-
Europe, 284 of government, 176; establish­ shek's control, 206; Moscow
Communist Party (Albania), ment of, 166; joined by l s s p branch of, 203; rapid growth
32.-33 dissidents, 170; joins United in middle 1920s, 205; role de­

lndex of Organizations 1093

 nounced by w w p |USA), 9 11; carry out strategy of entrism, available to expelled Trotsky­
Second Congress of, 202, 619; 381; participation in Union of ites, 442; decline and confu­
Shanghai Committee calls (or the Left, 386, 393, 395; pres­ sion in 1970s and 1980s, 490;
"reconsideration" of Kuomin­ sures Vietnamese Commu­ discouragement of trade
tang alliance, 205; some cad­ nists to break with Trotsky­ union militancy, 459, 466; ex­
res join Communist League of ists, 966; proposal of support pels members of Balham
China in 1931, 2io; Stalinist from Ligue Trotskyiste in Group, 441; failure to support
control after August 1927 Ple­ 1981, 403; purge of Trotsky­ Trotskyists arrested for trade
num, 206; "surrender" to ists by Treint, 341; receives union activities, 462; i l p at­
Chiang Kai-shek condemned Open Letter from l c r , 39 s ; tracted to, 443; International
by f i , 2 7 4 > Trotsky objects to receives Open Letter from Socialists get more votes in
its alliance with Kuomintang, p o i , 369, 375; reentry sought 1976 by-election, 487, joined
3; Trotskyist student mem­ by Trotskyists until 1934, by Lawrence, 327; members
bers in Moscow organize a 348; refuses to negotiate with in i l p , 443; move to Left after
faction, 2.03 l c r , 395; relationship with ' WWII, 465; penetration by So­
Communist Party [Colombia), Mitterrand government, 396, cialist League, 446; polemics
226 397) role in Resistance, 375; against w i l , 459; propensity
Communist Party (Cuba), 74, Souvarine as leader of, 4; for entrism in Labor Party,
228-30, 8s3, 893, 898 splits u n e f to form u n e f Re­ 437 ; and r c p , 461, 463; split
Communist Party (Czechoslova­ organize, 387; subordination in 1956 over Soviet invasion
kia), 232-34, 236 of colonial issues to "defen­ of Hungary, 492; supports
Communist Party (Denmark), sive anti-fascism," 964; sup­ ouster of its party leadership
*39 pression protested by L'Etin- by Comintern, 439; takes sec­
Communist Party (France): ceile, 357; Trotsky's interest ond place in Amalgamated
accepts united front with So­ in, 339 Engineering Union election,
cialists, 347-48; charges Mo­ Communist Party (Germany): 483; Trotsky urges examina­
linier group with collabora­ arguments that victory inevi­ tion of its policies, 441;
tion during WWII, 364) table in pre-Hitler situation, Trotskyists in Labor Party
complaints about Trotskyists 416-17; attacks on Social profit from c p propaganda,
in s p , 35 1 ; control by c g t , Democrats as "social fas­ 471; unity agreement with i l p
378, 396, 401; Craipeau urges cists," 412, 416; break with and Socialist League, 446;
p c i to work with "progres­ Brandler/Thalheimer Right urges Labor Party to purge
sive" tendencies in, 379; dis­ Opposition, 421; collabora­ Trotskyites, 473
crediting of during the fall of tion with Nazis against Social Communist Party [Greece), 500,
France, 360; efforts to defuse Democrats, 417; collapse of, 501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 507,
1968 uprising, 385, 391, 399, 420, 773; Comintern ousts 508
733; entrism endorsed by Brandler/Thalheimer from Communist Party (Guatemala),
u s e c 1965 Congress, 748; leadership, 407; demands res­ 6ir
"Eurocommunism" in, 396; ignation of Siepold from Prus­ Communist Party (Hungary),
expels Doriot, 347; expels sian Landtag, 412; expels Fi­ 80, $ 12 -13
Gorkin, 681 ; expulsion of scher and Maslow, 407; Communist Party of India, 5t6,
Leftists in 1920s, 340; fac­ influence gained by United 523-26, S3 *
tions in 1 920s, 340; failure of Opposition, 412; lack of resis­ Communist Party of India
p c i minority to carry out "en­ tance to Nazi regime, 9, 4171 (Marxist), 524-27
trism sui generis" in, 383; and need for united front Communist Party (Indonesia),
joint government by the with Social Democrats, 9, 54a, 619, 913
party, s f i o , and c g t urged by 416, 417, 440, 648; positions Communist Party (Iraq), 481
p c i , 372; large size compared supported in counterfeit edi­ Communist Party (Ireland), 568
to Communist League, 343; tion of Die Permanente Revo­ Communist Party (Italy), 341,
legalization of L'Humaniti lution, 416; postwar German 588-89, S9 I - 92 , 594, 505-6,
requested from German occu­ workers rally to, 427; re­ 748 ^
pation authorities, 373; Moli- quests Trotsky's presence for Communist Party of Italy
nier's continuing member­ 1923 revolutionary attempt, (Marxist-Leninist), 506
ship, 343j non-Bolshevik 407; Trotsky's prestige in, Communist Party (Japan), s 99—
elements in 1920s, 340; ori­ 407; Trotsky's support for for­ 600
gins in pre-WWI s p , 339-40, mation of rival party, 62r. Communist Party (Lebanon),
395,- outlawed after outbreak Communist Party (Great Brit­ 602-3, 605
of WWII, 356, 967,- Pablo's ain): appeal by Balham Group Communist Party (Martinique),
new line demands that p c i in 1932, 44.1; contacts un­ 451

1094 Index of Organizations

Communist Party (Mexico), Bilbao, 695; Catalan branch housemen's Union and Ma­
607, 612, 614 joins negotiations for Marxist rine Cooks and Stewards
Communist Party (Nether­ unity in region, 692; Catalan Union, 818; criticism by a w p ,
lands), 619-21, 627 unit joins formation of p s u c , 776; defense of civil liberties
Communist Party (New 699; Comunismo Group urged by Dobbs, 84 s; dis­
Zealand), 629-30 views policies as obstacle to solves its Labor Youth
Communist Party (Northern revolution, 714; disen­ League, 847; "destruction"
Ireland), 572—73 chantment of workers alleged undertaken by LaRouche,
Communist Party (Norway), by Andrade, 701; drive to ab­ 946, 947; early advocacy of
633 solute power in Republic dur­ black separatism, 857; and
Communist Party (Palestine/Is­ ing Civil War, 708; elements Eastman, 4; emergence of
rael), 580-82, 584, 649, 726 attempt to thwart Miaja junta Monthly Review group, 842;
Communist Party (Peru), 637, in 1939, 707; establishment expulsion of Cannon, Shacht­
639 , 643 , 645 of, 68o; following of, 681,• in­ man, and Abem from, 840;
Communist Party (Poland), vites Trotskyist l c r to send expulsion of Trotskyists, 764,
647-51 delegate to Ninth Congress, 765, 766; formation of, 779;
Communist Party (Portugal), 719; l c r urges rehabilitation i s l thinks c p in "collapse"

653-56, 658, 877 of Trotsky, Bukharin, and Zi­ after Khrushchev's Twentieth
Communist Party (Romania), noviev, 719; members help Congress speech, 8 11; joined
667 found a c , 714; membership of by DuBois, 841; as majority
Communist Party (South Af­ Lacroix, 68 ij members in Ma­ element in Peace and Free­
rica), 516-17, 668, 669, 674- drid join Izquierda Comun­ dom Party, 923; Malcolm X
75 ista, 694; and o c e , 686; as not friendly toward, 856;
Communist Party (Soviet participant in Popular Front, merger with Workers Party of
Union): alliance formed in to 679; p o r e aims to dislodge 1920s approved by Fourth
block Trotsky, z-, expulsion of from control of labor move­ Congress, 762; and Muste,
Trotsky from, 1-5, 23, 92; ment, 721,• post-Franco lead­ 776; names Gus Hall as presi­
factional struggle in 1920s, ers emerge from f l p , 714; pro­ dential candidate, 914; 1972
23, 81—82, 92, 407, 647, 684; tests exclusion of l c r by presidential vote smaller than
fate under Stalin, z-, idea as electoral authorities, 717; rep­ s w p , 872; 1984 electoral can­

vanguard party questioned by resented at forum on Euro­ didates supported by i w p ( f i ),

Trotsky, 15, 16; international communism in Paris, 396; 941; not persecuted by gov­
organization parallel to that Trotskyites support resistance ernment in WWII, 823; of­
of Comintern in 1920s, 340; to 1939 Miaja junta, 707; vote fered help by swp when prose­
as leader of Bolshevik Revolu­ exceeded by p s t in one part of cuted under Smith Act, 835,-
tion, 5; Spanish Trotskyist Spain, 723; weakness before organizes Marine Workers In­
periodical Comunismo re­ Civil War, 678 dustrial Union, 817; power
counts 1920s struggle, 684; Communist Party (Sweden), bases of its factions in 1920s,
speech to Twentieth Congress 260, 265, 724 762-63; principal recruitment
by Khrushchev, 473-74, 732; Communist Party (Switzerland), area for c l a , 768, 773, 775;
suppression of internal fac­ 726, 729, 731, 733-34 purge of its members in cio
tions in, 15; Trotsky advo­ Communist Party (Tunisia), 738 unions, 837; role in United
cates establishing a rival to, Communist Party (USA): ap­ Independent Socialist Party in
15-16 ; Trotsky joins, 14; plauds indictment of s w p New York, 846, 847; mns
Trotsky's use of development leaders, 821 ; astonished by Browder for president in 1940,
theory to explain its rise to Cannon's support of Trotsky, 816; seeks to exploit faction­
power, 7; Trotsky's view of 764; attacks Trotskyists in alism in s p , 773; source of re­
its monopoly of power during Socialist Party, 788, 789; at­ cruitment for wwp, 915; Spar­
early Soviet era, 15—16; wave tacks Trotskyists involved in tacist League proclaims itself
of anti-Trotsky propaganda Minneapolis teamsters' in line with early traditions
by, 438 strikes, 774, 775; Cannon's of, 918, 919; and Thomas,
Communist Party |Spain): ac­ efforts to build pro-Trotsky 790; threatens to break up
ceptance of monarchy de­ faction in, 764; Cochranites first convention of Trotsky­
nounced by p o s i , 721; ac­ urge swp attention to labor ists, 766; Trotskyists present
cused of turning Trotskyists people in c p u s a , 837-38; con­ "factional document" at
and Maoists over to Franco trol passes to Ruthenberg/ Ninth Convention, 766; up­
police, 701; begins to gain Lovestone faction in 1925, heaval caused by Khru­
ground with Popular Front 762; controls International shchev's Twentieth Congress
line of Comintern, 68i; and Longshoremen's and Ware­ speech and Hungarian Revo-

Index of Organizations 1095

 lution, 841-44; urges damp­ Obreros y Campesinos de Croation Movement for State­
ening of civil rights struggle Mexico, 607 hood (Yugoslavia), 71
during WWII, 82 s ConfederaciOn General de Tra­ Cuzco Peasant Federation
Communist Party (Uruguay), bajadores [Mexico), 609, 610 (Peru), 6 3 9
953 ConfederaciOn General de Tra­
Communist Party (Venezuela), bajadores del Peri, 643
956-958 ConfederaciOn General del Tra- Democratic Front (Palestine),
Communist Party (Vietnam), bajo (Argentina), 42, 45 580
74, 476 , 9S9 - 6 i, 964-65, ConfederaciOn Nacional del Democratic Party (USA), 784,
967-69 Trabajo (Spain), 678-80, 811, 855, 867, 873, 914, 940,
Communist Party (Yugoslavia), 682-83, 691, 694-95, 700- 951/ 952
315, 973 70X, 703, 708-9, 716, 722, Democratic Popular Front (It­
Communist Party Military Or­ 944 aly), S94
ganization (Bulgaria), 140 Confederaci6n Nacional de Sin- Democratic Resistance Com-
Communist Party [Opposition) dicatos Legales (Chile), 196 • mittee (Greece),-506
(Austria), 254 Confederaci6n Nacional de Tra­ Democratic Socialist Organizing
Communist Party (Opposition) bajadores (Mexico), 610 Committee, 922
(Belgium), 95 ConfederaciOn Nacional Obrera Democratic Union of Techni­
Communist Party (Opposition) de Cuba, 228 cians of Senegal, 1 1 s
(Czechoslovakia), 233 Confederaci6n Proletaria Nacio­ Den Danske Sektion af Interna­
Communist Party (Opposition) nal [Mexico), 610 tionale Komunisters Forbund
(Germany), 421 Confederaci6n Regional de (Bolsjevik-Leninister) (Den­
Communist Proletarian Organi­ Obreros Mexicanos, 610 mark), 237
zation (Mexico), 615 Confederation Frangaise Demo­ Den Kobenhavndade Arbejder-
Communist Tendency [swp, cratique des Travailleurs opposition (Denmark), 242
USA), 876 (France), 387, 396, 399, 401 Dominion Labor Party (Alberta,
Communist Youth (Australia), Confederation Generate du Tra­ Canada), 146
47 vail (France), 340, 347. 3 SO,
Communist Youth [Austria), 85 370, 372, 381, 387, 39 i, 396 ,
Communist Youth (Belgium), 399, 40 X ea m [Greece), 5 0 5
92, 98 Confederation Generale du Tra­ Economic League (UK), 4 7 5
Communist Youth (France), 390 vail Unitaire (France), 340, Educators Federation (Colom­
Communist Youth (Spain), 681 34 S, 347 bia), 2 2 5
Communist Youth League Confederation of National Eenheids Vak Centrale [Com­
(China), 21s Trade Unions (Canada), 156 munist trade union center,
Comunismo Group (Spain), Confederation Socialiste des Netherlands), 6 2 6
714-16 Travailleurs (Belgium), n o Ejercito de LiberaciOn Nacional
Confederagao Geral dos Trabal­ Conference for Progressive La­ (Bolivia), 4 5 , 1 2 6
hadores (Portugal), 658 bor Action, 773, 775 Ejercito Revolucionario del
Confedera?ao Unica dos Trabal­ Congress of Industrial Organiza­ Pueblo (Argentina), 4 4 - 4 5
hadores (Brazil), 138 tions (USA), 149, 814, 817, Ejercito Revolucionario del
Confederaci6n Campesina del 820-21, 837, 841 Pueblo Agosto 2 2 [Argentina),
Peru, 648 Congress on Racial Equality, 47
Confederaci6n de Trabajadores 900 (Greece), 5 0 5
el a s

de America Latina, 39 Congiess Paxty (India), 517—28 Em Tempo Group (Brazil), 1 3 7 -

ConfederaciOn de Trabajadores Congress Socialist Party (India), 39

de Cuba, 229-30 165, 520, 529 Enomene Aristera (Greece), . 5 0 7
ConfederaciOn de Trabajadores Conservative Party (UK), 462, "Entrist International," 4 9 1
del Ecuador, 248 483, 486-87 e t a (Spain), 7 1 8
Confederaci6n de Trabajadores Construction Workers Federa­ European Common Market, 2 4 1
del Peru, 643 tion (Germany), 412 Exilados en el Perti, xi8
Confederacion de Trabajadores Contre le Courant Group (Bel­ External Tendency (ist), 5 5 4
de Mexico, 609, 610 gium), 330-31 External Tendency (Spartacist
Confederacion de Trabajadores Convergencia Socialista Group League, USA), 9 2 3
Revolucionarios del Peril, 643 (Brazil), 136—39 External Tendency ( t l d , West
Confederaci6n Espanola de De- Corriente Socialista (Mexico), Germany), 4 3 s - 3 6
rechas AutOnomas, 679 616-17 External Tendency (Trotskyist
ConfederaciOn General de Council of Action (Ireland), 569 League, Canada), 1 5 8

1096 Index of Organizations

Fabian Society (Australia!, 63 Fomento Obrero Revolucionario c l c (i ), 216; on Cold War, 3 1 1 ;
Factory Workers Federation of (Spain), 7 1 a conferences of, 304; c o r q i
La Paz (Bolivia), 130 f o r Organizing Comittee (USA), on, 635; Emergency Confer­
Faglig Caelles Liste (Denmark], 247 , 944 ence of (1940), 39, 193, 286-
246 For Socialism Group (Cyprus), 89, 424, 426, 56, 92r; and
Fair Employment Practices 232 "deformed workers states,"
Committee (USA), 824 For Socialism Group (Greece), 29; and "entrism sui generis,"
Fair Play for Cuba Committee 508 28, 319; European Secretariat
(USA), 852-53 Forum Tendency (Denmark), of, 298-300, 304-5; First In­
Falange Espanola y de las JO N S 241 ternational Conference {1946},
(Spain), 689 Foster-Cannon Faction ( c p u s a ) , 20, 238, 305-8, 428, 569, 593;
Falange Socialista Bolivians (Bo­ 762 French opposition to, 21-22;
livia), 122 Foster Faction ( c p u s a ), 762, as origin of many Trotskyist
Farmer Labor Party of Minne­ 764—66 groups, 64; and Pablo, 28,
sota (USA), 787, 814 Founding Conference of the 319, 635; Pan American and
Federaci6n Anarquista Ib£rica Fourth International, 8, 10, Pacific Bureau of, 269; post­
(Spain), 679, 680, 700, 701 3 8 , 3 9 , 5 7 , 8 8 ; agenda of, 2 6 9 — war Latin American expan­
Federaci6n de Juventudes Com­ 70) attendance and represen­ sion of, 74a; postwar publica­
unis tas Revolucionarias tation at, 27O ; and debate on tions of, 316; and the
(Spain), 717 "bureaucratic collectivism," proletarian revolution, i8;
Federaci6n Libertaria de 7 9 5 ; and debate on establish­ Provisional European Execu­
Obreros y Campesinos (Mex­ ing the International, 2 7 0 - 7 3 ; tive Committee, of, 298—304;
ico), 610 i e c named by, 2 7 3 ; locale of, Resident i e c of, 2.85—86; and
Federaci6n Obrera de Chile, 2 6 8 ; membership reports of Sedova, 12, 24, 25, 89, 3 15 -
1 9 4 -9 5 attendees, 2 7 0 - 7 r; minutes 16; Second Congress of, 311;
Federation Obrera de La Habana of, 4 5 4 ; Pedrosa in, 1 3 3 ) prep­ and Sneevliet, 621; split in
(Cuba), 128-29 arations for, 2 6 8 - 7 0 ; publica­ (i952-53l, 28, 30, 89-90, 740;
Federal Bureau of Investigation tion of decisions of, S7; Resi­ Third Congress of (19 51), 20,
(USA), 22, 478, 510, 666, 918, dent i e c named by, 2 8 5 ; 41-42, 229, 316, 318-19, 382,
974 security at, 2 0 8 ; and Statute 837-38; and traditional de­
Federal Party (Ceylon), 172 of International, 273; and mands, 9; and Trotsky, 517,
Federated Ironworkers Associa­ "Thesis on World Role of 621; on USSR, 29; on WWII
tion (Australia), 54, 59, 60 American Imperialism," 2 7 4 - conflict, 295. Affiliates/sec­
F£d6ration des Etudiants R6vo- 7 6 . Affiliates/delegates/sec­ tions: Argentina, 3 9-41; Aus­
lutionnaires (France], 385 tions: Brazil, 133; Bulgaria, tralia, 56, 57, 61; Austria, 46,
F6d£ration Syndicale du Name 1 4 3 ; Canada, 1 4 6 ; Chile, 1 9 7 ; 88; Ceylon, 160; Denmark,
Ky (Vietnam), 963 Cuba, 2 3 0 ; Cyprus, 2 3 1 ; 239; France, 21-22, 27, 41,
f g s (Socialist Youth group, It­ Czechoslovakia, 135; France, 382; Italy, 594; Netherlands,
aly), 594 8 5 3 - 5 4 ; Germany, 4 ^ 4 i Hun­ 626; South Africa, 674-75;
Fianna Fail (Ireland), 569 gary, 5 <5; Palestine, 5 7 9 ; Pan­ Switzerland, 728; UK, 568;
Fighting Communist Organiza­ ama, 6 3 6 ) Poland, 6si; Swit­ USA, 814, 815; Vietnam, 969,
tion (Greece), 508 zerland, 7 2 7 ; UK, 4 S 3 - 5 5 ; 970-71. See also International
riR-Combate (Peru), 642, 644 Uruguay, 9 5 3 . Reports/Reso­ Secretariat; Second Congress
FiR-Partido de Obreros y Camp­ lutions of: on Canadian Sec­ of Fourth International
esinos (Peru), 642, 644 tion, 1 4 6 ; on French Section, Fourth International (Morenoite
Fire Brigades Union (UK), 489 8 5 3 —5 4 ; on Greece, 5 0 4 ; on ic and c o r q i ), 586, 643, 958
First International, 2 Mexican Trotskyism, 608-9; Fourth Internationalist Caucus
First National Conference of on Netherlands, 6 2 5 ; on par­ ( s w p , USA), 884
Brazilian Fourth Internation­ ticular f i affiliates, 2 7 3 —7 4 ; Fourth Internationalist Ten­
alists, 133 on Poland, 6 5 0 ; on Romania, dency (USA), 157, 760, 884,
First National Labor Congress 6 6 7 ; on Sino-Japanese War, 889-91, 892, 893, 894, 896,
(China), 202 2 7 4 ; on Vereeken and Sneev­ 897
First Parity Commission of is liet, 6 2 s Fourth International Organiza­
and ic of 1950s, 329-31, 740, Fourth International, 2 3 , 6 2 3 ; tion of South Africa, 673-75
74 i All-American and Pacific Fourth International Tendency
f m l n (El Salvador), 893 Conference of, 147) Bames (Australia), S3
Fomento Obrero Revoluciona­ on, 88a; and "catastrophic" Fracci6n Bolchevique-Leninista
rio, 250, 943 orientation of, 7 3 0 ; and (Spain), 715

Index of Organizations 1097

Fracci6n Roja (p r t , Argentina), German Brandlerites' Danish Groupe Revolutionnaire Socia­
47 counterpart, 237 liste (French Antilles), 404,
Fraccidn Socialista Revoluciona­ German Right Opposition, 260 405
ria (Panama), 636 German Trotskyist exiles Groupe Socialiste des Travail­
Free Democratic Party (West (Czechoslavakia), 233 leurs de Quebec (Canada), 158
Germany), 431 Gestapo (Germany), 86-88, 414 Groupe Trotskyiste Antillais
Freedom Socialist Party (USA), Global Class War Tendency (French Antilles), 405
936, 938 (swp, USA), 9 11, 941 Groupe Trotskyiste de Belgique
Freie fugend (Switzerland), 729 Globe Unemployment Commit­ pour la Reconstruction de la
Frejuli (Argentina), 47 tee (Australia], 54 IV&me Internationale, 112
French Forces of the Interior, Goldman-Morrow Faction ( s w p , Groupe Trotskyiste de Suisse
373 USA), 315 (Switzerland), 737
French Irregular and Partisans Government Clerical Service Group for a Proletarian Left
Resistance, 373 Union (Ceylon), 165 (Greece), 507—8 \
French Resistance (WWII), 372- Government Workers Trade Grupo BoIchevique: Leninista
76 Union Federation (Ceylon), (Brazil), 132
Frente Amplio (Uruguay), 954- 169 Grupo Bolchevique-Leninista
55 G PU (USSR): and Graef, 83; and (Chile), 197,
Frente de Izquierda Popular (Ar­ Hansen and Novack, 478, Grupo Bolchevique-Leninista
gentina), 53 Sio, 929; and infiltration of pi (Uruguay), 953
Frente de Izquierda Revolucio­ by, 281—85 j and Nin, 683, Grupo Bolchevique-Leninista por
naria (Peru), 639-42 703; in Soviet-occupied terri­ la Reconst rucci6n de la Cuarta
Frente de Izquierda Revolucio- tories, 78, 89; at Sun Yat-sen Intemacional (Spain), 713
naria-Fourth International, University, 2 0 4 ; and Trots­ Grupo Combate Socialista
642, 644 ky's murder, i; and Trotsky­ (Peru), 624
Frente de Liberaci6n Popular ists, murder of, 2 6 8 , 2 8 5 Grupo Comunista Espanol de la
(Spain), 7 13 -14 Green Party (West Germany), 431 Cuarta Intemacional (Spain),
Frente de Unidade Revoluciona­ Groupe Bolchevik-Leniniste 7ia
ria (Portugal), 6s 6-$ 7 (France), 349-51 Grupo Comunista Intemaciona-
Frente Obrero (Argentina), 40, Groupe Communiste Intematio­ lista (Mexico), 612—14
48 naliste de Vietnam, 971 Grupo Comunista Intemaciona-
Frente Obrero Campesino Es- Groupe Communiste R6vo)u- lista de Espana (Spain), 712
tudiantil del Peril, 644 tionnaire d'Alg^rie, 3 6 Grupo Comunista-Leninist a
Frente Popular de Libertagao Groupe Communiste R6voIu- (Brazil), 132
(Brazil), 135 tionnaire (Lebanon), 6 0 2 - 5 Grupo Cuarta Intemacional
Frente por la Unidad de los Tra­ Groupe Communiste Trotskiste (Venezuela), 957
bajadores (Spain), 717 pour la TVfime Internationale Grupo Internacionalista Obrero
Frente Revolucionario (Chile), (Belgium), 1 0 6 (Chile), 197
198 Groupe d'Opposition du Parti Grupo Obrero Marxista (Argen­
Frente Revolucionario de Iz­ Communiste (Belgium), 94 tina), 41
quierda (Bolivia), 129-30 Groupe d'Organisation Natio- Grupo Obrero Marxista (Peru),
Frente Revolucionario Indo- nale de Guadeloupe, 4 0 S - 6 637
Americanista Popular (Argen­ Groupe du Ligue Intemationa­ Grupo Obrero Revolucionario
tina), 41 liste des Travailleurs (Bel­ (Argentina), 39, 46, 47
Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n gium), 113 Grupo Obrero Revolucionario
Nacional (Nicaragua), 892, 898 Group Marxiste Intemationa­ (Uruguay), 953
Friends of the Debs Column liste (Belgium), i n Grupo Obrero Socialista (Mex­
(USA), 782 Groupe Marxiste RSvolu- ico), 6 10 -11
Friends of the Soviet Union, 54 tionnaire (Canada), 154 Grupo Trotskista Espanol
Front Communiste Rfrvolu- Groupe Marxiste R6volu- (Spain), 713
tionnaire (France), 393 tionnaire (Tunisia), 7 3 8 Grupo Trotskista Venezolano
Fuerzas Armadas Revoluciona- Groupe Ouvriere Rfivolu- (Venezuela), 9S6-57
rias (Argentina), 44 tionnaire (Senegal), 115 Grupo Tupac Amaru (Argen­
Fylkingin (Iceland), 514 Groupe Quatre Internationale, tina), 117
Fylkingin-barattusamtok social­ Section Alg^rien de la Qua- Gruppe Revolutionare Marxis-
ista (Iceland), 514 trifcme Internationale (Alge­ ten (Austria), 90
ria), 34 Gruppi Comunisti Rivoluzio-
Gauche Socialiscc (Canada), Groupe Rdvolutionaire des Tra­ naii (Italy), 594-96
IS6, IS 7, 760 vailleurs (Tunisia), 738-39 Gruppo Gramsci (Italy), $96

1098 Index of Organizations

Gruppo Operaio Rivoluzionario Independent Socialist Labor 594; Latin America, 329;
por la rinascista della Quarta Party (Poland), 260-61 Peru, 639; Spain, 713; USA,
International (Italy), 596-97 Independent Socialist League 329, 864
(USA), 24, 27, 55r-52, 810- International Committee of
13, 847, 898-99 1960s, 20-21, 336, 539-44.
Haschomer-Hazair (Palestine),
Independent Socialist Party 563, 918; breakup of, 21, 498-
579 (Bulgaria), 141 99 . 544. 634. Affiliates: Bo­
Hazarat Fatima {Iran), 564
Independent Socialist Party livia, 125; Ceylon, 192;
Healyite International Commit­
(Netherlands), 260, 262-63, France, 388, 540, 605; Greece,
tee, s io - ii, 634; and ic of
621-22 508, 541; Hungary, 513; Ire­
1960s, ai, 43s, 510; and Qa-
Independent Socialist Party (Ro­ land, 573; Mexico, 618; Nige­
dafi, 22; personalist leader­
mania), 667 ria, i i 6 j USA, 924; West Ger­
ship of, 6 2 5 ; and s w p (USA),
Independent Socialists (Canada), many, 434-35
22; Thornett split from, 21,
158 International Communist
738. Affiliates: Australia, 51O;
Independent Trade Union Feder­ League (Greece), 504
Canada, 157, 210; Ceylon,
ation (Bulgaria), 141 International Communist
192; Greece, 509, 510; Ire­
Independent Workers Party League (UK), 495~97
land, 575-76, 510; Peru, 642;
(West Germany), 429 International Communist
Spain, 510, 722; USA, sio,
Indian National Congress Party, League (Vietnam), 967-7 r
926-28
516-17, 519-21, 329 International Communist Oppo­
Healyites (Australia), 75, 78
Industrial Workers of the World sition, 233, 625
Healyites (Ceylon), 79
(USA), 761, 766, 770, 817, International Communist
Heimingakuren (Japan), 599
844 Union (Greece), 504
Hindustan Republican Army
Industriebond {trade union, International Communists
(India), 532
Netherlands), 628 (Denmark), 237
Ho Hao (Vietnam), 968-69
Iniziativa Socialista (Italy), 594 International Contact Commis­
Hong Kong Federation of Stu­
Institute for Workers Control sion, 782
dents, 221
(UK), 494 Internationale Kommunisten
Hotel and Restaurant Workers
International Bolshevik Faction Deutschland (Germany), 87,
Union (USA), 774, 940
(u sec), 597 266, 420-31, 625, 905
House Un-American Activities
International Brigade (Spain), Internationale Kommunisten
Committee (USA), 912
468 Osterreichs (Austria), 88-9 x
Hungarian Left Opposition, 253
International Brotherhood of Internationale Kommunisten-
Hyde Park Group (UK), 447
Teamsters (USA), 774-75, bond (Netherlands), 628
816, 8x9-22, 910 Internationale Kommunisters
Independencia Obrera (Hondu­ International Bureau for Revolu­ Gruppe (Denmark), 244-46
ras), 5 11 tionary Socialist Unity, 503 Internationale Kommunistische
Independent Communist International Commission of Liga (Austria), 90
League (Australia), 5 6 Opposition Center (cpsu), 682 Internationale Kommunistiske
Independent Communist Party International Committee of Parti (Denmark), 240
(West Germany), 531 1950®/ S35 ~39 > and Cannon's Internationale Socialisten (Den­
Independent Labor Party {British Open Letter, 6i; establish­ mark), 239
Columbia, Canada), 146 ment of, 41, 324-25, 536-37, Internationale Socialister (Swe­
Independent Labor Party (Mani­ 740; on Hungarian Revolu­ den), 726
toba, Canada), 146 tion, 330, 539; and is of International Croup (Germany),
Independent Labor Party (On­ 1950s, unification with, 20, 420
tario, Canada), 145 332, 659, 742; London meet­ International Group (UK), 492
Independent Labor Party (Sas­ ing of (1953), 321, 535; Paris Internationalist Communist
katchewan, Canada), 146 meeting of (1955I, 329, 537- League (pro-Fi), 82-83, 100,
Independent Labor Party (South 38; and Parity Commission 260, 264-66, 349-50, 503,
Africa), 668 {1962-63), 330, 741; and 620-21, 672
Independent Labor Party (UK), s l a t o , 538; split in (1963), Internationalist Communist
437-38. 440-4y, on Fryer's 539; World Conference Party (Cyprus), 231
defection, 475—76; and Lon­ (Leeds), 329, 538. Affiliates: Internationalist Communist
don Bureau, 260, 622; and Australia, 6 j; Bolivia, 124; Party (Greece), 506-7
r s p , 453-55; and Trotsky, Brazil, 13 s; Canada, 149, 218, Internationalist Communist
263; a n d w i l , 460 32s; Chile, 198; China, 149, Party (fi) (Bulgaria), 143
Independent Socialist Clubs of 218, 325; Cuba, 230; France, Internationalist Proletarian Fac­
America (USA), 899 388; India, 522, 523; Italy, tion ( p o r , Bolivia), 124

Index of Organizations 1099

Internationalist Revolutionary expels members of ic of International Socialist Organiza­
Party (Greece), 506 1950s, 325; and Healy, 322- tion (USA), 909-10
Internationalist Socialist League 23, 325, 472; and French p c i , International Socialists (Austra­
( p i ) (USA), 941 336, 355 ; in Germany, 325; lia), 68, 74-78
Internationalist Workers League and Japanese Trotskyists, 599; International Socialists (Can­
(USA), 727 members of, 308; and Moli- ada), 158
Internationalist Workers Party nier, 355; and Munis, 712; in International Socialists (UK),
(China), 217 the Netherlands, 325; Pedrosa 465, 481-87, 496, 498; early
Internationalist Workers Party in, 133; and p c i (France), 336, years of, 483; on industrial
(Greece), 506-7 355; and p o c (Italy), 593; and turn, 77; on Israeli self-deter-
Internationalist Workers Party p o i (France), 354; and p s o p mination, 77; in 1960s, 483—
M (USA), 9 2 3-33, 938 - 39, IFrance), 354; and r c p (UK), 84; on Poxtuguese revolution,
941 468-70; and r s l / w i l (UK) mer­ 402; reorganization of, 486—
International Labor Defense ger, 457; and swp (USA), 323, 87; and a revolutionary work­
(USA), 762, 764 506, 535; wartime operation ers party, 484-86; on "state
International Ladies Garment of, 39-40, 2 8 9 - 9 7 , 3 0 4 - 5/ capitalism," 177, 181-83; and
Workers Union (USA), 822 4 5 6 , 5 1 8 - 2 0 , S 9 2 - 9 3 ; and Yu­ USA counterpart, 902
International Left Opposition, goslav Communists, 3 1 4 , 3 1 5 International. Socialists (USA),
95 . 253-59, 689; Bordiguists International Secretariat of 66, 76- 77, S S I , 855, 899-903,
and, 586-87J is of, 98, 253, 1 930s (of i l o , i c l , and m fi), 910, 921
255, 442, 502. Affiliates/sec­ 5 9 0 ; and ic e |Spain), 6 8 9 - 9 3 ; International Socialist Ten­
tions: Austria, 82; Belgium, Nin on, 3 2 3 - 2 4 , 7 0 9 ; and dency, 13, 20, j j j; and Trots­
95, 97; Brazil, 132; Chile, 196, Negrin government, 7 0 7 ; and kyist theory, 13, 22, 24, 31.
197; Cuba, 228; Czechoslova­ poum (Spain), 6 9 3 , 7 0 1 , 7 ° 3~ Affiliates/sympathizers: Aus­
kia, 232-33; Greece, 500-501; 4, and Swiss Trotskyists, 7 2 7 tralia, 74-78; Canada, 158;
Hungary, 512; UK, 440 International Secretariat of Denmark, 246; France, 403;
International Longshoremen's 1950s, 3 2 5 , 547-50; and Alex­ Germany, 435; Ireland, 576;
and Warehousemen's Union ander (South Africa), 6 7 6 ; and Netherlands, 629; Portugal,
(USA), 818, 901 Algerian War of Independence, 657; USA, 909
International Majority Faction 3 4 ; and Ceylonese lssp , X7 S; International Socialist Ten­
( u s e c ), 50, 752-58. Affiliates/ establishment of, 2 0 , 7 4 ° ; dency (Norway), 633
sections: Austria, 67, 90; Fifth Congress of, 327, 328, international Spartacist ten­
Canada, 153, IS4; Denmark, 548-49; and First Parity Com­ dency, 22, 31, 179, 552-54,
242; Germany, 432; Hong mission of 1950s, 740-41; 9x5; and Varga affair, 95S-56.
Kong, 219; Portugal, 654, Fourth Congress of, 326-29, Affiliates: Australia, 79; Aus­
656-57; Spain, 716; USA, 90, 548; headquarters of, 328; i e c tria, 90, 91; Canada, 158;
876 of, 326, 332, 547; Latin Amer­ Ceylon, 192; Chile, 200;
International Marxist Group ican Bureau of, 41-42, 124, France, 403; Germany, 435—
(UK), 64, 465, 471, 488, 492- 322, 659, 742, 953-54; and 36; in Switzerland, 737; UK,
96, 911, 916 Lawless, 570; and Pablo, 34, 498; USA, 21
International Marxist Group 61, 841; and reunification International Tendency [Bulle­
(West Germany), 430-34 with ic of 1950s, 20, 42, 359, tin Oppositionel), 88
International Marxist League 6s 9; and Second Parity Com­ International Trotskyist Liaison
(Australia), 64-67 mission (1962-63), 331, 741; Committee, 597
International Monetary Fund, Sixth Congress of, 328, 549- International Workers Club
So 50, 6 ii; suspends member­ (South Africa), 516
International Opposition (cci, ship of those in ic of 1950s, International Workers League
France), 371 537. Affiliates/sections, 547; ( f i ) , 21, 27, 554-55. Affiliates:
International Rescue Commit­ Argentina, 42; Australia, 6 i; Bolivia, 1 3 X ; Brazil, 137;
tee (USA), 368-69 Austria, 89, 90; Bolivia, 124; Costa Rica, 227; Dominican
International Revolutionary Cuba, 230; India, 522, 523; Ja­ Republic, 247; Ecuador, 248;
Marxist Tendency, 21, 544-46 pan, S99; Latin America, 20; El Salvador, 249; Greece, 509;
International Secretariat (fi): Mexico, 6xi; Switzerland, Honduras, 5 11; Panama, 637;
and Australian c l , S 7 ; and 737; UK, 488, S37; Uruguay, Peru, 64s j South Africa, 677;
Canadian Trotskyists, 48, 954; USA, $37, 841 Sweden, 726; USA, 939—40,
147; "catastrophic" perspec­ International Socialist Group 951; Venezuela, 958; West
tive of, 469; confcrcnccs/ (UK), 488 Germany, 43 s
meetings of, 308-9, 316; on International Socialistisk Brev- International Workers Party
"entrism sui generis," 316; ium (Denmark), 237 (USA), 952

1100 Index of Organizations

International Workingmen's As­ Jeunesses Socialistes Revolu- Kuomintang (China), 3, 201-6,
sociation, 620 tionnaires (Belgium), 102 U S-16 , 965
International Young Socialist Jewish Labor Bund (Poland),
Alliance (Hong Kong), 219 649-50 Labor Abortion Rights Cam­
Intransigente Party (Argentina), Jewish Labor Bund (Russia), paign (UK), 490
53 173. 347, 577; 649 Labor Action Group (Australia),
Iraqi Trotskyists, 567 Jewish Opposition Group of 67
Irish Communist Organization Paris (France), 253, 502 Labor Club (Australia), 63
(UK), 570 Johnson-Forresc Tendency Labor Committee on Ireland
Irish Labor Party, 571 (USA), 808, 934 (UK), 490
Irish Republican Army, 573—75 Joint Committee of Trade Labor Conference of Ontario
Irish Workers Group (Ireland), Union Organizations of :960s (Canada), 146
498 (Ceylon), 174, 185 Labor Coordinating Committee
Irish Workers Group (o k and Joint Committee of Trade (UK), 490
Ireland), 570 Union Organizations of 1970s Labor League of Youth (UK),
Irish Workers Union (UK), 570 (Ceylon), 180, 185 447 - 48, 456 -S 7, 475 , 48a
ISA ( c o r q i affiliate, Germany), Joven Cuba, 229 Labor Party (Bulgaria), 141
435 Jugantar national revolutionar­ Labor Party (Ceylon), 160-61
Islamic Republican Party (Iran), ies |India), 532 Labor Party (New Zealand),
558 Justicialista Movement (Argen­ 630-31
Islamic Student Organization tina), 45 Labor Party (UK), 290, 437,
(Iran), 563 Juventud Comunista Ib6rica 462-63, 465, 467, 871: Bevan-
Israeli Socialist Organization, (Spain), 698-99 ites in, 472-73; and c l , 445;
582, $84 Juventud Marxista Revoluciona­ and cp g b , 442; Hallas's his­
Israeli Socialist Organization ria (Mexico), 613 tory of, 487; and Healyites,
(Marxist), 584 Juventud Revolucionaria Socia­ 488; and ilp , 447; and im c ,
Italian Red Brigades, 401 lista (Spain), 723 470, 488, 492-93, 495; and is,
Italian Left Fraction, 154 Juventud Socialista (Chile), 197, 456, 483; and Labor Party ys,
Izquierda Bolivian a (Bolivia), 200 476, 483-84; and Marxist
117 Juventud Socialista (Mexico), Croup, 444; and Militant
Izquierda Comunista (Chile), 6 11- 12 Group, 28, 450, 487-89; and
26, 196-97 Juventud Socialista de Avanzada Militant Tendency, 489-92;
Izquierda Comunista (Spain), (Argentina), 48 and m l l , 456; n a l on, 474; on
253, 686-96, 707-8 nuclear disarmament, 475;
Izquierda Nacional (Argentina), and r c p , 27, 463, 466-67,
43 Kakmuru Faction ( jr c l , Japan), 470-71, 473; recovery of, after
Izquierda Revolucionaria Social­ 600 1931 defeat, 443-44; role of
ista (Chile), 197 Kamani Met Industries Workers constituency parties in, 437,
Izquierda Socialista (Chile), 200 Union (India) 522 459; and r s l , 455, 475; and
Khardal Jute Mill Workers rsp, 455; and s l , 446; and s l l ,
Janata Front (India), 528 Union (India), 519 475; and Socialist Fellowship,
Janatha Vinikthi Permuna (Cey­ Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (In­ 470-71; and Socialist Orga­
lon), 179-80, 190-91 dia), 5 11 nizer Group, 497; structure
Japan Communist Youth, 600, Knights of Labor (Belgium), 95, of, 437; and w il, 459; and ys,
601 198 475-76
Japan Revolutionary Commu­ Kommunistiska Arbetarforbun- Labor Party (USA), 949-51
nist League, 599-600 det (Sweden), 72s Labor Party Young Socialists
Japan Socialist Party, 599-600 Kommunistiska Arbetsgrupper (UK), 476, 483-84, 488
Jeune Annam (Vietnam), 959 Forbund (Sweden), 714 Labor Socialist Group (Austra-
Jeune Garde Socialiste (Bel­ Kommunistiska Forbundet lia), 58
gium), 91, 98, 108-12 Marxist-Leninistema (Swe­ Labor's Nonpartisan League
Jeunesse Communiste Revolu­ den), 724 (USA), 813
tionnaire (Alain Krivine, Kommunistisk Arbej disk reds Labor Youth League (USA), 847
France), 390-91 (Denmark), 240 La Lutte United Front (Viet­
Jeunesses Communistes R6vo- Kommunistisk Forbund Marx* nam), 960, 961, 96S-66
lutionnaires ( l c r , France), 395 ister-Leninister (Denmark), Lambertist Tendency, 35, 52-
Jeunesses Rdvolutionnaires (Bel­ 240 S3<90-91
gium), 113 KOR (Poland), 65 r Lanka Estate Workers Union
Jeunesse Socialiste (France), 379 Ku Klux Klan (USA), 921 (Ceylon), 178, 185

Index of Organizations 1101

 Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Cey­ and of the Citizen (Bulgaria), Leninist Tendency ( p r t / e r p , Ar­
lon): antecedents of, 21, 26, 143 gentina), 47
160-62; and Bandaranaike's League of Free Thinkers (Ger­ Leninist-Trotskyist Tendency
second government, 26, 178- many), 412 ( u s e c ), 553, 677, 7 J 2- 57 - Af­
79, 746; and the Bolshevik- League of Nations, 778 filiates: Australia, 67; Aus­
Leninists, 167-69; and com­ League of Revolutionary De­ tria, 90; Canada, 153; Chile,
munal strife, 193; conclusions mocracy (Australia), 56 198; Denmark, 245; Ger­
regarding, 192-94; decline of, League of Socialist Revolution­ many, 432; Italy, 597; Portu­
181-82; establishment of, aries (Hungary), 514, 541, 544, gal, 654; Spain, 716
162-63; expulsion of, from 634, 955 -S 6 Leninist Workers Faction of Bo­
United Front, 180-81; and f i , Left Fraction ( r s l , UK), 457, 461 livian p o r , 124
relations with, 174-761 and f i Leftist Revolutionary Alliance Les Amis d'Espoites (Belgium),
1950s split, 325, 330, 547-48, (Peru), 640 92
740; historical overview of, Left Marxist Opposition (Bul­ Liaison Committee of Revolu­
182-88; internal democracy garia), 141-43 tionary Students (France), 384
in, 184-85; and is of 1950s, Left Opposition (Austria), S i - Liberal Party (Australia), 70
326-28, 519, 548, sso; leader­ 83, 85, 88 Liberal Party (Belgium), 103, 112
ship and backing of, 182-84; Left Opposition (Belgium), 193— Liberal Party (Denmark), 243
legal suppression of, 166-67; 95, 412 Liberal Party (UK), 489
and l s s p (r ), 190-92; and Left Opposition (France), 339 Liberation Union (USA), 937
l s s p ( r ) split-offs, 192-93; Left Opposition (Hungary), 512 Liga Bolchevique (Chile), 200
name taken by b l p i (India), Left Opposition (Spain), 684 Liga Bolchevique-Leninista (Ur­
519; and the 1971 insurrec­ Left Opposition (USSR), 37, 92, uguay), 953
tion, 17 9-8.0; organization of, * 34- 35, IS 4-5 5, 649 Liga Comunista do Brasil, 432
165; and the Samasamaja la­ Left Poale Zion Party (Pales­ Liga Comunista (Chile), 199,
bor movement, 164-65; dur­ tine), 578 200
ing the s l f p government Left Radical Party (France), 386, Liga Comunista (Peru), 642
(1956-60), 172-73; during the 393, 39 S Liga Comunista (Spain), 716 -21
s l f p government (1960-64), Left Republican Party (Spain), Liga Comunista Intemacional,
1 7 3 - 7 4 ; and the s l f p rise to 678-79 Secci6n Argentina, 37
power, 170-72; and split Left Socialist Party (Poland), Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
(1953), x69-70; in the state 647 ta (Argentina), 37, 38
council, 163-64; and Trotsky­ Left Socialists (Sweden), 724 Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
ist revolutionary ideology vs. Lega Comunista (Italy), 597, 755 ta (Brazil), 132
reformism, 185-88; Trotsky­ Lega Comunista Rivoluzionaria Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
ists vs. Stalinists in, 165-66; (Italy), 595-96 ta (Portugal), 654-58
and the United Front, 177-8 1; Lega Operaia Rivoluzionaria (It­ Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
and the United Left Front, aly), 598 ta (Bolcheviques-Leninistas)
174, 176; and u s e c 1965 Con­ Lega Socialista Rivoluzionaria (Brazil), 132
gress, 746; and the v l s s p split, (Italy), 597 Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
169-70, 188-90 Lega Trotkysta d'ltalia (Italy), ta of 1930s (Mexico), 607-10
Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Rev­ SS3, 597 Liga Comunista Internacionalis­
olutionary), 177, 190-92 Leninbund (Germany), 252, ta of 1 970s (Mexico), 614
l a v (trade union group, Czecho­ 405-10, 411 Liga Comunista Revolucionaria
slovakia), 233 Lenin Club (South Africa), 668- (Argentina), 47
League for a Revolutionary 69, 671, 673, 67S-76 Liga Comunista Revolucionaria
Workers Party (USA), 774 Lenin Institute (USSR), 208-9 (Colombia), 224
League for a Workers Republic Leninist Faction (swp, USA), Liga Comunista Revolucionaria
(Ireland), S7 I, 575 876, 906, 932 (Spain), 715—20, 722, 723, 735
League for a Workers Vanguard Leninist Internationalist Party Liga de Juventud Comunista
(Ireland), 575 (France), 531 (Puerto Rico), 666
League for Socialist Action/ Leninistisk Arbejdegruppe (Den­ Liga Estudiantil Marxista (Mex­
Lutte Socialiste Ouvrifire mark), 237 ico), 612
(Canada), 150-55, 158 Leninist League (Australia), 55 Liga Internacionalista de los
League for the Reconstruction Leninist League (UK), 452-53 Trabajadores (Puerto Rico),
of the Fourth International, Leninist League (USA), 783 666
955 Leninist Opposition (Greece), Liga Leninista Espirtaco (Mex­
League for the Rights of Man 504 ico), 613

1102 Index of Organizations

Liga Marxista (Argentina), 39 Lotta Continua (Italy), 596 Marxist Study Society of Peking
Liga Marxista Revolucionaria Lovestoneites (USA), 769, 773, (China), 201
(Nicaragua), 555, 632 774, 77 9 , 784 Marxist Workers Group (Austra­
Liga Obrera Comunista (Spain), L'Unit£ Leniniste (France), 841 lia), 75
722 Lutte Ouvriere Group (France), Marxist Workers Group (UK),
Liga Obrera Leninista (Chile), 21, 23, 371, 372, 403; and 494
197 c g t , 401; early history of, 21, Marxist Workers League (USA),
Liga Obrera Marxista (Mexico), 35i, 37i, 398-99, 667, elec­ 833
541-42, 612, 614,, 617-18 toral activities of, 399-401; Marxist Workers Party (USA),
Liga Obrera Revolucionaria (Ar­ foreign contacts of, 21, 116, 833
gentina), 39-40 117, 402, 404, 405, 60s, 920, Marxistik Club (Norway), 683
Liga Obrera Revolucionaria (Ur­ 929, 931; ideological positions Marxistische Aktion der
uguay), 9S3 of, 402; and i w l ( f i ), 557; and Schweiz (Switzerland), 726-
Liga Obrera Socialista (Argen­ l c , 393, 400,• and l c r , 386, 30, 732
tina), 39 396, 397 , 400, 401, 402; and Marxistische-Leninistische Stu-
Liga Obrera Socialista (Peru), o c i , 386; and other activities denten (Austria), 90
642 of, 401-2; and Varga affair, Mazdoor Communist Party (In­
Liga Socialista (Mexico), 613, 955-56 dia), 521, 522
615, 617 Mazdoor Trotskyist Party {In­
Liga Socialista [Venezuela), 957 dia), 522
Liga Socialista Independente Mahnruf Group (Austria), 82, Mensheviks (Russia), 120
(Brazil), 134 83, 257 Metal Workers Federation
Liga Socialista Revolucionaria Majority Faction {1939-40 swp (Switzerland), 731
(Argentina), 39 (USA) struggle), 797-800, 80a, Mezhrayonka Tendency ( u s e c ),
Liga Socialista Revolucionaria 804 752
(Panama), 647 Manajana Eksath Peramuna Miaja Defense Junta of 1939
Liga Socialista Revolucionaria Party (Ceylon), 173-74, 18s, (Spain), 707
(Peru), 640 188-90 Militant Caucus in Socialist
Ligue Communiste (Vietnam), Manifesto Group (Italy), 595 Party (USA), 789-90
959 Maoist organizations, 23, 90, Militant Group (China), 209
Ligue Communiste of 1930s 658 Militant Group of 1930s {UK),
(France), 253, 344-48, 688 Marine Cooks and Stewards 435 , 449 - 50, 452-57
Ligue Communiste of 1960s Union (USA), 818 Militant Labor Civil Rights
and 19703 (France), 391-93, Marine Transport Workers Committee (USA), 920
399-400, 404-5 Union #10 (iww (USA)), Militant Labor League (UK),
Ligue Communiste Intematio- 817 450 , 453-56
naliste (Bolshevik-Leniniste) Marine Workers Industrial Militant Miners Group (UK), 460
(Belgium), 99 Union (USA), 817 Militant Socialist Organization
Ligue Communiste Rdvolu- Maritime Federation of the Pa­ (Ireland), 515
tionnaire (France), 386-87, cific (USA), 817 Militant Tendency (UK), 21, 28,
393 - 97 . 398/ 400, 401, 403, Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute 178, 181, 406, 46s, 488-92,
404, 405, 408 (USSR), X3i 499, 528, 576
Ligue des Communistes Inter- Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg Front Military Intelligence (USA), 875
nationalistes (Belgium), 96 (Netherlands), 626 Miners and Metal Workers
Ligue Marxistc Revolutionnaire Marxian Labor College (USA), Union (Peru), 643
(Switzerland), 733-37 833 Miners Bloc (Bolivia), 119
Ligue Ouvritre Revolutionnaire Marxian League (UK), 438-39 Miners Federation of Bolivia
(France), 401, 956 Marxist Educational League (first one), 118
Ligue Trotskiste de France, 553 (South Africa), 688 Miners Federation of Bolivia
l o (labor federation, Denmark), Marxist Group ( i l p , UK), 442, (second one), 119, 122, 126
242 445/ 447 , 449 Miners Federation of the Cen­
London Bureau, 260-61, 264, Marxist League (Great Britain), tral Region (Peru), 638
307, 575/ 622-23, 625, 667, 445, 447, 448, 449, 450 , 452, Minority Faction (1939-40 swp
694 455 (USA| struggle), 796-800,
London School of Economics Marxist League of Kerala (India), 803-4
and Social Sciences, 161 525 m i r Proletario (Venezuela), 957

London Spartacist Group, 498 Marxist Student Group (Swit­ Morenoist Tendency, 19, 21, 23,
Lotta Comunista (Italy), 402 zerland), 649, 726 91, 130, 198, 200

Index of Organizations 1103

Monow-Goldman faction (swp mpla (Angola), 545 National Liberation League
(USA)), 469 Mujahedeen movement (Iran), (South Africa), 672
Moslem League (India), 520 558, 562, 564, 566 National Local Government
Motor Transport and Allied Municipal Workers Union Workers Union (UK), 489
Workers Industrial Union (Chile), 197 National Maritime Workers
(USA), 820-21 Union (USA), 837, 901
Mouvement Militant Mauricien Narrow Socialist Party (Bul­ National Mothers Congress (Ja­
(Mauritius), 606 garia), 140 pan), 600
Mouvement Nationale R6volu- National Anti-Unemployment National Organization of
tionnaire (France), 363 Front (Mauritius), 116, 606 Women (USA), 873
Mouvement Nationaliste Al- National Assembly of Labor National Party of Independence
g£rien (Algeria), 383 (UK), 474 of Vietnam, 959
Movement for an Independent National Association for the National Peace Action Commit­
Socialist Canada, 151 Advancement of Colored Peo­ tee |USA), 855 \
Movement for a Socialist Re­ ple (USA), 902 National Provisional' Center for
public (Ireland), 571, 573-74 National Association of Labor the Constitution of the Inter­
Movement for a Fourth Interna­ Students (UK), 488 national Communist Party (iv
tional, 2.66, 267 National Broadcasting Company International), (Italy), 591
Movement for Trade Union Ac­ (USA), 950 National Resistance Council
tion (French Antilles), 405 National Caucus of Labor Com­ (France), 373
Movimiento Socialista di Unitd mittees (USA), 854, 911, 944- National Salvation Front (Cam­
Proletaria (Italy), 594 Si bodia), 601
Movimiento a Socialismo (Ar­ National Committee for Libera­ National Secretariat of Rela­
gentina), 42, 43 tion (South Africa), 675, 676 tives of the Detained and Dis­
Movimiento a Socialismo (Ven­ National Committee for the appeared (Argentina), 53
ezuela), 957 New Party (Canada), 149 National Students Association
Movimiento Comunista de Es­ National Committee of Ex­ (USA), 543
pana (Spain), 719, 722 pelled Branches (USA), 793 National Textile Workers
Movimiento de Agrupaciones National Confederation of Union (USA), 772
Obreras (Argentina), 41 Workers Committees |UK), National Union of Public Em­
Movimiento de Izquierda Revo­ 460 ployees (UK), 489
lucionaria (Bolivia), 126 National Coordinating Commit­ National United Front (Viet­
Movimiento de Izquierda Revo­ tee to Etid the War in Viet­ nam), 969
lucionaria (Chile), 45, 198- nam (USA),'854 National Workers, Peasants and
200 National Democratic Policy People's Assembly (Mexico),
Movimiento de Izquierda Revo­ Committee (USA), 951 617
lucionaria (Peru), 641 Nationale Arbeiders Sekretari- Nation of Islam (USA), 857
Movimiento de Izquierda Revo­ aat (Netherlands), 620, 622, Native Laundry Workers Union
lucionaria (Venezuela), 957 624-25 (South Africa), 674
Movimiento de Organizaci6n National Education Association Naval Intelligence (USA), 87 s
Socialista (Mexico), 614 (USA), 871 Nava Sama Samaja Party (Cey­
Movimiento de Unidad y Coordi- National Front (UK), 486-87 lon), 182, 193-94
nacion Sindical (Argentina), 42 National Front Against Repres­ Naxalbari revolutionaries (In­
Movimiento Electoral del sion (Mexico), 615 dia), 525
Pueblo (Venezuela), 956 National Front in Defense of Nazi Party (Austria), 78, 85-86
Movimiento Nacionalista Revo­ Wages and Against the Aus­ Nazi Party (Germany), 86, 261,
lucionario (Bolivia), 119-22, terity Plan (Mexico), 617 406-7, 416-17, 419, 421-22,
129 Nationalist Party (South Africa), ,
424 467
Movimiento Politica Obrera 675 Necessary International Initia­
(Argentina), 42., 43 National Liberation Faction tive,431, 432, 495 , 7 SS
Movimiento por el Socialismo (Ramos group (Argentina|), 43, Negotiating Council for Unifi­
(Dominican Republic), 247 51 cation (China), 209
Movimiento Revolucionario 8 National Liberation Front (Alge­ Netherlands Labor Party, 627
Octubre (Brazil), 1 38 ria), 34, 36 Netherlands Verbond van Vak-
Movimiento Socialista de los National Liberation Front of wereningen (Netherlands),
Trabajadores (Ecuador), 248 South Africa, 676 620, 622, 625—27
Movimiento Socialista Revoluc­ National Liberation Front (Viet­ Neue Mahnruf Faction (Aus­
ionario (Panama), 637 nam), 77 , 774/ 901 tria), 83, 84

1104 Index of Organizations

New American Movement ees International Union 635; and Varga f i , 21, 955. A/-
(USA), 894 (USA), 871 fJioces/sections: Algeria, 35,
New Democratic Party (Can­ October-gruppe (Norway), 633 36; Argentina, 52; Black Af­
ada), 144, 149- 51, 153-56 Old Mole Group (Canada), 154 rica, 116; Bolivia, 125-26;
New Era Fellowship (South Af­ Ontario Federation of Labor Brazil, 138-39; Chile, 198-
rica), 672 (Canada), 149 200; Denmark, 245; France,
New Force (Venezuela), 956 o p l a (secret police of e l a s , 404; French Antilles, 405;
New Italian Opposition, 255, Greece), 505 Greece, 509; Hungary, 153;
588-91 Oposigao Leninista (Brazil), 135 Ireland, 570-71, 575; Israel,
New Jewel Movement (Gre­ Oposici6n Comunista de Es­ 553, 582-83; Italy, 497-98j
nada), 893, 898 pana, 684, 685, 686-88, 694 Mexico, 614, 617-18; Peru,
New Left (USA), 912, 941, 94 ^ Oposici6n Comunista de Iz­ 641; Portugal, 659; Spain,
New Leninist Trotskyist Ten­ quierda (Mexico), 607 720-21J Sweden, 726; Swit­
dency ( u s e c I, 753 Opposition Communiste (Bel­ zerland, 737; Venezuela, 957;
New Mobilization Committee gium), 205-15 West Germany, 435
to End the War in Vietnam Order Nouveau (France), 393 Organizing Committee of Com­
(USA), 854 Organisation Communiste des munist (Trotskyist) Militants
News and Letters Committees Travailleurs (France), 395 of Eastern Europe, 541
(USA), 933-36 Organisation Communiste In­ Origlass Group (Australia), 6 1-
New South Wales Labor Coun­ ternational! ste (France], 21, 63
cil (Australia), 57, 60 35, **6, 335, 384-92, $41-44, Our Word Group (China), 207-9
New South Wales Seamens 575, 634 o v r a (Fascist secret police, It­
Union, 53 Organisation Militante des Tra­ aly), 588
New York Revolutionary Com­ vailleurs (Mauritius), 116 Oxford Liaison Committee for
mittee (USA), 942 Organisation Socialiste des Tra­ the Defence of the Trade
"New Zealand Section" (euphe­ vailleurs (Algeria), 3S, 36 Unions (UK), 476
mism for s w p [USA]), 324, Organisation Socialiste des Tra­
330, 629, 740 vailleurs (Senegal), u s , 119 Pabloites (Australia), 90
No Conscription League (UK), Organisation Socialiste Intema- Pacifist Socialist Party (Nether­
455 tionaliste (Belgium), 113 lands), 628
Non European Trade Union Organizaqao Comunista 1 de Palabra Obrera (Argentina], 7 4 4
Federation (South Africa), 674 Mayo (Brazil), 136 Palestine Communist Group (Is­
Non European United Front Organiza;ao Socialista Intema­ rael), 583, 585
(South Africa), 670 cionalista (Brazil), 137-39 Palestine Liberation Organiza­
Non European Unity Movement Organizacidn de Izquierda Com­ tion, S84-85, 604
(South Africa], 670, 673-74, unista (Spain), 717 Palestine Liberation Front [Leb­
675-77 Organizaci6n Marxista Revolu­ anon), 603
North Atlantic Treaty Organi­ cionaria (Chile), 199 Pan Hellenic Socialist Move­
zation, 508 Organization Socialista de los ment (Greece|, S08-9
Northern Irish Labor Party, Trabajadores (Costa Rica), 227 Paper Workers Federation (In­
57 0 -7 1 Organizacidn Trotskista Revo­ dia), 519
North Star Network (USA), 760, lucionaria (Chile), 200 Parity Commission ( c o r q i ) and
894 Organization for Communist Bolshevik and Leninist Trots­
Norwegian Labor Party, 260, Action (Lebanon), 603 kyist Tendencies (u sec), 8,
263, 622, 623 Organization of Afro-American 556, 938
Novo Rumo Group (Brazil), 136 Unity (USA}, 8;6 Parti Acoma (Indonesia), 534
Novosti Press Agency (USSR), Organization of International Parti Catali Proletari (Spain),
13 Communists of Greece, 507 692, 699
Nuclear Disarmament Party Organizing Commission for the Parti Communiste Lntematio-
(Australia), 69, 79 Unified Party (Peru), 642 naliste of 1930s (France]
Organizing Committee for the Parti Communiste Intematio-
oas |France), 390 Reconstruction of the French naliste (wwn period, France),
October Group (France), 301, International, 21, 27, 634-35: 114, 371-83: and "entrism sui
371 establishment of, 21, 52, 388, generis," 27, 41, 321-22, 381-
October Group (Vietnam), 960, 389, 634; and Healy ic, 575, 82
964-65, 967, 970 635; and Morenoites, 25, 51, Parti Communiste Intematio-
October Society (China), 208-9 435 » 635; Parity Commission naliste of 1980s (France), 385,
Office and Professional Employ­ of, 8, 556, 938; and u s e c , s 56, 387-88, 400, 402-4, s J7

Index of Organizations 1105

Parti Communiste Intematio­ Trotskyists, 694, 7°4, 705-7; Partido Obrero Revolucionario
naliste Majority Faction and Popular Front, 697, 708; (Trotskista) (Spain), 715
(France), 383-84 in post-Civil War Spain, 7 13 - Partido Obrero Revolucionario
Parti Communiste Intematio­ 14; and Trotsky, 623-24, 693, (Trotskista) (Uruguay), 954
naliste Minority Faction 696-97, 701-3, 704, 708 Partido Obrero Revolucionario
(post-1952, France), 389-90 Partido Obrero Internacionalista Unificado (Bolivia), 129
Parti Communiste Revolu- (Chile), 197 Partido Obrero Socialista (Mex­
tionnaire (Trotskyste) (Bel­ Partido Obrero Internacionalista ico), 617-18
gium), 106, 300-301, 305 (Mexico), 609-11 Partido Obrero Socialista Inter­
Parti Communiste R6volu- Partido Obrero Marxista'Leni­ nacionalista (Spain), 720-21
tionnaire (Trotskyste) nista (Panama), 636 Partido Obrero (Trotskista) (Ar­
(France), 403 Partido Obrero Marxista Revo­ gentina), 52-53
Parti de Rassemblement Afri- lucionario (Chile), 200 Partido Operario Comunista
caine, 114 Partido Obrero Marxista Revo­ (Brazil), 135
Partido Aprista Peruano (Peru), lucionario (Peru), 641, 643-45 Partido Operario de Unidade So­
638, 643, 645 Partido Obrero Revolucionario cialista (Portugal), 659
Partido Aut^ntico Limonense (Argentina), 175 Partido Operario Leninista (Bra­
(Costa Rica),- 227 Partido Obrero Revolucionario zil), 133 '■
Partido Bolchevique-Leninista (Bolivia), 26, 41, 117 - 2 1, 124, Partido Operario Revolucionario
(Cuba), 228-30 130, 538 (Trotskista) (Brazil), 134, 136 -
Partido Comunista de Catalu­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario 38
nya (Spain), 719 (Gonzilez Mosc6so faction, Partido Popular Christiano
Partido Comunista de la Repiib- Bolivia), 121, 126—29, 325, (Peru), 645
lica Argentina, 37 538, 547 Pardido Revolucionario Cubano
Partido Comunista del Peru Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Aut&ntico) (Cuba), 229-30
(Sendero Luminoso), 464 (Lora faction, Bolivia), 121, Partido Revolucionario de la Iz­
Partido Comunista Inde- 123-26, 131, 32s, 543- 44, quierda Nacionalista (Bolivia),
pendiente (Puerto Rico), 666 547, 634 121, 125, 129-30
Partido Comunista Obrero Es­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Revolucionario de los
panol (Spain), 680 (Chile}, 197, 198 Trabajadores (Argentina), 4 1-
Partido Comunista Revolucio- Partido Obrero Revolucionario 43
nario (Peru), 645 (Cuba), 230 Partido Revolucionario de los
Partido de Izquierda Revolucio­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario Trabajadores (Bolivia), 129-30
nario (Peru), 64s (Ecuador), 248 Partido Revolucionario de los
Partido de la Revoluci6n Mexi- Partido Obrero Revolucionario Trabajadores (Costa Rica),
cana, 610 (Peru), 538, 637 227
Partido de los Trabajadores Za­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Revolucionario de
patistas (Mexico), 617 (Spain), 722, 956 los Trabajadores (Mexico),
Partido Democratico (Chile), Partido Obrero Revolucionario/ 614-18, 896
196 Ejercito Revolucionario del Partido Revolucionario de los
Partido dos Trabalhadores (Bra­ Pueblo (Argentina), 43-47 Trabajadores (Nicaragua), 632
zil), 137-39 Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Revolucionario de los
Partido Mexicano de Trabaja­ (IV Intemacional) (Uruguay), Trabajadores (Peru), 642-43,
dores, 616 954 645-46
Partido Movimento Democrat­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario/ Partido Revolucionario do Pro-
ico Brasileiro, 138 La Verdad (Argentina), 42, 47, letariado/Brigadas Revolucio-
Partido Obrero de la Revoluci6n 48, 54 narias (Portugal), 654, 656-57
Socialista (Argentina), 40 Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Revolucionario dos Tra­
Partido Obrero de la Unifica- (Trotskista) (Bolivia), 123 balhadores (Portugal), 654—56,
ci6n Marxista (Spain), 402, Partido Obrero Revolucionario 658
541, 543 r 713 , 717 , 721, 782, (Trotskista) (Chile), 198, 200 Partido Revolucionario Inst it u-
818: Belgian controversy over, Partido Obrero Revolucionario cional (Mexico), 616-17
102-4; a n d c n t - f a i , 700-701; (Trotskista) (Cuba), 230, 853 Partido Sindicalista (Spain), 679
Dutch r s a p support {or, 623- Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Socialista (Argentina),
24, 625; in early civil war, (Trotskista) (Ecuador), 248 41
697-700; formation of, 691- Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Socialista (Marcelo
96; internal politics of, 700- (Trotskista) (Mexico), 6 11- 12 Quiroga, Bolivia), 130
701; and is, 693, 703-5; Lam­ Partido Obrero Revolucionario Partido Socialista (Tristan
bertists in, 720; and "official" (Trotskista) (Peru), 638—39 Mar6f, Bolivia), 117

1106 Index of Organizations

Partido Socialista Argentino, Partido Socialista Revoluciona­ Peripheral Independent Organi­
4.7-48, 51 rio (Colombia), 224-25 zation of Macedonia (Greece),
Partido Socialista (Bases) (Bo­ Partido Socialista Revoluciona­ 506
livia), 131 rio (Portugal), 190 Peruvian Democratic Union
Partido Socialista de Izquierda Partido Socialista Unificado de (Peru|, 645
Nacional (Mexico), 607 Catalunya (Spain), 699, 719 PetOfki Circle (Hungary), 513
Partido Socialista de la Iz­ Partido Socialista Unificado Plebs League (Canada], 144
quierda Nacional (Argentina), Mexicano (Mexico], 616-17 Polish Left Opposition, 648-49
43 Parti Ouvrier Internationaliste Polish Socialist Party, 649-50
Partido Socialista de la Iz­ of 1930s (France), 552-57, Polish Socialist Party of Labor,
quierda Popular (Argentina), 360, 398, 667, 704, 7 I 2.-I 3 652
53 Parti Ouvrier Internationalists Politica Obrera Group (Argen­
Partido Socialista de la Revolu­ of 1 940s (France), 298, 301, tina), 52—53, 125, 200, 402,
cidn Nacional (Argentina), 41 36r, 368-71 541-42
Partido Socialista del Estado Parti Progresiste Martiniquais Politica Operaria Group (Brazil],
(Bolivia), 118 (French Antilles], 404 52-53
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Parti Q u e b e c o is (Canada], 152, Ponto de Partida Group (Brazil),
jadores (Argentina), 48-52, 153 136
5^ - 57 , 557, 6 x3 , 75^, 756, Parti Revolutionnaire des Tra­ Popular Assembly {Bolivia|, 122,
757, 759 , 613 vailleurs (Belgium), 107 124-25, 127, 543
Partido Socialista de los Traba- Parti Socialiste Beige (Belgium), Popular Front (Chile), 196-97
' jadores (Bolivia), 130 107, 109-10 Popular Front (France), 350,
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Parti Socialiste Ouvrier et Pay- 963-66
jadores (Colombia), 224, 226 san (France), 354-56 Popular Front (Spain], 679, 681,
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire 696-97, 699-700
jadores (El Salvador), 249 (Belgium], 102-5 Posadista Fourth International,
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Partito Comunista Intemazio- 22, 34, 231, 331, 3 3 2 -3 4 . 635,
jadores (Nicaragua), 632 nalista (Italy), 592 659- 6 j, 7 i 5, 74 i, 954 - Affili­
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Partito Comunista Revoluziona- ates/sections: Belgium, 113 ;
jadores (Panama, 637 rio {Trotskyista) (Italy), 596 Chile, 198; Cuba, 230;
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Partito d'Azione (Italy), 594 France, 394; Grcecc, 509;
jadores (Peru), 642-45 Partito d'Unit& Proletaria por il Mexico, 6 11; Sweden, 726
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Comunismo (Italy), 596 Potere Operaio (Italy), 596
jadores (Spain), 557, 723 Partito Operaio Comunista (Bol­ Praja Socialist Party (India),
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ scevico-Leninista) (Italy), 5*3
jadores (Uruguay), 955 S92—93 Pre-Conference of the Four,
Partido Socialista de los Traba­ Partito Socialista dei Lavoratori 262-63
jadores Unificado (Venezuela), Italiani (Italy), S94 Progressive Labor Party (USA),
957-58 Partito Socialista Italiano d'Uni- 534, 920-21
Partido Socialista Democritico ti Proletaria (Italy), 595 Progressive Party (Canada), 146
(Argentina), 47, 48 Parti Wallon des Travailleurs Progressive Party (USA), 31 x,
Partido Socialista de Nicaragua, (Belgium), n o -r r 911
632 Peace and Freedom Party (USA, Progressive Youth Movement
Partido Socialista Intemaciona­ 914, 923, 940 (New Zealand), 629
lista (Peru), 642 Peace Now Movement (Israel), Proletarian Democracy (Italy),
Partido Socialista Obrero (Ar­ 585 597
gentina), 38 Peasant and Workers Party (In­ Proletarian Faction (China),
Partido Socialista Obrero de Bo­ dia), 523 207-9
livia, 118 Peasants International, 958 Proletarian Orientation Ten­
Partido Socialista Popular (Ar­ People's Alliance (Iceland), 514- dency (swp, USA), 875
gentina), 47-48 15 Proletarian Piity (Indonesia!,
Partido Socialista Puertorri- People's Committees or Coun­ 533
qucno (Puerto Rico), 666 cils (Vietnam), 969-70 Proletarian Party (USA), 779
Partido Socialista Revoluciona­ People's Democracy (Ireland], Proletarian Tasks Tendency
rio (Brazil), 133-34 570-74 (USA}, 944
Partido Socialista Revoluciona­ People's Revolutionary Move­ Proletaries Links (Netherlands),
rio of 1930s (Chile), 197 ment (Mexico), 615 628
Partido Socialista Revoluciona­ People's United Front (Portu­ Proletarische Aktion (Switzer­
rio of 197os (Chile), 198-200 gal), 656 land), 729-32

Index of Organizations 1107

Proletarische Revolutionare end-Verbond (Netherlands), Revolutionary Communist Ten­
|Austria), 87, 97 622, 625 dency [l s a / l s o , Canada), 1 5 4
Proletarische Vereiningung Os­ Revolutionaire Kommunisten Revolutionary Communist
terreichs [Austria), 85 (Austria), 85-88 Youth (Hong Kong), 219
Protagoras Political-Cultural Revolutionar Kommunistischen Revolutionary Communist
Circle (Greece), 508 Jugend [West Germany), 4 31- Youth (USA), 920-21
p s b Socialist Youth Group (Bel­ 32 Revolutionary Internationalist
gium), 109 Revolutionare Marxister (Swe­ League (Hong Kong), 219
p s i u p (left-wing Socialist party, den), 724 Revolutionary Labor League
Italy!, 596 Revolutionare Marxisters For­ (Czechoslovakia), 236
Puglia Federation [Italian c p ), bund (Sweden), 724-25 Revolutionary Labor League
S93.-93 Revolutionare Socialister (Marx- (Poland), 652
istisk Tideschrift) [Sweden), Revolutionary Left Alliance
724 (Peru), 644
Radical Party (Argentina), 37, Revolutionare Socialistiska Pa­ Revolutionary Marxist Caucus
S O -5 1, S3 ri et (Sweden), 724 (r s l , USA), 907
Radical Party (Chile), 196-97 Revolutionary Armed Forces Revolutionary Marxist Center
Radical Socialist Party (Chile), IBolivia), 126 (Belgium), 113
196 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist Fraction
Radical Socialist Party (France), Group (UK), 485, 498 (Greece), 497
3 SO, 965 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist Group/
Radical Women (USA), 936 League (Ceylon), 192-93, Groupe Marxiste Rfcvolu-
Rally of Youth for Socialism 543-44 tionnaire (Canada), 154, 155
(Canada), 158 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist Group
Rassemblement Nationale Po­ League (Egypt), 249 (Ireland), 57r
pulate (France), 364 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist League
Rebel Apra (Peru), 641 League (Israel), S83-84 (Hong Kong), 219-20, 222-23
Red Aid (Germany), 41a Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist League
Red Army Faction (West Ger­ League (Japan), 220, 601 (Jamaica), 598, 904
many), 508 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Marxist League
Red Circle Group (Canada), IS4 League, National Committee (USA), 833
Red Flag Union (USA), 90s Core Faction (Japan), 601 Revolutionary Marxist Party
Red International of Labor Revolutionary Communist (Sri Lanka), 190-91, 193-94
Unions, 4, 228, 620, 652, 682 League [Luxembourg), 606 Revolutionary Opposition of In­
Red Pages [publishing house of Revolutionary Communist ternational Socialists (UK),
Revolutionary Communist League (USA), 941-42 498
League, Israel), 58s Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Party Tendency
Reorganized Minority Tendency League (Internationalist) (r s l , USA), 907-8
(s w p , USA), 924 (USA), 941-44 Revolutionary Path [Australia),
Republican National Guard Revolutionary Communist 68
(Portugal), 655 League (Turn) (Israel), 585 Revolutionary Policy Commit­
Republican Party (USA), 786, Revolutionary Communist tee (UK), 443
824, 867, 873, 940 Party [Ceylon), 541 Revolutionary Policy Commit­
Republican Socialist Party Revolutionary Communist tee (USA), 781, 784
[Northern Ireland), $68-70 Party (China), 214-20, 222- Revolutionary Socialist Alliance
Resistance [Australia), 63-65, 23- 329, 537 (Australia), 78
68 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Socialist Caucus
R6volt6s Youth group (France), Party (India), 416-17, 520-22, of Students for Democratic
384 524-25, 529-31 Society, 900
Revolts (Austria), 90 Revolutionary Communist Revolutionary Socialist Con­
Revolutionaere Kommunister Party of the 1940s (UK), 41, gress of February 1938, 503
(Denmark), 239 306, 460-71, 487, 567, 580, Revolutionary Socialist League
Revolutionaere Socialister (Den­ S9 1 of 1930s (first one) (UK), 4s2,
mark), 237-38, 241 Revolutionary Communist 453
Revolutionaere Socialistisk For­ Party of the 1970s and 1980s Revolutionary Socialist League
bund (Denmark), 241-43 (UK), 498 of 1930s (second one), 453-57,
Revolutionair Communistische Revolutionary Communist 460, s68
Partij (Netherlands), 626 Party (Trotskyist) (Greece), Revolutionary Socialist League
Revolutionair Socialistisch Jug- 509 of 1950s (UK), 488

1108 Index of Organizations

Revolutionary Socialist League Revolutionary Workers League Movilizaci6n Social (Peru),
(USA), 902-11 (UK), 456 640
Revolutionary Socialist Organi­ Revolutionary Workers League Social Democratic Federation
zation (Greece), 504, 508 (USA), 781-83, 922, 941 (USA), 811
Revolutionary Socialist Party Revolutionary Workers Party Social Democratic Party (Aus­
(Australia), 78 (Australia), 56, 57 tria), 79-81, 84-86, 88-89,
Revolutionary Socialist Party of Revolutionary Workers Party 748
19 30s (Czechoslovakia], 235 (Canada), 148 Social Democratic Party (Bul­
Revolutionary Socialist Patty of Revolutionary Workers Party garia), 140, 141
1969-70 (Czechoslovakia), (Ceylon), 192, 553 Social Democratic Party (Den­
236 Revolutionary Workers Party mark), 237, 239, 243, 24s, 25s
Revolutionary Socialist Party (India), 523-24 Social Democratic Patty (Ger­
(India), 516, S24-25, S3*-—33 Revolutionary Workers Party many), 256, 260, 412, 416,
Revolutionary Socialist Party {Iran), 588-89, 562-65, 878 417, 411, 417 , 430, 431, 435 ,
(Ireland), 569-70 Revolutionary Workers Party 436, 330
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Trotskyist) (UK), 499 Social Democratic Party (Neth­
(Luxembourg), 606 Revolutionary Youth Move­ erlands), 619-22, 625
Revolutionary Socialist Party ment (Czechoslovakia), 136 Social Democratic Party (Rus­
(Netherlands), 260, 262-63, Rexist Party {Belgium), 103 sia], 577
619-22 Right Opposition (Canada), 145 Social Democratic Party (Swe­
Revolutionary Socialist Party r k (4 Internationale) (Denmark), den), 724
(Peru), 644-45 239 Social Democratic Party of On­
Revolutionary Socialist Party Rojo Group (Mexico), 614 tario (Canada), 144
(UK), 451 - 53, 455 Royal Air Force (UK), r66 Social Democratic Students Or­
Revolutionary Socialist Workers Ruthenberg-Lovestone faction ganization (Austria), 80
Party (Netherlands), 104, 262- (c p u s a ), 762 Social Democratic Union {Neth­
63, 621—28 erlands East IndiesJ, 619
Revolutionary Socialist Youth Social Democratic Youth (Den­
(France352 Sailors Union of the Pacific mark), 237-38, 255
Revolutionary Socialist Youth (USA), 817, 818 Social Democratisch Centrum
(Luxembourg), 606 Sandinista National Liberation (Netherlands), 627
Revolutionary Socialist Youth Front (Nicaragua], 30, 74, 5 55 Social Revolutionaries (Russia),
Federation (UK), 488 Sandinista Youth (Nicaragua), 120
Revolutionary Tendency ( s p , 632 Socialist Action {USA], 157,
France), 351 Sat ter League (Iran), 559 760, 887, 891-92, 896-97
Revolutionary Tendency (swp, Schutzbund (Austria), 84 Socialist Action League (New
USA), 864-65, 917 Screw (Australia), 63 Zealand), 629-31
Revolutionary Union (USA), Scutari Group (c p , Albania), 32- Socialist Anti-War Front (Great
921 33 Britain), 455
Revolutionary Unity League sos-Labor Committee, 9 3 1 , 9 4 5 Socialist Appeal Faction of So­
(USA), 933, 939 Seafarers International Union cialist Party (USA), 787-88,
Revolutionary Workers Com­ (USA), 818 792
mittee {USA], 900 Second Congress ( f i ), 2 0 , 4 1 , Socialist Caucus (Canada), 150
Revolutionary Workers Front/ 13 1, 309, 315, 380, 418-29, Socialist Club (Australia), 63
Frente Revolucionario de los 570, 589, 593, 674, 7 11, 712, Socialist Club (New Zealand],
Trabajadores (USA), 938-39 83a 629
Revolutionary Workers League Second Parity Commission (is Socialist Cooperation Associa­
(Australia), 56 and i c of 1950s), 3 4 1 tion (Denmark), 237
Revolutionary Workers League Secret ari ado Latino Americano Socialist Educational League
(Belgium), 1 1 1 - 1 2 del Trotskismo Ortodoxo, (Canada), 149
Revolutionary Workers League/ 319- 30, 538, 638, 744 Socialist Fellowship (UK), 471,
Ligue Ouvriere Revolu­ Sim6n Bolivar Brigade (Nicara­ 473
tionnaire (Canada), 155-56 gua], 225, 555 Socialist Forum Group (USA),
Revolutionary Workers League Sindicato Unico de la Industria 932
(Czechoslovakia), 956 Metalurgica (Uruguay], 953 Socialist Information Center
Revolutionary Workers League Sihala Maha Sabha Movement (Canada], 150
(Poland), 956 (Ceylon), 163 Socialist International, 1, 109,
Revolutionary Workers League Sinn Fein (Ireland), S74 1 3 4 , 194-96, 306, s 17, 620,

{Sweden}, 956 Sistema Nacional de Apoyo a la 623, 627, 635, 643, 667

Index of Organizations 1109

Socialistiese Arbejdeis Partij Socialist League of 1980s |UK), 755; and American Commit­
[Netherlands), 6*8-29 495 / 498 tee for the Defense of Leon
Socialistische Arbeiter-jugend Socialist Left Federation (UK), Trotsky, 788; anti-Trotskyite
(Switzerland), 728, 730 446, 450, 453 mobilization of, 789-91) Can­
Socialistische Beweging Vlaan- Socialist Organizer Group (UK), non in, 761, 792; and Debs
dere (Belgium), n o 490, 496-98, 652 Column, 782; expulsion of
Socialistischer Arbeiter Bund Socialist parties (Eastern Eu­ Trotskyites from, 792; fac­
|West Germany), 904. rope), 3 11 tionalism in (1930s), 783-84;
Socialistische Workers Partij Socialist Party (Argentina), 47 and Malcolm X, 856; Schacht-
(Netherlands), 627 Socialist Party (Australia), 69, manites in, 27, 551-52; and
Socialistiska Forbundet (Swe­ 71 s d f , 8i l ; Thomas in, 792,

den), 726 Socialist Party (Belgium), 627 816; treatment of Trotskyites

Socialistisk Arbejderparti (Den­ Socialist Party (Canada), 146 in, 787; Trotskyist entrism
mark), 243-44 Socialist Party (Chile), 196-97, in, 27, 266, 786-87, 791; wp
Socialistisk Arbejder Ungdom 201 (1930s) in, 775, 780, 784-86
(Denmark), 237 Socialist Party (Croatia), 71 Socialist Party [1970s, USA),
Socialistisk Folksparti [Den­ Socialist Party [Cuba), 228 914
mark), 239-40, 748 Socialist Party [Denmark), 239 Socialist Party (Uruguay), 954
Socialistisk Ungdoms Forum Socialist Party (France), 360, Socialist Party (Marxist) (India),
(Denmark), 240-41 3 9 9 ; 5 6 7 ; and Groupe Bolshe-,. 521-23
Socialistisk Venetrepartis [Nor­ vik-Leniniste, 26;, 3 4 9 ; and Socialist Party-Social Demo­
way), 633 lc , 349/ 3 9 3 ; and lc r , 396; cratic Federation (USA), 8 11—
Socialist Labor Group (UK), 499 and Mitterrand, 396, 557; and 13, 899
Socialist Labor League [Austra­ P C I, 339 / 348, 372, 375/ 3 7 9 ; Socialist Policy Group (Canada),
lia), 78-79 and Pi vert, 354-S5; and 146-47
Socialist Labor League (UK), Trotskyist entrism in, 9 9 , Socialist Reconstruction (USA),
473~8o; and Australian s l l , 2 6 4 - 6 5 , 3 4 9 - 5 3 7 9 ; Trotsky 932
7 8 ; and c o r q i , 4 7 6 , 5 7 5 ; and on , 2 6 4 , 3 4 9 ; and Union of Socialist Republic of Chile,
Healyite ic, s 10; and ic of the Left, 3 8 6 , 3 9 3 , 3 9 5 ; and 195-96
1 9 S o s , 3 3 1 - 3 2 , 3 3 4 , 7 4 2 ; and United Front, 3 4 8 Socialist Review Group (Austra­
ic of 1 9 6 0 s , 12 $, 5 3 7 , 5 4 1 - 4 4 , Socialist Party (Greece), 5 0 6 lia), 66-67
6 3 4 , 7 4 2 ; in Ireland, 5 7 0 , S75 ; Socialist Party (Iceland), 5 1 4 Socialist Student Federation
and Lambertists, 5 1 0 ; and Socialist Party [India), 5 2 0 - 2 1 , (Belgium), n o
Pablo, 3 2 1 - 2 3 , $ 3 5 ; and "Re­ 523, 5 3 0 -3 1 Socialist Student Federation
unification" Congress, 3 3 6 ; Socialist Party (Delhi, India), (West Germany), 899
and s w p (USA), 3 3 4 - 3 6 , 7 4 0 , 521 Socialist Union (Milton Zaslow,
8 5 2 , 8 6 4 ; and w l (USA), 9 2 5 - Socialist Party (Ram Manohar USA), 936-38
26 Lohia, India), 523 Socialist Union of 1950s (USA),
Socialist Labor List (Switzer­ Socialist Party (Italy), 586, 591-- 326, 548, 841-42
land), 731 9 */ S94 Socialist Union of 1980s (USA),
Socialist Labor Party (Belgium), Socialist Party (Panama), 636 892, 897
112 Socialist Party (Portugal), 653— Socialist Women's Council (Ja­
Socialist Labor Party (Greece), 59, 877 pan), 600
500 Socialist Party (Romania), 667 Socialist Workers Action Group
Socialist Labor Party (Ireland), Socialist Party (Spain): Catalan (Australia), 75, 77
S74 affiliate of, 692, 721,- factions Socialist Workers Group (Cey­
Socialist Labor Party (UK), 45 3 in, 680; and f l p , 714; in gov­ lon), 18a, 194
Socialist Labor Party (USA), ernment, 678-80, 7 2l; and Socialist Workers Group
841, 872, 932 LC R , 717; Morenoists in, 723; (France), 403
Socialist League |CanadaJ, 151 Nin in, 659; and p o r e , 722-, Socialist Workers Group (UK),
Socialist League (Greece), 509 and p o s i , 721; and p s u c , 699; 457 ' r
Socialist League (Hong Kong), and Stalinists, 700-701 ; and Socialist Workers League (Aus­
447 Trotskyist entrism in, 692- tralia), 66-67, 78
Socialist League-Democratic 93, 710, 723, 932-33; and Socialist Workers League (Can­
Centralist (USA), 922 u g t , 698 ada), 147
Socialist League of Africa Socialist Party (Sweden), 725 Socialist Workers League (South
[South Africa), 675 Socialist Party (Switzerland), Africa), 675
Socialist League of 1930s (UK), 7 2 7 , 7 3 i , 7 3 3 - 3 5 / 737 Socialist Workers Movement
437 Socialist Party (USA): Abern in, (Ireland), S76

1110 Index of Organizations

Socialist Workers Party (Austra­ 882-83; 411,1 PRT (Mexico), West Coast maritime unions,
lia), 67-75, xio, 894; and In­ 616; and r w i (USA), 782; and 290-91, 817-18. 1950s period.
ternational Trotskyism, 24, r w l / l o r (Canada), 156; and 8)4-50; assessment of Coch­
31, 72-74; and New Zealand s a l (New Zealand), 631; and ranite split, 840-41; and
Trotskyists, 630-31; and swp Sandinistas, 878; and s l l Clarke-Maslow Tendency,
(USA|, 67, 72-73, 894; and (UK), 335, 850, 864; and So­ 322, 837-38; Cochranite split,
u s e c , 70, 760 cialist Women's Council (Ja­ 322-23, S35, 835-42; elec­
Socialist Workers Party [Ger­ pan), 600; and Solidarity [Po­ toral activity, 842-43; and
many), 260, 262-63, 419, land), 882; on Soviet invasion events of 1956, 848; later his­
4.21-23, 620-21 of Afghanistan, 877; and s w p tory of Cochranites, 841-42;
Socialist Workers Party (India), (Australia), 67, 72-73, 894; and Majority Group, 838-39;
524-26 and Trotsky, 608, 727; and origins of Cochranite split,
Socialist Workers Party (Iran), Trotskyist Organizing Com­ 835-37; recapitulation of,
558-62 mittee, 932; and turn away 849; regroupment of, 844-47;
Socialist Workers Party (Swit­ from Trotskyism, 718, 883; and witch hunting, 834-35;
zerland), 735-37 and u s e c , 29, 64, 67, 72-74, and wwp split, 848-49; and
Socialist Workers Party (UK), 80, 128, 432, 555, S85, 597, y s a , 65, 847-48. 19605 period,

113, 246, 387, 494, 49 &-99 , 630-31, 642, 716, 718-19, 850-66; and anti-Vietnam
SSi 747, 748, 752, 760-61, 864, War movement, 853-55; and
Socialist Workers Party (USA), 876, 894-98; and Varga affair, black nationalism, 747-48,
28, 5°, 58, 453, 5 i 7, 568, 570, 956; and Voorhis Law, 308, 856-58, 926; in civil rights,
629; and Austrian Trotsky­ 325, 814-15; and w l |USA|, 855-59; class composition,
ists, 88; and Bishop (Grenada), 924—25. Shachtmanite split 860-61, 926; and Cuban Rev­
878; and Blanco, 642; and (1939-40), 133, 551, 793-8*3; olution/Castro regime, 12, 28,
Bloque Socialista (Dominican background of, 793-94; and 231, 335, 664, 749, 848, 850-
Republic), 247; and Bolshevik "bureaucratic collectivism," 53, 864, 879-81; electoral ac­
Tendency, 716; and Canadian 806-8; beginnings of, 795-97; tivity, 859-60; and Fair Play
Trotskyists, 156-57; and factional struggle, 803; and is­ for Cuba Committee, 852-53;
"catastrophic orientation," sue of a split, 802-3; issues ideological orientation, 861-
467; and c f q i , 368; and c r s p of, 798-803; and 1940 Con­ 63; international activities,
(USA), 937; and "entrism sui vention, 803-4; and "petty 863-64; and Revolutionary
generis," 41; and European bourgeois" issue, 799-800; Tendency, 864-66; and Spar­
Trotskyists, 759-60; and f i , role of Trotsky in, 797-98; tacist League, 864-66, 917,
41, 271, 273, 321, 332 , 742, and Russian Question, 794- 919, 921; and women's libera­
8x4-15, 832, 863; formation 95; and Trotsky-Bumham de­ tion, 858-S9. 19705 and early
of, 792-93; and g c i [Mexico), bate, 800-802; and uncondi­ 1980s period. 867-79; decline
6x2; and g i m [Germany], 4.32; tional defense of Soviet of s w p -y s a , 868; electoral ac­
and guerrilla war, 29, 494; Union, 798-99; and Workers tivities, 872-73; "objective"
and Healy, 22, 78, 79, 33S; Party split, 804-13. World causes of reorientation, 867-
and ic of 1950s, 20, 41, 536, Wai II period, 813-33; atti' 68; and passing of old leader­
538/ S97; and ic of 1960s, tude toward WWII, 8x5—16; in ship, 875; positions on inter­
324-25, 513, 536, 540; and civil rights movement, 824- national issues, 876-78;
IM G (UK), 494 ; and is, 535; 25; "disaffiliation" from f i , splits, 875-76; suit against
and Italian Trotskyists, 592; 8 14 -ij; gains of, 825; and the government, 873-75; turn
and i w p ( f i ), 939; and j c r l (Ja­ Goldman-Morrow split, 827- to industry, explanation of,
pan), 599; and l c r (Portugal), 3 1,- in labor movemen